4. On Creation and Reading

No matter how much tradition has accumulated, writing is only one kind of trace. From a broad perspective, poetry blossoms in the present moment; once written down, it becomes a corpse — poetry in the narrow sense. But a corpse is a corpse — playing with corpses is quite fun. Look, for thousands of years we've never tired of it.

There are many kinds of corpses — anyone who's gnawed on them knows, and not just gnawing on Xiaoren's head. With so many genres of poetic forms, after gnawing for so many years, every single bone has been gnawed many times. Of course, the spittle-spray may also be savored as a delicacy — so long as it comes from those millennium and ten-millennium medicine shops. But enough about corpses and spittle — none of it matters. In the blossoming of the present moment, all of it is dissolved; corpses and spittle are all pulverized and mixed into the soil. There is only the blossoming of the present moment — everything else is superfluous. In the blossoming of the present moment, the divisions of feeling, language, and language-feel are also superfluous; form, text, and so on are all at once ignited, illuminated. Without using the eyes, all details are already seen clearly; the division of the senses is also superfluous — smell, taste, hearing, touch, and so on can all present it. If after reading this you still don't understand, go listen to some Mozart or Schubert.

Generally speaking, what is ordinarily considered "creation" is really just a form of recording — recording the blossoming of the present moment. For people like Mozart and Schubert, this recording is completed in the present moment itself. But most people are like Beethoven: recording is a painful process, or one could say a process of losing one's way. All of this losing one's way comes from the bondage of traces. Only extremely few people, like Beethoven, can continuously break through this bondage and complete their bitter recording. Although classification isn't something I enjoy, if we want to play this game with recording, we can say there are three types: those bound by traces; those who break through traces; and those who blossom in the present moment. Wait — a foot is floating over. Hang on——

I chased that foot from yesterday with great difficulty. When I grabbed it — it turned out to be empty. So I have no choice but to continue the drifting of ten fingers on the keyboard-like object.

As I said above, what is ordinarily called creation is really just the recording of the present moment's blossoming. Here we must first discuss so-called "inspiration." Inspiration is a state of recording, or rather, the opening-up of the present moment of recording. And the present moment of recording is language-feel. In other words, creation and recording belong to the process of language. Inspiration is the opening-up of language-feel.

For the Mozart-and-Schubert type of people who blossom in the present moment, there is no need for what is called "inspiration." They are the music itself. Inspiration for them is already superfluous. Or rather, feeling, language-feel, and language are directly connected — there is no need for so-called inspiration to illuminate anything. For the majority, who are bound by traces, inspiration is a special experience — a release from constant struggle.

The channel between feeling, language-feel, and language opens and closes intermittently, and in the constant spasms, inspiration erupts. For most people, this struggle ultimately leads to inspiration's permanent departure, something like a functional disease. But the joy of inspiration is too intense. To seek the good old days, all manner of theories, concepts, and supplements emerge. Cultivation and the like are just like the activities of the Wuliu school — returning the essence to replenish the brain — and in the end, everyone is radiant, well-cultivated and learned. Where it all leads in the end, they themselves know best.

Of course, the world has too many people. Without manufacturing some immortals, semi-immortals, sages, and saints, and producing some quotations and foot-notes, everyone would be bored to death. Besides these, there are countless folk remedies and proverbs, including the "one drop equals ten drops" variety. Ultimately, traces become a vast net, binding the self and binding others, entangled beyond resolution.

Wow — Xiaoren's most important body part has shot over. Quick, chase it——

At last, the most essential part has arrived. How fortunate! Today I can be 10-plus-1.

Yesterday I linked inspiration with the part I just recovered, which will probably offend another group. But I have a voyeuristic streak — I especially enjoy stripping away sacred garments, whether it be the Holy Mother, the Virgin, without exception.

Yesterday I also mentioned traces becoming a vast net, binding the self and binding others, entangled beyond resolution. But the most amusing thing is: those heroes and heroines wielding the Dragon Slayer Sword and the Heavenly Sword ultimately discover they've merely been continuing the weaving of the net. The Dragon Slayer Sword, the Heavenly Sword — all their thoughts, actions, even every cell in their bodies — which one is not within the net?

Yesterday I also mentioned cultivation. Equating cultivation with "returning the essence to replenish the brain" will probably displease some people. Actually, see it or don't see it — there's not much to say. If you understand how various so-called fields of learning are constructed and their basic structures, reading books is just watching how games are played, and how the players wait like spiders to see which types of mosquitoes or characters they can kill. If reading books hasn't reached this state, you're basically blind — though even reaching this state isn't such a big deal. Read everything you can find that still interests you. See through all the tricks. If you temporarily can't see through something, take a rest and come back. Don't let any doubt pass unexamined. Any single doubt, followed through, will become clouds and rain covering heaven and earth, transforming into oxen and horses, immortals and demons billions of times, and still it won't be unraveled.

Although I have no special fondness for books, since I'm blind, let me continue blind-chatting. Among all books, I feel that mathematics is the first thing one must read. The deeper your understanding of mathematics, the fewer your chances of being deceived in other areas. I'm not referring to specific fields, but the overall way the mathematical game is played. In a sense, without a basic understanding of mathematics, especially modern mathematics, any talk of existence, language, structure, deconstruction, and post-modernism is a joke. In fact, any intellectual game is, to some extent, isomorphic with certain mathematical games — and the games within mathematics are incomparably more complex than any other. One could say this: what philosophy and similar fields play at today corresponds roughly to where mathematics was at the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately, modern mathematics is increasingly becoming an esoteric scripture that few can read. Those who can read it — when they read other books, they need only spend a bit of time familiarizing themselves with the basic concepts, and it's like play. The reverse is almost never possible.

Having mentioned mathematics, I'm sure most literature-lovers are rather afraid of it. But really, it's no big deal. To understand something, you don't need to become an expert — and so-called experts are often big idiots. Even within mathematics, most are merely proof machines. Grasping mathematics as a whole — that is what matters most.

Besides mathematics, physics is also something one must understand. In a sense, physics is merely a branch of mathematics. Things like quantum mechanics can be studied axiomatically. People who do physics probably don't much like this view — they always emphasize the so-called differences between the two — but that kind of quibbling I'll skip. Overall, physics is relatively simple, more easily grasped conceptually, with more intuitive appeal. As long as you're not engaged in specialized research, a rough understanding is easy given some mathematical background. The key here is to pay attention to the thinking patterns behind the specific physical pictures.

Furthermore, research related to the human body is also something one must know. See what this skin-bag does every day, the biological and physiological processes behind so-called thinking, how so-called emotions are manufactured through certain chemical processes, and so on. Understanding more of this will probably help to some degree in dissolving many myths about humanity.

Of course, if you have the time and interest, there's an infinite amount to read, but the patterns within are often similar. An understanding of the three areas above will provide greater help in grasping these patterns. In a few days ICM2002 begins — until the end of the month, I'll be rather busy. I'll write a bit more when I have time these next few days, then continue again in September. I'll also seize the time to collect the hearts and lungs that have floated off to other places. As for the head — I don't want it anymore. When you already have a small one, what's the use of a big one? How boring.