Groaning Words·Chinese Classic
Original text, audio & notes
Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Groaning Words (Shen Yin Yu) is a collection of aphorisms by the Ming-dynasty scholar-official Lü Kun (1536–1618), distilled over some thirty years. The title — the low groans of one who is ill — points to reflections wrung from a life of care and unflinching self-examination. Piercing on human nature and worldly affairs, it has long been treasured as a bedside book for self-cultivation.
This app presents 57 curated passages across ten sections — Nature & Destiny, Guarding the Heart, Self-Cultivation, Inquiry & Learning, Handling Affairs, Discoursing on the Way, Ethics, Governance, Human Feeling and Broad Analogies — each with original text, plain-language commentary, a down-to-earth modern example, and lifelike line-by-line narration.
Why you'll love it
• Text + commentary: authoritative source text with plain-language translation, line-by-line notes and real-life examples — accessible to everyone.
• Lifelike narration: a natural voice reads line by line, with lock-screen & control-center playback, speed control and a sleep timer.
• 9 languages: Simplified & Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish and French.
• Offline reading: all content is built in — read on the subway, a plane or a mountain, with no connection.
• Favorites & resume: your progress is saved; bookmark the lines you love and return to them again and again.
“Enlarge your mind to embrace all things; empty it to receive all that is good.”
A mind made large can hold much; a mind kept empty can receive much — let these four-hundred-year-old reflections steady your days.
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Bug fixes and performance improvements.
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Information
- Seller
- zhenyu song
- Size
- 73.5 MB
- Category
- Education
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 13.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 13.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 13.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
English and 8 more
- English, French, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Contains
Advertising
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Remove Ads $1.99
- Copyright
- © 2026 Zhenyu Song