Saint Seiya!!!!

If you read my blog you know that it's not often that I put exclamation marks anywhere, let alone in the title, let alone putting several of them. And the curious thing is that what makes me do that is a Japanese anime series. Me who is not fan of Jap anime and who still don't want to join Bibo's anime fan group on the facebook despite Bibo being nice and kind and cute and all that. Why Saint Seiya?

Because I watched it when little. Back in China when parental (or maternal) restrictions on TV-watching were strictly observed. What precious moments I snatch on TV I remember clearly, every one of them. So this series was shown daily at 5 or 6ish. I got to watch it when mum was in good mood. As a result my impression of the episodes was broken, also due to the storyline being utterly confusing with the sheer length of the saga and the multiple and looped flashbacks. A rather complete portion of the series that I remember was about the 5 Saint fighters going through twelve palaces to rescue Athena, their violet-haired employer, who was captured by an evil Pope. Saint Seiya is the leading fighter. The dwellers of the 12 palaces were of the 12 horoscopes and they were golden fighters, while the Saints were bronze fighters. But anyhow they won, though I had the impression that they died one by one as they approached the last of the palaces. But it couldn't have been, because it was far from the end of the series.

So the day before, a girl who has just finished her A-levels lent me the entire series on VCD. In watching them, I felt that I haven't felt so motivated for a long time ever since I drove my parents to the Niagara Falls. I remember every note of the opening theme song and some Japanese syllables in it too, especially the two words "Saint Seiya..." that are repeated in the chorus. I had no clue that "Saint Seiya" is the title of the series, since it was shown in Chinese then. And a sound that had sounded like "hoo-heh" to my childish ears is now distinguishably "oh yeah" (pronounced in a Japanese way). And I remember all the names of the definitive skills that the saints possessed. They were all in Chinese then. Now it's in Japanese, but the subtitles in Chinese showed those exact words, and I can almost hear them shouted out in the dubbed voices, just like thirteen years ago... For once I didn't abhor the Chinese subtitles for cheesiness, and actually wished I could have watched it with dubbing, while I have usually cringed at the Taiwanese mandarin of dubbed Jap animes.

That's how it's like when you grow up with something. Your taste changes but it will never abandon the treasures of child time. Treasures acquired that way are more precious than knowledge acquired through any intellectual process. And imagine that you picked up some childhood jewels by chance when you never thought anyone'd give you a clue about where you can find them back. Like in the first good deed done by Amelie.

So if I grew up in Singapore, will I love it, despite its inherent lack of nobility or sublimity? (Then again which country doesn't?) Or should I take the stand of the abandoned intellectual and judge even my childhood? (see a discourse on the social role of an abandoned intellectual here) Is there more wisdom in the later? There sure isn't happiness. Or am I sure? Depends on perspective I guess. Am I ever sure about anything?

Ok at least one thing. Want to go home and watch more Saint Seiya!

The eternal questions asked by RZ and JY to each other

JY: "Why don't you?"
RZ: "Why should I?"
JY: "Why not?"
RZ: "Dunwan!"

飞鸟与鱼

“醉无敌”是唯一我妈坚持观看的电视连续剧。人物关系有一定的复杂性，但也跳不出传统的 报仇、侠情之类主题的框框。像别的古装港剧一样，取景单调潦草，而 且一看便知是假。对白有极高的可预测性。片尾曲挺好听的，是那种我爸喜欢的又甜又脆的嗓音。总体来说一般性。昨天那集有那么一段话，是一官儿说给她女儿听 的。他老婆以前是别人的老婆，心里还惦念着旧爱：

天底下最爱鱼的是水，但鱼偏就爱上了天上飞的鸟。
鱼对水说：“你看不见我哭的泪。”
水回答：“我感觉得到，因为泪流在我心里。”

