Comments on: orthogonality… http://www.ricardopinto.com/blog/2009/11/13/orthogonality/ the blog of author Ricardo Pinto Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:50:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: ricardo http://www.ricardopinto.com/blog/2009/11/13/orthogonality/comment-page-1/#comment-591 ricardo Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:44:22 +0000 http://www.ricardopinto.com/blog/?p=841#comment-591 I had heard of him as Meng Zhuang - but have never read the work... After a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuangzi" rel="nofollow">quick investigation</a> I was inspired enough to order a version of it from amazon. As for "escaping the boundaries and corners" I'm sure you are right - certainly from what I understand about Taoism... As for Mesoamerica, they too associated colours with the directions... and, of course, it is believed that the people who became the Mesoamericans came from Eastern Asia - and so may well have shared cultural traits with the Chinese. I have long thought, for example, that the square spirals and other ornamentation on Shang bronzes was remarkably similar to Mayan ornamentation... I had heard of him as Meng Zhuang – but have never read the work… After a quick investigation I was inspired enough to order a version of it from amazon. As for “escaping the boundaries and corners” I’m sure you are right – certainly from what I understand about Taoism…

As for Mesoamerica, they too associated colours with the directions… and, of course, it is believed that the people who became the Mesoamericans came from Eastern Asia – and so may well have shared cultural traits with the Chinese. I have long thought, for example, that the square spirals and other ornamentation on Shang bronzes was remarkably similar to Mayan ornamentation…

]]> By: Athena Lam http://www.ricardopinto.com/blog/2009/11/13/orthogonality/comment-page-1/#comment-590 Athena Lam Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:02:13 +0000 http://www.ricardopinto.com/blog/?p=841#comment-590 Perhaps if you have the time, you might want to check out the Zhuang Zi. It's a canonical Daoist text that is on the same level as the Dao De Jing/Lao Zi. It's a collection of...mystical stories, for lack of a better word. I don't want to call them parables or allegories, but it is definitely as much a philosophical text as it is an amazingly sublime piece of literature. Super short. I think it escapes the boundaries and corners you're talking about. On another note, part of Chinese creation mythology (this is problematic, as most of the peoples that occupied the present political geography of China had different ones) includes the first 5 Emperors. They correspond to the 5 elements, and each brought various things to the people (i.e. crops, writing, fire, etc.). The one in the middle was the youngest as I recall; he was the yellow emperor. It made me think of that because I actually find that the Meso-Americas had much in common with Chinese culture. Perhaps if you have the time, you might want to check out the Zhuang Zi. It’s a canonical Daoist text that is on the same level as the Dao De Jing/Lao Zi. It’s a collection of…mystical stories, for lack of a better word. I don’t want to call them parables or allegories, but it is definitely as much a philosophical text as it is an amazingly sublime piece of literature. Super short. I think it escapes the boundaries and corners you’re talking about.

On another note, part of Chinese creation mythology (this is problematic, as most of the peoples that occupied the present political geography of China had different ones) includes the first 5 Emperors. They correspond to the 5 elements, and each brought various things to the people (i.e. crops, writing, fire, etc.). The one in the middle was the youngest as I recall; he was the yellow emperor. It made me think of that because I actually find that the Meso-Americas had much in common with Chinese culture.

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