#hong dao

[sillygoofyqueer]

So instead of writing, I've got another MDZS AU idea because that's what everyone wants to see from me hahaha...haha...

ANYWAY, picture Wei Wuxian as a ferryman/grim reaper figure in modern times, having lurked around in the shadows through the centuries, always there to greet the newly dead souls and gently unknot the tether that linked them to their bodies. The mortals called him the Yiling Laozu, based on the folktale about the poor little orphan who died in Yiling but came back to protect them when the most powerful ones would not.

A few of the worst souls are held below him like minions, too controversial to be allowed into the realm of the afterlife - according to the gods that rule over the place, anyway.

Fortunately for a small percentage of these souls, while the rest of them are left to fade away into the overwhelming Darkness, Wei Wuxian's sense of justice far outweighed his sense of duty and - because he didn't agree with some of these choices - he took them on as...employees, of sorts.

Hey, if the powers that be decide that he doesn't need help with the frankly never-ending workload that came with dealing with people dying (two people per second!! That was one hundred and six a minute, and he was expected to deal with that alone???), he's going to take matters into his own hands and collect his own help.

Hong'er was a soul that fought when Wei Wuxian began untying the bright red tether. He was used to the pain and the blood that was spilled as he remained ever gentle with unknotting the ribbon from the heart. The screaming and the anger was usual for a soldier felled in battle; hearing the soul screaming with such anguish, with such love for a god, was not. Wei Wuxian heard this and he paused - this pause was enough to allow the soul to slip through his grasp.

He didn't go after the little soul.

However, when the souls of the restless dead fell from his clutches and left him broken in the Space Between, he was a lot less merciful of the little soul; if he could not make the god apologise for leaving Wei Wuxian to put himself back together (was it truly so strange? Why was he so upset about this? It happened often - he was just another weapon, another tool for these gods, and this time he could only keep his self control in check for so long), he would collect the soul that had escaped before.

When the Yiling Laozu came for the wandering soul Wu Ming, he snatched him back just before the hoardes of violent spirits could tear him to shreds (he would not wish that pain upon anyone, not after what had happened to him) and dragged said spirits into the darkness for what they had done to him. Let them calm down there for a few centuries.

But Wu Ming was barred from the afterlife, for how he fought and thrashed and hit and bit and kicked and ripped (Hua Cheng would apologise for it later, shamefaced and almost silent, and Wei Wuxian would forgive him but never forget the blood that was spilt), and Wei Wuxian could not just abandon him in the Darkness after trying so hard to keep him whole in the first place.

The Yiling Laozu took on his first employee.

In contrast, the next one he plucked up was far less violent, far less angry but just...so, so scared. Hurt. Another teenager, this time shoved into what mortals called “The Abyss”. Wei Wuxian had always thought that to be a little too dramatic, considering it was really no more than a shallow crack when compared to the deeper, darker places he called home.

Luo Binghe's soul had been only loosely tied to his body with a thin, pale red string, so washed out and weak that it had fallen apart when Wei Wuxian's hands tried to unknot it - he had had to keep the soul together in his own hands so it didn't crumble right then and there. Despite the obvious weakness of the soul, the gods would not accept this poor, sad teenager into the afterlife; they gave no reason for it, but they would not let him in.

Of course, Hua Cheng had been close to storming the afterlife himself (so filled with rage, despite all this time), but the Yiling Laozu just curled around the poor broken soul and offered it the warmth and protection it so desperately craved, gave it stability and affection until those cracks began to heal and Luo Binghe could hold himself together.

Yiling Laozu's second employee was far more sensitive than the first, brittle compared to the harsh walls, but he had just as much anger and frustration at his disposal if a particularly tricky soul had left Wei Wuxian broken and bleeding (he wasn't used to people picking him back up and fixing him, so accustomed to doing it himself that he had flinched the first hundred times it had happened).

Something something there will be other employees and this was entirely derailed but the whole point was supposed to be Lan Wangji having a near death experience and floating in the In Between but a soft, warm voice laughing sweetly and telling him that his tether was far too strong, far too bright, to be untied now. Gentle hands holding him by his very sense of self and offering soothing touches as the darkness disappeared and the blinding white light of the hospital replaced it.

N then he's like 'I must have been hallucinating or dreaming' but then he almost dies again and this time the voice is tutting and scolding but still laughing as it talks of how eager Lan Wangji must be to meet him, those warm warm hands caressing his soul and then pushing it back down into his body.

When he finds an old folktale about the Yiling Laozu in his research, it's safe to say that he is desperate to see the entity he had fallen in love with once again.

God hold me BACK, I cannot be stopped from yapping!!! Tell me if you're interested lmao, I haven't even talked about the other employees (apprentices??) and also Lan Wangji being madly in love with this deity of old (let my man be a possible monsterfucker /silly).

[mademoiselle-red]

5 Favorite Characters Poll (tag game)

Rules: make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. See which character is everyone's favourite.

