#The Unclean Realm

[tavina-writes]

Why Is the Unclean Realm Called That?

Okay so, I was salty yesterday but I am calm! Today!

Let's talk about the name of the Qinghe Nie Sect Seat and why it's translated as "The Unclean Realm" and what thematic implications this name ties into.

The Chinese characters for Unclean Realm is 不净世 (bujingshi), and translating this as "unclean realm" is not inherently a bad translation at all! It gets the idea across and it's short and pity, like Nightless City for 不夜天城 (Buyetiancheng) or Cloud Recesses for 云深不知处 (yunshenbuzhichu). Unfortunately English words tend to have more syllables in them than Chinese words and the other unfortunate thing about like, translation especially for subtitles is that you have to get the translation across in the same amount as it takes for the characters to talk because most casual viewers are not pausing their screens to read translator notes especially when the thing in question is actually just, far more complicated to explain than just a sentence.

Now, to get into 不净世 (bujingshi) and what it actually means, we do have to look at the concept it comes from: 不净观(bujingguan)/asubhabhāvanā, which is a Theravāda Buddhism concept that focuses on the contemplation of defects (also on occasion translated as the contemplation of the foul/decay) especially in the sense of contemplating one's own physical decay as a meditative exercise that reminds practioners to let go of the world/worldly desires bc of the commonality of like "yeah all life in the world will eventually become a corpse and decay, so while we're here don't be too fussed about wealth and glory and power and having objects"

So, in that sense, the Bujingshi is "the realm where we let go of physical desires because eventually we all become one with the world through decay and there is no reason to contemplate wealth and material objects." Does this. Sound like someone's philosophy. Does this remind you of that line from the book that says Nie Mingjue does not care for money, women, wine, or glory.

Does it perhaps also ironically tie into his fierce corpse or Nie Huaisang contemplating decay as a state of being throughout the second life? Perhaps!

But really this is a very clever and philosophical name that ties into so much of the Nie Sect's whole deal, and seeing it being treated as kind of a haha funny thing or a totally mysterious weird thing to be called is kind of. Depressing at times.

[otgo-brooklyn]

Nie Xiaohui

The mother of Nie Huaisang, Nie Xiaohui was an artisian that caught Sect Leader Nie's eye one day.

[uglywabbit]

A great fic from a great author - I have been rereading Moominmommashandbag fics regularly for about a year 💛

This is from chapter 25

[emrinalex]

It's really a vacation paradise, it's just Nie Mingjue's ancestirs didn't want word to get oyt

I still so wish they never went in there, it all went downhill from the moment they set their foot in the place! Like, why would you want to visit a place called Unclean Realm?

Couldn't you two smart guys go and find some Clean Realm instead?

Haha, poor elegant babie NHS takes a look at the place and be like "This is not the Unclean Realm I know and love!"

[br-disaster]

it's still NMJ's birthday in my timezone, so have some happy Nie Bros !

[korpikorppi]

THE SEATS OF THE FIVE GREAT SECTS - and one small non-sect

不夜天 Búyè Tiān - Nightless City - of the Qishan Wen

金麟台 Jīn Lín Tái - Golden Carp Tower - of the Lanling Jin

不净世 Bùjìng Shì - Unclean Realm - of the Qinghe Nie

云深不知处 Yúnshēn Bùzhīchù - Cloud Recesses - of the Gusu Lan

莲花坞 Liánhuā Wù - Lotus Pier - of the Junmeng Jiang

乱葬岗 Luànzàng Gǎng - Burial Mounds - of the very unofficial Yiling Wei

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I truly don't understand why anyone takes literally anything in Empathy as fact if we've seen it before. Every single time I sit here like "DA-GE PLZ. DA-GE WE SAW THAT EPISODE UNFOLD FROM A THIRD-PERSON OMNISCIENT VIEWPOINT AND THAT EVENT DID NOT HAPPEN." Someone get Daniel Molloy in here ASAP.

[sweets-yandere-lover]

(I feel like this is how nie huaisang would communicate to his spouse)

[guqin-and-flute]

More Nie riding Yao/spiritual animal!Mountain Goats. For fun ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[stiltonbasket]

in a nielan verse, nmj has a little posse of baos following him around in full baby-sized chifeng-zun cosplay? little play swords, little moustaches, etc. nmj is doing bao-friendly "training" with the kids.

I'm imagining Lan Xichen dressed in loose night robes, carefully painting eyeliner moustaches on his babies each morning before he sends them to the Baoshi...

