Man's Will as a transcendent force - Shen Zhou ?? (Buddhism, pagan)

[dannyfrankszzz]

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Hi, I originally posted this in the Buddhism part of the forum but I thought I should post it here to see what sort of response I get:

"Hi, I was wondering if someone could help me.

I was recently watching a Japanese Manga cartoon called Berserk.

It started off with a quote that went something like this:

'Man's will is governed by a transcendental force that he does not control...'

Well, words to that effect. It intrigued me very much and I was wondering from what area of philosophy or thought it came from. If I remember rightly, it was a Buddhist saying, but I'm not 100% on that.

Anyway, I look forward to your responses."

I got the following response from someone:

that it was from

Shen Zhou

A native of Wu county,JiangSu province.His style name was Qi Nan and his sobriquet was Shi Tian.He was born in a aristo-cratic family,but he had no interesting to be an official and was absorbed in painting and poem.First studying painting under Du Qiong,he was talented in painting landscapes and human figures.His landscapes paintings followed the style of Dong Yuan and Ju Ran.His paintings were called as "Wide Shen" or "Slender Shen" due to his meticulous or free strokes.His flower-and-bird paintings created the new style of freehand drawing in the Ming Dynasty.He was the leader of the "Wu Men"school literati and was honored as the Four Great Masters in the Ming Dynasty with Wen Zhenming,Tang Yin and Qiu Ying.

I have looked around on the web for sources on Sheng Zhou that relate to this subject but I have so far been unable to come across anything.

[Master Vigil]

I personally have never heard of him. But the phrase just seems to be a very broad phrase that could be taken as a buddhist saying, a taoist saying, christian saying, pagan saying, shinto saying... Its not very specific, but very broad. Sorry I have no finite answer for you.

[Runt]

It sounds like it the quote is saying that man's will is controlled by God or an analogous entity. I agree with Master Vigil; it can represent the thoughts of a variety of different religions. However, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam probably wouldn't be included, because they include the idea of free will (which is in opposition to the idea that man's will is controlled by God).

[Master Vigil]

Good one runt, didn't catch that. :goodjob: