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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 promo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 "quiet sitting" (靜坐 ''jìngzuò''), "guarding the one" (守一 ''shǒuyī''), "fasting the heartmind" (心齋 ''xīnzhāi''), and "embracing simplicity" (抱朴 ''bàopǔ''). Zuowang instructions can be seen in classic Taoist texts from as early as the Chinese Warring States Period, such as the ''Zhuangzi''. The term also appears in the title of an influential manual from the Tang dynasty (618–907), the '' Zuowanglun'', and continues to inform Daoist contemplative practice today. Terminology Chinese ''zuòwàng'' compounds the words ''zuò'' 坐 "sit; take a seat" and ''wàng'' 忘 "fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taoist Meditation
Taoist meditation (, ), known in Chinese as "Xiu Dao", 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 diffic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shangqing School
The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清派), also known as Supreme Clarity or Highest Clarity is a Taoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was a lady, Wei Huacun (251-334). According to her Shangqing hagiographers, her devotion to Taoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them - 31 volumes of Taoist scriptures, which would become the foundation of Shangqing Taoism. Later, Tao Hongjing, a man, (Chinese: 陶弘景) (456－536) structured the theory and practice and compiled the Taoist Canon. He greatly contributed to the development of the school that took place near the end of the 5th century. The mountain near Nanjing where Tao Hongjing had his retreat, Maoshan (茅山 – fr), today remains the principal seat of the school. Shangqing practice values meditation techniques of visualization and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chu (Daoism)
''Chu'' (廚, lit. "kitchen") is a Daoist name used for various religious practices including communal ''chu'' (Kitchen) banquet rituals in Way of the Celestial Masters liturgy, the legendary ''xingchu'' (行廚, Mobile Kitchen) associated with Daoist ''xian'' ("transcendents; 'immortals'"), and ''wuchu'' (五廚, Five Kitchens) representing the '' wuzang'' (五臟, Five Viscera) in ''neidan'' meditation techniques. Terminology ''Chú'' ("kitchen; to cook; a cook") can be written with three Chinese characters 廚, 㕑, and 厨. The common traditional Chinese character 廚 combines the "house radical" 广 with a phonetic indicator ''shù'' 尌 (joining ''zhù'' 壴 "drum" and ''cùn'' 寸 "hand"); and the variant traditional character 㕑 has "cliff radical" 厂 instead of 广. The simplified Chinese character 厨 omits the 士 element in 壴, leading to a "graphic folk etymology" of "A 厂 'room' for cooking 豆 'beans' with your 寸 'hands'." (Bishop 2016). The Chines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jhana
In the oldest texts of Buddhism, ''dhyāna'' () or ''jhāna'' () is a component of the training of the mind (''bhavana''), commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions, "burn up" the defilements, and leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness ('' upekkhā-sati- parisuddhi'')." ''Dhyāna'' may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, in combination with several related practices which together lead to perfected mindfulness and detachment. In the later commentarial tradition, which has survived in present-day Theravāda, ''dhyāna'' is equated with "concentration", a state of one-pointed absorption in which there is a diminished awareness of the surroundings. In the contemporary Theravāda-based Vipassana movement, this absorbed state of mind is regarded as unnecessary and even non-beneficial for the first stage of awakening, which has to be reached by mindfulness of the body and ''vipassan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), when derived from Latin, is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected in the ancient world as a monument. The surface of the stele often has text, ornamentation, or both. These may be inscribed, carved in relief, or painted. Stelae were created for many reasons. Grave stelae were used for funerary or commemorative purposes. Stelae as slabs of stone would also be used as ancient Greek and Roman government notices or as boundary markers to mark borders or property lines. Stelae were occasionally erected as memorials to battles. For example, along with other memorials, there are more than half-a-dozen steles erected on the battlefield of Waterloo at the locations of notable actions by participants in battle. A traditio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiyuan
Jiyuan () is a sub-prefecture-level city in northwestern Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the prefecture-level cities of Jiaozuo and Luoyang to the east and southwest respectively, as well as the province of Shanxi to the north. Administration The sub-prefecture-level city of Jiyuan administers 5 subdistrict and 11 towns. Jiyuan is named after the Ji river whose source is said to be a spring located on the west of the city. ;Subdistricts ;Towns History Jiyuan was a county belonging to Jiaozuo City in the past, then it was divided from the city. The former Ji River—one of the ancient "Four Rivers", alongside the Yangtze, Huai, and Yellow Rivers—originated around Jiyuan, which was the source of its name, Chinese for "Source of the Ji". (Today, the Ji has been entirely subsumed by the Yellow River, which shifted to the bed of the Ji during its massive 1852 flood.). According to the latest archaeological findings, as early as around 10,000 years ago, pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samadhi