[gravitywonagain]

another 400 word “drabble” on new information

.👀.

He knew. He’d known. He’s very good at his job -- gathering gossip and keeping the Jianghu rumor mills grinding and in check. Moreover, he’s not blind, and Da-ge has all the subtlety of a bear yaoguai crashing through an autumn-dry forest. So of course Nie Huaisang had been aware, in the abstract way of gleaned knowledge, that Da-ge and Lan Xichen were more than “close friends,” “strengthening sect ties” with frequent visits and joint nighthunts.

But, while Nie Huaisang would call himself a connoisseur of erotic works, written and illustrated, he had never -- never -- wanted to see his own brother sweaty and flushed and pounding away into their “closest ally.”

Nie Huaisang slams the door shut, more grateful than he’s ever been for anything in his life when the silencing talisman reactivates, cutting off Lan Xichen’s voice mid throaty moan. He whips his fan out from his belt, waving it furiously, attempting to redirect his mind elsewhere.

He’d had a question when he sought out his brother, he’s sure of it. Something important.

He turns on his heel only to find Lan Wangji standing there, still as a stone carving.

The younger Jade’s face is as unreadable as ever. No creases or tightness to be found. His gold eyes continue staring impassively into the middle distance like nothing in this world could possibly interest him. Like he hasn’t just witnessed his brother being absolutely railed by the heir to the Nie Sect.

For a moment Nie Huaisang considers the possibility that he hasn’t. That the door had shut quickly enough to spare him, or even that he simply doesn’t understand what it is he might have seen.

But there, just there, at the tips of Lan Wangji’s ears, Nie Huasiang spots a touch of color. A camellia petal pink that deepens with every passing second until it is as red as a fairy crane’s crown. Nie Huaisang watches the blush seep down the curve of his ears to the bottoms of his lobes.

He hides a grin behind the leaves of his fan -- though Lan Wangji’s eyes are still distant and unfocused, and Nie Huaisang is starting to think that might be entirely on purpose.

Nie Huaisang lets his eyes flick between the jade-carved features of Lan Wangji’s face and the now virulent color painting his ears -- only his ears -- and thinks, perhaps, he’s learned something new today after all.

[tavina-writes]

I'm sure better people than I have made a post about this, but just saw someone else get confused about the name of the Unclean Realm/think it's a bad translation of something else and I'm not. I'm not sure what to say exactly except perhaps that while I know it's a joke it's kind of irritating.

(On the face of it, Unclean Realm is not a bad translation, but the connection between 不净世 (bujingshi) and 不净观(bujingguan)/asubhabhāvanā, the contemplation of defects in order to rid oneself of desires, etc, cannot! actually! be denied!)

Anyway. This is just a mild rant I can expound on this more/discuss what asubhabhāvanā/bujingguan actually is, and how that's thematic to the Nie and also NMJ and NHS but like just! mayhaps! your jokes are damaging and also not very funny.

[odetoviscera]

Title: as certain obscure things

Chapter: 6 of 18

Fandom: MDZS/The Untamed

Relationships: Mèng Yáo | Jīn Guāngyáo & Niè Huáisāng, Lán Huàn | Lán Xīchén & Niè Míngjué, Niè Huáisāng & Niè Míngjué

Major Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary:

The jianghu grapples with the consequences of a sect leader's murder, and the circumstances that led to it.

No one wants another war.

Chapter Excerpt:

Their faces harden, and for a vertiginous moment Lan Xichen thinks he’ll need his xiao after all, is already flicking through compositions in his head, discarding Severing and Repulsion and most of the other war-songs, he can’t hurt them for doing their duty to their sect. Perhaps Slumber or Distraction…

“How fortunate is Qinghe, to have such loyal and filial friends.”

[deathbyoctopi]

Sect Aesthetics

The Wen: Imperial grandeur, but not too opulent.

The Lan: Graceful austerity, simplicity in harmony.  

The Jin: Lots of monies, little taste.

The Jiang: Natural, chaotic beauty.

The Nie: 

[textualviolence]

The more I write this gothic horror unclean realm fanfic the more ABO lesbophobic I become this is not something I thought would happen when I embarked on this journey...there's no ABO and yet a distinct flavor of 'omega/omega pairings are just evil compensatory psychosexual displacements' is definitely emerging.

[wisdomfish]

Consider what an unclean thought would have you do: it would have you roll yourself in folly and filth. Ask envy what it would have you do: it would have you murder and destroy as the result of it.

John Owen