The “Writing the Ox” web application is designed to help English speaking Buddhists learn Traditional Chinese Characters. A lot of the application is (hopefully) intuitive. Basically you can just go directly to it and start clicking around and see what happens. But it might be helpful to have some of the basics of the application explained for those using it for the first time.
Category: buddhism
More resources for studying The Four Great Vows
• Make your own practice sheets: Make your own character practice sheets at chineseconverter.com Make your own character practice sheets at purpleculture.net • You can also just buy books of ready made blank practice sheets. Personally I recommend “Mi-Zi-Ge” style with big squares, like this one available at Amazon: • Tuttle’s flashcards are really nice. […]
Four Great Vows: practice using Tuttle’s “First 100 Chinese Characters” and “Second 100 Chinese Characters”
• Lesson One: Most of the characters in Lesson One (derived from the title of the Four Great Vows) do not have their own entries in Tuttle’s “First 100 Chinese Characters” or “Second 100 Chinese Characters“. However, all but four have relevant entries that can be useful for practice. All page numbers below are in […]
Four Great Vows online class Master Page
One page to rule them all
This is a “master” page/post that should contain links to everything in this blog related to the online course: “The Four Vows in Chinese Characters”.
Video for First Lesson of Four Great Vows online class
Here is a link to the full 2 hour video of the first Four Great Vows class: If you have any feedback or want to ask a question please leave a comment to this post.
Zhiyi, the Lotus Sutra, and the Four Great Vows
Here are links to three relevant relevant articles, with excerpts. Outline of the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings 天台四教儀 Compiled by the Goryeo Śramaṇa Chegwan 高麗沙門諦觀, Translated by A. Charles Muller 一未度者令度。卽衆生無邊誓願度。此緣苦諦境。 All those who have not yet been saved will be saved, which is expressed as “I vow to save all living beings without limit.” This […]
Four Great Vows: Lesson Two
Lesson Two
四 弘 誓 願
眾 生 無 邊 誓 願 度
煩 惱 無 盡 誓 願 斷
法 門 無 量 誓 願 學
佛 道 無 上 誓 願 成
The Four Great Vows, Lesson One
Lesson One:
四 弘 誓 願
眾 生 無 邊 誓 願 度
煩 惱 無 盡 誓 願 斷
法 門 無 量 誓 願 學
佛 道 無 上 誓 願 成
Four Great Vows online class series (starting Saturday, November 5)
The Four Great Vows in Chinese Characters (四 弘 誓 願)
The Four Great Vows describe the Way of the Bodhisattva, which is the Path to Buddhahood. In this series of classes you will learn how to write the original version of these vows in traditional Chinese characters. Many of the characters in the Four Vows are rather complicated, but in these classes you will learn how to decompose complex characters into simpler components. Many of these simpler components have only one or two strokes.