jueves, 10 de enero de 2013

改善

Kaizen (改善, "cambio a mejor" o "mejora" en japonés; el uso común de su traducción al castellano es "mejora continua" o "mejoramiento continuo")

En su contexto este artículo trata de Kaizen como una estrategia o metodología de calidad en la empresa y en el trabajo, tanto individual como colectivo. Kaizen es hoy una palabra muy relevante en varios idiomas, ya que se trata de la filosofía asociada al sistema de producción Toyota, empresa fabricante de vehículos de origen japonés.

Durante los años 1950, en Japón, la ocupación de las fuerzas militares estadounidenses trajo consigo expertos en métodos estadísticos de Control de calidad de procesos que estaban familiarizados con los programas de entrenamiento denominados TWI (Training Within Industry) cuyo propósito era proveer servicios de consultoría a las industrias relacionadas con la Guerra.

Los programas TWI durante la posguerra se convirtieron en instrucción a la industria civil japonesa, en lo referente a métodos de trabajo (control estadístico de procesos). Estos conocimientos metodológicos los impartieron W. Edwards Deming y Joseph M. Juran; y fueron muy fácilmente asimilados por los japoneses. Es así como se encontraron la inteligencia emocional de los orientales (la milenaria filosofía de superación), y la inteligencia racional de los occidentales y dieron lugar a lo que ahora se conoce como la estrategia de mejora de la calidad Kaizen. La aplicación de esta estrategia a su industria llevó al país a estar entre las principales economías del mundo.

Este concepto filosófico, elemento del acervo cultural del Japón, se lo lleva a la práctica y no sólo tiene por objeto que tanto la compañía como las personas que trabajan en ella se encuentren bien hoy, sino que la empresa es impulsada con herramientas organizativas para buscar siempre mejores resultados.

Partiendo del principio de que el tiempo es el mejor indicador aislado de competitividad, actúa en grado óptimo al reconocer y eliminar desperdicios en la empresa, sea en procesos productivos ya existentes o en fase de proyecto, de productos nuevos, del mantenimiento de máquinas o incluso de procedimientos administrativos.

Su metodología trae consigo resultados concretos, tanto cualitativos como cuantitativos, en un lapso relativamente corto y a un bajo costo (por lo tanto, aumenta el beneficio) apoyado en la sinergia que genera el trabajo en equipo de la estructura formada para alcanzar las metas establecidas por la dirección de la compañía.

Fue Kaoru Ishikawa el que retomó este concepto para definir como la mejora continua o Kaizen, se puede aplicar a los procesos, siempre y cuando se conozcan todas las variables del proceso.

Los caracteres originales para esta palabra son 改善 (pronunciado kaizen en japonés; gǎishàn en chino), donde:

改 (kai en japonés, gǎi en chino) significa 'cambio' o 'la acción de enmendar'.
善 (zen en japonés, shàn en chino) significa 'bueno' o 'beneficioso'.



Kaizen (改善?), Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and business management. It has been applied in healthcare,[1] psychotherapy,[2] life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.[3] By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world[4] and is now being implemented in many other venues besides just business and productivity.

The Japanese word "kaizen" simply means "improvement," with no inherent meaning of either "continuous" or "philosophy" in Japanese dictionaries or in everyday use. The word refers to any improvement, one-time or continuous, large or small, in the same sense as the mundane English word "improvement".[5] However, given the common practice in Japan of labeling industrial or business improvement techniques with the word "kaizen" (for lack of a specific Japanese word meaning "continuous improvement" or "philosophy of improvement"), especially in the case of oft-emulated practices spearheaded by Toyota, the word Kaizen in English is typically applied to measures for implementing continuous improvement, or even taken to mean a "Japanese philosophy" thereof. The discussion below focuses on such interpretations of the word, as frequently used in the context of modern management discussions.