这一段不太可能出自一个清朝总督之口的富有现代感的浪漫对白可能早就用滥了，不过已经跟今天的中国文化脱节的我对它的来处是一无所知。只觉得心为其有所动，不禁摘录与此。

A total mess

oppressive Shah regime
-> Islamic uprising; Clerics united against Shah
-> Clerics seize political power
-> Secularist clerics unhappy with extreme clerics; another uprising
-> Extreme clerics win and totalizes political power
-> Secularist clerics and extreme clerics terrorize each other
-> Extreme clerics "export Islamic revolution" to neighbouring countries targetting independence of all Shia muslims from Arab Sunnis
-> Iraq invaded (on my birth date) for fear of a United Islamic Republic
-> 2nd Arabic invasion on Persia in history; Iranians once more victimised; nationalists willingly fight for martyrdom backed with religious ideological support
-> Iran fought back and retrieved lost territory
-> Iran fought some more to effectively "export revolution"
-> Iran becomes bad guy
-> US sells weapon to Iraq to fight Iran
-> Iran helped to release Lebanese-held US hostages to negotiate for weapons
-> US sells weapon to Iran
-> Iranian nationalist got unhappy for dealing with US; expelled secularists support US sale of weapons against Iran

Initially Iranians really went to war fuelled by ideology, so no conscription was needed. That was how Iran sustained the war despite lack of weapons. Human minesweepers were gruesome examples of youths desiring martyrdom. Just imagine you believe that you are doing something incredibly noble and will go to paradise as a result. So you joyfully shout, "Let's go! Let's go!"; and run, and feel the breeze against your face, and hear this loud bang, and then feel nothing. Do you feel a little pain? Do you briefly see pieces of your flesh scattering in the wind? Do you continue to feel exhilarated?

In the end US, Iraq and Soviet Union combined to finish Iran, which was running out of people to fight. Political clerics were forced to cease fire.

Paragraphs that impressed me:

"While drawing strength from Iranian nationalism, Khomeini and the political clerics damned the Iraqi invasion as a war against Islam. This too fed into the national psyche, arousing the sense of injustice and martyrdom so central to Shia culture. Psychologically, every Iranian Shia is conditioned from childhood to feel the great historic wrong committed against the Shia by the Sunnis and to accept as their task the recapture of Karbala. Thus, as the war marched on day after day, it became less a heroic defense of Iran with both its Persian and Islamic traditions and more a daily enactment of Shia themes of sacrifice, dispossession, and mourning."

"By the summer of 1985, the political clerics were finding it increasingly difficult to justify to everyone, except their base constituency, a war in which the enemy held very little Iranian territory. It was proving equally difficult to totally blame an unofficial inflation rate of about 35 percent a year, dwindling foreign reserves, and severe economic woes on the "imposed war" which the regime consistently refused to negotiate."

Some interesting quotes

Browsed this blog and found some interesting stuff:

All drama is conflict. Without conflict, you have no character; without character, you have no action. Without action, you have no story, and without story, you have no screenplay.
- Syd Field, teacher to writing screenplay

Reminiscent of "Adaptation". In fact I think the guy on stage used exactly these words. Is his name even Syd Field itself?

Next an excerpt from a book review on Japanese literature. Read more and you might get an idea of the fascinating world of Japanese literature:

Sei Shonagon has the most extraordinary air of self-satisfaction. Yet, if we stop to examine those Chinese writings of hers that she so pretentiously scatters about the place, we find that they are full of imperfections. Someone who makes such an effort to be different from others is bound to fall in people’s esteem, and I can only think that her future will be a hard one. She is a gifted woman, to be sure. Yet, if one gives free rein to one’s emotions even under the most inappropriate circumstances, if one has to sample each interesting thing that comes along, people are bound to regard one as frivolous. And how can things turn out well for such a woman?

- The Murasaki Shikibu Diary, translated by Ivan Morris

Jealousy and spite aside, how very astute observation of human nature already at that time of Heian Japan! In my writing class I read one of the essays written by the subject of the above criticism, Sei Shonagon. ("The Pillow Book", a collection of Shonagon's essays, is apparently a famous classic) I think Ivan Morris' translation is delightful, as once again proven here above in his translation of Sei Shonagon's rival's work. Must read both one day.

More:

There is a burden of grace on the recipient. That’s part of know how to BE loved, and it doesn’t always come naturally.

Everything has a cost
Our gains rarely outweigh our losses
The past is precious
Progress is an illusion

These are just relevant or interesting to me because they verbalised and unclouded some beliefs of mine. Everyone goes through processes of unclouding to gain faith in their beliefs.

The tragedy of Reza Shah

In pre-WWI days, Russia and Britain had eyes on Iran for its oil fields, entry to India and warm water ports. They divided Iran up, made puppets of the reigning Shahs, and joint forces to intervene such that a major political/religious/social revolution towards modernisation and a republic ended with much frustration but no concrete success. Then this military guy Reza Khan rose to power, first among Russian-trained troupes of Iranian Cossacks, to be the top man in Iran military. He quelled Turkish, British and Russian forces and restored an integral territory for Iran. When the last Shah of the previous dynasty abdicated he became Shah.

