Daoist Meditation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Komjathy
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Early Medieval Period ◽  
Insight Meditation ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The One ◽  
Internal Alchemy

Meditation has been and remains a central practice in the Daoist (Taoist) tradition. This chapter examines Daoist meditation, often referred to as dazuo (“engaging in sitting”) and shouyi (“guarding the One”) in Chinese, from the Later Han dynasty to the present. It provides a general overview of the five major forms of Daoist meditation, namely, apophatic meditation, ingestion, visualization, inner observation, and internal alchemy. Ingestion (fuqi) and visualization (cunxiang) were first systematized in the early medieval period. Inner observation (neiguan), a Daoist adaptation of Buddhist insight meditation (vipassanā), became a central practice during the Tang dynasty. Internal alchemy (neidan) developed during the late Tang dynasty and early Song dynasty. Following this period, apophatic meditation and internal alchemy became the two dominant forms of Daoist meditative praxis. In addition to providing socio-historical background information, this chapter discusses the technical specifics of each type of Daoist meditation, including major texts and informing views.

Women Rulers in Imperial China

NAN Nü ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Women Rulers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Imperial China

“Women Rulers in Imperial China”is about the history and characteristics of rule by women in China from the Han dynasty to the Qing, especially focusing on the Tang dynasty ruler Wu Zetian (625-705) and the Song dynasty Empress Liu. The usual reason that allowed a woman to rule was the illness, incapacity, or death of her emperor-husband and the extreme youth of his son the successor. In such situations, the precedent was for a woman to govern temporarily as regent and, when the heir apparent became old enough, hand power to him. But many women ruled without being recognized as regent, and many did not hand power to the son once he was old enough, or even if they did, still continued to exert power. In the most extreme case, Wu Zetian declared herself emperor of her own dynasty. She was the climax of the long history of women rulers. Women after her avoided being compared to her but retained many of her methods of legitimization, such as the patronage of art and religion, the use of cosmic titles and vocabulary, and occasional gestures of impersonating a male emperor. When women ruled, it was an in-between time when notions and language about something that was not supposed to be nevertheless took shape and tested the limits of what could be made acceptable.

Transitions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Heine
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Social Influences ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Religious Leaders ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
China And Japan ◽  
Commercial Network

Chapter 2 examines political factors and social influences that contributed to the construction of the Legend of Living Buddhas, a benchmark for the institutional and artistic shift from Chinese Chan to Japanese Zen. It aims to answer the question of how the Zen monastic institution managed to gain a wide following of religious leaders and their disciples as well as lay followers, especially Song-dynasty literati, after struggling for centuries to grow in China beginning with the historical background of the Tang dynasty. Stressing the commercial network of maritime routes linking China and Japan, along with cultural as well as commercial connections that inspired monks to make the daring trip across the waters, the chapter shows how transnational relationships formed between creative priests from both countries, particularly in regard to the mythology of Living Buddhas.

Analysis on the Cloud Shoulder Pattern of the Yuan Dynasty Fabrics

2013 ◽  
Vol 821-822 ◽  
pp. 823-828
Author(s):  
Ke Yan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Yuan Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Yuan Dynasty ◽  
Cloud Pattern ◽  
Usual Pattern ◽  
White Porcelain

The cloud shoulder pattern with four weeping clouds shape commonly used for decorating the parts from collar to shoulder for clothing and shoulder part for blue and white porcelain can be traced back to persimmon calyx pattern of the Han Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the pattern of a four-petal leaf as first went for pattern details change and later advanced into cross flower, developing into the usual pattern decorated on fabrics. Till the Song dynasty, persimmon calyx pattern combined with Ruyi cloud (auspicious cloud) and was applied to architectures. However, the Yuan Dynasty’s shoulder cloud pattern with four weeping clouds shape used for decorating shoulders of clothing or porcelain was generated from combination of Ruyi cloud persimmon calyx pattern and “Bo” which was used to keep necks from wind and sand for Nomads in northern part of the country and developed into the cloud shoulder pattern focusing on decorating the shoulder of clothing and widely was used for nobles’ clothing. Gradually, the pattern was used for decorating crafts such as blue and white porcelain and gold and silver ware in the Yuan Dynasty. The cloud shoulder pattern spread from nobles to folks and was popular for decoration.