Kaizen is a daily process, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work ("muri"), and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method and how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes. In all, the process suggests a humanized approach to workers and to increasing productivity: "The idea is to nurture the company's human resources as much as it is to praise and encourage participation in kaizen activities."[6] Successful implementation requires "the participation of workers in the improvement."[7] People at all levels of an organization participate in kaizen, from the CEO down to janitorial staff, as well as external stakeholders when applicable. The format for kaizen can be individual, suggestion system, small group, or large group. At Toyota, it is usually a local improvement within a workstation or local area and involves a small group in improving their own work environment and productivity. This group is often guided through the kaizen process by a line supervisor; sometimes this is the line supervisor's key role. Kaizen on a broad, cross-departmental scale in companies, generates total quality management, and frees human efforts through improving productivity using machines and computing power.[citation needed]

While kaizen (at Toyota) usually delivers small improvements, the culture of continual aligned small improvements and standardization yields large results in the form of compound productivity improvement. This philosophy differs from the "command and control" improvement programs of the mid-twentieth century. Kaizen methodology includes making changes and monitoring results, then adjusting. Large-scale pre-planning and extensive project scheduling are replaced by smaller experiments, which can be rapidly adapted as new improvements are suggested.[citation needed]

In modern usage, it is designed to address a particular issue over the course of a week and is referred to as a "kaizen blitz" or "kaizen event". These are limited in scope, and issues that arise from them are typically used in later blitzes.

After WWII, to help restore Japan, American occupation forces brought in American experts to help with the rebuilding of Japanese industry while The Civil Communications Section (CCS) developed a Management Training Program that taught statistical control methods as part of the overall material. This course was developed and taught by Homer Sarasohn and Charles Protzman in 1949-50. Sarasohn recommended W. Edwards Deming for further training in Statistical Methods.

The Economic and Scientific Section (ESS) group was also tasked with improving Japanese management skills and Edgar McVoy was instrumental in bringing Lowell Mellen to Japan to properly install the Training Within Industry (TWI) programs in 1951.

Prior to the arrival of Mellen in 1951, the ESS group had a training film to introduce the three TWI "J" programs (Job Instruction, Job Methods and Job Relations)---the film was titled "Improvement in 4 Steps" (Kaizen eno Yon Dankai). Thus the original introduction of "Kaizen" to Japan. For the pioneering, introduction, and implementation of Kaizen in Japan, the Emperor of Japan awarded the 2nd Order Medal of the Sacred Treasure to Dr. Deming in 1960. Consequently, the Union of Japanese Science and Engineering (JUSE) instituted the annual Deming Prizes for achievement in quality and dependability of products.

On October 18, 1989, JUSE awarded the Deming Prize to Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL), based in the US, for its exceptional accomplishments in process and quality control management. FPL was the first company outside Japan to win the Deming Prize.


The Toyota Production System is known for kaizen, where all line personnel are expected to stop their moving production line in case of any abnormality and, along with their supervisor, suggest an improvement to resolve the abnormality which may initiate a kaizen.

The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as:

Standardize an operation and activities.
Measure the operation (find cycle time and amount of in-process inventory)
Gauge measurements against requirements
Innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity
Standardize the new, improved operations
Continue cycle ad infinitum

This is also known as the Shewhart cycle, Deming cycle, or PDCA. Other techniques used in conjunction with PDCA include 5 Whys, which is a form of root cause analysis in which the user asks "why" to a problem and finds an answer five successive times. There are normally a series of root causes stemming from one problem,[10] and they can be visualized using fishbone diagrams or tables.

Masaaki Imai made the term famous in his book Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success.[11]

Apart from business applications of the method, both Anthony Robbins[citation needed] and Robert Maurer have popularized the kaizen principles into personal development principles. In the book One Small Step Can Change Your life: The Kaizen Way, and CD set The Kaizen Way to Success, Maurer looks at how individuals can take a kaizen approach in both their personal and professional lives.[12][13]

In the Toyota Way Fieldbook, Liker and Meier discuss the kaizen blitz and kaizen burst (or kaizen event) approaches to continuous improvement. A kaizen blitz, or rapid improvement, is a focused activity on a particular process or activity. The basic concept is to identify and quickly remove waste. Another approach is that of the kaizen burst, a specific kaizen activity on a particular process in the value stream




