A Page Wiser
Illustrated readings of five Chinese classics, one page at a time.
Zhuangzi, Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and the I Ching: thirty pages on each book, plus the Threads pages, where the books answer one another. Every page: a short passage, a step-by-step reading, a picture, and one question to carry through your day.
Five books, and the threads between them
-
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi in 30 Pages
One page at a time, step by step, from the great bird's take-off to the quiet beauty of heaven and earth.
Start with page one Contents 30 pages
-
Laozi
Laozi in 30 Pages
One page at a time, from “the Dao that can be spoken” to “the more you give, the more you have”: the five thousand words, read for daily life.
Start with page one Contents 30 pages
-
Confucius
Confucius in 30 Pages
One page at a time, from “to learn and practise it” to “one thread runs through my way”: meet a Confucius who grew through hardship and lived with sincerity and joy.
Start with page one Contents 30 pages
-
Mencius
Mencius in 30 Pages
One page at a time, from “do I love to argue?” to “fully use your heart and you know your nature”: how a heart that leans toward good grows into a flood-like spirit.
Start with page one Contents 30 pages
-
I Ching
The I Ching in 30 Pages
One page at a time, from “like sitting with your parents” to “delight in Heaven, know your lot, and do not worry”: treat a reading as a sincere consultation, and learn how to move when things begin, when they get hard, and when you walk with others.
Start with page one Contents 30 pages
-
Threads
Threads: Across the Books
One question put to five books, with Zhuangzi, Laozi, Confucius, Mencius and the I Ching at the same table: what Heaven is, who decides your lot, which way human nature leans, and where joy comes from.
Start with page one Contents 12 pages
Five books, one conversation
These books were written within earshot of one another. Read any one of them and you start to hear the others answering.
- The I Chingoldest layer c. 1000 BCEBefore the philosophers there was a book of sixty-four situations. Everyone who came after grew up reading it.
- Laoziby tradition, 6th century BCESays the Way cannot be named, and that the soft and weak outlast the hard and strong.
- Confucius551–479 BCEAnswers that the Way is walked among people. Tradition has him reading the Changes so often in old age that the bindings wore through three times.
- Menciusc. 372–289 BCEDefends Confucius a century later with a bolder claim: the sprouts of goodness are already in everyone.
- Zhuangzic. 369–286 BCELived in the same years as Mencius, yet neither mentions the other. He writes Confucius into his own stories and has him speak for the Way.
- Threadsacross the booksOne question put to several books at once. Is human nature good? What is Heaven? How far should love reach? Xunzi, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean join in.
How each page works
- 1A short passageA few lines of a classic, translated, with key words.
- 2Step by stepFirst, second, third, like sitting in a good classroom.
- 3One line to carryA sentence to take into your day.
- 4One questionWrite it down. Your notes stay on your device.
The shelf
Notes from the Margin
A free letter, twice a month, with what the pages leave out: a moment in history when one of these ideas was put to the test, and a question the books still argue over. Never a repeat of the site. Unsubscribe anytime.