I'm sitting here enjoying my "Feng Shui" album...ooops, cd...looking over my Facebook Profile while the Triumph, Mob Wars, and Might of Many applications move on to the next bit of stuff I need from them in order to go back to war in the virtual world. I clicked on the "What Chinese Philosopher Are You?" application to see what the other guys are like besides good old Lin Chi who I apparently resemble. (This is a guy who "lived during the Tang Dynasty and died in 866 AD. He formed the Linji school of Chán Buddhism. His method to help students attain enlightenment was to yell at them and strike them abruptly with a fly-swatter, so as to shock them into a religious experience.") Now, with that methodology, can you see why I call him a Puritan? Can you say Grumpy, Constipated Christian with a Dunking Stool?!!
Maybe his whole philosophy/theology was not Biblical (according to Wikipedia, Christianity has been around in China since at least the 7th century), but I remember the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians of his day in 1 Corinthians 4:21, "What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness?" I guess Paul either didn't own a fly swatter or thought his charges needed a bit more disciplining seven centuries before Lin Chi. Or maybe under that gruff exterior, Old Lin Chi was a softy and only wanted to leave little welts on his students' carcasses?!!
As I was reading about the five other Chinese Philosophers I was tickled with the description of Lao Tzu, who is represented by 9% of those taking the quiz. (I'm in the 7% class...the most exclusive, naturally! ;P) It appears, "We don't know when he lived or died; the best accounts detail him being born after 62 years in the womb with a full beard." Poor Momma Tzu!! OUCH!!
One tang-ential thought...Did the Tang Dynasty invent a powdered orange drink that eventually became popular in America in 1959 and even moreso when NASA started giving it to its trainees in 1965...with or without hitting them with a fly swatter?!!
Happy Sunday!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment