Prior readings: China

(to be posted gradually -- as I recall them -- most recent coming first)

Carnal Prayer Mat: (18th Century) (Rou Poutuan) by Li Lu, translated by Patrick Hanan. There's no attempt at believable characters or situations in this strange Buddhist meditiation on carnality: the handsome, financially secure, brilliant young hero has two ambitions in life: to be the world's most famous poet - and to marry the world's most beautiful woman. A genuine but unconventional Buddhist monk (one who fails to either live on a mountain-interpret scripture-or beg for alms) cautions him against such lustful pursuits -- but the young can only learn by experience (how else ?) and he begins a descent into depravity -- consorting with criminals and eventually grafting the penis of a dog onto his own -- to better satisfy his adulturous consorts -- of which he begins to have many -- each more lustful than the other. Finally, his misdeeds catch up with him --- he repents his evil ways -- and castrates himself to terminate his uncontrollable apetitites. Ouch ! There's a kind of whacky hilarity about these procedings -- where the poor hero is at the mercy of his lust as well the desparate housewives who seem to want nothing more than his amazing canine cock. There's no love in this story -- but then, there aren't any ghosts either -- and I think the two go together in Chinese story telling. Perhaps it was intented to be a cautionary tale for adolescent boys.

But there are also some remarks that seem aimed at a more mature audience:

"The way to look at a woman is the same as the way you look at calligraphy or a painting. There is no need to study a scroll brushstroke by brushstroke;all you have to do is hang it up at a distance and judge its power. If it shows adequate power it is a masterpiece. If its power is blocked, and the scroll lacks vitality, it is no better than a print; however fine its brush technique, it is mere hackwork and hence useless. Now if a woman's beauty has to be examined close up to reveal itself, it will be limited at best. The qualities of a truly beautiful woman cannot be obscured, even though seen through a curtain of rain,mist, flowers, or bamboo. Even if she is glimpsed through a crack in the door, or hidden herself in the dark, a sense of her charm will emanate of its own accord, and make the observer marvel "How comes it she is like a heavenly one ? How comes it she is like a god ? If you think these qualities reside in her physical form, you are wrong. But if you think they lie outside her physical form, you are also wrong. They are beyond explanation, hence marvelous. " Was this a widely shared attitude towards quality in painting ?

The differences between this story, and the earlier, more famous erotic novel, "Golden Lotus" should also be noted -- for here the emphasis is on satisfying women, rather than the other way around.


Ssma Chien: Records of the Grand Historian. Imagine if only 2 chapters of Livy's Punic wars were available -- and that's what faces those who rely on English translations of this great historian of the early Han dynasty. Ssma was on site --- at this critical juncture in world civilization when the Chinese Confucian state was born -- and he paid for his frank observations with his manhood (the emperor -- a very competent, important leader -- had him castrated for defending a disgraced general -- and come to think of it -- Socrates nearly lost his life 300 years earlier in similar circumstances) He wrote history -- both ancient/mythological and recent/actual --- and it's his accounts of his own time -- and the triumph of the first Han emperor -- that make the most fascinating reading -- not just about who killed whom --- but also discussion of currency, flood control, and economics.