The Useless Tree

Friday Yi Jing Blogging: Yankees will win Wild Card playoff game next week!

Using the Yi Jing to predict the outcome of sporting events is a tricky enterprise, as my Super Bowl forecast demonstrated this year.  But the Yi always leaves open the possibility of human folly and contingency, and, thus, is not itself responsible for our inability to either understand or correctly act upon the wisdom of the oracle.  In other words, it's always appropriate to ask the Yi Jing whether the New York Yankees will win.  And when I asked today about next week's wild card playoff game, the Yi came back with a generally favorable response.  As that profound Yi Jing interpreter, John Sterling, might say: "Yankees win!  Th-th-th-th-the Yankess!  Win!"

For those keeping score at home, the Yi presented me with Hexagram 59, "Dispersion," with moving lines in the first two positions, thus tending toward Hexagram 42, "Increase."

                                                    

"Dispersion"                                                   "Increase"

The Judgment of "Dispersion" gets off to a good start: "Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers."  Success!  It is tempting to interpret "temple" here as the hallowed ground of Yankee Stadium, but perhaps that is too literal a take.  "Crossing the great water," too, should not be taken literally: it usually implies that undertaking some significant task - like playing a single win-or-go-home playoff game - is auspicious.  The Yi tells us how the Yankees should approach these favorable circumstances, since nothing is automatic either in baseball or prophecy.  They need to maintain their team unity and follow the guidance of their leader, manager Joe Girardi.

The line statements make this even clearer.  The moving line in the first position of Hexagram 59 tells us: "He brings help with the strength of a horse. Good fortune."  The Wilhelm commentary continues: "...when hidden divergences in temper make themselves felt and lead to mutual misunderstandings, we must take quick and vigorous action to dissolve misunderstandings and mutual distrust."  So, who is the "horse" here?  It could be Tanaka, who has been a stalwart as starting pitcher this season and will take the mound on Tuesday.  But the suggestion that "vigorous action" might be necessary could imply that Girardi will need to step in quickly should Tanaka falter and bring one of his other horses, most notably Betances.  And should that have to happen early in the game, the team should accept it and stay united in their efforts.

Indeed, the nine in the second place points to some difficulty in the game: "He hurries to that which supports him. Remorse disappears."  The mention of momentary remorse here is ominous.  It could be that the Yankees fall behind early, that Tanaka is not as effective as hoped, and that Girardi might need to go to the bullpen early.  But don't fear Yankee fans, clear leadership should yield good results.  As the Minford translation states (and I am drawing on that text more and more as a supplement to the standard Wilhelm volume): "seize the moment. Regret goes away."  

The tendency toward "Increase" is also favorable.  Certainly, the modern connotations of the character 益, yi - "profit, benefit, advantage" - bode well for the pinstripes.  And the Judgment of this hexagram also encourages playing the game: "It furthers one to undertake something.  It furthers on to cross the great water."  All of this furthering suggests the Yanks will get through to the next stage of the playoffs.

It should be noted, however, that weather could be a problem.  Hexagram 59 is the combination of wind above and water below, and Hexagram 42 is wind above and thunder below; all of which suggests inclemency.  

But, whatever the weather, it looks like good fortune ahead for the Bronx Bombers. 

Go Yankees!                 

 

An Yi Jing Super Bowl Prediction: Seahawks Win!

Following up on my Sunzi Super Bowl analysis, I thought it might be good to consult the Yi Jing about the outcome of tomorrow's big game. This was made easier last evening by a group of friends who urged me to ask the oracle: "Will the Seahawks win?"  We were all at a local bar and the atmosphere was a bit boisterous.  But through the talk and laughter, an answer came into view: the Seahawks will, indeed, win.

I realize, since this is also the conclusion of my Sunzi analysis, that a Seahawks victory now appears overdetermined.  But, as the commentary below illustrates, things could go wrong for Seattle.  It will be a battle.  If, however, they do what the Yi Jing suggests, they will prevail.