He's a man with iron will and fierce sense of nationalism. He couldn't stand above all surrendering territory and resources to foreign powers, or accepting any form of aid or interaction (always believed to be selfish and ill-intentioned) with foreigners. So he strengthened the military and was dead set on modernization and progress. Built the hallmark of Iran's modernization - a trans-Iran railway - refusing all foreign loans. He still tried to employ mysticism to a certain degree to get popular with the people, but believed Islam to be the cause of Iran's backwardness, so glorified ancient Persia instead to justify his rule. Under that justification, he modernized infrastructure and education, minimized power of Islamic religious leaders, lifted veils of women, uprooted nomadic tribes, all with brute military force and not without bloodshed.

Reza Shah failed to realise Shia Islam is an integral part of Iranians. It was impossible to just do away with it within a few decades as an obstacle to modernisation. Eg, he forbade public self-flagellation during a ceremony to commemorate martyred Islamic leaders in the past. From the surface it sounded sensible, because it seems perverse and fanatic to inflict pain upon self. But the Iranian masses had been fanatics. To whom could the people complain about centuries of unjust ruling, invasions, getting trampled by foreigners? It was only through wailing and real intense physical experience in the context of religion, and thus identifying with a bygone idol who sacrified himself for justice, that the pent-up passions, sufferings and bitterness found an outlet. With such intensity it's hard to stop asking the people to be emotional overnight. It's like if a person's extreme about something you should calm him down first, make him see reason instead of directly forcing him to do the opposite. Reza Shah didn't get this. Or he got it but thought he could make it anyway. So ended up being the brutal, unjust dictator.

Even more sadly, during WWII the foreign forces that he drove out came back to claim Iran in all righteousness of fighting against the Nazis. Reza Shah's cherished trans-Iran railway was needed to deliver supplies to Russia. Poor Iran's neutrality meant nothing. The army Reza Shah used large part of the treasury to build was not much compared to the Allied forces. When he refused to join the Allies because the thing he hated most was to let his hard-earned independence bow to foreign will (and the same wills too) once again, he was put into exile. After having fought much for the independence of his land, he left it in humiliation, never to see it again.

The coming and going of this Reza Shah has an aura of the tragic drama. It's more to my personal taste than any number of stories of martyred religious leaders. I guess that's because I believe it's healthier to get some control over own life and create balance. Intense outbursts are exhausting and shorten lifespan. But after you've done all you could and still it didn't work, whether or not you did it in the right way, it's despairing and has the make for a tragedy. Then it seems to follow that researchers have great potential to lead tragic lifestyles. But the kind of stuff we do, in our lifetime or ultimately, are they really that consequential after all? Maybe it's just me. Then again maybe not.

Loose reply to Yifan's comment

Yes it's clearer now, as I read on, that the ancient Persian intellectual prowess had been very impressive and has always been preserved. The Persians have managed to internalise and alter a lot of foreign culture.

Haven't read till recent years. But they've been through a lot of blood baths throughout. I don't know why is there such a lot of blood involved. Seems a lot like it's related to Islam but I really shouldn't go there. Maybe it's just coincidence or the dead righteous nature of the people of Central Asia. From the beginning it seems the people's belief (Zoroastrian philosophy) was rooted in one word - "justice". And this belief is not shallow at all, but deeply spiritual. I imagine when justice is violated it can get really frustrating. Perhaps that's why hatred had always flown so freely whenever there was change of dynasty. The ex-ruler always gets violent treatments - chopped up, head made into drinking cup, etc. When you think about the good old days of ex-rulers such as Li3 hou4 zhu3 getting lavishly imprisoned, you would not complain about humaneness of the Chinese.

Suffrage in 19th century was akin to that of the Chinese. Mainly due to military backwardness. Shut off from western enlightenment and science for pragmatic social development; miring in medieval religion, philosophy and literature. So there were scholars who embraced Western learnings and religious leaders who defended the spirituality. The Iranians are indeed smart or would not have felt and pondered over the impact of Westernization at all. However, I think they are keen to guard their own identity.

