Revison of "What Are the Elements That In Our Action?"

New Title:What Are The Elements That Motivate Our Actions?

This week, I read the Sanskrit poem Bhagavad-Gita, also known as the Song of the Lord.  This poem contains great philosophical ideas that are so endurable and powerful that it has influenced Indian society for thousands of years.  There are many philosophical perspectives within this poem, such as the rule of reincarnation, the rigid of the reincarnation order, discipline and duty.  However, among all those fascinating perspectives, the one about humans’ motivations for their actions--The Second Teaching, from sections 47 through 51 (Krishna’s words to Arjuna, trying to persuade him to fight)--is interesting for its parallels with Kant’s moral theory.

In section 47, it initially states that our actions should not bind with the consequences, and in the ensuing section 48, it complements that rather than focusing on the consequences, our actions should follow the discipline. The discipline is the neutral balanced manner between failure and success.  Section 49 to 50 basically describes that men become pitiful if their motives of the action are influenced by the consequences, instead of from their understanding of the discipline (it is neither failure and success, nor good and evil). In order to do that, they need to be rational and wise.  In fact, this idea is similar with a famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant’s moral theory.  In Kant’s moral theory, he indicates that morality only exists when one’s action’s motivation come from a good will, which contains an obligation/discipline that has moral worth; and one does something only for the sake of the right thing itself, regardless of anything else (such as consequences, self-interests, experiences, education, etc).  Kant’s explanation to his idea is that if we do things do not meet such requirements he mentioned before, then we are not doing the right thing out of our very pure heart, and our mind are not free from desires(or any personal things), nor our decision or action will be considered free.  Coincidentally, in the section 51, the poem also indicates that if we are wise enough to “relinquish the fruit born of action,” we will be “freed from these bonds of rebirth,” and can “reach a place beyond decay.” 

This is something that we rarely thought about in our daily life, isn’t it? When we do things, it is almost impossible that not to think of the consequences or reactions that would be following after our decisions or actions; and in modern perspective, our motives of action should always have a reward or a punishment behind it, rather than thinking what is our firm duty/discipline, and that is why we are so easy to bind up with things in our lifes. 

Moment

After I read the 4^th chapter of the ancient Japanese novel From the Tale of Genji, “Evening Faces,” it reminds me a joke.  One day, a guy asks God, "God, what does 100 million years seem like to you?" God answers, “One hundred million years? That's like a moment me." Then the man asks again, "God, what's 100 million dollars seem like to you?" “One hundred million dollars? It seems like a penny to me." So this guy says, "Hey God, could I borrow a penny?" And God answers, "Sure. Just a moment."

So how long does a “moment” last? Well, a moment is actually a medieval unit of time equal to 90 seconds.  Of course, in modern days, it means a short period of time.  It is not that essential to measure how long a moment is, but far more important is to focus on how we should spend that moment, and how we are going to treasure the moment, as well as every moment in our lifes.  The reason is simple:  we cannot experience any one moment twice ever again; and what’s left will only exist in our memory.

In the story, Genji is initially going to visit his old nurse, and since the nurse is not at home, he meets the mysterious, shy and attractive woman next door in a conincidence. Then, they start to date day and night.  However, just a couple of days later, the girl dies after Genji woke up from a horrified dream at a strange night. It is all supernatural and sudden to Genji about the girl’s death, and he is very depressed by that. The time spend with the mysterious girl seems to last only a moment compared to the entire life experiences of Genji. However, no matter what Genji does after the girl’s death, what’s done cannot be undone: the moment with her was long gone.

  A moment can pass us by quickly and without a notice.  Sometimes, we never think of treasuring something until it is gone; and sometimes, even though we already have done our best to maintain something, it will still pass us by. That is the moment of life.  Therefore, we should take good care of ourselves because the moment in life is very limited, and we should also look after and treat people around us nicely because we do not know when they will forever pass us by. 

