Striving to take on the sunshine of the sky
When Master Yixin had just shaved his head, he practiced at the Famen Temple. The Famen Temple was a famous temple with a lot of incense and an endless stream of visitors, with morning bells and evening drums every day. A heart wants to quiet the mind, meditation, but Farmen Temple, too much socializing, although the yellow scrolls of their own green light to study hard for many years, but talk about the scriptures and the Tao, they are far worse than many monks in the temple. Some people advised a heart said: "the temple is a call full of famous temple, water deep dragon more, gathered the world's many famous monks, if you want to make a name for yourself among the monks, it is better to read the scriptures in some remote temple, so that your talent will soon be light into the dew."
Yixin thought to himself for a long time, and felt that this is very right, so he decided to leave his master, and leave this noisy, high monks of the Fa Men Temple, and find a remote and cold deep mountain temple to go. So Yixin packed up his scriptures and parcels and went to the abbot to say goodbye.
The abbot, understanding Yixin's intention, asked him, "Which is brighter, the candle flame or the sun?"
Yixin said, "The sun, of course."
The Abbot said, "Would you rather be a candle flame or the sun?"
Yixin replied without thinking, "Of course I would like to be the sun!"
The Abbot smiled slightly and said, "Let's take a walk in the forest behind the temple."
Behind the Fa Men Temple was a lush pine forest. The abbot took Yixin to a hill not far away, this hill was sparsely wooded with only a few shrubs and a scattering of three or two pines, the abbot pointed to the tallest of them and said, "This tree is the biggest and tallest here, but what can it do?"
Yixin looked around the tree, which had messy branches and a short, twisted trunk, and said, "It can only be used as chopped wood for cooking porridge."
The abbot took a step to take Yixin to the lush and dense forest, which was shaded by the sky, and the pines were long and tall. The abbot asked, "Why is every pine tree here so slender and straight?"
Yixin said, "It's all because they are fighting to receive the sunlight from the sky."
The Abbot said solemnly, "These trees are like a multitude of beings, they grow together, they are a group, for a ray of sunshine, for a drop of rain, they all strive to grow upward, and so they all may become pillars. And that away from the group of three or two trees sporadically, a ball of sunshine is theirs, a lot of rain is theirs, in the shrubs they stand out from the rest. There are no trees to compete with them, and so, ah, they become the fuelwood."
Yixin listened, pondered for a while, and said ashamedly, "Fa Men Temple is this great mangy forest, and the little mountainous temple is the tree that is far from the woods. Abbot, I will not leave the Fa Men Monastery again!"
In this forest of the Famen Temple, Yixin practiced hard, and later, finally became a generation of famous monks.
Inspirational Words
"Complacency is the greatest obstacle to upward mobility." Only when a person is dissatisfied with what he already has, will he always devote himself with full enthusiasm, will he display his talents more fully, will he burst out with magical endless creativity, and will he be able to become a great success.
To think better
In 1801, in a small valley in central Italy. There were two young men, one named Berboro and the other Bruno, cousins, both ambitious, who lived in an Italian village.
The two young men had been close companions since childhood.
They both had ambitious dreams.
They talked endlessly about how one day, one way or another, they would become the richest man in their village. They are smart and hard-working, and all they need is a chance.
One day the opportunity came. The village decides it wants to hire two men to carry water from a nearby river to a cistern in the village square. The village chief gave the job to Berboro and Bruno.
The two men grabbed two buckets each and ran to the river to begin their hard work. When the day was over, they filled the cistern in the village square. The mayor of the village paid them a penny for each bucket of water.
"Our dream has finally come true!" Bruno exclaimed, "I can't believe our good fortune."
But Berboro thought otherwise.
His back was sore and aching, and the hand he used to carry the heavy bucket was blistered. He dreaded having to get up every morning to do the same job. So he vowed to come up with a better way to carry the water from the river to the village.
"Bruno, I have a plan," said Berboro the next morning as they grabbed their buckets and ran toward the river, "For only a few cents a day's pay, and to have to work so hard to carry the water back and forth, why don't we build a pipeline to bring the water from the river to the village. "
Bruno froze.
