In ancient times, there was a general who led his troops to fight an enemy whose strength was greater than his by tenfold. His soldiers were panic-stricken, so he wanted to enhance their morale. On the way, he stopped at a shrine to pray and seek guidance.
He displayed a coin in his hand and addressed his soldiers: “Now I’m going to toss a coin. If it lands head up we will win. If it’s tails we will lose. Our lives are in the hands of destiny.” When the coin landed on the ground it was head up. Every soldier felt joy and cheered loudly. It came to pass that at the end of the battle, the numerically superior enemy was indeed defeated. During the celebration party the soldiers unanimously concluded that, “It is God’s will, no one can change destiny.” The general took out the divination coin and showed to his soldiers and said “Is that so? I think the fate is in our hands.” Both sides of the coin bore a head.
Many people feel envious of successful people. They don’t understand that many successfully people become so through hard work and practice behind the scenes . If Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Maria Sharapova didn’t practice hard do you think they still would have had as great an achievement? Sometimes in class I will encourage my students to practice hard so that one day they also can be a Tai Chi teacher. But they usually reply with an expression showing me they don’t believe me or they don’t have the confidence. Buddha once said, “All living creatures all have Buddhahood, all can be Buddha.” But this is based on the premise that you must believe it and have the confidence.
I always believe that one’s achievement depends on the strength of one’s will. If the person always “murmurs against God and grumbles against people” then we know this person will accomplish nothing.
A Chinese maxim says, “The man who has a settled purpose will surely succeed.”
–Danny