Chenmou Wu
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| Chenmou Wu |
Space and time shift, stars twirl and change positions; the universe changes, things remain the same, but people are differed. Reflecting on half a century of upheaval, I ask myself: what is the true meaning of life? Looking back on the years gone by, I ponder: what is the true value of life?
Since coming to the U.S. as a visiting scholar, I have been here for more than a decade. Having endured the pain of separating from and losing loved ones in my hometown, I often feel more blame than familial love. Perhaps my reflections on the differences between "fallen leaves return to roots” or “fallen seeds taking root” have gradually eased my homesickness, bringing my heart to peace.
My thoughts on life have evolved over my long journey. I recall my childhood enthusiasm for ancestor worship and visits to rural temples. In my youth, I engaged with Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, frequently touring famous Buddhist and Taoist sites, visiting venerable monks and priests. After moving to North America, through seven years of contemplation, observation, comparison, and understanding, I ultimately received baptism and became a Christian. In my understanding, Christianity's focus on worldly existence, ultimate care, the core of life, family responsibilities, social participation, universal love, and forgiveness resonated deeply with my heart.
The suburbs of North America are vastly different from East Asian villages. Immigrants from all over the world coexist, but due to language barriers and profound cultural differences, daily interactions are minimal, leaving more time for solitary reflection. After over ten years of reclusion, I gradually gained insights into faith and cultural roots, often feeling the urge and desire to write.
Due to desire to share with friends and family in Mainland China, I wrote pieces on returning to faith, cultural reflections, family histories, and poetries, then published them on domestic websites. After a few years, I had several dozen pieces. After that, I selected articles with similar themes and compiled them into a book titled “God Speaks Chinese: A Root-seeking Collection of Homesickness,” which has now been published.
As the saying goes, "All men are created equal," but in reality, people live unequal lives. Equality at birth refers to equal social status and legal equality. However, families, genes, backgrounds, abilities, intelligence, temperaments, fortune and human relationships are vastly different. Hence, people's lives are unequal. In other words, different causes yield different results.
Because of this, some people have faith, while others do not; some hold true beliefs, while others fall into superstition. Those with faith enjoy a spiritual world, while those without faith are mired in the material world. The distinction lies in whether one worships idols or deludes oneself, seeks the ultimate source or liberation, relies on emotions or finds spiritual solace, unifies knowledge and action through diligence, or lives inconsistently. Over time, these differences naturally create vast disparities.
In traditional Chinese culture, God has many names and is commonly referred to as “Old Heaven.” To many Chinese people, God is a distant and unfamiliar concept. In reality, God is a close and real existence, an eternal and ultimate faith. Just as people breathe every moment without noticing the oxygen they need, people without faith are like walking corpses.
Humans are a combination of body and spirit, possessing both physical and spiritual power. Those with faith consciously uplift their spirituality, while atheists unconsciously deplete it. A devout believer tends to form a solid and powerful spiritual entity through their genetic chain. Although the physical body perishes after death, the spiritual entity can endure for a long time, leading to eternal life or an immortal soul. However, the souls of most ordinary people will perish; when they die, their souls return to dust just like their bodies, ultimately turning into nothingness.
Many believe in karma, but karma is merely a law. While the concept of karma is valuable, without love and forgiveness, it traps individuals in a closed cycle of cause and effect, leading to no release. Without reverence to God and adherence to laws, the concept of karma can easily become a reason for retaliation or an excuse for wrongdoing. Hence, killing in the name of karma is as cruel and pitiable as killing in the name of morality.
Returning to the theme of the anthology: Why does God speak Chinese? God is neither Western nor Eastern but belongs to all humanity. According to archaeological research, ancient Chinese people knew and worshipped God. Moreover, the ancient Chinese mind seems more mature than that of Westerners. As early as the Shang dynasties, people had already used the natural laws revealed by the Eight Trigrams to guide daily production and life.
Three thousand two hundred years ago, at the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, while Westerners were still immersed in a world of spirits and gods, Easterners had entered a rational and realistic world, creating a precocious civilization. The Easterners not only had spiritual belief in God but also uncovered the objective laws of nature.
The rise of I Ching(易经) culture enabled Easterners to possess the most advanced spiritual and material civilization in the world simultaneously. The invention and use of the Eight Trigrams was one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements in ancient times. The feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty and the county system of the Qin and Han Dynasties were the most advanced social systems in the world at that time.
