As human beings we have the complete spirit of God and a divine nature which is full of vibrant and full of energy. Unfortunately, we are restricted by inherited past and our nature is obscured by desire for material gains. Hence we follow the path of fate like puppets dancing on the string of karma if we live a life not knowing that we can change them. A person, whose greatness is in accordance with the virtues of heaven and earth, follows the will of Heaven and acts with regard to his conscience. He does what he should do. He walks where he ought to walk. He is truly a free person.

In Confucianism it is said, Everyone can become Yao and Shun. What does that mean? Yao and Shun are the names of two emperors who were also two saints. Not everyone can become an emperor but everyone can become a saint. The true value and meaning of life come from our ability to manage our destiny and the degree of how much our true nature is manifested during our lifetime. There is a saying:

Those who are contented with everything that comes before their eyes dwell in the land of the immortals. But those who are discontented remain in the mundane realm. Transcend the world, even though we are still in the dust. We, who have the skill to transform these conditions to our benefit, are the essence of creation. Those who fail to use their conditions to achieve positive results are the essence of destruction.

Life is like a card game. To win a game when we hold a good set of cards is nothing special. But if we can turnaround an unpromising start and win the game despite our unfavorable cards then we have achieved something rare and commendable. President Eisenhower once recalled a memorable experience. One night, the whole family sat down to play cards together and after several rounds when another game was beginning, the young Eisenhower complained that he had been dealt a very poor hand. His mother stopped the game immediately and told him:

If you want to play, you have to play with the cards you are given. The cards you hold will determine the game you can play. It is the same as life. You can only do your best with what you have.

Life follows the same principle. What we are going to have is not the most important issue. We should ask ourselves what we should do to make the best possible use of the things we have been given. This is much more important. Who doesnt want wealth and nobility? How many of us can actually have them? This is the saying of Confucius:

If the pursuit of wealth and riches were guaranteed to be successful, I would pursue them even if it meant becoming a groom with a whip in my hand. But as there is no guarantee of success, I will follow that which I love and that is righteousness.

Wealth and reputation are external things and outside our bodies. They are governed by fate and beyond our control. A truly meaningful life comes from the real understanding of the purpose of life. Recognize the direction and play the role to the best of our ability. Mencius once said:

Seek and you shall receive. Abandon and you shall lose. This kind of seeking has good results because the things I search for are within me. There are ways to chase after external things, but whether we gain them or not depend on destiny. Such pursuits are less than useful, for their objectives are beyond me.

It is crucial to cherish our present opportunities. In the cultivation of Tao, ones inner qualities are valued more than ones rank or position and ones earnestness weighs more than ones wealth. Do not be a person who simply lives a helpless life according to fate but be a free person. On the external, if you are an emperor, it is because you are destined to rule. If you are a beggar, it is because you are fated to be one. Simply living out ones predestined way of life is not the sign of a great person.

My Heavenly Teacher JiGong said:

Gather your confused and disordered mind and calm down. The external world is chaotic and disturbing, and the external conditions and situations are interfering. As long as you rely on your Original Heart (Inner Being), you can discard everything, dispense with everything and put down everything. Ten thousands living things and ten thousand affairs are created and destroyed by the inner mind. This is the time for all of you to raise your wisdom and to carry oneself across by ones Self-Nature (Inner Being). You must remember: the Self-Nature must be carried across by oneself (only oneself can save the self) and the seeds of births and deaths of the samsara (repetitious cycle of births and deaths) must be rooted out by oneself. The path of samsara can only be cut by subduing ignorance or lightlessness. There is no need to seek gods outside oneself.

To be a free person is to achieve eternal bliss or salvation. Only we ourselves can do it for ourselves. Nobody can do it for another person. Living beings have trapped themselves in the repetitious cycle of births and deaths for billions of years and this is called Lun Hui in Chinese. Self Nature is the spirit, thinker, conscience, inner being or the real self. Carry oneself across means only oneself can save the self and it is oneself who can correct ones own mistakes and seek progress. No body else can help and to gain total freedom is to carry oneself across the bitter sea of suffering.