How Sages Taught People the Art of War: “Discourse on Armament and Food” by Li Zhi

The present article is a continuation of the research on the chapter «Diverse Writings» (Za shu) from the famous “Book to Burn” (Fen shu), the opus magnum by the iconoclastic late Ming thinker Li Zhi (1527–1602). The article comprises the first translation into Russian of the essay by Li Zhi “Discourse on Armament and Food” (Bing shi lun) accompanied by introduction and comments. The tenor of the Chinese text is the social role of armament. Li Zhi revises the saying by Confucius regarding the priority of people’s trust to the food and armament. He also strongly criticizes Mengzi’s ideas. The latter recommended to enlighten people by educating them in village schools and to openly force them to follow the righteous way of the king. Li Zhi suggests an effective alternative to such approach by following the more flexible Daoist way. Following his suggestion, one should create special conditions in which people would self-regulate in natural way and could be manipulated without being able to notice it.

On the Authorship of the Old Turkic Inscriptions

This article focuses on the authorship of the Kül Tégin and Bilge Kağan inscriptions and manages to reveal the different layers of the text. Through a careful analysis of the Old Turkic inscriptions and the relative Chinese accounts concerning the Türk royal lineage after Bilge Kağan, it concludes that the text on the south side of the Kül Tégin Inscription and the north side of the Bilge Kağan Inscription were narrated by the younger son of Bilge Kağan, Teŋri Teg Teŋride Bolmış Türk Bilge Kağan, in Kaiyuan XXVIII (ca. 740). In that year his elder brother (Teŋri Teg Teŋri Yaratmış Türk Bilge Kağan) passed away, so the Chinese emperor sent envoys to ‘appoint’ him as the new Türk kağan. He took the opportunity of the visit of Chinese delegates led by Li Zhi to ask the Chinese craftsmen to inscribe his words onto his father's memorial. The same text was also inscribed onto the blank side of his uncle's memorial, while inserting a quotation of his father's words.

“Interpretation of Voidness and Fullness” and “Interpretation of Loftiness and Cleanliness”: Li Zhi’s Essays on the Qualities of Human Character

The paper continues the research of the chapter “Diverse Writings” (Za shu 雜述) of the famous “Book to Burn” (Fen shu 焚書), opus magnum of iconoclastic late Ming thinker Li Zhi (李贄, 1527–1602), and presents the first Russian translations of Li Zhi’s essays on qualities of human character: “Interpretation of Voidness and Fullness” (Xu shi shuo 虛實說) and “Interpretation of Loftiness and Cleanliness” (Gao jie shuo 高潔說). In these writings the thinker makes accent on the importance of real, not only nominal possession of virtues as well as of the ability to reconsider one’s own wrong views. He also protests against the hypocrisy and prejudice and puts forward the genuineness as a criteria of what makes the difference between ordinary people and a gentleman. The essays provide a bright reflection of the core features of Li Zhi’s philosophical views, such as oppositional authentism, naturalistic dualism and the synthesis of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian elements.The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

“An Article with the Discourse on Governing” and “A Discourse on the Warring States [Period]”: Political and Philosophical Essays by Li Zhi

The article comprises the continuation of research on the chapter called «The Diverse Writings» (Za shu 雜述) from the famous «A Book to Burn» (Fen shu 焚書), the opus magnum of the thinker Li Zhi (李贄, 1527–1602) from the late Ming. It presents the first translations into Russian of essays by Li Zhi, which deal with such issues as politics and governing. They are «An Article with the Discourse on Governing» ( 論 政 篇 Lun zheng pian) and «A Discourse on the Warring States [Period]» (戰國論 Zhan guo lun). The main idea of these texts could be described as follows: the methods of governing are never cast in iron and remain without an alter- native. They should vary depending on the object of governing and the current situ- ation, which always changes.