One (a)

The last time I went on vacation to Winter Lake was near the end of the book.

At that time, I had already written about vacationing with a Kaohsiung family at a ski base in North America, and I also began to recall my brief relationship with Fenghua Xueyue.

I came on that vacation with my current partner, Mr. Kenichi Nakamura, Mrs. Nakamura, and their daughter, Miss Haruko.

Of course, I also take my daughter Ann with me.

When we arrived at Winter Lake, it was mid-spring.

When we got off the tourist train, we saw the sky full of poplar flowers, and white tidbits paved all over the roads and small river bays, making the entire Winter Lake area look as if it was covered with a layer of snow.

Ann and Haruko, two little girls, were very excited when they heard the sound of the river, and together with their mother, they ran along the embankment to the river with cheers.

The children's innocent reaction just illustrates a fact:

Man has all the elements of nature: if he wants to, he can echo everything that exists outside him.

The Nell River is at its most beautiful in this season. During the day, it is a river of flowers, and at night it is a river of nightingales.

Standing on the train station surrounded by forests, Kenichi Nakamura breathed in the fresh air rich in negative ions, closed his eyes and said, "You are right, the air here is filled with the sweet fragrance of milk and nectar. ”

Mrs. Nakamura said, "No wonder the words you write are as blurry and beautiful as long lyrical poems." It's a writer's paradise. ”

I said, "Have you heard of the founding patriarch of the Soto sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism, Zen Master Dogen?" ”

Nakamura said, "Of course. He is one of Japan's most famous philosophers. ”

I said, "Zen Master Dogen said: Who said that the human mind is only thoughts, opinions, ideas, and concepts? The human mind refers to trees, fences, bricks, and grass. ”

I said, "Nature is in our words, and we are in the bosom of nature." ”

Nakamura said, "Reading your words, there is always a feeling of flowing water. Now I know, it turns out that the flowing water is the river in front of me. ”

I said, "Yes." ”

We followed the children and came to the riverbank.

Once again, I saw the wide Nell River flowing through the black marshland that was being rejuvenated by the re-watering of people.

The people who watched the river flow side by side with me changed again and again.

One day, those of us will pass away like flowing water, and the Nell River will still flow between heaven and earth.

(b)

Soon after my two families settled in the camp, the flowers in the forest bloomed brilliantly.

Lily of the valley blooms first, and the wild rose blooms last.

We took the children out into the forest to sketch the newly bloomed flowers.

Aren't the two little girls who are blooming in the world also new flowers in the world?

I told the two little girls, "You see, all things work in a solemn and orderly manner, and every flower blooms and falls at its own time." We need to have reverence and admiration for the subtlety of nature.

We spread out picnic blankets and had picnics on the grass, and I told the little girls stories about how they used to spend their holidays here. From the King of Lanling to the shooting, from the neighbor's aunt's vegetable garden to the legend that the lake is the eye of nature.

Ann was beginning to learn about the history of primitive societies at the time, and she asked me in confusion, "Mom, what is the difference between the people who hunt for a living in primitive societies and the people who come to hunt and vacation in the town today?" They all besiege and kill critters in the same way. ”

I said, "There is a difference. Primitive people hunted animals out of necessity, not for fun. Those indigenous people hunt and kill with humility and gratitude for nature. Unlike us, we think that it is a matter of course to torture and kill other beings for fun, and there will be no undesirable consequences. In this regard, they are our teachers. ”

I would love to show children that civilization is constantly changing, but it is not a straight line that is gradual and upward. Whether some developments are progress or regression cannot be easily judged.

Technological development and civilization progress are sometimes not the same concept.

I always believe that when people's hearts become bigger, more generous, softer, warmer, kinder, and more self-disciplined, it can be said that civilization has progressed.

But these, for them, are still too profound.

When I was thinking about how to phrase it, a mother and son from a local town who were also picnicking on the grass gave us a profound inspiration again.

The boy, lying on a picnic blanket and holding a piece of red pink sausage with a fork, pointed to the mountains in the distance and asked his mother, who was drinking tea with a teacup.

The young mother, with curly sideburns and deep gray eyes, immediately stopped her son and gently knocked his hand off.

She said, "Alexey, my family has told you many times, please don't point your finger at the mountain!" It would be rude to do that. You know, the lifespan of that mountain is much longer than ours. It may have been uplifted on the surface of the planet for billions of years. For such a great thing, we must understand our own insignificance, and we cannot just point fingers with our hands. Just like when you're in the temple, you can't just point with your hands. ”

The mother then said to her son: "Remember, in the forest, we can't just talk about everything in nature. The whole forest, it and us, is alive, alive, with feelings, with emotions, with thoughts. Not only is it watching us all the time, it's also listening to us all the time. Anything you say rudely and thoughtlessly to a squirrel, pheasant, or raccoon will be detected by them. The whole forest will not like you. It will be hostile to you. ”

While tourism and the timber processing industry are rapidly destroying the town's ancient character and traditional way of life, I'm glad to see that its former culture is still deeply rooted in the hearts and minds of the locals.

That kind of sincere respect and love for nature has not yet been completely extinguished like the modern city.

Mrs. Nakamura translated the conversation between the mother and her son to the two little girls.

The two little girls' eyes widened in surprise.

In modern schools, they have never heard of or seen such education.

I'm glad I brought them here and exposed them to the normal relationship that humans and nature already have.

Mrs. Nakamura apparently felt the same way.

She said: "What is it called learning about textbooks in concentration camp-like schools? ”

"It's here that children really learn," she said. ”

As young mothers, we all hope that when our daughters grow up, they will still see the magnificent forests they see today.