The first hexagram I received from the Yi was 44, Kou, "Coming to Meet," with four - yes, count them, four! - moving lines, in the first, second, third, and ninth places, thus tending in the direction of, Sui, hexagram 17, "Following::

                                                         

                                   ====> 

 

 

Let's start with 44.  The broken yin line at the bottom is a key: it suggests a principle of darkness or weakness or inferiority rising up into a time of light and strength and superiority.  A kind of conflict or contention, or dare we say football game, is implied: strong v. weak.  Since I asked directly about the Seahawks, we could assume that the "strong," "light," "superior" force here is the Seattle team.  If that is the case, a struggle is foreseen. The Judgment ("Coming to meet. The maiden is powerful. One should not marry such a maiden") gets at the inherent danger when yang meets yin.  And the Image ("Under heaven, wind: The image of Coming to Meet.  Thus does the prince act when disseminating his command and proclaiming them to the four quarters of heaven") suggests that a leader (a quarterback calling plays?) must take command to manage the dangers of the opposing force.  And notice: the leader must be on his game for "four quarters."

Some more interesting points come in the line statements.  The six in the first place implies that the Seattle defense must play strong:

It [Pats offense?] must be checked with a brake of bronze.  Perseverance brings good fortune.  If one lets it [Pats offense] take its course, one experiences misfortune.  Even a lean pig has it in him to rage around.

The course of the Pats offense cannot be allowed to proceed unchecked.  The Hawks D has to persevere.  It is tempting to see the "lean pig" as a deflated football(!!!).  But maybe it is a warning not to take the Pats too lightly, which Seattle certainly will not do.

The rather gruesome image in the third line could point to an injury that might disrupt the Seahawks plans:

There is no skin on his thighs, and walking comes hard.  If one is mindful of the danger, no great mistake is made.

Whatever happens, they have to keep their heads, stick to the game plan, persevere through it all, even if an apparently significant injury takes a player out of the game.

The sixth line is rather foreboding:

He comes to meet with his horns. Humiliation.  No blame.

Wilhelm's commentary gives us this insight into this line: "There are many people who in a noble pride hold themselves aloof from all that is low and rebuff it brusquely wherever it comes to meet them.  Such persons are reproached for being proud and distant..."   Sounds like Marshawn Lynch and his dealings with the press... But, seriously, the invocation of humiliation could point a bad situation for the Seahawks.  The reason why I think that something better is in the offing for them is hexagram 17, the condition toward which things are tending.

The Judgment for "Following" is very favorable:

Following has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. No blame.

It is all about adaptation. If the Hawks do not try to force things, if they take what circumstances allow, if they follow the natural unfolding of the game, they will prevail.  

Here's what all of this suggests:  the game will be a close struggle, the forces of dark and light fighting it out.  The Pats might gain the upper hand early; the Hawks may suffer a significant injury and be trailing at halftime.  To win, the Seahawks will have to keep their heads, maintain their defensive strength, and adjust offensively at halftime.  If they are able to stay within the particular dynamics of the game and exploit their inherent strengths, they are going to come out on top: "supreme success."  And then Russell Wilson will be able to walk off the field toward a restful night, just as hexagram 17 says:

Thus the superior man at nightfall goes indoors for rest and recuperation.

Go Hawks!

A Sunzi Super Bowl Analysis and Prediction: Seahawks 21, Patriots 17

It has been a long while since I have attempted a Sunzi Super Bowl assessment.  My first foray was back in 2007 and, while the terms of the analysis were quite useful, my ultimate prediction came up short (damn you, Rex Grossman).  The next year I did not venture a specific prognostication, but my Sunzi-guided investigation yielded this insight: "...the Giants will have to exploit their [Patriots] attention there [on Plaxico Burris] and find other receiver options. "

Of course, no one could have foreseen that the ultimate "other receiver option" would turn out to be David Tyree, but Sunzi pointed me in that direction.

So it seems clear that Sunzi can be applied to football predictions, and that is precisely what I did in my class - a short course on Sunzi and its various applications - today.  The analysis yielded this outcome: Seahawks 21, Patriots 17.

The first step in using Sunzi to think about football is that which I took back in 2007:

 ....attack weaknesses, avoid strengths.  When we consider the strengths and weaknesses of each side we notice that the Colts' strength, their offense, is matched by the Bears' strength, their defense.  Thus, the best strategy for each side is not to expect the winning strike to come from that particular area.  The Colts offense will move the ball and score points; but the Bears' defense will come up with some big stops.  We have to assume that the Colts will score somewhere in the neighborhood of 28 points.  The Bears will not stop them completely, though they might limit them at key moments.  For all of its potency, however, the Colts offense will not be the key to the game.