domingo, 6 de enero de 2013

become the balance



Published on Jul 28, 2012
Rock Balance Demonstration by Michael Grab July 2012
The challenge here was making this balance happen within the 5 minute video limitation of my camera... it took about 5 takes to finally get it (AFTER getting to know the rocks).
*FOCUS. Relax. the coolest thing is that the camera was able to capture the creation AND natural collapse of the balance before the 5 minute limit. completing the cycle. :)) so here's how it's done.
*notice the technique of bracing the lower rocks while placing the next. the top rock acts as a pin to stabilize the whole structure, which is why it is very helpful to use a LARGE rock on top. plus, i like the overall design balance that the large top rock adds. and i love shades of red. as soon as i found that red rock, i knew it must go on top. it was a beautiful rock. :) contemplate, try it for yourself. all about presence in the moment. SLOW down. become the balance. :)
If you want to see the crazy things Mr. Grab can do, look here. As it happens, ourRadiolab podcast this week is also a meditation on stones. We kick ours. (In order to find out what — deep, deep down — rocks are made of. Not atoms, not protons, electrons, not quarks, says our guest writer, Jim Holt. He thinks rocks are made of "math." We then throw things at each other. You might want to listen.)

jueves, 3 de enero de 2013

D.T. Suzuki


Poisoned Pen Letters? D.T. Suzuki’s Communication of Zen to the West

By Dharmachāri Nāgapriya

Introduction

Daisetsu Teitarō Suzuki (1870-1966) has been widely celebrated as the first transmitter of Japanese Zen to the ‘West’i, especially the USA and Great Britain.ii In the course of his long life, he published dozens of books that practically defined the meaning of Zen for western audiences. In recent decades, however, the shine on Suzuki’s reputation has been somewhat worn off by some heavy criticisms.

Dukkha

Dukkha (Pāli; Sanskrit: duḥkha; Tibetan phonetic: dukngal) is a Buddhist term commonly translated as "suffering", "stress", "anxiety", or "dissatisfaction". Dukkha is identified as the first of the Four Noble Truths.

The early Western translators of Buddhist texts (prior to the 1970s) translated the Pali term dukkha as "suffering" and conveyed the impression that Buddhism was a pessimistic or world-denying philosophy. Later translators, however, including Walpola Rahula (What Buddha Taught, 1974) and nearly all contemporary translators, have emphasized that "suffering" is too limited a translation for the term dukkha, and have preferred to either leave the term untranslated or to clarify that translation with terms such as unease, anxiety, stress, dissatisfaction, disquietude, etc.

miércoles, 2 de enero de 2013

魂 魄

Hun (Chinese: 魂; pinyin: hún; Wade–Giles: hun; literally "cloud-soul") and po (Chinese: 魄; pinyin: pò; Wade–Giles: p'o; literally "white-soul") are types of souls in Chinese philosophy and religion. Within this ancient soul dualism tradition, every living human has both a hun spiritual, ethereal, yang soul which leaves the body after death, and also a po corporeal, substantive, yin soul which remains with the corpse of the deceased. Some controversy exists over the number of souls in a person; for instance, one of the traditions within Daoism proposes a soul structure of sanhunqipo 三魂七魄; that is, "three hun and seven po". The historian Yü Ying-shih describes hun and po as "two pivotal concepts that have been, and remain today, the key to understanding Chinese views of the human soul and the afterlife."

The Chinese characters 魂 and 魄 for hun and po typify the most common character classification of "radical-phonetic" or "phono-semantic" graphs, which combine a "radical" or "signific" (recurring graphic elements that roughly provide semantic information) with a "phonetic" (suggesting ancient pronunciation). Hun 魂 (or 䰟) and po 魄 have the "ghost radical" gui 鬼 "ghost; devil" and phonetics of yun 云 "cloud; cloudy" and bai 白 "white; clear; pure".
Besides the common meaning of "a soul", po 魄 was a variant Chinese character for po 霸 "a lunar phase" and po 粕 "dregs". The Shujing "Book of History" used po 魄 as a graphic variant for po 霸 "dark aspect of the moon" – this character usually means ba 霸 "overlord; hegemon". For example, "On the third month, when (the growth phase, 生魄) of the moon began to wane, the duke of Chow [i.e., Duke of Zhou] commenced the foundations, and proceeded to build the new great city of Lǒ" (tr. Legge 1865:434). The Zhuangzi "[Writings of] Master Zhuang" wrote zaopo 糟粕 (lit. "rotten dregs") "worthless; unwanted; waste matter" with a po 魄 variant. A wheelwright sees Duke Huan of Qi with books by dead sages and says, "what you are reading there is nothing but the [糟魄] chaff and dregs of the men of old!" (tr. Watson 1968:152).
In the history of Chinese writing, characters for po 魄/霸 "lunar brightness" appeared before those for hun 魂 "soul; spirit". The spiritual hun 魂 and po 魄 "dual souls" are first recorded in Warring States Period (475–221 BCE) Seal Script characters. The lunar po 魄 or 霸 "moon's brightness" appears in both Zhou Dynasty (1045–256 BCE) Bronzeware script and Oracle bone script, but not in Shang Dynasty (ca. 1600–1046 BCE) oracle inscriptions. The earliest form of this "lunar brightness" character was found on a (ca. 11th century BCE) Zhou oracle bone inscription (Yü 1987:370).

