Search results for ""Author Tony Blishen""

Normality today is to be enslaved by the material world to the point where individual happiness has not kept pace with increasing material prosperity. Have we lost our original nature in the pursuit of the external material world? Wang Yangming’s School of Mind of nearly 500 years ago teaches us how to overcome external circumstances and seek the source of the great strength that lies in our innermost being. Wang Yangming’s School of Mind is a gathering together of the achievements of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. It is one of the most representative and influential strands of Chinese philosophical thought and proposes that “conscience” is a cosmic prime principle innate in man that transcends all living things. The lifelong realization and practice of conscience is the only path towards self-fulfillment and perfection of character. This book uses Wang Yangming’s principles of “Mind is Principle,” “the unity of knowledge and action,” and “the exercise of conscience” to describe the School of Mind in simple terms to enable you to understand your own original self and go on a journey of self-cultivation that will gain you a kind of inner freedom and strength.

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This collection of Zen poems and essays guides readers towards the joy of life.In the 1,600 years that have elapsed since the arrival of Indian Buddhism in China during the Han and Jin dynasties, Buddhist monks and scholars have integrated the essence of Zen Buddhist thought with the classical forms of Chinese literature to create over 30,000 simple, lively poems of deep moral significance. Their authors convey an understanding of Zen, of its practice, or of the knowledge gained through meditation, they promote its philosophical principles and display its interest. The poems are widely known, long lived and much loved. Professor Wu Yansheng has selected 66 classic poems by 54 historical scholars or monks ranging from Tao Yuanming (365–427), Han Shan (7th and 8th centuries), Wang Wei (701–761), to Xu Yun (1840–1959). He provides insights and a detailed introduction to the author of each poem in the hope of guiding the reader towards the realms of Zen and its poetry. These poems represent the highest achievement of Zen poetry. The single qualification for inclusion has been depth of feeling and understanding. Each poem indicates a realm where the duality of opposites has been transcended to achieve spiritual harmony. It shows the way to release and spiritual freedom. It shows a garden of peace of mind that brings restlessness to an end. In opening this book, the reader will… Visit the depths of the realms of Zen and poetry, of life and awakening and of the wisdom of the East. Enter the spiritual world of the enlightened and together with the great Masters enjoy the tranquillity, purity, and ethereal nature of life. Dispel anxiety, purify the soul and live poetically in the world.

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In China, the tradition of living as a hermit has existed for 5,000 years and is one of the mysteries of its culture. In the age of the internet hermits still dwell in the mountain ranges south of Xi'an living life as it was thousands of years ago. Drawn to the hermetic life, the author spent three years in the depths of the Zhongnan Mountains visiting and staying with over 100 hermits. In their midst, high amongst the clouds he practiced with the hermits, achieved enlightenment and learned their secret traditions. Seated above the clouds he looked down on the mundane world below as he refined his spirit and reformed his soul in the experience of a different mode of existence.As contemporary man busied himself with the creation of his own networks, and searched for knowledge, wealth and love, the author took the opposite route and sought out the hermits of legend. As we close the book, his efforts allow us, for a moment, to transcend the chaos of life, achieve detachment and an inner contemplation and turn and enter our own inner being.

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In Chinese Zen, author Prof. Yansheng shows how Zen, with its universal concern for the human condition, can help the individual achieve happiness and spiritual stability through a "eureka moment" of enlightenment that liberates the mind from its world of competing interests.By drawing on the vast literature of Chinese Zen Buddhism, Prof. Yansheng presents traditional Buddhist sayings, stories and dialogues that illustrate the way historical masters of Zen sought to induce their pupils to reduced inner conflict. In so doing, he allows the reader a panoramic view of the origins and development of Zen Buddhism in China and demonstrates its influence on literature in particular.

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Wood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea—otherwise known as "the seven things that open the door"—are the basic kitchen necessities Chinese people cannot do without in their daily lives. Among them, tea holds a very special place. It is not only a beverage, but also an integral part of people's hearts and minds, thus shaping a unique tea culture in China.In All the Tea in China, you will learn everything about Chinese tea for practical uses, as well as for meditation. Discover the origin of tea, its different species, production method and drinking etiquette. Also, through the vivid illustrations, readers will gain information about what tea is and how to identify a good quality kind. At the same time, the quotations, poems, sayings, and stories in the book are presented chronologically so that readers can appreciate what tea has inspired and why it continues to delight the Chinese people. A joy to read, All the Tea in China will be sure to enhance your tea experience.

