SuaveG – The Gentle Path

Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature

natural order

  • The Doctrine of the Mean: Confucian Wisdom for Balance and Harmony

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    Ana

    As one of the “Four Books” of Confucianism, The Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong) stands as a profound guide to living in harmony with oneself, others, and the natural order. Attributed to Zisi, the grandson of Confucius, this text was originally a chapter in the Book of Rites before being elevated to a standalone…

  • Tao Te Ching: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Wisdom and Harmony

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    Rob

    Among the world’s most influential philosophical texts, the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) stands out as a masterpiece of brevity and profound insight. Attributed to Laozi (Lao Tzu), a mysterious sage believed to have lived in the 6th century BCE during China’s Spring and Autumn Period, this small book of just 81 chapters…

  • Caigentan 128. The cosmic order of self and society

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    Juan

    Man’s body is like a small cosmos. So long as his joy and anger are not excessive, and his love and hatred are not lopsided, there will be order and harmony.

  • Exploitation and oppression in “The Black Beast”

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    Ana

    In Strange Tales from Liaozhai: The Black Beast, an elder named Li Jingyi recounts an incident near Shenyang: A gentleman hosting a banquet on a mountaintop witnesses a tiger carrying an object in its mouth. The tiger digs a pit, buries the object (a dead deer), and leaves. The gentleman sends men to retrieve…

  • Dao De Jing – Chapter 76

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    Ana

    Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of…