The po soul's etymology is better understood than the hun soul's. Schuessler (2007:290, 417) reconstructs hun 魂 "'spiritual soul' which makes a human personality" and po 魄 "vegetative or animal soul … which accounts for growth and physiological functions" as Middle Chinese γuən and pʰak from Old Chinese *wûn and *phrâk.
The (ca. 80 CE) Baihu Tang 白虎堂 gave pseudo-etymologies for hun and po through Chinese character puns. It explains hun 魂 with zhuan 傳 "deliver; pass on; impart; spread" and yun 芸 "rue (used to keep insects out of books); to weed", and po 魄 with po 迫 " compel; force; coerce; urgent" and bai 白 "white; bright".
What do the words hun and [po] mean? Hun expresses the idea of continuous propagation ([zhuan] 傳), unresting flight; it is the qi of the Lesser Yang, working in man in an external direction, and it governs the nature (or the instincts, [xing] 性). [Po] expresses the idea of a continuous pressing urge ([po] 迫) on man; it is the [qi] of the Lesser Yin, and works in him, governing the emotions ([qing] 情). Hun is connected with the idea of weeding ([yun] 芸), for with the instincts the evil weeds (in man's nature) are removed. [Po] is connected with the idea of brightening ([bai] 白), for with the emotions the interior (of the personality) is governed. (tr. Needham and Lu 1974:87)
Etymologically, Schuessler says pò 魄 "animal soul" "is the same word as" pò 霸 "a lunar phase". He cites the Zuozhuan (534 BCE, see below) using the lunar jishengpo 既生魄 to mean "With the first development of a fetus grows the vegetative soul".
Pò, the soul responsible for growth, is the same as pò the waxing and waning of the moon". The meaning 'soul' has probably been transferred from the moon since men must have been aware of lunar phases long before they had developed theories on the soul. This is supported by the etymology 'bright', and by the inverted word order which can only have originated with meteorological expressions … The association with the moon explains perhaps why the pò soul is classified as Yin … in spite of the etymology 'bright' (which should be Yang), hun's Yang classificiation may be due to the association with clouds and by extension sky, even though the word invokes 'dark'. 'Soul' and 'moon' are related in other cultures, by cognation or convergence, as in Tibeto-Burman and Proto-Lolo–Burmese *s/ʼ-la "moon; soul; spirit", Written Tibetan cognates bla "soul" and zla "moon", and Proto-Miao–Yao *bla "spirit; soul; moon". (2007:417)
Lunar associations of po are evident in the Classical Chinese terms chanpo 蟾魄 "the moon" (with "toad; toad in the moon; moon") and haopo 皓魄 "moon; moonlight" (with "white; bright; luminous").
The semantics of po 魄 "white soul" probably originated with 霸 "lunar whiteness". Zhou bronze inscriptions commonly recorded lunar phases with the terms jishengpo 既生魄 "after the brightness has grown" and jisipo 既死魄 "after the brightness has died", which Schuessler explains as "second quarter of the lunar month" and "last quarter of the lunar month". Chinese scholars have variously interpreted these two terms as lunar quarters or fixed days, and (Shaughnessy 1992:136–145) Wang Guowei's lunar-quarter analysis the most likely. Thus, jishengpo is from the 7th/8th to the 14th/15th days of the lunar month and jisipo is from the 23rd/24th to the end of the month. Yü (1987:370) translates them as "after the birth of the crescent" and "after the death of the crescent". Etymologically, lunar and spiritual po < pʰak < *phrâk 魄 are cognate with bai < bɐk < *brâk 白 "white" (Matisoff 1980, Yü 1981, Carr 1985). According to Hu Shih (1946:30), po etymologically means "white, whiteness, and bright light"; "The primitive Chinese seem to have regarded the changing phases of the moon as periodic birth and death of its [po], its 'white light' or soul." Yü (1981:83) says this ancient association between the po soul and the "growing light of the new moon is of tremendous importance to our understanding of certain myths related to the seventh day of the months." Two celebrated examples in Chinese mythology are Xi Wangmu and Emperor Wu meeting on the seventh day of the first lunar month and The Princess and the Cowherd or Qixi Festival held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month.
The etymology of hun < γuən < *wûn 魂 is comparatively less certain. Hu (1946:31) said, "The word hun is etymologically the same as the word yun, meaning "clouds." The clouds float about and seem more free and more active than the cold, white-lighted portion of the growing and waning moon." Schuessler cites two possibilities.
Since pò is the 'bright' soul, hún is the 'dark' soul and therefore cognate to yún 雲 'cloud' [Carr 1985:62], perhaps in the sense of 'shadowy' because some believe that the hún soul will live after death in a world of shadows [Eberhard 1967:17]. (2007:290)

