誤解英式辯論

Link to English version: "Misunderstanding Debate"

英式辯論源於18世紀初的倫敦。這表面斯文的舌戰不單止是知識分子訓練口才的遊戲，也是一種心理改造工具，間接影響了整個所謂 「西方世界」 的政治和外交傳統，甚至商業推廣，科研，法制，和道德取向等。

Misunderstanding Debate

鏈接中文版：誤讀辯論

The English debate, popularised in London in early 18th century, is more than just a polite argument between quaint intellectuals. Its brain warping effects might have gently swayed Western perspectives in politics, diplomacy, marketing, academic research, the judiciary process, even moral values.

Shadows of Cave Mountain

D o n g ~ ~ ~  The temple bell strikes at four-thirty as usual. Deep resonance impregnates predawn quietness, giving it life rather than shattering it. From my room, I can’t hear the duty-monk chanting. But I had learnt the words from an evening attendance at the bell tower: With the first strike of the resonant bell, I chant the precious koan, shaking heaven above, piercing hell below….. Let all wars cease, armoured horses retire. May all souls expired in battles reborn in Pureland… As the mesmerising chant ends, the drum responds with the reverberating Wind-Rain-Thunder-Lightning routine, reversing the nighttime sequence.

First morning meditation starts at 4:50 while yogis warm up with sun salutations in the studio, long before the sun rises. I roll off my tatami to cancel the phone alarm before it goes off. Unlike the bell, it startles and shatters at this early hour even with volume set to just above mute. 

I’ll be going home this afternoon. Sixteen days have glided past like a bird’s flitting shadow. I let the melancholy of departure settle before getting up to dress, leaving it behind to meld with fragments of delusive dreams, turning into hazy memories.

I've uploaded a video of the Drum and Bell routine to YouTube: https://youtu.be/BmuYlp7lXA4

洞山禪影

咚 ～～～ 沈肅的禪鐘聲與本來的寂靜互相引接，引起了一靜一動的共鳴。和諧的交替，並未驚破黎明。從房間里，我聽不到敲鐘僧人的唱誦，但我幾晚前曾經上鐘樓聽唱，抄下了偈詞：「洪鐘初扣 寶偈高吟 上徹天堂 下通地府 。。。。。干戈永息 甲馬休征 陣敗傷亡 俱生淨土。。。」 寒山僧鐘唱誦畢，鼓樓會以震撼的「風雨雷電」鼓聲回應。

是時候起床了。第一課靜坐將於4:50開始。做瑜伽的會同時在瑜伽館的墊子上參拜尚未露面的太陽。我趕緊把榻榻米旁的電話鬧鐘取消。雖然音量已調到最低，但在洞山的清晨，它的炸響仍然十分駭人。

今天下午要回家了。每離開一處地方，難免幾分惆悵。我盤腿坐在榻榻米上，讓這份感覺沈澱片刻。十六天的時光，猶如飛鳥投在地面的掠影，瞬間已逝，只留下影子的印象，慢慢與新舊妄想混淆，化成不肯定的回憶。

我把鐘鼓齊鳴的視頻上載了 YouTube: https://youtu.be/BmuYlp7lXA4

Don't Learn From History

鏈接到中文版：歷史的謊話

Don’t learn from history — it’s full of lies. Some say that’s to be expected, as history is written by the victors. But why must victors lie? Do they not realise that falsifying history will certainly backfire?

Chinese obsession with history stems not only from academic interests or a peculiar fascination with dead people, but a firm belief in the benefits of experience. The post of Official Historian,  already established in the Xia Dynasty nearly four thousand years ago, continued in various forms until the end of Qing Dynasty in the beginning of the 20th century. Official Historians were officially extremely independent, therefore a high risk job. They followed the Emperors around, making notes which the Sons of Heaven were not allowed to read by ancestral decree and tradition (that changed after Tang Dynasty). A Historian’s record could impact the Emperor’s Posthumous Titles — marking His Majesty as a jerk or fool for posterity. Expectedly, some overzealous Historians got their heads removed. These murderous episodes were duly recorded by his successors.

