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1. 4. Right Action / Perfect Conduct
2. The Foundation of Good Conduct
3. Filial Piety / Filial Conduct
6. A Deliberate Inaction is Better than a Blind Action
8. Do not take action until the time is right
9. Soldiers Adapt Actions to the Situation
11. Good Conduct
Samyak Karmanta / Samma Kammanta
正業 is one of the Noble Eightfold Paths of Buddhism. Right Action, along with Right Speech and Right Living, constitute the path to Virtue.
The five precepts of Right Action are...
1. Refrain from destroying living beings (no murder or any form of taking a life).
2. Refrain from stealing.
3. Refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, etc.).
4. Refrain from false speech (lying or trickery).
5. Refrain from intoxicants that lead to heedlessness (no drugs or alcohol).
This concept can be summarized as “Avoidance of actions that conflict with moral discipline.”
Note: In Japanese, when read by a non-Buddhist, this will mean “the right job/vocation.”
This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Japanese and Chinese people.
See Also: Buddhism | Enlightenment | Noble Eightfold Path
Quote from Confucius
This proverb, 志于道据于德依于仁游于艺, from the Analects of Confucius translates as:
Resolve yourself in the Dao/Tao/Way.
Rely on Virtue.
Reside in benevolence.
Revel in the arts.
According to Confucius, these are the tenets of good and proper conduct.
This was written over 2500 years ago. The composition is in ancient Chinese grammar and phrasing. A modern Chinese person would need a background in Chinese literature to understand this without the aid of a reference.
孝行 expresses the idea of filial piety or filial conduct.
While the first character means filial piety by itself, the second character adds “action.” Therefore this represents the actions you take to show your respect and obedience to your elders or ancestors.
Confucius is probably the first great advocate for filial piety.
一日一善 is a Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja phrase that suggests doing a good deed each day or doing one good turn a day.
It literally reads, “One Day, One Good (Deed).”
善 means goodness, virtue, good deed, charitable, benevolent, well-disposed, nice, pleasant, kind, or simply, “good.”
善 is the kind of good that applies to someone's good character, or a good person in general.
Referring to someone with this word means that they have a well-aimed moral compass, and are charitable, giving, wise, and honest. Basically, this is a blanket statement for every good trait a human can have or all the things that make someone good.
In another context, it can mean to improve or perfect something or refer to someone who is good at something.
Sometimes 一動不如一靜 is translated by others as “Look before you leap” but the more accurate and direct translation is the one I used in the title.
While somewhat military in its origin, this proverb can apply to any situation where a decision needs to be made, but perhaps there are still some “unknowns.”
This phrase suggests that in our “action-based” world, sometimes the “smarter move” is “no move at all.”
See Also: Better to Choose Nothing Rather Than Make a Poor Choice
The idea of “morality of deed” goes along with 行德 or “wu de” (martial morality or virtues of the warrior).
Here, the first character is a representation of the actions or deeds that you engage in.
The second character refers to morality or virtue.
This translates better in English in the opposite order, as the Chinese order is literally “deed morality.”
See Also: Morality of Mind | Martial Morality
This Chinese military proverb means, counter soldiers with arms and counter water with an earthen dam.
兵來將擋水來土掩 is about how different situations call for different actions. You must adopt measures appropriate to the actual situation.
To explain the actual proverb, one would not attack a flood of water with gunfire, nor would you counter-attack soldiers by building an earth weir. You must be adaptable and counter whatever threatens with relevant action.
Daoist / Taoist Tenet
無為 or “Wu Wei” is a Daoist (Taoist) tenet that speaks to the idea of letting nature take its course.
Some will say it's about knowing when to take action and when not to. In reality, it's more about not going against the flow. What will happen is controlled by the Dao (Tao), for which one who follows the Dao will not resist or struggle against.
There is a lot more to this concept, but chances are, if you are looking for this entry, you already know the expanded concept.
Warning: Outside of the Daoist context, this means idleness or inactivity (especially in Japanese, where not everyone knows this as a Daoist concept).
善行 means good actions, good deeds, good conduct, or benevolence.
This can be the given name Yoshiyuki in Japanese.
The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
4. Right Action Perfect Conduct | 正業 正业 | sei gyou / seigyou / sei gyo | zhèng yè / zheng4 ye4 / zheng ye / zhengye | cheng yeh / chengyeh |
The Foundation of Good Conduct | 誌于道據于德依于仁遊于藝 志于道据于德依于仁游于艺 | zhì yú dào jù yú dé yī yú rén yóu yú yì zhi4 yu2 dao4 ju4 yu2 de2 yi1 yu2 ren2 you2 yu2 yi4 zhi yu dao ju yu de yi yu ren you yu yi | chih yü tao chü yü te i yü jen yu yü i | |
Filial Piety Filial Conduct | 孝行 | koukou / koko | xiào xìng xiao4 xing4 xiao xing xiaoxing | hsiao hsing hsiaohsing |
One Good Deed Each Day | 一日一善 | ichi nichi ichi zen ichinichiichizen | yī rì yī shàn yi1 ri4 yi1 shan4 yi ri yi shan yiriyishan | i jih i shan ijihishan |
Goodness Good Deed | 善 | zen | shàn / shan4 / shan | |
A Deliberate Inaction is Better than a Blind Action | 一動不如一靜 一动不如一静 | yí dòng bù rú yí jìng yi2 dong4 bu4 ru2 yi2 jing4 yi dong bu ru yi jing yidongburuyijing | i tung pu ju i ching itungpujuiching |
|
Morality of Deed | 行德 | xíng dé / xing2 de2 / xing de / xingde | hsing te / hsingte | |
Do not take action until the time is right | 不到火候不揭鍋 不到火候不揭锅 | bù dào huǒ hou bù jiē guō bu4 dao4 huo3 hou bu4 jie1 guo1 bu dao huo hou bu jie guo budaohuohoubujieguo | pu tao huo hou pu chieh kuo putaohuohoupuchiehkuo |
|
Soldiers Adapt Actions to the Situation | 兵來將擋水來土掩 兵来将挡水来土掩 | bīng lái jiàng dǎng shuǐ lái tǔ yǎn bing1 lai2 jiang4 dang3 shui3 lai2 tu3 yan3 bing lai jiang dang shui lai tu yan | ping lai chiang tang shui lai t`u yen ping lai chiang tang shui lai tu yen |
|
Wu Wei Without Action | 無為 无为 | mui | wú wéi / wu2 wei2 / wu wei / wuwei | |
Good Conduct | 善行 | zenkou / zenko | shàn xíng shan4 xing2 shan xing shanxing | shan hsing shanhsing |
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. |
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Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.
There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form
of art alive.
Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.
The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.
Check out my lists of Japanese Kanji Calligraphy Wall Scrolls and Old Korean Hanja Calligraphy Wall Scrolls.
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