 

                                  A beautiful moment of the mysterious girl

An Orphan Elephant:Kinship Love

            I do not talk about my past to people often, not even to some of my friends.  The reason is not only because my story is very depressing to talk about, but also because my audiences usually misunderstand me. 

As an only child of my parents, I grew up in a normal Chinese family and lived a normal life until when I was nine years old my father went to the U.S. for a job.   Because of the departure of my father, the responsibility of supporting the whole family had doubled on my mother’s side: She had to work extra hard to pay back the debts which my father incurred for his trip, and also, she had to take care of me and my grandparents. Since she had no time to take care of herself, and due the accumulative pressure she obtained, just roughly a year later, she died of cancer when I was ten. Moreover, due to the passport and monetary difficulties, my father could not come back, nor I could go abroad; so I was all alone.   When I tell my story about this point, my audiences would say things like “I’m so sorry to hear that” or “Dude, you must have or develop an adamant and mature nature to live a life like that since then. You are such a man.”  By saying this, they have already missed the point.

            It was the love from the kinship which supported and protected me after my mother passed away.  Without my kin, how could I possibly live by myself in a condition that has nothing to eat and nowhere to live?  It was my grandparents who provided a comfortable room for me to live. It was them who cook for me and took care of me daily.  Also, my other relatives: uncles and aunts, they usually gave me money and take me to shopping mall to buy new clothes and shoes, and even a new computer.  Moreover, it was my cousins who would like to spend time with me and chat with me.  It was my kin who raised me up, and took an extremely good care of me.  They used their love to fill up my broken heart.  Thus, this is my life and my world: A world filled with kinship love, and without these love, I would not be here today.  They saved me.

            Once upon a time, I watched a TV show which is about elephants.  It describes the elephant herds, especially the female elders, usually aunts, will take care the little orphan elephants, until they grew older and stronger.  Once upon a time, I was an orphan elephant, and the herd and its love, was my whole world.

Sakuntala and Huan Zhu Ge Ge

      The drama Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is about a tortuous and undulatory love story between a beautiful ascetic woman named Sakuntala and the king Dusyanta.  The descriptive language which is used in the drama highlights the story and makes impact more lively.

      The descriptive language used in Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection is remarkable and efficiently provides a very lovely and vivid atmosphere for the play.  When Dusyanta first sees Sakuntala, he is amazed by her incomparable beauty; because of the very well expressed description which is used in the book, I started to see images of Sakuntala in my mind. As an example “her lips are fresh red buds, her arms are tendrils, impatient youth is poised to blossom in her limbs.”  This kind of description is very suitable for the moment, and it is certainly making the audiences sense the scents of love.  Other than the descriptive language, I also discovered it is very interesting that there is another story in Chinese culture which is similar to this one. 

      In the ancient time, there were four great civilizations, China, Egypt, India, as well as Mesopotamia (Babylon), which were the most flourishing and well-developed regions compared to other places in the world contemporarily.  Moreover, since the Ancient India and China were so close together, they somewhat influenced and integrated with each other in certain domains, such as in religion and literature. Like the last comparison Dan and Cheng illustrated between Ramayana and Journey to the West, in these two stories, they both had a very interesting, critical and powerful character that looks like a monkey: Hanuman and Sun Wu Kong.  About this story, the “twin story” I found in Chinese literature is called Huan Zhu Ge Ge (in English is translated as “Princess Pearl”)