I was tagged by @lasenbyphoenix and since we are both cdrama enjoyers, I’ll also make this cdrama-themed. I have lots of faves, but these are the characters I find myself continually thinking about, analyzing, unable to let go of, long after I’ve moved on from their respective fandoms.

tagging @yletylyf , @bbcphile , @pi-ying-xi , @seventh-fantasy , @dangermousie and anyone else who’d like to play

Zhang Qiling: The only non-villain character on this list. I find myself returning to him whenever I plan trips to China. He is the perfect embodiment of my wanderlust — we both have an insatiable urge to see more of the country, in search of something we cannot name: perhaps a memory, a piece of the past, a sense of identity, a glimpse of the future.

Bailin: This is a character of many contradictions, which makes him fascinating (and it helps that he is played by my favorite actor Liu Xueyi). First, there is his personal struggle between his humanity and his divinity. Then, there is contradiction between Bailin as a morally neutral political actor in his role as a leader defending his people against invaders when their king refused to fight and the narrative’s depiction of him as the villain and the demons (who canonically do consume people in this show) as the victims. And finally, the conflicting storytelling that emerged out of the drama being filmed with the canonical Bailin/Luohou Jidu ship from the novel that was later mostly cut out of the show in post-production, which instead emphasized the Luohou Jidu/Sifeng ship (which doesn’t exist in the novel since these two characters never interacted).

Wang Xifeng: She was a more competent leader of people and manager of businesses than the men of the Jia household, but as woman, her gifts and ambitions were limited to the household. She was also just as corrupt and vain as the men who led the family to its eventual destruction, but she could have been so much more, greater and more terrible, if she’d been able to enter public life instead of being sequestered within the Jia manor. She’s like a beast, an apex predator, trapped in a golden cage. She was selfish and cruel, but she was also kind and generous to Qin Keqing and to Liu Laolao, and to many of the main characters as long as their interests didn’t conflict with her ambitions.

Cao Cao: There is something very romantic about his life. He was the grandson of a eunuch, shunned because of his lineage, rose to prominence in the army during the unrest and civil wars as Han royal power waned, conquered the northern lands, brought peace and order to his people, and became the supreme ruler of the north but would not crown himself emperor out of some (perhaps genuine perhaps feigned) moral obligation to the Han dynasty. He is cast as a villain in most adaptations because he kidnapped the young and incompetent heir of the Han royal family and used him as a puppet to rule over the territories he conquered. But he did bring peace to the northern lands, and he was a more competent ruler than many of the negligent and corrupt Han royals who came before him. And the dynasty he founded, the Wei Dynasty, gave birth to my favorite literary and aesthetic movement in Chinese history.

Jin Guangyao: As you can tell from the other character analyses above, I am fascinated by complex and contradictory characters who seek and weld political power. Ah Yao is a gentle and soft spoken person who is also ruthless and cold. He is a morally grey politician cast as the villain of the narrative because he is directly or indirectly behind the mysterious deaths that the main couple investigates. Jin Guangyao is similar to Cao Cao in many ways. He is a bastard child who killed those who’d wronged or threatened him and used those assassinations to rise to power. While in power he brought peace and stability to his people after a brutal civil wars: he built watch towers so that ordinary people could receive help from cultivators and he maintained peace among the various cultivator sects. He was cruel towards those who stood in his way to power (and survival) but he treated his nephew and heir with kindness. His rise to power left behind a trail of blood, but he is also the only character besides Lan Xichen (his political ally and backer in every step of his rise to power) with any semblance of a political vision in the novel. These many contradictory pieces that comprise “Jin Guangyao” are endlessly fascinating: Meng Yao the kind boy who helped a stranger, Meng Yao the desperate boy who took revenge on his abusers, Jin Guangyao the gentle and generous ruler and uncle, Jin Guangyao the ruthless and power-hungry usurper, son, husband, and brother.

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: When Fate Plays Matchmaker (2024)

Gifs of Ending of cdrama "When Fate Plays Matchmaker"

MULTISUB 【俏红娘 When Fate Plays Matchmaker】 EP01：震惊 相亲居然遇上白月光 crush | 魏天浩 / 赵星卉 | 古装 爱情 | 优酷 YOUKU

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzX59evH0k

[lesbianbookworld]

foul lady fortune

Orion Hong: brainwashed and now wants to kill Rosalind

Phobe Hong: is Priest

Dao Feng: 'It is a pleasure to meet you properly Priest.'

Celia Lang: aligned with the communists

Alisa Montagova: also aligned with the communists

Rosalind Lang: everyone I care for is now working with the communists, what has happened

[swdgf]

certain qidian authors shld start a side hustle writing dnmei actually 🙂‍↕️

[mstrchu]

never not thinking about how the jie dao disciples on the shang side during fengshen were almost all old and already accomplished figures with well-established posts and reputations while a solid chunk of the chan dao disciples on the zhou/west qi side were like. a group of freshly traumatized kids and yang jian, who was also traumatized but just slightly older.

like pov: you're a shang general and your opponents are a group of middle/high schoolers and their exhausted college student TA.

[inkyminx]

~ 𝓧𝓲𝓾 𝓗𝓸𝓷𝓰 𝓸𝓯 𝓑𝓪𝓸𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓢𝓪𝓷𝓻𝓮𝓷 ~

About a year ago, I designed a Xianxia (mainly MDZS) version of my mascot (which I've shared before) but I wasn't really proud of it & knew some things had to be changed.

