Saturday Morning Burst of Life Essence

I am on my way to aikido practice on Saturday morning, a cup of Yiren (薏仁; Coix Seed) milk in my hand. I walk into campus and toward the big university gymnasium. There is a beautiful lawn with benches on campus, a sort of small park, bordering the track in front of the gym. I like to go there to sit and relax sometimes after class.

Today I sit on one of the benches, eating my breakfast, an egg sandwich and my Yiren milk, and watch a father and his son kick a soccer ball around. The boy must be about eight, the dad in his mid-thirties. The boy's sister is there, chasing her brother, laughing and smiling, making her eyes become small slits, like the ones we cut into the light brown construction paper we used in elementary school.

The girl leaves her brother and approaches the small garden on the left side of the lawn. She is drawn to a plant the looks like a fern. She looks at it and then begins purposefully pulling down the spines on the plants with one hand, so that in the other hand, she is able to collect the small drop-like leaves.

A part of me wants to tell her to leave the plant alone. I want her to have some kind of ecological consciousness, you know? But then I see that look in her eyes. I realize I need to pay attention.

She then runs towards her brother, who has just kicked the ball to his dad. She is starting to scream, and the closer she gets, the louder and more high-pitched her voice becomes. She makes a final dash in the direction of her brother, and timed with her final scream, releases the little leaves on him and runs away, giggling.

Savoring Each Moment

You meet lots of people in your daily life. Maybe you go out and get a cup of tea and some cheesecake, or dinner with a few that you are attracted to, or who are interested in you (hopefully both!). Meeting a new person is like reading a new book. Each person has pages and pages of history, ideas, dreams. I am curious! And of course, some books grab us. Some don't.

Or sometimes, a book seems interesting and everyone recommends it to you, but you can't get into it! In that case, I say, don't force it.

And then, if we're single, we meet someone, and it feels just like every other date. We're having fun, talking about her sister or my undergrad years on the East coast. We go home, and we are taken by surprise. 欸, I am still thinking about her!

What a gift when this happens.

We thought it was just another date, but seemingly out of the blue, we feel something bigger than ourselves happening. Maybe that little angel-boy with the bow and arrow and has been playing near us today and accidentally shot us, right in the heart!

And the next day, we are on a bus. And we still have that feeling in our hearts.

It is called love. Maybe you could call it grace. Life is mysterious in that way, sneaking up on us.

These days, I am grateful just to feel this feeling. I have no idea whether anything will happen with this person I have met. I certainly would welcome it, but that is the subject of another blog entry.

Today I am grateful for this simple feeling. I know that we all have this love inside of our hearts. The masters say that it is always there, that is doesn't come from another person.

I am happy to be reminded of this, grateful that somehow, another person has teased it out of me. Today, it is here and I savor it. Surely, it will not last, but today, I savor each moment.

台北的676號公車

下班一後
我要回家.

在羅斯福路
我走一走,
五分鐘以後
到了公館,
看到一萬
小朋友
戴著他們的
非常可愛的mp3.

236號 在哪裡?
就是我的車子.
236號,雖然班很多
可是總是都很擠.

今天沒看到它.
只有676號.

我已經四個月了坐236號,
只看到676號有一次.
在路表上寫得「政大」,
跟236號一樣.

我還站著在公車站
看到禿頭的司機.
他的牙齒沾上了槟榔,
紅紅的.

有人不知道676號去哪裡.
他們有一點糊塗,不想上車.
他們可能不相信路表.

不要冒險.

所以禿頭的槟榔司機
叫我們:「一樣的啦!」

是我第一次
聽到一位司機說服乘客上車!

司機微笑向我,
要我上車,
要我相信他.

我上車.
人不多,所以很舒服.

我們離開公館
每一站
司機再叫:「一樣的啦!」
我非笑不可!

三十分鐘以後
我終於下車回家,
很有閒情逸致.

Music Explorations

Tonight, I'm on vacation. I'm in my room, listening to music. I'm not learning Chinese. There are no kids making funny faces at me in cafes, and no old ladies on the MRT peeking at my out of the corner of their eyes. No bopomofo tonight.

