#010: calm& collected/淡定(dàndìng)
The transience and imperfection in nature/大自然中無常與殘缺的美
calm& collected/淡定(dàndìng)
When it comes to how people before and after age 30 perceive time, Zhang Ai-ling put it this way in her book Eighteen Springs:
“For those who after the age of thirty, ten years and eight years are nothing more than a matter that slips through fingers; but for those who are young, three years and five years can be one’s whole life.”
As we become more experienced and older, we tend to become more clam and collected. The word, “dàndìng (淡定)”, can be translated to “calm and collected” in English. It used to be a internet buzzword many years ago. If you searched for “dàndìng”, you might find some funny memes, which were often an image of someone who remained calm and collected in a heated situation. These people were often called “Brother calm (淡定哥)” or “Sister Calm (淡定姐)”.
提到三十歲前和三十歲以後的人對時間的感受，張愛玲在《十八春》中曾說過這麼一段話：
「對於三十歲以後的人來說，十年八年不過是指縫間的事 而對於年輕人而言，三年五年就可以是一生一世。」
隨著經驗的累積與年紀的增長，人的心態變得越來越淡定。「淡定」翻成英文可以翻成，calm and collected， 本來是好幾年前的一個網路流行語，如果搜尋一下還能找到一些好笑的梗圖， 通常是一個處變不驚，一臉鎮定的「淡定哥」或是「淡定姐」。
The most accomplished is still actually deficient/大成若缺
I like the combination of these two characters, which include the meanings of “indifferent; cool (淡然)” or "not caring for fame (淡泊)”, and “collected; composed; unruffled (鎮定)”. This implies one accepts thing as they are or is being indifferent to external goods, such as fame, wealth and power. It is also a matter of choice, when you know you can simply react to the situations with emotions, you choose to remain calm and collected, not to take it to the heart. Those grand masters of martial arts depicted in the movies seem to always keep calm and collected at all time, which reminds me of Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster. After watching the movie, it dawned on me that those true grandmasters as Ip Man, are those who remain calm and keep their composure, knowing that “Perfection does not seem flawless” (or “The most accomplished is still actually deficient”).
我喜歡「淡定」這兩個漢字的組合，裡面有淡然、淡泊的淡，還有的鎮定，有種把事情看得很開，把像是名聲財富或權力的身外之物看得很淡的意味。 「淡定」是知道你能有其他更衝動激動的情緒性反應， 但選擇淡定，選擇看淡、看開一點的意味。 在功夫片中的大師總是看起來神態自若。這讓我想到王家衛的電影《一代宗師》，看了以後，覺得真正的大師如同葉問一般，明白「大成若缺」的道理，淡定並沈得住氣。
Wabi-sabi/ 侘寂
The first time when I learned about a Dutch word, “faalangst” was in the Netherlands, which can be translated into “Fear of negative evaluation (FNE)” and “atychiphobia”. I wonder if the source of this type of fear has something to do with “perfectionism”. Embracing the beauty derived from the imperfection, the Japanese repairing method for pottery, Kintsugi ("golden joinery”), sublimates it into something aesthetically meaningful by mending the breakages with powdered gold. If you have ever been to Japan, you would probably encounter and be touched by the concept of one of the traditional Japanese aesthetics, “Wabi-sabi”, which appreciates beauty in imperfection and transience. Perhaps, just as what “At forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities (四十不惑) ” implies in the Analects of Confucius, as one grows older (and hopefully a little bit wiser), one becomes free from perplexities because of deepened insights of one’s self and understanding of the priorities in life. One, therefore, can remain calmer and more composed more frequently.
我在荷蘭第一次聽到一個叫「faalangst」的詞，翻成英文大概是「fear of negative evaluation (FNE)」 或「atychiphobia」, 這樣的恐懼或許跟完美主義有關。在日本，有一種陶瓷修補技術，叫作「金繼」（日文：金継ぎ, Kintsugi, "golden joinery”)， 這種技術擁抱不完美，以金粉將殘缺破碎的裂縫粘補在一起，昇華為美學上的意義。要是你去過日本，大概曾被日本傳統美學「侘寂」(日语： 侘び寂び Wabi-sabi)所觸動過，「侘寂」的核心概念就是殘缺以及無常的美。也許就如同《論語》中所說的「四十不惑」說的一樣，到了一定的年紀以後，由於更了解自己，知道什麼是重要的，也就能因此更常保持淡定了。