239. No matter how small the matter, timing is very important.
Sometimes things just won't move forward—especially in front of family, at work, or in society—you need to wait for the right moment and opportunity, or even create one. Before the 2008 Olympics, Beijing wanted to carry out urban redevelopment, but some old-fashioned officials and government departments wouldn't budge. Because hosting the Olympics required a completely new look, Beijing used the opportunity to clean up many bureaucratic departments and rectify many things. Guiding others also requires the right timing; without it, it won't work. You must learn to create opportunities; don't force things before the opportunity arises—it's easy to hurt people's feelings, and they won't accept it. Sometimes people are just bored—if you had agreed earlier, everything might have been fine, but you have to make something happen, cause chaos at home, and pay a small price to get them to change before they agree. Cultivating oneself in life means that no matter how small, nothing in life is insignificant.
240. What are the suitable methods and approaches for spiritual practice in the human realm?
Traditional Buddhist practices are more suitable for the Buddhist realm—renunciation, seclusion, avoiding unclean places, meditation, chanting scriptures, and upholding precepts. In the Buddhist realm or the highest divine realm, you can truly achieve the state of Shakyamuni—no need to find a place to live, no need to worry about food, and the higher your level of cultivation, the less you need to eat. Those with over a thousand years of cultivation only need to eat fruit once a month, while those with lower levels complain of hunger every day. In the celestial realm, lifespans can easily reach tens of thousands of years, and a single meditation session can last a thousand years—no food is no problem. Human cultivation is not like this—you must refer to the Vimalakirti Sutra, do things that are consistent with Buddhist teachings, but practice human methods; that is what human cultivation is all about. Don't try to escape the world; learn more about human methods, apply human methods, and learn to use human methods to solve human problems. Everything you use may be from the Kuomintang, reactionaries, or the Japanese puppet army—but everything you do should benefit the country and the people.
241. The opportunity to truly change the course of your life comes only once.
Many people think they can find opportunities by searching—don't worry, you won't find them. Throughout human history, the opportunity to truly change your life's trajectory only comes once in a lifetime. Julius Caesar, Liu Bang, Liu Bei, Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Qiangdong, Jack Ma—all only had this one chance. More than 50% of people don't even have one chance, living a mediocre and uneventful life. It's not about a lack of ability—they could very well be top scorers in the college entrance exam. Those who try to change their lives through hard work using human wisdom—even those who graduate from Tsinghua and Peking University each year are considered among the most intelligent—rarely solve their life's problems; they only live slightly better than the average person. It's not about having strong abilities to solve problems. When fate doesn't give you an opportunity, searching and begging yourself is useless. Many girls always hope to meet their Prince Charming—they definitely won't. In all their years of experience, no one has met someone who matches their destiny and fate level; no matter how they search, it's the same. Don't rush to find him; you won't find him because you need to encounter him.
242. How to Discover Opportunities
Many opportunities are fleeting. The most important thing about discovering an opportunity is when you're on the rise, during your first year of great fortune—the most important opportunity of your life! Other opportunities are just training. Discovering opportunities requires insight, intuition, and inspiration—applied to one's innate wisdom. The saying in Game of Thrones, "Those who can see through the rules in a second and those who can't see through the rules in a lifetime," shows a difference in the face of opportunity. Why do many young people never have opportunities in their lives? Because their industries rarely offer them life-changing opportunities. The chances of people who follow our storytelling sessions getting to know and trust each other in the vast sea of people are extremely low. We provide two pathways—those that already exist and those that are newly developed. If you've already seized an opportunity, you're very lucky; if not, new opportunities may arise in the future that could change many people's lives—if you can't seize those, I don't know what other opportunities this life will offer. How to enhance innate wisdom? Cultivate a penetrating mind and a Buddha's eye. A penetrating mind solves the problem of rules—all rules are revealed before you. A Buddha's eye is rules plus cause and effect—you can understand them at a glance. Cultivating a penetrating mind and a Buddha's eye allows you to discover things that others cannot. How can you enhance your insight, intuition, inspiration, and sensitivity in daily life? Start with the details and notice anomalies. Examine the rules from four perspectives: patterns, history, economics, and human nature. Analyze complex, subtle, and chaotic data to seize opportunities. If all else fails, you can copy—expand and apply successful practices from the East and West to third-world or less competitive countries. Surviving in highly competitive environments can be tough. Many places have lazy people with plenty of money and few people—go there, help them learn, and opportunities will emerge. Don't think that intelligence, tools, or skills can determine your life—without opportunities, you won't rise. The most important thing about opportunities is "do good deeds and don't worry about the future." Do good things, and fate may not always reward you.
243. Why investigate after discovering an opportunity?
First, there's no way to predict black swan events. In this degenerate age, black swan events are even more frequent; one black swan event can be devastating. Typhoon "Mangkut" in Hainan was a black swan—a severe typhoon also occurred ten years ago; be cautious when investing in agriculture in Hainan. Second, it's impossible to control all variables. Stocks can be accurately predicted for a period, but not permanently—too many variables are involved. A stock has 100 variables; mastering 60 is already impressive. In stable periods, you can make money no matter what, but you can't make money in all periods—there will always be variables, and you can't control 40 variables. Third, all human success is based on past experience and data analysis, but there's no way to solve sudden changes. Fourth, when you don't have control over the universe, you must learn to respect it. Even the top fortune tellers are deliberately made wrong a few times each year by the heavens—a deliberate slap in the face. They know they can't be accurate today; no matter how they try, they'll be wrong—the heavens are reminding them: your accuracy is permitted, not due to your ability. Humans can't accurately predict the future; they need to research things beforehand—direction, fate, time, difficulty, and needs. Is this an opportunity? Good at first, then bad; bad at first, then good; or always good? How long will it last? What price will be paid for waiting? How long will it take? What are the chances of seizing the opportunity? If there's more than a 50% chance, you can take a gamble; if there's a 70% chance, go all out. Some opportunities, once seized, can't be recovered—first, thoroughly investigate everything, one item at a time.
244. What is needed to overcome courage?
First, do you have enough capital? Facing unknown problems and feeling lost – this requires good fortune, sufficient resources for trial and error. Starting a business requires 10,000 yuan; with only 10,000, failure is highly probable; with 100,000, you can try a few times and are almost guaranteed to succeed; with 1 million, success is almost guaranteed. Without capital and resources, problems arise; there's no cost for trial and error. Most families are heavily indebted, lacking even the cost of trial and error; they have to borrow money to try – this inevitably leads to a flawed mindset, only achieving success on the first try. Second, is there someone to guide you? Many people want to become assistants, but having someone to guide you is completely different – with guidance, progress is incredibly fast and stress-free; without guidance, you're at a loss. Many students with limited skills form small groups to help each other – this is the difference between a poor person's mindset and a rich person's mindset. It must be a rich person's mindset; always associate with people who have resources and are on the right path, reducing costs and opportunities for trial and error. Third, the Dharma realm's image. The direction is affirmed by a wise person – this can only exist in the human realm if it exists in the Dharma realm. On the same level, cause precedes effect; on different levels, effect precedes cause. In the Dharma realm, causal relationships have already taken shape; if you walk in that direction, you'll eventually accomplish it.