 The crucial factors will be the weaknesses of each side: the Bears' offense and the Colts defense.  The team that holds the edge here, that is able to exploit the opponent's weakness, will have the advantage. 

Remember: the Colts actually scored 29 points that year...

But what about now?  It seems to me that the Seahawks defense is their greatest strength and the Patriots offense is their greatest strength.  Since Sunzi tells us that strength versus strength is unlikely to be the central dynamic of a strategic interaction, we need to contemplate how the Seahawks offense matches up against the Patriots defense.  But before getting to that, let's recall that when a strong Patriots offense (undefeated in 2008) twice matched up with a strong NY Giants defense, Tom Brady could only manage to score 14 points (2008) and 17 points (2012).  My sense is that the Seahawks defense is at least as good, if not better, than those Giants defenses, so we can reasonably expect that the Patriots will not exceed 17 points of offense.

But that is not the key confrontation.  I'm not alone in this way of thinking.  Here is Greg A. Bedard over at Sports Illustrated: "The Super Bowl matchup will hinge on the Seattle offense against the New England defense..."  His focus is correct, according to Sunzi, but his conclusions are wrong: he sees the Patriots winning 16 to 13 (notice that he, too, does not expect the Patriots to exceed their past performances against the Giants).  Now, granted, this is a very closely matched contest.  Things could hinge on a trick play or a fumble or the bounce of the ball.  But here is why Bedard is wrong and the Seahawks will score at least three touchdowns.

Seattle had the best rushing offense in the league during the regular season (New England was 18th).  Marshawn Lynch is, of course, a "beast."  He, alone, would cause the Pats fits.  But Seattle also runs the read option, and the Pats do not see this all that often; they are not used to having to account simultaneously for both an outstanding tail back and a smart and fast quarterback-as-running-threat.  Yes, they will have practiced it all week long (when not worrying about how they will be able to survive without deflating their footballs) but that is not the same as actually facing it.  

Handling the varied run options that Seattle brings will create problems for the Patriots secondary.  While it is true that Seattle was a lowly 26th in total receiving yards (Pats were 11th) when you look at average yards per reception the Hawks jump up to 8th (Pats were a much less impressive 25th). We all know what these comparisons illustrate: the Pats rely heavily on the short pass (which they will have more trouble completing against the Hawks tight, pressing coverage) while the Seahawks utilize the run more.  But when they do pass, Seattle passes longer because defenses are cheating forward to try to stop the run.  I do not think the Pats secondary is good enough (18th in defending against the pass; a stat where Hawks are number 1) to be able to counter the inevitable onslaught.

It is still a close call.  The Pats have some good players. Gronk may score a touchdown.  But on the straight match up, the Hawks have the edge.  As Sunzi might say: their weaker point (offense) is stronger than the Pats weaker point (defense).

Both sides will try trick plays, and this is perfectly in keeping with Sunzi, too.  From chapter 5 of the Bingfa:

凡戰者，以正合，以奇勝。

In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory.

Instead of Giles's translation of zheng (正) as "direct" and qi (奇) as "indirect," we might go with "orthodox" and "unorthodox."  The implication is the same, however: whichever side can pull off a surprise, an unorthodox trick play, could come away with a victory.

So, I think the Seahawks will win.  They should win on the head to head competition.  But if they fail to pull it off, it may well be due to some ruse that Belichick and company pull.

Let's end with a warm memory: 

The Dao of Wolverines

Just had to mention this article, which reports that Jon Horford, a forward on the University of Michigan basketball team, is a student of the Daodejing.  Fantastic.  And it seems that the young man has a good grasp on the text:

"You can't say it's about nothing, but that's one of the main things -- just do nothing," he said of the book. "It's about returning yourself to your original nature, how you were before you were affected by everything around you."

That "everything around you" includes all of those social expectations and demands that obstruct our openness to Way.  "Original nature" could be problematic - we should steer clear of essentialist assertions of "human nature" - but the sense of unadulterated spontaneity is quite apt.

