The Dynamic state of Things (by Duc Luu, Nov. 05, 1999.)

On Thursday, November 04th, 1999, CNN had a report that indicated some signs of change within the Iranian government nowadays. The Iranian hardliners lately has shown some signs of staying low profile and it seems ready to lean forward to the West, seeking the lift on its country's economic sanction by others. The hardliners has shown some signs that seem to toughen the laws to prevent certain level of anti-American acts; burning American flags is one of them, per se.
Several anti-American slogans which used to be displayed all across the Tehran have been, lately and quietly, removed and wiped out. Is Tehran trying to tell the West that it is about to change? If it is so, it surely is taking the country, in twenty-year span, one step closer to the West. Though that is still a change.
Paying close attention, one can also notice a gradual change in Vietnam. The Communist country, more than a quarter of a century, has slowly begun to open things up toward the West. Vietnam is trying to tell the world how much and how desperate her economy relies on the West to shape up her own economic platform. All the hateful and negative attitudes toward the capitalism, that were once used to be a dominant brainwashed subject to all her citizens, are now only mentioned slightly, if not forgotten, in every classroom nowsaday.
It is a slow process; but once again, it is still a sign of slowly but constantly change.
So are all other aspects of life as one would observe closely. If one looks at a rice-making process, as I used to imagine as a kid, one would see how things constantly change. The grain first got scattered on the mud soil, grows tall a bit, got planted back on soil; reach their ripen state, begin to turn yellow, got sweeten, and then got harvested. Some will feed people, and some will be planted back to the soil. And once again, the entire cycle begins another journey, over and over again.
So is man's cycle of life as Budhism sees it: one would be born, grows old, gets decayed and sick, then physically dies after all; generations follow generations.
What is telling here is that in each of one's life journey, there is no stopping point but a constant change. Some would take shorter time - a single season like the life of a tiny grain; and some would take years, or even generations to resolve or mend the conflicts - renormalization between Vietnam and the United States for example.
Since nothing remains its permanent state, Tao has a practicle way of seeing life not too seriously. Tao encourages its followers spend time for enjoying and laughing. Once one comes to realize that nothing remains static; while everything is in a constant state of change, nothing should be taken so seriously.
Once nothing is ever in a perfect and absolute state, why would one bother to pass on one's judgement toward others?

Duc Luu