Late at night when everyone is quiet and you cannot sleep, have you ever asked your mind and spirit this kind of question: “What are people living for?” Birth, old age, sickness, death, being separated from those you love, being put together with those you hate, being unable to find the answer, the five poisons of greed and anger and ignorance and arrogance and doubt blazing up. Human life has so much suffering, and the only refuge is death. Even the planet earth cannot avoid facing destruction one day. So then, why do people have to go through all this, and go on living in such pain?
总有人问我，命运是不是由业造，命运是不是早有定数？我告诉他们，“定数”是死了的心的程序。活的人可以造缘。心变则命变。行善、造善业，获得善的果；行恶、造恶业，获得恶的果。所有选择、行为、后果，都逃不出心去，所以我常说：“大善铸心，命由心造。”
People are always asking me: Is our fate in life created by karma or not? Is our fate in life already a fixed constant? I tell them that a “fixed constant” is the program of a mind that is already dead. People who are alive can create their causal conditions. When the mind changes, then fate changes. If you do good deeds and create good karma, you will obtain good results. If you do bad deeds and create bad karma, you will obtain bad results. All choices, behavior, and outcomes do not lie outside of the mind, so I always say: “Great virtue shapes the mind, and fate in life is created by mind.”
在形形色色的人群中，你会看到两种命运：自私的人看重自己的得失，所有行为也必然首先维护自己的得失，这意味着他或许会说谎，甚至做一些损人利己的事情，他的行为必将引起别人的反感与戒备；无私的人重视事情本身，所有行为都是为了把事情做好，为了服务他人，那么哪怕能力不足，无法做到完美，他也必将赢得别人的信任，假如他不断强化自己的能力，自然就能获得更多的机遇。
In the diverse human crowd, with all kinds of shapes and colors, you will see two kinds of fate. Selfish people see their own gain and loss as important, and in all their actions, they are sure to make protecting their own gains their top priority. This implies that they may tell lies, or even do things that injure others to benefit themselves. Their actions are sure to bring about aversion and defensiveness from other people. Unselfish people value things in themselves, and all they do is for the sake of doing things well, to serve other people. So even if they do not have enough capacity, and cannot do things perfectly, they are sure to win other people’s trust. If they constantly strengthen their own capacity, naturally they will be able to gain even more opportunities to serve.
我在农村长大，没有背景，也没有强大的经济后盾，我经历了许多世人眼里的坎坷、挫折甚至一些可以算得上厄运的东西，但是它们从来没有动摇过我的梦想与追求，反而统统成了我实现梦想的梯子。这是为什么？因为我把它们都化为了生命的营养，在它们的滋养下，我的心灵一天比一天强大。而且，虽然我懒于经营人际关系，也懒于做一些聪明人都乐此不疲的事情，但是我的生命中仍然出现过好些贵人，他们非常无私地为我提供了许多帮助，也为我创造了许多宝贵的机会，为此，我非常感谢他们。同时我也明白，假如我是一个自私自利、夜郎自大、不思进取的人，这些机遇就会属于那些比我更值得拥有它们的人。
I grew up in a farming village, without any special background, and without any strong economic support. I went through many things the world would see as rough patches and reverses, and even things that could be reckoned as bad luck, but these experiences were never able to shake my dream and my quest, but on the contrary, they all become steps to realizing my dream. Why was this? It was because I transformed them into nutrition for living, and with their nourishment my mind and spirit grew stronger day by day. Moreover, although I was lazy about managing my connections with people, and lazy about doing the things that intelligent people never get bored with, nevertheless many noble people still appeared in my life, and they very unselfishly provided me with a lot of help, and created many precious opportunities for me. For this, I am very grateful to them. At the same time I also understand that if I had been a selfish arrogantperson who made no attempts to make progress, these opportunities would have gone to those people who were more worthy of having them than me.
