Monthly Archives: May 2009

Great Adages Selected from Master Sheng Yen

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I went to south China with 2 sisters for about 2 more weeks and when I came back home I got a pps file from a friend, on which there are great compassion and vows.

They come from the most venerable master Sheng Yen, who was the founder of Dharma Drum Mountain and passed away on 9 Feb, at the age of 80. I select 10 of them, which are both in Chinese and English,  to share with other friends here, as I think what Master Sheng Yen said is definately right and practical in life. I wish you would like and keep them!

  1. 忙而不乱，累而不疲
    Be busy but happy, and tired but joyful
  2. 应该忙中有序地赶工作，不要紧张兮兮地抢时间
    Work swiftly in an orderly fashion; never compete with time in a nervous flurry.
  3. 人生的起起落落，都是成长的经验
    All the ups and downs of life are nourishing experience for our growth.
  4. 山不转路转，路不转人转，人不转心转
    If the mountain won't move, build a road around it. If the road won't turn, change your path. If you are unable to even change your path, just transform your mind.
  5. 不用牵挂过去，不必担心未来，踏实于现在，就与过去和未来同在
    There's no need to be concerned about the past or the future. Live fully in the present and you are connected with both the past and the future.
  6. 智能，不是知识、不是经验、不是思辨，而是超越自我中心的态度
    Wisdom is not knowledge, nor experience, nor dialectical excellence, but a selfless attitude.
  7. 担心，是多余的折磨；用心，是安全的动力
    While worry fuels unnecessary torment, carefulness breeds security.
  8. 超越死亡三原则：不要寻死，不要怕死，不要等死
    To transcend the suffering of death, keep to the three principles: never seek death, never fear death, and never wait for death to come.
  9. 身是菩提树，心如明镜台
    This body is the Buhdi-tree.  The soul is like a mirror bright.
  10. 慈悲没有敌人，智慧没有烦恼
    Devote wholehearted effort without calculating who does or gains more.

Enjoy your Dragon Boat Festival!

What most Chinese fans think about LOST (TV) in China

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Some months ago, my friend Elliott Ng from the U.S asked me what Chinese LOST fans are thinking/discussing about LOST. I promised to post something here, and as the season 5 is now finished, I think it's time to share something here with you western LOST fans.

The easiest way to know what Chinese LOST fans are thinking about is to analysis the polls held by hot LOST forums in China. I collected some data from ydy.com, 1000fr.com, yyets.net(Some very popular online forums on foreign, mainly American TV series in China) and some of my friends, shared the results as follows:

  • Most Chinese LOST fans are male, 18-25. Few of the fans are under 18 or over 30.
  • Most Chinese fans think that Kate (42.29%) and Shannon (31.45%) are the most attractive women in LOST. Though Sun is the only main Asian character in LOST, she just got 14.67% votes. Polls held on some other small forums show that there're also a lot of Juliet fans.
  • Most Chinese fans hate Michael and Ana Lucia after SEASON 2. In a vote named "Who do you hate most", Michael (45.98%) and Ana Lucia(20.28%) got the most votes. Ben Linus only got 0.8% votes - I think that's due to the date of the poll (2006).
  • Most Chinese fans think that Sawyer(54.83%) is the most attractive man in LOST.
  • 95.59% of Chinese fans think that Ben Linus is cleverer than Charles Widmore.
  • 93.81% of Chinese fans prefer to watch the original TV (with subtitles) rather than a dubbed one.
  • In a poll named "Which one will Kate choose", Sawyer got 51.37%, Jack got 34.91% and the rest (13.72%) think that Kate would choose neither.
  • In a poll named "Who is the key people in LOST", John Locke got 35.39% in a lead, then are Jack (18.86%) and Walt(15.03%). Ben got very few votes.
  • In a poll named "Who do you want to stay with on that island", Jack got 70% FTW.
  • Most Chinese fans would NOT push the button when the count down reaches the end if they were the LOSTies.
  • Most Chinese fans think Locke or Ben should be the leader. The reason for Locke is "He never complained to others" while the reason for Ben is "He always has a plan".
  • 72.8% of Chinese fans think that Ben killed John for some unknown reasons. 7% think that Ben is just for stealing the information from John.

Though with lots of participators, those results above are the polls since 2005. They should represent the most condition here in China, especially for the past years but not for the current condition and the future. As the TV series goes on, there are lots of new comments on this series. For example, after the Jacob finally appeared in the Season 5 finale, there were also a lot of comments saying that LOST is just another story of "神仙打架，百姓遭殃" (Gods fight, human disaster). And more and more fans started to doubt that the writer of LOST would never explain his show gracefully on a scientific basis.

Though I've been attracted by LOST for so much, I have to admit that Prison Break in China is much more popular than LOST. I don't know why. Maybe most Chinese people love stories like the Shawshank Redemption - They are restricted/censored too much to be so non-harmonized:)

However, there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, just enjoy the show for yourself :)

(The pictures of Jack Shepherd below are from http://voote.com/)

Live or Die, Together

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We were discussing statistics when my American colleague told me about a story of his friend's family. Whenever they travel by air, they break the family up and take different planes. My American colleague thought that this made no statistical sense, that is, the chances of a plane to crash isn't going to change.

However, the chances for the whole family to perish from air crashes do become significantly smaller, considering that it takes all the planes the family members take to crash for the whole family to decease, and I guess this is what makes sense for that family. Yet I have another idea: it would be a tragedy for anyone of the family to survive the accidental death of other intimate members, and it is far more comfortable (at least for me) to go along with my family, alive or dead, which means, taking the same plane would be the 'rational' choice for me, as we can they live and die together.

My colleague laughed hard. He'd never looked at the problem from this angel before. But he admitted that my opinion made sense to him.

And so much as I'd like to generalize for the East and the West, this opinion might be just mine and mine alone. What do you think? Will you device a strategy to outlive your family, or would you rather be with them, for eternity?