Friday, December 16, 2005

Crisis? What crisis?

In late October, I posted something about the English word 'crisis' and the English rendering of the Chinese equivalent. If you want to see, it's here.
It now looks like I -- and millions of other people who are similarly seriously deficient in the ability to read, write, speak or understand Chinese -- yes, it looks like we are gravely in error. Apparently, a more accurate rendering of the Chinese 危機 is this: crisis = danger + incipient moment/crucial point.
Who says? Victor H Mair, that's who:
A wēijī in Chinese is every bit as fearsome as a crisis in English. A jīhuì in Chinese is just as welcome as an opportunity to most folks in America. To confuse a wēijī with a jīhuì is as foolish as to insist that a crisis is the best time to go looking for benefits.
If one wishes to wax philosophical about the of wēijī, one might elaborate upon it as the dynamic of a situation's unfolding, when many elements are at play. In this sense, is neutral. This can either turn out for better or for worse, but -- when coupled with wēi -- the possibility of a highly undesirable outcome (whether in life, disease, finance, or war) is uppermost in the mind of the person who invokes this potent term.
I'll take Mair's word for it, for he knows of what he is talking about: pinyin.info Plus, I can vouch that Mair's translation of Chuang Zhu makes for a wonderful read. Chuang Zhu. Or, if you prefer, Zhuangzi.
However you spell it in English, the ancient sage is the one who related how one night he dreamed he was a carefree butterfly, flying happily. After he woke up, he wondered how he could determine whether he was Zhuangzi who had just finished dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly who had just started dreaming he was Zhuangzi. An incipient moment, a crucial point...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad the "crisis" piece is finding its audience.

Since you're a fan of Mair's translation of the Chuang Tzu, you might be interested in his Introduction and Notes for a Complete Translation of the Chuang Tzu. The link leads to an extended selection from the introduction -- different than that in the Bantam edition.

mister bijou said...

Mark,
Thanks for the comment. Thanks for the link to the Intro and Notes!
Best wishes,
Mister Bijou