In a certain early morning in a country park, a cat was earnestly lifting dumbbells and repeatedly practising this action without stop for a long time. After that, he switched to do weight lifting with all his strength exerted to raise the barbells. Having done the practice for some time, he started to do gym by pulling springs.
Whenever the cat was doing exercise at other times, he always saw a tiger passing by in a distance.

Today, the cat began to play the Shaolin style Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist(虎鶴雙形拳, Cantonese: fu hok seung ying kuen) after he had finished practising the gym. As soon as the pattern ‘Single Tiger Emerges from Cave (單虎出洞, Cantonese: than fu chunt theong)’ was struck, the cat put his fists in front of his chest and changed to another pattern called ‘Hunger Tiger Snatches Goat (餓虎擒羊, Cantonese: ngo fu kam yeong). At this particular moment, the mighty strong tiger just happened to walk past the cat at a distance of ten feet in front of him. Seeing the big tiger walking past and thinking that it was such a precious chance, the cat was so excited that he could not help himself but run forward to the tiger immediately and asked, “Big Brother Tiger, would you please tell me when I could be as mighty and strong as you? I’ve been practising bodybuilding since puberty but why do I still look like a tiger cub after having so much practice? Why can’t I grow into the size as big as you? I’ve been exercising for a long time. It’s been at least three years up till now, why aren’t there any changes at all?”
The tiger answered, “Keep on practising diligently and there’ll be a day that you’ll grow into a size as big as mine.”

Rinpoche continued, “You should at least be able to think of one more point. It’s the
fourth point: Why did the tiger emphasize that it was impossible for the cat to become him in ‘(this)present life’ when he murmured the truth to himself? Pay attention to the two words ‘(this)present life’ mentioned in the true saying. The tiger was absolutely clear that the cat was unable to become him with the existing conditions he had in this life. However, the impossibility was only confined to this life. If the cat keeps working hard to do his business well with substantial improvements, it’s difficult to anticipate whether he’ll be reincarnated in a new body of higher quality in his future lives and genuinely will become a tiger. As long as one continues to sublimate one’s body and mind so that one can make improvements without interruption generation after generation, one can thus be reborn to a higher-order intelligent life form --- ‘human beings’. With the acquisition of the precious human body as well as the possibility of hearing Buddha Dharma because of one’s meritorious virtue accumulated which is then followed by the learning of Buddhism through cultivation practice, one can even be further reincarnated as a deity or become a Bodhisattva whom is reborn from the lotus. Eventually, it’s the achievement of Anuttara Samyak Sambodhi (Supreme Perfect Enlightenment) of a Buddha.