I would recommend that Horford next read the classic Cook Ding passage in chapter three of Zhuangzi, which came up in my class today.  That strikes me as the best statement of how an athlete might experience Dao:

And now ‑ now I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and understanding have come to a stop and spirit moves where it wants.

In other words, he is "in the zone," able to accomplish extraordinary physical feats without thinking, to be totally in the moment and react with utter finesse to the immediate context, rather like cutting to the rim in one explosive movement or making the no-look pass. Indeed, it is that sort of openness that inspires my own identity as a Daoist Yankee fan (and thus, I am not rattled by yesterday's poor showing from the Bronx Bombers....)

So, hooray for Mr. Horford, a man who is opening himself to Dao.  I am, first and foremost, a Badger, but I am happy to cheer for the Wolverines in the Final Four.  Maybe the Michigan cheerleaders can chant this from passage 22 of the DDJ (Hinton):

Give up self-relfection and you're soon enlightened.

Give up self-definition and you're soon apparent.

Give up self-promotion and you're soon proverbial.

Give up self-esteem and you're soon perennial.

Simply give up contention and soon nothing in all beneath heaven contents with you.

Do Nothing Blue -  and there is nothing that will be undone!

Baseball Yi Jing Wisdom

On Friday night I had the pleasure of talking with Jim Bouton, a former pitcher for the New York Yankees.  Regular readers will remember that I am a Yankees fan, a Daoist Yankees fan at that.  So, it was quite fun to be able to sit and talk with a guy who played with Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris and had some very successful years in his own right (he went 21-7 in 1963 and won two World Series games in 1964).  I should add that Bouton was in town for the Williamstown Film Festival, which screened the new movie, "Knuckleball," that Bouton discussed for the crowd afterward.  It was a fun night (thanks Sandra!).

I had to think a bit about what questions to ask Bouton.  Fawning queries about what it was like to play with Mantle seemed rather juvenile.  So I did a bit of research and, when the chance emerged, asked him: what happened to the Yankees in 1965?

Baseball fans know that the Yanks were a powerful team in the 1950s-early 1960s.  From 1950-1959 they played in eight of the ten World Series, winning six of them.  From 1960-1964, they played in all five World Series, winning two, in 1961 and 1962.  But then it all came to a crashing end in 1965.  That yes, their regular season record fell to 77-85 for a lowly sixth place in the American League.  A disaster.

Bouton joined the team in 1962, just in time for what would turn out to be their last World Series victory for fifteen years (1977 was the next).  For several years, he was a stalwart of the regular rotation.  He was arguably the best pitcher in the 1964 Series (his ERA was 1.56; Bob Gibson's was 3.00).  And then he was there for the 1965 meltdown.

His answer to my question - what happened to team in 1965; why did they fall so far? - was simple and direct:

We all got old at the same time.

There is an obvious truth there - both in general and in particular. In partiuclar, the 1965 Yankees were plagued by injuries.  Mantle and Maris and Howard were all out for prolonged periods.  Whitey Ford, and Bouton himself, had arm problems.  There were other issues as well.  After the 1964 season they fired the manager, Yogi Berra, and the team ownership changed hands. 

But Bouton did not explicitly raise these particulars, things he knows so well.  What he said, of course, is a much larger statement: we are all getting older simultaneously always.  That is what time and age are all about.  We often don't notice the gradual transformations that accompany the ineluctable movement of time.  Yet there are moments when the accumlated changes suddenly add up to a qualitative shift: we are not now what we were then.  It is at moments like those that it is also good to remember that what we are now is not what we will be.

1965 was one of those moments for the New York Yankees.  They had been a dominant team, a team for the ages, but then, all of a sudden, but not really, they were something else again.  It is reminiscent of the Yi Jing, hexagram 55, "Abundance," the Judgment of which is:

Abudnace has success. The King attains abudance.  Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday.

It is describing a moment of accomplishment and power, of fullness, rather like the 1964 Yankees.  But then is says: "Be not sad."  Why would one be sad at the very moment of maximum gain?  Because it cannot last.  It must decline, like the sun at midday.  One of the commentaries on this hexgram goes on:

When the sun stands at midday, it begins to set; when the moon is full, it begins to wane.  The fullness and emptiness of heaven and earth wane and wax in the course of time.  How much truer is this of men, or of spirits and gods!

