A Sea of Mulberry Fields

The Chinese idiom 沧海桑田 (cang1 hai3 sang1 tian2) literally means the sea changes into mulberry fields. This idiom is used by Chinese speakers to describe the inexorable change in world events. It comes from an ancient Chinese legend (written by Ge Hong during the Jin Dynasty) about an immortal called Wang Fangping.

One day Wang decided to visit the Cai family - an ordinary Chinese family - for dinner. His arrival at the Cai residence was quite an event. The Cai family first heard divine music drifting down from the heavens. Next, a group of musicians riding on the back of unicorns descended into their yard. And then moments later Wang glided into the yard sitting in a chariot drawn by five dragons. He was surround by burly guards carrying a wide array of flags and banners. When Wang set his feet on the ground, his entire entourage vanished into thin air.

Wang told the Cai family that he had come to have dinner with them and that he would be inviting another immortal - Ma Gu - as his guest. Wang sent his servant (who happened to be invisible) to fetch Ma Gu from Penglai, a legendary island of divinity in the East Sea.

When Ma Gu arrived, the Cai family was surprised to see that Ma was only in her late teens. She wore a fine gown made of the most exquisite and rare embroidered silk. During the dinner, Ma talked about her experiences since becoming immortal. In particular, she described how she had seen the vast East Sea turn into a huge mulberry field and then back into the sea again. What's more she had seen this happen on three occasions. She then went on to say:

During my last inspection, I found the sea had become shallow again. I suspect it will soon turn into a field again. And I'm sure that such changes will go on forever and a day.

After dinner the two immortals said goodbye to the Cai family and left in the same way as they arrived. The Cai family felt humbled by the experience and it gave them a new perspective (and humility) about the place of humanity and the role for humans in the overall scheme of things.

This story has, I think, some interesting implications for the way we humans interact with our environment. We assume that nature and the other animal species that inhabit our planet are of lesser importance and have been placed here to serve only human needs. Yet, the history of humanity is relatively short and human life is transient in comparison to the machinations of the universe. From this point of view it is hard to avoid the conclusion that we humans have become way too big for our own boots.

I have not been able to think of an English idiom which has the same meaning as the Chinese idiom 沧海桑田 (cang1 hai3 sang1 tian2). The English meaning of the idiom is something like time brings great changes to the world or anything is possible with time. Let's hope this is true.