"A pipe? Who ever heard of such a thing?" Bruno yelled, "Berboro, we have a great job. I can carry 100 barrels of water a day. At a penny a barrel of water, that's $1 a day! I'm already rich! In a week, I can buy a new pair of shoes. In a month, I can buy a cow, and in six months, I can build a new house. We have the best jobs in town. We also have double holidays and 2 weeks of paid vacation every year. We don't have to worry in this life! Give up your pipeline fantasies!"
But Berboro was not easily discouraged, and he patiently explained the plan to his best friend. But unfortunately it didn't change Bruno's mind. So Berbero decided to realize the plan even if he had to do it all by himself, and he spent part of his daytime hours carrying buckets of water, and another part of his time, as well as weekends, building his pipe. He knew how hard it was to dig a pipeline through soil as hard as rock. Because it pays according to the number of barrels of water carried, he knows that in the beginning his income will drop. He also knew that it would be a year or two before its pipeline would produce a sizable benefit. But Berboro was convinced his dream would come true, and he went all in.
Soon Bruno and the other villagers began to laugh at Berbero, calling him "Berbero the Pipeline Builder". Bruno earned twice as much money as Berboro and used to show off his new purchases to Berboro. He bought a donkey with a brand-new leather saddle and tied it to the side of his new two-story building.
He also bought shiny new clothes and ate delicious food in the dining hall. The villagers respectfully called him Mr. Bruno. He used to sit at the bar and pay for drinks while people laughed extra loud at the jokes he told.
While Bruno spent his nights and weekends sleeping in a hammock and relaxing, Berboro continued to dig his pipes. For the first few months, Berboro's efforts than didn't go much further. He worked hard - harder than Bruno's work, because Berboro was still working at night and on weekends, too.
But Beropolo kept reminding himself that realizing tomorrow's dreams was based on today's sacrifices. As the day wore on, he continued to dig, one inch at a time.
"Inch after inch ...... becomes a foot," he repeated as he swung the chisel and drove it into the rock-hard soil. An inch became a foot, then 10 feet ......20 feet ......100 feet ......
"Short-term pain brings long-term rewards," Berboro always reminds himself as he stumbles back to his modest hut, exhausted, after each day's work is done. He measured his effectiveness by setting daily goals. He kept at it because he knew that one day the rewards would greatly outweigh the effort.
"Keep your eyes firmly fixed on the reward," he repeated over and over again as others went to bed with the jeers of the villagers in the tavern in their ears, "Keep your eyes firmly fixed on the reward."
Days and months passed. One day, Berboro realized he was halfway through the pipeline, which meant he only had to carry the bucket half the distance. Berbero spent this extra time building the pipe as well. Finally, the completion date was getting closer.
At last, Beropol's big moment came - the pipe was finished! The villagers flocked to see the water flow from the pipe to the sink! The village now had a constant supply of fresh water. People from other nearby villages moved to the village in droves, and it grew and prospered.
Once the pipeline was completed, Berboro no longer had to carry buckets of water. The water kept flowing in whether he was working or not.
When he ate, the water was flowing in. When he slept, the water was flowing. When he went on a weekend playdate, the water was still flowing in. The more water that flowed into the village, the more money flowed into Berboro's pockets.
Many years later, even though Berboro and Bruno have been retired for many years, their worldwide plumbing business still sends millions of dollars a year into their bank accounts. They sometimes traveled around the country and met young men carrying buckets of water.
Inspirational Words
It is very sad that many people in the world have spent their lives in obscurity and accomplished nothing because of their lack of vision and ambition. We should not be satisfied with living in a "bucket world", but dare to dream of "building pipes".
