定石 are like these boxes. they are really agreements on proper play. if we deviate from 定石, no one will know what will happen because it’s never been done before. we may be reluctant to live this way because of the inevitable ambiguity. and this can be very scary for most people. only living shapes can absolutely denote which part of the board belongs to which player. 定石 are useful because the board is vast. we agree that certain things are advantageous and some aspects are not. these agreements have been shaped by previous games and research. deviations are well-studied and there are “punishments” that may be applied for failing to adhere to a particular sequence. at what point does 定石 break down because of the influence of other areas of the board?

if two isolated populations played many games continuously for a thousand years, they will develop different 定石 (or none at all). some theories will be similar and they may arrive at similar principles. their styles would certainly be divergent. it would be a lot of fun to watch a game between the best players of each of these hypothesized 圍棋 cultures.

if we want to know how to deal with anything we encounter, we’ll have to know what it is we are encountering when it’s encountered. the moment it begins and the moment it ends. the parts that constitute it. and then realize it’s all rather silly because of interdependence. as soon as we say this is this and that is that, we already have a problem when something arises that doesn’t quite fit. we like to put things into boxes but become flustered when we encounter something that doesn’t seem to belong into any of our boxes. the boxes are useful because everything will have a place.

it’s hard to grasp all the possibilities of an empty board. so we play our stones, exponentially limiting what is possible. few things are possible by the end of the game and when it’s finished, the we put away the stones.

“the idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. the intention of the original builders is what survives. the wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. to be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.”