On May 2, 2013, the day of Tin
Hau Festival in the Lunar Calendar, a giant yellow rubber duck was found
floating and swimming in the Victoria Harbor. It was not a miracle done by the Chinese
Goddess who oversees the oceans. However,
it did attract over 300,000 people crowding around Tsim Sha Tsui to worship it.
And more importantly, they had to take
pictures of it and with it so as to post them on Facebook and to share via
other social networking apps. This giant
rubber duck was created by a Dutch artist, Florentijn
Hofman. It was built to
resemble the beloved yellow bath toy (which of course was not invented by him, as some people mistaken). The act of a giant rubber duck appearing in
the harbor was itself performance art. The work had traversed global waters since 2007 and could be seen in St. Nazaire
(France), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Auckland (New Zealand),
Hasselt (Belgium), Osaka and Hiroshima (Japan), Sydney (Australia), Nürnberg
(Germany), Amsterdam (Netherland) and more places. This was a project to spread love. According to Hofman, “the
Rubber Duck knows no frontiers, it doesn't discriminate people and doesn't have
a political connotation. The friendly,
floating Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as
well as define them. The rubber duck is
soft, friendly and suitable for all ages.” It sounded real miraculous.
Hofman did not elaborate on how
the Rubber Duck was going to achieve its healing effects. Maybe that was performance art. One could only get influenced and enlightened
by it when one felt it and saw it, but it could not be expressed in words. This did happen before. When Buddha showed his disciples a flower, Mahakassapa got the message and became enlightened. When I saw the photos of the Rubber Duck in
the harbor, I did feel some joy of childhood. I had a small (and ugly) rubber duck when I
was small. I would like to see it floating
on water, better be boundless water, but there was not always the chance. A giant rubber duck at sea is funny and
straight forward.
I wondered if I could have any
healing effects from the Rubber Duck when I was surrounded by thousands of
people in Tsim Sha Tsui. I also wondered
how many people could have sudden enlightenment on seeing it. Luckily, the Buddha did not just teach by
showing a flower. He did leave vast
amount of scriptures detailing his teachings. He realized the Four Noble Truths concerning
sufferings and the cessation of sufferings. He explained that he himself was not the
truth, and his teachings were not the truth. Instead, he showed the ways to the truth (of
how to put an end to sufferings). An
analogy was like pointing to the moon with a finger. The finger showed the way to find the moon.
A present Zen master, Thich Nhat
Hanh, points out ways to happiness in explicit and easily understandable
practices. He teaches that: “There is no way to happiness; happiness is
the way.” This is in-line with the
findings of William James that behavior influences emotion (as mentioned in my
previous editorial in October 2012: http://cm-editorials.blogspot.hk/2012/10/cogito-ergo-sum-and-brain-washing.html).
In the background of sufferings, he
tries to reset our default mode of emotional functioning to happiness.
Thay (That’s what others call the
Zen master) also teaches people to be mindful of the present moment. Happiness is now and here. We have to treat ourselves more nicely because
life itself is full of miracles: “People usually consider walking
on water or in thin air a miracle. But I
think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to
walk on earth. Every day we are engaged
in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green
leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”
Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village International Monastic Sangha will
come to Hong Kong at the end of May. For
this teaching trip, Thay will givie two mindfulness practices, one for healthcare
professionals and another for educators. There will also be a four-day retreat and a public talk.
If
you are troubled by
events like the H7N9 bird flu virus in Mainland, Boston
marathon blast, explosion at Texas fertilizer plant, Yaan earthquake, ICAC being investigated, the
dock strike, filibuster, Occupy Central, or personal sufferings, try to get some
healings by visiting the Rubber Duck. In
fact, you do not need to go to Tsim Sha Tsui. Like Signature Bear, he tries to be healed by
his own rubber duck. With mindful
practice, everyday can be a good day, although life is suffering (First Noble
Truth).
(Source: HKMA News May 2013)
