GiantSalamander
Jan 22, 2010
Undergraduate / Princeton Supp: An Essay About Life [2]
Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a jumping off point,tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world.
"[desires and dreams] are akin to birds that have finished a feast returning to the woods,
leaving a vast expanse of whiteness that is unusually clean." Dream of the Red Chamber
It started raining yesterday night. What began as a howling storm had diminished to a lazy drizzle. I curiously put my head outside the window with my face aiming at the sky, and secretly enjoyed the gentle massage by the tiny raindrops.
It was a joy watching the descent of these tiny parachutes. They leaped off from the cloudy sky with an indescribable ecstasy ----- that they'd never know where they'd land. Would they become the dancing troupe on the luscious leaves? Or the dirty stagnant water by the busy street?
But one thing was certain: they would all vanish upon landing and disappear into nonexistence.
There is this poem from the famous Chinese classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber which goes: "[desires and dreams] are akin to birds that have finished a feast returning to the woods, leaving a vast expanse of whiteness that is unusually clean." Are those "desires" and "dreams" emblematic of the veneer of life, which will eventually disappear into emptiness, revealing the stark truth of life: a vast expanse of nothingness?
For a moment I was too scared to envisage the fate of those tiny raindrops; the ideas of evanescence and emptiness were too daunting and unimaginable. To think that my life may end like the tiny raindrops vanishing in thin air, and that all my glory and achievements are but a fancy facade in life was almost heretical to my ears. How could I give up all my dreams just because my life may eventually return to an empty hollow? Is pessimism and fatalism the axiom of life?
I recall a story about a man who sought to attain the spiritual pinnacle of nirvana by meditating in the woods. He meditated for years but failed to see the truth of life. Perplexed, he asked a high monk: "Isn't a blank state of mind the prerequisite to understanding the emptiness of life?" To which the monk replied: "Nothing comes from nothing."
Indeed, without experiencing the joys and sorrows of life, one will never understand the taste of emptiness; without enlightenment and disappointment, life will remain but a vast expanse of nothingness. If the raindrops did not complete their journey from the sky, would their disappearance upon landing still have any meaning?
I closed my eyes and imagined myself as a tiny raindrop, riding on wind to reach a destination unknown. I could had landed on the arid soil of Sahara Desert and formed an oasis in the wilderness; or I could had composed a ticking melody on a poet's window and become his new inspiration.
But I landed on an empty studio. A young man entered with a hesitant look. It was me two years ago when I just joined the ethnic dance group in our school. It was an unpopular decision-- -- the group was recently formed and had already been ridiculed and looked down upon by many. But something in me told me this: if my journey was destined to end with emptiness, why not make the trip as meaningful and impactful as I could?
And if life vanishes into nothing like a silent raindrop, I'll endeavour to create something out of nothing.
Three months later, we dressed in resplendent ethnic costumes and performed on stage for the first time. The spotlight shone on me and the audience applauded with astonishment for the only male dancer in the group. I looked at the nine ladies who danced with me ---- some dressed in hilarious sarung to play the masculine roles that we lacked ----- I knew we had had an experience of a lifetime.
Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a jumping off point,tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world.
"[desires and dreams] are akin to birds that have finished a feast returning to the woods,
leaving a vast expanse of whiteness that is unusually clean." Dream of the Red Chamber
It started raining yesterday night. What began as a howling storm had diminished to a lazy drizzle. I curiously put my head outside the window with my face aiming at the sky, and secretly enjoyed the gentle massage by the tiny raindrops.
It was a joy watching the descent of these tiny parachutes. They leaped off from the cloudy sky with an indescribable ecstasy ----- that they'd never know where they'd land. Would they become the dancing troupe on the luscious leaves? Or the dirty stagnant water by the busy street?
But one thing was certain: they would all vanish upon landing and disappear into nonexistence.
There is this poem from the famous Chinese classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber which goes: "[desires and dreams] are akin to birds that have finished a feast returning to the woods, leaving a vast expanse of whiteness that is unusually clean." Are those "desires" and "dreams" emblematic of the veneer of life, which will eventually disappear into emptiness, revealing the stark truth of life: a vast expanse of nothingness?
For a moment I was too scared to envisage the fate of those tiny raindrops; the ideas of evanescence and emptiness were too daunting and unimaginable. To think that my life may end like the tiny raindrops vanishing in thin air, and that all my glory and achievements are but a fancy facade in life was almost heretical to my ears. How could I give up all my dreams just because my life may eventually return to an empty hollow? Is pessimism and fatalism the axiom of life?
I recall a story about a man who sought to attain the spiritual pinnacle of nirvana by meditating in the woods. He meditated for years but failed to see the truth of life. Perplexed, he asked a high monk: "Isn't a blank state of mind the prerequisite to understanding the emptiness of life?" To which the monk replied: "Nothing comes from nothing."
Indeed, without experiencing the joys and sorrows of life, one will never understand the taste of emptiness; without enlightenment and disappointment, life will remain but a vast expanse of nothingness. If the raindrops did not complete their journey from the sky, would their disappearance upon landing still have any meaning?
I closed my eyes and imagined myself as a tiny raindrop, riding on wind to reach a destination unknown. I could had landed on the arid soil of Sahara Desert and formed an oasis in the wilderness; or I could had composed a ticking melody on a poet's window and become his new inspiration.
But I landed on an empty studio. A young man entered with a hesitant look. It was me two years ago when I just joined the ethnic dance group in our school. It was an unpopular decision-- -- the group was recently formed and had already been ridiculed and looked down upon by many. But something in me told me this: if my journey was destined to end with emptiness, why not make the trip as meaningful and impactful as I could?
And if life vanishes into nothing like a silent raindrop, I'll endeavour to create something out of nothing.
Three months later, we dressed in resplendent ethnic costumes and performed on stage for the first time. The spotlight shone on me and the audience applauded with astonishment for the only male dancer in the group. I looked at the nine ladies who danced with me ---- some dressed in hilarious sarung to play the masculine roles that we lacked ----- I knew we had had an experience of a lifetime.