/lit/ - Literature

Some xianxia mystical sounding terms I encountered in Zhuangzi, these are all authentic

天钧 Tianjun Lathe Of Heaven I think lathe is actually 车刀, wheel-blade, but 钧 might be also an ancient potter's wheel of some sort? Not sure if this is the translator Burton Watson (2013) exercising some leniency and malleability of meaning. In the text it sounds quite fearsome, people who are unworthy and attempt to access Dao beyond their attainment are utterly destroyed by this Lathe Of Heaven. In some other translations I have seen this given as 天均 instead, the Equalisation of Heaven.

灵台 Lingtai, Spirit Tower. From the notes, Daoist nomenclature for the Mind.

Nine Names Of The Abyss 九名渊 This occurs in a mysterious section with an actual wizard, a Shaman named Jixian 季咸 Is this name a pun on seasons? Salt Season? Flavour puns have a philosophical meaning in the Dao, eg 恬(甜 pun?)淡 ie inclination to live in contentment. The Wizard reveals three names of the Nine Named Abyss to Liezi who as a result becomes overwhelmed with despair, and retreats to a hermit life feeding pigs (it is implied he ends himself soon after). Not sure what this entire section is about, there is some strange magic.

Reeds Of Heaven Tianlai 天籁 celestial bamboo pipes divine music instrument? Some sort of complex metaphor about how the human voice can command winds and changes, ten thousandfold transformations. Maybe the paragraph is about music itself, or the art of music-making? It seems very mystical.