Category Archives: ReadingResponse

From the Journey to the West.

Just by the reading the title and knowing that this reading was Chinese influenced I knew it was going to be an adventure and that it would have lots of symbols with great meanings behind them. Having very little knowledge … Continue reading

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Chinese Vernacular Log

First off, the amount of loanwords in the readings overwhelmed me. Prajna-paramita? Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi? I can’t even begin to pronounce those. On another note, the history behind early modern Chinese vernacular literature was an informative read, and only a little dull. The Journey … Continue reading

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CH1 Journey to West

I was very excited to read this interesting story by Wu Cheng. As I was reading I started to enjoy the character of stone monkey and other monkey around him as well as conversation among monkeys.  Funny moment in this … Continue reading

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Heart Sutra

After reading Heart Sutra, I’m left with a quite amount of questions. First of all, what is meant by voidness/emptiness? Avalokiteshvara explains that all phenomena are expressions of emptiness, or empty of natural characteristics. This means that because phenomena are … Continue reading

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Journey to the West, Chapter One

Fantastical stories, especially that of mythical variety, to say the least, are not my favorite. So I didn’t exactly enjoy this read but, I did think the inclusion of poetry was an interesting way to enhance storytelling.  Also, what I … Continue reading

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Journey to the West. Cpht 1

When I read the introduction to the story, I wasn’t looking forward to reading the poems inside the story. I never understood poetry and could never analyze it deeply; it is basically my least favorite writing style to read. The … Continue reading

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The Journey to the West- Chapter 1

When I first began reading the biography of Wu Cheng’en I was excited to read the Journey to the West. I was thrilled to observe some of the versatile poetry and this interesting “dialect.” When I began to read the … Continue reading

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Candide Chapter 15-30

Martin feels very out of place in this story to me. He’s a philosopher like Pangloss but he’s VERY different from him.  The most obvious difference is that while Pangloss is optimistic Martin is the exact opposite, he is pessimistic. … Continue reading

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Candide, Optimism, Hope?

I have to say that it was definitely refreshing having Martin the philosopher appearing midway through the story.  No more of that Master Pangloss brain washing fairy tale “best of all possible worlds”, conversely, Martin interjects his philosophical perception of … Continue reading

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Candide

  As i continued to read the book, Candide started to question Pangloss’s philosophy, that “everthing is for the best.” When he met the negro, whose left leg and right hand are cut off, he said:”Oh Pangloss!You had no notion … Continue reading

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