World Literature

Zhou Dynasty

1050-256 BC

Daoism: Central Themes and Questions

Paradox, Pleaure,Play -- from dissonance, harmony "walking two roads" 795 -- early post structuralism Zhuangzi in particular confronts us with the constructed rather than the essential--nature of language death:unknown and not to be feared Power: active engagement with the busy world

The Analects of Confucius Themes and Questions "is confucianism a religion?"

- philosophy and religion-- 19th century constructs: how religion operates in relation to culture and economy - Syncretism: one didn't consider oneself an "orthodox Confucian" blended with buddhism and daoism and honoring ancestors - cosmology, but no single god figure; no central human representative "the master never talked of miracles; violence;disorders; spirits" 7.21 - modern Chinese figuring it out as they go along. hard to tell whether ppl are burning incense to ancestors or to venerate Confucius himself as a god.

The Analects of Confucius Themes and Central Questions - How did this man go form being a fifth-century teacher to what John Keay calls a "cultural colossus"?

--his followers -- Han Dynasty: appropriated by Han Dynasty to help legitimize power. kept old Qin legal code and Han rulers applied a nice outer coating of confucianism to the apparatus of state power. --Eventually hardens into a state ideology; Examination System develops -- up and down in China bc of his legacy --patriarchal hierarchy is antithetical to Marxism and Kongzhi was made to represent and bear the blame for everything from feudalism to footbinding --modern revival underway

Boxers

-no central leadership -slogans: revitalize the Qing Dynasty, destroy what is foreign -the hope of individual and national preservation through martial arts - last major war where magic was used --bullet blanks ---possession by ancestors,gods,ghosts

Yuan Dynasty

1279-1368

Ming Dynasty

1368-1644

Shang Dynasty

1600-1050 BC

Qing Dynasty

1644-1911

Republic of China

1912-1949

Mao Zedong

1949-present

Which of these is not one of Buddhism's "Four Noble Truths"? Pain, suffering, and anxiety are inevitable to the human experience Suffering is a result of desire and attachment Humans can triumph over the attachments that cause suffering by following the Buddha's example of self-control and eventually escaping the cycle of reincarnation. Charitable giving of 75% of one's income is the great path to Nirvana

Charitable giving of 75% of one's income is the great path to Nirvana

Tao Qing Themes

Failure and Success Anxiety over mortality, coupled with attempts at passivity in the face of inevitability - Substance, Shadow, and Spirit Self-sufficiency in an unstable world - "in the sixth month of 408, fire" pg 1300 Simple pleasures; common frustrations Disengagment from the world - the dusty nest RTTFTD pg 1298 - The muddy game TPADW p1302 - the vast clod, earth Elegy p. 1302

According to the Norton's Introduction to Confucius, Confucianism enjoyed uninterrupted popularity in China during the rise of Communism in the 20th century.

False

The tremendous success of Buddhism in China owes a great deal to the work of zealous Buddhist missionaries, who imposed conversion on many Chinese people.

False

I hope you enjoyed Yuan Zhen's tale "The Story of Yingying." According to the Norton introduction, it became popular (and, it could be argued, remains a worthwhile story to read and discuss now) because:

The author's intent in telling it is so intriguingly ambiguous

Dao can be roughly translated as

The natural way" or "the method

According to the Norton, poetry of the Tang dynasty was characterized by more formal poetic rules than had governed the Classic of Poetry back in the Han dynasty.

True

One way in which Buddhism and Daoism harmonized was in their promise of personal salvation (so to speak) from a corrupt world.

True

In what is probably the most famous passage in all of Zhuangzi's writings, he dreams that he is ____:

a butterfly

To demonstrate how "the sage harmonizes with both right and wrong," Zhuangzi tells a little parable about:

a monkey trainer

We learn that xing, which translates roughly to "evocative images," is among the primary devices (or techniques) in the poetry of (or at least attributed to) Confucius. Which of the following images does not appear in the poems presented in the Norton?

an aged coughing monkey

jing

canon, great book, classic

Confucius was fascinated with duty, order, and tradition, and the Analects give as one example of the efficiency of proper action the model of Emperor Shun, who induced spontaneous order throughout the land simply by ________.

seating himself on his throne, facing south in ritual tradition

Buddhism's emphasis on detachment from the impermanent world came into conflict with traditional Confucian values in a variety of ways. For example, from a Confucian point of view, a young man who decided to become a Buddhist monk betrayed his family and ancestors through the act of:

shaving his head

Tao Qian's "The Peach Blossom Spring" depicts rural life as:

uptopic and pure

de defintion

virtue, personal character, inner strength

Dao definition

way

For Zhuangzi, the greatest sources of misunderstandings are ______________

words

According to the introductory passage on Early Chinese Literature and Thought, the ever-shifting Chinese empire was not based, as Rome had been, on conquest, but was instead "tied to cultural values and the power of the __________.

written word

Han Dynasty

206-220 AD

Song Dynasty

960-1279

Zhuangzi's writings are preoccupied, above all, with how to gain and maintain political power.

