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Notes on video lecture:
The Guodian Laozi
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on February 2, 2017 (go to class or lectures)


Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
de, bronze, 1993, trope, sick, written, webbed, utopias, nature, hooves, 20th, wisdom, sageliness, Chu, Odes, detailed, random, 300, Daodejing, 1998, Zhuangzi, crossword, grave, Guodian, archeologists, Rites, tombs, anti, Daoism, China
archeological texts
some are versions of the
texts that we have uncovered in their original form
most written on bamboo with ink
some are silk text
Mawangdui, central China
manuscript on silk, 2nd century BC
some on paper where caves are particularly dry
Dunhuang
typically these come from
debate on what the relationship was between the text and the person who died, perhaps
they liked these texts
used these texts professional
they were thought to be important to them in the after-life
archeologists like archeological texts because they are the best of both words in terms of reliability and accuracy
received
examples
First Song of the Book of
advantages
longer
give you more information
disadvantages
don't know when they were written
don't know when they were copied
tend to be elite texts
archeological
advantages
we can date them
some vessels have a date on them
not changed, direct communication
combine informational richness with historical reliability
are often everyday texts, not from the elite or studied class necessarily
disadvantages
short
don't give us too much information
since the beginning of the century, we are finding more and more
they revolutionized our understanding of early
legal texts
a judge who was buried with his complete court cases
can be quite dry topics to read, e.g. some guy stole a chicken, what do we do
but for historians, it's gold
it gives you accurate and information
both the legal system of early China
the daily lives of people
simpler texts
farmer's almanacs
day books
people trying to figure out why they are getting
a more accurate picture of everyday life on the ground
new philosophical and religious texts
the Laozi
unearthed in Guodian (Hubei) in
near the former capital
one of the southernmost Warring States
tomb was sealed in about BCE
so we know these texts have not been changed since then
bamboo strips
water had entered the tomb
strips covered with mud
different length
the strings that held them together had degenerated
had to put them together
beveled the same way
the same length
string marks
line them up
handwriting is similar
conceptually which go together
like a jigsaw and puzzle
written in Chu script
diversity of pre-standardization script styles
every state had their own script styles
types of texts
philosophical and religious
copies of received texts
Dao De Jing
a chapter of the Liji, or Book of
copies of texts that we know about, that were listed in bibliographies but were lost
Wu xing (Five Types of Conduct)
new texts we had never heard of
seem to represent a lost school of Confucianism
Guodian Daodejing
three bundles
different handwriting and sizes
Laozi A
Laozi B
Laozi C, Taiyi Shengshui
creation story
doesn't correspond to anything in the received Daodejing
published in
still debated who these documents relate to each other
order
partial chapters
the Daodejing was probably a kind of central text which people could mix and match
texts were fluid
using different parts of text for different purposes
wording is different
received version:
"Cut off , abandon wisdom, and the people will benefit one hundred fold. Cut off benevolence, abandon righteousness, and the people will return to being filial and kind. Cut off cleverness, abandon profit, and robbers and thieves will be no more."
get rid of explicit morality and Confucianism
a clear -Confucian slant to this passage
Guodian version:
"Cut off , abandon distinctions, and the people will benefit one hundred fold. Cut off cleverness, abandon profit, and the people will return to being filial and kind. Cut off artifice, abandon reflection, and robbers and thieves will be no more."
no mention of Confucianist terminology
there is no doubt that there were differences between and Confucianism in the Warring States period
the Daodejing is picking metaphors which are explicitly against metaphors in the Analects
the concepts are different
the concept of is almost the opposite
this divide probably gets more pronounced later in Chinese history
Warring States period
a ramping up of these differences
clearly in place by this time was the "primitivist", chapters 8-10
different from the inner chapters
represent a primitivist school that looks a lot like the Daodejing school
but were produced at the end of the Warring States
talk about where there is no morality or technology
toes
horrible things that Confucianism does to warp our nature
horses
people who put horse shoes on horses
potters
people who mutilate
Robber Chih
echoes passages from the Daodejing
put them in an anti-Confucian context
Confucians as robbers
the anti-Confucian gets emphasized at the end of the Warring States
Ideas and Concepts:
Strangely reminds me of my boyhood home in Colorado, via this morning's Ancient Chinese philosophy class: "These rammed earth ruins of a granary in Hecang Fortress, located 11 kilometers northeast of the Western-Han-era Yumen Pass, near the Great Wall of China in the Gansu Province, were built during the Western Han (202 BC - 9 AD) and significantly rebuilt during the Western Jin (280-316 AD). This was an area through which the Silk Road passed, and was the one road connecting Central Asia and China."