So, I redesigned him & he's finally here!

Expect a lot of upcoming story plots, some facts about him (including story and simpler info) & shenanigans in both MDZS and AWE. Don't worry, there'll also be some SV and many more to come with this young man-

Cause HO BOY do I got some ideas.

[typingwithmyhandstied]

I'm reading the scene in the hospital after Dao Feng is attacked and pretty much just mentally slapping myself for being stupid the whole time. It's so freaking obvious in hindsight that Phoebe was Priest and stealing the file. It's so freaking obvious about Dao Feng too. I was so stupid.

[oceanusborealis]

The Moon Thieves (The Moon Thi4v3s, Dao yue zhe, 盜月者) - Movie Review

TL;DR – While the plot will not be a great surprise to anyone who has watched a heist film before, the cast makes it a fun ride. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.Disclosure – I paid to see this film. The Moon Thieves Review – Long-time readers will know that I love a good heist film, the set-up, the mission when it all goes to pot. However, I have…

[trans-leek-cookie]

Looking up Japanese floral design and now I know now that agarwood isn't just wood from a specific tree, it's wood from a specific tree infected with a parasitic fungus that leads the tree to secrete resin to try and fight it

[xiakeponz]

for modern AU fics - what chinese media did diaspora consume?

making this post because some of us in the diaspora server were having a chat about what Chinese media "Diaspora Chinese" watched in the 90's - 2000's (and even sooner than that) while not having access to satellite chinese media or streaming services - this is in the context of writing modern AU fics based off Chinese media/novels (so your main character's grandpa or uncle is not, in fact, watching an episode of Friends or Shortland Street or something as flavour text because sorry what the hell-)

We generally watched a lot of stuff on VCDs, including bootlegged and non-bootlegged movies, shows, anime/donghua. My household had a whole VCD album of this, and a lot of VCDs (even if they were pirated editions) would have a fancy hardcover box with a magnetic clasp and some artwork representing the show on it.

All of this is Mandarin - so not TVB stuff, because I'm from Northern China and I don't know any cantonese - but Canto friends, please feel free to add to the list! This is mostly stuff my parents liked to watch, or I liked to watch with them, with the exception of a few which I mainly watched with friends/cousins when I was maybe (in most cases) eleven/twelve years old onwards. This is a pretty personal list, meant to give people general idea of a possible "ballpark" of sorts, and by no means exhaustive.

Now, for the list of shows which I can confirm I had or someone I know had on VCD or some kind of offline media format lol (I'll try add release year stamps and links to the EN wikipedia where possible):

Period dramas (mostly Qing Dynasty stuff):

Huan Zhu Gege 还珠格格 (1998, April-) This is a classic, so many memes come from this show; hugely popular series, basically cemented Zhang Tie Lin's face as the face of the Qing Emperor for about a decade. Tie Chi Tong Ya Ji Xiao Lan 铁齿铜牙纪晓岚 (2002-2010) - I loved this show as a kid and watched all four seasons on repeat with family... The "trio" in this show are well known and loved.

Amazing Detective Di Ren Jie / 神探狄仁杰 (2004) A very popular and addictive show. Ok now the Big Four:

Romance of 3 kingdoms 1994 / 三国演义 (1994) - a classic that has had many remakes, my older cousin would play this on repeat...

Hong Lou Meng/红楼梦 （1987） - another classic with many remakes, but I think the most recognised by the public one is the 1987 one.

Journey to the West / 西游记 live action (1986) - I think the 1986 version of the live action is the most recognised one. *Shui Hu Zhuan / 水浒传 (1998) - I am not too familliar with the live action of this one in my household tbh bc my mum doesn't like it lol (she keeps saying it's too depressing) but I'm sure it's up there with the rest of the big four, if anyone has an opinion on this one please let me know!

Modern setting shows:

My dad loved all the Sun Honglei (孙红雷 - actor name) stuff, iirc it was a lot of MinGuo period espionage stuff, your shanghai 1920's sxc aesthetic. This actor has been around since 1999? Qian Fu （潜伏）was very famous, and Ren Jian Zheng Dao Shi Cang Sang （人间正道是沧桑）。 These were around '08 and '09.

Chuang Guan Dong - 闯关东 (2008) (Baidu link, sorry - couldn't get an EN wikipedia one). This show was huge when it was airing, everyone was watching it. I was pretty young but even I watched it and got invested ... and I thought it was such an "old person" show at the time lmao. Xiao Bing Zhang Ga / 小兵张嘎 （2004） (sorry, again Baidu link) - yo, anti-japanese war movies set between 1937-1945 were crazy popular - this is one of them and was very popular):

Donghua/Anime (all the stuff kid me watched and some which I didn't but were popular):

喜羊羊与灰太狼 (2005-) Calabash Brothers / 葫芦兄弟 （1986-1987） Black Cat Detective / Hei Mao Jing Zhang 黑猫警长 （1984-2010） Lan Mao Tao Qi 3000 Wen 蓝蓝猫淘气3000问 AKA 蓝猫 (blue cat) (October 1999 - Present) Legend of Ne Zha 哪吒传奇 (2003) Journey to the West/Xi You Ji 西游记 This was truly the Donghua I grew up on from when I was a bb, the OP song and ED song are classic bangers all kids know. Slam Dunk/ 灌篮高手 - People truly watched a lot of anime that may or may not have been terribly dubbed into mando (possibly canto too). Late 80s and 90s kids were all over this, and Dragon Ball, Crayon Shinchan (labixiaoxin).