因此，我总是对学生们说，没有失败，只有放弃。我没有天才，也不勤奋。我只是朝着一个方向，每天走完自己该走的路，不停脚步，不乱走，不受诱惑，然后睡觉。有时，也会有一个女孩招手，我可以和她说几句话，但我不会忘记自己的追求目标而奔向她的。因为我明明知道，她会把我引向另一条路。当金钱向我招手时，我也不会过去。我一直认定自己的方向。别说我，就是一个蚂蚁，每天爬，爬上十年，也会爬出很长的路。成功就这么简单。可怕的仅仅是放弃，因为它代表了心的动摇。心念一旦动摇，所有的坚持都会失去意义，所有阻力都会显出前所未有的强大，你会不自觉地做出许多与以前不甚一致甚至完全相左的选择。你也许会彻底失去方向，也许会日复一日地重复着模式化的生活，直到把宝贵的生命时光浪费得一干二净。到了年老的时候，你或许会靠在河边的栏杆上，茫然望着远方，叹一口气，然后对儿子说道，你老爸糊糊涂涂地过了一辈子，到了这个年纪，没有什么作为，也没有什么梦想。几十年光阴竟然用一句话就总结了，那你人生中的许多起伏，又有什么意义？
Because of this, I always say to students that there is no failure, there is only giving up. I did not have natural talent, and I was not hardworking. I just faced in a certain direction, and everyday I traveled the road I had to travel, without stopping, without wandering off, without being deceived, and finally I woke up. Sometimes there would be a girl who beckoned to me, and I could exchange a few words with her, but I did not forget the goal of my quest and run off after her. This was because I clearly knew that she would lead me toward another road. When money beckoned me, I also would not go. I always affirmed my own direction. Let’s not talk about me: even an ant who crawls along everyday for ten years will crawl along a very long way. Success is this simple. The only thing to fear is giving up, because that represents the mind’s wavering. Once the mind wavers, all the persistence will lose its meaning, and all the obstructions will appear with a strength they never had before, and you will unconsciously make many choices that are totally at odds with the choices you made before. You also might utterly lose your direction, and you might live a more and more stereotyped life, until that you are utterly wasting the precious time you are alive. When you reach old age, you might be leaning on a handrail by the riverside, blankly staring into the distance, and give a sigh. Later your children will say, Old man, you passed your life in a daze, and now that you have reached this age, you have done nothing, and you have no dreams. In the end, several decades of time are summed up in a single sentence, and then what meaning will all the ups and downs in your life have had?
曾经有记者采访过一个牧童，记者问，你为什么放羊啊？牧童说，为了卖钱。再问，卖了钱想做啥？牧童又说，娶媳妇，养儿引孙。记者又问，将来打算让你的孩子做什么呢？牧童回答，放羊。现在好多人都是这样。努力学习为了将来找份好工作，找份好工作为了赚钱、买房、娶漂亮媳妇，娶漂亮媳妇为了优生优育，孩子长大再让他好好学习找份好工作……这样的生命轨迹，不是轮回，又是什么？这样活着的你，是否觉出自己无论活得如何“精彩”，也不过是拷贝着他人生命的模式，一种留不下任何痕迹、创造不了任何价值的生命模式？
Once there was a reporter who visited a shepherd boy. The reporter asked, “Why do you herd sheep?” The shepherd boy said, “To make money.” The reporter asked, “What do you want to do with the money you’ve made?” The shepherd boy said, “Marry a wife, and raise children and have grandchildren.” The reporter also asked, “In the future what do you plan to have your grandchildren do?” The shepherd boy replied, “Herd sheep.” These days many people are like this. The work hard studying in order to find a good job in the future, they find a good job in order to make money, buy a house, get married to a pretty wife. They marry a pretty wife in order to have children and bring them up well, and when the children grow up they make them study hard so they can find a good job … If this kind of life track is not revolving in a cycle, then what is it? When you talk like this, aren’t you aware that no matter how “splendid” a life you lead, you are doing no more than copying the pattern of other people’s lives, a pattern of life that will not leave any traces, or create any value?
