When I read that opinions ruin the mind like pests and thieves where desire for gain may or may not be harmful, I am taken aback. On second thought, we first have opinions that may turn to prejudices or judgments, we all know how wars between friends, families and nations begin; while desire for gains when properly monitored for a win-win situation would not be harmful. And then I begin to marvel at the wisdom of the ancient Chinese scholar.

          Buddhism is very strict about restraining ourselves from sights, sound and sensual pleasures while taoist teachings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu would not condemn them unless they are taken to excess. Buddhism also considers views and opinions as the cause of conflicts and suffering, therefore the mind is to be tamed with meditation until it is void. Cleverness is full of opinions, view and shcemes, Lao Tzu in particular always shuns wits and cleverness in his teachings. The way or Tao is natural and simple. This is very remote and irrelevant as far as modern society of the west is concerned. Hopefully we would come to learn our lesson on cleverness after all the sufferings brought on by the Wall Street gurus who caused the financial tsunami.

       May we also do away with the opinion pests and thieves on race and religion that caused the war between the Muslims and the West.

Opinions are the pests and thieves of the mind.

Sights and sounds not necessarily obstruct the way,

Cleverness is the barrier obstructing the way.

(Bilingual)

(Saikontan, Book I: 34)

Cleverness, greater barrier than sensual pleasures

(Living Lite Quote)

The word “Gain” also has the meaning of “Sharp” since it is made up of the root of “rice stalks”  and the radical of knife on the right. The pictogram depicts using a knife to cut the stalk of grains. The rice stalk pictogram has hanging  grains on top, a stalk with two leaves and roots at the bottom. Some interpret the root of rice stalk as an abbreviation of the word “Harmony” that has the radical of mouth on the right. The word “Harmony” depicts that to use the knife well, one has to have a balanced mind and harmonious spirit.

The pictogram of “Harm” has the radical of home at the very top and a mouth at the very bottom. There is something looking like a clump of grass that denotes a mess and it has the meaning of damage, failure and calamities. The pictogram depicts that damage and failure in the home comes from the mouth since arguments are most debilitating.There is a popular saying in Chinese “if the home is harmonious, eveyrthing prospers”. The word “harm” can also mean the critical part which can actually determine gain or harm.

The term “views and opinions” are made up of the word “meaning” and “see”. The pictogram of “meaning” is made up of the word “sound” and “heart”. The ancient word of “sound” is synonomous to “speech”. There is the sound of music in the speech. The pictogram of “speech” shows a flute above the mouth. Speech is like using the mouth to play the flute.The sound of ethics is in order and complies  with Tao or the harmony of the sound of a group of people is orderly and is called music. (The word sound also has the meaning of  “music”}. Tao is based on the unity of one. The pictogram of sound is made of of the pictogram of speech with a “one” inside the mouth. One symbolizes Tao because both one and Tao represent unity.

The pictogram of ” see” has an eye above a man. He is staring. The word of “see” as noun also has the meaning of “views” .

“Good medicine is bitter but good for the ailment

Loyal words are harsh on the ears yet beneficial to our conduct

Those who always stay in carefree leisure

will not have an expansive ambition”

In the modern and westernized world, people want only the pleasant and delightful even though we all know that challenges and candid advice would make us grow.

We indulge in sensual pleasures and sweet talks such as advertising that will poison our minds and souls with the material things.

Our minds always have ungratifying concerns

but they are the whetstones for self improvement.

If we hear pleasing words

and everything is gratifying to the mind,

Our life is buried in feathers of poison.

(Bilingual)

(Saikontan I:8)

Poison for Life: Pleasing Words and Gratifications

(Living Lite Quotes)

The pictogram of “Speech” is made up of the radical of “mouth” and the root of “difficult”. The pictogram of difficult portrays the difficult position of standing on your head inverted. In some interpretations, the word “difficult” is split into the top and bottom parts. The top part is the word “two” which is the ancient word for superior since there is a stroke above the ground level; the bottom part depicts a weapon for assasination or jabbing someone. To assasinate a superior is a great crime, the word “difficult also has the meaning of crime. The word “speech” illustrates how difficult it is to express opinion through your voice coming out of the mouth. It also depicts how specch can be like commiting a serious crime of assasination.

Speech can be like a whetstone or poison.

The word “stone” is made up of a rock cliff with an opening shape like a mouth underneath. Speech can tamper us for self improvement like the whetstone or push us to the edge of a rock cliff where we have no place to go but to find a way to turn around our circumstances.

The word poison is more complicated word. It is made up of two parts. The top part is the radical of “grass or “wood”, it depicts trees or grass growing in clumps. The second part in turn is made up of another two parts, the top is the word for “scholar” while the bottom is the word of “non”. Together the word means someone who is a scholar with none of the scholar’s integrity.The word “poison” also depicts harmful vegetation or the harmful community of charlatan scholars. It is interesting that the word of “non” is also made up of two parts: the word “one” and the radical of “woman”. The word “none” means it si forbidden to coerce and rape the weak woman. Others interpret the pictogram as similar to the mother pictogram which shows two big nipples for breast feeding. It is forbidden to touch the mother’s nipples. The forbidden conotation which is “do not”  is then expanded to mean “none”. When a community of scholars with none of the scholar’s integrity, it causes suffering which is like poison harmful to people.

We have a lot of those communities here in Taiwan, but unfortunately our government really buys into their expert opinions that turned out to be for their own interests most of the time.

    Family or clans with the same surnames are worldly ties that connect people with obligation for favors. Face for the family must be preserved at all cost. They create tremendous burden for everyone in the Chinese world. The westerners have less of a community burden, but  the personal burden is greater because ego is a bigger thing for the individual in the west.

      Peace can be restored by reducing our burdern. Simplify our life both with material things and relationships. The world is all about the material and relationship that cause a lot of sufferings when they get too complicated. Liberate ourselves from suffering, free ourselves from worldly woes.