HOME



picture info

Zuowang
''Zuowang'' () is a classic Daoist meditation technique, described as "a state of deep trance or intense absorption, during which no trace of ego-identity is felt and only the underlying cosmic current of the Dao is perceived as real." According to Louis Komjathy, this is one term for Daoist ''apophatic'' meditation, which also goes by various other names in Daoist literature, such as , , , and . Zuowang instructions can be seen in classic Taoist texts from as early as the Chinese Warring States Period, such as the . The term also appears in the title of an influential manual from the Tang dynasty (618–907), the , and continues to inform Daoist contemplative practice today. Terminology Chinese compounds the words and . In terms of Chinese character classification, this character is an ideogrammatic compound with two sitting on the ; and is a phono-semantic compound with the "heart-mind radical" semantic element and a phonetic and semantic element. and are etymo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Zuowanglun
The ''Zuowanglun'' or ''Zuowang lun'' is a Taoist meditative text that was written by the Shangqing School patriarch Sima Chengzhen (647–735). Taoism incorporated many Buddhist practices during the Tang dynasty (618–907), and the ''Zuowanglun'' combined meditation techniques from Taoism (e.g., 坐忘 '' zuòwàng'' "sitting forgetting", and 觀 ''guān'' "observation"), Buddhism ('' śamatha'' "calm abiding", and '' vipaśyanā'' "insight") and Confucian concept (正心誠意). Author Sima Chengzhen (or Si-ma Ch'eng-chen) 司馬承禎 (647–735), also known as Daoyin 道隐 "Recluse of the Tao" and Baiyunzi 白雲子 "Master of the White Cloud", was a native of Henan. He was a descendant of the Jin dynasty (266–420) imperial house, and his family included many high-ranking scholar-officials. Although Sima received a traditional education in the Confucian classics, he converted to Taoism, and was ordained by the Shangqing "Highest Clarity" School in 669. Sima was prom ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Daoist Meditation
Taoist meditation (, ), also spelled Daoist (), refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Taoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization. The earliest Chinese references to meditation date from the Warring States period (475–221 BCE). Traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese martial arts have adapted certain Daoist meditative techniques. Some examples are Daoyin "guide and pull" breathing exercises, Neidan "internal alchemy" techniques, Neigong "internal skill" practices, Qigong breathing exercises, Zhan zhuang "standing like a post" techniques. The opposite direction of adoption has also taken place, when the martial art of Taijiquan, "great ultimate fist", became one of the practices of modern Daoist monks, while historically it was not among traditional techniques. Terminology The Chinese language has several keywords for Daoist meditation practices, some of which are difficult ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Zazen
''Zazen'' is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. The generalized Japanese term for meditation is 瞑想 (''meisō''); however, ''zazen'' has been used informally to include all forms of seated Buddhist meditation. The term ''zuòchán'' can be found in early Chinese Buddhist sources, such as the Dhyāna sutras. For example, the famous translator Kumārajīva (344–413) translated a work termed ''Zuòchán sān mēi jīng'' (''A'' ''Manual on the Samādhi of Sitting Meditation'') and the Chinese Tiantai master Zhiyi (538–597 CE) wrote some very influential works on sitting meditation. The meaning and method of zazen varies from school to school, but in general it is a quiet type of Buddhist meditation done in a sitting posture like the lotus position. The practice can be done with various methods, such as following the breath (anapanasati), mentally repeating a phrase (which could be a koan, a mantra, a huato ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Jing Zuo
''Jing zuo'' (, from Sanskrit ) refers to the Neo-Confucian meditation practice advocated by Zhu Xi and Wang Yang-ming. ''Jing zuo'' can also be described as a form of spiritual self-cultivation that helps a person achieve a more fulfilling life ("6-Great Traditions"). Terminology The term ''Jing zuo'' simply means 'sitting quietly'. The collocation soon acquired more specific meanings, referring to methods of quiet sitting that were practiced for medical or spiritual purposes. In early sources, such as the philosophical work Hanfeizi in the 3rd century BCE, ''Jing zuo'' seems to have been mainly understood as being a health benefit, but some centuries later spiritual practices were also referred to using this term. At the outset, it was not limited to Confucianism, but could equally be used about Buddhist and Daoist practices. The term became widely used in the Song dynasty and became the preferred term for seated meditation among Neo-Confucians, who tended to avoid more narrowly ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Liang Shih-chiu
