On the seashore in Taitung stands a longhouse (明堂，男人聚會所) built by the Yamen 雅美 tribe from 蘭嶼 Orchid Island out at sea.

A group of women from the Amis 阿美 tribe was dancing there. The dance was nice, but the music was atrocious. ~~ they were shooting an MTV film for karaoke. I bet you never knew there were MTV films in Amis, did you? You can learn so much by reading this blog!

A truck drove by, and all the men in it started singing along with the music at the top of their lungs. Apparently they were from the same tribe.

鯉魚山掘起于臺東市。風景憂美，環視臺東、中央山脈、太平洋，山上設施完善，有各種樹木鳥蟲的詳細說明。勸君，若赴臺東，千萬別去鯉魚山！

甚麼道理呢？卡拉OK。未進鯉魚山公園，我已聽到裂耳不饒人的卡拉ok。就在入公園幾步的地方有卡拉ok，音量放到最大聲。進了公園，沒有一個角落可以逃過。本來我還想看看忠烈祠、龍鳳佛堂、石棺，可是沒辦法忍受噪音污染的攻擊，只好抱頭鼠竄、落荒而逃。

聽臺東的朋友說，他們不敢到鯉魚山，因為實在太吵。空有那麼好的風景，白建那麼好的遊樂設施。

我不懂。一方面，禮節已經宣佈死亡了嗎？為甚麼唱歌的人一定要麥克風、一定要把音量放那麼大聲，強迫所有人屈服于他們的噪音污染下？另一方面，公園是公家的地，一小群人為甚麼可以霸佔，讓別人都不敢去？更何況，卡拉ok攤是私人營利事業，憑甚麼在公家的地如此肆虐？

A 360 degree view of Taitung city, on the Southeastern coast of Taiwan, taken from Carp Mountain. That's the Pacific you sea, and if you look carefully, you can see Green Island, the former prison colony, and off in the distance, Orchid Island.

The mountain you see in the distance in the final moments is Dulan, where Balahu and Rabbit run their coffee shop.

Don't go to Carp Mountain! The karaoke is deadly!!

Chao went to a conference at 臺東大學 Taitung U on the Southeast coast. I hadn't been down there for decades, so this was a great chance to go, especially since Balahu and Rabbit have been inviting us to visit their coffee shop, 月光小棧 Moonlight Coffeshop in Dulan東河鄉都蘭村, just north of the city. The scenery is so beautiful that you have to see it to believe it… different from our beautiful scenery in Wulai (of course I can't say somebody has beautiful scenery without putting in a word for Wulai!!).

They also run the 女妖在說畫藝廊 The Other Woman Gallery, which specializes in works by Aborigine artists, especially women. They now have an exhibit by Ibing from the Bunung布農 tribe, of pit fired pottery. If you have the good fortune to find yourself in southeastern Taiwan, be sure to stop by to admire the view of the ocean, the bamboo, the art, the trees and flowers, the coffee, and everything else. But you'll probably want to phone ahead for directions: 089-530012. Take your GPS.

These days, you see a lot of slogans and hear a lot of talk about changing the world, how you can transform the world. These are common, I might add, in English language slogans and talk. The realization that yes, we can change the world, the world can be improved, is highly laudable. But what interests me is the background. The English culture is rooted strongly in the Judeo-Christian tradition that god created the world and the world is immutable. Remember what trouble Darwin got into with the idea that species change? Charles Lyell's observations that the earth changes were so revolutionary that almost a century later when Alfred Wegener proposed that continents drift and the earth changes, academia pounced and mercilessly trounced him.

But in the East, change is hardly news. Buddhism teaches us 緣起性空 how conditions are in flux. 無常, impermanence, is a central idea of Chinese thought, especially evidenced in the Confucian 易 I Ching, Book of Change. In Chinese thought, it would be very peculiar indeed if you did not change the world. The change of the world is a changeless fact:易者不易也。Each of us is part of the world. Every act, every thought, everything we do changes the world as the world changes.