Taiwanese Dramas:

This is mid-late 2000's, I would be remiss to not talk about the Taiwanese dramas of this era. Mike He, Rainie Yang, Wu Zun (amongst many, many others) were huge. Stuff like Dou Niu Yao Bu Yao, it started with a kiss, Hua Yang Shao Nv (Taiwanese version of Hana Kimi) were all pretty popular. Not sure if these shows all hold up in 2023, but boy were they popular at the time.

Note about CNY:

For CNY, people would try to tune into 春节联欢晚会 (the CCTV official CNY show) at that One Friend Who Had China Satellite TV's house. Zhao Ben Shan / 赵本山 was a comedy staple, and the show would often feature people from the music industry to perform. Eventually these people became more and more relevant to my gen and Jay Chou etc started appearing.

Last but not least Xian Jiaaaan 仙剑:

In 2005 I was all over 仙剑奇侠传 (Chinese Paladin), based off the video game. This show was crazy popular and probably sent me and a whole lot of other kids into Xianxia / Wuxia hell (and Hu Ge hell, and later I came back to love Liu Yifei). Thank you. The OST is a true banger.

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: When Fate Plays Matchmaker (2024)

Gifs of Intro of cdrama "When Fate Plays Matchmaker"

MULTISUB 【俏红娘 When Fate Plays Matchmaker】 EP01：震惊 相亲居然遇上白月光 crush | 魏天浩 / 赵星卉 | 古装 爱情 | 优酷 YOUKU

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzX59evH0k

[writergracethepanda]

Secret Shanghai x The Princess Bride

I was watching the Princess Bride with my family and had a vision. Thanks to @typingwithmyhandstied , @no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist , and @juliette-cai-enthusiast for helping me with this

Buttercup: Silas

Westly/Dread Pirate Roberts: Phoebe/Priest

INIGO MONTOYA YOU KILLED MY FATHER/COUSIN PREPARE TO DIE: Rosalind (the sword is the JM letter guys all of the dominos are falling into place)

Fezzik: Orion (The scene where fezzik sobers up igno is basically the scene where Rosalind gets poisoned COME ON GUYS)

Prince Humperdinck: Lady Hong or "that random girl who tried to flirt with Silas in fhh"

Vizzini: Jeimin

Miracle Max: Dao Feng

Valerie (that's her name right?): Silas's mom

The King, an ICON: Celia

Juliette: Grandpa

Katherina: Sassy kid

bonus for the best one

"Maybe Oliver could be some random guy in the pit of despair who is just chilling" - @no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist

[beasiannow]

Lucky Cat Indeed!

In their latest act of extreme trickery, a rouge group of chaotic Taoist magicians has empowered a collection of "Chinese Lucky Cat" statues, including "Lightning Tiger Dao." The results? See below:

Spread throughout tourist gift shows in Singapore, Hong Kong, and various Chinatowns in America and Canada, the cat bestows a different sort of luck. Remaking the person nearest to them when they activate into a 100% Chinese version of themselves.

So that Jimmy Smith though he was giving his girl friend as cute will present of a lucky cat statue to his girlfriend Laura Fields

What he was really doing was giving himself the chance to get to know her as Xiang Li Fang.

Renée Taylor, while visiting Hong Kong, thought that a Lucky Cat was just the souvenir to bring home to Montana. "Maybe it'll help me visit again soon." she thought.

Ren Liu Tian instead found she would be looking for a place to live in the city instead. To say nothing about now needing a whole new passport and a need to relearn English.

Hanna Field thought the little shop in Chinatown was the cutest, most quant thing she had ever seen.

As Yu Ming Han, a new employee of the shop, it became a lot less quant and turned into just someplace where she worked.

One of the more interesting bits of their Taoist Chaos magic happens when Desiree and Bill Costello take a short rest as one of the Lightning Tiger Lucky Cats acted up.

So that after a dizzy moment, they became Deng Cai and Bill Costello. So that before most of their meals had come via Grub Hub deliveries, then became home cooked better-than-Chinese restaurant dinners.

[lingshanhermit]

Lingshan Hermit：When Confucius and Shakyamuni Meet Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir

I am not a perfect person, but I am an extreme perfectionist. As such, I hold both myself and others to extraordinarily high expectations and demands. Sometimes this creates slight tension in my relationships with those around me. As an extreme perfectionist, I have little tolerance for others' foolishness. Even more than others' foolishness, I cannot tolerate my own inaction, and what I find most intolerable is wasting time. My WeChat public account tells me that in 2024, I wrote 346,000 characters, averaging nearly a thousand characters per day. This comes close to meeting my personal standards. Over the past few years, I have been busy with dharma practice and writing. I've performed over nine hundred grand offering ceremonies and written hundreds of articles, which gives me some comfort that I haven't wasted my time. Because I've been so occupied with these matters, I rarely have time for other activities. So when someone asked me about my thoughts on that Hong Kong film, all I could tell them was that I hadn't seen it yet - I knew about the film and had wanted to watch it, but couldn't find the time. A few days ago, I finally found a gap in my schedule to watch this highest-grossing film in Hong Kong's history.