Precious gifts brought by the fairies
A king had a beautiful prince, and on the day of the child's christening, twelve fairies were sent by God to congratulate him, and each fairy brought a precious gift. The first fairy brought a gift of wisdom, which the king gladly accepted. The second fairy brought treasures, which the king was equally happy to receive. The 3rd brought strength, the 4th wealth, the 5th handsomeness, the 6th affection, the 7th health, the 8th friends, the 9th love, the 10th knowledge, and the 11th caring, all of which the king accepted with great joy. But when it came to the 12th, the king froze, for she brought a gift of discontent. The king thought, "How can my son be discontented when he lacks nothing and has everything he needs? Without hesitation he rejected the 12th fairy's gift and the king was even a little rude to this fairy.
As the years passed, the prince grew up, and succeeding to the throne he was handsome and beautiful, of gentle disposition and in good health. However, in his mind, there was none of that ambition to pursue the future that comes from discontent, none of that ambition to build a career that comes from dissatisfaction. Satisfied with what he already had, satisfied with his own country, for the more mediocre ministers, there is no dissatisfaction, never think of reform and innovation, never think of inspiring. Over time, because he was in a state of self-satisfaction every day, his ministers became unmotivated. His country became backward and poor, and soon fell into a backward country, which was soon annexed by its neighbors.
The old king was still alive when his country was wiped out. In the face of disaster, he came to his senses, the reason being that he had rejected God's most precious gift to his son, and the gift of discontent was the most precious to his son.
Inspirational Words
"Discontent" is the most precious gift. "Dissatisfaction will keep you motivated to keep going, to keep pursuing and to keep improving in life.
To think about what else can be done
Harry Leiberman, 101, is long and lean, with deep wrinkles on his face, a handful of whiskers on his chin and gray hair, but he is so refreshed and well-dressed that he looks no more than 80 years old at most.
And at 80, that's exactly how old he was when he started learning to paint!
Leiberman's love affair with painting began at a senior citizens' club. At that time, the old man had been out of business for six years. He used to pass the time by going to the club in town and playing chess. One day, the clerk told him that the usual chess player was not well and could not come to accompany him. Seeing the old man's disappointment, the enthusiastic clerk suggested that he go to the drawing room and try his hand at drawing.
"What do you mean, let me paint?" The old man laughed out loud, "I've never touched a paintbrush before."
"It doesn't matter, just try it! Maybe you'll find it interesting!"
At the clerk's insistence, Leiberman went to the drawing room. After a while, she came back to see if the old man was having fun.
"Oh, sir! You were just fooling me! You are a true painter." She said to the old man with a smile.
But the old man was telling the truth, this was indeed the first time he had ever fiddled with brushes and paints. The old man was quite emotional when he mentioned the incident: "The clerk gave me great encouragement, and since then, I have been going to the studio every day. She made me find joy in life again. The six years after retirement were the most melancholy time of my life. There is nothing more annoying than a person waiting to go to the grave. Engage in an activity and it feels like starting a new life again."
Painting, for the octogenarian, has become more than a mere pastime.At 81, the old man took a painting class, a 10-week remedial course at a school for adults. It was the first and only time in his life that Leiberman had learned to draw. At the end of the third week of the course, the old man complained that the instructor, painter Larry Rivers, never gave him helpful guidance.
"You tell everyone this and that, but you don't say a word to me. Why is that?" Obviously, the old man was not happy.
"Sir, because what you do, even I cannot do myself. How dare I presume to instruct you?" In the end, Rivers even volunteered to pay for one of the old man's works.
In this way, in less than four years of light, Harry Leiberman's works have been purchased by a number of famous collectors, and into a number of museums. American art historian Stephen Longstreet wrote: "Many critics, art collectors, through this passionate, bright and simple art, see the extraordinary approach of a great artist. One could say that Leiberman is Chagall with an original vision."
In November, 19r77, a prestigious Los Angeles art showroom held its 22nd exhibition, entitled: Harry Leiberman at 101. The centenarian stood upright at the entrance and greeted the more than four hundred guests who attended the opening ceremony, among them a number of collectors, critics and journalists. The vigor expressed in his works won the admiration of many visitors. The old man said, "I don't say I'm 101 years old, but I say I have 101 years of maturity. I want to show those who consider themselves old when they reach 60, 70, 80 or 90 that this is not the twilight of life. Don't always think about how many years you have left to live, but think about what you can still do. Get on with something, that's life!"
