The present study is devoted to several groups of folklore and mythological plots and motifs seen as a representation of archaic ideas about the crisis. The latter can be interpreted both as an initial ‘deficiency’ of first creation (in the long term, as an eschatological catastrophe), and as a result of purposeful (not fully thought out?) activity of the demiurge. On the basis of an analysis of a number of cosmogonic and etiological myths, it is suggested that crisis in mythic logic proves to be one of the forms of overcoming chaos, which can however give rise to a ‘second-order’ crisis and even a ‘pendular’ crisis (when each phase of overcoming the current crisis gives rise to a new crisis). The condition of ‘cosmic imbalance’ is illustrated by myths about the pacification of ‘solar chaos’, which are widespread in world folklore. In a large number of regional versions of the myth, excessive heat (light) is the starting point of the story, which suggests that such a situation is admissible within the framework of ‘mythological logic’, and therefore, the point of reference in the construction of the story is not an initial state of equilibrium, but a certain crisis that needs to be resolved. The study (1) describes the transition from the original mythological ‘anti-norm’ to the ‘formula of the impossible’ of fairy tales; (2) examines certain object realizations of mythological representations linked to images of space and time. This analysis allows us to assert that, while the image of first creation recalls the idea of morphological incompleteness and inaccessibility of the ‘natural’ state we observe around us, the ‘non-normality’ of the other world of ‘lower’ mythology highlights its deviation from this already existing ‘naturalness’.

The article contains an analysis of three treatises by the Japanese Zen master Dōgen (1200–1253) from his collection “Treasury of the True Dharma Eye” (Shōbōgenzō, 13th century). The texts, Shukke Kudoky, Sanji Gō and Jinshin Inga, were written down in the last years of Dōgen’s life or shortly after his death by his closest student and successor, Kōun Ejō (1198–1280). The article discusses the opinions of followers of “critical Buddhism” (hihan-bukkyō) and other scholars about the place these treatises occupy in Dōgen’s legacy and what he argues in them. Analysis of the texts shows how Dōgen interpreted the problem of the relationship between the Buddhist concept of causality and free will. Recognizing the universal operation of the law of the interdependent emergence of things, Dōgen reserves the right of free choice for every person. He emphasizes that any person is personally responsible for their choice. A careful reading of Dōgen’s treatises also encourages modern people to think about the consequences of decisions that they make, about such a fundamental philosophical problem as the relationship between determination and free will. The article is followed by a translation of the treatise Jinshin Inga, which was earlier translated into Russian only from English, and therefore it’s the first translation of the text from the original bungo version.

The “Pan Geng” chapter of the “Book of Documents” is a unique example of an ancient Chinese text that portrays a king (Pan Geng) giving a speech to a large audience. With the oldest layers of the text probably dating back to the XI–VI cent. B. C., the language of the “Pan Geng” is in many instances abstruse, leading to multiple different interpretations of some of its passages. The hypothesis underlying my research is that in some cases, the interpreter’s choice may be affected by the need to portray Pan Geng as a “good king”, but there is a huge discrepancy between the interpreter’s “good” and the archaic Chinese aristocracy’s “good”. Through grammatical analysis and textual parallels I intend to provide an alternative reading for some of the passages, namely: “Let none of you dare to suppress anything that the small people say in remonstrance” > “Let none of you dare to admit what small people criticize”; “Toiling for your forefathers” > “Rewarding your forefathers”; “If the state is not good, it is because I, the One Man, commit mistakes and crimes” > “If the state is not good, it is because I, the One Man, have failed in applying the punishments” (the latter option, proposed by B. Karlgren, has not yet been accepted by Russian interpreters); “Do I overawe you? (No), by this I take care of and sustain you all” > “Do I not overawe you? [I should, for] by this I take care of and sustain you all”.

The main task of this study is to determine the time of the emergence of the palace institution in the ancient Kingdom of Qin during the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BCE) within a broader framework regarding the genesis of statehood in Qin. Here the main obstacle lies in distinguishing the moment of the emergence of Qin’s ruling clan, as well as the genesis of Qin’s main ethnic groups and archaeological culture that existed on Qin’s territory, from the moment of state formation as opposed to the other two, since all three of these phenomena emerged at different times. Thus, the task is to distinguish state institutions from those created and accompanied by kinship relations, to separate clan institutions from the political ones. The first political institution of statehood that can be reliably distinguished from kinship institutions is the palace, which is why it is important to determine the moment of its emergence and to describe the early stages of its development. The study concludes that the palace institution appeared in Qin no earlier than 697 BCE, and by 620 BCE its development entered a phase of specialization whereby its temple functions were separated from its palace functions.