''Samadhi'' (Pali and sa, समाधि), in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools, is a state of meditative consciousness. In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path. In the Ashtanga Yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the ''Yoga Sutras'' of Patanjali. In the oldest Buddhist suttas, on which several contemporary western Theravada teachers rely, it refers to the development of an investigative and luminous mind which is equanimous and mindful. In the yogic traditions, and the Buddhist commentarial tradition on which the Burmese Vipassana movement and the Thai Forest tradition rely, it is interpreted as a meditative absorption or trance, attained by the practice of '' dhyāna''. Definitions ''Samadhi'' may refer to a broad range of states. A common understanding regards ''samadhi'' as meditative absorption: * Sarbacker: ''samādhi'' is meditative absorption or contemplation. * Diener, Erhard & ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sati (Buddhism)
Sati ( pi, सति; sa, स्मृति '' smṛti''), literally "memory" or "retention", commonly translated as mindfulness, is an essential part of Buddhist practice in which one maintains a lucid awareness of bodily and mental phenomena or ''dhammas'', a spiritual or psychological faculty (''indriya'') in which one 'remembers to observe'. It is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness (Pali: ''sammā-sati'', Sanskrit ''samyak-smṛti'') is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path. Definition The Buddhist term translated into English as "mindfulness," "to remember to observe," originates in the Pali term ''sati'' and in its Sanskrit counterpart smṛti. According to Robert Sharf, the meaning of these terms has been the topic of extensive debate and discussion. ''Smṛti'' originally meant "to remember", "to recollect", "to bear in mind", as in the Vedic tradition of remembering sacred texts. The term ''sati'' also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sima Chengchen
Sima or SIMA may refer to: People * Sima (Chinese surname) * Sima (given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey * Sima (surname) Places * Sima, Comoros, on the island of Anjouan, near Madagascar * Sima de los Huesos, a cavern in Spain, major site of ancient hominin fossils, known as ''Sima hominins'' * Sima, Hungary * Sima, Jinxiang County, town in Jinxiang County, Shandong, China * Sima, Nepal, in the Jajarkot District of Nepal * Sima (river), a river Hordaland, Norway * Sima, Tibet, village in the north of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China * Sima, Spanish for sinkhole or pit cave, found in several placenames ** Sima de las Cotorras, Chiapas, Mexico Others * Independent Union of Maritime and Related Workers (SIMA), in Angola * Sima (architecture), the upturned edge of a classical roof * SIMA, a shipbuilding and maritime services company in Peru * Sima (geology), the lower part of Earth's crust * Sima Hydroelectric Power Station, Eidfjord, Vestland, Norw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary (24 April 1949 – 20 June 2021) was an American translator and writer of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of ''The Art of War'', a treatise on management, military strategy, and statecraft. He has translated books from Pali, Sanskrit, Arabic, Chinese language, Chinese, Japanese language, Japanese, and Old Irish into English. Cleary lived in Oakland, California. Life and work Cleary became interested in Buddhism when he was a teenager; his researches into Buddhist thought began with a desire to learn during this time of his life. When he began translating, he chose either untranslated works or—as in the case of Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War''—books whose extant translations were "too limited". Cleary earned a Ph.D. in EALC, East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, and a JD from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. After completing his doctoral studies, Clea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tiantai Mountain
Tiantai Mountain (also Tí Taî in the local language) is a list of mountains in China, mountain in Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Province, China. Its highest peak, Huading, reaches a height of . The mountain was made a List of national parks of China, national park on 1 August 1988. One of nine remaining wild populations of Seven-Son Flower (''Heptacodium miconioides'') is located on mount Tiantai. Legends In the Chinese mythology, mythology of Traditional Chinese religion, the creator goddess Nüwa cut the legs off a giant sea turtle () and used them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong damaged Mount Buzhou, which had previously supported the heavens. A local myth holds that Tiantai was on the turtle's back before and Nüwa relocated it to its current position when she had to remove the turtle's legs. Guoqing Temple Guoqing Temple on the mountain is the headquarters of Tiantai, Tiantai Buddhism, and also a Tourism in China, tourist destination. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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