Motivational quote
No matter what age you are, think about what you can still do. Life is full and meaningful when you "keep on living, keep on struggling".
Even the best songs can be boring
In a big tree, there lived a pachyderm, and every day it was there with a very mellow singing voice, singing a pleasant tune.
On an early summer morning, while singing, Bugsy suddenly heard a deafening hissing sound, and took a closer look, and on the highest branch of the tree, there was a cicada attached to it, which kept screaming "Zhiqi, Zhiqi, Zhiqi, Zhiqi," as if it were calling for help, even for a second. Bugsy jumped to its side and asked it, "Hey, what are you shouting for this early in the morning?"
The cicadas stopped shouting, and when they saw that it was Bugsy, they smiled and said, "So we're peers, I'm singing."
Bugsy asked him, "What are you singing about? It sounds quite sad to call, has something unfortunate happened?"
The cicada replied, "You are more expressive than you understand, I am singing about the morning, that beautiful sunset that makes me look at it and can't help but be excited to sing."
The octopus nodded and saw that the cicada was shaking up its wings again and making noises in a serious manner. Knowing it was hopeless to persuade the cicadas to stop, it flew off to another tree to sing.
At noon, Bugsy returned to the tree, and heard the cicada still singing, with a louder cry than in the morning, "I know, I know, I know". Still smiling, Bugsy asked it, "What are you singing now that the morning sun is long gone?"
The cicada replied, "The sun is boring me inside, I am singing lively ah."
The Eight said, "That's more like it, people will feel hotter as soon as they hear your song."
The cicada took this as a compliment and sang more and more vigorously. The octopus had to fly somewhere else again.
It was evening, and Buster came back, and the cicada was still singing!
Buster said, "The heat is gone now."
The cicada said, "I was so excited to see what the sun could do when it went down that I sang and cheered the sun." As soon as it had finished, it went on singing, as if it was afraid that once the sun had gone over the hill, it would not hear its song.
The octopus said, "You are so diligent!"
The Cicada said, "It always seems as if I haven't sung enough, my fellow traveler, and if you'd like to hear it, I could sing a nocturne."
The octopus said, "Don't you find it hard work?"
The Cicada said, "I am in love with singing, and I feel happy only when I am singing."
The eight said, "But I hear you singing the same song in the morning, at noon, and at night."
The Cicada said, "My moods are different, and so are my songs; I was born with the best voice, and I can sing for a long time in one breath without changing my tune!"
The Eight said, "I'll be honest, I get bored as soon as I hear your song, and the reason is that it doesn't change; without change, even the best song will be tiresome, and your refusal to take a break has already frightened me, and I'm going to move tomorrow."
Inspirational Proverbs
The most beautiful music will become monotonous and boring if it is repeated over and over again. Anything that remains the same will be discarded by others out of boredom.
Make the circle of your life bigger
A telemarketing company was training its salesmen.
The supervisor used a diagram to illustrate a life moral. He began by drawing a picture on the board: in the center of a circle stood a man. Then he added a house, a car, and some friends inside the circle.
The supervisor said, "This is your comfort zone. The things inside this circle are vital to you: your house, your family, your friends, and your job. Inside this circle, people feel comfortable and safe from danger or disputes."
"Now, who can tell me what happens when you step outside that circle?" The classroom was silent for a moment, and one positive participant broke the silence, "It will be scary." Another thought, "Something will go wrong." At this point the supervisor smiled and said, "When you make a mistake, what is the result?" The trainee who had initially answered the question replied aloud, "I will learn from it."
"Exactly, you will learn from your mistakes. When you leave your comfort zone, you learn things you didn't know before, you increase your insight, so you improve." The supervisor turned to the board again and drew a bigger circle beyond the original one, adding some new things like more friends, a bigger house, and so on.