"...the Iranians as a people felt a new foreign invasion descending on a country repeatedly subjected to the alien. In its presence, they sensed that the Western invasion would be different from those of the Arabs, the Turks, and the Mongols. After all, the Arabs brought Islam and the Persians altered it. The Turks embraced Ferdowsi [Iranian poet who exalted Persian myths and kings]. And the Mongols built a shrine to Imam Ali [martyred descendent of Mohammed]. But Westerners seemed impervious to Iranian culture. They were simply too powerful and too sure in their own culture to give way as previous invaders had to the civilisation of the Iranians. As important, the West presented the Iranians with a block of ideas so alien to their culture that it could not be absorbed without destroying the Iranians' own identity."

Iranians are acutely aware of the difference in their own culture as compared to that of the West. Their sense of nationalism is more defined than that, say, of the Chinese. I think that's because of the tangible practices and teachings of a well-established religion that binds the nation. For the Chinese it's just Confucianism, a set of "unwritten rules" that molded behaviour and thought. And then there was Communism that dashed a substantial amount of spirituality. I should think that's why Iranians had had a tougher time. Too smart, and more importantly, too zhi2 zhuo2.

The Iranians - history till 20th century (to be updated)

- Persia of Cyrus/Darius; Zoroastrian belief (capital = Persepolis)
- Invasion by Alexander of Macedonia
- Sassanian Dynasty - last of Persia
- Invasian by Arabs from the desert
- Adopted new version of Islam from a schism within Islam itself
- Taken over by Seljuk Turks (decline of importantce of Arabs, caliphate and the Umayyads in big picture of Islam)
- Invasion by Mongols, Tatars
- Taken over by Turkoman leader - Safavid Dynasty (opposing Ottoman Empire) (capital = Isfahan)
- Sufism transformed into Twelver Shiism - declared to be Iran's official religion
- Iranian shah took over power from Turkoman militants and restored Iranian territory roughly since Persian days
- Shia Islam got fa1 yang2 guang1 da4 by Persian culture
- The Afghanis, Ottomans, Russians divided Iran
- Iran warlord pushed out the Afghanis but could restore neither Persian nor Safavid Empire; civil war
- Taken over by the Qajars - a Turkish tribe (capital = Tehran)
- 1925: Militant Reza Khan overthrew Qajar Dynasty and set up Pahlavi Dynasty - start of modernization

The Iranians 1st impression

"... the masses of Iran have also suffered for centuries at the hands of unjust and venal rulers they also have had no power to resist. Perhaps this is why Iranian culture bears a palpable if not quite definable burden of grief. It is as if the precarious social-political milieu in which Iranians have so often lived has preconditioned them to always perceive the negative, the sad, and the tragic."

"In contrast to mainstream Sunnism, which accepts the vicissitudes of life as God's will, Shiism is characterised by suffering and passion in the name of righteousness. There are within the sect legends and rituals that keep alive that part of Iranian identity rooted in a sense of communal pain. ..... the Shia physically and emotionally also become martyrs."

-- Sandra Mackey, The Iranians

Another country bearing grief as trademark, like Korea. Another land much tortured by invasion and bloodwash. There is also the similarity of patriarchal nature of society (somehow excessively patriarchal becomes equivalent of oppression). But why is it that there hasn't been the economic and political miracles in the twentieth century?
- Gulf War. In a region of tension.
- Religious difference. Deeply spiritual (Iran) vs inherently pragmatic (Korea) with the incorporation of confucianism, etc
- Absence of US intervention (Iran) and hence did not become Americanised in terms of economic and political model

Addition: Iran was war-torn since forever; Korea since 20th century.
Correction: Absence of US intervention at present but Westernization did occur (how could it not?) bringing ideals of liberal democracy, individual freedom and social justice.

Got distinction on 2nd erhu exam. Out of stylistic requirements perhaps, the examiner's remarks on the score sheet were all of a critical nature. That bothered mum extremely, so interrogated me over phone today about why did I pause, where did I pause, why was the handling of the music slightly unnatural, and which part was that, and a bunch of I-told-you-to's and why-didn't-you's. I tried to remind her that since I got distinction, there must have been something non-disastrous about my playing that the examiner didn't note down in writing. Of course that didn't work; mum emphasized that I must practise extra hard from now on.

The SAB toured our lab this afternoon. And one of the members turned out to be the professor from Cornell under whom I took a class on intro to bioprocess engineering. I remember well the wobbly way he walks. He shook my hand and said "Nice to see you again" but probably didn't remember who I am.