Think on that. It's a heavy responsibility and a great challenge. 任重道遠。勉之！

In The Americans, J C Furnas recounts that in 1799, Elizabeth Drinker, the wife of a prominent Philadelphia Quaker, had a shower bath installed for therapeutic use. She tried it out and complimented herself in her diary: "I bore it better than I expected." It was the first bath she had had in 28 years.

No misprint: twenty eight years without a bath. Yuck!!

昨天的post提到，臺灣的創意為何衰退不著？

很複雜，可是我想出兩種理由：拋磚引玉，我希望大家重視此題、多討論、設法改善。

其一、政治上爭權奪利，耗掉了民眾太多精神。好了，我們的確「換人作作看」，對臺灣比較好嗎？誰得利？

其二、現在臺北很難尋求一靜處（臺灣其它地方，我不清楚，不敢說）。到哪裡，逃不過吵雜的音樂、電視、大聲公、車聲、廣播，不得安寧。想想，等捷運的時間很少超過六分鐘，可是月台上電視高掛，似乎臺北人五分鐘沒電視就會死。即使不站在電視下，很難逃避噪音污染。公車上也有電視。買果汁，櫃檯旁也有電視，怕你等一分鐘會無聊。沒電視的話，有耳機、手機。手機！打電話約朋友去KTV吧！怎樣也不敢讓心靜下來，因為萬一靜下，也許會「思攷」，而思攷好像是現代臺北人最怕的事。

心一直浮動，都不靜一靜，怎可能有創意？

蘇格蘭四十七歲女歌手Susan Boyle一夜成名，連我這個不睬流行的孤癖野人也知。

等著瞧，一個月之內，臺灣會出現一位其貌不揚、歌聲美妙的未聞名女歌者，迷倒聽眾，一鳴驚人，一砲而紅。

現在臺灣跟在英語系國家的流行後面，再不然也看看日本韓國來決定我們要如何活。昔日臺灣的創意到哪裏去了？

"Golf is the stupidest game ever invented," Del said.

"That's true," Shrake said, pointing the putter at Del. "But you're not qualified to say it. You have to play it for twenty years before you can fully appreciate how exquisitely stupid it is."

~John Sandford, Phantom Prey

Today at noon, two qniq qalux (紅嘴黑鵯, black bulbul, Hypsipetes madagascariensis) flew together into a 欒 (golden rain tree, Koelreuteria henryi) tree out front, perched together in identical poses, and froze. I studied them with binoculars: each appeared to have a large spider in its mouth, and I think they were the same kind of spider. The bulbuls stayed there, practically motionless, for almost exactly one hour. Then suddenly they flew away together.

I have no idea what that was all about.

臺北小市民生活歷史綴筆，路邊攤篇
本blog已前提過，如果沒有地攤，臺灣就不像臺灣(:::click here:::)。可是有時即使找到素食路邊攤，覺得擁擠、吵雜、不舒服。想一想，問題不在攤，問題在路邊，而是路邊變了。

這樣講：我一個朋友在紹興南街、青島東路附近長大。她說，民國五十年代，青島東路、紹興南街路口算是重要的交通中心，因為那兒有很大的三輪車站。而且她說，那裡算很熱鬧，很繁忙，每天早上可以看到兩三部汽車經過！哇，好不熱鬧呀！

