SQ: Final thoughts

 

High and Low are one and the same: They open the gate to the magnificent History.

Yet it is an interpretation of an interpretation:  See the CText, 13 lines, see the Watson, 30 more.

Words are exhausted, words are exhausting.  Listening to respond, is not listening to learn.

It was a privilege, unworthy student as I am, to remember 太史公書 through the ages.

In my awe, a historian’s historian:  His Work for the glory of the ancestors. 

 

These weeks with The Historian have been incredibly rewarding, but I just do not agree with the St. John’s Method for reading him.  What was Sima Qian trying to teach us?  I think he would say, “Why do you not understand what I am telling you?”  His target was not a bunch of Westerners trying to figure things out without any historical and cultural context.  His very well-educated Chinese gentlemen would have known exactly what he was getting at.  We, on the other hand, need more help.  The reading was sometimes needlessly exhausting.  I would think to myself:  Of course I understand why so-and-so said this or that or did this or that.  But I could not back it up using the text per se, because I at least had some understanding from just being Chinese, brought up in a family with a long scholar tradition (we even have an ancestral temple).  I listened to some flailing in class, did not say anything, and felt bad about it.  Hearing what non-Chinese students get stuck on and get wrong was perhaps the most important part of the class for me – it was a reflection of what I also do, the assumptions I make because of my formal western education.  I need to wear my Chinese hat more often.   

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Final 1

    1. What caused the feudal lords to believe that the Lord of the West received the mandate? (58mb) After the Lord of the West was released by Chow, he continued secretly carrying out good deeds (58mt). Since he was imprisoned by Chow, in the first place, because the latter believed his accumulating virtue to be a threat (57b-58t), his discretion made sense. But regardless, the feudal lords took notice and came to him for unbiased insights (58mt). When the Yu and Jui journeyed to Chou for help, they gained insight regarding their legal dispute without even needing to see the Lord of the West (58m). As they witnessed the farmers yielding on the boundary path, the people yielding to their elders, they felt something: ashamed (58m). The issue they were coming forth with was itself considered shameful by the Chou people, and as they had no interest in humiliating themselves, they turned back (58mb). This shame they felt led them to their solution: they followed the example of t...
Read more

Week 7

Tuesday, 10/10  In re-reading The Five Emperors this week, I was struck by the closing remarks, where Sima Qian describes the uncertainty surrounding the history of The Huang-Ti, stating that other scholars’ “words are not appropriate” and that “even civil officials or old masters would have trouble explaining” the history of The Huang-Ti (N17 2nd p.). His resulting account includes the “words which are the most appropriate” (N17 2nd p,b). What might Sima Qian mean by “appropriate”?  Perhaps an “appropriate” account is one that emphasizes virtue. Sima Qian’s account of The Five Emperors provides clear examples of the actions and characteristics of virtuous rulers. Sima Qian also remarks that his intent is that The Five Emperors be the first chapter of his “basic annals” (N17b). By making virtue the starting point, Sima Qian is showing us that virtuous government is in our nature, we only need to retrieve the virtuous nature shown in The Five Emperors. Sima Qian’s virtuous begi...
Read more

Conclusion

Nienhauser: Why can’t King Wu sleep? King Wu can’t sleep (63m) because he hasn’t “secured Heaven’s protection.” (63mb) At least according to Sima, it seems that he has done nothing but good works to the benefit of many. There is a hint on 62m that the area had been “pacified and the situation was not yet settled,” and so he sets to settling. He “cleared the roads and repaired…altars”, (62t) had his RectifierScribe read Chow’s crimes to Heaven (62mt), and claims he has been charged to, among other things, “receive the great mandate of heaven”. (62m) There are many more things he does on 62b-63t: He feeds the poor, honors the dead, makes records on behalf of the government, and rewarded the meritorious. These deeds are not enough, as nearing his own death, Sima relates that “the world was not yet settled.” (64m) Yin had failed as “heaven didn’t enjoy the Yin offerings” (63m): this left them vulnerable and led to King Wu’s “success.” (ibid.) Is Heaven hard to please, or is Wu missing so...
Read more