Jonathan Spence quotes this passage in a discussion of the great Chinese emperor Qianlong (101-102).  And it seems to capture what Bouton experienced in 1965.  We all get old at the same time and, before you know it, the moment of our greatest triumph has slipped away. 

I wonder if Bouton has ever consulted the Yi Jing?

The Olympics and Selective Westernization

I think it is safe to say that the Olympics, as a concept and "movement," emerged in the modern era as a European project to universalize certain values of competition and character-building.  A Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, revived a Greek ideal, a latter day version of the Hellenism that was so common to the consolidation of a modern "Western" identity.  It has proved to be successful beyond the wildest dreams of its inventors.  This year, 204 countries have sent athletes to London to compete.  And no country has been more successful than the PRC, sitting today atop the gold medal count.

The PRC government has obviously made Olympic victory a national priority.  It has spent extraordinary sums of money, and created a vast sports training system, to achieve very impressive results.   

It is odd, then, that certain strains of anger and resentment have emerged in the Chinese media.  Yes, some unfortunate things have happened to Chinese athletes.  I think the statements questioning Ye Shiwen went too far.  The badminton and bicycling complaints, however, are hardly the stuff of a global anti-China conspiracy.  Shit happens - just ask the 1972 US men's basketball team.  Get over it and move on.  Indeed, it should be easy to move on: China has been fabulously successful at this Olympics.  Why dwell on the negative, much of which seems just to be bad luck, when there are so many fantastic victories, like Feng Zhe on the parallel bars:

Feng’s routine was filled with intricate combinations, yet he did them with the precision of an artist and the rhythm of a musician. He held his handstands for what seemed like forever, looking like a statue, and there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation as he went from one skill straight into another. 

While I hesitate to make too much of the Olympics - I don't think they mean anything in terms of real global power and influence - I can't help but notice the irony in the PRC government, which regularly tells us that it resists "Westernization" and cherishes unique Chinese cultural accomplishments, expending of so much wealth and national energy to show the world just how well it can "Westernize" by succeeding in a European-inspired endeavor to recreate and romanticize an imagined Greek past.  Yes, yes, I am perfectly aware of postcolonial theory... but it's still ironic. (I'm using scare quotes for "Westernization" because most of what is refered to by this concept is about modernization)

Putting so much emphasis on athletic competition, and using the vast amount of resources to ensure victories, is certainly not a Confucian virtue.  Confucius himself thought that "gentlemen" - junzi: 君 子 - noble-minded persons who live morally upright lives, should not strive for winning sporting contests in archery:

The Master said: "The noble-minded never contend.  It's true that archery is a kind of contention.  But even then, they bow and yield to each other when stepping up to the range.  And when they step down, they toast each other.  Even in contention they retain their nobility." (3.7)

子曰：「君子無所爭，必也射乎！揖讓而升，下而飲，其爭也君子。」

The Master said: "People's strength differs.  So, in archery, shooting through the target-skin isn't the point.  That is the way of the ancient." (3.16)

子曰：「射不主皮，為力不同科，古之道也。」

Putting those two together sounds rather like the old saying: it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game. 

It's hard to imagine Confucius sitting in the stands, waving a flag and yelling "jiayou!"  And he would certainly see the cost to some athletes, in terms of the damage done to family relations, as in the case of Lin Qingfeng, as simply and completely unacceptable.  Most likely, he would rather the money spent on Olympic preparation go to the preservation of historical and cultural relics and to social programs to ease economic inequality.  

But, of course, the Olympics are hardly the only aspect of contemporary Chinese society that is un-Confucian...

Let me be clear: I think China's Olympic success is fine, though the excesses of training regimes and gold-medal obsessions are a bit much.  I have no problem with Chinese people engaging in any aspects of cultural modernization that they like.  Indeed, I think the development of sports in China has opened up new avenues for the cultural expression of Chinese-ness - and that's great.  I imagine beach volleyball would have been considered "spiritual pollution" in the early 1980s; now, it's just fun and exciting.

I don't expect modern Chinese society to be Confucian.

