An email to a friend – on "choosing not to be Chinese upon next reincarnation"

Old C.,

I simply do not know how to begin with the topic you re-opened, as I think actually we have been discussing the same in many aspects on and off for quite some time.

I haven't read that author's book. But I've just found something on his blog. I must say I quite agree to many of his opinions. But he might have gone too far. He is completely lost in his Western Shangri-La. He seems to have found some poisonous soil, yet he doesn't know how to neutralize it. What he has put forward is no reasonable solution.

Re-examining the Chinese culture should no longer be a "let's do it now" thing, of course we should keep on doing it, while reflecting deep inside ourselves; what we should do right away is change it, repair it, bit by bit, by changing and repairing our very selves in the first place. But this means personal sacrifice for those who are well educated, like the author himself, for education is the only means.

Only the well educated could help renew the education system. This will not succeed if they are not willing to sacrifice their own interest. Only their sacrifice would count, setting an example to all others including those of the greediest and corruptest classes, not that of Ah Q, not that of the peasants, and not that of the poorly educated.

But this just has to be a mankind dilemma, when there is a well developed Western world, which includes that tiny part called Norway where that author's wife is from, for them to turn to. Many highly educated simply can freely choose, painfully though it might look, not to be Chinese anymore, though partially and not racially, in this very present life. There is no need to wait till their next life.

One could be reborn a pig if the reincarnation thing is real. How risky! Who knows?

I think this author must have once been in love with China not as his motherland, but more or less as if it were his mother. He must be very proud of her. But one day he found this was no good mother, it was actually a mean, dirty, hypocritic and stupid woman, his love for her turned into anger, hatred, shame and disdain.

A country is not an individual, not a woman, not a guy. You encounter a certain ordinary good man somewhere sometime, later he might transform into a very bad thug and end up in prison, and later still he could renew himself to become an old nice fellow. All changes happen in one single lifetime.

A civilization, or just a country, as a whole cannot enjoy such dramatic changes, not to mention during a certain individual's lifetime.
If Barack Obama was born a couple of decades earlier and ran for the top office, there would be no way for him to succeed. Even he did he would be dead long before he could take the messed up oath.
So, born a Chinese and not a bad one, you can be angry, can feel shameful, can go hysterical, can swear your voice broken, can go to Norway, but it just doesn't help much. You just should be patient and calm, and do something positive and constructive with a sense of humour.
Even so pathetic a Chinese people has produced so good an individual as that author himself! How couldn't he see any hope?

If the U.S. were a non-Christian country, Barack Obama wouldn't have stood a chance. Yet you don't dream that you invited the crusaders to invade the ancient Empire of Ming back in history.
Jesus Christ saved the Western civilization. Christianity has evolved dramatically during a course of 2 thousand years. Yet not many Christians today know how to deal with their brothers created by the same God.

I would say, being Chinese, I seek to be as good, as creative, as reflective, as courageous, as righteous a person as I can during this present life, and leave the next life, if some day I would commence believing there is one, to the Hindu reincarnation mechanism.
And when it comes to the choice between Chinese and non-Chinese, or human and non-human, or swine and non-swine, I would like to consult Buddha if He lets me see Him without kneeling down and kowtowing.