冥想 míngxiǎng

calkins
February 08, 2009, 09:23 AM posted in General Discussion


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míngxiǎng


  female

 

冥想

 


 


Example Sentence
s

T 一個和尚清早在馬來西亞森林,做著冥想

S 一个和尚清早在马来西亚森林,做着冥想

Yīgè héshang qīngzǎo zài Mǎláixīyà sēnlín,zuòzhe míngxiǎng.

At daybreak in a Malaysian forest, a Buddhist monk is doing meditation.

 

T 和尚在冥想的時候也能感知周圍的世界。

S 和尚在冥想的时候也能感知周围的世界。

Héshang zài míngxiǎng de shíhòu yě néng gǎnzhī zhōuwéi de shìjiè.

During meditation, monks can still perceive the world around them.

 

Lessons Related to 冥想 míngxiǎng:

Elementary - The Monks in the Temple on the Mountain

Upper Intermediate - Yoga

Upper Intermediate - Shaolin Temple

Dear Amber - A Month as a Monk and Chinese Business Meetings

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bababardwan
February 08, 2009, 09:46 AM

Whoa,great photo! You've outdone yourself this time Calkins.I'd love to meditate in a spot like that.Even the umbrella is levitating.hehe.Though they say if you're really good you should be able to do it on a traffic island in heavy traffic.Don't know how wise it would be being that good.

Breakdown:

ming   ....dark or deep [obviously more deep in this case]

and of course

xiang  ...to think

Interesting that ming2 冥can mean dark whereas  ming2 明 can mean bright

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changye
February 08, 2009, 11:50 AM

Hi bababardwan

Good point. The two characters happen to have the same sound in modern Mandarin, and in fact, they had the slightly different sounds in the past, probably more than one thousand years ago. 明 was pronounced as something like "miang", and 冥 "mieng". Ancient Chinese had more kinds of vowels than modern Mandarin.

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bababardwan
February 08, 2009, 11:53 AM

changye,

Thanks.It still amazes me that you know such things.I suppose it just comes down to context or what other characters they're combined with nowadays to distinguish them in speech.

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changye
February 08, 2009, 12:02 PM

There is no trick to it. To tell you the truth, I discussed the same topic with other guy here in the forum a long time ago, hehe.

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cassielin
February 08, 2009, 01:00 PM

Hi bababardwan,

Here are two words that combined with冥.

冥纸ming2zhi4 is the money for dead people!

冥王ming2wang2 is Pluto.

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bababardwan
February 08, 2009, 10:03 PM

cassielin,

Thanks for those.I particularly like ming2wang2.The ming2 here is presumably probably for it's "deep" meaning,as Pluto is deep in our solar system.As it is not only deep in the solar system but a dwarf planet also,it's certainly not as bright as other planets,but I don't know if that means you could go so far as to apply it's "dark" meaning also.I'm wondering why the wang2 part.Was this after some Chinese astronomer?

What is money for dead people all about? Is it given by friends and rellies to a widow for example?

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sebire
February 08, 2009, 11:31 PM

Pluto, god of the underworld. Or perhaps king of the deep and dark underworld?

bababardwan, I think Cassie is referring to the paper money that gets burnt for ancestors (which you buy with real money). I have seen it whenever I have been in Singapore in the 7th month, which is around the time of the Ghost festival (中元节). You see people burning it under the blocks of flats. I think it's considered unlucky to open businesses and stuff during that month. I imagine most people wait for the 8th month.

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bababardwan
February 08, 2009, 11:55 PM

sebire,

Thanks.Ah yeah,of course re Pluto from the Roman Gods.I was thinking purely in Chinese.

Thanks also re the money that gets burnt.Sounds familiar.

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changye
February 09, 2009, 03:02 AM

Hi bababardwan

You need money even after death. Some corrupt officials might ask for bribe in the next world. Here are some Chinese sayings that should be equivalents of "Money talks" in English.

有钱能使鬼推磨 (Money can even make ghosts work hard)
钱可通神 (Money can even move the gods)

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cassielin
February 09, 2009, 03:10 AM

Hi bababardwan,

bababardwan, I think Cassie is referring to the paper money that gets burnt for ancestors (which you buy with real money).

sebire is right.  And our knowledgeble changye added a very common chinese saying.有钱能使鬼推磨you3qian2neng2shi3gui3tui1mo4.