scholarly journals Silent Accord: Qi 契 as a Metaphor for Enlightenment and Transmission in Chan Buddhist Discourse

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Aleksi Järvelä ◽  
Tero Tähtinen
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
History Of

In this paper, we explore the historical background and the semantic underpinnings of a central, if marginally treated, metaphor of enlightenment and transmission in Chan discourse, “silent accord” 默契. It features centrally in Essentials of the Transmission of Mind 傳心法要, a text that gathers the teachings of Chan master Huangbo Xiyun (d. ca. 850), a major Tang dynasty figure. “Silent accord” is related to the concept of mind-to-mind transmission, which lies at the very core of Chan Buddhist self-understanding. However, Chan historiography has shown that this self-understanding was partially a product of the Song dynasty lineage records, historically retroactive syncretic constructs produced by monks and literati as efforts towards doctrinal and political recognition and orthodoxy. There are thus lacunae in the history of Chan thought opened up by the retrospective fictions of Song dynasty, and a lack of reliable, dateable documents from the preceding Tang dynasty era, possibly fraught with later additions. We situate the metaphor “silent accord” in the history of Chan thought by searching for its origins, mapping its functions in Chan literature, arguing for its influence and thereby its role in helping to bridge the 9th century gap.

scholarly journals Relationship between climate change and wars between nomadic and farming groups from the Western Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty period

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 3567-3595
Author(s):  
Y. Su ◽  
L. Liu ◽  
X. Q. Fang ◽  
Y. N. Ma
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Animal Husbandry ◽  
Solid Material ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
The South ◽  
Central Plains ◽  
Western Han Dynasty ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Background Climate

Abstract. In ancient China, the change in regional agriculture and animal husbandry productivity caused by climate change led to either wars or peaceful relations between nomadic and farming groups. From the Western Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty there were 367 wars between the two groups. The nomadic people initiated 69 % of the wars, but 62.4 % were won by the farmers. On a 30 year-period timescale, warm climates corresponded to a high incidence of wars. The conflicts between the nomadic and farming groups took place in some areas which are sensitive to climate change. During the cold periods, the battlefields were mostly in the southern regions. The main causes which leading to the above results are following: (1) warm climate provided a solid material foundation for nomadic and farming groups, especially contributed to improve the productivity of nomadic group; meanwhile, the excessive desire for essential means of subsistence in nomadic group could led to wars. (2) During the cold periods, people of farming group moved to the south and construct the south, meanwhile, nomadic group occupied the central plains, thus the battlefields also changed. As the background, climate change plays an indirect role in wars between groups.

scholarly journals Could phenological records from Chinese poems of the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279 CE) be reliable evidence of past climate changes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 929-950
Author(s):  
Yachen Liu ◽  
Xiuqi Fang ◽  
Junhu Dai ◽  
Huanjiong Wang ◽  
Zexing Tao
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
Tang And Song Dynasties ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Past Climate Change ◽  
Phenological Records

Abstract. Phenological records in historical documents have been proven to be of unique value for reconstructing past climate changes. As a literary genre, poetry reached its peak in the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279 CE) in China. Sources from this period could provide abundant phenological records in the absence of phenological observations. However, the reliability of phenological records from poems, as well as their processing methods, remains to be comprehensively summarized and discussed. In this paper, after introducing the certainties and uncertainties of phenological information in poems, the key processing steps and methods for deriving phenological records from poems and using them in past climate change studies are discussed: (1) two principles, namely the principle of conservatism and the principle of personal experience, should be followed to reduce uncertainties; (2) the phenological records in poems need to be filtered according to the types of poems, background information, rhetorical devices, spatial representations, and human influence; (3) animals and plants are identified at the species level according to their modern distributions and the sequences of different phenophases; (4) phenophases in poems are identified on the basis of modern observation criteria; (5) the dates and sites for the phenophases in poems are confirmed from background information and related studies. As a case study, 86 phenological records from poems of the Tang Dynasty in the Guanzhong region in China were extracted to reconstruct annual temperature anomalies in specific years in the period between 600 and 900 CE. Following this, the reconstruction from poems was compared with relevant reconstructions in published studies to demonstrate the validity and reliability of phenological records from poems in studies of past climate changes. This paper reveals that the phenological records from poems could be useful evidence of past climate changes after being scientifically processed. This could provide an important reference for future studies in this domain, in both principle and methodology, pursuant of extracting and applying phenological records from poems for larger areas and different periods in Chinese history.

