The Teachings of Confucius - Special Edition

Confucius not only said interesting things, he sang them and accompanied himself on a kind of zither. The Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery displays an exhibit of musical instruments from Confucius’ time, 2,500 years ago. A collection of his lyrics – unfortunately there are no melodies – is one of the first pieces of Chinese literature handed down through the centuries.

“It is said that Confucius accompanied himself on a ‘qin’ while singing the odes of the Shi Jing, or the ‘Classic of Poetry,’” says cellist Yo-Yo Ma in a guide to the exhibit. “We don’t know what Confucius’ qin may have looked like, but in popular accounts of his life, the image of the philosopher-musician became firmly established.” The qin is a kind of zither. Today’s Chinese musicians still use one kind. Ma is an American of Chinese ancestry, one of today’s leading cellists playing classical western music.

Jenny F. So, the Sackler’s curator of ancient Chinese art, said in an interview that some of the “odes” were just folk songs. Confucius reportedly made a practice of dancing with his disciples every day. In his time, music was considered of great social significance, linking rulers to subjects, parents to children. “It is by poetry that one’s mind is aroused; it is by ceremony that one’s character is regulated; it is by music that one becomes accomplished,” he said.

Most of the instruments on display come from a tomb of the Marquis Yi, found by Chinese soldiers in 1977 when they were leveling a hill as a site for a factory. The instruments are borrowed from a museum in Hubei, China. So said this is the first time they have been displayed in a musical context.

Confucius had definite ideas about what music ought to be. “Get rid of the tunes of Zheng,” he is quoted as saying. “The tunes of Zheng are lascivious.” The Zheng area lies just to the south of Lu, Confucius’ home state. A later chronicler, who So says may have been using his imagination some, told of a Chinese king who was fond of licentious music. “He assembled a large company of musicians and actors at the Shaqiu garden,” says the account, “filling a pond with wine and hanging up meats to make a forest. He caused men and women to disrobe and pursue each other through this scenery, as part of a drinking feast lasting long into the night.”

A costumed musician, Mei Min Su of the local Chinese Music Society, played more recent Chinese music for visitors before the official opening, on a zither like one from Confucius’ time. The marquis apparently had two sets of musicians: one for public ceremonials, which emphasized percussion instruments, and a smaller, more intimate one with strings. Chinese authorities considered his ceremonial set of 65 huge bronze bells too precious to leave the country. Inscriptions on them identify the notes they produce on the Chinese five-tone scale. So far as scholars can find, it took nearly another thousand years before actual tunes were written out, Su said. In one chamber of the tomb archaeologists found an elaborately lacquered double coffin with the body of a middle-aged man, presumably the marquis. Eight smaller coffins contained the skeletons of eight young women.

The Extraordinary Life of Michelangelo

Sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo was the greatest artist in a time of greatness. He lived during the Italian Renaissance, a period known for its creative activity. Civilization made huge strides in science and invention, in literature, and in politics. In art, the age’s great achievement, Michelangelo led all others.

A short, wide-shouldered man with a face made homely by a broken nose, Michelangelo had a remarkable ability to concentrate his thoughts and energy on the task in hand. Often while working he would eat only a little bread, would sleep on the floor or on a cot beside his unfinished painting or statue, and would continue to wear the same clothes until his work was finished.

This beautiful Kindle edition is now on sale on Amazon for $2.99. It contains a linked table of contents to each major movement of Michelangelo’s life and works. Dozens of high quality images are rendered meticulously on the Kindle screen, making this an easy favorite.

The Samurai Series: The Book of Five Rings, Hagakure, Bushido

The Samurai Series brings together three of the most important books dealing with the Samurai path and philosophy into one volume. It contains:

The Book of Five Rings, written by Miyamoto Musashi, a Samurai of legendary renown, is a masterpiece of simple exposition written by a master swordsman, who near the end of his spectacular life, tried earnestly to explain the essentials of individual combat and the essence of being a Samurai. His book is widely considered to a cornerstone of the philosophy of Bushido.

Hagakure – The Way of the Samurai, meaning “Hidden by Leaves”, was composed from dialogs by the famous Samurai, Yamamoto Tsunetomo, by a scribe, Tashiro Tsuramoto. It explains the major ideas and philosophy that are essential to the “way of the Samurai”, by which is meant the “way of dying”. It contains numerous tales of various Samurai and their deeds which illustrate their philosophy and practice.

Bushido – The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe is an extremely literate presentation by a Japanese intellectual who wished to present Japan and its fundamental philosophy in a way that could be understood by Westerners. It describes how the Shinto Religion and Buddhism are the underpinnings of the essentially militaristic view of honor and life that are inherent in Bushido, the Samurai code.

Behold Your Queen! A Story of Esther by Gladys Malvern

Back in print for the first time in over 40 years, Behold Your Queen! is now available at Amazon in a full size trade paperback edition and on the Kindle platform.

It is the ancient days of the Persian Empire. Hadassah was content in her quiet life in the Jewish quarter of the city of Babylon with her uncle Mordecai, who had raised her from childhood. But she was old enough to be married, and yet her uncle hadn’t arranged a marriage for her.

Meanwhile in Shushan, King Ahasuerus’ marriage to the vain and selfish Vashti has ended, and a new wife must be found. Why not bring to him the most beautiful women of the kingdom, and let him choose? And so the loveliest young women of the empire are selected in local contests, and Hadassah is among those chosen to go to Shushan to meet the King.

But as a Jewish girl in a foreign land with powerful enemies to her faith, she must conceal her true identity and take the Babylonian name of Esther. Will she find love with a man she has never met? And can she survive in a strict royal court controlled by the evil prime minister Haman, who wants to destroy her people?

Zen Buddhism - Buddhist Verses, Sutras, Pure Land Teachings

Siddhartha Gautama, the Indian philosopher also known as Buddha Gautama, is believed to have attained Enlightenment sometime in the middle of the 5th century before the Common Era, while meditating under a Bodhi tree. From that time of enlightenment until his death, by which he entered Nirvana, he traveled by foot around the countryside of India, teaching others his philosophy of the Middle Path. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are often called the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (community).

Presented in this modern special edition is a unique selection of the ancient texts which would follow the path of the Silk Road from India to China to Japan, and evolve into the school of thought known today as Zen Buddhism. This path follows the Indian Mahayana verses from the Dhammapada, to a collection of Buddhist sutras (or scriptures) transcribed from Chinese texts, and finally concludes with the Threefold Lotus, the three Pure Land sect sutras favored in Japan.

Within the texts, the reader will find the Noble Eightfold Path, the 10 Major Precepts, the 48 Minor Precepts, the teachings of Ananda, the teachings of Bodhidharma, the Twin Verses of theDhammapada, the Brahma Net Sutra and other basic tenets of Buddhism. The verses, sutras and texts stand on their own, as they have for centuries, to be interpreted by those who seek a deeper understanding of the world, and spiritual enlightenment.

Excerpt from Zen Buddhism – The Path to Enlightenment – Special Edition. Reprinted by permission – All rights reserved.

The Buddha said: “There are two aims which he who has given up the world ought not to follow after – devotion, on the one hand, to those things whose attractions depend upon passions, a low and pagan ideal, fit only for the worldly-minded; ignoble, unprofitable; and the practice on the other hand of asceticism, which is painful, ignoble, and unprofitable.

“There is a Middle Path discovered by the Tathagata– a path which opens the eyes, and bestows understanding, which leads to peace, to insight, to the higher wisdom, to Nirvana. It is the Noble Eightfold Path…”

Literary Cubsim - Geography & Plays - Selected Works of Gertrude Stein