I quite liked this film—but don't misunderstand, when I say I liked it, it doesn't mean I agree with the messages it conveys. I liked it because I could see in it the state of many practitioners, witness the collision between Eastern tradition and Western thinking, and observe what happens when Confucius and Shakyamuni encounter Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir. Hello Brother represents the state of many practitioners. Although he has spent his whole life as a Namo master performing traditional rituals to help the deceased escape from hell, he has never truly understood the meaning behind these traditional rituals. He simply follows the traditional requirements blindly, without knowing their true significance. Because the patriarchs said so, he says so; because the patriarchs did it that way, he does it that way. He has never questioned whether these words are correct or delved into their deeper meaning. From my observation, if a person doesn't want to deeply investigate the truth or falsity of something, it indicates that they don't actually believe it's true—subconsciously, they feel it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

Therefore, people like Hello Brother, although engaged in traditional professions, are easily led astray by seemingly reasonable but false teachings and easily conquered by Dao Sheng's apparently logical arguments. This is because they have never established true faith. I've met many people like Brother Hello. They don't truly understand Buddhist dharma, yet they practice it. Although they don't understand it, they don't know that they don't understand. When Buddhist dharma faces questioning, they still defend it. They defend it not because they're certain it's right, but because Buddhism has become part of them, become part of their "self," merged with their identity. In others' eyes, they are Buddhism, and Buddhism is them. Defending Buddhism means defending their face and dignity, their authority—that's why they persist.

On the surface, they appear to be traditional practitioners who act according to tradition, but due to a lack of genuine practice and guidance, they haven't truly and thoroughly embraced Buddhist dharma in their hearts. Therefore, when they encounter the alluring Western culture, they are quickly drawn to it. There are many such people in both Chinese and Tibetan regions. Though they may outwardly appear to be disciples of the Buddha, wearing Buddhist robes, their hearts have long since become followers of Voltaire and Steve Jobs.

For thousands of years in the past, practitioners in Tibet lived in seclusion from the mundane world, but circumstances have changed now. Today's monastics are no longer the isolated mountain dwellers of the past who were removed from worldly affairs. Mobile internet has become widespread even in remote monastery areas. Even if you're staying in a deep mountain monastery in Sichuan, you can still see the latest trending topics and receive mobile greeting messages. Compared to waking up at four in the morning to chant the monotonous Kangyur in the main hall all day, scrolling through TikTok is certainly more entertaining. Mobile internet has brought convenience and Buddhist teachings, but it has also brought the Devil and his daughters.

Compared to practitioners living in the deep mountains of Sichuan, those living in cities are exposed to even more new ideas and concepts. If they don't have firm right view, they will almost certainly be conquered by the demons. Many modern popular ideas can be traced back to Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir, and we are fed these Voltaire flakes and Beauvoir nutrition drinks through our phones every day. This is why many practitioners, though seemingly practicing, are simultaneously individualists and social Darwinists (they probably don't realize these systems are completely opposite to Buddhist dharma). This is probably because the fruits of spiritual practice don't come as quickly as becoming an individualist or social Darwinist.

The results of spiritual practice usually manifest in subtle ways; sometimes you can't even feel the so-called results at all. After practicing dharma for several years, you can neither fly nor become wealthy, your interpersonal relationships remain as bad as ever, when you have a cold for several days chanting sutras doesn't help and it's only after taking a few pills of Molnupiravir that you get better, and your wife pressures you every day. This can't help but make you doubt the efficacy of Buddhist dharma. Most people's practice bears no fruit because they neither understand practice nor know how to practice, yet they don't attribute this to their lack of understanding—instead, they doubt the dharma and their teachers. Compared to practice, everyone can experience the benefits and immediate pleasure brought by Western culture. Because Western products are designed for the general public, even children and housewives can easily use them, while the threshold for Buddhist practice is quite high.

Many people prefer visible happiness, prefer precisely designed electronic products, prefer the convenience brought by technology, because most of us are shallow people—compared to the subtle changes produced by Buddhist practice, SUVs and Coca-Cola can provide more direct pleasure. Therefore, many people, while maintaining their Buddhist identity, have long since surrendered in their hearts to the civilization established by Aristotle, Shakespeare, and John Locke—that is their true refuge, their true object of devotion.

I know someone who immigrated to Australia. Once, for some reason, he suddenly started telling me about his faith in Buddhist dharma and his teachers, speaking at length about it. I asked him, "If that's the case, why did you go to Australia? So far from your teacher?" He said it was because they have a better social security system there. This really left me speechless. If you believe that good medical care or social welfare systems are your true security, then your thinking is no different from ordinary people. Your entire value system is not Buddhist.

