Do fashion and innovation belong only to the Y-generation? Liang Chi-yuan is an old man, but he is as good as any young person in creating new ideas. By constantly creating and giving, he lives an interesting and fulfilling life, oblivious of his advanced age.

Seventy-three years of age, Liang Chi-yuan is better known as "Papa Liang." He is a retired government worker and has a comfortable pension. His fairly young wife, Lin Yueh-yun, is a diligent Buddhist and a devoted member of Tzu Chi. Every week, Papa Liang has tea and enjoys old songs with his old friends, who have become fewer over the years and all the more precious to him. Walking, physical exercise, hiking and travelling are his secrets for staying fit. He developed his hobbies of photography, cooking and calligraphy when he was young and they continue to enrich his life now. By constantly creating and giving, he lives an interesting and fulfilling life, oblivious of his advanced age.

A cook with a style of his own

Steamed rice dotted with different kinds of grains, bean curd leaves and sliced dried bean curd with soybean sauce, seasonal bamboo shoots with salad dressing, pickles, green peas and lotus seeds boiled together, and kelp soup with slices of lotus root. These dishes make a delicious, nutritious lunch, easy for the host to prepare but readily enjoyed by the guests.

Papa Liang tasted all sorts of delicacies while he was growing up in his native Shanghai, and he once ran his own restaurant. Thus he is indeed a gourmet and a picky eater. However, the food he sets on the table reflects the nature of his life after his retirement--on the surface it may look simple, but savored carefully it is delectable and fulfilling.

Papa Liang's art of cooking can be traced back to 1963, when he worked for the Taiwan provincial government. At that time, the governor felt that people wasted too much time and money on meals, and so he promoted the development of restaurants that would provide simple food with quick service. Papa Liang opened the first such restaurant, which became the model for the cafeterias that are so popular in Taiwan today.

"I was interested in cooking, so I often went to watch the chefs work," said Papa Liang. After much observation and experimentation, he himself became a skilled cook.

Ever since Tzu Chi started to hold summer camps, he has gone to the Tzu Chi Junior College of Nursing every summer to do volunteer work in the kitchen. In addition to his popular main dishes, Papa Liang always prepares iced compotes and beverages, a different kind each day, to help students cool off from the summer heat.

In his cooking class at the Tzu Chi liaison office in Chungho, Taipei County, he teaches everyday home cooking, but he stresses the importance of involving both parents and children in the process. "It is simple and economical to cook at home, and the children can work together with you on holidays. Since city children don't have any mud or clay to play with, they can have a lot of fun kneading dough. And more kneading makes the dough more chewy!"

What makes Papa Liang different from other cooking instructors is that in his recipes, he only lists the ingredients and the procedures. He never indicates the quantity of each ingredient or the seasonings, because he thinks everybody should make the dishes according to their own tastes.

A skilled photographer and calligrapher

"My calligraphy used to be just passable. Once they needed someone to write posters for a Parent/Child Camp, so I volunteered. Since I had been out of practice and didn't write very well, I thought I should improve my skill, so I started practicing. The more I practiced, the more interested I became. Never did I imagine I would be teaching calligraphy today." Papa Liang has been giving free calligraphy lessons for three years now.

He continued, "I always encourage my students to keep practicing. If they put aside their finished work and look at it again sometime later, they will always discover that they have made progress. Chinese characters are of great artistic value, but unfortunately fewer and fewer people write by hand nowadays. Now they use computers and copy machines instead. Very few people like to practice calligraphy." Papa Liang feels that there is an additional value to practicing calligraphy--eliminating distracting thoughts. "I can't meditate, but once I start writing calligraphy, I can concentrate."

He frequently copies passages from the Heart Sutra and aphorisms from Master Cheng Yen's Still Thoughts on pieces of paper. Using a small lamination machine that he bought, he produces beautiful bookmarkers and cards that he gives to people. Whoever asks him for his calligraphy never leaves empty-handed.

On the stereo, oldies such as "Unending Love," "Longing for a Lover at the River Bank," "Missing You," and "The Spring Wind Kisses My Face" play out the subtle emotions of an earlier generation. Papa Liang opened a drawer and showed me his CD collection of old songs, his manner suggesting that he was introducing some old friends.

With the music playing in the background, I looked carefully through pictures that Papa Liang had taken or collected. From these pictures, I saw his vigor during hiking trips in his youth, his joy during gatherings with his friends, his tours both abroad and at home, his warm reunion with his long-separated family on the mainland, and his smile of contentment as he stood with his arm around his wife. The pictures reflect both his life and his other skill--photography.

Papa Liang has been fascinated with photography since he was twenty. He learned how to develop film in the darkroom, and he used to be a press photographer for important events and national celebrations. "The film we used back then was of poor quality, and when you snapped the shutter you had to hold your breath or the picture would come out blurred. Taking a good picture depends entirely on experience and technique." The skill he developed also enabled him to record many historical moments in the early stages of Tzu Chi.

Old friends

"I talk about photography with photographers, cooking with gourmets, and ball games with sports fans. I used to be very good at eating, drinking and having fun." With his humorous, open personality and his wide range of interests, Papa Liang made many friends early on in his life. They still meet once a week and drink tea, chat about the past and the present, and enjoy their favorite old songs.

