E S S A Y
开心 the “miserable” times. Why must they be? The Chinese combine the simple character for “door 门,” and the simple character for “heart 心,” and take from “door/heart 闷” the idea of “misery,” the result of keeping one’s emotions slammed “indoors,” in the “heart.” Almost predictably, the Chinese also have the expression of a “hurt/heart,” which they use for “sadness.” They take the simple character for “hurt 伤,” and the simple character for “heart 心,” and very directly take from “hurt/ heart 伤 心” the idea of “sadness.” The fourth combination to use “heart” is the expression for “caution” or for “care.” As a metaphor, this may not satisfy your first expectations. But give it its due. The Chinese combine the simple character for “small 小,” and the simple character for “heart 心,” and take from “small/heart 小心” the idea of being “careful.” While on their staircases, and while at their crosswalks, they will admonish one another with insistent repetitions: “small/ heart, small/heart 小心,小心”—take care, take care. The fifth combination to use “heart” is the expression for “fear.” This metaphor seems to have originated from something physiological. The Chinese combine the simple character for “white 白,” and the simple character for “heart 忄,” and take from “white/heart 怕” the idea of “fear.” Fear, of course, seems to drain our faces, leaving them colorless. This is common enough in our western context. Its counterpart across the
52
WEBER
Pacific is the “fear” that likewise drains a “heart”of its blood. The sixth combination to use “heart” is the expression for “busy.” This metaphor seems a superior condemnation of the bad “busy” habit. The Chinese combine the simple character for “heart 忄,” and the simple character for “death 亡,” and take from “heart/death 忙” the anxious distraction of being “busy.” They haven’t healthy “hearts,” apparently, the Chinese, freed now as they find themselves, for money-making in wildly open markets. The seventh combination to use “heart” is the expression for “forgetfulness.” This is another especially poignant metaphor. It, too, uses the simple characters for “heart/death.” But the arrangement on the page is different. In your mind’s eye, put the character for “death 亡” directly above the character for “heart 心.” This vertical arrangement is permissible in Chinese script. And here, as I say, we have the character representing “forgetful.” “Heart/ death 忘.” Yikes, those are some high stakes, when my memory more and more proves to be semi-permeable. This is a study in which the rank amateur can have a continually mystifying kind of fun. So indulge me for another fast, short run of it: (1) the characters for “map” are “earth/picture 地图.” (2) the characters for “gift” are “ceremony/thing 礼物” (so much for private generosity and quiet gifting).
地图
THE CONTEMPORARY WEST
SPRING/SUMMER 2015