The article examines the political doctrine of Kang Youwei (1858–1927), as set out in his treatise Wu zhi jiu guo lun (“An Essay on National Salvation through Material Upbuilding”), written in Canada in 1905 and published in 1908. While in exile after 1899 and declaring himself a modern-day Confucius, Kang Youwei carefully studied the history of the West and the political systems of contemporary European countries and the United States. The main content of the treatise is a search for the source of the power of Western imperialist powers in order to apply this experience to China. Kang Youwei came to the conclusion that Western countries “became powerful thanks to phenomenal progress in science and technology; China must achieve the same level of progress in order to survive and prosper.” There are two main reasons for the West’s superiority over China: national science and the “doctrine of the material.” By “material” Kang Youwei meant modern industrial technologies and the social realities of a globalizing world. At the center of Kang Youwei’s concept is the idea of freedom, which, like all others, he considered historically relative and dependent on the political system of the “current century.” The Chinese thinker claimed that the liberal concept of freedom imposed by Western imperialists is a product of the “feudal-slave system in Europe,” while the Chinese social system provides the vast majority of the population with basic rights and freedoms that are not suppressed by the state. The Western concept of freedom is legal, not philosophical and ideological, and contradicts human nature as interpreted by Chinese philosophical teachings. Speaking about the French Revolution, Kang Youwei emphasized that it liberated the people from oppression by the monarch but did not contribute to the ethical development of ordinary people. In China, the first thinker to raise the issue of social freedoms was Confucius, who also formulated the golden rule of morality. However, the availability of rights and freedoms is limited by the era of social development: Confucius lived in the Era of Chaos, and his teaching is adapted to its realities, determined by the flow of Tao. The Japanese adaptation of the Western interpretation of freedom during the Meiji Revolution was a great mistake of Japanese reformers and may be repeated in China, turning the country onto a path of development not dictated by the nature of Chinese society.

The article examines the literary work of the outstanding Russian sinologist and religious scholar Evgenii Alekseevich Torchinov (1956–2003), namely his novel The Mysterious Female: A Transpersonal Novel. This work can be considered as a kind of popular appendix to the monograph “Religions of the world: The Experience of the Beyond: Psychotechnics and Transpersonal States” (St. Petersburg, 1998). In this monograph, in the section devoted to Taoist psychotechnics, the Mysterious (Innermost) female is understood by the author as the feminine aspect of the absolute (Tao), or even more, the Tao itself is interpreted as a feminine maternal principle, and the ancient sage Lao Tzu is interpreted as the “son” of the Innermost Female, that is, the Tao, or “the personification” of the Tao. The article explores the Taoist images (ideas, concepts, plots) present in the novel. The main one is an image or concept– symbol of a Mysterious (Innermost) female, appearing for the first time in the text of the “Dao De Jing”. As a result, we came to the following conclusions: (1) Taoism is present in the novel primarily as the doctrine of the Mysterious Female (Innermost), identified by the narrator with the teachings of the Shekhinah and Sophia/Ennoia, and (2) as the doctrine of the xian immortals and Taoist alchemy. Thus, Taoism is represented precisely by its most esoteric aspects.

Mark 7:1–23 contains a notorious crux interpretum: in the course of his anti-Pharisaic polemic, Jesus turns the debate about unwashed hands (7:1–13) into a teaching about things that defile from within (7:14–23). According to the traditional interpretation, the latter contains a veiled attack on kashruth laws (7:15), or at least this is Mark’s understanding (7:19c). This reading presupposes a profound contradiction in Jesus’ logic: 7:1–13 accuses the Pharisees of undermining the authority of the Scripture, while attacks on kashruth destroy this authority even more. If this interpretation is correct, 7:1–13 is a pastiche of mutually contradictive and partly anachronistic traditions. The paper weighs the pros and cons of a recent alternative approach (Y. Furstenberg, D. Boyarin): Jesus attacks the washing of hands as a Pharisaic novelty without a biblical basis and stands for a more conservative approach (humans as a source of ritual impurity, rather than its target). Furstenberg’s approach was criticized by Sh. Cohen, J. Marcus and others, but these criticisms are difficult to sustain. However, Furstenberg and Boyarin might overestimate the halakhic concerns of Mark: though 7:1–13 reflects mostly traditional material, Mark is no longer concerned with hand washing per se. Rather, he uses the tradition to oppose the Pharisaic concept of the Oral Torah. It is possible that he no longer remembers that the Pharisaic idea of the transfer of ritual impurity through food is a novelty, rather than an old teaching. Mark might also distance Jesus from his Jewish milieu at the level of redaction.

