Liao-Fan Four Lessons

The Fourth Lesson:

The Benefit of the

Virtue of Humility.

[Narrator]: The third lesson taught us the ways to accumulate kind deeds. Naturally, it would be best if people would practice kindness, but as hu-mans, we are social beings. It is impossible to not come into contact with others in society; there-fore, it is important to know the ways to improve ourselves in dealing with others. The best way to do this is to follow the virtue of humility. A hum-ble person in society receives support and trust from the general public. If a person understands the virtue of humility, he is the person who also understands the importance of constant self im-provement. This constant self improvement not only includes the search for higher knowledge, but also encompasses the need to be more hu-mane, better performance in daily duties, and im-proved communication with friends. Many bene-fits and rewards result from behaving with an understanding of humility. This lesson focuses on the benefits of virtue and humility, proven by Liao Fan’s own experiences. You will be greatly benefited if you can thoroughly contemplate and understand these teachings.

[Liao-Fan]: In the I Ching, Book of Change, the hexagram of Humility stated:

[Narrator]: The law of heaven takes from those who are arrogant and benefits those who are humble. The law of earth will not allow those who are conceited or self-content to al-ways remain that way, but will bring change upon them. The humble will not wither, but shall be replenished, just as flowing water fills up lower places on the ground as it passes by, making up the differences.

The law of spirits and gods bring harm to those who are arrogant and fortune to those who are humble. Even the laws of men despise the arro-gant and like the humble.

[Liao-Fan]: Therefore, heaven, earth, spirits, gods, and people all prefer humility over arro-gance. In the I Ching, Book of Change, the sixty-four hexagrams talk about the constant changes and interactions of heaven and earth, ying and yang. The book teaches a person how to become more humane. Every hexagram con-tains both good and bad outcomes. The bad outcomes of a hexagram warn people to stop doing evil and to practice kind deeds. The good outcomes of a hexagram encourage people to diligently improve themselves and strive to be better. Only the Humility hexagram contains all good outcomes and no bad outcomes. The Chinese Book of History has also said:

[Narrator]: A person’s arrogance will bring him harm; and his humbleness will bring him benefit. [Liao-Fan]: I often went to take the exams ac-companied by others, and every time I would meet scholars who were very poor. I noticed that before they succeeded in passing the ex-ams and became prosperous, their faces showed such humility, peace, and harmony that I felt I could almost hold that quality in my hands.

Several years ago, I took my imperial exam in Beijing. Among the ten applicants from my vil-lage, Ching-Yu Ding was the youngest, and ex-tremely humble. I told one of the applicants, Jin-Po Fay; that this young man would defi-nitely pass the exam this year. Jin-Po Fay asked:

[Jin-Po]: How can you tell?

[Liao-Fan]: I said, ‘Only those who are humble are qualified to receive fortune. My friend, look at the ten of us; is there anyone as honest, gen-erous, and never tries to come in first, as Ching-Yu? Do you see anyone who is always re-spectful, tolerant, careful and humble like Ching-Yu? Do you see anyone like Ching-Yu, who, when he is insulted, does not talk back, or who, when he is slandered, does not argue? Any person who can achieve such a level of hu-mility will receive protection from the heaven, earth, and spirits. There is no reason he will not become prosperous.’

[Narrator]: Sure enough, when the test re-sults came out, Ching-Yu Ding had passed.

[Liao-Fan]: One year in Beijing, I was staying with my childhood friend, Kai-Zhi Fung. I no-ticed that he always carried himself in a hum-ble way, and had a kind and accommodating appearance. He was not a bit arrogant, which was an immense change from his childhood ways. Kai-Zhi had a friend named Ji-Yen Li who was straightforward and honest. Ji-Yen of-ten scolded him on his mistakes, but Kai-Zhi al-ways accepted the accusations calmly without talking back. I told him, “Just as there are signs which warn of coming misfortune, we can see that prosperity comes to those who have culti-vated the cause for it. Heaven will help those whose hearts are humble. You, my friend, will definitely pass the imperial examination this year!”

[Narrator]: Later on, he indeed passed the exam.

[Liao-Fan]: There was a young man from San-tong Province named Yu-Fong Zhou who passed the first level of imperial examinations before he was even twenty. Unfortunately, try as he might, he could not pass the succeeding exams. When his father was moved to another post in the government, Yu-Fong went with him, and came to greatly admire a well-known scholar in that village named Min-Wu Chian. Yu-Fong brought his own essays to show this man. He had no idea that Mr. Chian would pick up his calligraphy brush and blot out his entire essay. Not only was Yu-Fong not angry, he sincerely accepted all of Mr. Chian’s corrections and im-mediately changed his paper accordingly.

[Narrator]: A young man who could be that humble and showed such willingness to im-prove himself was very rare indeed. The fol-lowing year, Yu-Fong passed the imperial ex- amination.

