I learn from my Moslem friends that Prophet Mohammad ever said: (in Indonesian) “Belajarlah Sampai Ke Negeri Cina”, which English translation roughly means: “Learn, if necessary as far as China.”; I found that indeed a lot to learn from Chinese language itself. Recently, I learned the LIFE PRINCIPLES from the following five Chinese letters: “卡， 尖，斌，笑，容”
The first letter: 卡 (Ka, means: card). Everyone in this modern world, cannot live without cards, which Chinese letter is 卡. Almost all of us have cards in our pocket, from a bus card, ATM to credit card. There is a hidden meaning in the Chinese letter. 卡 (Kha) consists of two letters; the upper part, 上 (Shang), means top or up; the lower part, 下 (Xia), means bottom or down. Realizing it or not, every one of us knows that in life sometime we are at the top, and some other time we are at the bottom. Many of us become arrogant when we are at the top, we forget the law of nature which said what is up must and will (some day) go down. So, the letter quietly said, when we are at the top, don’t be arrogant, when we are at the bottom don’t be stressed and despair!! Living in the society, we must be able to mingle, not only with the upper level, but also with the lower level. We must always remember this, when we hold a card in our hand.
The Second letter: 尖 (Jian, means: sharp). In our daily life, we also cannot abandon the sharpness of knife, be it directly or indirectly, or else we cannot have good food. As a person we must be SHARP! Sharp in thinking and actions! Only a sharp brain can lead us to a successful life! But remember this letter consists of 小 (Xiao) at the upper part which means small, and 大 (Da) at the bottom which means big. Remember it is written: Small at the top, big at the bottom! It silently telling us that when we become successful (big person), we must never forget: the big one must stand at the bottom as indicated by the letter. This means we must not belittle the unsuccessful ones, instead we must support the small peoples (the not yet successful one). The word support means we have to give the tool (education) not the fish (money).
The third letter 斌 (BIN, means: good/clever/refined). The letter also two parts, on the left hand side 文 (Wen) means language/culture/theory, on the right 武 (Wu) means military/self defense/practice. Language with no practice is nothing! Learning self defense with no practicing is useless! To be clever and successful, ones must study hard, learn the theory and then put it into practice. In our life, when we learn the theory, be it science or religion, without real application in our daily life it is a big nothing!! A person reading too many books but never able to put into practice is just ruining books!!! So, learn and put it into practice for the benefit of ourselves, our family, the society as a whole and the environment we live in!
The fourth letter 笑 (Xiao, means: laugh or smile). To be happy we must be able to smile and to laugh at every moment of our life. A deeper meaning is to enjoy every moment of our life. Or to a lesser extend, able to accept every condition and to adapt every situation, even in bad and worse situation. The highest level is, probably, even to enjoy the sadness itself! That way, our life will be free from the danger of STRESS! Remember stressful life kill! So, smile and laugh!!
Now, the fifth letter, 容 (Rong, means: tolerate). Peoples said we must be PATIENCE (Indonesian said: Orang sabar disayang Tuhan; in English translated as: God loves patient peoples). Does anyone realize that PATIENCE in Chinese is 忍（Ren, read: Zen), the upper part of the letter is 刀 (Dao) means knife, the lower part is 心 (Xing) means heart. The letter tell us that be patient means put one’s heart under a knife. You refrain yourself from anger while your heart feels hurt and cannot accept! And this is dangerous for your health, and one day it may implode or explode!! Therefore, be patient is not enough and not good! The higher level is 容 (Rong), means unconditionally and wholeheartedly accept and forgive. By unconditionally and wholeheartedly accept and forgive some one else different opinion/error/mistake/inconvenience act, our heart and mind will be peaceful!!
In conclusion, if one’s can apply the principles hidden is those five letters into his life, he can then have successful, meaningful, peaceful and happy life!! Do you agree?
Jakarta, May 20, 2012 (source: Chen Jia-Ming; interpreted and written by Gouw).