What bugs me, however, is when sanctimonious Party ideologues argue that "Westernization" is anathema to Chinese culture and unsuited to Chinese realities, when, in fact, the Party embraces those aspects of "Westernization" that serve its power interests (global capitalist trade and finance; Westphalian notions of sovereignty; Monroe Doctrine-like claims to the South China Sea; deals with Hollywood producers; Olympic victories) and reject those that would challenge its political hegemony ("Western" multi-party democracy).  The worries about "Westernization," on the part of CCP elites, is not about cultural authenticity, it's about a narrower concern with maintaining the political power of a one-party state, which itself is a rather "Western" idea.  

Let's be honest guys.  There's plenty about "Westernization" that you like; it's just that democracy thing you're trying to avoid.

Mao Zedong and the PRC's Olympic Gold Anxiety

First of all, let me send out congratulations to all the Chinese athletes at the London Olympics.  There have been many outstanding accomplishments, gold and non-gold, for a truly great team.

And much has been made about the gold rush.  Over at CDT is a roundup of various stories that look into the PRC's "Olympic fetish for first."  Take this op-ed from the Party-managed Global Times :

There are people who blame institutional problems for China's gold medal obsession.

They argue that the existing system purely pushes athletes to get the gold medals and the public should never worry about gold medals that much.

There are certainly problems here. But that's no excuse for giving up the pursuit of the top.

It identifies the problem - "gold medal obsession" - and begins to think through the reasons it exists.  The title of that same op-ed, "Historical weakness creates China's gold medal fixation," suggests a longer-term dynamic at work, as do these lines:

China was known as "the sick man of Asia," torn by war and poverty. Liu Changchun, who was the first Chinese to participate in the Olympic Games in 1932, was sponsored by the warlord Chang Hsueh-liang as the first representative of war-torn China.

Liu arrived only three days before the opening ceremony, after a nearly month-long journey from Shanghai to Los Angeles. Finally, he was eliminated in the preliminary round.

China didn't win its first Olympic medal until 1984. It is understandable that China puts such weight on gold medals.

But notice: there is a rather significant stretch of time between 1932 and 1984.  A lot happened in China then, including the revolutionary victory and political domination of Maoism.  The op-ed alludes only indirectly to the "Red sun that never sets:"

 During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), China deliberately lost games or conceded points to other countries in international competitions as part of a diplomatic sports policy of "friendship first, competition second."

This approach actually showed no respect for athletes from other countries. It was a perverted notion of sportsmanship.

There is much more to be said here.  Indeed, an argument came be made that the destruction wrought by Maoism on China from 1958-1976 is the primary determinant in the PRC government's current obsession with winning Olympic gold now.

Mao actually supported sports and physical culture.  What might be the first article he published was on the importance of physical exercise in strengthening the nation.  So, it was not too surprising when the newly established PRC sent athletes to the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.    But it seems that the division with Taiwan created a "two Chinas" problem that caused the PRC to stay away for the 1956 games in Melbourne and thereafter until 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid.

In the interim Mao and Maoism had metastasized into a political movement hell-bent on destroying counter-revolutionaries and those taking the "capitalist road."  The Great Leap Forward devastated the country.  Millions died.  Administrative structures were destroyed.  While sport may have been the least of the losses, it, too, was fundamentally damaged.  How could an effective national sports system be maintained when people were starving?  In an article (pdf!), "Sport, Maoism and the Beijing Olympics," Dong-Jhy Hwang and Li-Ke Chang point out that the GLF was a "...considerable setback for sport
and physical education...".  And they go on to analyze the damage wrought by the Cultural Revolution:

Following on the heels of the Great Leap Forward, the developmentof sports in the early stage of the Cultural Revolutionwas affected by disruption of competitive sports, the dismantling of the training system, the closure of sports schools, the discontinued participation of Chinese teams in overseas competitions, and the condemnation and persecution of outstanding athletes as offspring of the bourgeoisie.

In short, Maoism devastated sports in China. 

Essentially, then, due to political decisions at the highest levels of power in the PRC, China was cut off from the Olympics for thirty years, a time period of significant improvement in sporting technologies and efforts around the world.   What had held China back was not that it had been, in the previous century, the "sick man of Asia," but that Mao and the Party leadership denied the country systematic development of sports infrastructure and competition.

