接到这个任务是在三月中旬,得知有个法语老师想在三月末的diversity week办一个workshop,主题是Chinese culture, 我们会观看一个叫《Holy Mountain》的纪录片,主要内容事讲武当山的道教的历史渊源,因为法语老师有一个一心修行道家精髓,并修炼太极,八卦,形意拳等的师傅,所以他特别希望他对于道家的领悟也能让更多的美国人有所了解。我提前准备了自己的演讲稿,因为时间有限,整个纪录片长达一个半小时,所以我想在片头音乐开始时,让学生跟着我一起练习太极拳的起势和左右野马分鬃的部分,时间刚刚好。
以下是法语老师和我商量之后,删改了我写的大部分的有关阴阳之间的运转在生活中的运用,但是实践证明他是对的,在特别短的时间内,解释一个特别抽象的概念是很难平衡的。以下便是我当日的讲稿,活动已结束两日,趁自己还记得当时的情景,将其写下来应是值得纪念的。
Hi, my name is Li Lu, I am from China, I am teaching Mandarin Chinese at the Chico center, we are learning simplified characters.
Today, we are going to talk about the central part of Chinese culture, which is called Taoism. As you may know, this symbol is the yin and yang symbol. And Taoist say that everything in the universe could be described in the terms of yin and yang.(draw the symbol of yin-yang)
As we can see illustrated in the symbol, yin is the dark swirl which represents the female, yang is the white swirl, the male. and each one has a dot of the opposite color. the dot we can think it as a seed. and everything contains the seed of its opposite. In every situation or action, there is a yin component and a yang component.
(Throwing the ball: the pitch is the yang, the catch is the yin.)
The most important thing is to understand the influence of the yin and yang in any situation and try to balance them out to create the harmony and health. Before we watch the documentary, let's all stand up and I will show you the most basic Taichi movement which is meant to help balance your body and mind.
虽然观看纪录片的人数并不是很多,但是这个观念还是传播出去了,看完之后我们也进行了一些讨论,有的学生就说,她这学期压力太大,每次考试都像上战场一样,把自己折腾得太累了,她听完这个纪录片之后,说这正是她想听到的,阴和阳不协调,所以有时候,people need to back up and undo anything, and that will make things going faster. 能让其他人对此有一些想法,并畅所欲言,我想我们的初衷就达到了。最让我高兴的是,我穿着黄颜色的太极服,在学校的走廊里走着,有个头发及腰,皮肤黝黑的女学生跑过来问我,"where did you get that? I never seen that on someone before, I only seen it in movies, it's my first time to see it alive." 看见她雀跃的神情,我如实以告,并让她摸了一下我的太极服,她开心而又满意地跟我说了声“have a good day!”
我想这就是文化的魅力,我们总是会在一些小事上影响周围人的观念并建立一种文化印象,可能有的文化元素并不适应于每个外国人,但是至少我们总能找到那些和传统文化气息相投的,足矣!