It's like if you agree with Western medicine's claim that bone broth has no nutritional value, you would similarly believe that negative energy and dampness don't exist, would consider post-partum confinement a backward custom and think it's fine to eat ice right after giving birth. Likewise, you would have doubts about the existence of reincarnation and samsara. Because these concepts all come from the same source, they all belong to the same system. This system, since ancient Greek times, has only used that clumsy method to explore the world—only using test tubes and quantum computers to explore the world—they can only observe and analyze observable material phenomena, and are completely helpless when it comes to intangible things like qi, so they can only dismiss it as ancient people's imagination.

There are many people like him. They practice Buddhism, recite Guru Rinpoche's prayers, while simultaneously seeking security from the Western system. For such people, praying for the guru's blessings is a joke. Unlike them, Brother Hello didn't immigrate to America or Canada; he stayed in Hong Kong. Although he didn't emigrate to Canada, although he stayed in Hong Kong and continues to help people escape from hell, it doesn't mean he has no doubts about the traditions passed down from the patriarchs. Therefore, when the traditional culture he inherited encountered Western civilization's opposition, although he appeared to be defending and counterattacking, because he didn't truly understand tradition nor ever verify its correctness, his defense appeared powerless and pale. So when his daughter Man-yue questioned him, "Didn't the patriarchs have mothers?" all he could do was repeatedly mutter those few phrases.

His son went even further. This man who grew up in 1980s Hong Kong received a completely Western education. He merely treated the family inheritance as a business venture. From beginning to end, he had no faith in these ancient rituals, didn't believe these rituals could help the deceased, and didn't care whether they could help the deceased. He wasn't even interested in whether people continue to exist after death. To him, it was just a way to make a living, no different from selling furniture at Wing On Department Store in Sheung Wan. Because of his education, he would feel that selling furniture at Wing On would be more respectable than his inherited traditional profession. Therefore, he could convert to Catholicism for his son's extra school admission points and then convert back later.

There are actually many such people now; I can see many of them in Buddhist circles. These people grew up in a social environment completely opposite to Buddhist culture. They don't believe in Buddhist dharma or karma; they practice because their family members believe in Buddhism or because they inherited this profession. As for Dao Sheng, he represents those self-proclaimed clever secular businessmen who treat everything as a business from start to finish. To make more money, he thought up many clever reasons and excuses, telling Brother Hello that while the dead need to be saved from hell, the living need it even more.

To help the living escape hell, he could violate professional ethics by secretly letting the deceased's same-sex partner into the makeup room for a final meeting and even secretly giving them a portion of the ashes, could let Man-yue preside over the hell-breaking ritual, could break through all traditions—just to make clients feel he's a good person so they'll come back to him next time. The clients are pleased, but the effectiveness of saving souls from hell becomes quite questionable. While the feelings of the living certainly need to be respected, the focus of hell-breaking is not the living but the deceased. You can't jeopardize the deceased's future just to make the living happy.

Under such pretexts, you can do anything; all rules will be broken, all traditions will be destroyed, and eventually, all dharma lineages will cease to exist. It appears humanistic but is actually destroying the transmission. It seems considerate of others but is actually only for profit. And the underlying logic of all his actions is that death is the end of everything. This is what the devil wants to convey.

What Dao Sheng says seems reasonable but can only fool those who don't understand. I've met many people like him, and their common characteristic is that they know nothing about Buddhist dharma. Besides knowing nothing about Buddhist dharma, they also know nothing about themselves. They read a few books and think they've grasped the essence of Buddhist dharma, then question things based on their limited understanding. They think Buddhism is wrong about this and that, that it should change. According to their thinking, Buddhism shouldn't have so many restrictions on monasticism, shouldn't restrict who can become a monastic—anyone should be able to become a monastic. They even want to teach those who teach them dharma how to teach them dharma.

Usually, I ignore such people because they're just seeking attention. What they need is education from 0 to 10,000. And I am an impatient person, so this task should be done by someone more patient and compassionate. I bet even those patient and compassionate people would lose their patience and compassion with them. If they had basic logic and intelligence, they should know that a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years must have profound reasons, because this is something verified by countless people who were smarter, more logical, and more critical than them, and every seemingly unreasonable rule might be based on the lessons of predecessors, so these are not things that can be overturned by someone who has just read a few books.

At Brother Hello's funeral, Dao Sheng announced that Man-yue would preside over the hell-breaking ritual. This decision was opposed by all the Namo masters present. Then Dao Sheng presented his reasons, which were quite shallow—so shallow that I couldn't take them seriously. He insisted that hell-breaking was just a ritual, with the main purpose being to comfort the living. When an outsider is too much of an outsider, what they say will leave all insiders speechless. Because it's too easy to refute and leaves people with no desire to refute it.

There are many such people in Buddhism. They don't understand Buddhist dharma, don't believe in it, and don't cherish it. Buddhist dharma is just a tool for them to seek profit. Such people only want to please others, only want others to think well of them. They use Buddhist dharma to do favors, and for this, they can sacrifice any tradition. This is probably what is meant by "convenience leading to degradation."

