A Slow Walk Through Dulan: Thoughts on PASA's Book "My Farmhouse Life in Dulan"

Thirteen years of wandering in Dulan, searching for the meaning of life

In 1999 I unexpectedly went to live in a farmhouse in the mountains of Dulan, thinking I would leave after three or five years. Unexpectedly, thirteen years have passed and I am still wandering in that mountain farmhouse. What is even more absurd is that I actually moved four times and repaired three farmhouses, and gradually discovered a life philosophy of taking things as they come. Many people ask why I did not buy land and a house to settle down back then, so that today I could make a profit. If I had bought a house and land back then and my thinking had changed me into a different person, perhaps I could not have written the story of "My Dulan Farmhouse Life," and perhaps none of these adventures, with so many twists and legends, would have happened.

Should the value of life be placed in a bank and turned into a deposit figure? Or should life be elevated into spiritual thought? Many people live their whole lives only to discover they have been busy in vain all along, and in their later years they doubt the meaning of life. Where do Tzu Chi volunteers come from? Is it to pray for blessings, to give of themselves, or to seek something to rely on? Where do Professor Ye's followers come from? What are they thinking when they listen to his lectures? I stay far away from a utilitarian society. I do not want to attach myself to worldly religion, and I am unwilling to place my hopes in romantic idealism. I would rather choose a hard road, settle in the mountains and forests, walk into the wilderness, and search for the meaning of life in solitude.

Perhaps Wang Yung-ching was great for founding the Formosa Plastics empire, perhaps Terry Gou's life is as meaningful as the stock figures of Hon Hai, or perhaps Tsai Wang-wang became this year's richest person in Taiwan, China. Everyone pursues different things. I would rather choose to stay far from the bustling society of Taipei, go to the ends of the earth to experience life, and search for an alternative value in life. I do not want my life to become a bank deposit figure, and I do not want to become a screw in a work machine. I would rather be like the poor, carefree wanderer in a Chaplin film.

Only after wandering in Dulan for thirteen years did I write the meaning of the book "My Dulan Farmhouse Life." It is the same as what Wang Yung-ching, Terry Gou and others did, only the product is different. That day I went to give a talk, and on the way I bought the book "I Love Status" (Alain de Botton). Reading it as I walked, I suddenly realized why "young people in Taiwan, China are unhappy." The money-worshipping culture of Taiwan, China society creates a great deal of pressure. Why do luxury-name brand bags sell so well in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, China? Making money to buy bags to show off reflects the distortion and sickness of life. Lacking confidence in oneself and in life, one has no choice but to rely on outward adornment to express the value of "self-affirmation." Why not take the money for buying bags and spend it on further study, on taking courses to learn something about art, literature and culture, or on buying some books to read, to enrich a withered soul and enrich one's inner life.

Further reference

PASA Kitchen official website http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/pasa9503

PASA Farmhouse official websitehttp://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/pasa9503/article?mid=1754&next=1651&l=f&fid=32