Based on Zuozhuan usages of hun and po in four historical contexts, Yü (1987:370) extrapolates that po was the original name for a human soul, and the dualistic conception of hun and po "began to gain currency in the middle of the sixth century" BCE.
Two earlier 6th century contexts used the po soul alone. Both describe Tian 天 "heaven; god" duo 奪 "seizing; taking away" a person's po, which resulted in a loss of mental faculties. In 593 BCE (Duke Xuan 15th year, tr. Legge 1872:329), after Zhao Tong 趙同 behaved inappropriately at the Zhou court, an observer predicted: "In less than ten years [Zhao Tong] will be sure to meet with great calamity. Heaven has taken his [魄] wits away from him." In 543 BCE (Duke Xiang 29th year, tr. Legge 1872:551), Boyou 伯有 from Zheng (state) acted irrationally, which an official interpreted as: "Heaven is destroying [Boyou], and has taken away his [魄] reason." Boyou's political enemies subsequently arranged to take away his hereditary position and assassinate him.
Two later 6th century Zuozhuan contexts used po together with the hun soul. In 534 BCE (Duke Zhao 7th year, tr. Legge 1872:618), the ghost of Boyou 伯有 (above) was seeking revenge on his murderers, and terrifying the people of Zheng. The philosopher and statesman Zi Chan, realizing that Boyou's loss of hereditary office had caused his spirit to be deprived of sacrifices, reinstated his son to the family position, and the ghost disappeared. When a friend asked Zi Chan to explain ghosts, he gave what Yu (1972:372) calls "the locus classicus on the subject of the human soul in the Chinese tradition."
When a man is born, (we see) in his first movements what is called the [魄] animal soul. [既生魄] After this has been produced, it is developed into what is called the [魂] spirit. By the use of things the subtle elements are multiplied, and the [魂魄] soul and spirit become strong. They go on in this way, growing in etherealness and brightness, till they become (thoroughly) spiritual and intelligent. When an ordinary man or woman dies a violent death, the [魂魄] soul and spirit are still able to keep hanging about men in the shape of an evil apparition; how much more might this be expected in the case of [Boyou]. … Belonging to a family which had held for three generations the handle of government, his use of things had been extensive, the subtle essences which he had imbibed had been many. His clan also was a great one, and his connexions [sic] were distinguished. Is it not entirely reasonable that, having died a violent death, he should be a [鬼] ghost?
Compare the translation of Needham and Lu (1974:86), who interpret this as an early Chinese discourse on embryology.
When a foetus begins to develop, it is (due to) the [po]. (When this soul has given it a form) then comes the Yang part, called hun. The essences ([qing] 情) of many things (wu 物) then give strength to these (two souls), and so they acquire the vitality, animation and good cheer (shuang 爽) of these essences. Thus eventually there arises spirituality and intelligence (shen ming 神明)."
In 516 BCE (Duke Zhao 20th year, tr. Legge 1872:708), the Duke of Song (state) and a guest named Shusun 叔孫 were both seen weeping during a supposedly joyful gathering. Yue Qi 樂祁, a Song court official, said: "This year both our ruler and [Shusun] are likely to die. I have heard that joy in the midst of grief and grief in the midst of joy are signs of a loss of [xin 心] mind. The essential vigor and brightness of the mind is what we call the [hun] and the [po]. When these leave it, how can the man continue long?" Hun and po souls, explains Yu (1987:371), "are regarded as the very essence of the mind, the source of knowledge and intelligence. Death is thought to follow inevitably when the hun and the p'o leave the body. We have reason to believe that around this time the idea of hun was still relatively new."