      In the play of Huan Zhu Ge Ge, there are many similarities with this drama.  The princess (Huan Zhu Ge Ge)’s mother is named Xia Yu He, and like Sakuntala, they both bore a child for the king, and they both violated some rules or norms (Xia Yu He is lower class Han People and the emperor is Manchu, considered as the Son of Heaven, and these two definitely cannot have any relations, not even sex). The king and emperor are both gentle and charming, and later they both separate with their women; also, the king and emperor both have left some “souvenirs” that can bring back their memories about the past with their women: Sakuntala has the ring, and Xia Yu He has the folding fan and a poem from the Chinese emperor (Qian Long Emperor).   Also in the starting scene in both stories, the king and emperor enter the play when they are hunting; and even more coincidentally, they are both hunting a buck! However, the main differences are that in the Chinese story, Xia Yu He had already died several years before, and she never gets a chance to meet with the emperor again. Huan Zhu Ge Ge is a story which is based on the journey of the princess Pearl to reunite with her father, and it is also based on the love stories between her and her soul mate. In contrast, Sakuntala and the Ring of Recollection,is simply about the reunion and love between Sakuntala and the king.  Beyond the similarities and the differences, there is one quote that can use to summarize these two stories: “All shall be well. Jack shall have Jill.”

                     

For more information about the Chinese Play Huan Zhu Ge Ge: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Huanzhu

Men Vs. Women

            In the past few weeks, we have read stories and poems from many different regions in various times in history, and many of them describe one or a series of dramatic battles, such as the ancient Mesopotamian poem Gilgamesh and the Indian poem Bhagavad-Gita. However, the battle described in the Greek drama Lysistrat is not between man and God nor man and his kin, but between men and women. More precisely, the story is about how (Lysistrata leads) women in Athens and Sparta overcome the men’s obstacles and social norms (rules) to pursue their rights and needs, and finally, bring peace between the two cities.

            For this drama, I did a little research on what a traditional Spartan and Athenian woman was like.  Sparta was considered to be a warrior civilization, and the class of women had a relatively high standard compared to many other ancient civilizations.  Women in Sparta were allowed to have education; they could learn fighting skills to protect themselves, and they had more freedom in their society.  However, the norms were quite different in the ancient Athenian civilization.  Women were powerless minors that barely prior to the slaves: They could not own properties; they were not educated, and their obligation was to bear children, serve their husband, and do some sewing jobs.  This recalls the status of ancient Chinese women: They were as powerless as the Athenian women, and they were treated more like personal property that belonged to their husband rather than as a wife by modern standards.   However, Chinese women never took a stand before their men to declare or pursue their rights or needs like the Athenian and Spartan women, whose men of course, were outraged about women’s “rebellion.”

            In the play, the men think that women are weak and tiny, and only men are the representatives of strength and power. They are acting quite tough, well, at least before the Koryphaios of men has failed his demonstration of snaring the Koryphaios of women’s neck.  Even though all the men are saying things like “no fancy grappling with these grannies,” the woman still wins the tussle when the Koryphaios of men tries to snare her.  Then, the role changes after that: It is the women’s turn to show that they are as powerful as the men can be.  Sarcastically, on women’s side, they also have some issues.  The First, Second and Third Woman all have different kinds of excuses to avoid the battle with the men, and I think it illustrates that many women are naturally afraid of trouble (battle) and lacking confidence because they have never experienced things like that nor have been taught to do so.  I can tell that it is a harsh battle for both sides.

            After I read the conflicts in the story, I think the men versus women issue is similar to a question we might have asked when we were young: Does the egg appear first or the chicken?  Obviously, whether it is chicken or egg, they cannot be separated from each other because there is a strong bond of existence in between.  This also applies to whether men should reign over women, or women reign over men.  In my opinion, there is no win or lose because they cannot live without each other, and they need each other as their essence of life.  In the end of the story, the war between two cities has stopped, and wives and husbands’ reunions have drawn a happy ending to the story. Therefore, to the question about who should rule over the other is: They should work together equally, and in harmony. 

Candle vs. Firework

After I read this tragic Greek drama Antigone, I felt that this is actually a very good story that had many meaningful perspectives behind it.  In this drama, it mentions about the perspectives of what is mean to be loyalty to a country/city, what action will consider being treasonous, and the king Creon’s opinion about how money can lead to evil action.  There are many great thoughts that coming from this drama, and what I interested in is two types of behavior, or say attitude towards to our life: to be like a candle or firework. 