"If you keep circling your comfort zone, you'll never expand your horizons, never learn anything new. It is only after you step outside your comfort zone that you can make the circle of your life bigger and you can mold yourself into a better person."
Motivational Words
Business executives in corporate America say when hiring new staff, "You have to keep moving forward and utilizing your talents; otherwise you will be eliminated." This is what the highly competitive modern society requires of its staff. Breaking away from the status quo and making progress is a necessary condition for career success, and it is also the inevitable requirement of the times.
Having a dream is not dreaming
Five years ago, Dyer went to the southern countryside to work on welfare. All he had to do was convince everyone of their ability to be self-sufficient and motivate them to realize their ideas.
When Dyer arrived in a small town called Miamichi, the local government helped him gather 25 poor people who were living on government welfare. After shaking hands with each of them, the first question Dyer asked them was, "What are your dreams?" Everyone looked at Dale with strange eyes, as if he were an alien.
"Dreams? We never dream. Dreaming doesn't make us rich." One of the red-nosed widows replied.
Dale patiently explained, "Having dreams is not dreaming. You must wish for something, for something to suddenly come true, that's what dreams are."
The Widow with the Red Nose said, "I don't know what you mean by dreams. I would like nothing more than to chase away the beasts now, for they are always trying to break into my house and bite my children."
Everyone laughed.
Dale said, "Oh! Have you thought of anything to do about that?"
She said, "I want to put in a new door that is strong and defends against wild animals, so I can go out and work in peace."
Dale asked, "Does anyone know how to make a beast-proof door?"
A somewhat balding, crippled man in the crowd said, "I made my own door many years ago, and I'm afraid I don't even know how to do it now. But I can try."
Then Dale asked the group what other dreams they had.
-A single mom said, "I'd like to go to college and study secretarial science, but there's no one to take care of my six kids."
Dale asked, "Can anyone take care of 6 kids?"
An elderly widowed woman said, "I've helped others with their children quite a bit before, and I think I can take care of those cute little ones myself."
Dale gave the balding man some money to buy materials and tools, then told the men to disband.
A week later, Dale reassembled the poor men. He asked the red-nosed widow, "Have you installed the beast-proof door in your house yet?"
The red-nosed widow said happily, "I no longer have to guard my children at home, and I have time to fulfill my dreams."
Then Dale asked the bald man how he felt. He told Dale, "Many years ago I made a beast-proof door for my own home, and it didn't do well then, and I haven't done it since. This time I thought it had to be done right, and it was. Many people have told me I'm amazing for making such strong, beautiful doors."
Motivational Words
Often, it's not that we're not capable of doing something on our own, it's that we're so stuck in our ways that we're not willing to try, or we're not willing to make the effort. Many of your dreams really are achievable if you take positive and effective action.
Churchill's first work
There was a period of time, politically struck Churchill depressed all day, the whole family to see in the eyes, anxious in the heart. The wife of one of Churchill's neighbors happened to be a painter, and her home was often filled with a variety of paints, brushes, canvases and painted works. The Churchill family often had the opportunity to admire the neighbor's masterpieces. Later, at the urging of his family, Churchill began to learn oil painting from his neighbor.
Churchill was a bold politician in the political arena, but on the clean canvas, he was afraid to make a stroke for fear of making a mistake. Seeing this, the female painter simply poured all the paint onto the canvas. As soon as Churchill saw that the canvas was already full of paint, he picked up his brush and began to paint on the canvas at will. Thus, Churchill painted his first picture. It wasn't perfect, but it was a big breakthrough.
From then on, Churchill began to let go of his painting. With constant practice, Churchill finally made great strides in his painting skills. In the end, Churchill not only left the painting world a large number of bold thinking, different styles of oil paintings, but also restore self-confidence, and rise again, in the history of Britain and even the world to create some amazing performance.
Inspirational Words
A good start is half the battle. But if there is no good start, we might as well try a bad start, and believe that even a bad start is much better than never having a start at all.
A long unsolved problem
Anciently, there was a king in Persia who wanted to select an official to assume an important position.