Siddhartha

When I read Siddhartha it occurred to me that what Hesse was really writing was not, as it is often understood, either Buddhism or Hinduism, but rather Tantra. This is a medieval outgrowth of both Buddhism and Hinduism that suggests that it is important to embrace and understand the world around us instead of rejecting it. I suppose the best example of this Tantric attitude that I can think of comes from the Daoist popular novel Seven Taoist Masters. One figure decides that he is too consumed by lustful thoughts, so he creates a bunch of "fairy gold" out of pebbles and goes to live in a brothel. After doing so for a few years any obsessive interest he may have had in sex has been burnt out of him.

thursday, december 13, 2012

Siddhartha, Tantricism, Environmentalism, Dao

Robert Brown notes that the term tantrism is a construction of western scholarship, not a concept that comes from the religious system itself. Tāntrikas (practitioners of Tantra) never attempted to define Tantra as a whole the way Western scholars have. Rather, the Tantric dimension of each South Asian religion had its own name:
Tantric Shaivism was known to its practitioners as the Mantramārga,
Tantric Buddhism has the indigenous name of the Vajrayana,
Tantric Vaishnavism was known as the Pañcarātra.
The general term "Tantra" may be used to denote all the teachings and practices found in the scriptures called tantras or āgamas, a synonym. It could equally be substituted by the adjective Āgamic.

martes, 1 de enero de 2013

A top line representing the level above a man with outstretched arms (大).

天 (radical 37 大+1, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一大 (MK), four-corner 10430, composition ⿱一大)
sky, heaven, celestial
god, godly, Deva
day
Note: The top line can be either longer or shorter than the arms.

Descendants



天 (hiragana てん, romaji ten):
heaven; the sky
Buddhist term, literally meaning: "heaven", referring to one of the six realms of reincarnation in Buddhist cosmology.

On: てん (ten)
Kun: あめ (ame), そら (sora)

tian, ( Chinese: “heaven” or “sky”) Wade-Giles romanization t’ien, in indigenous Chinese religion, the supreme power reigning over lesser gods and human beings. The term tian may refer to a deity, to impersonal nature, or to both.

As a god, tian is sometimes perceived to be an impersonal power in contrast to Shangdi (“Supreme Ruler”), but the two are closely identified and the terms frequently used synonymously. Evidence suggests that tian originally referred to the sky while Shangdi referred to the Supreme Ancestor who resided there. The first mention of tian seems to have occurred early in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce), and it is thought that tian assimilated Shangdi, the supreme god of the preceding Shang dynasty (c. mid-16th century–mid-11th century bce). The importance of both tian and Shangdi to the ancient Chinese lay in their assumed influence over the fertility of the clan and its crops; sacrifices were offered to these powers solely by the king and, later, by the emperor.

Chinese rulers were traditionally referred to as Son of Heaven (tianzi), and their authority was believed to emanate from tian. Beginning in the Zhou dynasty, sovereignty was explained by the concept of the mandate of heaven (tianming). This was a grant of authority that depended not on divine right but on virtue. Indeed, this authority was revocable if the ruler did not attend to his virtue. Since the ruler’s virtue was believed to be reflected in the harmony of the empire, social and political unrest were traditionally considered signs that the mandate had been revoked and would soon be transferred to a succeeding dynasty.

Although in the early Zhou tian was conceived as an anthropomorphic, all-powerful deity, in later references tian is often no longer personalized. In this sense, tian can be likened to nature or to fate. In many cases, it is unclear which meaning of tian is being used. This ambiguity can be explained by the fact that Chinese philosophy was concerned less with defining the character of tian than with defining its relationship to humanity. Scholars generally agreed that tian was the source of moral law, but for centuries they debated whether tian responded to human pleas and rewarded and punished human actions or whether events merely followed the order and principles established by tian.

