Ms. Destiny vs Mr. Effort

I used to ponder over things, over my achievements and failures, and why am I not rich, neither did I inherit wealth because my father is not Lim Goh Tong. Did you, too, had pondered?

Was it effort that made Lim Goh Tong rich? Was it effort that made Pak Lah a prime minister? Was it because Khairy was an Oxford graduate or is it because he is the son-in-law of a PM that made him what he is today, a jobless man but worth hundreds of millions? Is it not the fact that Azlan Shah was born in a royal family tree that he ever had a chance to be king? Is it because Syed Mokhtar was a Muslim and consequently a Bumiputera that he was privileged to procure benefits accorded by the NEP, or was it that he work hard and efforts, together with his sacrifices, sufferings, sacrifices and good luck that made him a billionaire? Did Dato Haniff b. Abd Aziz, Datuk Syed Azman b. Syed Ibrahim, Razali Ali, SM Nasimuddin SM Amin, became multi-millionaires because of their efforts, acumens and entrepreneurial spirit or good luck that made them filthy rich and prosperous?

K. Jeya Thilaga could not pay the rental (RM380/month) of a walk-up flat at Taman Alam Megah and was evicted by her landlord. She and her 11-year-old daughter and her sister-in-law’s 15-year-old girl had nowhere to go and thus had to put up at the side of the staircase and sleep on mats. She works as a contract worker at a factory earning RM420 a month, and is an asthmatic. Why is she poor and a destitute lady? Was she born to be poor or was it because it was luck?

So, if a person is poor, was it luck or lack of effort? Or, were they all destined?

Is it true that the world could not be known by our pure reason, beyond sense and unthinkable? Well, I have no answer.

Just wanted to share an essay by Lieh-tzu entitled "Effort and Destiny" in which the passage reads:

Mr. Effort said to Ms Destiny: "Your achievements are not equal to mine."

"Pray, what do you achieve in the working of things," replied Destiny, "that you would compare yourself with me?"

"Why," said Effort, "the length of man's life, his measure of success, his rank and his wealth, are all things which I have the power to determine."

To this, Destiny made reply: "Peng Tsu's wisdom did not exceed that of Yao and Shun, yet he lived to the age of 800. Yen Yuan's ability was not inferior to that of the average man, yet he died at the age of 32. ... If these results are compassed by your effort, how is it that you allotted long life to Peng Tsu and an untimely death to Yen Yuan; that you awarded discomfiture to the sage and success to the impious, humiliation to the wise man and high honours to the fool, poverty to the good and wealth to the wicked?"

"If, as you say, " rejoined Effort, "I have really no control over events, is it not, then, to your management that things turn out as they do?"

Destiny replied: "The very name Destiny shows that there can be no question of management in the case. When the way is straight, I push on; when it is crooked, I let be. Old age and early death, failure and success, high rank and humble station, riches and poverty - all these come naturally and of themselves. Of their ultimate cause, I am ignorant, how could it be otherwise?"

Another story from Lieh-tzu:

Mr. Yien, of the Chi State, was holding an ancestral banquet in his hall to which a thousand guests were bidden. As he sat in their midst, many came up to him with presents of fish and game. Eyeing them approvingly, he exclaimed with unction:

"How generous is Almighty God to man! he makes the five kinds of grain to grow, and creates the finny and the featured tribes, especially for our benefit."

All Mr. Tien's guests applauded this sentiment to the echo; but the 12-year-old son of Mr. Pao, regardless of seniority, came forward and said:

"You are wrong, my lord. All the living creatures in the universe stand in the same category as ourselves, and one is of no greater intrinsic value than another. It is only by reason of size, strength, or cunning that some particular species gains the mastery, or that one preys upon another. None of them are produced in order to subserve the uses of others. Man catches and eats those that are fit for food; but how can it be maintained that God creates them expressly for man's use? Mosquitoes and gnats suck man's blood, and tigers and wolves devour his flesh; but we do not therefore assert that God created man expressly for mosquitoes and gnats, or to provide food for tigers and wolves."

Does this illustrate that Nature is not benevolent?

Source: Lionel Giles, Taoist Teaching from the Book of Lieh Tzu, London, 1912, pp119

Buddhist Quote

The nature of the Real Suchness is not being, not non-being, not not being, not not non-being, nor both being and non-being. It is not one, not many, not not one, not not many, nor both one and many."

Do you understand? Do you not understand? Do you not not understand? Do you not not not understand? If so, then I believed you all must have understood what it means!

Lastly, but not the least, I like to share a poem written by someone who called himself 'Sharing'. He gave me permission to name it, and I shall call it: 'The Poetry of Nihilism'.

Million & Billion words of wonder
when thousand and hundred are minimum.
All start with zero when man come
and same zero to bring with last bye-bye to go.
Slipping through the hands!

24 hours a day
seven days a week
52 weeks a year
Slipping through with many to miss!

A bowl or two a meal
a loaf or two a day.
A Palace of elegance
A hut of minimum
The wonderest, the bed of 6x6!
not until the stomach is fixed.
The bed and the stomach the best places to rest!
Dream with no limitation
Stomach with easy satisfaction
The bottom line of all!

The dream needs imagination
with wisdom to hold
knowledge to go!
Or dreams with snoozes
or dreams with surf or soars!
Sweet dreams - a wisdom of most!
A life with Rhythms to go!