The Language of Taoism

 Well, it's been nearly six months since I've posted anything here and I must say that it has to be a record of sorts! I did say at the beginning of this blog that I wasn't the best blogger and this is a reflection of that. However, the fact that I'm blogging today just goes to show that my blogging skills aren't dead and buried just yet!

Anyway, enough of that. I thought I'd write about the language of Taoism. As you know, I am of Chinese descent and I've been looking into various Taoist texts to understand what the philosophy better. One thing that stood out was the language the texts were written in - Mandarin Chinese. 

Thankfully, I was educated in Singapore and one of the requirements to complete my schooling was to learn a second language. As you can imagine, between the choices of Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil, my parents choose that I learn Mandarin Chinese.

For years, I resented the fact that I had to learn it. Having spent my formative years in England, I couldn't see the need to learn Chinese as a second language. It wasn't until much later in life I realised just how important it was. Living in Singapore, all my Chinese-speaking relatives lived in Malaysia - most of whom didn't speak English - and Chinese became a necessity in communication. Unfortunately, when we migrated to Australia in the late 1980s, I lost touch with them and hence my language skills suffered.

When I picked up the Tao Te Ching (the primary Taoism text),  I'm have to admit I could only read 50% of the characters in it - and that was without the pronunciation guide. It was here that I made an executive decision. To brush up on my Chinese so I can read the text without the aid of the dictionary. 

There is always a reason why we do things in life - even if the choice happens to be that of your parents.