The Chinese Coins

Wisdom (心智)

The coin presents a dire warning if the humble origin of our wisdom – the past – is ignored in our desire to continually look ahead, attempting to create the future we desire.

It is this desire that blinds us to the wisdom and lessons of the past.

Reflection (反思 )

The poem by Wang Wei that draws attention to our tendency to overlook the familiar – our natural environment, and just how much we are reflected in it.

Have we become too blasé about our connection with the natural world? It is perhaps this failure on our part that has caused us to see ourselves as separate, and not an intrinsic part of nature, and our environment

Connection (相连 )

By not seeing ourselves as a part of nature has changed our relationship with it; and in the process, severing our virtuous connection with it.

Has the need to OWN nature, to subject it to our will, replaced a primarily virtuous and benevolent connection with a malevolent one?

Conciliation (调和 )

By constantly trying to adapt and change the environment to suit our needs, we have severed a conciliatory relationship with nature.

We forget that conciliation is a vital component in the process of adaptation. It is needed to find a benign ‘fit’ with the environment. Though pandas primarily eat bamboo, they are still carnivores and would eat meat when it is available. They found a ‘fit’ with their environment that allowed it and others to thrive.

Empathy (同情 )

Are we distancing ourselves from the problems because we are daunted by the magnitude of them? Is our only recourse that of standing alone and weeping?

These poignant questions are now being asked. The poem brings to light the feeling of alienation that our ailing planet presently engenders in us; alienation due to our inability to empathise perhaps.

Worth (价值 )

The will to save the ecosystems of the planet hinges on changing our perception of worth; changing the yardstick we use to assign ‘value’. The modern value system is one where a dollar value is attached to everything.

We have to see real value in ‘emptiness’ and ‘not using’ before we see the benefits of habitat restoration, and the need for sustainable livelihoods.

Balance (均衡 )

Achieving balance is about balancing the dichotomy of creation and destruction. Destruction is accepted as an intrinsic part of creation, but the trail of destruction left in the wake of modern creation has left the planet unsustainable.

The Dao De jing understands this destructive/creative dichotomy, it warns us to be mindful of our ends and not be blinded by our desires at the beginning. Let not modern consumption be an end in itself.

Reverence (尊敬 )

We are reminded once again of the sacred attachment we have with our world; a connection that has been lost.

The reverence we accorded it for sustaining us have to be restored.

Harmony (太和 )

The coin speaks of the grand harmony that is needed for the planet to flourish. It is an ideal that has modern relevance; our disharmony with nature; our environment is the source of earth’s woes.

Do we not sense the same thing; this belief that restoring a harmonious relationship with our environment will cure the planet of its many ills?