The Influence of Foreign Trade Activities on Chinese Loan Words from the Historical Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 690
Author(s):  
Yiming Zhao ◽  
Yeli Shi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Late Qing Dynasty ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Loan Words ◽  
Late Qing ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Republic

In the process of thousands of years’ dynasties change and social development, it is not difficult to find the sustained impact of foreign trade on Chinese society. Trade has output both the goods and culture of China. At the same time it also brought in the material and non-material civilization from other places of the world. As a product of foreign culture, loan words are not only a microcosm of the outcome of trade activities in specific periods, but also enrichment to Chinese language. This article intends to elaborate the influence of trade activities on Chinese loan words with the development of history as the pointcut, focusing on the typical periods of the development of foreign trade in China, including the Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

scholarly journals THE TEA ROAD: FROM CHINA TO UZBEKISTAN (7-15TH CENTURIES)

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 4913-4924
Author(s):  
Mahfuza Bahriddinovna Mamatova
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
The People ◽  
Ferghana Valley ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Tea Drinking ◽  
Made In China

Five thousand years ago, the first tea was made in China. Only from the beginning of the Middle Ages people of neighboring countries of China recognized tea and until the Tang Dynasty, tea drinking was not widespread. Beginning of the 7th century tea brought Central Asia with the Tea Road. From this period he stretched from China to India. At the centre of this path was Central Asia, the ancient cities of Uzbekistan namely after Samarkand, Bukhara, Tashkent and the Ferghana Valley. It was the northeastern Tea Road that connected China with Central Asia and was much more ancient than other directions of this route. In the 7-15th centuries The Tea Road developed in different historical periods. During the Tang Dynasty in China, Sogdian merchants brought tea to Central Asia. During the Song Dynasty, it was traded by Central Asian merchants and opened their tea shops in China. The Samanid rulers were the patrons of the tea trade. Under the Ming and Timuridsempire, an intensive ambassadorial-diplomatic relationship between China and Central Asia was strengthened. During this period, among the various goods, the main article of Chinese exports was tea, which was exchanged for thoroughbred horses brought from Central Asia. Since the time of the Tang Dynasty, bilateral trade has been established with Central Asia, and as part of the Tea Road, there were several main and a number of experimental routes along which tea went to Central Asia. In these paths, there were customs points - cities that played an important role in China's trade and economic ties with Central Asia. Today, tea is considered a favourite drink of the peoples of Central Asia, including Uzbekistan. Green tea is imported to Uzbekistan from China and it has become a national drink for the people of Uzbekistan.

Tomb Architecture of Dynastic China: Old and New Questions

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Qinghua Guo
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Eastern Han

A significant number of tombs have survived from the Han dynasty (Western Han 206 BC-AD 8, Eastern Han 25–220), an important period for tomb architecture in China. The number of examples is in stark contrast to the lack of evidence of other architecture from the period. In fact, no timber architecture built before the Tang dynasty (618–907) exists today. While much care and scholarly effort has been devoted to the interpretation of ancient architecture, funeral architecture has not received adequate study and scrutiny.

Of the Water Gate on the Ancient City Wall of China

2014 ◽  
Vol 1030-1032 ◽  
pp. 823-826
Author(s):  
He Qun Li ◽  
Yan Li Wu
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Sluice Gate ◽  
City Wall ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Water Gate ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
The Tang Dynasty

On the ancient city wall of China, the water gate used to been built. Probably before the Tang Dynasty, it always took the shape of hole in order to drain and prevent others from entering city. From the Song Dynasty on, for the sake of navigation, the majority of water gates became the sluice gate that could go up and down.

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