il Giardino Romantico

[The Tao of Pooh] [The Te of Piglet]

It is undeniably difficult to write a book that is at least half-decent.  It is ten times more difficult to write a sequel to a book that has reached the first level of decency.   The Tao of Poohwas a success because the analogy between a simple, childish character of Winnie-the-Pooh and the fundamental teachings of Taoism was original, and more importantly, appropriate.  Thus when the opportunity came for the purchasing of The Te of Piglet, I did not hesitate.  The analogy made sense to me even before having read the book.

Using The Tao of Pooh as an introduction to Taoism as a philosophy, this time Benjamin Hoff goes a little deeper into the same subject, but scrutinizing and actually criticizing his society and the whole of the so-called civilized world.  But first of all, let's understand why such a puny little character is chosen.  My question to you is: Why Not?  If Pooh were to represent the masculinity of Taoism, why wouldn't little Piglet represent the femininity of Taoism?  That is to say, Pooh represent the 'yang' 陽 and Piglet the 'ying' 陰.  Pooh is larger in size and popularity, whereas Piglet is small and whose voice and opinion is often ignored or unheard.  This is not to say that Piglet is docile and that Pooh is violent.  They are different.  However, they are not the antithesis of one another.  It is the harmonious combination of their qualities and virtues that makes this Taoist idea complete.  The 'tao' 道 and the 'te' 德 must both be realized, appreciated, and practiced.  The 'te', however, like Piglet, is often ignored or unheard by the majority.  It is understandable for such a small detail to be neglected.  However, paradoxically these neglected small details often are of great importance.

One uneventful evening, while on my way home after an ordinary private tutor session, I was somehow driven towards finding a Sherlock Holmes book to occupy my free times in the mornings.  While I strolled into the Eslite across from National Taiwan University, I was extremely disturbed by the fact that I could not readily find any copy of Holmes.  After some ten-minute search, I finally found a decent copy - The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Modern Man Library. 

記得當天晚上結束家教後回家的路上到台大對面的誠品，試圖想找一本福爾摩斯小說來看。但令人失望的是，找了老半天，才找到一本。原本以為這種經典之作應該很容易找到才是，怎麼花了我幾十分鐘才找到？不過最後終究還是找到了一本包含『探險記』和『回憶錄』的福爾摩斯。

This is the only book you'll ever need to enrich yourself in anyway.  Learn how to make all your wildest dreams come true, and learn to appreciate what you have just so you can have more! 

Sure, by all means dismiss the idea as some rediculous money sucking scheme.  And you're more than welcome to ignore this book when you are given the opportunity to purchase it.  Please do so at your own cost.  You'll never find out how much more you could have and how much more you could have been as a result of depriving yourself of the chance to understand what this is all about.