A few weeks ago, a friend, knowing my love for stories and myths, bought me a book, entitled Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King. This allowed me to wallow in nostalgia. It is also poignant. It reminds me of my late father. He was a consummate storyteller. This was in the pre-television era. He used to enthral us with his stories. Of course, the Monkey King was one of our favourites. Now, half a century later I revisit the sweet memories and fascinating stories. The experience of the intervening years has given me new insights and perspective. Whereas before the escapades of Sun Wu Kong were just funs and adventures now, I can read profound insights in some of the stories.
One episode particularly catches my eye. Sun Wu Kong was a mighty god, and we all assume that he was immortal, and so did he. However, according to the story in the early part of his life, he was not immortal. One night he had a dream that he was visited by the dreaded Ox Head general and Horse Face general, the two emissaries of Yama, the god of death. They were sent to take him to the Netherworld.
“How dare you! Don’t you know that I am immortal?” shouted the Monkey King, much insulted by the affront. “We are sorry,” said the generals knowing Sun’s might and temper, “we are mere emissaries. Perhaps it is a clerical error. It is best you check with our office.”
So, they went to Registrar to examine the Book of the Dead. True enough he found his entry: “Stone Monkey; Parentage: natural product; Life-span 342 years.” “What? Only 342 years?” shouted Sun Wu Kong furiously, “Give me a brush.” With the brush, he crossed out the entry against his name. Thus, that was how Sun Wu Kong, the Monkey King became an immortal sage.
That was, of course, a myth. Reality is unforgiving and relentless as everyone found out, including powerful emperors. In the year 221 BCE when Prince Zheng of the House of Qin in the Kingdom of Zhou, through cunning alliances and outright military excellence, defeated the other six kingdoms during the Warring States Period in China and brought them under his total control, he created a new title, Qin Shi Huang and had the arrogance to seek immortality. He ordered alchemists, sorcerers and not a few charlatans in China to produce for him the elixir of life. He died at the age of 49.
The fact is that there is not too much we can do about the quantity of the years in our lives. However, I do believe it is within our means to increase the quality of those years. Yes, we can put more life into those years.
How? You might ask. There is a saying, “when the student is ready, a master will appear”. I have a slightly different take. The masters, at least their lessons, have always been around, for millennia. The question is “are we ready?” Let us just look at two masters who in their different ways added more life to their years.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519), who seemed to have packed at least half a dozen lives into his 67 years. He is the exemplar of a polymath, a genius in many fields. He was at once a painter, a sculptor, mathematician, engineer, inventor, architect, anatomist, etc. I put “etc.” because my search rendered a rather long list and excelled to a superlative degree in all of them. Let me just mention three things as evidence of this. One, his painting Salvator Mundi set the record for most expensive painting ever sold at US$480 million. Two, he conceptualised and drew the sketches for machines, including a flying machine, a time when the state of technology then made such inventions not feasible. Three, he compiled a series of highly accurate (one professor of anatomy claimed near 100 per cent accuracy) 240 individual drawings and over 13,000 words of notes on the human anatomy.
It is said that ‘Curiosita’ is the foundation for the life and genius of Leonardo da Vinci. However, his curiosity in so many things around him was not limited to mere superficial interest. He was a man of great earnestness who was always relentlessly asking questions and seeking answers.
Yes, Da Vinci has proven that it is possible to live life to the fullest for himself, he put so much life in his years and achieved world fame. At the other end of the scale is a humble man who had not achieved much for himself. His name was Bai Fangli. In 1987, this 74-year-old rickshaw puller came back to his hometown planning to retire from his backbreaking job. There, he saw children working in the fields because they were too poor to afford school fees. He was much touched by this. Bai returned to the city and went back to work as a rickshaw puller, taking modest accommodation next to the railway station. He waited for clients 24 hours a day, ate simple food and wore discarded second-hand clothes he found. He gave all his hard-earned earnings to support children who could not afford education.
In 2001, he drove his rickshaw to Tianjin Yao Hua Middle School, to deliver his last instalment of money. Nearly 90 years old, he told the students that he could not work anymore. All the students and teachers were moved to tears. In total, Bai had donated a total of 350,000 yuan to help more than 300 poor students continue with their studies. In 2005, Bai passed away at 92 years, leaving behind an inspiring legacy.
Okay, we may not have a big brain like Da Vinci or a big heart like Bai Fangli but we can still celebrate life by being appreciative of the small things around us.
I am much tickled by a cartoon strip of Charles Schulz where he depicted a conservation between two of his main characters. “We only live once Snoopy”, said Charlie Brown. “Wrong!” retorted Snoopy “We only die once. We live every day!”
So, we might not be able to add more years to our lives, but we can add life to those years. So, go to it. Live every day!