About my name

林 (Lin) is my family name and 靜嵐 is my given name. Although there is no direct translation of the three characters, 林 refers to forest, 靜 could be expressed as serene, and 嵐 invokes the mists in the mountains. Together the three characters paint an image of serene mist hovering over the mountains, centered and untroubled. I believe that my name was inspired by “Things Do Not Shift” a treatise written by a Buddhist philosopher, Seng Chao (384-414). As you know, the meaning of my name was not captured in its English version, therefore I go by Rosaline in the English-speaking world. The name, Rosaline, not only contains an image of roses that are gentle yet resilient, but also includes the sound of “Lin”.

Name often tells a unique story or carry a family legacy. Have you had a chance to explore the meaning of your name?

唸我的名字——小時候介紹自己的名字的時候，我都會說：雙木林，安靜的靜，山嵐的嵐。我從小就很喜歡我的名字：山嵐籠罩在群山之中，靜謐而沈穩。大學的時候偶然讀到僧肇的《物不遷論》，才開始認識到「旋嵐偃嶽而常靜」那充滿禪意的深邃意境。然而，這如畫一般的意境在翻譯成英文之後就消失了，所以我並不覺得Ching-Lan是我的名字。於是，我決定以Rosaline作為我在美國（以及英文世界裡）生活的名字。Rosaline這個名字具足了玫瑰的優雅與堅韌，更重要的是，她有「林」這個發音。

每個人的名字或多或少都承載了一段故事、一些期望，你/妳的名字是否也存在著有趣的故事呢？