He summoned all the wise and brave officials and tried to find out which one of them could do the job.
The officials were led by the king to a great gate, and facing it, the largest in the country, which none of the visitors had ever seen before, the king said, "You are all men of wisdom and strength, my lords. Now, as you have seen, this is the largest and heaviest gate in the country, but it has never been opened. Who among you can open this gate and help me solve this long-standing problem?"
Many of the officials shook their heads as they looked at the gate from afar. A few approached the gate to take a look at it and retreated, not daring to try to open the door. Other officials have also said that there is no way to open the door.
At this point, however, one official went under the gate and first carefully observed it, then probed around with his hands, trying to open the door in various ways. After several attempts, he grabbed a heavy chain and pulled it without much force, and the gate opened!
Originally, this seems to be very firm door, and not really closed, any person as long as a careful look, and a little bit of courage to try, such as pulling a seemingly heavy chain, and even do not have to use much force to push the door, can open. If you don't even dare to touch it and look at it, you will naturally feel helpless against this huge thing that seems to be so firm and solid.
The king said to the minister who had opened the gate, "That important office of the court, let it be yours! For you do not confine yourself merely to what you see and hear, but you think to look closely and have the courage to venture to try when others feel unable to do anything." He added to the officials, "In fact, for any seemingly intractable problem, one needs to open one's mind to observe it carefully and have the courage to take a risk and try it out boldly."
One by one, the officials who did not have the courage to give it a try lowered their heads.
Inspirational Words
Many long unsolved problems are not necessarily unattainable. Opening your mind, letting go of your guts to take a risk, and making an effort to try can solve many seemingly intractable problems.
Before you succeed, learn to pay
A man was walking in the desert for two days. On the way he encountered a storm of sand. After the sand blew over, he could no longer recognize the right direction. Just when he could not hold on any longer, suddenly, he found an abandoned hut. He dragged his tired body into the house. It was a small, unventilated room with piles of rotting wood. In near despair, he went to the corner of the house, but unexpectedly found a pumping machine.
He excitedly went up to draw water, but no matter how hard he pumped, he couldn't get half a drop. He sat down and saw a corked bottle with a yellowed note on it, which said, "You must fill the pump with water to draw water! Don't forget to fill it with water again before you leave!
He uncorked the bottle and found it, indeed, filled with water!
Inside his mind, he was at war: if he was selfish, and drank from the bottle, he would not die of thirst, and would walk out of the room alive! If he did what the note said, and poured the only water in the bottle into the pump, he would die of thirst in this place if the water never returned - should he take the risk or not?
Finally, he decided to pour the only water in the bottle, all of it, into the dilapidated looking pump, and with trembling hands he drew water, which literally gushed out in great quantities!
After he drank his fill, he filled the bottle with water, sealed it with a cork, and added his own words to the original note: Trust me, it really works. Learn to give before you achieve success.
Inspirational Proverbs
Sow in the spring before you can reap in the fall; invest boldly before you can reap a profitable return. Give selflessly before you achieve success.
See change as a new opportunity and challenge
Faeya came to Canada from Iran as an international student at age 17, not speaking a word of English. When the customs officer asked her what was in her bag, she couldn't understand and couldn't speak clearly, so the officer became very nervous and used many advanced instruments to probe her bag carefully before he dared to open it for inspection. In this way, she set foot on Canadian soil, learning English and taking computer courses at the University of Toronto. After graduation, she followed her husband to Calgary.
Calgary was a small city in the early 1980s, and the economy wasn't doing so well, so Faiya started writing programs for a private employer after searching for work. But six months later, she went to the employer's home to check on him and found that the address had been vacated, and that the last few months of work had been for nothing, and naturally, she hadn't received her paycheck.
The unpaid first job became a knockout. Faia then found a job as a programmer in the computer department of a company, and then changed companies, and after years of hard work and experience, she made it to vice president of Bell Canada. Half a month ago, however, after more than 10 years working for Bell, she was in the middle of an organizational reorganization with its