Name and Substance

Yutang Lin

Formal names seem to have set the stage;
However, facts are evolving relentlessly.
Only purity tested through life and death;
Winning or losing is in the end irrelevant.

Comments:

Names and formality are intangible but misleading; they tend to instill a false sense of a settled situation. Reality is beyond grasping and, in addition, constantly changing. At the juncture of life and death only one's purity goes through the trials; what are haggling over in daily life for transient gain or loss all become irrelevant.

Written in Chinese on December 20, 2001
Translated on January 13, 2002
El Cerrito, California

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