Taiwan in 1960's

This picture could be taken in 1964 when I was in the first year of junior high school. People in the picture were: mum, me, nephew Yizou, 2nd brother-in-law, and nephew Yishi.

Life in Taiwan during the 1960's was not easy however, the general economy was taking off. Taiwan Sugar Company was then the biggest foreign exchange earner for this country. The average income was low. For instance, the monthly wage of my 4th sister working as an accountant for a straw woven hat company was only at NTD250.-, equivalent to USD6.20 in 1964.

Compare to the majority of Taiwanese, my family should be above the average because not only that we owned a house, we ran a grocery shop in the small town called Qing Shui. However, I saw how mum had to be working very hard at both home and the shop everyday from early in the morning till late in the night in order to help my father to make the balance meet.

My dad left the grocery shop to my 3rd sister and mum to run while he was in a neighboring town working for a timber mill as a technician.

I was in my 6 year high school period starting from 1964. All high school students were compulsorily required to shave off their hair during the days in high school. The education authority believed that it was easier to discipline high school boys when the hair ban was in place. This hair ban had been a controversial issue, and finally it became a history after 1980.

Though life was not easy those days, people were generally happier than nowadays. Crime was rarely heard of. A treat of a bowl of plain noodle soup in a nearby food stool would make the child in full grin.

After all happiness is not depending on abundance of material like nowadays. It is generated from a balanced normality of all aspects.

Amitofuo.

Chen family in 1954

This photo was taken in 1954 when I was 3 years old.

I still have the memory about that day. I helped moving a chair to the court yard for my mum. It was a cloudy day and the photographer was meant to arrive in the morning.

From right are: 4th sister, eldest sister, father, 3rd sister, mother holding my younger sister, 3rd cousin, me, aunt, 2nd sister, 2nd cousin.

My uncle was then working in Japan so he was not in the picture. I was told that he had married to a Japanese woman. Uncle is tall and handsome. My mother told me that the younger sister of my uncle's Japanese wife loved my uncle too. So there was fightings between this pair of sisters for the sake of my uncle. The younger sister won the battle and ousted her sister at last.

My eldest cousin is not in the picture too. She had married to a police at the time of photo.

As I am the only boy in my family, I get the most of love from sisters and my parent. However, I have never been spoild by all the love. I have been a good boy, a good student, a good worker, a good husband and a good father.

The first 3 generations of Chen family in Taiwan

My great grand father immigrated to Taiwan at the age of 9 with his elder relatives from Fujian province of China. My great grand mother seated in the middle in the picture was widowed at around 65. My grandfather and grandmother had two sons. My father with a hat is the younger one. The other taller young man is my uncle who emigrated to Japan during the world II.

My grandfather was a carpenter. He was quite successful in his career because during his peak time in the furniture manufacturing business, there were over 10 carpenters working for him.

I am the 4th generation of Chen family after this branch has immigrated to Taiwan. Then on the 12th of September 1992, I brought my own family of 4, together with my mother, to Auckland of New Zealand.

Amitabha

I created my first blog site yesterday using "Mind, Body & Happiness" as my blog site title.

I thought this title is rather technical or accdemic so I wanted to change it to "Amitabha". This is a term used in the Pure Land school of Buddhist meaning: awake, justice and pure. These 3 characters are like a passport to the realm of eternal happiness.

Any happiness that our sensory organs can catch only exist temporarily. Shakamuni Buddha noticed this fact and felt sorry for all the sentient beings thus he delivered various ways of cultivating the above mentioned characteristics in order to help sentient beings to attain the eternal happiness.

Some might feel it is an unattainable goal, however, I believe that the more effort we put into it the more happiness we can attract. If we do nothing we gain nothing. Doesn't this sound logical?

A Resignation Tide Occuring

On May 4 of 2006, I resigned from my position as a programme advisor. About one month later, a very close friend of mine also resigned today. Just happened yesterday, the supervisor of his IT team also resigned. There are totally 14 colleagues resigned up to date sine the company launched a dramatic reforming measure 4 months ago. This kind of high staff turn over can hurt a company's operation badly. So I believe that the big boss must be in a miserable state right now thinking what is the problem.

People resigns for more or less reasons, and the reasons are mainly coming from a hard confliction in the mind among various factors. The body reacts toward these thoughts and consequently begins to make you feel tired, anxious and frustrated etc. Finally an action is triggered which is sending a resignation notice. Relieved..., then followed by whatever feelings varied from people to people.

Friends, if you are in bad mood, try these: a walk on the beach or park, a hot bath, a cup of tea, meditation, massage or reflexology.

I hope my friend who resigned today will have a good sleeping tonight and if he gets a feeling of loss, he will use any of the above remedies.