#laozi

[noosphe-re]

Flexible, Ravi Zupa Chapter 76 of the Tao Te Ching describes how being rigid and uncompromising makes us behave the way dead things behave. Dry leaves, dead wood, corpses. These things are stiff and brittle. When we behave in a way that is flexible and yielding we behave like things that are living. Green leaves, living branches and stems, living bodies.

[ziseviolet]

Chinese hanfu photoshoot by 阿卫也叫猪小卫, recreating a 泥人张/Niren Zhang figure.

泥人张/Niren Zhang (Clay Figure Zhang) is a famous folk art from Tianjin, China that originated during the Qing dynasty. The images of Niren Zhang vary from palace maids in costume, historic figures, religious figures, and modern figures to local customs. This Niren Zhang figure depicts Xiren, Baoyu's chief maid in the classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

The hanfu was hand-made by 王大喵有鱼, recreating the outfit worn by the Niren Zhang figure. It consists of a white shan (upper garment), pink qun (skirt), black banbi (half-sleeve jacket), white and red/black double-layer yaoqun/weichang (overskirt), blue bixi (decorative fabric), and red laozi (knotted ribbon decorations tied to the waist). Model: 元年.

[philosophybits]

Best to be like water, which benefits the ten thousand things and does not contend... Keep your mind deep. Treat others well. Stand by your word. Make fair rules. Do the right thing. Work when it’s time. Only do not contend, and you will not go wrong.

Laozi, Daodejing, Addiss & Lombardo tr. (Ch 8)

[studiotriggerfan397]

"Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail." - Tao Te Ching (Chapter 76, translation by Stephen Mitchell)

[enka-antix]

Best boi Clone and Laozi who Wukong recruited the help of-

[moronislop]

super best friends!!!

[a-really-big-cat]

Noble has humble as its root, High has low as its foundation. Rulers and lords call themselves Poor lonely orphans. Isn't this using humility as a root?

They use many carriages But have no carriage; The do not desire to glisten like jade But drop, drop like a stone.

-- Laozi, Daodejing Chapter 39

The sage wears rough clothing And carries jade inside.

-- Laozi, Daodejing Chapter 70

Humans are born soft and weak. They die stiff and strong. The ten thousand plants and trees Are born soft and tender And die withered and sere.

The stiff and strong Are Death's companions The soft and weak Are Life's companions.

Therefore, The strongest armies do not conquer, The greatest trees are cut down.

The strong and great sink down. The soft and weak rise up.

-- Laozi, Daodejing Chapter 76

(Trans. by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo)

[starsfic]

"You're insane!"

"You knew that when you hired me!"

Inspired by @enka-antix's Rewind AU...

"You're insane!"

"You knew that when you hired me!"

Laozi's assistants fell to the floor as the insane clone Wukong had sent slammed down the lever. The entire lab shook and shifted, and whoever hadn't already ducked and covered fell over, save for him and the cackling clone. Electricity sparked to life, crackling around the Trigram Furnace, turning the usual white flames to a bright, searing gold.

Laozi sighed, resisting the urge to massage away the migraine or, worse, leave. It would be a sign of weakness.

Hopefully, Lab Assistant was right about his theory about the clay of Flower Fruit Mountain...