Over the past century, the spread of Western education has given many people the illusion that they can judge everything (they not only think they can judge right from wrong but also believe they can control destiny). Because most of the ideas they've received come from the tradition of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir, they tend to think many things in traditional culture are ancient people's imagination. For instance, Brother Hello's constant talk about women being impure, women having menstruation, and the patriarchs not liking it. Most modern people won't like such concepts because they have already been bound by Voltaire's ideas and consider these to be discrimination against women. I don't know if these are ancient people's imagination, but I have seen evildoers' faces grow increasingly dark, seen mandala jewels become covered in black ash when touched by those who seriously violate samaya, seen many things beyond your imagination and logic, so if someone tells me that negative energy is just ancient people's imagination, I can only feel compassion for them.

Brother Hello, as an inheritor of this profession, although he has spent his whole life helping people escape from hell and moving in traditional cultural circles, still faces the impact of Western culture and can feel the intense shock to his own faith. It's just that in traditional East Asian society, most people are bound by face—even if they have doubts, they won't show them, burying these doubts deep in their hearts for the sake of face. Especially people like Brother Hello; as a locally famous Namo master who breaks hell, he can only insist on the patriarchs' teachings, though he himself might not deeply believe them. No one knows if he might think at midnight about whether what he does has any meaning, whether people still exist after death, whether what he does actually helps them or if it's really as Dao Sheng says—that hell-breaking is just to help the living get rid of their psychological knots. This is an issue that exists for all practitioners, but most people are unwilling to touch this awkward question.

Most practitioners facing various new things coming at them are not prepared. They don't know how to respond, don't know how to reconcile the conflicts between their practice, faith, and modern ideas. Many people who are accustomed to self-deception will feel they don't have this problem—self-deception helps them cover up this issue, making them feel they don't have such problems. But no matter how you cover it up, the problem still exists.

When a freedom-loving individualist comes to a Buddhist community to practice, when they see the "Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion," see various precepts and requirements, they will feel that Buddhist practice is full of anti-freedom elements. You have to share the teacher's leftover food with your dharma brothers and sisters because that is the guru's siddhi and has blessings; you have to wash the teacher's socks, endure their bad temper; you must obey them completely, and if they tell you to quit your job and beg on King's Street, you have to do it. You must admit these things conflict greatly with what you learned at Princeton University.

In the past two hundred years, traditional culture has been shattered by modern Western civilization. Even practitioners and those who make a living from traditional culture are no longer firm in their beliefs—they just don't voice it. I understand why this situation has occurred. We face our phones every day, face girls dressed in anime style, face gene editing therapy, Trump coins and Hirokazu Kore-eda, face city trains speeding past on elevated bridges, face a drastically changing new world. Growing up in such an era, the scenes described in Buddhist sutras seem as unreal as dreams.

All along, I have believed that the root of most people's problems in modern society lies in their respecting what should be despised while despising what should be respected, respecting what shouldn't be respected while not respecting what should be respected—this is the root of many of our problems. From this perspective, this film is no different from those feel-good movies; it's also a feel-good movie, the only difference being that its feel-good nature is deeply hidden. It trampled and humiliated things we should respect in a special artistic way.

Dao Sheng and Man-yue probably represent the Hong Kong younger generation's understanding of this. They grew up in a Hong Kong society where English is the official language, and in their view, many traditional rules are just outdated garbage. Although she was raised on Brother Hello's work as a Namo master, this doesn't prevent her from seeing that system as merely a remnant of the old era. This isn't surprising—she grew up in Hong Kong society, using Octopus cards and drinking Yakult, with planes flying overhead every day. Although Hong Kong society has preserved much traditional culture, it still cannot resist the erosion of Western culture. Compared to the deceased, they believe the living are most important—actually, this isn't just their thinking, it's most modern people's thinking. You can find people who think this way in any city in mainland China. They are also followers of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir.

The terrifying aspect of this thinking is that it denies the existence of the deceased, making traditional rituals like hell-breaking lose their meaning, becoming mere formal cultural heritage—perhaps relics. In the letter left for Man-yue, Brother Hello told his daughter, "I didn't know those words were hurting you all along." He was referring to words about women being impure and such. These final words undoubtedly revealed his true values. Although he had been engaged in hell-breaking work and maintaining tradition, deep in his heart he had always been a modern person (someone with a Voltaire brain) rather than a traditional Chinese person. That's why he would feel those words hurt her.

East Asian culture, after more than 2000 years of fermentation and misinterpretation among ordinary people, has finally manifested as an extremely unskillful education method. East Asian parents are accustomed to educating their children with stern faces; they never praise their children, always pick at their faults, and are extremely strict with them. I can't say this is wrong, but it easily pushes children to the devil's side. The devil loves to collect those who lack love—it will appear beside them, praise them, provide them with abundant security. With it, even if you punch a hole in the sky, it doesn't matter; it will make you feel it's the one who truly loves you.

