A view from He Mei Mountain

Happy new year everybody! This year is the year of the golden dragon. Expect to see many people giving birth this year in hopes of giving their kids better lives. Happy wishes to all and enjoy the celebrations.

I have been practicing for about eight and a half years now and still loving it. Do I consider myself good…not really. I still have a long way to go before I can ever compare myself to my master. I made this video for my friend Peter Lundgren.

I do apologize that I can’t post as frequently as work is getting more and more busy these days. For those who asked me this question, I hope this was an adequate response in why I became interested in Asiatic cultures. Besides the martial arts, there is still a great history to be explored.

There are many different Chinese idioms out there that people use today in modern Chinese conversation that are not really too well understood by many people who are foreign to the culture. There is an idiom that is used as a saying amongst Chinese people known as dui niu tan qin (對牛彈琴） which translated roughly means, “playing the piano for a cow.” I can understand it, but many people who do not understand the culture or language so well do not.

Cows are not known to be the most intelligent of creatures on this planet when they are domesticated (I can’t say how they are in the wild since I never have heard of wild bulls or cows). They are admired for their strength, not their brains. If you play a beautiful instrument such as a piano for a cow, it won’t be able to understand the complexity or the details which humans would understand to enjoy the beauty of the instrument being played. It simply means some people will never understand certain things or just can’t understand certain things. This is often used when people are speaking more about art, so they are essentially saying you can not understand the fine work. So this is a bit more negative in this case and a tad embarrassing if you are the cow. It could be used in business as well but it is very rare to see it used in such cases.

Perhaps some of the Chinese readers have a better translation than what I have translated it as. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this.

A brief thank you to the person who commented and noticed I did not write the idiom properly. I am still getting used to telling the difference between simplified and traditional at times. Thank you again for catching the error.

Today I will be showing a video of a Tai Ji master I found while staying in Taipei. He is very skilled and an excellent teacher. If you’re ever in the Mingde area, you can find him practicing from six to eight in the morning. Enjoy everyone!

Hi everyone, I will not be the translator of this post. This was a very beautiful romantic piece that shows a man’s longing for the woman he loved more than any other. I hope you all enjoy the poem. The title is called People Hide Their Love and is written by Wu-Ti AKA Wudi. He was an emperor in the Liang Dynasty, and very respected for his scholarly knowledge. In less than 10 years after his death, the dynasty fell. This all took place in the sixth century C.E.

Enjoy

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Who says

That it’s by my desire,

This separation, this living so far from you?

My dress still smells of the lavender you gave:

My hand still holds the letter that you sent.

Round my waist I wear a double sash:

I dream that it binds us both with a same-heart knot.

Did not you know that people hide their love,

Like the flower that seems too precious to be picked?

—-

Though we don’t often see this side in Chinese society and people often tell me that they think Chinese people in general are rather bland in romance, but this is one of the cases where it seems to be the opposite. Their is a deep sense of longing and he feels that without this lady he was so fond of, he would be forever alone. It was a common case to have this happen from the Sui Dynasty onward. People who were made officials in the government were often sent to posts outside of their native areas to govern and separated from everyone they knew. After many years, occasionally some would be fortunate enough to have a chance to return to their hometown. It was done to make sure the local governors would never be able to gain more too much loyalty to them as opposed to the emperor. A harsh but clever technique.

As always, feel free to comment. Until the next post everyone.

Good day everyone, today I will be translating a quote from the Zhuang Zi. This is a small piece but very fun to attempt to translate. As I mentioned, Zhuang Zi is one of the important fathers of Daoist philosophy. His stories unlike Lao Zi’s are not so poetic but show meaning and purpose in each aspect. 

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When the water in a spring dries up in, the fish breathe on each other and rub their slime on one another in order to keep themselves moistened. But it is much better for the fish to forget each other and go live in a river or a lake.

——————

The idea here which I gather from studying this quote is that it seems to be based on change. Nothing is permanent so the fish need to be able to adjust to change. Stagnancy or just the old fashioned method would be more harmful than beneficial in this case. The fish could be symbolic of society or an individual and what happens when there is change. One can either try to fight the change and suffer or they can embrace it and thrive. The photo is actual classical Chinese text which I used for today’s post. For all my readers in Taiwan, I will be in Taipei, so if you have any friendly suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on my translation!

Hey everybody, I hope all is well and welcome back to the Ancient Chinese Story blog. Today I will be translating a small quote from Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi for those who are unfamiliar with classical Chinese or East Asian philosophy was a live in the Zhou Dynasty and was one of the first Daoist philosophers along with Lao Zi. Many of his quotes can be found in martial art academies throughout the world today.  Again, I will be today’s translator.

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Security and danger change between one another, Good luck and poor fortune alternate with each other. Anxious moments and times of tranquility succeed one another,  coming together and separation have a relation. These names  and truths can all be recorded and their forms verified.

———————–

There is never one permanent state which is one of the point which Zhuang Zi was pointing out and is a very important aspect to bear in mind whenever studying Daoist philosophy. It is important to keep in mind that these can be recorded whereas the dao 道 can never be truly recorded. To bring up a simple example is the battle of two kingdoms. The one that is victorious will have a time of prosperity and more security (other kingdoms would be scared to attack) while the kingdom which lost will fall into chaos.

Today’s image is the actual text I used for my basis of my translation. Until the next post everyone.

To All The Ancient Chinese Story Readers: Happy New Year

In honor of the event, here is my pet rabbit. I will have more posts up soon enough and wish all well

Wang Wei’s Passing Xiang Qi Temple

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Ancient Chinese Stories blog. Today I wanted to share a Chan a.k.a. Zen Buddhist poem by the Tang poet Wang Wei. Today’s poem I will not be translating but taking from The Poetry of Zen by Sam Hamill and J.P. Seaton. As much as I would love to try, I prefer to stay away from poetry translations since I am afraid I may destroy the meaning in the process. I only translated one part of the Chinese from Wade-Giles into Ping Yin since that is the style I am more adapted to. Enjoy.

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Oblivious, I pass Xiang Qi Temple,

walking on through mountain clouds,

an empty trail through ancient trees.

Deep in the mountains, a bell resounds.

The susurrus river flows among stones.

Sunlight streams through frozen pines.

In this still pool, in falling light,

Zen overcomes the serpents of delusion.

————

From this poem, we can see that he is a fan of Chan Buddhism and believe it to be the best route towards enlightenment.

“The serpents of delusion,”  are the outside forces which block enlightenment which in the case of Zen is common thought. You must break away from your senses and logic in order to achieve ultimate understanding.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was a great influence from Chan Buddhism and we see a great amount of Chan works of writing come about from the Tang. Kind of ironic considering they actually said to ignore writings.

Today’s picture is a picture of Guan Yin I took while at a Chinese temple in Malaysia. Till the next post everyone.