Liang Shih-chiu (January 6, 1903 – November 3, 1987), also romanized as Liang Shiqiu, and also known as Liang Chih-hwa (), was a renowned Chinese educator, writer, translator, literary theorist and lexicographer. Biography Liang was born in Beijing in 1903. His father, Liang Xianxi (), was a '' xiucai'' in the Qing dynasty. He was educated at Tsinghua College in Beijing from 1915 to 1923. He went on to study at Colorado College and later pursued his graduate studies at Harvard and Columbia Universities. At Harvard, he studied literary criticism under Irving Babbitt, whose New Humanism helped shape his conservative literary tenets. After his return to China in 1926, he began a long career as a professor of English at several universities, including Peking University, Tsingtao University, and Jinan University. He also served as the editor of a succession of literary supplements and periodicals, including the famous '' Crescent Moon Monthly'' (1928–1933). During this peri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi may refer to: * ''Zhuangzi'' (book) (莊子), an ancient Chinese collection of anecdotes and fables, one of the foundational texts of Taoism **Zhuang Zhou Zhuang Zhou (), commonly known as Zhuangzi (; ; literally "Master Zhuang"; also rendered in the Wade–Giles romanization as Chuang Tzu), was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States p ... (莊周), the historical figure known as "Master Zhuang" ("Zhuangzi") and traditional author of the eponymous book * Old Zhuang script (古壮字, the script used by the Zhuang people in ancient times, also known as Sawndip {{Disambiguation ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Japanese Language
is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language. There have been many Classification of the Japonic languages, attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as Ainu languages, Ainu, Austronesian languages, Austronesian, Koreanic languages, Koreanic, and the now discredited Altaic languages, Altaic, but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Ja ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Chinese Buddhist
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chinese Buddhist Canon" in ''The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism'', p. 299, Wiley-Blackwell (2014). draws from the traditions of Confucianism and Taoism as well as the rituals of local folk religions. Chinese Buddhism emphasizes the study of Mahayana sutras and treatises. Some of the most important scriptures in Chinese Buddhism include the ''Lotus Sutra'', '' Flower Ornament Sutra'', ''Vimalakirtī Sutra'', '' Nirvana Sutra,'' and ''Amitābha Sutra''. Chinese Buddhism is the largest institutionalized religion in mainland China.Cook, Sarah (2017). The Battle for China's Spirit: Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping.'' Freedom House Report. Rowman & Littlefield. Currently, there are an estim ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to move unless their demands are met. The often clearly visible demonstrations are intended to spread awareness among the public, or disrupt the goings-on of the protested organization. Lunch counter sit-ins were a nonviolent form of protest used to oppose segregation during the civil rights movement, and often provoked heckling and violence from those opposed to their message. Examples United States Civil rights movement The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) conducted sit-ins as early as the 1940s. Ernest Calloway refers to Bernice Fisher as "Godmother of the restaurant 'sit-in' technique." In August 1939, African-American attorney Samuel Wilbert Tucker organized the Alexandria Library sit-i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Wang Yangming
Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese statesman, general, and Neo-Confucian philosopher during the Ming dynasty. After Zhu Xi, he is commonly regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, for his interpretations of Confucianism that denied the rationalist dualism of the orthodox philosophy of Zhu Xi. Wang and Lu Xiangshan are regarded as the founders as the Lu–Wang school, or the School of the Mind. In China, Japan, and Western countries, he is known by his honorific name rather than his private name. Life and times Wang was born in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, to a scholarly family with a tradition of bureaucratic service. His father, Wang Hua, was first (''Zhuangyuan'', 狀元) in the Imperial Examination of 1481, and rose to become the vice-minister of the Ministry of Rites, but was later demoted and subsequently expelled from government ser ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi played a pivotal role in shaping the intellectual foundations of later imperial China. He placed great emphasis on rationality, opposed mysticism and religious experience, and constructed a huge philosophical system. His extensive commentaries and editorial work on the ''Four Books'' became the core texts of the imperial civil service examinations from 1313 until their abolition in 1905. He advanced a rigorous philosophical methodology known as the "investigation of things" () and emphasized meditation as an essential practice for moral and intellectual self-cultivation. Zhu Xi's thought exerted profound influence, becoming the official state ideology of China from the Yuan dynasty onward, and was later adopted in other East ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Neo-Confucian
Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a Morality, moral, Ethics, ethical, and metaphysics, metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (philosopher), Li Ao (772–841) in the Tang dynasty, and became prominent during the Song dynasty, Song and Ming dynasty, Ming dynasties under the formulations of Zhu Xi (1130–1200). After the Mongol conquest of China in the thirteenth century, Chinese scholars and officials restored and preserved neo-Confucianism as a way to safeguard the cultural heritage of China. Neo-Confucianism could have been an attempt to create a more rationalist and secular form of Confucianism by rejecting mystical elements of Taoism and Buddhism that had influenced Confucianism during and after the Han dynasty. Although the neo-Confucianists were critical of Taoism and Buddhism, the two did have an influence on the philosophy, and the neo-Con ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]