The Interpretation of Wisdom: Proverbs and Quotes from around the World.
Discover how the ancient wisdom of the T'ai Hsüan Ching comes alive in your hands through a unique blend of philosophy, wordplay, and global insights. Here's how this proverbs and quotes app compiles its profound answers and thus becomes the Wisdom App.
The Mystery of the Original: T'ai Hsüan Ching
The foundation of our app is the T'ai Hsüan Ching (The Mystery). The original text (likely based on Ssu Ma Kuang's compilation) is available online at:
The latter version offers the convenient feature of displaying the respective Chinese characters in all their English equivalents.ch bin ein Textabschnitt.
Beyond Words: The Art of Wordplay
This film illustrates the timeless wisdom that underpins our app. It poetically shows how universal patterns repeat themselves eternally in the flow of time – the wisdom contained in the quotes and proverbs in our app.
For the interpretation of the appraisals, we have deliberately used
exclusively proverbs and quotes from around the world. Their fields of meaning either coincide with or at least overlap with the keywords of the appraisals in Michael Nylans translation.
With this kind of "wordplay," we find ourselves in excellent company! Even the creator of the Mystery himself, Yang Xiong, loved witty wordplay, omissions, ambiguities, and illogical conclusions to draw the reader's attention and outdo his opponents and interlocutors.
The Limits of Language and the Search for Truth
What also led us to a rather "generous approach" with the T'ai Hsüan Ching text is the realization of the ambiguity of language and the philosophy of language as a whole:
- Lao-Tse: "The truth that can be spoken is not the ultimate truth."
- Goethe: "As soon as one speaks, one begins to err."
- Nietzsche: "Every word is a prejudice."
- Wittgenstein: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."
These powerful wordsmiths have shown us the limits of expression - the ambiguity of language. The Goethe quote makes it abundantly clear.
The Special Nature of the Chinese Language
Furthermore, there is the unique nature of the Chinese language:
Absence of Tense, Case, and Gender: This leads to an inherent polysemy.
Context Dependence: The exact meaning often only becomes clear from the context; in the case of ancient texts, sometimes only through hermeneutics.
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An impressive example of this unique nature of the Chinese language is the character "玄" (xuán), which means "mystery" or "dark", but allows for a wealth of interpretations, including: profound, gloomy, mysterious, subtle, abstruse, black, unbelievable, unreliable, occult, unreal, mystical, meditative, silent, feigned, illusory, enchanting, deceptive, changeable. It can also mean deception, magic, illusion or playfulness.
Quality and Authenticity: Our Canon of Answers
To ensure we didn't stray too far from Yang Xiong words despite these linguistic challenges, we consistently consulted the competent translation by Michael Nylan for cross-referencing. Her historically knowledgeable and empathetic annotations greatly contributed to our understanding of the Mystery.
Thus, a relatively independent canon of answers, a "Mystery-wordplay" so to speak, was created. It evokes both the T'ai Hsüan Ching and the I Ching, yet mimics its systematics so stringently that it seems justified to access it according to Shao Yong's guidelines. We are sure: Yang Xiong would certainly have approved.
This interplay of oracle sayings, quotes, wisdoms, and proverbs from diverse sources and eras impressively shows that people across the globe and throughout all times were not only similarly entangled in the same conflicts but, despite all cultural differences, visibly attempted to master their lives with similar sound common sense.
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The background images are excerpts from works by the following great artists: Ma Yuan (1160-1225), Huang Gongwang (1269-1345), Wu Zhen (1280-1345), Ni Zan (1301-1347), Wang Meng (1306-1385), Li Zai (unknown-1431), Shen Zhou (1427-1509), Tang Yin (1470-1524), Wang Shiming (1592-1680), Kung Hsien (1618-1689), Hua Yan (1682-1756), Hokusai (1760-1849), Hakabayashi Chikkei (1776-1853), Hiroshige (1797-1858), Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)..
A Book: Bridging Wisdom and Art
​While selecting the background images for this app, I stumbled upon the immeasurable treasure of ancient Chinese landscape paintings. I was so fascinated by them that I envisioned a fusion of the T'ai Hsüan Ching with these artworks. This resulted in a book that, due to its 729 full-page color prints, unfortunately became very costly. The Young I Ching is a special work that allows the wisdom of the T'ai Hsüan Ching to be experienced in a unique visual way.
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For Nicolas
To the free app, guaranteed without viruses and other nasties.
You can also run the app on your desktop if you give your computer permission to do so.:
WIN Mac
> More info
> "run anyway"
> System Preferences
> Security & Privacy
> General
> "open anyway"