Historians in ancient time were unimaginably stubborn. The renowned Sima Qian of Han Dynasty endured castration to finish The Records of the Grand Historian, an epic achievement still widely studied today, more than two millennia later. To minimise bias and decapitation, official history was usually compiled from archives and records long after a change of dynasty. By then, as China’s struggles were mostly internal, the boundary between victors and losers had been obscured by time. Recent history — itself an oxymoron — is unreliable anywhere, like autobiographies of politicians.

歷史的謊話

Link to English Version: Don't Learn From History

不少近代史其實大話連篇。以史為鑒這句話好像有點過時。西方人解釋說這是由於歷史是 「勝利者」 寫的，難免偏頗。為何勝利已經在握的人，反而作假呢？難道他們不知道假歷史對自己後代的不良影響嗎？

中國人看重歷史的程度，舉世無雙。史官這高難度的高危工作，遠在夏朝已經設立（太史令），一直以不同稱號保留至清末，足有四千年歷史。古代史官的權力很大，他們每天記錄皇帝的言行，而唐朝之前的皇帝按慣例是不許看史官的筆記本的。由於史官的記錄會影響皇上在青史上留個什麼名，天子自然有些緊張。間中脾氣失控，龍顏一怒之下將食古不化的史官腦袋搬家，偶爾也有發生。不過這類殺人案件一般都會被後來的史官記下來的。

Graffiti 塗鴉

I don’t know anything about graffiti, but the good ones make me stop to admire, as if in a gallery. Some are amazing not only due to its artistic merits, but the fact that the artists don’t expect reward or recognition for their masterpieces. Even Banksy’s identity remains a mystery. A good piece of graffiti often makes me curious. What does the artist do for a living? Is this person gravity proof? Does he or she plan and practise on the living room wall first, before on-site execution? How many nights does it take to do something this size?

我對塗鴉沒有研究，但一幅好的塗鴉，往往會令我駐足欣賞，如同身在畫廊。好的塗鴉除了藝術價值，還有創作者的心態。哪麼辛苦完成的作品，沒有揚名求利的動機，也算一種清高吧。連舉世知名的 Banksy 的身份，到現在還是個謎。 有水準的塗鴉，會令我好奇。如此藝術高人，冒著地心吸力之險，月黑風高爬外牆噴漆為啥呢？哪麼大的壁畫，他之前有沒有在家裡大廳牆壁預習一次呢？一共要搞幾個晚上才完成呢？

Of course, a lot of street doodling is garbage. Simpleminded atrocities such as gang slogans, misspelled political messages or fatuous declaration of love may seem worthless. But they somehow accentuate the despair and social failure which have given birth to their brand of vandalism.

當然，佳作始終是少數。更多的是粗口錯白字，童黨標語，到此一游，或豬彪愛阿嬌之類的垃圾。但這些低檔次塗鴉，在破舊橫街和貧民窟，卻頗添氣氛，也是社會某方面失敗的見證

Thinking Inside The Box

鏈接中文版本：創意與中庸

Calling ourselves Homo Sapiens — literally wise man — has to be either missed irony, or hyperbolic self-flattery. Even dummies know that the average human is far from wise. Quite the contrary, whenever life is good, most of our species take petulant pride in not thinking. Behind dainty expressions of ostentatious innocence and unworldliness is an unmentionable awareness that being really stupid without consequence is a modern privilege, a rich-folk thing, a secretly adored social status. Sure, during our negligibly short existence, the odd thinking specimens might have had delivered us from collective troubles, or led us to more favourable grounds for survival. But mass ignorance has since been reinforced, making such rare fortuitous events ever less likely in the future.

創意與中庸

LINK TO ENGLISH VERSION: Thinking Inside The Box

人類自稱「智人」，真的有點兒自誇，因為連傻瓜也知道，一般人的智慧很有限。而我們智慧不高，並非完全由於天分所限，很多人根本不喜歡也看不起思考。經濟環境許可的時候，無知是顯示家底的手段之一；一無所知，笨手笨腳，波鞋帶不會綁，荷包蛋不會煎，是富貴人家孩子的身分象徵，比穿名牌更體面。當然，在人類短短的歷史裡，曾經出現過異常聰明人士把我們集體帶出困境，或帶來思想突破。但這些真智人是極少數，毫不典型，當時也不一定得到大眾的認同。所以叫人類「好彩人」，可能比「智人」更貼切。但人類在地球史裡只不過是幾秒鐘前出現的物種而已，幸運能持續多久，有待觀察。

