A Recluse in the Modern World

This weekend I visited Lion's Head Mountain (獅頭山), known to my students from its description in Judith Berling's book, A Pilgrim in Chinese Culture.  As she describes in such detail -- though the book was published nearly thirty years ago, her descriptions still hold true -- the hike up the "front" (前山) features a diverse series of "Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian" temples, while in the hike down the "back" (後山) one encounters several Buddhist nunneries in succession to the "rear gate" of the mountain.

Most intriguing of all, though, was the lovely spot where I spent the night, "A Place between the Streams and Clouds" (水雲間), pictured here.

The night foggy and mysterious, the early morning clear and magnificent.

One of the most pleasant aspects of this place was the proprietor, a slight man of seventy with a bright smile, and carrying a small pair of trimming shears whenever I saw him.  He is a true "noble recluse" (隱士) of the modern world, having retired from his dentist's practice five years ago to buy some land and build an inn in the mountains (registered as a "guest house" -- 民俗 derived from the Japanese minshuku).  Here, he lives with his "mistress" (as described to me by the cab driver who took me up the mountain to the inn), a stout woman of indeterminate age who boasts about the unusual ingredients she uses in her cooking (one of my favorites was a rose hip powder she used when frying peanuts, as well as the sweet butter she added to her steamed breads).  This proprietess was charming in her own way, with her ruddy complexion and great appreciation for the outdoors - and so it came as no surprise to me that my host boasted an "active sex life" (健康的性生活) among the many benefits of living in such a lovely and invigorating place.

When I asked him how he was faring financially in this venture, he admitted that it was no match for practicing dentistry in the city, but he would never want to return -- in fact, of the eight students in his graduating class from dental school, he is the only survivor!  ("In those days, we didn't use gloves," he said, by way of explanation.)

At the end of my visit, my host offered to drive me to the bus station, an experience approaching a free fall down a double black diamond ski run, as we went careening down the mountain in his 70's vintage Honda.  He had driven it so many times that he anticipated every curve in advance, and miraculously squeezed past two vehicles we encountered on the way up -- a logging "truck" (more like a mini-pickup) and his "good-for-nothing neighbor" (the same neighbor, I assumed, who had reported him to the authorities for building on protected land, costing him some 150,000 NT dollars - about US$5,000 -- in fines).  I sympathized, as I could not have imagined a more tasteful place, with its you-trees and wild cherries, and every manner of potted plant lining the forest paths, and all I wished for was to return.