Chinese Character Drawing Translation

[cocheezz]

Hello all,

 

I recently drew a sketch (at the bottom of this post) of a few Chinese characters inspired by the Tao Te Ching -- poem 67. I based the characters off "The Three Treasures/Jewels" mentioned in this poem which include three philosophic/ moral ideals: 慈 ci (possible translation -- compassion), 儉 jian (possible translation -- simplicity), and 不敢為天下先 Bugan wei tianxia xian (possible translation -- not dare to be first/ahead in the world). 

A translation of the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell that I own translates this third phrase as "patience", which I prefer out of simplicity. Because of this, in my sketch I used the character 忍耐 rennai (possible translation -- patience) instead of the third phrase 不敢為天下先 Bugan wei tianxia xian. 

 

I did my best to make sure I wrote these characters correctly in the vertical style as well. With the help of you all on this forum, I wanted to make sure that:
1. The characters could be translated from top to bottom as -- Compassion, Simplicity, Patience 
2. The characters are written correctly in the vertical form 
3. The characters are all of the traditional Chinese writing style (i did research on my own indicating that they are)

 

Any help with these questions would mean the world to me. Despite the recommendation of this forum's kind admin, I am considering getting this as a tattoo around my wrist... However, I want to make sure it is ethnically authentic and correct in all manners with the hopes of not looking like an idiot  

Thank you for your help and for advancing my learning of Chinese!

-- Keegan A.

 

忍耐

 

 

忍耐

 

 

忍耐

 

 

[coralreef518]

hello coheezz!

First I am astonished that you foreign Chinese learner can read such an ancient and obscure

(hard to understand , i don't know if this word is proper here)book. Even we native speaker

seldom touch these since after high-middle school, someone even considers reading these as

torment.

Ok, the attached picture is also my script for your tattoo(hope you will like it). And 谦卑

(humble) is chosen for the third treasure, which i think is much more appropriate and close to

the meaning of 不敢为天下先.
俭朴(thrift , simplicity)
慈爱(kindness, compassion, and affection)
Three independent words look more reasonable in layout. Putting four characters in one vertical

line may make people prone to associate these with an idiom, well, though what you have chosen

don't make one. And perhaps no such an idiom exist to represent all the meanings of the three

treasures.

I presumed that you are a male, according to the profile image.
Official script(隶书) has been chosen as the font of these three word, to represent a man's

masculine, since this is relatively majestic among all the Chinese character fonts.

The most left side, the black seal, oh well, it ought to be a red seal, is a drawing of my

seal, I have to draw one since my seal is not at my side. Of course, the seal is optional, if

you like, i can devise one for you, and replace the current one.

[cocheezz]

Thank you so much for your kind help coralreef 518!

 

I actually have not learned Chinese; I have read the Tao Te Ching only in English. I have simply done some research to discover the original Chinese characters of this poem. Forgive me for not mentioning this to you. 

 

Thank you for your recommendation of 谦卑 humble for the "third jewel" instead of 忍耐 rennai. I think that your sketch provides the appropriate characters for the meaning I have derived from this poem.   

 

You said you can devise a seal for me, but it is optional. Seals are usually put on works of art, am I correct?

[somethingfunny]

Cocheezz, are you planning on getting those actual characters tattooed?  Just like how you have written them?  I'd recommend having someone else write them, or using a standard set of characters.

 

And coralreef, thats some useful help you've provided, but the phrase "you foreign Chinese learner" is slightly annoying, and there are lots of people that enjoy reading this kind of thing whether they are native speakers or not, so you should not be astonished.

[coralreef518]

@cocheezz yes, you are right.

and sorry for providing the scketch without asking yout permission. There are so many skilled calligraphers, and they are not showing off here. I recommended the word 谦卑, but did not practice it(践行之). Now hoping can be excused. I was just trying to help.

 

Sorry! everyone.

@somethingfunny  Take it easy. And sorry for the annoying utterance, I did not expect that, since i am a junior English learner, don't know much about etiquette. beg your pardon. And i will be very thankful if you will help me in correting the wrong phrases. I am not afraid of making mistakes, 有则改之，无则加勉

 

I still think individuality and esthetics should be taken into consideration, after all, that is what are going to be carved on the skin, and standard set of characters mostly show on formal occasions, like in the books. Finding some skilled carlligrapher to devise these for you. Only my little friendly advice.

[somethingfunny]

No problem, just so you know, it's generally not considered very polite to refer to people with "you ____", even if this is a common way of phrasing it in Chinese.  Also, it's not really a good idea to refer to non-Chinese people as "foreigners".  And under these circumstances, telling me to "take it easy" is likely to upset me further.

[cocheezz]

Thank you both for your help and recommendations. Do either of you (coralreef or somethingfunny) know an artist/ calligrapher I could contact who could create the appropriate characters from the poem I hoping to use as a tattoo? Again, thank you for guidance considering that I do not know Chinese; I truly appreciate your help.