Entries Written By Dr. You-Sheng Li
The Analects of Confucius
The Analects of Confucius Translated by James Legge Chapter 1 The Master said, “Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? “Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters? “Is he not a man of complete virtue, who feels no discomposure though men may take no note of him?” The philosopher Yu said, “They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion. “The superior man bends his attention …
Tao Te Ching
Peter Merel’s Tao Te Ching Caveat This document attempts to draw the texts of several popular English translations of Lao Tse into a consistent and accessible context. It is based on the translations of Robert G. Henricks, Lin Yutang, D.C. Lau, Ch’u Ta-Kao, Gia-Fu Feng & Jane English, Richard Wilhelm and Aleister Crowley. This work is not a translation, but an interpolation. It does not represent the original text; the original, if there was an original, has been jumbled, mistranscribed and reinterpreted many times over many thousands of years, and is here cast into a language that is incapable of …
Julian Jaynes’ Theory of the Bicameral Mind and A Different Path to Subjective Consciousness in China
By You-Sheng Li (September 2008, written for The Jaynesian Newsletter; edited 15/02/2009) Abstract: That the man-made secondary society is foreign to humans is once more illustrated by the phenomenon of bicameral minds, first described by Julian Jaynes. According to Jaynes, people with bicameral minds followed auditory hallucination, the divine voice, in response to an enlarged community from 9000 to 1000 BC, and subjective consciousness appeared around 1000 BC. Unlike the Mediterranean civilizations on which Jaynes’ theory is based, Chinese civilization started with genetically coded primary society and therefore, went through a different pathway in the evolution of human minds to …
The Global Crisis is the Birth Pangs of a New World
By You-Sheng Li 20/03/09 What began as a reversal of the real estate market in the United States has spun out of control and ended as a full blown global crisis that humans have never faced before. There is almost a meltdown of the world’s financial and banking systems; trillions of dollars worth of assets have evaporated. Even some governments have collapsed, investors are devastated, and consumers terrified. According to the World Bank’s estimation, 53 million people will be pushed back into poverty, joining up to 155 million who now live on less than US$2 a day. There are three …
Taoist Philosophy for the 21st Century: an Alternative Way to View Life, Society, and the World
When people meet unexpectedly far from their hometown, they say, “It is a small world.” People also say, our world has shrunk to a village, global village. Modern communication technology has brought people unprecedentedly closer especially since the end of the Cold War. We are facing a new world that humans have never faced before. Do you think we need a totally new way of life? Many scholars say YES, and they predict that different cultures will replace nations to compete with each other in this new world. The show on the stage of the new world will be around …
Post-Pause Expression: Please Join us.
Read the Article, and Think out the Best English Post-Pause Expression. ( Note: This is one of our efforts that make this website more in line with the Taoist way of life, pure enjoyment without any utilitarian consideration from our secondary society. You-Sheng Li) From 1966 to 1976, China isolated herself from the world in order to concentrate all her energy on the so-called Great Cultural Revolution, a radical political campaign alien to the rest of the world. In 1970, the famous American writer and journalist, Edgar Snow (1905-1972) visited China again. His last visit was in 1964 before the …
An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine
(written by You-Sheng Li) (This page was written mainly based on: Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine edited by Zhang Enqin, Shanghai: Publishing House of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1990) (1) Excerpts from A New Interpretation of Chinese Taoist Philosophy: Taoist Influence on Chinese Medicine Chinese traditional medicine has been developed under the influence of Taoist philosophy and this association of Taoist religion with medicine has been regarded as its major attraction to the people. The differences between Chinese and Western medicine can be found in those parts that developed under the influence of Taoist philosophy.Chinese medicine considers …
What is Taoist Philosophy for the 21st Century?
(By You-Sheng Li) (1) General View Modern secondary society is fundamentally different from ancient primitive society, tribes and bands, which are here called primary society. The primary society has usually 150 members or so, and it has a headman as the leader. The headman has no forcible power but leads the society by persuasion and mutual understanding. The principle of social interaction is mutual benefit or reciprocity, which lead to an egalitarian society. Secondary society is any society which is either built on the top to many primary societies or is much larger than primary society of a few hundreds. …
Life Cultivation: The Chinese Theory and Practice for a Long Healthy Life
By You-Sheng Li The Following is from the book, A New Interpretation of Chinese Taoist Philosophy. (You-Sheng Li, 2005) Chapter 12 Life Cultivation The Emperor of the Southern Sea was called Moment, and the Emperor of the Northern Sea was called Trice. The Emperor of the Middle Land was Murkiness. Moment and Trice often went to visit the Middle Land where Murkiness treated them well. Moment and Trice wanted to repay his virtue and said, “People all have the same seven holes in their heads to see, hear, eat, and breathe but Murkiness alone has none. Let’s see if we …
Balance Your Emotion and Enjoy the Moment
(By You-Sheng Li) A Taoist Fable of the Month (January 2008) A Note From the Author: Taoist classics easpecially Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu are famous for using fables, parables, and allegories to explore philosophical depth. Those fables are delightful to read but lend us some new perspectives to view life. Small Understanding and Great Understanding In the bare north, there is a dark sea called the pool of heaven. There is a fish that is thousands of miles across and nobody knows how long its body really is. It transforms itself into a gigantic bird called P’eng. Its back …