天下没有不散的筵席

有聚就有散，害怕散时的失落，就得小心聚时的欣喜。一旦小心翼翼成了习惯，欢喜就被忐忑与猜疑代替。那样也不太好，就别太小心吧，学习扔掉防备，敞开心 扉。学这个比想象中的容易，但往往还没有学好怎么对付失落感就高兴过了头，到了散时发现热闹时说的笑话再好笑，温柔的眼神再动人，受到的称赞再鼓舞人心， 最后还是得走上一条漆黑无人的路回家。路上就算有人陪也陪不到底。结果是回了家一个人在夜深人静时把自己的精力消磨尽后睡去。

Sometimes, in times of stress, I hear a voice:

"You look at yourself in the mirror. There’s no one else there but you. No one is there for you but you yourself. You hear music but you can’t speak to anyone. And that makes you want to cry."

Why?

Song of the day: "18 & Life" by Skid Row

This is the lead vocalist. Just from this picture, with hair and eyes like those (minus tattoo), it's hard to tell he sings like that, lives rough and abuses drug, etc. The song reminds me of Bon Jovi. Turned out guitarist formerly played for and is friend to Bon Jovi. But I think he sings better than Bon Jovi. Or maybe it's just the way the music was mixed down. I find BJ's vocal too heavily blended with the music and so sounds hollow and synthetic.

怀念

关起满室 不足的氧气
点着烟蒂 回味你的呼吸
搜索脑里 未完的龃龉
对着空气 还击着你的问题

推辞每次 真实的相聚
困着自己 渴望着你的消息
沾沾自喜 拒绝的魅力
不着痕迹 享受着与你的距离

也许喜欢怀念你 多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你 多于得到你

我关起满室 不足的氧气
点着烟蒂 回味你的呼吸
散落一地 断续的谜语
对着空气 还击着你的问题

推辞每次 真实的相聚
困着自己 渴望着你的消息
翻来覆去 甜蜜的话语
故作神秘 延续着你的好奇

也许喜欢怀念你 多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你 不需要抱着你

啊~~~啊~~~
也许喜欢怀念你 多于看见你
我也许喜欢想象你 受不了真一起
啊~

What's a modern girl to do?

Had horrible dream last night. Zhang1 Zi3 Yi2 was in her geisha attire (not that I've watched the movie) and was mistress to a man. I was at their house visiting. Something happened and the man killed her. I remember her face, pale as chalk, with her throat slit open in a wide "V" like a half-cut PVC tubing in my lab. There was no blood, but there were bulging eyes and tongue that stuck out. After that I ran away from the house.

Erhu instructor got me my exam score sheet on Saturday. So it wasn't just an S/U affair. I actually get a grade. Not only a grade - a score. It's been a long while since I see a handwritten number at the side of something like " /60" in print. Reminds me of JC GP days. I got a merit. Mum gave a slight hint that it'd be nice if I got distinction (90 and above). But was glad in general.

Browsed facebook for awhile and found that Jo posted my Halloween picture taken 2 years ago in one of her albums. Had an urge to send her a message but stopped in time. If she's doing well now I'm glad. This is good enough I hope. Bibo had posted her Halloween picture taken with Bambi as well. The surest way to cure nostalgia is to meet again the same objects of nostalgia under present circumstances. Then the fact that all's different is forced upon you and the past becomes irrelevant. Provided the past is considerably remote from the present. Then again perhaps there is no nostalgia if that's so.

Art is imitating life, turning women who seek equality into selfish narcissists and objects of rejection rather than of affection. - from the essay "What's a Modern Girl to Do?" by Maureen Dowd

This essay our retreat mentor sent to us. It's about the backlash of the feminist movements in the 60s. Back then girls over-denied that they are ever weaker than guys; now they don't want to deny anymore but instead went back to the 30s' image of wanting to be "rescued", enticing and cared for. For the retro part, I thought there's a difference: previously women had been objects of gallantry. Now objects of sexual gratification. Or is it not so different? Were men of old more pretentious? Innocent? No matter. Not the focus here.

