Xuefeng
February 20, 2020
(Translated by Qinyou and Edited by Kaer)

Confucius said:

At fifteen years old, I set my heart upon learning

At thirty years, I planted my feet firmly upon the ground

At Forty, I no longer suffered from perplexities

At fifty, I knew my destiny

At sixty, I heard them with docile ears

At seventy, I could follow the dictates of my own heart; for what I desired no longer overstepped the boundaries of right

“Knowing one’s destiny”?
What is destiny?

Destiny is the mission bestowed upon us by the Greatest Creator; or we can say, destiny is our inherent talent and fate.

Then how can we “know our destiny”?

The smartest and wisest people in Chinese history are Jiang Ziya, Zhang Liang, and Zhuge Liang. Jiang Ziya’s wisdom undoubtedly exceeded Zhou Wenwang’s, Zhang Liang’s must have surpassed Liu Bang’s, and Zhuge Liang’s must have surpassed Liu Bei’s, but why did the former not replace the later and stand on their own as kings? Because they “knew their destinies”; they knew that their destinies were to assist, not to rule. Had the three of them attempted to become kings, they would have lost everything. Commanders in chief and generals are two completely different realms. Kings and counsellors require completely different talents. Birds can soar in the sky, but once they fall into the water, they will not only be defenseless, but they might even drown. Liu Bowen, Li Chunfeng, Yuan Tiangang and many others were god-like persons who knew the vicissitudes of the previous millennia, so why did Liu Bowen, Li Chunfeng, and Yuan Tiangang still kowtow to the feet of Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shimin? Because they all knew their destinies.

Peach trees can only bear peaches, apricot trees can only bear apricots, roosters can only crow, and hens can only lay eggs. These are their destinies.

After reading all the books without words, you will find that everything is born, grows, is punished, and is finally exterminated by nature. Talents are born, not learned or cultivated; those who are born to be thieves will definitely steal and those born to be kings will gather talents. Destiny is not to be violated because whoever does so will have a bad life that is full of twists and turns.

It can be seen from this that when everything goes wrong or when we encounter misfortune, it must be that we have acted against our destiny; if we can follow our destiny, our lives would be smooth. Therefore, when eating corn bread, eat happily; do not envy other people’s delicacies; when living in a thatched hut, do not be jealous of others’ tall buildings and villas. It is easy to see others start businesses to generate income but not so simple to germinate the idea to start your own business. Watching others become celebrities, do not imitate them blindly in any way. Finding others becoming spiritual leaders, do not engage in sneaky and furtive activity dealing with spirits and deities or fortunes and disasters yourself and expect to be seen as Jesus or the Ziwei Saint or Maitreya Buddha coming again. Be yourself; if you like farming, then farm honestly; if you like teaching, then teach diligently. Do not follow others because by knowing what you can do, you will be knowing and following your destiny.

I would like to introduce my own process of “knowing my destiny”. I discovered very early that people with the Zhang surname can neither succeed in official careers nor become successful in financial ones. If a Zhang follows an official career, they will develop a bad reputation and if they go into a financial career, they will become impoverished, however the Jade Emperor’s surname was Zhang, which proves that I can become a saint. Knowing this, I must enter neither an official career nor a financial profession. There are too many things that I cannot do because I am not cut for them. The only thing that I can succeed in is to become an immortal saint, but I will never become a god, let alone a king. At the same time, I found out that I must not accumulate material wealth. The less I own, the more I can use my talents; the emptier I am, the more spiritual I am. Leading people toward heaven, I can do; leading people to run businesses to make money, I cannot; leading people to change dynasties or become heroes, I definitely cannot do. In the end, I found that I cannot do much of anything very well, even if I try my hardest, but I can do service work; I can serve others, to be servants of others. This I can do well; I can be a first-class servant. It is easy for me to deliver everyone to the fairy world; I am very capable of serving people to enjoy the fun in life and LIFE; that is the communist life.

Among other things, I am a big idiot.
How about you? What is your destiny?

Young people will not know it, but even Confucius “knew his destiny” at fifty. It is very difficult to know one’s destiny without experiencing the torture of life, without reading the books without words, and without often trying to figure out the world.

Are you familiar with Zhou Enlai, a key figure in the history of modern China? He died well because he knew his destiny. Zhou Enlai never visited Liu Bang’s tomb but he did visit Zhang Liang’s tomb. This could have saved his life; otherwise, he might have suffered Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao’s ending.

The core of “The Theory of ‘Destiny’” is to be yourself, and you must never deliberately plan anything.