He returned from the Vietnamese theater intending to further hislearning， and attended Southern California University as an reserveserviceman. He had come into first-hand contact with Vietnamese cultureduring his years there and had become interested in its religion，history， herbal medicine and folk customs. At first he wanted to studythe Vietnamese culture. It happened that his wife’s aunt was the friendof Prof. H. E. Chen， who explained to him that Vietnamese culturehas its roots in China and advised him to take Chinese culture as hisstudy subject， which would naturally enable him to grasp the essenceof other Asian cultures. He then took Chinese cultural geography ashis study subject， with Professor Chen， who had been the presidentof China’s Fujian University， as his tutor. He got his Master’s degreewith a thesis entitled “The Huanghe （Yellow River）： Problems andSolutions”。 After graduation， he remained at the school teaching Chi16nese cultural geography. “Ilearned to read and writeChinese characters in theiroriginal complex form，” hesays proudly. Nowadays，students in China are onlyrequired to read， not towrite， the traditional complexstyle characters; thus，many young Chinese havemore trouble writing the oldstyle characters than he.
In 1983， he received a doctoral degree in education. He held severalposts simultaneously and kept himself busy every day. He was notso happy， though， maybe because of his religious vacuity， or maybebecause he did not feel fulfilled. He felt a particular sense of loss in2000 when， after having retired from the Army with a pension as a30-year veteran， he thought “I could enjoy an easy sort of life usingmy green thumb in my backyard garden or making furniture in mybasement workshop. But that is not the life I want. I thought it’d be reallyintolerably wasteful if I were worthless to society. I wanted to be auseful old fellow. The great poet Li Bai of the Chinese Tang Dynasty says in hispoem： “Heaven gave me the talent， let it be employed.” With suchrich experience， ample knowledge of history and firm grounding inChinese culture， how could he live out his days insipidly in his backyard， planting tomatoes? In September 1990， he was recommended asa guest professor at China’s Lanzhou University and as an advisor tothe school’s management. His main job was to give lectures to collegeThe teachers on how to write English academic theses for internationalpublication.
During his three years working in Lanzhou， he made manyChinese friends and gained a deeper understanding of Chineseculture. Here he found his greatest pleasure in Qinqiang， a localopera style， and the Yellow River. He would go to a Qinqiangtheater five times a week， and go to sit and watch the rivertwice a week. Qinqiang’s vigorous staging and ardent vocals wasmuch to his liking; it could enrapt and intoxicate him. He wouldsit quietly on the bank of the turbulent river， the mother of Chinesecivilization， and think of the eternity of limitless Heaven andthe endless Earth. His soul would feel purified and at ease. Don’tforget his master’s dissertation was on the “Yellow River” when hewas majoring in Chinese cultural geography in college.
This three-year period was an important part of his life， not onlybecause he gained a deeper understanding of Chinese culture but alsobecause he found his spiritual foundations. Before leaving China， aBritish friend gave him a book entitled Buddhism by the British writerChristmas Humphries. Enlightened by Buddhist philosophy， he seemedto find all the answers to the many unsolved questions long buried inhis mind. “I find the Greater Vehicle of Buddhism is similar to Christianitybut the Lesser Vehicle has helped me clear up all the suspicionsclouding my mind.” Since then he has become a devout Buddhist. Hewas startled when a fortune teller told him that he had “come home” toChina. Life here is so appealing and he really feels at home. “I am sointerested in calligraphy， the guqin （seven-stringed plucked instrumentsimilar to zither）， Confucianism and many other aspects of Chineseculture. He feels he must have been a Chinese Buddhist monk in hisprevious life.
His attachment to Oriental culture began in Vietnam and strengthenedin China. He was promoted to the rank of colonel in 1993 andhad to go back to the States.
In 2001， maybe because he was longing for traditional Chineseculture and wanted to do something meaningful for that country， hewanted to “go home”。 Just at this point， he got a call from Beijing.
166 When he was teaching in Lanzhou University， he and the geologydepartment chairman had become bosom friends. They were attachedto each other like brothers. “I call him ‘big brother’。 His three sonscall me uncle. I would go to his home every weekend， just like onefamily. ‘I’ve retired and live in Beijing now so you come to see me inBeijing’， he told me in a letter that year. One of his in-laws was theDean of the College of International Economics and Trade of BeijingInternational Studies University and they needed language teacherslike me. So I was invited to Beijing by a single letter.” On August 28，2001， Lao Du “returned home” as a guest professor at that school.
“Back home” now， he spends almost all his time in China， exceptthat for two short trips in the States to take care of family affairs， andoccasional visits to the International Buddhist Academy in Sri Lanka，where he used to work as an educational administrator. He keeps tryingto entice his wife and children to join him in China where he is “toohappy to return to American life”。