The New Face of Old Guangzhou 廣州的舊城新貌

The Chan tablets behind the kirin are long gone at the Chan Academy 

陳氏家祠麒麟身後的牌位早已不見了

Like most tourists, I prefer historical sites or “exotic” destinations when travelling, wishing to see something “different”. Since I regarded Guangzhou familiar from frequent visits during the early 1990s, I had not thought of exploring it as a tourist. Thanks to a friend who organised a weekend trip recently, I was surprised by how much the old city has changed. It not only looked different as expected, but also felt very different. Much of the old was thankfully still there, calmly giving way to the new. In such a dramatic and abrupt social transformation, anxiety is expected. But from the places we visited and the people we talked to, I sensed mostly optimism and vibrancy rather than misgivings.

There's a wonderful French restaurant hiding on the 4th floor. No Elevator. 

四樓有家超正法式素食館

正如很多遊客一樣，我一般來說會挑選比較新鮮的旅遊目的地，希望增廣見聞。由於在90年代初經常會去廣州，所以自以為對這個兩千年古城有些認識，便沒有想過去羊城當遊客。幸好上星期有朋友安排廣州兩晚三日美食游，才有機會見證一別二十年的廣州在軟件硬件上的巨大改進。當然，一個古老城市有很多遺產，也有不少包袱，與從頭規劃建設的地方各有利弊，不能相比。但在種種條件限制下，廣州能夠大致和諧地繁榮過渡到21世紀，肯定是多方面努力和忍讓的成果。看似簡單，得來不易。

WW3 - A Horrifying New Year Vision

鏈接中文版：中美大戰 - 一個恐怖的新年臆想

2016 was a black swan year to many. Fortunately, “realism” (interchangeably aka “cynicism” in our brave new world) helped me to anticipate Brexit (http://guo-du.blogspot.hk/2015/10/her-majesty-and-commies.html) and Trump (http://guo-du.blogspot.hk/2016/03/trump-for-president.html), thereby sparing me a couple of unpleasant surprises.

Amidst happy wishes, 2017 begins noisily with more frantic beating of the war drum by — well, who else? Though nothing new, the rhythm has become desperate and erratic. Facing its own “regime change” phantasmagorically claimed to have been orchestrated by Russia, the pitifully vulnerable Empire seems even more irascible and capricious than usual, no longer bothering to dress up its contempt for fairness and rationality.

There are plenty of talks about a military showdown between the US and China, as if it were a much awaited new war-game app. Some analysts sound like desperate salesmen from the military industrial complex (MIC). Others, emboldened by the pivotal positions which they would soon hold, sound outright deranged. Happy New Year!

Nearly all of these propositions envisage a military conflict with China through a predominantly Western lens. This bias is understandable, since most wars in the past century had been choreographed by Western powers, according to their military traditions and objectives. But in a conflict with China, it would be prudent to include a little “common sense” with Chinese characteristics, in order to make the horrifying picture more complete.

First of all, why would there be a war? And what for? 

中美大戰：一個恐怖的新年臆想

 

Link to English Version: WW3 - A Horrifying New Year Vision

2016年誕下幾只黑天鵝後，已隨時光溜走。幸而我思想逆行，一早對英國脫歐 (英女皇與共產黨 http://guo-du.blogspot.hk/2015/10/blog-post.html) 和特朗普當選 (我也來撐特朗普
http://guo-du.blogspot.hk/2016/03/blog-post.html) 的可能性做了心理準備，省卻了一份驚奇。但2017年的開始，並不顯得平靜。美國的戰鼓越擂越響，連聽慣了的人也覺心寒。而帝國的戰爭機器，似乎失了方向，姿態更急躁野蠻。

有關「中美決戰」 的文章和「智庫」報告突然多了起來。有些報告看似軍工業銷售部的建議書。有些狂言瘋語，更來自即將身負要職的帝國重臣。John Pilger 的紀錄片 The Coming War On China 「即將到來的對華戰爭」，是罕有的客觀警世之作（https://movie.douban.com/subject/26929113/）。不過大部分的分析，不論立場，都以西方軍事傳統來看這場潛在的災難性衝突，而忽略了中國人對戰爭的看法。

第一個基本問題是：中美無端端為何打仗呢？