False

Those of you acquainted with the witty, epigrammatical style of ____________, the iconoclastic Irish playwright, probably weren't surprised to read in the Norton Introduction that he was a fan of Zhuangzi's writings.

Oscar Wilde

What major commodity emerged during the Tang dynasty and was used by Chinese and other East Asian monks during their meditation and sutra recitation?

tea

Qin Dynasty(under emperor Qin Shi Huang)

221-206BC

The speaker of the Daodejing identifies himself in the text as __________.

He doesn't identify himself at all, but speaks simply as an indefinite, nameless "I," who delivers words of wisdom as if addressing us from the cosmic void.

According to the Norton's Introduction to Medieval Chinese Literature, the apex of China's literary achievement occurred during:

The Tang and Song Dynasties

Laozi defintion

old master

ren, li, and xio are

central tenets of Confucian thought, meaning "goodness," ritual," and "filial respect"

In classical Greek mythology, the sun god Helios's team of fiery horses pulls the sun across the sky (and sets fire to the earth when his son, Phaethon, foolishly tries to steer the chariot on his own!). But Li Bai, in one of the poems you read today, describes who or what moving the sun?

six dragons

Sui Dynasty

581-618

Tang Dynasty

618-906

According to the introduction in the Norton, the Daodejing is the most translated early Chinese text, and more than _________ commentaries have been written to attempt to explain its paradoxical wisdom.

700

The famed poet Tao Qian is best remembered as

A poet whose elegantly simple meditations on the quiet pleasures of friendship, farm, and nature engage with large existential themes.

According to the Norton introduction, it is clear that the Daodejing was written as, among other things

A refutation of Confucius and his followers, and an alternative to the Confucian vision of human morality

Which of the following statements about Chinese religion during the Period of Disunion is most accurate?

Both Buddhism and Daosim encouraged withdrawing from public life.

Protestants and Catholics aren't the only ones to have differed over the question of whether religious images and icons are idolatrous or a useful part of personal piety. Those unfamiliar with the new religion of _________ in China took to calling it "the teaching of images."

Buddhism

Daoism: Background and Contexts

Daoist writers make free use of contradiction and paradox. "The way" meaning the method and active pursuit of inaction opposite pole to confucianism Ethical application of Confucianism: Confucianism emphasizes identity and significance within the context of social relationships. Daoism, skeptical of goal-oriented human action, advises against interference in natural processes.

We learn all of the following about the poet Li Bo (or, as he is more accurately called, Li Bai) except what? He never even attempted to take the civil service examination b. According to legend, he drowned while trying to embrace the moon's reflection on the water c. He wrote only a very few poems, and of those, not many have survived. d. Because of his otherworldly imagination and the dizzying realms he describes in his poems from Daoist worlds beyond this world, some called him "the banished immortal," as if he had been cast out of the heavenlies to walk among mere humans.

He wrote only a very few poems, and of those, not many have survive.

Analects of Confucius Background and Context

Kongzi- latinized to Confucius by Jesuits Itinerant teacher of spoke truth to power with predictable consequences for his employment status eventually led to the examination system

How does the author create morally complex characters?

Little Bao is: illiterate, credulous, witness to tremendous violence himself

Laozi advises in the Daodejing, "Know the ________ But keep to the role of the _________."

Male / female

Boxers Dates

Spring of 1900: boxers attack railroad in perking. June 21st, 1900: the dowager empress cixi ceremonial head of the Qing dynasty declares official support for the boxers, who then become a sort of militia movement within the Chinese army

We learn that a courtier of Emperor Wu who assisted in writing the first comprehensive history of China had the misfortune of angering the emperor over a minor matter. For this, he was punished by:

castration

In Book XIV, Confucius strikes a young man across the shin with his stick for disrespectfully doing what?

man spreading

n Book XIII of the Analects, Confucius says, "Alas! These puny creatures are not even worth mentioning!" Of whom was he speaking?

the politicians of this day

What metaphorical image that we saw repeatedly in Tao Qian's poems occurs also in the poetry of Li Bai?

the world described rather disdainfully as a "ball of mud"