Reblogging to add what I've found:
I did not find what I was looking for, but I found a better passage, I think?
Here's a link to the passage and its original (Old Chinese) text.
Translation was done by James Legge (1815-1897). He studied in Hong Kong and translated a ton of Chinese classics. There are probably more modern translations somewhere.
Basically, this is in a section of texts talking about Zhou Dynasty rituals for burial, but unlike the other sections in this area, this one is littered with imagery about farming and planting and family.
The implication, I think, is that death just happens, which I think aligns pretty well with what you're looking for? Like, sure, on its face, it's describing the ritual of sacrificing crops to give to the dead, but the author goes in length through the exact process of farming, yk?
I hope this helps! I'm a Chinese major, so feel free to ask more questions if you're curious/don't understand.
Text below:
They clear away the grass and the bushes; And the ground is laid open by their ploughs. In thousands of pairs they remove the roots, Some in the low wet lands, some along the dykes. There are the master and his eldest son; His younger sons, and all their children; Their strong helpers, and their hired servants. How the noise of their eating the viands brought to them resounds! [The husbands] think lovingly of their wives; [The wives] keep close to their husbands. [Then] with their sharp plough-shares, They set to work on the south-lying acres. They sow their different kinds of grain, Each seed containing in it a germ of life. In unbroken lines rises the blade, And well-nourished the stalks grow long. Luxuriant looks the young grain, And the weeders go among it in multitudes. Then come the reapers in crowds, And the grain is piled up the fields, Myriads, and hundreds of thousands, and millions [of stacks]; For spirits and for sweet spirits, To offer to our ancestors, male and female, And to provide for all ceremonies. Fragrant is their aroma, Enhancing the glory of the State. Like pepper is their smell, To give comfort to the aged. It is not here only that there is this [abundance]; It is not now only that there is such a time: From of old it has been thus.
Hey, guys, I cometh with a question.
Do you guys know any poetic words, phrases, terms, etc, referring to death? Stuff that's more neutral, or melancholic, something that acknowledges death as a necessity of life and deems it almost beautiful.
It can be from any language, so long as it carries the meaning.
For complete transparency: this is for the name of a faerie character who personifies death.
They describe themself as: "the leaf that is evicted from the tree. {T}he ageing bones of a feeble grandmother. {T}he rot that gathers on a dead animal, the bugs that feed on its carcass, and the entire process of death.
"In short, I am Dying."
But uh—that'd be a temporary name for her. I'm trying to figure out his "real name" so to speak. They're someone who takes joy in their reaper-like role and finds mortality (and mortals' attempts to escape it) entertaining. They find their own domain fascinating, but clearly a cause for others' suffering.
Just not hers.
Anyone have a word/name that carries those kinda connotations? Again: it can be from any language!
(i'd appreciate a reblog for visibility)
Please hold while I consult the Book of Odes. I read a poem about death in there once I think. Lots of Chinese cultural shit going on in it but it was pretty cool though.
Hey, guys, I cometh with a question.
Do you guys know any poetic words, phrases, terms, etc, referring to death? Stuff that's more neutral, or melancholic, something that acknowledges death as a necessity of life and deems it almost beautiful.
It can be from any language, so long as it carries the meaning.
For complete transparency: this is for the name of a faerie character who personifies death.
They describe themself as: "the leaf that is evicted from the tree. {T}he ageing bones of a feeble grandmother. {T}he rot that gathers on a dead animal, the bugs that feed on its carcass, and the entire process of death.
"In short, I am Dying."
But uh—that'd be a temporary name for her. I'm trying to figure out his "real name" so to speak. They're someone who takes joy in their reaper-like role and finds mortality (and mortals' attempts to escape it) entertaining. They find their own domain fascinating, but clearly a cause for others' suffering.
Just not hers.
Anyone have a word/name that carries those kinda connotations? Again: it can be from any language!
(i'd appreciate a reblog for visibility)