Good Fortune and Misfortune
Life may be a bed of roses, but always with
thorns. Good fortunes and misfortunes exist side by side, and they complement
each other. A misfortune is an ingredient that one needs to blend with the rest
of the ingredients of life and living. Life will not be wholesome without
misfortunes and tragedies, which exist to enable one to appreciate more what
life has to offer.
A case in point
There was a Chinese
story . . . 塞翁失馬 A man
lost his only horse, which ran away one day. His friends comforted him. But he
was not upset at all; instead, he said: “That’s not a misfortune.” A few days
later, his horse came back with a stallion. This time, his friends
congratulated him on his good fortune. But he said: “What’s so good about
that?” Later on, his only son rode on the stallion and accidentally broke his
leg when he fell from the horse. Once again, his friends comforted him for the
misfortune. But he said: “Breaking his leg may not be a misfortune.” Indeed,
soon after that, a war broke out, and all the young men were drafted into the
army, except the man’s son with his broken leg. All of them were later
annihilated in a fierce battle. The moral of the story: a misfortune may turn
itself into a good fortune.
There is a Chinese saying: “A man’s destiny
cannot be summarized and sealed until nails are put on his coffin’s top.” So,
nothing is set in stone.
TAO wisdom
According to TAO, willingness to accept your
own fate or destiny provides you with inspiration for right conduct. Not
accepting is a controlling and manipulative mindset through unbecoming conduct
to control your destiny to get what you want in life.
In TAO, there is no such thing as “good luck”
or ”bad luck.” Let go of the negative concept of bad luck, such as “13” and
“touch wood,” or even the positive thinking of having good luck. Instead, let
the natural flow of life move through you, giving you internal power to make
the impossible become possible, the difficult become easy. Simplify your life,
and get rid of clutters that make you become superstitious. Remember, luck is
something that you create for yourself, and that it is an external reality
beyond your control, whereas you can always create your own internal reality of
peace to overcome any groundless fear responsible for your internal negative
energy.
Everything in this material world has meaning only in comparison
with one another, and that goes for good luck or bad luck too. Does “Friday the
13th” worry you? Are you getting yourself depressed by thinking of
your bad luck in relation to the good luck of others? Go deeper into the core
of your being and take control of your own beliefs, and not follow those of
others. Fear is only your mental construct.
According to conventional wisdom, winning is always related to
conflict: you must fight in order to win, just like in any contest or
competition. The bag and baggage that all winners and losers carry with them is
that their net worth and value are solely based on their winning or losing.
TAO, on the other hand, focuses on doing your best in any
endeavor. More importantly, it is you, and no one else, who will judge your own
wins and losses.
“Everything that happens to us is beneficial.
Everything that we experience is
instructional.
Everyone that we meet, good or bad, becomes
our teacher or student.
We learn from both the good and the bad.
So, stop picking and choosing.
Everything is a manifestation of the
mysteries of creation.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 27)
“We accept all that is simple and humble.
We embrace the good fortune and the
misfortune.
Thus, we become masters of every situation.
We overcome the painful and the difficult in
our lives.
That is why the Way seems paradoxical.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 78)
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