            The background of drama Antigone is based on a city called Thebes, and from the conversation between Antigone and her sister Ismene, we know that their brother have killed each other in the battle; one fought for the city of Thebes, and another considered to be a traitor who fought for the enemy of Thebes.  Also in the conversation about whether they should ignore the law and bury the brother who died as a traitor, or just leave it because the king strictly prohibits anyone to bury the body, Antigone and Ismene present two different life attitudes, which I may represent as “firework and candle.”  Antigone’s attitude and opinion is that as a sister, she have to bury both of her brothers regardless whether they are honored or dishonored; she willing to do it because she thinks that it is her obligation to do as a family member.  Also, she indicates that even if she will be putting in death penalty for bury the body, she still thinks that it is a great honor to do so, and her death will be a glory.  Antigone’s attitude is like a firework, strong, unconstrained, shine brightly, but it won’t last long. Antigone will do regardless about the law, but follow what is truly right in her heart; she’s not afraid of deathly restrictions, but only focuses on her loyalty for her family, and it is her glory to do so.  Compare to Antigone, her sister Ismene’s attitude is more legally fit into her society.   She is afraid of death, she want to be obedient to the king, and she does not think Antigone’s idea is good.  Ismene’s characteristic is more like a candle, mild, submissive, and it can last long.

            In my perspective, to be like a firework, we have to have lots of courage, and firmly solid faith to things that we insist on, and it is never easy to be one.  Most of the time, we are ordinary people like candles, peaceful, mild, obedient to the manmade laws and certain society norms in our life.  The question is, when one day we realize that the law or society goes wrong and unfair, will we have the courage to take a stand and fight against it, like Antigone? Or should we choose to adopt it and let it be? Fireworks’ strong, unconstrained beauty or candles’ mild, long last life is what we have to choose to be.

What Are The Elements That In Our Action?

In this week, I read the Sanskrit poem Bhagavad-Gita, also known as the Song of the Lord.  This poem contains great philosophical ideas that are so endurable, powerful and it has influenced Indian society for thousands of years.  There are many of the philosophical perspectives within this poem, such as the rule of reincarnation, the rigid of the reincarnation order, discipline and duty etc.  However, among all those fascinating perspectives, the one towards to humans’ actions, which in The Second Teaching, from section 47 to 51 (Krishna’s words to Arjuna, trying to persuade him to fight), is interesting, critical and that idea is free from the religion in my point of view.

 In section 47, it initially states that our actions should not bind with the consequences, and in the ensuing section 48, it complements that rather than focusing on the consequences, our actions should follow the discipline. The discipline is the neutral balanced manner between failure and success.  Section 49 to 50 basically describes that men become pitiful if their motives of the action are influenced by the consequences, instead of from their understanding of the discipline (it is neither failure and success, nor good and evil). In order to do that, they need to be rational and wise.  In fact, this idea is similar with a famous German philosopher, Immanuel Kant’s moral theory.  In Kant’s moral theory, he indicates that morality only exists when one’s action’s motivation come from a good will, which contains an obligation/discipline that has moral worth; and one does something only for the sake of the right thing itself, regardless of anything else (such as consequences, self-interests, experiences, education, etc).  Kant’s explanation to his idea is that if we do things do not meet the requirements he mentioned before, than we are not doing the right thing out of our very pure heart, and our mind are not free from desires(or any personal things), nor our decision or action will be considered free.  Coincidentally, in the section 51, the poem also indicates that if we are wise enough to “relinquish the fruit born of action,” we will be “freed from these bonds of rebirth,” and can “reach a place beyond decay.” 

This is something that we rarely thought about in our daily life, isn’t it? When we do things, it almost impossible that not to think of the consequences or reactions that would following after our decisions or actions; and in modern perspective, our motives of action should always have a reward or a punishment behind it, rather than thinking what is our firm duty/discipline, and that is why we are so easy to bind up with things in our life.