The Hallowed Court of The Jester

This is an interesting topic. I have talked to my friend about Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism in general, while trying to gain insight on Christianity from her. It didn’t occur to me that I have missed something obvious about the religion of the Malaysian Chinese, until I read up a research article by someone who was researching the Malaysian Chinese culture. The religion of the Chinese is basically a mixture of the mainstream religions of China, infused with traditions of our own (Other than Christianity of course). The researcher calls this religious phenomenon the Chinese religion =), because it cannot be categorized into either one of the three mainstream religions.

I bring up this topic, because I find it crucial to many Chinese people who practice their traditions without knowing the meanings. Furthermore, while some got the taboos of say, Chinese New Year remembered by heart, they do not actually see the significance of it, and how it came about. This is in my opinion, an extremely important issue, because it shows how we have been neglecting our pasts, and we fail also to see that we are losing many things which were held dear by the people in the past (which also includes our values, and beliefs). In this post, I hope to be able to enlighten (hopefully) some of you about what I know about the Chinese religion, why I consider some of the taboos and practices nonsensical and are against the mainstream religions’ initial purpose, and explain how this might have happened, through natural selection.

Many of the practitioners of Chinese religion find themselves following many seemingly unnecessary taboos, and when they seem to believe that if they were to accidentally or purposefully try to skip an event, they might accidentally incite the anger of a god, or end up with a “gui-shang-shen” (ghost possessing body) episode. Another strange thing is that (from what I have understood), Taoism encourages the improvement of the man, in general, and Buddhism preaches about Nirvana. We can look at this really simply; it is the empowerment of men that the mainstream Chinese religions look at. This is really odd, because when u think of the Malaysian Chinese religion, they seem to be worshipping many gods; pray for them to good luck, and follow rituals to appease spirits, as well as ask for favors. One of the examples that popped up in the conversation in my friend is about Guan-gong. Why are people praying to him for luck? And people praying to Confucius (the scholar) for luck in exams?

In order to answer the part on why people actually place so much emphasis on their rituals and taboos, I shall use the Darwinian principle of natural selection (adaptation for that matter). My point of view is this – people in China from long ago places heavy emphasis on Confucius teachings. If you read his teachings, the Superior Man has many different aspects to fulfill, one of them being the “Rites”. Confucius considers it of utmost importance for any man to follow, respect and honor Rites. This can be how and why interesting taboos such as ”do not eat pineapples or else your baby will die prematurely” has turned up. It is an irrational taboo, as my lecturer has proven by doing just the thing during her pregnancy =). In short, what I theorize is this – people have lost the values of following their religion’s rites as closely as before (basically they no longer understand the reasons behind the different steps taken in any ritual). However, due to the disciplined and dogmatic familial structure of the Chinese, people are pressured to continue the traditions. This has thus led to the adaptation of the values; it no longer is a matter of upholding values, it’s the fear of consequences. While we can see the former is better, because we can learn something from it, both actually gets the work of continuing traditions done.

This week’s post is a bit of a mess, I admit, but what I wish to address through this is to encourage you all to understand one thing: religion has a reason, and every belief in this world has roots somewhere else. Unless we look and learn as much as we can about our religious beliefs, and why we have to act in a certain way, I believe that the religion loses its meaning altogether. If you’re a Muslim, why don’t you eat pork? Does the reason really lie in the “uncleanliness” and health hazard that comes together with the pig? If you look into current research, you will find that one explanation is that the rearing of pigs in the Middle East around the time when Islam was introduced is hazardous to the environment, and doing so will render previously fertile lands no longer usable. It is economically a bad move, and the people will suffer. Therefore, as a means to address this issue, the Koran might have been utilized to give a valid reason to prohibit eating pork (Think about it, no eating pork, hence no point rearing pigs. Supply and demand people, supply and demand). Again, through adaptation, while it is no longer useful to continue the prohibition, pork-eating is prohibited strictly because of fear. So why is it that we cannot sweep the house during Chinese New Year, fellow Chinese? Are you sure that luck is the issue? =)

One Malaysia, as Najib Abdul Razak puts it, cannot be defined from a ‘rigid perspective’; it is an overall philosophy, as one people – the Malaysian people. *Sigh* I am utterly disappointed by the politicians’ level of intelligence in Malaysia. Apparently the MCA and MIC were extremely supportive of Najib’s new philosophy of which I have trouble understanding. It seems to me that he has no idea, no case, no method of how to actually govern the people of Malaysia. This vague, vague definition of One Malaysia is saddening. It’s just like making an out-of-topic essay with no clearly established thesis statement. He even says that it can be seen from many perspectives, which I find supremely ‘enlightening’. Identify your plans, prime minister. Don’t talk rubbish, which is vague, open to interpretation. Learn LLS; lead with INTEGRITY, and learn PMG, define CLEARLY your GOALS. (LLS and PMG are core subjects in HELP University College Psychology Programs; the first is Leadership and Life Skills, the latter Project Management. Invaluable skills don’t you think?)