[Liao-Fan]: One year, I went to the capital to pay my respects to the Emperor. I met a scholar named Jian-Suo Hsia who had all the qualities of a great man without a trace of arro-gance. I felt the intense aura of his virtue and humility all about him. When I returned home, I told my friend, “When heaven wants a person to prosper, it will first bestow him with wis-dom. Wisdom can make a person honest and well-disciplined. Heaven has already bestowed Jian-Suo with wisdom, or he couldn’t be that gentle, kind and good. Surely, heaven will now make him prosperous.”

[Narrator]: Sure enough, when the test re-sults came out, Jian-Suo had passed the exam.

[Liao-Fan]: There was a scholar named Wei- Yan Chang from Jiang-ying who was very learned and wrote good essays. He was also very well-known among many scholars. One year he took his exam at Nanking and stayed at a Taoist temple. When the test results were posted, he found that he had not passed the exam. He became furious and loudly accused the examiner of being blind for not recognizing his obvious talents. At that time a Taoist monk stood by smiling, and Wei-Yan immediately di-rected his anger towards the monk. The monk said to him:

[Monk]: Your essay must not be good!

[Liao-Fan]: Wei-Yan got even angrier and said:

[Wei-Yan]: How do you know it’s not good when you haven’t even read it?

[Liao-Fan]: The monk said,

[Monk]: I often hear people say that the most important element in writing good essays is a peaceful heart and harmonious temperament. Your loud and angry accusations of just now clearly show that your mind is certainly not at peace and your temperament is violent. How could you possibly write good essays?

[Liao-Fan]: Wei-Yan obliviously submitted to the Taoist’s words and in turn asked him for his advice. The Taoist said:

[Monk]: Whether you pass or not depends on your fate. If you are destined not to pass, then no matter how good your paper is, you will still fail the exam. You yourself will have to make a few changes!

[Liao-Fan]: Wei-Yan asked:

[Wei-Yan]: How can I change it if it is predes- tined?

[Liao-Fan]: The monk replied:

[Monk]: Though the power to form your des-tiny lies in the Heavens, the right to recreate it is in yourself. As long as you are willing to do kind deeds and cultivate hidden virtues, there is nothing you ask for that you will not receive. [Liao-Fan]: Wei-Yan said: [Wei-Yan]: I am only a poor scholar. What good deeds can I possibly do?

[Liao-Fan]: The monk said:

[Monk]: Practicing kind deeds and accumulat-ing hidden virtues all stem from the heart. As long as you constantly harbor the intent to practice kindness and accumulate virtues, your merits are infinite and boundless! Take the vir-tue of humility for example, it does not cost anything; why can’t you be humble and reflect on your own essay instead of blaming the ex-aminer for being unfair?

[Liao-Fan]: Wei-Man Chang listened to the Taoist monk, and from then on suppressed his arrogant ways. He became very mindful of his own actions and tried not to make mistakes.

Every day he put forth additional effort to do more good deeds and accumulate more merits.

Three years later, he dreamed one night that he entered a very tall house, and saw a booklet that contained all the names of the applicants who passed the exam that year. He saw many blank lines. Unable to understand what it meant, he asked the person next to him, [Wei-Yan]: What is this?

[Liao-Fan]: The person replied:

[Person]: This is the booklet that contains all the names of the applicants who passed the exam this year.

[Liao-Fan]: Wei-Yan asked:

[Wei-Yan]: Why does it have so many blank lines?

[Liao-Fan]: The person answered:

[Person]: The spirits of the underworld check on the applicants every three years. Only the names of those who practice kind deeds and do not make mistakes are allowed to appear in this booklet. The blank lines used to bear the names of those who were supposed to pass the exam, but due to their recent offenses their names have been erased.

[Liao-Fan]: Then, pointing to a line, the person said:

[Person]: Ah-ha, for the past three years you have been very careful and have exerted such self-control that you haven’t made any mis-takes. Perhaps you should fill this blank. I hope you will cherish this opportunity and take care not to make any mistakes!

[Narrator]: Sure enough, Wei-Yan passed the exam that year and placed 105th.

[Liao-Fan]: From the examples given above, we know that spirits and gods are always watching our behavior from above.

[Narrator]: Therefore, we must immediately do whatever is beneficial to others and avoid doing whatever is violent, dangerous, and harmful to others.

[Liao-Fan]: These are all things I can decide for myself. As long as I harbor good intentions; re-frain from evil-doings; don’t offend the heaven, earth, spirits and gods; humble myself, be toler-ant and not arrogant; then the heaven, earth, spirits and gods will constantly have pity on me; only then will I have a foundation for my future prosperity. Those who are full of conceit are definitely not destined to be great men. Even if they do prosper, they will not be able to enjoy their fortune for long. Intelligent people would definitely not make themselves small and narrow-minded and refuse the fortune they are entitled to.

