So my correct understanding is that the Stone is scammed by the monk to take his offer to become mortal, because it's a virtuos deed for the monk? Therefore what the author implies that this cosmic bureaucracy, exemplified by the monk, set the tragic story in stone for their own personal gain. I would love to hear your thoughts on this
One of the fascinating things about this book is to consider what the motives are behind certain actions that the characters undertake. There really was no cosmic need for the stone to become mortal in the first place, after all.
I think this is a pretty good example of the somewhat sardonic attitude the author takes to organized Buddhism.
If this book wasn't a Chinese classic, I wouldn't choose read it but am doing it for learning language and writing. This book feels twisted like they're all suspended in purgatory in pre-death. I don't like the energy of this story.
Something I’m struggling to understand when I read this section of the story is the motivation for the Buddhist monk to deliver the stone to the mortal realm. His tone reads to me as sometimes playful and sometimes disdainful(?) when calling the stone a “stupid thing.” I’m also not sure I understand what is meant by the monk and priest delivering souls to the world and why this is a virtuous deed. I feel I generally don’t understand the spiritual setting that begins this story and what sort of tone it implies to the reader.
I get the big picture that Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu’s souls(?) have divine fantastical origins and they’re fated to meet in the human world due to their bond/debt. But I’m otherwise lost when it comes to the interactions of the monk and priest throughout the novel in general. On surface level cultural knowledge alone, I expect them to be virtuous noble individuals, but the Yangs translation repeatedly mentions “scabby” priests which leaves me confused.
Buddhists believe that all beings suffer. They believe in eliminating all emotions, attachments, and desires. The stone clearly still has a fondness for the human world, so it is said to be foolish. "Delivering souls" in the original text refers to guiding several souls struggling in the human world to enlightenment, so it is a virtue. However, the main theme of this book is not to express that Buddhism is the magic key to solving suffering, but rather it is more realistic. Therefore, there is no need to get too obsessed with these supernatural elements.
Do you understand what this blog and project is about?
I suggest that you spend more time reading around and understanding what I am doing before you start telling people not to look deeply into things in the text.
There's nothing wrong with being from mainland China. I lived there for years, and have many friends from mainland China. However, I can tell from the tone of your comments that you are from there.
Please lighten up.
"Deliver" means the same thing as "save" in English in that context.
So my correct understanding is that the Stone is scammed by the monk to take his offer to become mortal, because it's a virtuos deed for the monk? Therefore what the author implies that this cosmic bureaucracy, exemplified by the monk, set the tragic story in stone for their own personal gain. I would love to hear your thoughts on this
Yeah - I think you're onto something here.
One of the fascinating things about this book is to consider what the motives are behind certain actions that the characters undertake. There really was no cosmic need for the stone to become mortal in the first place, after all.
I think this is a pretty good example of the somewhat sardonic attitude the author takes to organized Buddhism.
Thank you for the translation.
If this book wasn't a Chinese classic, I wouldn't choose read it but am doing it for learning language and writing. This book feels twisted like they're all suspended in purgatory in pre-death. I don't like the energy of this story.
Something I’m struggling to understand when I read this section of the story is the motivation for the Buddhist monk to deliver the stone to the mortal realm. His tone reads to me as sometimes playful and sometimes disdainful(?) when calling the stone a “stupid thing.” I’m also not sure I understand what is meant by the monk and priest delivering souls to the world and why this is a virtuous deed. I feel I generally don’t understand the spiritual setting that begins this story and what sort of tone it implies to the reader.
I get the big picture that Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu’s souls(?) have divine fantastical origins and they’re fated to meet in the human world due to their bond/debt. But I’m otherwise lost when it comes to the interactions of the monk and priest throughout the novel in general. On surface level cultural knowledge alone, I expect them to be virtuous noble individuals, but the Yangs translation repeatedly mentions “scabby” priests which leaves me confused.
Buddhists believe that all beings suffer. They believe in eliminating all emotions, attachments, and desires. The stone clearly still has a fondness for the human world, so it is said to be foolish. "Delivering souls" in the original text refers to guiding several souls struggling in the human world to enlightenment, so it is a virtue. However, the main theme of this book is not to express that Buddhism is the magic key to solving suffering, but rather it is more realistic. Therefore, there is no need to get too obsessed with these supernatural elements.
I disagree. The supernatural elements of this book are just as much a part of the book as are the characters.
This stuff is in there for a reason. There's nothing wrong with asking questions or looking deep into this stuff.
I presume you are from mainland China.
Do you understand what this blog and project is about?
I suggest that you spend more time reading around and understanding what I am doing before you start telling people not to look deeply into things in the text.
There's nothing wrong with being from mainland China. I lived there for years, and have many friends from mainland China. However, I can tell from the tone of your comments that you are from there.
Please lighten up.
"Deliver" means the same thing as "save" in English in that context.
度脫幾個="deliver a few souls"? that's inexact.
How do you propose changing the translation?
度脫 absolutely has to refer to "saving" (or "delivering") souls in the Buddhist sense. It's simply what the verb means in this context.
Both of the other major English translations say exactly the same thing. It's obvious from the context that this is what is being referred to.
How is that inexact?