Shangdi, ( Chinese: “Lord-on-High”) Wade-Giles romanization Shang-ti, also called Di, ancient Chinese deity, the greatest ancestor and deity who controlled victory in battle, harvest, the fate of the capital, and the weather. He had no cultic following, however, and was probably considered too distant and inscrutable to be influenced by mortals. Shangdi was considered to be the supreme deity during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 century bce), but during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 bce) he was gradually supplanted by heaven (tian).

聖嚴


Sheng Yen (聖嚴; Pinyin: Shèngyán, birth name Zhang Baokang, 張保康) (December 4, 1930 – February 3, 2009) was a Buddhist monk, a religious scholar, and one of the mainstream teachers of Chinese Chan Buddhism. He was the 57th generational descendant of Linji Yixuan in the Linji school(Japanese: Rinzai) and a 3rd generational descendant of Master Hsu Yun. In the Caodong (Japanese: Sōtō) lineage, Sheng Yen was the 52nd generational descendant of Master Dongshan (807-869), and the direct descendant of Master Dongchu (1908–1977).[1]
Sheng Yen was the founder of the Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist organization based in Taiwan. During his time in Taiwan, Sheng Yen was well known as one of the progressive Buddhist teachers who sought to teach Buddhism in a modern and Western-influenced world. In Taiwan, he was one of four prominent modern Buddhist masters, along with Masters Hsing YunCheng Yen and Wei Chueh. In 2000 he was one of the keynote speakers in the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders held in the United Nations

聖人

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 耳 (“ear”) + phonetic 呈

聖 (radical 128 耳+7, 13 strokes, cangjie input 尸口竹土 (SRHG), four-corner 16104)
holy, sacred, consecration
sage, saint, saintly

聖 (grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji)
holy, sacred

On: せい (sei), しょう (shō)
Kun: ひじり (hijiri), ひじり-だつ (hijiri-datsu), ひじ-る (hiji-ru), きよい (kiyoi)
Nanori: きよ (kiyo), きよし (kiyoshi)

Compound of 日 (hi, “day, light, the sun”) +‎ 知り (shiri, “knowing”). The shiri changes to jiri due to rendaku (連濁).

聖 (hiragana ひじり, romaji hijiri)
a very virtuous or godly person; a saint
(honorific) the emperor
a sage
an expert; someone distinguished in their field
a virtuous or high-ranking Buddhist priest or monk
a Buddhist priest or monk in general
a monk who has gone into seclusion for purposes of asceticism and spiritual enlightenment
a monk who has adopted an itinerant lifestyle for purposes of asceticism andspiritual enlightenment, supporting themselves by gathering alms and food contributions; by extension, an itinerant preacher monk from Mount Kōya
(euphemistic) alternate name for 清酒 (seishu) (“refined sake”)
a textile peddler (from the resemblance to itinerant 高野聖 (Kōya hijiri) Buddhist preachers who would carry everything on their backs)

(saint): 聖人 (せいじん, seijin)
(emperor): 天皇 (てんのう, tennō)
(sage): 仙人 (せんにん, sennnin)
(expert): 達人 (たつじん, tatsujin)
(virtuous monk): 聖僧 (せいそう, seisō), 大徳 (だいとく, daitoku)
(monk or priest in general): 僧侶 (そうりょう, sōryo), 法師 (ほうし, hōshi)
(ascetic in seclusion): 修験者 (しゅげんしゃ, shugensha)
(itinerant ascetic, textile peddler): 聖方 (ひじりかた, hijirikata)
(itinerant preacher monk): 高野聖 (こうやひじり, Kōya hijiri)

聖人 (traditional, Pinyin shèngrén, simplified 圣人)
a saint; a sage

人 (radical 9 人+0, 2 strokes, cangjie input 人 (O), four-corner 80000)
person
people
humanity
someone else

Pictogram (象形) – resembles the legs of a human being. The ancient version of this character depicted a man with arms and legs. Compare 大.

In print, 人 may have symmetric legs. However in handwriting, to distinguish from 入, the right leg will be shorter, the shape looking like a ʎ; in 入 the left leg is shorter.

