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The cult of matter

10k films — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:25:13 +0000

The world is sick because men live beneath themselves; the error of modern man is that he wants to reform the world without having either the will or the power to reform man, and this flagrant contradiction, this attempt to make a better world on the basis of a worsened humanity, can only end in the abolition of happiness too. Reforming man means binding him again to Heaven, reestablishing the broken link, it means plucking him from the kingdom of the passions, from the cult of matter, quantity and cunning, and re-integrating him into the world of the spirit and serenity – even, it might be said, into the world of his own sufficient reason.

Thanks//A.M.

Qiu Chang Chun’s meeting with Genghis Khan

10k films — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:11:05 +0000

Qiu Chuji (丘處機); Taoist name: Chang Chun (長春 or Perpetual Spring); 1148 – 23 July 1227) was a Quanzhen Taoist, one of Wang Chongyang’s seven disciples, or Seven Immortals. He was also the founder of Dragon Gate Taoism.

“Qiu Chang Chun Xi You Ji” 长春真人西游记 (Travels to the West of Qiu Chang Chun) was a record of the journey of Qiu Chuji from Shandong China through central Asia to Persia to present himself before Genghis Khan. In 1220, on the invitation of Genghis Khan with a golden tablet, Qiu Chuji left his home town Shangdong with eighteen disciples. Read Genghis Khans letter to him and an account of the journey and meetings they had.

For more on The Dragon Gate (Longmen 龙门派) sect of Complete Reality (QuanZhen 全真派) school of Taoism today see also “Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard“, translated by Thomas Cleary.

The Known Universe

10k films — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 10:45:15 +0000

The Known Universe by American Museum of Natural History

한 (恨) – Han

10k films — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:26:11 +0000

Han is a concept in Korean culture, attributed by some as a national cultural trait. Han denotes a collective feeling of oppression and isolation in the face of overwhelming odds. It connotes aspects of lament and unavenged injustice.

The Korean poet Ko Eun describes the trait as universal to the Korean experience: “We Koreans were born from the womb of Han and brought up in the womb of Han.” Han connotes both despair at recognition of past injustice and acceptance of such matters as part of the Korean experience.

“As I have already said, Han is an expression of the complex feeling which embraces both sadness and hope. The sadness stems from the effort by which we accept the original contradiction facing all living things, and hope comes from the will to overcome the contradiction. In the present, we accept it; in the future, we will overcome it. Life for all living things is full of contradictions. Where there is centrifugal force, there is also centripetal force. Where there is a beginning, there is also an end. Where space lasts for ever, time passes. And all who are born must die. Thus we become aware of existence, time, space and life itself. Finally, we have to admit the contradictory duality of life. It is very easy to resign ourselves to this contradiction, but we can think of it in another way. We can think of ourselves as actively conforming to the laws of the universe. This is the way in which Koreans strive to overcome the contradictions of life. When we are poor, we think of Han. We therefore work hard in order to buy lots of land. When we are ignorant, we are mindful of Han. We educate our children in order to deliver them from Han, that is why the passion for educating the young is so ardent in Korea. We cannot however completely deliver ourselves from Han in this world, because Han is also a hope for the future…”(Park Kyong-ni) Read more

New film on Confucius

10k films — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:27:31 +0000

孔子 Confucius — 電影預告片

The films of Akira Kurosawa

10k films — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:14:10 +0000

The Films of Akira Kurosawa - Chronological list

Tao Te Ching

10k films — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 11:48:53 +0000

Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about the approval of people
and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back—
The only path to serenity.

-Tao Te Ching 9