I found a great website called LastFM (www.last.fm). You type in your favorite artist and it plays similar artists. Oh my, I am in heaven. My first two artists tonight are Beck and David Darling. I feel like I've just jumped into warm blue water. I'm naked and there's no one here watching me.

Swimming free, there's nothing to learn, no future, no schedule, just pleasure and creativity. Make a date with yourself and check it out. (Trust me, I get no commission.)

Sex Month at the Bookstore

I like to spend time in Taipei's best bookstore, Eslite (誠品). I sit in the cafe several days a week, mostly studying Chinese, sometimes reading for fun.

The other day, I went to use their bathroom, and I notice above each urinal is a small colored placard. When I get closer, I realize that these are advertisements for books. Lo and behold, December is Sex Month at Eslite. All books on sex are discounted, and each little sign gives a suggestion for a book. While I am relieving myself, I see that "The Joy of Oral Sex" is discounted.

After I zip up, I check out the other signs. One is called "Position a the Day". There is another advertisement below the mirror as I wash my hands. There is a picture of a girl and guy in a stall attempting to do the nasty, a guy by himself grabbing his crotch, a girl by herself grabbing her crotch. They are all, of course, reading sex books that you can buy, discounted this month, at Eslite.

Yet again, I am reminded that I am not living in the States. Although people in the States are fairly open about sex, just place these types of photos in your large chain bookstore and watch the hordes of church-going Americans begin to protest.

Taiwan doesn't have America's puritans, but "sexually open" is not the way most foreigners here would use to describe Taiwanese culture. Perhaps what's happening is that a few Taiwanese troublemakers are trying to give the culture a push and see what happens. Perhaps the folks peeing at Eslite who don't like the little advertisements deal with their disgust in other ways. Maybe they talk about it at dinner instead of rushing to a protest with a pitchfork in hand.

誠語好用啊!

九點晚上,我在圖書館念中文書,不要繼續,要回家.我把東西放在我書包裡,以後就走路上山回家去.

走路一定要過高闕先生的茶藝館.如果他在,我也得問他好.他是我的好朋友.今天晚上沒有客人,他請我跟他泡個茶.我們喝一種有木頭的味道的雲南茶.

高闕先生的朋友忽然進來,跟我們一起坐.他看到我,問老闆"他要買茶嗎?"以為我聽不懂.老闆笑起來了說,"不,他喝茶."我覺得這個人並不爽.看起來有一點麻煩.他可能不喜歡布希,以為我是支持布希的美國人.

我們三個談一談.十分鐘以後我得走了,要寫完功課.我告訴他們我的老師很嚴格,作業非常多."嚴師出高徒,"我說.

我們的並不爽的朋友的表情忽然改變了.他點頭,說"欸,你說的對."他們兩個人跟我站起來,陪我出門."再見"我對高闕先生說."再見"我對我新朋友說.

Taiwanese Hospitality

At aikido, my friend, a sophomore, is always helpful--she is the secretary for our club, collecting money and making announcements (in Chinese!). She is minoring in English, and her English is pretty good. I see her on campus, and say hi. But I don't remember her name.

So, I start calling her Beth in my mind. For some reason, every time I see her, the name Beth comes to my mind. Finally, I ask her her name. She says her English name is Katrina.

"Katrina?" I respond. I tell her that in the States, if your name is Katrina, there is a 91% chance that your hair is blonde, an 98% chance you are Christian, and a 72% chance you are a cheerleader. I am feeling bold, so I tell her my honest thought: "It really doesn't fit you." After all, my friend is Taiwanese.

"Really?" she responds. I tell her that for some reason, I always think her name is Beth.

If you know Taiwanese people, you know that they sometimes change their English names often. "Oh, that's fine. Call me Beth when you see me," she says.

Oh my, I love Taiwan.

栗子 Roasting on an Open Fire

"Do not waste your life" -The Buddha

It's Christmas in Taipei.

Thursday, I walk along Jilong Rd., and a bus passes me. The skinny, dark-skinned driver, a youngish dark-skinned Taiwanese guy with large metal-rimmed glasses, is dressed in a full Santa Claus costume. Today, I walk past a beef noodle stand and see an old Taiwanese guy with one of those red Christmas hats.

