Wishing All Readers Peace and Well-Being for the Dragon Boat Festival

Time flies, and once again it is the Dragon Boat Festival. Though the annual wishes are ever the same, I still earnestly hope that this greeting of "peace and well-being" may come true. As someone in medicine, I know only too well what health and peace mean for a person and their family; without them, happiness is discounted.

Speaking of such blessings, Buddhism is the master. The Buddhist Evening Bell Verse prays: "May the three realms and four forms of birth each escape the cycle of rebirth; may the nine dark realms and ten classes of beings all leave the sea of suffering; may winds and rains be timely, that no year of famine befall; may the southern fields and eastern suburbs all behold the light of Yao and Shun; may arms be forever laid aside and armor and horses retired; may the slain and fallen in battle all be reborn in the pure land; may birds and beasts never fall into nets; may wanderers and lonely merchants return soon to their homes; may the boundless world endure as long as earth and heaven. May parents, teachers, kin, and ancestors of past generations together cross to the other shore."

This is not merely a prayer for ordinary health and peace; it is a prayer that all sentient beings may lay aside hatred, be free of illness and disaster, gather joyfully with family and friends, and live happy, peaceful days.

I too long for the world to be at peace in this way.

But such an ideal state requires great effort to realize. Only when everyone is tolerant, compassionate, and peace-loving, when the world is materially abundant and medicine sufficiently advanced, can we achieve this ultimate dream.

Qu Yuan, whom we commemorate at the Dragon Boat Festival, harbored just such lofty ideals in his lifetime. But this pioneer idealist had too strong a melancholy cast of mind. His Li Sao, with its many parallel and balanced couplets, poured forth his surging emotions. His sense of loss pierces the very paper; even a thousand years later it can bring tears. Uncontrolled feeling finally overwhelmed the romantic poet and statesman, and he drowned himself in the river. However fast later generations' dragon boats race, they cannot catch up with Qu Yuan beneath the water, leaving only an age-old regret.

Moved by his utter sincerity, people commemorate him year after year. If I could cross time and meet Qu Yuan, I would rather hand him a dose of antidepressant, let him live well, and go on striving for his unfinished idealistic cause. His fine aspirations and outstanding talent would have been all the better paired with an optimistic mind.

At this moment, whatever you are going through, I hope you can be a little more optimistic and positive, believing that the goal of health and peace can be realized in the not-too-distant future. Let us together carry this good wish as we weave the garlands of our lives.