About the Author
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the Internets a better place. Thanks for reading!
Category Archives: Philosophy
Han Feizi: Total Bastard
Lately, besides my usual projects (blog, plus Korean studies), I’ve been reading a famous Chinese book called the Han Feizi (Burton Watson’s excellent translation). Han Feizi (韓非子, 280–233 BC) was the foremost thinker in the Legalism school of Chinese thought … Continue reading
Posted in China, Confucius, Literature, Philosophy, Politics
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Long Gone: The Ancient Egyptians
When I was in high-school, I remember spending a lot of time at home, reading about ancient civilizations. I would listen to my Seattle grunge music1 and read long books from the school library about the Sumerians, the Egyptians, Babylonians, … Continue reading
Posted in Dune, Literature, Philosophy, Religion, Seattle, Zelazny
Tagged "King Tut", Egypt
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Confucius and the Arts
[8:8] Confucius said: “Be aroused by poetry; structure yourself with propriety, refine yourself with music.” (trans. A.C. Muller) This quotation above, from the Analects of Confucius in many ways epitomizes the ideal Confucian lifestyle: the life of a gentleman.1 For … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Philosophy
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Confucius and the Two Recluses
Recently, among other things, I’ve been enjoying a read of Tsai Chih-Chung’s comic rendition of the Analects of Confucius. For those not familiar, he is a very famous Taiwanese comic artist who is best known for making Chinese classics in … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Confucius, Philosophy, Religion, Taoism
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Medieval Japanese Marxism?
Continuing my theme this week of “Idleness Week“, I wanted to post another good quotation from the 13th Century Japanese text, the Essays in Idleness, or tsurézurégusa (徒然草). This comes from section 142: It is wrong for anyone who has … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Japan, Literature, Philosophy, Politics, Taoism
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Room for Improvement: wise words from Confucius
Recently, while having lunch with a friend, I was reminded of this quotation from the Analects of Confucius: [7:22] Confucius said: “When three men are walking together, there is one who can be my teacher. I pick out people’s good … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Philosophy, Religion
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The Confucian Life
Confucius summed up his life once in the Analects rather nicely. I remembered this after watching my daughter’s TV show, nihongo de asobo, which taught the famous quotation (in Japanese, not Chinese): 吾れ十有五にして学に志す; ware jūyū ni shite gaku ni kokorozasu. … Continue reading
Posted in China, Confucius, Japan, Philosophy
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Confucius and Priorities
Something lately I wanted to share was this passage from the Analects of Confucius, Book 3: [3:13] Wang Sunjia asked: “What do you think about the saying ‘It is better to sacrifice to the god of the stove than to … Continue reading
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Being a gentleman, according to Confucius
Something I found in the Analects of Confucius while researching another post. The ideal person in Confucian thought is the gentleman, a kind of gentleman-scholar, faithful to others, sincere in deeds, and never giving up in his efforts of self-cultivation. … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Confucius, Philosophy, Religion
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Hear one, know ten
Recently, while watching Japanese TV with my daughter, we saw another episode of the children’s show, nihongo de asobo, which teaches children classic Japanese texts and wisdom with a modern, artistic spin. In this episode, they briefly showed a quotation … Continue reading
Posted in Confucius, Japan, Philosophy
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