Zen Medicine for Mind and Body - Shi Xinggui

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complain, because it is a chance for you to temper yourself, and in time, you’ll be entrusted with important tasks. While you might seem to have suffered loss in doing good deeds and helping others, you will be blessed in the end. Therefore, whatever you do for others, do your best, because you are doing it for yourself. Only in this way can you accumulate your own reward in heaven.

      Two monks, one old and the other young, were each carrying two buckets of water on a shoulder pole from the foot of a hill to their temple on the hilltop. Thinking that he could have more time for rest if he arrived at the destination earlier, the young monk quickened his steps and reached the temple in half an hour. The old monk, instead, remained unhurried, climbing the hill more gradually and reaching the top in an hour. “Master, why didn’t you ramp up your efforts like I did and arrive earlier so you could get rest?” the young monk asked.

      “You were indeed faster,” answered his master, “but you’re just cooling down now, aren’t you? In this sense, aren’t we arriving at the hilltop at the same time?”

      Similar examples can be seen in many areas of our life. Many people are always in a hurry on their way to work. Sometimes, they even cross the street when the light is red. But when they reach their workplaces, they sit panting heavily, and it takes them a long time to cool down. The same happens when they go home after work. While they may get home several minutes earlier, they but are often too exhausted to spend time with their families. So what difference is there whether they get home earlier and later? This being the case, why not walk slower?

      Most of us have a similar approach to life. In our early years, we earn money at the cost of our health, and in the second half, we use that money to buy health. As a result, we are kept on the run all our lives. If you think about it, this sort of life is no more desirable than a long simple life. When they fall ill, many people eagerly look forward to an immediate recovery, but this is rarely possible, because haste makes waste.

      I once came across a boy with recurrent fever. When I asked about its cause, his mother said, “Previously, he ran a fever of 39℃. He was hospitalized in the morning, but his fever had not dropped by evening. Worried and anxious, his father yelled at the nurse for not doing her work properly. At this, the doctor immediately wrote a prescription and asked the nurse to bring down the fever with the medicine prescribed. After more than one hour of intravenous drip, his fever abated. With two more days of infusion, his temperature was normal and he was discharged from hospital. But once he got home, the fever recurred, lingering for days.”

      I knew the reason immediately. “How could you let his father yell at the nurse?” I said to the mother. “Fever is a self-protecting mechanism of the body. It shows that the immune system in the body is fighting the germs. Instead of doing harm to the child’s body, a controlled fever benefits it greatly. With antibiotics, it is easy to bring down the fever, but antibiotics are a double-edged sword, killing both good and bad cells in the body, and consequently, the patient becomes physically weaker. Your son could have overcome the fever without taking medicine, but because of your anxiety and yelling, the doctor had to use antibiotics instead. That’s why he is now plagued with this recurrent fever.”

      We should slow down the pace of our life. When we are angry or impatient, or if our relatives are falling ill, we should tell ourselves, “I am now at the crossroads and the light is red. If I don’t slow down, I’m sure to encounter more serious trouble.”

      The most fundamental human desires are wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep. As mortal beings, we naturally have desires, and some of them are not bad at all. For example, the lack of desire for food will cause anorexia, and the lack of desire for sleep will lead to insomnia. If he is utterly pessimistic, a patient is unlikely to be healed. Therefore, an appropriate amount of desire is good, but too much desire will cause trouble, agony, and restlessness.

      Mr. Wang originally ran several restaurants, but when he came to me, he had nothing left to his name. Wang was a common child from a common urban workers’ family, and his mother even lost her job. But he was smart even as a child, and very insightful. At 25, he married a woman who owned a small restaurant. With this foundation, he worked hard for ten years and became the owner of five large restaurants.

      Last year, one of his good friends told him that by investing in a project, he could have his wealth doubled within a year. Impressed, he mortgaged all his restaurants and put the money into the project. Unfortunately, the investment failed and he lost several million yuan. He was so depressed he attempted suicide. His wife, who often came to the Temple to offer incense, asked me to give her husband some guidance.

      “Let me tell you a story,” I said to Mr. Wang. “Long, long ago, there was an old fisherman, who lived with his wife in a shabby hut on the seaside. Every day, he cast the net into the sea to catch fish while his wife wove yarn. But his luck was bad, and he did not catch any fish for several months. One day, he finally caught a small goldfish. Unexpectedly, the fish begged him to set it free and promised to grant him whatever wish he might imagine. The old fisherman said that he wanted nothing, and he freed the fish into the sea.”

      “Master,” interrupted Mr. Wang, “I heard this story.”

      I smiled. This was normal, since many people knew this story. But I asked him to finish it.

      Mr. Wang continued, “Back at home, when the old fisherman told this to his wife, she started cursing and forced him to ask the fish for a new wooden basin, and it was granted. Then she asked for a wooden house and a noblewoman’s title, which also came true. Finally, the insatiable woman even wanted to be queen, waited on by the goldfish. Running out of patience, the fish ordered everything to return to what it had been. In the end, the old woman still lived on the seaside with her broken wooden basin in her shabby wooden hut.”

      “Are you the old woman in the story?” I asked him when he finished the story. He seemed to be inspired by the story.

      “I know everything about you.” I continued, “You were smart as a child. You saw through many worldly things, but not into your own heart. You couldn’t control your heart and, like a balloon, it grew bigger and bigger, until it finally burst. This is like climbing a mountain. Though you’re good enough to conquer the mountain, when you finally stand at its top, you don’t know to stop and appreciate the infinite views below, the sunrise the next morning, and the flowers and grass that cover the mountain. Instead, you walk ahead one more step, but unfortunately, that means you’re beginning to go down the mountain.”

      Intelligent people know how to control their desire. After their normal desire is met, they are no longer affected by greed. When you are well-fed and well-clothed, you might as well consider how many beautiful things in this world have you missed while you kept yourself busy every day. Why not put down the things you are doing, calm down, and enjoy the beauty of this moment?

      Many people, some of whom are successful in most people’s eyes, complain to me that they are not happy and that life is meaningless. Some young people even consider suicide.

      Once, a man in his thirties came to me, saying that he was under great pressure and was unhappy. He said he came from the countryside and lived in the city after graduating from the university. I asked whether he had more money now than in his childhood. He answered that when he was young, his family was very poor. Then I pursued, “Do you think you had a happy childhood?”

      He thought for a while and answered, “We were poor at that time, but when I recall those days, there are still many happy memories, such as catching fish in the river and climbing trees to catch cicadas.”

      “You’re right,” I said. “When do people feel happy? It is today, this moment. However, many people do not know how to live their present lives well. When they are young, they think their childhood was happier, and when they are middle aged, they think they were happier in their youth. When they are old and riddled with disease, they think their middle-aged life was happier.

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