Wisdom of the Liji, or The Book of Rites, from the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BC), via this evening's Ancient Chinese Philosophy class: "Accumulate wealth but be able to part with it. Rest in what gives you satisfaction and yet be able to seek satisfaction elsewhere. When you find wealth within your reach, do not attain it by improper means. When you meet with calamity, do not escape from it by improper means. Do not seek for victory in small contentions. Do not seek for more than your proper share. Do not positively affirm what you have doubts about."

Ancient conceptual scheme via tonight's Chinese Philosophy class:
"The Wu Xing is a system of five phases used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. After it came to maturity in the first century BCE during the Han dynasty, this device was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as geomancy (the art of placing or arranging buildings or other sites), Feng shui (philosophical system of harmonizing people and things with the surrounding environment), astrology, medicine, music, military strategy, and martial arts.
The generating relationships between the five phases are:Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth (ash), Earth bears Metal, Metal collects Water, and Water nourishes Wood.
The overcoming relationships are:Wood parts Earth (tree roots), Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, and Metal chops Wood."
"The Wu Xing is a system of five phases used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. After it came to maturity in the first century BCE during the Han dynasty, this device was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as geomancy (the art of placing or arranging buildings or other sites), Feng shui (philosophical system of harmonizing people and things with the surrounding environment), astrology, medicine, music, military strategy, and martial arts.
The generating relationships between the five phases are:Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth (ash), Earth bears Metal, Metal collects Water, and Water nourishes Wood.
The overcoming relationships are:Wood parts Earth (tree roots), Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, and Metal chops Wood."

Creation myth emphasizing cooperation, via this morning's Ancient Chinese philosophy class:
"The Taiyi Shengshui was written about 300 BCE during the Warring States period. It was discovered in 1993 in Hubei, Jingmen and is part of the Guodian Chu Slips, the Taiyi Shengshui being was written on 14 bamboo strips in the Chu script.
The Great One gave birth to Water,
and Water returned and assisted the Great One, in this way developing Heaven. Heaven returned and assisted the Great One, in this way developing the Earth. Heaven and earth assisted each other, and in this way developed the Above and Below.
The Above and Below assisted each other,and in this way developed the Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang assisted each other, and in this way developed the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons assisted each other, and in this way created Cold and Hot. Cold and Hot assisted each other, and developed Moist and Dry. Moist and dry assisted each other, and developed the Circle of the Year, and the process came to an end."
"The Taiyi Shengshui was written about 300 BCE during the Warring States period. It was discovered in 1993 in Hubei, Jingmen and is part of the Guodian Chu Slips, the Taiyi Shengshui being was written on 14 bamboo strips in the Chu script.
The Great One gave birth to Water,
and Water returned and assisted the Great One, in this way developing Heaven. Heaven returned and assisted the Great One, in this way developing the Earth. Heaven and earth assisted each other, and in this way developed the Above and Below.
The Above and Below assisted each other,and in this way developed the Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang assisted each other, and in this way developed the Four Seasons. The Four Seasons assisted each other, and in this way created Cold and Hot. Cold and Hot assisted each other, and developed Moist and Dry. Moist and dry assisted each other, and developed the Circle of the Year, and the process came to an end."

Fifth century BCE phenomenological insights, via chapter 2 of the Zhuangzi and this evening's Ancient Chinese philosophy class: "Once, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering about, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuang Zhou. But he didn't know if he was Zhuang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly there must be some distinction. This is called the Transformation of Things."