However, after the thirteenth century, with the establishment of extreme despotism in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Eastern culture began losing its previous elegance and natural vitality. In the fifteenth century, the Age of Discovery began. Western Europeans discovered the New World and subsequently started the Industrial Revolution, eventually carrying out successful religious reforms. The Westerners, with new religious ideas, crossed the Atlantic to settle in Northeast America. After a hundred and fifty years of development, a new form of civilized society emerged.
In the great eighteenth century, after thousands of years of waiting, Western civilization finally surpassed Eastern civilization with favorable timing, geographical advantage, and human harmony. Once, the feudal and county systems of Easterners led the world; now, the republican and democratic systems of Westerners lead the globe. This shift is the result of the struggle and alternation between maritime and terrestrial civilizations, as dictated by the historical trends of human society.
The transformation of modern Chinese society started with the introduction of Western learning to the East. When Western gunboats broke the silence of Eastern society, those friendly Europeans and devout missionaries brought the outstanding achievements of Western culture with them. Before 1949, Christian civilization injected new vitality into Chinese culture, providing momentum for social reform.
The Taiping Rebellion and the Boxer Rebellion both exhibited ignorant and blind xenophobia, causing setbacks in China’s social transformation. In the 1950s, many universities established by foreigners were dismantled or abolished, which was a regrettable loss that closed the door to the dissemination of Western culture. If those universities that spread Western civilization had not been dismantled, there would not have been such a long-term wave of studying abroad after the reform and opening up in the 1980s. Integrating excellent foreign cultural elements into the ancient cultural system would have sparked unparalleled vitality.
A seed grows into grass, or a towering tree based on its genetic makeup. Similarly, the future of China depends on its current cultural genes. As the saying goes, "It takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to cultivate people." The rejuvenation of Chinese civilization and the rebirth of Chinese culture require the sustained efforts of many generations. Only by seeking cultural roots and returning to faith can we cultivate new and outstanding cultural genes. This requires a reform of Chinese culture and an elevation of traditional beliefs.
Belief in God is vastly different from the worship of immortals, saints, and ancestors. The worship of immortals, saints, and ancestors is not ultimate faith. For example, many people worship Laozi, Confucius, and the Buddha, but what were Laozi, Confucius, and the Buddha seeking before? Later generations do not worship God that Laozi, Confucius, and the Buddha sought but only idolize them. Isn’t that a big mistake and a huge tragedy?
People seek roots by worshiping their ancestors, but where did their ancestors come from? For instance, the Confucius family in Qufu, Shandong Province, has had over eighty generations since Confucius. To truly honor all ancestors, one must consider at least those eighty generations. However, it is impossible for any family to achieve this comprehensively. Even if Confucius’ descendants commemorate Confucius without honoring Confucius’ ancestors, it would be still incomplete and imperfect.
Additionally, according to genetics, a child’s genes come equally from both parents. For example, from the first-generation Confucius to the eightieth generation descendants, how much of Confucius’ genetic material remains is uncertain. Therefore, the concept of ancestral lineages is a false cultural belief, and blood relations are essentially non-existent biological concepts.
Tracing ancestry back to the earliest ancestors of surnames leads to the Yan-Huang Emperors（炎黄二帝）, whose origins trace should back to The Fuxi (伏羲) and Nvwa(女娲), and ultimately to God. If people worshipped God directly, wouldn't they honor all ancestors and achieve the greatest filial piety? Hence, those who do not know God have shallow blessings, and those who do not worship God are unfilially descendants.
In today’s China, various families set up ancestral halls and display their prosperity; different surnames worship their ancestors but struggle for unity and equality. Within the same clan, blood relations can create distinctions, leading to divisions. Ancestors have varying distances, leading to incomplete veneration. Limited to recent generations and incapable of reaching far back, the moral integrity of the people declines.
The Spirit of God is eternal and reliable; prayers will be blessed. Posterity should go beyond the small filial piety of family culture and achieve the great filial piety of Heavenly culture. Like the virtuous sage Taibo, who thrice renounced the throne due to reverence for the Heavenly principal and faith in God, transcending personal interests for the common good.
Thus, people today, regardless of surname or lineage, should not merely commemorate their ancestors but also revere and know God. Only then can we overcome cognitive limitations, attain a higher level of faith, ultimately achieve equality of personality and freedom of humanity, cultivate outstanding cultural genes, and realize true national rejuvenation.
Of course, this small book, "God Speaks Chinese: A Root-seeking Collection of Homesickness," cannot shoulder such a sacred mission or achieve such a significant effect. If it can inspire readers even a little, it is more than enough.
If so, it would be a tremendous virtue!
Chenmou Wu
07/20//2024