The current PRC government is running to catch up and surpass the "West" in Olympic competition, not simply as pay-back for 19th century imperialism, but also to further bury the destruction of the Maoist period.  Indeed, my sense is that it really has more to do with the latter than the former, because the latter is the thing that animates so much of post-1979 PRC but is also the thing that cannot be fully confronted.

Every time a PRC athelete kisses a gold medal, he or she is proclaiming to the world that Mao Zedong was wrong.  They have succeed in something Mao rejected - not sport in and of itself, but "bourgeois, Western" sports competition.  They have rejected the old "friendship first, competition second" dictum, and embraced the competitive and materialist culture that Mao struggled against. 

But, of course, you can't say that in the PRC today, when Mao's mausoleum is being put forward for "World Heritage" status....

LeBron James, Daoist Sage

OK, not really.  But one aspect of the narrative of his NBA championship did bring Zhuangzi to mind (I'm reading Zhuangzi and the Daodejing closely just now,  so many things bring Daoism to mind...).

Last year, when he failed, James says that he was distracted by criticism of others, looking to get back at his detractors:

"I was playing to prove people wrong last year, and people would say I was selfish, and that got to me,'' said James. "That got to me a lot because I know that this is a team game. All last year I tried to prove people wrong, prove you guys wrong, and it wasn't me. At the end of the day, I was basically fighting against myself.

"The best thing that happened to me last year was us losing the Finals, and me playing the way I played -- it was the best thing to ever happen in my career because I got back to the basics. It humbled me. I knew what it was going to have to take, and I was going to have to change as a basketball player, and I was going to have to change as a person to get what I wanted. It happened, just one year later.''

And those are clearly bad motives that, in the end, kept him from playing his best when it mattered most.  This year, he cleared his mind:

I trusted my instincts, I trusted my habits that I built over the years and I just got back to being myself. And I didn’t care too much about what anyone said about me. I just kind of made my own path, but did it the right way.”

"Getting back to basics" - which in this case might mean focusing on the small immediate tasks and letting the larger issues unfold as they may - "being myself," "trusted my instincts,""made my own path:" all of these themes can be found in Zhuangzi.  The story of the butcher, which begins chapter 3, is always a good starting place for thinking about how athletes develop an inward-focused practice that allows them to move through and master the flow of circumstance (and it helps explain the phenonenon of the Daoist Yankee Fan).  But let me add a few lines from chapter 4, where Zhuangzi is putting words into the mouth of Confucius.  In giving advice to a minister on how to carry out a mission from the king:

If you serve your own mind, joy and sorrow rarely appear.  If you know what's beyond your control, if you know it follows its own inevitable nature and you live at peace - that is integrity perfected.  Children and ministers inevitably find much that is beyond them.  But if you forget about yourself and always do what circumstances require of you, there's no time to cherish life and despise death.  Then you do what you can, and whatever happens is fine.

That notion of "integrity perfected" - 德之至也 - also has the connotation of a higher degree of "power."  De - 德 - suggests a power, an efficacy in the world, emanating from the particular quality of a thing in context.  To realize that power, one has to be true to oneself, integral in and of oneself.  We should not try to be something we are not or act in ways that others might expect, if those lead us away from our innate qualities. 

And that seems to be what James has come around to.  Last year, he lost track of himself; this year, in trusting his instincts, he brought his de - 德 - power to its fullest potential.

Jeremy Lin and Chinese Soft Power

 

Let me add my voice to the chorus: Linsanity is Lintastic! By now, everyone knows Jeremy Lin and his marvelous emergence in the NBA.   Not only in the US, but in China as well, where he seems to be overshadowing the retired Yao Ming as a national basketball champion. 

And here's one of the interesting things about all this: rather like Gary Locke, Lin is an American who is creating a new symbol of Chinese cultural accomplishment.  And that, I think, is not good news for the culture warriors in China desperately in search of home-grown products that will boost the PRC's "soft power" abroad.

Let me put out a quick disclaimer: I personally am a cultural anti-nationalist in the sense that I recognize that cultural production and significance cannot be contained within national boundaries or categories.  Some Americans might comfortably identify with cultural products produced elsewhere - and that's fine.  Some Chinese might comfortably identify with cultural products produced elsewhere - and that's fine, too.  Nationalists - American or Chinese - who are hell-bent on denouncing cultural exchange and inter-mingling are not only unrealistic (cultures have always and everywhere flowed together) but they are impoverished in their imaginations....