三輪車在五十年代末禁止進入臺北市。到六十年初，鄉下地方還有，但也不常見。民國四十年代，臺灣人口七百萬，現在三倍多；由于經濟成長，汽車不止四十年代的三倍。

所以我認為，路邊攤的問題是，現在臺灣的路邊變了。擁擠、吵雜，到處都是電視、喇叭、大聲公，整個路邊品質大降，所以在路邊吃，就是沒有以前的輕鬆、舒服。

photo, 民國六十一年,新生南路一段 Taipei, 1972

有沒有甚麼新鮮事一直想作作看，卻一直耽擱著不碰？今天是好日子，應當要去作。為甚麼？因為今天四月十四日，四一四，試一試！

英文與中文表達法迥然不同。把中文一個字譯成英文一個字，然後整理成文法完美的句子，還不一定是英文。這兩種語言表達法很不一樣，問題百出。

從前與一位學生練習會話。我問，How long have you been married?
他： I have been married for ten years.
我： How old is your son?
他： My son is eleven years old.
停！我跟他說，講英文不能講虛歲！孩子剛好年尾生，不到三個月就算兩歲~~不行，人家會誤會，先上車後補票。好了，繼續：
我： Okay, let's try again. How long have you been married?
他： I have been married for ten years.
我： Good. Where did you get married?
他： I got married in a hotel.
停！這，這，人家一定會誤會！西方人也許在飯店舉行reception(酒席)，可是結婚典禮不在飯店舉行。後來我教他說，I got married in a public ceremony比較安全。

Wouldn't you know it! This morning, a bird ~ I suspect a 紅嘴黑鵯 bulbul ~ was imitating a car alarm: whoop whoop whoop squawk squawk! It did this without break for ten minutes. I thought, Hey, I ought to record this and post it on my blog! So as soon as I picked up my camera, the bird stopped. I put down my camera and it started again. I snuck out on the balcony to try again, closer, and the bird flew away. A few minutes later I heard whoop whoop whoop squawk squawk! from the bamboo slope, but it was too far away to record.

Which is why you are not listening to a great recording of a bulbul imitating a car alarm. You'll just have to take my word for it. But then, I'm sure you've heard car alarms anyway. Just not with feathers, perched high in a treetop.

明‧蓮池大師：世人以病為苦，而先德云，「病者眾生之良藥。」夫藥與病反，奈何以病為藥？蓋有形之身，不能無病，此理勢所必然。而無病之時，嬉怡放逸，誰覺之者？唯病苦逼身，始知四大非實，人命無常，則悔悟之一機，而修進之一助也。予出家至今，大病垂死者三，而每病發悔悟、增修進，由是良藥之語，其真至言哉。

Interesting: in recent months I've heard a lot of people speaking Cantonese around Taipei, a lot more than usual. Apparently political unrest in Thailand has scared off Hong Kong tourists, so they come here instead.

Good choice, if you ask me. Where can you find such good food, nice people, and beautiful scenery as in Taiwan? You can't beat Taipei’s subway. You want superior tea, pottery, woodwork, then visit Taiwan. Come to beautiful Wulai, just an hour outside of Taipei, a world away. Sure, the sex industry can't compete with Thailand's, but surely that’s not all people travel for. I hope.

As I have said before on this blog, from time to time, it’s good to examine the evidence underpinning your judgments and opinions.
As a Buddhist, I have never been very enthusiastic about 慈濟 the Tzu Chi Foundation: 其實，當年花蓮慈濟醫院剛開幕時，英文簡介是我寫的，可是我修淨土，對我來說，慈濟重福輕慧，太入世：花大筆錢建造捐款人紀念館，捐多少錢題名，再多一些就有照片，捐很多就立像…不著相，還立像！

Be that as it may, recently we accompanied a patient to the new Tzu Chi Hospital in 新店 on the southern edge of Taipei. The grounds are tastefully laid out with ponds, plants, and plenty of places to sit and relax. The hospital itself is gigantic. First you enter a massive lobby where volunteers rush to lead you to Registration, where the patient is quickly registered, with no fuss, no red tape, maximum speed, maximum politeness. Then another volunteer escorts you to your clinic, if you don’t know the way. On the way in, we passed an airy, open space where, on a small stage, a lady was softly playing a 箏/cheng. It was irresistible and we stopped, along with others, to enjoy the beautiful, soothing music.

In every other hospital I have been in, from the US to Asia, I have had to make my way down crowded, ugly hallways painted white or maybe with a green stripe. In the Tzu Chi hospital, wood predominates, there was no crowding that I saw, there were a lot of places to sit, and the overall atmosphere was quiet and healing, rather than the scathing tension I have encountered in American hospitals. What I saw of the hospital was spotless. There was not the typical hospital smell of sickness, death, and medicine. It was just clean.