So it seems that the writer looks down on girls nowadays who want to play hard-to-get, to make themselves more sexually desirable, have their attention on becoming "Mrs", etc, while becoming ignorant of gender politics and the "seismic shifts on the Supreme Court that'll affect women's rights for a generation". She takes pride in herself being Carrie Bradshaw (SJP. Oops I mean Sarah Jessica Parker) from "Sex and the City", intellectual and independent, but still desirable and charming due to wit and intelligence. The best deal you can get midway between hardcore feminism and sex kitten. The best deal, that is, if the focus is still on the image and purpose of the female. Other than that, war is still going on. Guys are still the opponent or the prey. No rest till one party surrenders or conquers. Still a power struggle.

All this is so tiring. I wonder if things fare better if everyone just does things without thinking and without trying to be the smart one. True, there are natural differences between males and females and we don't have to go for the uni-sex extreme. True too, that obssession with own attractiveness is a manifestation of insecurity. Both are equally emotionally taxing. So how about just tell the other what you want and see if he can make the best compromise out of both of your interests? If he can't, how about reminding yourself that you are likely to be equally unable or unwilling to do that? Sounds terribly defeatistic I know. How can life be made up of compromises? But there should be a way. How about from a child's point of view? Perhaps a more reticent and dong3 shi4 child. Ask for what you want. Show genuine devotion. And trust (cautiously). I think that's what the Chinese mean by chi4 zi3 zhi1 xin1.

More importantly, I do think philosophizing on the gender issue and power struggle is less productive than reflecting or helping out on some genuine, more material plights of women (courtesy of RZ). Between American women CEOs who can't find husbands to raise families and Vietnamese women who came to Singapore to marry for financial assistance, I'd pick the later for higher index of sympathy. However, it's a matter of the difference in the availabilities of opportunities for education. Without an education we won't philosophize. Given an education and we start to dwell on the intellectually and spiritually unsatisfactory.

The reason why I showed that quote, apart from that of introducing the essay, is that it's the only sentence that has some reasonable depth of meaning. And even so the term "art" is loaded here. The rest are stringing together of quotes that sound like lines from "The Sex and the City". Full of stereotypes just as the writer is trying to fight the renewed (sexual) stereotypification of women. Witty to some extent. But it's like everybody knows it already and so? Re-stating the problems can be done with depth (otherwise there can't be so many characters of the same type created with impact in literature) but it's hard to do. Oh well, I guess then again it might well be written from an introductory perspective. There'll surely be readers who'll be educated by it.

The Peasants' Mentality, etc

I asked H2 on the bus today what constitute the "Peasants' Mentality" (PM), a term popularized in post- modern China. For I suspect that it's the most suitable classification in terms of social psychology for my mum. Qualities of the PM include:

1. short-sighted
2. tight with spending
3. ting1 tian1 you2 ming4
4. unhygienic (this is more like a joke)
5. lack of desire to pursue a goal

I was about to conclude that these fit mum pretty well except 3 & 4, especially 5, while H2 kept shaking his head. He said that if my mum had no desire or passion, she wouldn't have wanted so much to control the family life. I said granted that it's some distorted passion, but I didn't see in what constructive ways and through what channels it had been expressed before distortion. At that minute we got off the bus and went through the checkpoint. When we came back on, H2 asked, "You have some form of hope and passion for something in life right now, don't you?"

My immediate response was guilt for I'm taking taxpayers' money, but not sure if I'm "doing what I want to do" (as what everyone likes to say about a dignified and fault-free career). So replied, "Yeah I guess."

H2: "So what happens if I throw you into jail? You may wait, but passion wears off unless you have an unusually strong will. And what if you don't know when the imprisonment will end? It's much easier to escape into a state of "unenlightenment", ie, loss of consciousness, than to be aware of the slim hope there might be to repair damages, retrieve the passion and purpose of living."

(Eye accident + migration = my mum's imprisonment)

H2 went on: "Hope is frail like a blade of grass. One finger can smother it out. But it still grows everywhere. It all depends on what people want to do. Your family is to some extent already a tragedy. You must use your power, your understanding, resources and capabilities to turn it into a comedy. That's what life does to you - it starts as a comedy from childbirth (I guess he means births are always joyous), but tends greatly to become tragic. It's you yourself, and no one else, who can reverse the tragedy of your own life."

And how do you do it? According to H2,

1. Do not take advantage of others for own gain.
2. Be prepared for the possibility of others taking advantage of you.
3. Be assured in the correctness and meaning of own actions. Don't be too bothered by others. (I had minor improvements on this since I came back to Singapore.)