He continued, "Year by year I get older, and my old friends become fewer. Each time we meet, we say we have 'earned' one more meeting. We don't talk about how few meetings are left to us."

"All my friends are doing fine. One likes to travel and take pictures all over the world. He doesn't take any money from his children, nor is he going to leave them any. He simply enjoys life now."

"Another friend lives in the States, but he will return to Taiwan soon. I once laughed at him as being blind, deaf, dumb and crippled because he doesn't understand English and can't drive." At this, Papa Liang laughed out loud, like a child making fun of a friend who didn't dare to cross a log over a stream.

"Old people worry mostly about their health and family," he continued. "We don't have many desires except for three meals a day. After all, what is there left to struggle for? As for money, it may not be everything, but we certainly can't live without it either. As long as we have earned our money decently, we will be able to keep it."

"None of my friends drink, smoke or gamble. If someone who likes to gamble joins our little group of friends, he will soon quit gambling. I always tell them, 'If anyone invites you to gamble, he just wants to win your money. Can you call this person a friend?' Some would reply that a few thousand NT dollars is not a big deal to pay for a little fun. I would say, 'Fine. Then why don't you spend that money on something else or use it to help the needy?' Am I right or am I wrong?" Papa Liang laughed again, quite pleased with himself.

Great sorrow in a smooth life

In his smooth life, Papa Liang once encountered a great sorrow--in March 1993, his only son was killed in an accident.

"My hope was gone. It was meaningless for me to go on living. Originally I was very healthy, but in the first month after the accident, I suffered from gastritis and stomach convulsions and I lost nearly ten kilograms. I didn't cry. I just felt miserable." He endured many sleepless nights. Not only was he unable to sleep, but he couldn't even sit still or concentrate when he tried to chant Buddhist sutras.

"Your suffering is your own problem. No one can suffer for you and no one will feel sorry for you. Are you trying to win sympathy by showing your pain? No one can help you but yourself. You have to get a grip on yourself." A friend's harsh words struck home.

Papa Liang said that his wife began studying Buddhism much earlier than he did, so she could accept the painful fact in a relatively short time, whereas he could not get over it so easily.

"I felt so awful because I considered my son to be 'mine.' Actually, nothing is 'mine.' It was no good to live in the past. I had to do things that I liked to get my mind off it. After two or three months, I gradually returned to normal."

People call him "Papa Liang" out of a feeling of closeness or respect, and also as a way to comfort him for his loss. Mrs. Liang said that a young person once asked to be their godchild. "But after our own son left us without saying goodbye, we came to have a deep understanding of the impermanence of life." Thus, the couple are no longer attached to having that kind of relationship with anyone.

"Actually, I am a very open-minded man. As early as 1985, I went to a local court to sign a body donation agreement. Just think, no matter how magnificent a tomb is, if there is a fire or a mudslide, the tomb will be ruined. Have you ever heard of 'space burial?'"

"No," I replied, "but I have heard of 'sky burial' (a Tibetan burial ceremony in which the body is chopped into small pieces and placed in the open air to be eaten by vultures)."

"If my body cannot be donated when I die, it should be cremated. I want my ashes to be put in a big balloon, which will fly high into the sky. When the balloon bursts, my ashes will sprinkle in the sky. There is no need for me to occupy a space on the already crowded earth."

Someone who can face death so openly will certainly live with a positive attitude.

His beloved wife

Papa Liang is both a Tzu Chi commissioner and an Honorary Board member. He and his wife work together for Tzu Chi to care for others. However, because they have different interests and friends, husband and wife each keep an independent space.

"She likes to listen to tapes of Buddhist lectures, which is something I don't particularly enjoy unless the lecture is short and penetrating."

They met while working together in the provincial government, fell in love, and got married. What Papa Liang appreciates most is that Mrs. Liang likes to help people and always keeps her promises.

Talking about his wife of thirty-seven years, he smiled. "She is highly efficient while I like to take it easy. When she has something to do, she gets it done at once before taking a rest. But I take a rest whenever I feel tired. Master Cheng Yen always gives a speech at the end of each summer camp, and I can listen for hours if I sit on a chair. But if I have to sit on a cushion on the floor with my legs crossed, I'll find some way to get out of it!" His laughter resonates with the easy attitude of a man in his seventies.

"Your sister in Beijing sent you a letter," announced Mrs. Liang. "Do you want me to read it to you?" She put on her reading glasses and started reading the letter word by word, while Papa Liang's favorite old songs still flowed through the living room, like background music for a stage play…

"My darling has a smiling face, she brings me spring in late autumn. My darling has precious gifts, she gives me sunshine in the dark of night…"

Observing from my seat, I pondered over what Papa Liang had said. "I have no other wish except to do what I enjoy doing. If you want to know the happiest things in my life, the first is that I have good health; the second is that I sailed to Taiwan on a fishing boat after the communists took over China, and I have enjoyed a stable life here; the third is that I still have a sound mind; and the fourth is that I am quite patriotic. Nowadays not many children care about their country. They only care about themselves and that is a terrible thing. Because of this, our society has become chaotic."

From his words of regret, I can see another side of Papa Liang that is different from his lively creativity. His gratitude and sense of responsibility toward his life, family and country make clear where his values are.