32When spring came, she began to take long solitary walks once again. The snow had melted and the ground was wet. The air was still very cold but not freezing. The lawns around campus were bathed in a pale green light as a weak sun shone on the grass growing between patches of melting snow. Passing the auditorium, a poster caught her attention. Master pipa player, Professor Chen Ma Xian from the University of California, Berkeley, was giving a talk at that very moment. She hurried inside and took the first empty seat she saw in the front row.
“Our body is in the concert hall now, but our mind, ahhh, our beautiful mind, it is wandering among the trees and mountain streams, walking, walking while we’re here, plucking, plucking our pipa strings. That’s how you should play. Play the pipa as i
