Tuesday, April 26, 2011

face


Probably, the biggest ongoing struggle living in East-Asia for me has been to unravel the intricacies of "face".

The concept itself isn't much different from having good reputation, back home, but much more intense. The depths to which face must be upheld is what baffles me.

There seems to be a greater emphasis on how things look and not how they really are. It's been a challenge, at times, to keep up enough of a mask to work smoothly here yet maintain integrity in my practice. I often find myself getting neither one right!

Hopefully, I'll eventually make it to a point where my face will be such that I won't have to cover it!

2 comments:

  1. I've seen my Korean friends point to someone and say, "He/she has a good face." I've never known quite what that meant, but have presumed that they're not talking about physical beauty. Rather, I believe that they're referring to inner integrity as it manifests in the mouth, eyes, and other aspects of the face. (Oh, I HOPE they're not talking about physical attractiveness, 'cause then at least I've got a chance.)

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  2. If "face" isn't one of the eight worldly concerns, than there should be nine! ^_^

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