In most of the chain cafes, department stores, and some of the retail chains, Christmas songs play. Today, as I walked home over the bridge on Zhinan Rd., I heard some familiar words in my head: "So be good for goodness sake."

My Taiwanese friend tells me that she likes Christmas better than Chinese New Year. On Chinese New Year, everyone stays home, eats, and plays mahjong 'til the wee hours of the night. What a waste of time, she tells me. But on Christmas, everyone goes out, eats, drinks, and is merry. Taipei is hustling and bustling.

Not many people here are Christian, and people aren't really buying gifts for each other. But people like it and get into the spirit. My friend says that she likes the spirit of love.

I tell her that Christmas is different in the States. My sense is that Christmas in the States is all about buying and giving gifts. Retail stores do a third of their business during Christmas season. In other words, Christmas is just a part of the big capitalist wheel. There are probably lots of fundementalist Christians who would agree with me. They want Santa out of Christmas. They want that guy who talked about love and forgiveness back in the picture. I think if I were Christian, I would feel the same.

What does giving lots of gifts have to do with love? I think a better gift for children is to give them more time, more love, to have more patience with them, and to teach them about how to become good people. I don't see how giving your kid a transformer is going to teach him about love. (Actually, give kids love, and watch them transform. That's more like it.)

I tell my Taiwanese friend that in the States, all year long, people are working hard. They have no time to think about their lives. Then Christmas arrives, and they can take a week or two off to be with family and friends. Do they take this time to examine their lives? Am I living the life that I want to be living? What do I need to change? How are my relationships? What about my job?

My impression is that not many people are doing this. My impression, however, is that lots of people are eating a lot, drinking a lot, and watching a hell of lot of TV. I don't blame people for this. You're part of a big fucking capitalist machine, and you need a break.

But after all that food, drink, and TV, we all go back to work for another year. The capitalist machine keeps turning, and if you're not careful, your life goes by, just like that.

理髮廳太太的先生

大學附近有家理髮廳.
理個頭髮只要兩百塊.
每次我去剪頭髮,
理髮廳太太的先生
總是躺在我隔壁的椅子
看著電視,
有時到外面抽煙.

他的太太總是很有善.
理髮的技術也不錯,
其實她很拿手.
排隊的人也很多.

一位父親帶著
小帥哥子來理髮,
以後就輪到我.
"好可愛的小朋友,"我對她說.
"他也很聰明,跟你一樣"她回答.

理髮先生回來,
又躺回坐椅,看電視,
然後睡覺.

剪完了以後,我回校園,笑著.

跟發生在很九一前的一個日本禪故事一樣,
我終於找到心中理想的老師.

The Haircutter's Husband

Near my university
there's a barbershop.
You can get your hair cut there
for about six bucks.

Everytime I go there,
the haircutter's husband
is always lying down
on the barbershop chair next to me,
watching television.
Sometimes he goes out to smoke a cigarette.

His wife is always very friendly
And her haircuts aren't half-bad either.
Actually, she does a pretty good job,
and people are always lined up waiting.

A father brings his handsome boy in
for a haircut, and then it's my turn.

"What a cute kid," I tell the haircutter as she starts to cut.
"He's also quite smart, just like you, I'm sure," she replies.

Her husband returns, lies back down on his chair,
watches the news, and then falls asleep.

After my haircut is done,
I head back to campus, smiling.

Just like in the old Zen stories,
I've finally found my teacher.

(written by: Ron Elkayam; translation from the Chinese by: Ron Elkayam; typist: Ron Elkayam; computer consultant: Ron Elkayam; Additional research by: Ron Elkayam; Proofreading by: the amazing Jen-Shun Chen, doctoral candidate, department of Philosophy and Haircuts, NCCU)

A Piece of the Action

My friend Ted is selling all his belongings and moving to India. After you reach enlightenment, Ted, can I get a piece of the action. I mean, let ...

下午詩

我上個禮拜在台北101觀光.出們就看到那裡的很美的藝術水泉.一個警惕在那裡站著看著水跳.我看到他的臉色--他好橡在百日夢,看著地面.他的臉色看起來很難過.他有什麼風波? 他作天跟他的太太吵架嗎?他的老闆又罵他嗎?

我覺得每天每個人都在心裡面有一首詩.你今天的關於什麼?