Chang'an Chaos Han Han

Author: Han Han
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: I was born unknown, with unknown parents, yet somehow I had a master. I grew up confined, surrounded by high walls, and didn't know why. When I came of age, fate arranged for me to witness the largest martial arts competition in the world. At that time, there were two factions in the martial arts world—Shaolin and Wudang. Shaolin was slightly more powerful than Wudang, because everyone thought long hair was hard to manage. Shaolin followed Buddhism, leaving behind all appearances or depth. As a child, I felt it emphasized the character "endurance." The difference between a master and an ordinary person was the degree of "endurance." A master's moves were always perfectly timed, and sometimes the same thing done at different times would have different effects. My master wrote: Time and space cannot be changed, but time and space can change. This was hard to understand. My early understanding was that a comma could change everything. My master said: No, you should look closely. I said: The difference between the first and second sentence is just one comma. My master said: You only see the surface. Look closely, the difference is more than just one comma. From sunset to sunrise, I had almost memorized the two characters in my hands, barely recognizing them. My master called me into the room and said: Did you see the difference? I said: I only saw the difference of one comma. My master said: You are very close to the answer, but the closer you get to the answer, the easier it is to lose it. I knelt on the ground and begged my master to break it down for me. My master said: Look—the difference is actually two commas.