Day 23

Small intro of traditional Chinese philosophy from wikipedia

Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. Chinese philosophy has a history of several thousand years; its origins are often traced back to the Yi Jing (the Book of Changes), an ancient compendium of divination, which uses a system of 64 hexagrams to guide action. This system is attributed to King Wen of Zhou (1099–1050 BCE) and the work reflects the characteristic concepts and approaches of Chinese philosophy. The Book of Changes evolved in stages over the next eight centuries, but the first recorded reference is in 672 BCE.

How traditional philosophy originated

Early Shang Dynasty thought was based upon cyclicity. This notion stems from what the people of the Shang Dynasty could observe around them: day and night cycled, the seasons progressed again and again, and even the moon waxed and waned until it waxed again. Thus, this notion, which remained relevant throughout Chinese history, reflects the order of nature. In juxtaposition, it also marks a fundamental distinction from western philosophy, in which the dominant view of time is a linear progression. During the Shang, fate could be manipulated by great deities , commonly translated as Gods. Ancestor worship was present and universally recognized. There was also human and animal sacrifice.
We were released early today because our afternoon lecture had combined with our mornings lecture. After that we went for lunch and headed back to our rooms and rested.

Reflection
Today during lessons, we were taught about some teachings about Confucianism. There was a saying that felt very meaningful to me.
The saying is’ it does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop’
There are many phases of life. As we grow, we experience and learn more new things. There will be points of time in life whereby you’ll experience hardships you think you never will be able to handle. However, if you just give up on life because of that obstacle, it definetely is a waste. When you fall, just get back up again and continue moving on. As long as you do not stop, you’ll see that your efforts are paid off in the future. ‘It doesn’t matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not stop’.