当然，这样的活，也有它的好处，能够满足这样活着的人，也能活出一些小小的惬意来。但是活着仅仅为了迎接将来的死去，你真的甘心吗？扪心自问，夜深人静又无法成眠的时候，你是否曾经叩问心灵这样一个问题：“人为什么活着？”生、老、病、死，爱别离，怨憎会，求不得，贪嗔痴慢疑五毒炽盛，人生有太多的苦，唯一的归宿又是死亡，就连地球也难免面临陨灭的一天。那么人为什么要经历这一切，苦苦地活下去？生命的长短有什么区别？为什么不能两眼一闭，索性当下就迎接那死亡？相信许多选择了自杀的人，都是因为无法解答这个问题，才决定结束自己的生命。如果他们知道生命有着无数的可能，也许就不会选择放弃它了。但失去了肉体的他们，可曾得到自己想要的解脱？
Of course, this kind of life also has its advantages, and can satisfy this kind of person, and can yield some petty pleasures. But are you really willing to live this way just to greet your future death? Search your conscience. Late at night when everyone is quiet and you cannot sleep, have you ever asked your mind and spirit this kind of question: “What are people living for?” Birth, old age, sickness, death, being parted from those you love, being put together with those you hate, being unable to find the answer, the five poisons of greed and anger and ignorance and arrogance and doubt blazing up. Human life has so many suffering, and the only refuge is death. Even the planet earth cannot avoid facing destruction one day. So then, why do people have to go through all this, and go on living in such pain? Does it make any difference how long you live? Why can’t you close your eyes and simply meet death then and there? I believe that many people who choose suicide decide to end their own lives because they cannot answer this question. If they knew that life has countless possibilities, maybe they would not choose to abandon it. But when they have lost their physical bodies, will they have attained the liberation they wanted?
活着总比死了的好，因为只有活着，你才能弥补这辈子的许多遗憾，改写生命中的许多错误。但是这一切的前提是，你必须拥有一颗强大且充满智慧的心灵。
Being alive is always better than being dead, because only when you are alive can you remedy the many regrets of this lifetime, and corrected the many mistakes in your life. But the prerequisite for everything is that you must have a mind and spirit that are strong and filled with wisdom.
因为，你对世界的认知是你心灵的显现，你的所有行为也是你心灵的显现。比如同一家公司，你觉得它充满了勾心斗角和利益纷争，是火坑，但别人却认为它充满机遇与挑战，是锻炼身心的好地方；又比如，你家有90平方米，你仍嫌它太小，但来访的朋友却发出这样的感叹，我家才是你家的一半大！如果你明白了这一点，也就明白了一切都像阳光下的露珠和昨晚的梦，很快会消失，就不会再有那么多的计较了。你不计较好多东西的时候，才会发现，这个世界充满了等着你去吸收的营养，这个世界是个巨大的宝库。
This is because your perception of the world is the manifestation of your mind and spirit, and all your actions are also manifestations of your mind and spirit. Take a company for example: you are aware that it is filled with intrigue and struggles for gain, that it is a fiery pit, but other people consider it full of opportunity and challenges, and think that it is a fine place for training the body and mind. Take another example: your home has ninety square meters, but you still think it is too small. But when friends visit they exclaim, “My home is half the size of yours!” If you understand this point, then you understand that everything is like dewdrops in the sunlight, like last night’s dreams: very soon it disappears, so there cannot be so much more to calculate. Only when you do not calculate so many things, will you discover that this world is full of nourishment waiting for you to absorb it, that this world is a giant treasure house.
我们为啥会在乎这么多东西呢？因为我们以为身体就是“我”，我们关注它的感受，在它的许多欲望中迷失自己的方向。但我们忘记了，这个肉体是容易毁坏的，是幻化的。无论我们怎样执著于它，它总会坏的。那么，我们就要在身体还存在的时候，做一些利益众生的行为。你的行为构成了你的人生价值。要知道，肉体的存在，就像苍蝇飞过虚空，留不下一点痕迹的。而你的行为所承载的精神，会离开你的肉体桎梏而传播开来，成为人类的有益营养。明白了这一点后，我们就要在肉体消失之前，完成自己该做的事情，甚至建立不朽的功德利益众生，以实现你最高的人生价值。
Why do we care about so many things? Because we think our bodes are “selves,” we focus on their feelings, and in the midst of so many desires, we get deluded and lose track of our own direction. But we forget that this physical body is easily destroyed, that it is an illusory transformation. No matter how we try to cling to it, it will always be destroyed. So then, while our bodies exist, we must do things that benefit living beings. Your actions make up the value of your human life. You must realize that the existence of your physical body is like an insect flying through space, and cannot leave any traces. But the spirit upheld in your actions will detach from the fetters of your physical body and be propagated on, and become a beneficial nourishment for humankind. After we understand this point, then before our physical bodies dissolve away, we must complete the things we must do, and even establish an enduring merit helping sentient beings, in order to realize the highest value of human life.