That said, to Chinese nationalists who worry about "...international hostile forces [that] are intensifying the strategic plot of Westernizing and dividing China..." (I'm looking at you Hu Jintao), Jeremy Lin is a potential problem.  He is, after all, an American.  As some have noted, his story seems paradigmatic of the "American dream."  He is obviously proud of his Chinese-Taiwanese heritage, but his life has been shaped by his Chinese-Taiwanese-American context and experience.  The problem, then, for Chinese nationalists who would like to appropriate the Lin narrative as a symbol of some sort of purely Chinese cultural accomplishment is the impossibility of disaggregating the reality of his Chinese-Taiwanese-American-ness. 

This has not yet happened yet, as far as I know.  Lin has been embraced by the Chinese public but the cultural commissars, who pressed back against Gary Locke's popularity, have yet to weigh in on the rise of Lin.  Though I did notice this headline from China Daily: "Lin's good, but not as good as Yao - NBA boss."  Of course, no one would contend, at this point, that Lin's career, which is all but two weeks old, comes close to Yao's.  But why does this even need to be said now?

It might be that there is already an anxiety stirring in the minds of Chinese nationalists.  Here is yet another cultural sensation, drawing the adulation of Chinese youth, that is produced in the US.  It's another Kung Fu Panda.  The Lin story plays more to a US "soft power" narrative than a PRC one.   Indeed, Lin might be more dangerous than Lady Gaga (are her songs still banned?).  He is, at once "Chinese" but not, for PRC nationalist purposes, sufficiently "Chinese."

And things might be really interesting if cross-Strait politics enter the equation.  Will someone in the PRC require him to de-emphasize his Taiwanese-ness?  Will he play more to a KMT or DPP Taiwan narrative?  That could get a bit dicey...

Let me be clear: personally, I think Lin should be free to identify himself as he wants and to do what he wants, without social and cultural baggage.  But that is not the way cultural politics works, especially when nationalists get involved.  If Lin wants to play for a Chinese or Taiwanese national team in international competition, as has been suggested, that's fine with me.  If he plays on a US team, that's good, too.  Whatever.  I sense, however, that these issues, and the continuing question of his popularity and identity within the PRC will create some rather perilous politics for him in the not-too-distant future....

In the meantime: Go Knicks! Linsanity!...

UPDATE: Well, that didn't take long:

Is 'Linsanity' Driving the Chinese Government Crazy?

China, Taiwan Both Lay Claim to Jeremy Lin

Mariano Rivera: Daoist Sage

Baseball fans out there know that history was made yesterday: New York Yankee Mariano Rivera set the all time record for career saves.  I (and, remember, I am a Daoist Yankee fan...) was lucky enough to listen to the final inning on the radio.  A great day for New York. And for those Yankee aficionados out there: if I heard correctly, announcer John Sterling was so excited at Rivera's achievement that he forgot his signature "The Yankees Win!" send off...

In any event, Riveria is widely respected and is a humble man of few words.  He finds solace and meaning in his Christian faith, but his approach to life is consistent with certain Daoist values as well.  Take this passage from today's coverage in the NYT:

Afterward, the 41-year-old Rivera was as selfless as humanly possible. When one reporter — Sweeny Murti of WFAN — asked him a question about celebrating his achievement, Rivera responded by pointing out that Murti had just become the father of a baby daughter and should be congratulated himself.

It was that sort of gesture by Rivera that made Manager Joe Girardi so pleased that Posada and Rodriguez had steered him back to the mound to get his moment alone with the crowd.

“It was a great idea on their part to let Mo get his due,” Girardi said. “Mo doesn’t ever really want to talk about what he does.”

He never want to talk about what he does... now, where have I heard that before?...

Sincere words are never beautiful and beautiful words are never sincere.  The noble are never eloquent and the eloquent never noble.  The knowing are never learned and the learning never knowing.

A sage never hoards: the more you do for others the more plenty is yours, and the more you give to others the more abundance is yours.

The Way of heaven is to profit without causing harm, and the Way of a sage to act without contending. (DDJ, 81)

His lack of words reveals his Daoist nobility...