Go'on: にん (nin)
Kan'on: じん (jin)
Kun: ひと (hito)
Nanori: じ (ji), と (to), ね (ne), ひこ (hiko), ふみ (fumi)

http://www.thetao.info/tao/big5.htm

Etymologically 聖 means the duty to listen and to repeat what's learned.

According to R.B. Blakney, "Sheng Jen" refers to a wise man or sage. Wise men never describe themselves as wise. An anecdote describes an encounter between a traveler and a wise man. The traveler asks, "Are you a wise man?" The wise man replies, "If I say I am a wise man, then obviously I am not; but if I say I'm not a wise man, I am not telling the truth." The term "wise man" may have been a euphemism for "king," and poems describing the wise man may have been intended as open letters to political leaders.

Read more: The Main Ideas of the Tao Te Ching | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8249619_main-ideas-tao-te-ching.html#ixzz2GpAEbpYj

Anticipate things that are difficult while they are easy, and do things that would become great while they are small. All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one in which they were small.

六 十 三 章

為 無 為 , 事 無 事 , 味 無 味 。
大 小 多 少 , 報 怨 以 德 。
○ 難 於 易 , 為 大 於 細 。
天 下 難 事 , 必 作 於 易 ;
天 下 大 事 , 必 作 於 細 。
是 以 聖 人 終 不 為 大 , 故 能 成 其 大 。
夫 輕 諾 必 寡 信 , 多 易 必 多 難 , 是 以 聖 人 猶 難 之 , 故 終無 難 。




(Chorus)
Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more

Once I rose above the noise and confusion
Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion
I was soaring ever higher
But I flew too high

Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man
Though my mind could think I still was a mad man
I hear the voices when I'm dreaming
I can hear them say

(Chorus)

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don't know

On a stormy sea of moving emotion
Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean
I set a course for winds of fortune
But I hear the voices say

(Chorus)
No! (Instrumental break)

Carry on, you will always remember
Carry on, nothing equals the splendor
Now your life's no longer empty
Surely heaven waits for you

Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry, don’t you cry no more… no more

無名

In Chinese, "wu ming" can mean "anonymous" (simplified Chinese: 无名; traditional Chinese: 無名; pinyin: wúmíng) or, with a different tone on the first syllable, "five people" (Chinese: 五名; pinyin: wǔ míng), the pun being part of the reason the collective adopted the name.[2] The name is meant both as a tribute to dissidents ("Wu Ming" is a common byline among Chinese citizens demanding democracy and freedom of speech) and as a rejection of the celebrity-making machine which turns the author into a star. "Wu Ming" is also a reference to the third sentence in the Daodejing: "Nameless is Heaven's and Earth's origin" (simplified Chinese: 无名天地之始; traditional Chinese: 無名天地之始; pinyin: wúmíng tiāndì zhī shǐ).

Because the Way is unique, it cannot be described with names or words.

不恃

Ideogram (指事) 不 originated as a pictographic character which depicted the calyx of a flower. However, early inventors of the Chinese writing system found it difficult to find a pictograph that could represent the abstract concept of "negative," and 不 probably sounded like the word "no" (Pinyin: bù or fǒu in modern Mandarin). As time passed, some elected to add a mouth to the bottom of the character (否) in order to distinguish it from the original word. The meaning for "no" also came to be associated with 不(calyx). A new character was eventually chosen to represent the original meaning (柎, Pinyin: fū).

不 (radical 1 一+3, 4 strokes, cangjie input 一火 (MF), four-corner 10900)
no, not
un-
negation prefix

Descendants



不 (grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)
not, non-, un-

On: ふ (fu), ぶ (bu)
Kun: せず (sezu), にあらず (niarazu), いなや (inaya)

不 (hiragana ふ, romaji fu-)
un-, non-, in-
不 (hiragana ぶ, romaji bu-)
un-, non-, in-
bad, poor

恃 (radical 61 心+6, 9 strokes, cangjie input 心土木戈 (PGDI), four-corner 94041)
rely on, presume on, trust to

On: じ (ji), し (shi)
Kun: たのむ (tanomu)


To be independent. Carries the meaning of wu wei. The Wise Man performs his duty but does not attach himself to his accomplishments. He is therefore the absolute autocrat.