学院新闻

Time and tide wait for no man.

岁月不居，时节如流。

Everyone is an infinite possibility.  

人生总是充满无限可能。

2021，we are grateful for being healthy and well，for being able to experience this magical encounter, and for being able to take new challenges together. Let us re-interpret the wisdom of "to begin, begin" shared with us by Robin at the opening ceremony.  

2021，我们感恩依旧健康幸福，感恩这份美好的遇见，感恩可以一起迎接新的挑战。让我们一起再次解读Robin老师的开班激励：To begin, begin!                              

I worked in a bookshop when I was 19 where a large portion of my days were spent sorting, shelving, and re-shelving books. The How-To and Self-Help sections of that or any other bookshop in 1987 were no post-modern invention. Since books were worth copying out by hand and binding, those filling them made broad use of their utility in recording and transmitting practical advice for living and doing. Absconded to the British Library in the early years of the 20^th century, a woodblock printed copy of the Diamond Sutra from the Mogao caves in Dunhuang is one such example.

The earliest complete survival of a dated printed book thus far, its colophon reads: “Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 15th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong.” –or– May 11, 868 AD.  Its text unfolds a ‘How to...’ for bodhisattvas on the path as explained by the Buddha himself to a group of monks.  

It’s concerned with such matters as – how to control the mind in service of the liberation of all beings from attachment and the importance of spreading and teaching the Sutra itself. Some 1500 years or more since it was first written out by hand, the Diamond Sutra continues to be published in dozens of languages.  People all over the world continue to find refuge and great help in its pages.

These days there are at least as many Self-Help and DIY books as there are questions and ambitions to weigh down the human heart.  Advice on ‘How to Get Rich’, ‘How to Be Beautiful’, ‘How to Be Happy’, and the Buddha’s eternal favourite – ‘How to Let Go’ – is as popular as it was when the Buddha sat beneath the bodhi tree.  How to Speak French, German, Spanish, English, Chinese and so on are shelved near all the other ‘How to...’ tomes.  Each promise to illuminate the daunting task of mastering a language other than one’s own mother tongue and, in so doing, expand our minds, improve ourselves, and our lot.

For some, language learning may even open a door to a whole host of treasures from that singular pursuit.  One who undertakes its rigours may –through that effort– also make themselves richer, more beautiful, and happier–all at once!  Though your goals are likely more modest than that, you’ve all gathered here to dig your heels in and begin.  Busily projecting your minds forward in time as is our human habit, landing somewhere in the middle of these next several months, you’re hoping you’ll keep up with everything.  Even now, hanging over your shoulder is the worry over passing the exams awaiting you at the end of all this, but –what about now– the beginning?  

What good advice is there on the presently looming matter of ‘How to Begin’?  Having spent some hours in search of it, I found none better than William Wordsworth, America’s most famed Romantic poet. He wrote it down as simple and true as it can be said in any language, “To begin, begin.”

Simultaneously –a very– and also –not at all– romantic imperative, Wordsworth, he exultant of leaves and grass, exhorts you to throw off your old cold hesitations... Get IN it! Whatever field or stream or forest is at your feet – get. IN. it! Eyes and ears open, heart beating, begin!

If you tilt your ear to hear it in another way– “To begin, begin.” –is also the most practical advice anyone ever gave anyone else.  Do, says Wordsworth; do and in the doing the way forward will unfold for you as you go.  Perhaps you have begun already...?  Is this –my little speech– a flurry of unanticipated English in your ears – a beginning?  Did you begin when you first made up your minds to come to SISU...?  

Did you begin in primary school when you learned your first few words of English –or– was it when you first heard an English song you loved but didn’t entirely understand...? This, right now, -IS- the beginning of something...  something personal, of your own, and also something shared among us.  Let the days, weeks, and months to come unfold as they will. Put away your nerves over exams and results.  As your eyes and smiles drift around this room, then later in your classrooms, at your meals, on your walks, and daily down this path, you begin and are beginning – again and again...  Be exactly where you are right now and take Wordsworth as your guide; just remember how easy it is to do.  To begin, begin.  To ask a question, ask a question.  To have a conversation, have a conversation.   To speak English, speak English.