Journeys East: Taiwan (2010)
Exploring the Text
Exploring the Text through Dialogue
Benny
Benny and Candice kindly took Bob Geile and myself to visit the Taoist Temple in Hualien, Queen Mother of the West, where we talked about Journey to the West.
Candice
Candice was sitting next to me on the train, going from Kaohsiung to Hualien. She was on her way to Hualien to visit Benny. In the gracious manner of the Taiwanese, she and Benny insisted on taking us for a tour of Hualien.
Sharon
Sharon, a friend of Candice’s, was eager to meet the “foreign lady”. Sharon teaches English to 3rd-6th graders in Tainan. Our interview took place in Hualien, where she was visiting her family for the New Year.
Exploring the Text through Language
Exploring the Text through Movement
From January to March 2010, I went to Taiwan to deepen my understanding of Chinese culture through language, movement, and conversation. At the Taipei Language Institute, I soon realized I was not as much interested in learning how to ask for a bus ticket in Mandarin (wherever I went people were friendly and eager to help) as in discussing the grammar and text of Journey to the West. After a week, my lessons with Arabel changed from "Who is your aunt's father?" to a line by line perusal of the text. We spent a three hour lesson on translating the first two lines of the text. Anabel supplemented our learning by regaling me by telling me many Chinese legends behind the different characters in the novel. She also accompanied me to meet Mr. Sun and translated and filmed our encounters.
When Mr. Sun met me in 2008 and then again in 2010, he said, "You and I have an affinity." Working with and watching Mr. Sun is one of the great joys in my life. So often in Chinese poetry, the poet speaks of the arrival of a friend and what joy he experiences. Not speaking the other's language, we bow and smile, and smile, some more. We share a deep love of this story, of dear Monkey King, and also of Gwan Yin. Gwan Yin is the constant spiritual force in the story. A true teacher, Mr. Sun speaks not only of the movement but the intention in the characters.
Mr. Sun graciously shares with Diane some of his insights into the character of Monkey King, who had the role passed on to him by his father and grandfather.
Mr. Sun demonstrating the hand gestures of Gwan Yin.
Performances in Taiwan
Diane and multi-instrumentalist Jeff Greene perform at Fo Guang Buddhist University in Jiaosi, National Taipei University,
and National Chi Nan University in Puli to captivated audiences. Photos by WanLing Sun.
Fo Guang Buddhist University, Jiaosi
“You brought my culture back to me in a fuller way. I thought Journey to the West was just a story. Now I can appreciate that it has many profound truths. We take it for granted. Thank you for your movement, your animation, your heart. I loved how the two of you were in such harmony.
What moved me was the priest Sanzang saying that when the mind is empty there is nothing to fear but then he is afraid of all kinds of things. This is the practice. We know theoretically the truth but we still have difficulty living it."
— Buddhist Nun
National Taipei University, Taipei
“Thank you for your magnificent--and revelatory performance! (Five hundred students at Taipei University and no microphone!) Your research and deep understanding of the text opened up its richness and complexity in a new way for all of us. Your performance led us to understand that story is a unique way of shortening the distance between people.”
— Frances Tso, Professor of Languages
National Chi Nan University, Puli
Fulbright Foundation, Taipei
Sixty people of all ages - university students, as well as faculty - attended Diane’s talk on stories from different cultures at the Fulbright Foundation. The evening was to last an hour, but people stayed for nearly two hours, excited and impassioned by their new experience with the art of storytelling.
"Thank you for sharing such powerful and moving stories. I loved your style of telling, especially the participation you used with all your stories. Your first story from Haiti touched me the most. I thank you for telling it. I did not know the Haitian culture or the Haitian people before tonight. Now I am inspired to support them and to help raise money for them. Thank you."
— Morris Huang, Managing Editor of English Career