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This commentary on the Chinese masterpiece, The Classic of Tea, offers a fascinating perspective on this ancient pastime and art.The Classic of Tea, the first known monograph on tea in the world, was written in the 8th century by Lu Yu who devoted his entire life to the study of tea and is respected as the Sage of Tea. Wu Juenong, an agronomist and economist specializing in agriculture, has studied tea all his life. This book is the culmination of lifelong research on Chinese tea culture and history, introducing the readers to modern findings of effects and properties of tea, types of tea preparations, the evolution of tea growing regions and tea drinking customs across China, in addition to extensive annotation. Both scholarly and informative, An Illustrated Modern Reader of 'The Classic of Tea' has been acclaimed as a New Classic of Tea. An Illustrated Modern Reader of 'The Classic of Tea' also includes vivid illustrations and pictures of tools and utensils for the making and drinking of tea, either hand-drawn or collected by him, which the original The Classic of Tea lacked. Selected Chinese traditional paintings in the book illuminate the elegant art of brewing and drinking tea, the social rituals associated with tea drinking, and the reformative and cultural significance of tea ceremonies.

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With fascinating commentary and beautiful artwork this Chinese art history book is allows Westerners to better understand traditional Chinese painting.Applying a comparative approach to Chinese and Western art, this art book examines the characteristics of traditional Chinese art and analyses the distinction between figure painting and portraiture. It examines the scenery in Chinese landscape painting and the sense of poetry within the paintings of flowers and birds so that the reader comes to understand the unique essence of Chinese art and is gradually led towards the evanescent world of spiritual abstraction displayed in Chinese painting. The development of Chinese painting is based upon the pursuit of the conceptual sense (yijing) found in traditional Chinese philosophy and classical literature. Confucianism determined the content of the development of painting and Daoism guided the concept of aestheticism within that development. In the history of Chinese art, every painter who made a contribution was also moral philosopher who sought the realms of the spirit. It would be no exaggeration to say that traditional Chinese painting is a "higher art" that has the functions of both civilizing the person and cultivating the mind. It is not simply a creation designed to satisfy the visual sense or to express individual emotion. It has always been harmonious, tranquil and restrained.

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This award-winning novel, by one of China's most prolific contemporary writers focuses on a middle-class family in near contemporary Shanghai and deals with themes that transcend time and place: family relationships and growing old.Retired nurse Ling Deqing is astonished one day to find her long divorced 80-year-old husband, Xiao Zichen, standing on the doorstep. Following the death of his second wife, he has found his way back to his first home in a fit of absent-mindedness, a sign of the onset of dementia. Reluctant at first, Ling Deqing eventually takes him back to ease the burden on her daughter, Xiao Ying.In Memory and Oblivion, the larger world disappears into the day-to-day problems of caring for a person with Alzheimer's. But within those problems, Ling Deqing discovers the beauty of family relationships, brought into sharp clarity against the backdrop of oblivion caused by Alzheimer's.

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This beautifully photographed Chinese art book is a comprehensive exploration of jade and its history in China from the Neolithic times to the Qing dynasty.To the Chinese people, jade is a precious stone endowed with magical properties which encapsulated all that mankind aspires to in terms of character, elegance, tranquility, purity and virtue. The Chinese love jade not merely because of its rarity or its luster but because of a deeper aesthetic value.Chinese Jade: The Spiritual and Cultural Significance of Jade in China presents a comprehensive view of jade and its history in China from Neolithic times to the Qing dynasty. It illustrates pieces of jade that are on display not only in the Palace Museum in Beijing but in the many provincial and other museums across China. It will help the reader to understand what jade means to the Chinese in China; how it is classified and described and where it is found and worked and displayed. It has a value beyond that of a simple catalog and places jade in its natural, and central, cultural context.

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