The article is devoted to a study of exegetical and textual problems in Matt 27:53. This verse belongs to a large section of the Gospel of Matthew that recounts the events at the time of Jesus’ death on the Cross and his resurrection (27:45–53). 27:52– 53 deals with the fact that at the time of Jesus’ death, not only the earth shook, the temple veil was torn and the rocks split, but also the tombs were opened, and certain holy righteous ones were raised up and came to Jerusalem after the resurrection of Jesus and appeared to many. The meaning of 27:53 is not entirely clear: the word ἔγερσις ‘resurrection’, which is unique for the New Testament, is used here, then, the expression μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ (“after his resurrection”) breaks the structural integrity of this verse and creates problems in understanding it. Several biblical scholars support the idea that this expression was not originally in Matthew’s text, but that it appeared there later for some theological reasons. The article discusses the likelihood that this expression was in Matthew originally, as well as that it was added later by the scribes. The possibility that it was inserted into the text of the Gospel is supported by textual evidence from some ancient texts, both New Testament manuscripts and indirect textual evidence in quotations and allusions from ancient authors. Such evidence includes the little-known early Byzantine martyrdom of Daniel and the Three Youths. In Greek recensions of this legend Matt 27:52– 53 is quoted, but the expression “after his resurrection” is missing. This fact might be regarded as further evidence that this expression was absent from the original text of Matt 27:53, but our analysis demonstrates that this omission in the legend of the martyrdom of Daniel and the Three Youths is most likely due to internal reasons related to its composition and theology. This fact indicates that conclusions about the textual evidence of the New Testament should be drawn not only at the textual level, but also after a thorough contextual and theological investigation of the textual evidence itself.

This article examines the meanings of the verb προφορέομαι and its connection with the metaphor of weaving craft in Aristophanes’ Birds (v. 4). We believe that the verb προφορέομαι has a craft meaning, which can possibly be related to its common meaning in Greek dictionaries (LSJ, The Cambridge Greek Lexicon): ‘to move back and forth’. We consider two traditions of understanding this verb that have been reflected in the grammatical tradition: one going back to Julius Pollux, the other to his rival grammarian Phrynichus Arabius. In this paper we show why we find Pollux’s meaning of the verb preferable. Nan Dunbar, in her commentary on Birds, holds that the technical meaning of προφορέομαι cannot denote the ‘move to and from’ generally accepted in modern dictionaries. In this paper we demonstrate, based on information known about the loom that existed in Greece during this era, that the craft meaning of προφορέομαι given by Pollux — ‘to set up the warp’ — resembles a back and forth movement, if we look at the process of tying the threads directly rather than from the side. Thus, in literary contexts (e. g. Aristophanes, Xenophon) προφορέομαι acquires the metaphorical meaning of side-to-side movement.

The article examines self-repetitions in Molière’s comedies in terms of their thematic focus. The research material were two late comedies by the French playwright — “Les Femmes savantes” (The Learned Ladies, 1672) and “Le Malade imaginaire” (The Imaginary Invalid, 1673), as well as other plays based on Molière’s original version of a love story related to a forced marriage. Analysis of the reuse of images, techniques, and dialog schemes showed that the playwright was constantly transforming them. This helped him to shift the love affair away from the center of the plot and focus it on the character of one of the parent protagonists, whose obsessive manias reflected significant components of French culture of the 17th century — erudition and gallantry. Supporting this new theme with the help of repetitions, Molière gradually moved away from the reduced farcical comedy towards strengthening the satirical treatment of those manifestations of erudition and gallantry that gave rise to ridiculous imitations and turned into their opposite. The results of the study allow us to conclude that self-repetitions, being connected with rhetorical canons and theatrical pragmatics, largely manifested Moliere’s constant reflection concerning the tasks of comedy and contributed to the transformation of the genre towards a greater determination of his images by the manners and mores of the epoch.

Diderot devoted more than twenty years (1759–1781) to his work as an art critic, he wrote not only nine reviews of exhibitions, but also a number of important aesthetic treatises. The philosopher himself considered the “Salons” to be the best of everything he wrote. The article is devoted to the specifics of verbal representation of the visual in the “Salons”, where the author uses a variety of stylistic, dramatic, narrative techniques. It is the artistic features that make the “Salons” an outstanding work not only in the field of art criticism, but also in literature: Diderot creatively uses all the possibilities of verbal communication, inventing new forms of poetic interpretation of painting. Based on three essays devoted to the paintings of J.-B. Greuze, “The Young Girl Grieving Over Her Dead Bird” (1765), J. O. Fragonard, “Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe” (1765), and C.-J. Vernet’s “Walking” (1767), the article analyzes various forms of demonstratio ad oculos: dialogue, metalepsis, fantasy, parergon and hypotyposis, all of which allowed Diderot to create “living pictures” that he sought to embody in his innovative dramatic system simultaneously with the “Salons”. He turns to a variety of genres: dialogue, tragedy (Fragonard), erotic libertine novel and bourgeois drama (Greuze), promenade (Vernet). Analysis of the dramatic and philosophical treatises of the French enlightener allows us to see the integrity and systematicity of his thoughts on art and show the connection with the ideas of the era presented in the works of Kant and Lessing. Diderot’s “Salons” combine painting, literature and philosophy into a single whole.

