No 52 of Living Life Series 1
All of us have both good and bad in life. There will always be happiness and sorrow, gains and loss, win and defeat, health and ill-health etc. The list goes on.
We must not dwell helplessly into our ill fate but try to resolve, ameliorate or at least contain and come to terms with it.
We should not amplify it but focus on our good fate and ensure more of the good to come. We have to create wealth, both worldly and spiritually.
We too have to deplete or miminise our bad fate. This concept may be foreign to many and controversial somewhat but nevertheless worth mention.
We can do so by fasting, observing austerity of life on certain days, give up comfortable life for a day or two to attend to the unfortunate, give up our meals occasionally and save the money for the destitute. The two fold advantages are obvious. We voluntarily allow our bad fate to take fruition in small bites and in a managed and controlled way. At the same time, we create good fate by doing good acts for mankind and hopefully all beings. (Good deeds include donating coffin, becoming a monk or priest will bring good fate for the doer and the family lineage as well.)
Both thoughts and actions count. Sincerity and commitment are determinants of extent of good fate. But in doing austerities, self --affliction, penances or self discipline to attempt to somewhat deplete the bad fate elements, we must not go overboard to extreme of self-injury, self -depreciation and destruction. We must not injure or harm our body and soul (spirit, if you like).
We must strike a comfortable and easy balance and be at peace with the two extremes of indulgence and denial of self as aptly depicted by the image of lord saint Lord Bo Tien balancing the two elements with his feet.
So in short, there are two ways to manage fate, deplete the bad fate in managed way in small bites or instalments and creating more of the good fate so that the bad has less chance to manifest.
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