of the sand. Somewhat confused, she did as I said. I instructed her to hold on tightly so that the sand would not flow out.
However, the more tightly she tried to close her fist, the more the sand escaped through her fingers.
“You see the sand?” I said, hoping to inspire her. “It is your illness. The tighter you hold it, or the more you want to control it, the faster it escapes you. Similarly, the more attention you pay to your illness, the more serious it will become.”
Suddenly enlightened, the woman thanked me profusely and left.
Unexpectedly, she came to me again three months later to update me on her story. She said that when she heard what I said the previous time, she felt a bang of enlightenment, but mental anxieties are rarely healed all at once. Sometimes, she just could not help but think about her illness. Then, one day, she went to that pile of sand again, collected some of it in a paper bag, kowtowed to the Buddha, and went back home.
At home, she put the sand into several smaller paper bags and brought one wherever she went. Every time she thought of her illness and felt pessimistic about life, she would hold the sand in her hand, watching it flow through her fingers, pondering my words.
Later, she did not need the sand anymore. When she was faced with unpleasant things in life, including her illness, my words would come to her unprompted, and she would immediately tell herself not to be bothered by excessive worry. As a result, she felt happy from then on. Some time later, she told others about her story during morning exercises, and many elderly people benefitted from her experience.
Therefore, falling need not be scary at all. As long as we adopt a correct attitude toward it, we can enjoy our work and life unimpeded.
9. What You Do for Others Will Eventually Benefit Yourself
A farmer opened a store on a city street. Before long, he found that business was bad at this location, and the street was potholed and dotted with broken bricks and stones. Puzzled, he consulted the neighboring shopkeeper, who told him that poor road conditions would slow down the pedestrians and vehicles, which would in turn increase business opportunities, since more people would enter the stores. Disapproving of this logic, the farmer removed the bricks and stones on the roads and had the surface leveled. As a result, the once deserted street now became busy and prosperous, and business opportunities increased dramatically. When asked how this had happened, the farmer explained, “When the road is poor, people will bypass it. With fewer people coming, how can business opportunities increase?”
It is always wise to treat others well, which will lead to oneself being treated well. Concern for others is the biggest investment in one’s own interests.
Another story demonstrates the opposite side of this principle. An old carpenter was retiring soon. Feeling reluctant to part with him, his boss asked him to build one more house before he left. Though he agreed, the carpenter was not happy, thinking that he did not need to obey his boss anymore. He was careless with his work, using poor materials and muddling through his work. To his surprise, when the house was finally built, the boss told him that it was a retirement gift for him. The carpenter was ashamed and regretful. He did not realize that he had been building his own house, but it was too late.
In fact, all the good things you do for others will eventually benefit yourself. For example, if you are asked to do more work, don’t complain, because it is a chance for you to temper yourself, and in time, you’ll be entrusted with important tasks. While you might seem to have suffered loss in doing good deeds and helping others, you will be blessed in the end. Therefore, whatever you do for others, do your best, because you are doing it for yourself. Only in this way can you accumulate your own reward in heaven.
10. Living a Slower Life
Two monks, one old and the other young, were each carrying two buckets of water on a shoulder pole from the foot of a hill to their temple on the hilltop. Thinking that he could have more time for rest if he arrived at the destination earlier, the young monk quickened his steps and reached the temple in half an hour. The old monk, instead, remained unhurried, climbing the hill more gradually and reaching the top in an hour. “Master, why didn’t you ramp up your efforts like I did and arrive earlier so you could get rest?” the young monk asked.
“You were indeed faster,” answered his master, “but you’re just cooling down now, aren’t you? In this sense, aren’t we arriving at the hilltop at the same time?”
Similar examples can be seen in many areas of our life. Many people are always in a hurry on their way to work. Sometimes, they even cross the street when the light is red. But when they reach their workplaces, they sit panting heavily, and it takes them a long time to cool down. The same happens when they go home after work. While they may get home several minutes earlier, they but are often too exhausted to spend time with their families. So what difference is there whether they get home earlier and later? This being the case, why not walk slower?
Most of us have a similar approach to life. In our early years, we earn money at the cost of our health, and in the second half, we use that money to buy health. As a result, we are kept on the run all our lives. If you think about it, this sort of life is no more desirable than a long simple life. When they fall ill, many people eagerly look forward to an immediate recovery, but this is rarely possible, because haste makes waste.
I once came across a boy with recurrent fever. When I asked about its cause, his mother said, “Previously, he ran a fever of 39℃. He was hospitalized in the morning, but his fever had not dropped by evening. Worried and anxious, his father yelled at the nurse for not doing her work properly. At this, the doctor immediately wrote a prescription and asked the nurse to bring down the fever with the medicine prescribed. After more than one hour of intravenous drip, his fever abated. With two more days of infusion, his temperature was normal and he was discharged from hospital. But once he got home, the fever recurred, lingering for days.”
I knew the reason immediately. “How could you let his father yell at the nurse?” I said to the mother. “Fever is a self-protecting mechanism of the body. It shows that the immune system in the body is fighting the germs. Instead of doing harm to the child’s body, a controlled fever benefits it greatly. With antibiotics, it is easy to bring down the fever, but antibiotics are a double-edged sword, killing both good and bad cells in the body, and consequently, the patient becomes physically weaker. Your son could have overcome the fever without taking medicine, but because of your anxiety and yelling, the doctor had to use antibiotics instead. That’s why he is now plagued with this recurrent fever.”
We should slow down the pace of our life. When we are angry or impatient, or if our relatives are falling ill, we should tell ourselves, “I am now at the crossroads and the light is red. If I don’t slow down, I’m sure to encounter more serious trouble.”
11. Happiness in Contentment
The most fundamental human desires are wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep. As mortal beings, we naturally have desires, and some of them are not bad at all. For example, the lack of desire for food will cause anorexia, and the lack of desire for sleep will lead to insomnia. If he is utterly pessimistic, a patient is unlikely to be healed. Therefore, an appropriate amount of desire is good, but too much desire will cause trouble, agony, and restlessness.
Mr. Wang originally ran several restaurants, but when he came to me, he had nothing left to his name. Wang was a common child from a common urban workers’ family, and his mother even lost her job. But he was smart even as a child, and very insightful. At 25, he married a woman who owned a small restaurant. With this foundation, he worked hard for ten years and became the owner of five large restaurants.
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