In many of Boris Pasternak’s early poems, the influence of Igor Severyanin (I. V. Lotarev) can be detected. Even their contemporaries noted that Pasternak used themes, motifs and stylistic features of the older poet. Nevertheless, as is known, Pasternak very often rewrote his poems. While reworking the early texts, Pasternak tried to partially free them from Severyanin’s imagery and style or to incorporate Severyanin’s individual techniques into his own poetics. This article shows how Pasternak changed his approaches to Severyanin’s works in two versions of Marburg — from 1916 and from 1928. In the poem’s later redaction, Pasternak, striving for “simplification”, rejected Severyanin’s “bourgeois” words and “salon” imagery that were present in the earlier version. The article classifies the ways Pasternak drew on Severyanin according to the methodology of philologist Natalia Fateeva. In the early redaction of the poem, one can notice the use of such types of intertextuality as metatextuality, borrowing of a device, sound-syllabic and morphemic types of intertext, as well as poetic paradigm. Examination of “traces” of Severyanin’s poetics in Pasternak’s work requires further study, which could provide a unified understanding of the evolution of Pasternak’s poetry in general and the topic “Pasternak and Severyanin” in particular.

In this article the author examines narrative coincidence, which can be found in 19th–20th century narratives as well as contemporary ones. Among the variety of contemporary non-linear narrative forms, the forking-path narrative is of special interest, as it encourages the reader to follow not just one life of the protagonist, but several at the same time. The character is unaware about the existence of these other lives, but the reader is aware of them: this difference in knowledge is further emphasized by the fact that in this type of narrative, the events in the happenings do not necessarily coincide with the reception events (in P. Huhn’s terms). The differences in the functioning of the two types of events are also manifested through how coincidence is used in a forking-path narrative: unlike in traditional narratives, coincidences now operate not at the level of the fabula, but at the level of reader perception. From a plot/fabula perspective, the storylines remain autonomous, while from the point of view of the reader’s perception they are connected, intersecting, intertwined. The conflict of the event in the narrated happenings and the reception event is considered on the example of the forking-path novel 4 3 2 1 by P. Auster. In the forking-path narrative coincidences no longer ensure the creation of a clear, coherent, ordered world, but instead create the effect of disorientation, unpredictability and disorder. The primary narrative emotion involved in this type of text therefore becomes “surprise” (whereas the other two, according to M. Sternberg, “suspense” and “curiosity”, turn out to be secondary).

The article provides a detailed commentary on the development of Western translation thought in the late 20th century, from a subdivision of contrastive linguistics into an independent, dynamically developing discipline within the humanities (translation studies). The author analyzes the theoretical and philosophical preconditions for the change in the scientific and academic status of translation within the Western academic field, the main milestones and key figures of this process. After having summarized the most important theoretical shifts that took place in Western translation thought at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the author comes to the conclusion that since the late 1970s the development paths of Western and Russian translation studies have diverged. In Western translation studies, after the ‘cultural turn’, the concept of ‘neutral’ translation is abandoned in favor of a new politicized view of translation as a tool for shaping cultural identities. The translator, who in the linguistic model was relegated to the modest role of a technical assistant, is seen in the culturally oriented paradigm as a co-author, a fully-fledged subject of political dialogue, capable of resisting the usurpation and ethnocentrism of their own culture. The new Western translation ethics is largely determined by the call to resist the dominants of the target culture and not be afraid of open political activism.

The article examines the ascending path of spiritual and religious development, encompassing both the inner and the outer man, the practice of prayer, the grace of repentance, and godlikeness. This examination involves analyzing a series of 95 prayers from the Book of Lamentation of St. Gregory of Narek. The trajectory of development chosen by the author of the Book of Lamentation is evaluated from the perspective of medieval and subsequent (18th–19th centuries) commentaries on prayers. The foundational principle of this path is based on the concept of Man, with his dual manifestations — the external and the internal — harmonizing when engaged in prayer. The supplicant assimilates the text of the prayer, identifies with the author, and sincere communication with God brings him “immediately close”, leading him to the grace of tears. This approach, therefore, represents the sole means by which humanity can attain the divine image. St. Gregoryʼs book elucidates a foundational principle of both Christian and Neoplatonic ethics, asserting that the primary objective of human spiritual growth is to aspire to godlikeness within the confines of human capability. Consequently, the trajectory of human spiritual and religious development can be delineated as follows: a) glorification, where God is regarded as the ultimate essence; b) confession, where the human being is seen as being in opposition to God due to their sinful earthly life; and c) supplication, which denotes the act of a sinner repenting and seeking divine mercy.

