User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Big Bed

I think Bodawei is joking around mate,and wants to avoid LP syndrome ,as discussed here.

Posted on: Big Bed

hehe,

Perhaps Bodawei doesn't want his secret bargain given away to all and thus booked out?

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

bodawei,

Thanks for clarifying that mate :)

For the record mdbg popup translator just beat Chinese perakun popup translator twice in a row just now on the latest entries on this thread.For both 天下 and 取经 mdbg gave the definition sought for where perakun fell short.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

Just downloaded the free trial of the MDBG popup translater to compare it with perakun which does have it's faults.Looks good and MDBG is a great dictionary,but one thing I don't like about this translator as much as perakun is that one there is a multi character word it won't break down the word into its individual characters as perakun does.I'm not saying that it's not otherwise better though.Just a feature I wish was there.

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

Interesting similarity in sound and meaning between 归 and  回.Is there a connection here?

The first line of this poem clearly refers to his initial trip to China.Halfway through the 3rd line of the poem Pete has made it clear that he is now returning to Japan from the mention of 鱼龙 onwards.What I'm not entirely clear about is the second line and the first half of the 3rd line;whether they are referring to his initial journey to China,or to his return home,and how this is made evident in the poem.Can anyone clarify this?

ps Pete,sure Monkey Magic was goofy,but it was very entertaining and good for a laugh.You didn't think much of it I take it?

Definitely one of my favourite poems so far.Very interesting.Thanks for all your explanations Pete.They cleared up nearly all the questions I had during the poem.Explaining the historical context makes it so much better.

I also liked the reference to the moonlight reflected in the water as a phrase in Buddhist literature representing something without substance.I found another interpretation in this interesting Buddhist quote from Zen master Dogen:

"Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water. Enlightenment does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder enlightenment, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky. The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky."

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

A depiction of Xuanzang on his journey to India:

Wiki article on Xuanzang here.

Wiki article on Journey to the West here.

Posted on: Seeing off a Monk, Returning to Japan -- 送僧归日本

tvan,

Thanks for transcribing the poem mate;very helpful.

christian,

I too was wondering about 上国;how that term for China came about,when it was used ,and wether it is still used [I suspect not].As for:

"but I see that the Tang preceded the Qing, which united China and whose name is the root of the word "China" we use today"

..I think you're confusing the Qin dynasty [778BC-208BC] from which we get China [used by foreingers to refer to China],with the Qing dynasty [1644-1911].中国 seems to have been around just before this from the late Zhou dynasty when the Chinese believed they were the centre of Civilization.

Was 去经 the phrase meaning to get scriptures?

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

svik,

Ah right;thanks mate.Sorry I'd missed that.Thanks also miantiao and Connie.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

From the expansion:

你迟到了一个半小时。

...how would one change this to say?:

"You were half an hour late"

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

I like the aptness of the introduction to this lesson:

"you were up until the wee small hours learning Mandarin with ChinesePod"

....yeah,studying the zombies lesson till such a late hour that I turned into a 僵尸，then rocking up to work really late trying to explain that your absence had not meant you were a ghost...我不是鬼，我是僵尸。。。