Tuesday September 26, 2000

Met my new chinese friend Daniel today and we went to Beilin museum - "The forest of steles museum". He is very intelligent and knows a diversity of things, from calligraphy to buddhism to physics (his major). It was windy, fall today, leaves dropping and slightly overcast by this afternoon. As we wandered from building to building he translated and taught me, using a mixture of english and chinese. I saw the original stone texts of the IChing. It was surprising and overwhelming, and I had such a wonderful guide - he corrected my grammar and just kept teaching, idioms, common words and usages.

He is active and energetic, always telling me xiaoxin [literally, little heart, which means "be careful"], for I am always lost in fascination with all that is around me, forgetting there are steps and cars.

As we passed one tablet he pointed out the large characters zhu yin - the song of bamboo when the wind blows through them, knocking them together. I am understanding more and more the depth of chinese, of knowing another language. The brevity and expressiveness of characters is uncaptured in english. It is truely a poetic language, visual and seductive. I was caught by these two simple characters, I heard the sounds, clacking, knocking of the bamboo without any of those words describing the noise. But it is all conjured up in two simple words - bamboo song.

I asked Daniel why chinese people don't come here, aren't studying, living by and with these ancient texts. He said in modern times it is out of date, though he understood me. I told him I felt that those two characters were the most important and real meaning of life and existence. "Nature is everything and man is part of nature," he said nodding. So I asked why all the studying, the money. He said it's modern china, they owe it to their country to modernize. I ask why.
"Because we have to catch up to you, we have to improve our country."
I responded, "It isn't improvement, all the meaning is right there in those characters. In the States its all running aroud, always doing something, all distractions from the real life."
"But one has to modernize"
I asked again, "but why?" No animosity, both of us were very excited, cheeks rosy with anticipation of our conversation, implications, and the fall air. And his whole face lit up as he understood my questions and logic and meaning. And he told me a tale that this reminded him of:

There was a fisherman lying on a bench and a rich man came up and asked him why he was lying there. The fisherman asked what should he be doing? "Go and work in the field!"
"What should I do in the field?"
"Plant vegetables."
"And what do I do when the vegetables are grown?"
"Sell them in the market and get some money."
"And what to do with the money?"
"After you have money you can take a rest."
"And so here I am already resting."

And my friend told me also that china needed to make money and later they can rest and come back to these steles when they have modernized.

I know that at times a culture has to be active and at times passive. China is active and chasing right now, but it has all its secrets in plain sight. how to live in a period of such majestic philosophy. yet it was only for the intellectuals. the rest of the country was fraught with famine, disease, draught. how can one know the truth? Today I also saw zhong yong - the Middle Path.

[Looking back at this from 2009 and where my life is now, I can hardly believe I got to stand in front of this carving, I had forgotten that I'd seen it in person]