Eyes of a Traveler

Once there was a traveler with deep green eyes. They peered out at the Earth and were of astonishing size. They were calm, but piercing, as if they could penetrate any object. In his youth, this traveler would love to be up in high places, and would sit on hilltops and craggy terrain, watching as the clouds drifted by and dreaming of distant lands. One day as he was gazing out across the horizon, a wolf happened upon him. This was an old wolf, but appeared to have quite a bit of spirit. Its eyes were firm, but tired as if after a lifetime of bickering with younger upstarts. The eyes of the wolf and the traveler-boy met. For an hour they stared at each other, but the impenetrably wise yellow of the wolf could not intimidate the immovably warm green of the traveler-boy. Without expression, the old wolf lay down next to the boy and, too, looked out past the horizon. From that day forward, the wolf and the boy would meet most days at the craggy hilltop, breathing in their lifetimes.

As the traveler-boy grew up, he had to go to school. His life became hectic and busy with expected productivity. At the schoolyard, there were a pair of cats. They had brilliant ebony coats and they would laze in the Sun and play, cleaning each other and relaxing all day. The cats annoyed the traveler-boy, and he wondered what kind of creature could shrug off all expectations while surrounded by such a productive society. He began going to the same hilltop everyday for brief repose before expectations would catch up with him. He grew to look forward to meeting his wolf friend. In the days that the wolf was not there, he would become sad. Thus his life continued for a while, his happiness anchored to the days he could share company with the wolf. As he grew older, however, he grew tired of the constant busy-busy of productive life, and tired of schooling. His mind once again began to wander off to admire unknown lands. The lifestyle of the cats began to grow on him, and he even began to admire them as they played, their coats gleaming in the Sunlight. He began to wish for the life of a cat, without expectations and live for themselves, without relying on others.

Watching the cats, his green eyes began to harden. He became independent and introspective, gaining a strong sense of self. Others began to look at the traveler-boy with respect. In relationships with others, his green eyes began to learn how to pierce the reflection of light on the water, and later, to pierce the defenses of others, seeing their true intent. The more his eyes could see, the harder they became, and while he grew to know many people, there were very few who could come to say they truly knew him. He began to rely on his eyes and even attracted the attention of the schoolyard cats. Gradually, they began to hang out and play, relaxing in the Sun together. The wolf began to notice a change in the traveler-boy, and he came by less and less often. The traveler-boy, however, didn't notice, and--in fact--had forgotten his times with the wolf. He also cared less about those distant lands, instead planning on setting up a comfortable life in the same town, where he did not need to work very hard or live too big. Indeed, he wished to be close to the cats. He confided his desires to the cats, but they laughed, telling him that he could never be a cat. Cats never could have human responsibilities. They did say, though, that his eyes were quite special, and maybe better, even, than a cat's. With that, the two cats left the schoolyard and never returned.

The traveler-boy began to rely on his eyes, trusting their hardness and ability to carry him through life. They made things easier, and he could almost picture living like a cat. In fact, so much did he love his long-departed cat-friends that he decided to create a pair of his own. His eyes shielded his heart from the outside world, and therefore he had been able to build up a great deal of emotion behind them. Using his heart strings, he allowed his eyes to soften, and let two tears drop from them. These tears from his heart turned into flowers as they hit the ground, and opened up to reveal two black cats with brilliant orange stripes. They purred and rubbed themselves on his knees. He began to trust the cats too, becoming attached to them, and they to him. They shared everything and grew closer. The cats were independent and wild, always inconsistent and vain, but he found it exciting and cute--just like their shimmering orange stripes. They made promises to each other and became like siblings.

This traveler-boy had not completely forgotten his dreams beyond the horizon, and when he'd grown older still, he took some brief time to travel the world. He saw things he'd never imagined, and met people he'd never thought he would. He missed his cats terribly, though, and decided to return to them. So he returned, his eyes more enchanting than ever and filled with the memories of distant lands. When he came back, he spotted his cats' striped bodies from across the street. They embraced and talked, catching up with each other. Relaxing together, they slept underneath the stars.

