A Beautiful Heart

Just like a big wave must join the ocean’s tide rise and fall, we cannot experience life alone, for we must share our experiences with those around us.

Mature people do not ask about the past.
Clever people do not ask about the present.
Open-minded people do not ask about the future.

‘Distance’ is not always as far apart as the four corners of the earth; is it not, in fact, the stranger that you are looking at when you stand in front of the mirror!

We are given a beautiful heart, with the hope that we can all find ourselves!
We are given a beautiful heart, within the vast universe, in the short span of a lifetime, and during the deepest night in complete stillness, we must search within our hearts and often ask ourselves:
“What is the point of working so hard?
If you had suffered loss, wouldn’t you feel disappointed?
What are we actually striving for in life?
Is it for one’s own happiness?  Or is it for the happiness of others?”

1. Someone once told an unhappy king, “Once you find the world’s happiest person, put on his coat and you will be happy.”
   Later, the king eventually found the world’s happiest person, but this person was so poor that he did not even possess a coat!
   
   
2. There was once a Buddhist learner who came across an old woman selling snacks (‘dim sum’). He approached the old woman requesting some ‘dim sum’ (‘dim’ in Chinese means choose; ‘sum’ in Chinese means heart. So ‘dim sum’ means choosing a heart). The old woman asked him, “One cannot have the past heart, one cannot have the present heart, and one cannot have the future heart. So, which heart (‘sum’) are you going to choose (‘dim’)?
   

   We are so busy during a lifetime, which heart (’sum’) should we choose (‘dim’)?

3. There was a lorry driver who sold flowers at the flower market every day.
   One day, he took his daughter to school.
   His daughter asked, “Daddy, do you like taking flowers to the market?”
   Father replied, “I like taking flowers to the market, but what I like most will always be taking you to school!”
   His daughter looked at the beautiful flowers full of admiration and out of the blue, she said, “Daddy!  These flowers are so beautiful!”
   Father said, “A person does not necessarily need to look beautiful, but must always live beautifully!”
   During one’s lifetime, isn’t it a fact that we are all pursuing this “beautiful” heart after all?
   
   
4. If there are problems which you cannot solve now, then think no further;
   if there are people whom you cannot face up to now, then do not meet up with them;
   if there are worries which you cannot take care of now, then let them be;
   if there are feelings which you do not know how to analyse now, then do not analyse them;
   “Not to think, not to manage” are not a means of escape, but a temporary detachment from one’s troubles.
   

If one continues to be entangled, one would inevitably be trapped in an even deeper mess. Furthermore, if you cannot manage a situation now, it does not mean that you are helpless forever. Therefore, you should simply ‘pack away’ those problems, those people, those worries and those emotional troubles for now, and when you feel that you have the strength to deal with them, you can then handle them at your own pace.

After all, not only does the “Hand of Time” tenderly softens you and makes you the wiser, it also gently and unconsciously untangles those troubles that you have once ‘packed away’!