The article examines the functions of bell ringing in medieval and early modern Europe and describes how the use of bells changed during epidemics. Catholic prayers for bell blessing reflected popular beliefs that its ringing protected against bad weather and disease. In the 20th century, after losing its practical meaning, bell ringing was more widely used as a symbol. During the 2020 coronavirus epidemic in Western countries, church parishes organized symbolic bell ringing in memory of the dead and for support of the living. In medieval Rus, bells were less common than in Europe. In the Orthodox Christian tradition, ringing was not considered a protection from calamities, although in the modern era the rite of the bell blessing appeared, imitating the Catholic model in its content. In the Soviet era, bells were destroyed en masse, so the return of bells to churches has now become one of the symbols of the restoration of Orthodox Christian traditions. At the same time, the idea regarding the healing power of bell ringing has spread, dating back to Western parascience theories of the 20th century. During the 2020 coronavirus epidemic, churches held special ringing events both for literal protection from the disease and for symbolic support of parishioners, which were often passed off as an ancient tradition.

In this paper, we present the first complete translation into Russian of an important educational text written for girls in traditional China: the so-called “Women’s Lunyu.” This text was included in the collection of texts known as the “Four Books for Women,” which was finally formed at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties (17th century). The translation is preceded by a brief introduction that outlines the origins and authorship of the text. It is also accompanied by a commentary that emphasizes the variability of the text across different editions. Textual variability is a notable feature of such educational texts, as it is intrinsic to their nature and circulation, allowing for appropriate amendments and omissions. Textual variability encompasses almost all levels of language, from the graphic representation of individual characters to the lexical level of synonyms, and the syntactic level of sentences and larger textual structures. The text was generally quite popular in traditional Chinese society. Individual editions may have also reflected the specific ideological inclinations of certain groups, such as the Buddhists. Certain editions contain quite explicit references to Buddhist ideas, although the text itself is clearly based on the Confucian perspective. Therefore, some versions of the text demonstrate clear signs of ideological eclecticism characteristic of late Imperial China.

The Lotus Sūtra tradition in Japanese Buddhist thought includes not only scholarly works of monks, but also works in less strict genres, including the collection of didactic tales Dainihonkoku Hokke-kyō genki (Hokke genki, mid-11th century). The article discusses the following questions: what exactly is understood by a miracle in this text, what features are attributed to miracle workers and their miraculous assistants, how do a person’s own efforts and the action of “other-power”, tariki (be it the power of the sutra itself or the miraculous properties of its characters) relate to each other. According to the author of the article, in the Hokke genki the main sign of a miracle is the coincidence between specific events in the Japanese community and the predictions of the sūtra. Miracles do not depend on the status of the character in the community or even on his righteousness. There may be no miracle in the story in the ordinary sense of the word; all that is important for the narrative is that people and other living beings here and now fulfill what the sutra says. The extreme case of devotion to the sūtra — self-immolation for its sake — remains in the Lotus Sūtra tradition, and is hardly discussed outside it; the version of this tradition reflected in the Hokke genki hardly anticipates the exclusive adherence to the sutra in the Hokke tradition of the 13th century.

The purpose of this article is to present a complete translation of a short inserted essay that left an unexpected mark on the history of literature and has not lost its impact to this day. Written by a renowned literatus (wenren 文人) of his time, Jin Shengtan 金 聖歎 (1608–1661), it became known under the conventional name of the refrain “Is that not a delight!” (bu yi kuai zai 不亦快哉). In the first part of the article, the personality and world view of the author are examined as well as on his place in the history of Chinese literature, in particular as a literary critic who worked in the genre of “critical comments” (ping dian 評點). The second part focuses on the history of the text that was first created as part of the ping dian commentary on Romance of the Western Chamber. Over time, this piece came to be recognized and reproduced as an independent essay in the vein of leisure literature of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties. It also gave rise to the continuation and interpretation of the little joys of life by classic and popular writers of the 20th–21st centuries.

A review of: Mansell, Ch. (2024). Female servants in early modern England. Oxford Univ. Press.