When the traveler-boy awoke, he could not open his eyes. No matter how he tried, the world remained dark. He called for his cats, but there was no reply. He felt around his eyes, but his fingers only probed empty sockets. His body felt weak, but he got up and hobbled down the cobbled street, following the grooves of dry brick wall down to the river. Still calling for his cats in a now thin and raspy voice, he dipped his hands in the cool moving water to splash the darkness from his face. His hands touched what felt like fuzzy strips of cloth. A voice from behind him said simply, "How odd, orange stripes," and faded. The traveler-boy asked with alarm, "Have you seen my cats?!" The fading voice only mentioned a pairs of black cats which had left town that morning. Cats with enchantingly piercing green eyes.

Years later, the traveler-boy had grown considerably, and would now be called a man. He had spent his years wandering through worlds, stretched throughout an eternal space. His world was no longer bright and hopeful, but drenched in eternal dark. He appeared much older than his years, as if after a lifetime of bickering with younger upstarts. His body could not hold out much longer, as it had been used to relying on its eyes. Tired at last, the traveler climbed to the top of what he could only guess was a hill and sat down on the craggy surface. Leaning against a rock, he placed his head in his hands and wept. A furry head placed itself in his lap. Astonished, the traveler asked whose it was, resting on his legs. "One with no need to learn new tricks," was the only reply. The traveler smiled, as he pet the wolf's mane. They breathed out their lifetimes, the old and the lame.

The Three Great Games

It is said that the three great original games are chess, backgammon, and go (wéiqí 围棋); they are said to represent the three human conditions. The origins of chess are debated, but the earliest definite record of chess is from around the 6th century BCE in China during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代), although some say it had Indian influences. Chess is a military game of attack and defense strategy against a definite opponent. Backgammon comes from ancient Persia, and is a game of luck, although there is a great deal of strategy as well. Moves are made based on a roll of dice. While an opponent is clearly present, the object of the game is to win by clearing the board of your own pieces. Igo, or wéiqí, also originated in China. Legends say it was invented by Chinese emperor 尧 (Yao) in around 2300-something BCE, but the earliest written records are from around the 4th century BCE. It is also a game between two players, but the object of the game is to influence and end up controlling the free space on the board. It is an extremely complex (though visually simplistic) game of tactics. One may choose to engage the other player or not.

Chess has many variations in the world. International chess is (surprise-surprise) Western chess, where each player has one king (can move in all directions once) one queen (can move in all directions infinitely), two bishops (can move diagonally infinitely), two castles (can move horizontally and vertically infinitely), two knights (can move in any combination of two spaces in one direction then one space in another), and eight pawns (can move one space forward, and may only attack diagonally one space). The square board has 64 spaces and the goal of the game is to use the game pieces to strategically "checkmate" the enemy's king, or to put the king in a position where no move can save the life of the king.

Backgammon is one of a family of table games, and consists of a square board with 12 isosceles triangles on two sides pointing at each other. These triangles are called "points". The pieces move in a "C" shape from one end of the board down and around back to the same side. Moves are determined by a role of the dice, and vary greatly depending on the combination of dice rolls. By landing on unprotected pieces, you can capture your opponents pieces, and by setting up rows of your pieces, you can block his/her movements. The game ends when you can clear the board of all your pieces by getting them all to the end.

(I)go, or wéiqí, is also played on a square board, although they traditionally sold as whole tables. The board is a square grid of 19x19 lines. The pieces are round black and white stones. The objective of igo is in its name; wéiqí (围棋) literally means "surround, chess". The game is won by surrounding, or capturing more space on the board than your opponent. An opponent's piece is "captured" by surrounding it--taking all the spaces adjacent to it. That space has then been captured. A space can be captured without an opponent being involved at all. Merely by surrounding the space, a player prevents the other player from ever taking it, making it captured territory by default. One can easily begin to see how while an opponent is clearly necessary and evident, interaction between the players is tactical at times and arbitrary at other. Of the two chess games played in China, Go was seen as the intellectual while chess was seen as the game of the masses.

These three games are said to represent "man vs. man" (chess), "man vs. nature/fate" (backgammon), and "man vs. himself" (go). Some say they represent the West, Asia (and mid-east) and East-Asia respectively. Western motivations tend to be very direct and Machiavellian, and for westerners to take themselves out of their dominant culture to see the motivations of others is no easy task. The concept of "man vs. himself" has inundated China for thousands of years and continues to be an important concept when analyzing different cultures and politics, especially a difference as vast as between East-Asia and the West.