Patients are not addressed as Mister, Mrs, or Ms, but rather 大德, a respectful Buddhist title meaning Great Virtue. All are treated with care and esteem. I realized how used I have become to being treated like a hunk of meat in most hospitals. Here in Tzu Chi all are treated as human beings. Wow.

For all this, a twenty minute consultation in a quiet room with a doctor and a nurse, plus one week’s medicine, the total charge was NT$220, which works out to US$6.50 (that’s six dollars and fifty cents, not six hundred fifty dollars.) The rest is picked up by Tzu Chi and 健保 Taiwan’s superb national health service.

Because a Watched Sea Never Boils.

Enraptured girl, watching sunset with boyfriend: I just love it when the sun sinks into the sea like this! But I have a question...
Boy: Huh? What?
Girl, turning serious: Why doesn't the sea boil?

--Kauai, Hawaii

via Overheard at the Beach, Apr 8, 2009

華夏固然是龍邦，變化屈伸奧妙微邃，很難捉摸。所以，中華宏偉文化傳到日本小島，無法消受。可日本人缺乏創意但能模仿，所以學中國文化的同時，也局限了它，適應自國的格局。看武就很容易看出這個道理。中國劍法虛實奇正，神韻無形，傳到日本就變成了呆板拘泥的劍道：砍砍砍。

武功立于吐納，習武必調呼吸，動作才能流暢，氣脈才能通徹。日本空手道動作簡陋呆滯，直拳直腳，很適合在鐵軌上練：因為進退攻守缺乏變化。一拳打出去就「咳」一聲，在武術來講實在幼稚，可是只有這幾招；類似母雞下蛋，吱吱吱要讓天下知道，因為她只有這一招：下蛋。

這樣嗐嗐嗐地打，可以騙外行人，用在比賽可以提醒裁判注意喔我那拳又來了；拍電影，讓觀眾看到：咳！這有一拳，注意喔！所以即使兩岸三地的武打片也有這樣嘿呀嗐呀地打，可是這是拍電影，不是武術。學武者，灌注敵我，調呼吸，應勢輒發，沒閒功夫管這些無聊的音效。

Derek Bickerton frames a basic law of academic inquiry: "Don't pay attention to people who've actually done something – listen to people with the right credentials who've dreamed up their own explanation."

我們嘴巴上說「愛臺灣」，言出必行嗎？哈哈，隨便說說而已，怎當真？

獨佔它、置它于死地，叫做愛臺灣嗎？或者珍惜臺灣、讓它更好、留個更美的臺灣給下一代？

我們不要講甚麼偉大的理想、巨志宏願，我們講講日常生活。買東西，懶得帶環保袋，多花一元就買塑膠袋﹝討厭郝龍斌，現在塑膠袋要用買的﹞，用完就丟，這是現代生活方便嘛！

丟了之後呢？管我甚麼事！？確實，不管你我的事，遺害後世就是了。塑膠袋埋入垃圾場，要一千年才能分解；塑膠分解還沒完沒了，因為分解成具毒的微細粒子，繼續污染水源、土壤、動物吃了就中毒。哈！千年後早就作古了，管它的！

眾所周知，日本人表明不肯為拯救地球改變自己的生活習慣，所以他們當然很浪費塑膠袋，平均一人一年用掉三百個塑膠袋，用量高居全世界第三名。澳洲人沒甚麼環保意識，所以澳洲是第二名，平均一人一年用掉三百二十六個塑膠袋。可是第一名真厲害：臺灣，平均一人一年用掉九百個塑膠袋！

我方便就好了，休叫我自備環保袋！

According to Larry West on about.com,

Plastic bags that get buried in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down.

Experts estimate that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually worldwide—more than a million per minute.

According to various estimates, Taiwan consumes 20 billion plastic bags annually (900 per person), Japan consumes 300 billion bags each year (300 per person), and Australia consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags annually (326 per person).(真丟臉!!)

Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable. They actually go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate both soil and water, and end up entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.