I personally think that the speech given by Najib Abdul Razak a few days ago has told us many stories about his incapabilities as a prime minister. Worst of all, I find the ministers who support his One Malaysia even more… *Sigh again* I doubt there’s any word in the dictionary which can define and describe how intelligent they are, so I shall refrain from doing so (Mentally retarded is a term which I wish not to use, because it is a valid psychological term). It had just proven how unrivaled they are in grasping concepts that no one else seem to be able to.

Lastly, before ending, the prime minister yet again mentions something very cultural of the Malaysian politicians (in general) – “we need a bit of time”, and “can I look at it from time to time?” sounds yet again like rubbish. Please define your goals CLEARLY. Give us at least an approximate date; even planning a school club requires more detail than “I need a bit of time“.

Because of the anthropologization of my brain, I have begun to question and reject the idea of race anywhere in the world. Hence, here I pose questions and arguments for you, my fellow readers, on race.

Why is race so important to us as human beings? I got into an heated argument with my cousin on the following to question the Chineseness of himself and putting across the non-existence of race as my point and he said that I disrespect my ancestors and that what I say is very “nan ting” (literal translation: difficult to listen to). Well first of all, I would like to make a point: I am very proud of the Chinese people and their noble traditions, cultures and the knowledge from them that has gotten us thus far.

However, I find a need to answer these questions - why do Chinese people claim their Chinese-ity so strongly, as with my cousin? Is there any actual basis for the “few thousand years of bloodline of the Chinese in us” if either of these theories are valid - 1) the “out of africa” theory, 2) that we came from a pair of ancestors, Adam and Eve, 3) we evolved from primates into human beings? If we look that far into the past, and say we all come from a common ancestor, is there still a NEED to claim race? If we agree that any of these theories might be valid, would there still be relevant to actually think of ourselves as Chinese, Malays, Indians etc? If these arguments hurt your ears, why is that?

The hypothesis that I have churned out in my anthropology journal in an attempt to explain this concept of race is based fully on psychological theories, and it can be hard to accept, but I hope you will give it full consideration, and feel free to comment and disagree if you find a need to. It is essential to understand that people are narcissistic beings who love themselves, and love seeing other people who are perceived as similar as themselves. They also love identifying in a group which they perceive as superior as the rest (basking in reflected glory), given the numerous and many achievements that the Chinese (I’m talking about the people in China) had attained.

I must also add that race, if you have read up on it, is but a culturally given identity, with NO BIOLOGICAL BASIS whatsoever. Our favorite way to distinguish race is admittedly the most flawed way to do so: by looking at skin color. “He’s so yellow, sure chinese-la”. Why do I say that it’s a flaw? Think about it. I bet that you would have or at least observed someone else making wrong guesses on the race of someone else? There was even a study done to establish the fact that skin color does not equate to race. Trust me, there are people who are living on the other side of the world who will have the exact skin color as us Malaysian Chinese (assuming that only Chinese people are yellow), but well, they can’t be Chinese can they?

Furthermore, I have to assert that based on my reading, that we cannot define any race based on the constitution either. Let me use the Malaysian context of the Malay to illustrate what I mean. According to the constitution, Malays are people who talk Malay, live like a Malay, uphold the Malay tradition, and is  Muslim in religion. If we were to take that into consideration, why is it that the Malays who do not talk Malay nor uphold the culture (as if it could be defined in the first place)? Using the same concept on the Chinese people, why is it that we call “bananas” Chinese? They can not talk Chinese, nor do they act Chinese, and they are Christians; so why are they Chinese? Are you? Why so? Many Chinese today claim their Chinese-ity so strongly, but they can not justify why; not to mention the extremely diverse cultures that different Chinese in different parts of the world actually have. We are so different, but yet, once again, we have to assert our Chinese-ity. Why?