Northern Wei

In the movie, Confucianism is the major religious theme. Ruler to subject, husband to wife, and parent to child are three of the five important Confucian relationships (Ellis). Each is exhibited through Mulan with the emperor to Mulan, Mulan’s father to Mulan’s mother, and Mulan’s father to Mulan. Another example of Confucianism is the presentation of the ancestors. The ancestors are prayed to by the family, and are greatly respected (Mulan). The main example of Confucianism is in the song “Honor to Us All”, which speaks about how women should be perfect porcelain dolls, and how they should find husbands to bring honor to their families (Fowler). In the legend, Mulan would have been Buddhist. She was living in the Northern Wei dynasty, which was a highly Buddhist society where Confucianism was looked down on (Editors). Buddhism’s goal was to reach nirvana, or a higher state of being (Erricker), while Confucianism’s goal was for people to accept their role in society (Ellis). Disney’s final mistake was the representation of dragons. Disney’s interpretation was a crude, sassy, and overbearing lizard-looking being. Mushu’s brashness is exhibited in comments like “...miss man decided to take her little drag show on the road!” when referring to Mulan dressing like a man and fighting for the Chinese army (Mulan). In reality, the Chinese dragons were symbols of wisdom and prosperousness, as well as being revered and feared by all the Chinese (Botsford). Mushu was…

Research on the military trend during the Northern Dynasty The physical activities could be traced back to the end of the primitive society. According to historic materials, 4,500 years ago, in the era of the Huangdi Dynasty, the genre of dancing called “yun men”(the door of the clouds) and all kinds of martial practices, bare-handed or armed, has been recorded by the historians. In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods, with the hotbed of numerous philosophical thinking…

time between the ending of the Han dynasty and the three kingdoms had massive changes occur. The Han dynasty was another that filled their ideas. Ideologies, Religious, intellectuals, material culture were all effected. The authorities were no longer able to distinguish immediately after later Han, the Three Kingdom dynasty was established. The three kingdom and the period of the northern rule. The splitting of the dynasties were a huge change from the once unified Han. In equitable land…

having shrines for worship and practice. Martin Palmer accents the importance of mountains when he states, “These mountains are very special places. Even in periods of the worst excesses of the Cultural Revolution, pilgrims still made their way to these holy mountains.” Clearly mountains are important to the people of China. To this day, monks live in isolation on mountains to become one with nature by isolating themselves from the material world. Mountains are also a place in which humans…

Wu Wei Within the Dao Bryan Bodnar, Kyle Thomson, Riley Prescott Carroll College Wu Wei I.Intro A.Attention: According to Lao Tzu, “the highest virtue is to act without a sense of self. The highest kindness is to give without a condition. The highest justice is to see without a preference. When tao is lost one must learn the rules of virtue. When virtue is lost, the rules of kindness. When kindness is lost, the rules of justice. When justice is lost, the rules of conduct.”…

Violence has been a way for people to express their emotions throughout history. Everyone has experience violence at least one part in their life. An extreme case of violence is occurring in the Hawken Middle School. Hawken has been a very profound and a well-known school for many consecutive years. However, they are currently experiencing daily incidents in which students are harmed by their fellow peers. Teachers are currently solving this case by suspending students, but that has not worked…

The Bhagavad-Gita is an ancient Hindu scripture that encompasses seven hundred verses and conveys how we are attached to the pleasures, desires, and duties that distract us from our true self. Slightly older, the Daodejing is an ancient Chinese text that is comprised of eighty-one brief chapters. As the fundamental text of Taoism, the Daodejing expresses how we must be in a state of “Wei Wei,” in order to be synchronized with the ever-changing universe. The author of the Daodejing was a sage…

In 6th century BCE the philosphy of Doaism was first created by Laozi during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Laozi believed that people could accomplish more in life by following Tao or “The Way”, which is the natural order of things. The guidance of following the path of least resistance to be successful is called Wu Wei or “non-action”. The Doadejing by Loazi and the Zhungzi by Zhungzi are traditional chinese texts that were used for Doaism teachings in the Eastern Zhou. Doaism teachings can also…

The first reading in chapter one of our text Pursuing Happiness, edited by Mathew Parfitt and Dawn Skorczewski, presents material translated from The TaoTeChing. I studied multiple sources to find more about this ancient text, and in the paragraphs below I will discuss the meaning of Tao its self, the author behind the work, and how Taoism has grown and changed through the centuries up to present time. Taoism is a religion that originated in china approximately 2,400 years ago. The main…

to suffer the endless cycle of anxiety, worry and fear. Through this prodigious poetic masterpiece, Tzu introduces the world to his philosophies and births one of the worlds most impactful spiritual movements, Taoism. A philosopher and a scribe in the Chinese Zhou Dynasty as well as an older contemporary of Confucius; however, each leaving conflicting legacies in regards to their theories and beliefs. Originally written in Chinese, the ‘Tao Te Ching’ is an ancient collection of eighty-one short…