Of all the Confucian classics, the most well known in the West is probably the I Ching. It is popularised in the context of divining the future and used as a device to give guidelines to our problems.Problems can be related to such interesting questions such as : Is s/he in love with me? Will my investment be successful? Will I be cured of cancer? So in a way, the I Ching has been used by ancient Chinese (it is 5000 years old) and modern day people as an oracle, similar to the Delphi oracle consulted by the ancient Greeks. Continue reading “The I Ching: The Chinese Book Of Change: Teacher For Life”
Tiong Ah Leng, a trader on the street in front of my block of apartments had a bundle of joss sticks clasped tightly in his hands. His eyes closed, he bowed in staccato motions facing the full moon, while cars whizzed up and down the major highway. An incongruous sight even in Kuala Lumpur, where sights and sounds never fail to amaze me daily. I have been living here for over a month and each day, I sense that I am re-entering my childhood of a Malaysia forty years ago. Some things never change. One of these is the full moon in August. The other is the festival of hungry ghosts. During this lunar year, the two almost coincided. 
For centuries Chinese have roamed the face of the earth and wherever they have gone, they have taken their culture with them. They have kept their culture and tried to transmit it to their children. In fact, the question uppermost in the minds of every generation of Chinese parents could well be: how can our culture survive in a society which is predominantly Australian? Will our children born in Australia keep their Chinese heritage and at the same time be Australians?