Basically, if you want to hear pleasant words, words that don't hurt you, you should go find deceivers—only deceivers can provide you with full emotional value. The words of sages are never pleasant to hear. Laozi said the sage is not benevolent and treats the people as straw dogs. Shakyamuni Buddha said women have five obstacles. Jesus said let him who is without sin cast the first stone. In today's world where individualism runs rampant, we have all been spoiled. We can't bear to hear any truth; any truth makes us feel offended and hurts our fragile hearts. Even TV dramas like "As If in Hell" can make many people feel greatly hurt. What you need to know is that any truth is unpleasant to hear, but unpleasant words are what you should hear. Because only those who love you will risk offending you by saying those truths you don't like to hear. As for those who don't care even if you make a huge mistake—of course they don't care, because you're the one who has to take responsibility, not them. If you ruin your life, what does it matter to them?

In today's world where Western culture sweeps across the globe, traditional East Asian education methods have been severely questioned, and new-generation parents are taught not to be harsh with their children, to use "Western," "civilized" methods to educate children. Hong Kong, as one of the earliest regions to be baptized by British civilization, appears on the surface to perfectly combine the essence of East and West, maintaining the appearance of traditional culture, but many people have actually long abandoned tradition. Traditional culture inheritors like Brother Hello perform traditional rituals in the most traditional way while feeling they've failed their daughters—this is a manifestation of internal Westernization.

Imagine one day when Confucius and Shakyamuni meet Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir. This is what happens to everyone in the film. Some are followers of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir from the start, while others struggle between Confucius, Shakyamuni, and Voltaire. Because of what we have been taught, all our standards for measuring advancement come from Voltaire's legacy. Using Voltaire's cognition and standards, you certainly cannot understand the greatness of Chinese culture. Chinese sages never emphasized material civilization. Western society, on the other hand, has been devoted to material civilization since the Renaissance, and today material civilization has reached unprecedented abundance. Millions of trucks and cargo ships deliver goods around the world daily to satisfy our greed. You can drive to the supermarket and buy a week's worth of food, open your phone to watch people dancing worldwide, and walk into the bathroom to find hot water waiting for you. Most people will like such a life and consider it advanced. Even followers of Shakyamuni won't refuse hot showers and TikTok.

As they say, Confucianism and Buddhism never invented phonographs or chrome film, didn't create shower heads and central air conditioning, didn't write "The Wealth of Nations," didn't invent supermarkets—so what did they do for thousands of years? As far as I know, our ancestors, these great sages, like the Indians, were doing the most important things: studying how to solve our fundamental afflictions, researching the root of all human problems, examining the ultimate questions we must face. Therefore, they were doing what matters most. For us, the most important things are how to solve our suffering, how to transcend life and death, how to attain happiness. There are many less important matters, such as who becomes the U.S. president, how to conquer AIDS, how to make goods circulate quickly, how to train large language models, and how to make toothless people grow new teeth. These are all less important matters. Studying these things not only fails to solve our problems but adds to them. Yet most people become addicted to these unimportant things. They think if planes could fly ten times faster, if we could grow new teeth, we would be happier.

Of course, I never fantasize that the general public could understand these things. Most people can only see the convenience and happiness brought by Voltaire, Simone de Beauvoir, and Adam Smith. They cannot see the price they must pay for these conveniences, nor can they see that these external things will ultimately fail their expectations. Therefore, people like Brother Hello, although still following and even defending tradition, have already been conquered by Simone de Beauvoir in their hearts. I don't mean to blame him—he's just an ordinary person, and in this era, it's almost impossible not to be conquered by the Voltaires. There are few people in this world who can see the problems and ultimate results brought by Western culture; there are even fewer who can understand these things, and fewer still who would support Eastern culture while Western culture dominates the world. After all, that means risking being seen as a spokesperson for backwardness and decay by the whole world. However, regardless, you must know that the theories of Voltaire, John Stuart Mill, and Simone de Beauvoir may bring you temporary happiness and prosperity, but ultimately, it is an endless path of suffering because it is an erroneous theory built upon a non-existent "self."

Written by Lingshan Hermit

January 14, 2025

First published January 20, 2025

Revised January 22, 2025

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灵山居士：当孔子释迦牟尼遇到伏尔泰和西蒙.波娃（修订）

[the-monkey-ruler]

Chang'e (2010) 嫦娥

Director: Liang Kaicheng Screenwriter: Wang Hong Starring: Huang Jue / Yao Di / Ming Dao / Wang Ziwen / Ren Donglin / Wei Qianxiang / Gao Baobao / Zhao Jing Genre: Romance / Fantasy / Costume Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2010-10-16 (Mainland China) Number of episodes: 40 Also known as: Chang'e Flying to the Moon / 嫦娥奔月 Type: Crossover

Summary:

The story of "Chang'e" takes place before she became a fairy. As a mortal, Chang'e is lively, active, outgoing and cheerful. She is engaged to Wu Gang, played by Ming Dao, but has no feelings for him. She is in love with Hou Yi (played by Huang Jue). Wu Gang likes Chang'e but cannot express it. Unfortunately, the Jade Rabbit, who was saved by Wu Gang, loves Wu Gang... The four of them keep going around in circles in this tangled relationship. In the end, Chang'e flies to the moon to save Hou Yi. The Jade Rabbit stays with her and Wu Gang also comes to the Moon Palace for his beloved...

Source: https://tv-1.chinesemov.com/tv/2010/Change

Link: N/A