To become a monk or nun may be another kind of death, or another kind of reborn. To kill ourselves may seem a little selfish, but we have the right to do so. And to die naturally may be the best way---We face it with smile.
Grandpa first talked about death yesterday. Days ago he suddennly vomited and fainted at midnight and was sent to hospital. He is in Hong Kong, so we can’t go there immediately. Yesterday he left hospital safely. When I called him, he laughed and talked about death: “I am 82, every minute, every second I may leave…”
He laughed. And I laughed. I shouldn’t laugh, but I didn’t know why I laughed at that time. Maybe because he laughed, maybe because I didn’t know what to say—It was his first time to talk about death, and it was my first time to hear such an old man talk about death.
And yesterday was our Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon Boat Festival is on May 5(the lunar calendar) to many Chinese people, but to us, it is on May 1(the lunar calendar). Dragon Boat Festival, thousands of years ago, Qu Yuan jumped into the river to kill himself, so formed the Dragon Boat Festival.
He chose to kill himself. I don’t think people can be reborn, but he did give birth to this festival, and moreover, give birth to a spirit that has been existing for thousands of years.
And in modern time, another woman chose to kill herself. Iris Chang, the writer who wrote “The Rape of Nanking”, killed herself several years ago. I don’t have courage to read her book, but here cite a sentence to her photo comment: “With her grand parents’ stories and no justice, no wonder she had a nervous break down.”
Yep, maybe it is a release for some of them. If we are struggling, suffering, torturing, especially in spirit, not in material; if we know things clearly, know the reality clearly, but find no way to change things, then to kill ourselves is a release. But it also means the end of our world---Yes, the sun will still rise next day, but we will never be able to see it.
And some choose to become a monk or nun. It is said that Leslie Cheung didn’t kill himself. Some people saw him become a monk in a monastery in some remote mountains. And it is said that Joey Wong has also become a nun. Both of them have won so much fame and gain, maybe both of them have seen through the nabobism and vicissitudes of life, and maybe both of them can be reborn by leaving the city life, becoming a monk or nun.
I used to think that grandpa did not love me, for some family reason. But now I know that he loves me the most. For some reasons, those grandchildren he used to love deeply disappoint him a lot or even hurt him, and I don’t know from what time, I become his pride.
I know his wishes. He wishes me to go to Hong Kong, to visit him; he wishes he can see me marry a good man; he wishes to see my book published---at a time when he is still alive.
But who knows how long it will take!