Tales of the Fat Monk Xiaoyao Xingzhe

The Fat Monk and Xiaoyao visit the Hermit for a quiet talk, but find the Boatman and his friend--who Xiaoyao has never met--already there.

Tea is the main topic of the day, but in the course of the discussion, the Fat Monk's peculiar aversion to Zhuangzi is exposed.

It turns out the Boatman's friend is well-versed in all things Zhuangzi ...
SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Xiaoyao discovers an ancient and enigmatic inscription in a hidden alcove of the monastery, and learns the difficult technique of stone rubbing.

The fat monk and the boatman instruct him in the art of duàn jù: "breaking the sentences" for pieces of writing that have no punctuation and look utterly incomprehensible. (See the transcript for the original piece in Chinese).

Later, the Abbot joins them as they parse through the text written by the Pine Vally Daoist, and the fat monk finally learns his lesson.


SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Xiaoyao visits Shijie's husband, Dr. Jiang, at the famous old Chinese medicine pharmacy across the road from Shijie's restaurant, and asks him an awkward question.

Shijie inducts three new members into her Daoist group, and gives them specific instructions on how to make the best use of their novitiate.

The fat monk describes the design of a group, why it has the structure it does, and how academics so often get it totally wrong because they have no idea of the concept of "correction."
SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Xiaoyao uncovers a Tang dynasty poem from Ancestor Lǚ, Lǚ Dōng-Bīn.

Cook and the fat monk lay bear the Daoist meanings of an episode in the Journey to the West, in which the daughter of the headman of Gao Lao Zhuang has been imprisoned by the promiscuous Pig.
To save her, Monkey takes on her form and makes Pig's life a living hell.

As always, for original Chinese characters, footnotes and explanations, see the transcript which is available on the right side of this page.

Meanwhile, here is a link with more on Journey to the West and suggestions of its potential inner meanings (not from Xiaoyao):
http://tinyurl.com/yzwp2cd5
SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Xiaoyao confronts a crucial episode of blanked out memory, in which Shijie provides a detailed examination of chapter two of the Dao De Jing, and Xiaoyao meets the mysterious Master Gu Yan.
 
 Cook explains what he meant by "meat buns for the mind," and the fat monk uses sweet black sesame soup to restore Xiaoyao's experience.


SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/

Xiaoyao returns to the monastery, only to come face-to-face with the new abbot, an imposing figure feared by not-a-few of the monks.

Later, he is able to clear up many misconceptions regarding the trigrams Qián (Heaven), Kūn (Earth), Kǎn (Abyss)  and Lí (Brightness)

Little does he know that this simple conversation will cast him on a journey toward the green and pacific island of Formosa.

Qián (☰)
 Kūn (☷)
Kǎn (☵)
 Lí (☲)


The discussion is continued in Chapter Sixteen: Trigrams Mountain to Marsh. Instead of a transcript, a PDF of these two epsodes can be found here:
https://thefatmonk.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/trigrams-mountain-to-marsh.pdf
SHOW NOTES:

Xiaoyao Xingzhe, the self-styled carefree pilgrim, has lived and worked all over the world, having crossed the Gobi in a decrepit jeep, lived with a solitary monk in the mountains of Korea, dined with the family of the last emperor of China, and helped police with their enquiries in Amarillo, Texas.

Visit the Fat Monk Website: https://thefatmonk.net/
for pdfs of all recorded chapters and a few more, as well as other bits of interest on Daoism, Buddhism and Neidan, with an emphasis (but not a limitation) on pre-twentieth century authors such as Huang Yuanji and Li Daochun.

If you would like to support the production costs of this podcast, you may do so at Ko-fi.

Check out the wonderful Flora Carbo and her music:
https://floracarbo.com/