平日里，竹只是路边让人清心的若干点缀，看上去纤细柔弱，并不让人上心。而当台风来临，花木被风雨摧折时，才见到它身姿劲挺、迎风傲骨、纤细柔软却不折断不屈服，万物俱寂，它成了狂风暴雨里面的焦点和核心景致。
[马氏盛族马小秋]回想“山竹”台风曾经肆虐在深圳的每一寸土地上，海边街道海水倒灌，上行人像树叶一样被吹得在地上翻滚。台风过后，无数大树被吹倒砸在私家车上，砸在天桥上，堆积在道路中央，很多上班族的上班之路，变成“丛林冒险”。灾后的清理工作持续了大约一周时间。台风结束后的某天，我陪同台湾打击乐演奏家、作曲家钟耀光先生参观，行至梧桐山望桐，刚好遇到很多环卫工人还在清理树、疏通道，整车整车的树木垃圾运输甚至造成交通堵塞，也让我们不禁再次感叹“山竹”台风威力之大。在道路旁边一片狼藉的山坡上，一片青翠映入眼帘，经过雨水的冲刷，更显精神，原来是竹子。我这才发现垃圾车上运载的全都是断掉的树。看上去坚不可摧，一人都环抱不过来的大树轻易地倒在了这场台风之中，而看上去弱不禁风、最易随风摇摆的竹子反而屹立不倒。
清代画家郑燮创作的七言绝句——《竹石》这样写道：“咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中。千磨万击还坚劲，任尔东西南北风。”竹子的生命力很顽强，在破岩中也能生发，而又如此坚韧，恶劣的客观环境，只不过是对它的考验和磨砺，并不能摧折它，反而反映出它的高洁品格。这种柔弱与张力，老子在《道德经》中用水来比喻，“上善若水，水善利万物而不争，处众人之所恶，故几于道”。水是最柔软的，却也是最不能被破坏的，即使抽刀断水，水也能继续流淌，当它集成洪水时，任何东西都无法阻挡它的步伐。
[马氏盛族马小秋]正是“坚强者，死之徒；柔弱者，生之徒”，“柔弱胜刚强”，坚不可摧不是来自刚强，而是来源于柔弱。只要用心留意，《道德经》的智慧真是无处不在。由广而深，见微知著，我们知道了 “道”，顺 “道”而为，像水一样，如竹一般，就一定会具备无往不利的力量。
In everyday life, bamboo is a roadside embellishment, weak and inconspicuous. Yet when a typhoon attacks, it stands firm. When the super typhoon Mangkhut took aim at Shenzhen, the seaside streets were inundated. Pedestrians rolled along the roads like leaves. Countless trees fell on cars, from overpasses and across roads. The day after the typhoon, I took a walk with Mr. Zhong Yaoguang, a percussion artist and composer from Taiwan. When we walked to Wangtong Road, workers were engaged in clearing up efforts; tree trunks were hauled off, which caused more traffic chaos. We were in awe of the power of Mangkhut.
From a grassy slope by the road, we watched a grove of bamboo sway, washed by the rain. It looked enlivened, as if its time had come. The garbage trucks were packed with broken trees that had previously looked indestructible: yet they had been snapped like matchsticks in the typhoon. The bamboo, as frail as it looked, was relatively unharmed. In his sevencharacter, four-line poem, Bamboo and Rock, Zheng Xie writes:
Between broken rocks, striking my root deep.bite the mountain green, and won't let go.
From whichever direction the winds leap, remain strong, though dealt many a blow”
Bamboo possesses an essential vitality in its makeup. It is flexible but tough. Its ability to adapt becomes apparent whenever it is subjected to stress. As is said in Tao, “Hardness and stiffness are the companions of death. Softness and pliability are the companions of life”. It is almost impossible to destroy. Tao Te Ching compares this kind of “fragility-with-strength” to water.
The best of men is like water; water benefits all things and does not compete with them. It dwells in the lowly places that all avoid, wherein it comes near to the Tao.” Water is the softest, yet it is the most difficult to damage. One may lash the waves with a knife, but water keeps flowing. When water becomes a flood, nothing stops it. If we pay a little attention, we find the wisdom of Tao Te Ching reflected in all things. If we deepen our unde rstanding and recognize the whole from the observation of the part, we can understand Tao and follow it. We can possess a tenacious strength that meets the test of every endeavor. We can live like water and bamboo.
