Cobie

Hi amosharari. Welcome to the forum. Christopher is on the forum

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True. But apparently not always: ”… the Chinese dragon was also a demonic and monstrous creature. … The descriptions of the dragon as a monstrous creature, though eclipsed by the prevalent accounts of its auspicious nature, are widely present in ancient Chinese literature. … Wang Chong’s Lun Heng records a demonic yellow dragon encountered by the early sage king Yu 禹 …” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40636-015-0025-y

Re. the author “Sima grew up in a Confucian environment, and Sima always regarded his historical work as an act of Confucian filial piety to his father. Emperor Wu … sentenced Sima to death. At that time, execution could be commuted either by money or castration. Since Sima did not have enough money to atone his "crime", he chose the latter … [His ‘crime’ was unrelated to his writings about Laozi.] Sima Qian ( c. 145 – c. 86 BC)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sima_Qian#:~:text=Sima grew up in a,existed in the Han dynasty. “During the Han Dynasty, emperor Wu Di (reigned 141–87 B.C.E.) made Confucianism the official state ideology.” https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/confucianism/

老 子 其 猶 龍 邪 lǎozi, qí yóu lóng xié Lao Zi’s principle: the emperor is malefic. ~~~ Kroll 猶 < interchangeable with 猷 you2 … principle > 龍 < emblematic of celestial and imperial power > 邪 < unorthodox; malefic; ye2 sentence-final interrogative GP equivalent to 也+乎 >

You’re right, I looked it up: modifiers, such as adjectives and adverbs, precede the word they modify. I removed my posts. I had this in mind: 道善 - the way is good. I looked it up (Bryan Van Norden, ‘Classical Chinese for Everyone’, page 46); my mistake, that’s not an adjective, that’s noun + stative verb.

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You totally failed to get my point. I’m leaving this thread now. Be well.

@Daniel You failed to get my point: You are arguing with ‘stirling’ while actually there is no argument, you are talking about different things.

That depends on which team you’re on (Daoist or Buddhist).

The same goes for the concept 無為 wu2 wei2 - wuwei. This too is also used by Chinese Buddhist. So again ‘stirling’ (within his tradition) probably is right in what he says . 無為 originated (around Laozi time) in Legalism.

In China ‘Dao’ is not exclusively used for the Laozi Dao. Kroll dictionary listings for 道 dao: 2. … conceptual term used by all schools of thought, with same root metaphor but varying connotations: Confucian ‘Way’ incl. norms of social responsibility and personal conduct exemplified by ideal worthies such as King Wen of the Zhou, the Duke of Zhou, etc.; Dao. ‘Way’ points to absolute and ineffable reality behind flux and modalities of the world, and advisability of taking it as model; Budd. ‘Way’ incl. possibility of release from the round-of-birth-and-death (samsara) and recognition of contingent and impermanent nature of human existence.

Daoism as Laozi stuff, then yes. But in China ‘daoism’ can also refer to Buddhism, and then what ’stirling’ says probably applies. It can also refer to Confucianism, ‘Zongyongdaoist’ would probably know what it means there.

I was sorry to read this, for purely selfish reasons. You gave me some excellent feedback as a mod, which has been very useful to me in my life. But of course you have to do what’s best for you in this. Thank you Steve, for all the good work. Wishing you well.

This is 觀音 guan1 yin1, Bodhisattva of compassion, of Chinese Buddhism. She holds a bottle of water in the left hand, and middle finger and thumb of the right hand hold a willow tree branch. Guan Yin originated in India as Avalokiteshvara, the male bodhisattva of compassion. He was introduced as a male deity, early centuries AD. Later on he became androgynous, and by the eighth century had become female in China. This change because he merged with the indigenous Goddess 西王母 xi1 wang2 mu3, Queen Mother of the West. As Mahayana Buddhism began to filter into China from the 1st century CE, Taoist deities were co-opted into Buddhism.

Hi LUXAleX. Welcome to the forum.

Everything. It's the origin of it all.

Hi lost star. I would like to see your insights here too. Welcome to the forum.

Hi. No relation at all, the name refers to it’s having been used on signet seals. But there are plenty of dragons to explore. Welcome to the forum.

Hi Beep. Welcome to the forum. Just type in your question in the box at the end of an existing thread or start a new thread.

Hi LordGrim. I like your intro. It’s good to find likeminded people and talk about things. Welcome to the forum.

Hi anonym. Welcome, I hope you will enjoy the forum.

Hi Snowy. Welcome to the forum. I hope you will find the answers.