[Narrator]: Besides, those who are humble always increase their opportunities to learn. If a person is not humble, who would want to teach him?

[Liao-Fan]: Also, humble people are always willing to learn the strengths of others. When others perform good deeds, the humble person will learn and follow their examples. In this way, the kind deeds humble people accomplish are boundless! For those who wish to cultivate and improve upon their virtues, they especially cannot do without the virtue of humility.

The ancients had an old saying:

[Narrator]: Those who have their hearts set on attaining success and fame, will surely at-tain success and fame. Those who have their hearts set on attaining wealth and position, will surely attain wealth and position.

[Liao-Fan]: A person who has great and far reaching goals is like a tree having roots. A tree with roots will eventually sprout into branches, flowers and leaves. A person who has set down great and far reaching goals must humble him-self in every thought and try to relieve an-other’s burden even if the occurrence is as in-significant as a speck of dust.

[Narrator]: If you can reach this level of hu-mility, you will naturally touch the hearts of heaven and earth.

[Liao-Fan]: Furthermore, I am the creator of my own prosperity; if I truly want to create it, I will certainly succeed. Look at the applicants who sought for fame and wealth; in the begin-ning, they did not harbor a sincere heart; it was only a passing notion. When they fancied it, they sought it. When their interest dropped, they stopped. Mencius once told Emperor

Shuan Chi:

[Mencius]: Your Highness has a love for music.

But your love for music is only a personal pleasure. If you can expand from the heart which seeks after personal happiness to that of sharing happiness with all your subjects, and make them just as happy as you are, then surely the nation is bound to prosper!

[Liao-Fan]: I think it is the same for those who are seeking to pass the imperial exams. If a per-son can expand upon the heart which seeks to pass the exams, to that of diligently doing kind deeds and accumulating merits, putting forth his best efforts to improve his character, then both destiny and prosperity are his to create.

Dear Listeners and Friends

We hope you have benefited from listening to Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons and will acquire the same spirit in creating your own destiny. We encourage everyone to do their best in ‘refrain-ing from evil and practicing kindness’. The teachings in Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons can lift the morale of the public and transform our society into one of peace and harmony. We welcome all interested parties to sponsor the distribution of this audio book as teaching material for schools and colleges. Let us all be a part of the rebuilding of our children’s morals and virtues. We hereby announce that we do not reserve our copyrights, and welcome all to reproduce and distribute this audio book for the benefit of the general public.

Here at The Foundation of Liao Fan’s Four Lessons, our goal is to promote the study and practice of these teachings worldwide. There-fore, we will have editions of this book in Eng-lish, Chinese, etc. Through understanding and practicing these teachings, world peace is pos-sible. We welcome your comments, support, and sponsorship. Thank you very much!

Postscript

by Liao-Fan’s Work Team Congratulations on finishing Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons. Hopefully it has awakened feelings of joy and virtue in your heart. The primary teaching of Liao-Fan is the accumulating of merit. There is a saying in China, “A person with virtue will keep his accumulated merit while a person without virtue will lose it.” The survival and prosperity of the individual, the community and the nation is closely related to the merits generated by all members of the so-ciety. It is also said in China, “Those who do not understand the principles of Nature, or the law of cause and effect, will not grow in vir-tue.” The ten principal virtues are:

Generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness, and equanimity.

In modern society there are several problems.

Hence we must begin a process of purification of the hearts and minds of the individual mem-bers of society. We emphatically believe that the teachings of Liao-Fan can stabilize the so-cial order and purify the people’s minds. It is our great hope that the social elites and the public functionaries will promote the Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons throughout the world. These tapes and books have been translated, published, and distributed by The Foundation of Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons. The Foundation’s goal is the wid-est possible spreading of Liao-Fan’s teaching, and hence, there are no copyright restrictions. We welcome all interested parties to reprint and disseminate Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons free of charge. We believe this will have a broad and deep influence on the growth of world peace.

The funding of these books and tapes comes from private donations. The donation for the awakening of mankind is the highest donation.

These donations have been given in the spirit of Han Yu, the noted scholar of the Tang Dynasty, who said: “To awaken people once, one uses the mouth; while to awaken mankind for one hundred generations, one writes books.” For those who want to further study the teach-ings of Liao-Fan, we highly recommend listen-ing to Ven. Jing Kung’s exposition (in Chinese) on 18 audio cassette tapes, which are also pro-duced by the Foundation. Thank you for read-ing this postscript, and once again I would like to congratulate on your finishing the book.

May all beings be peaceful and free from suffering.

Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons Audio Book Original work by Mr. Liao-Fan Yuan of the Ming Dynasty Interpreted by Mr. Zhi-Hai Huang Re-edited by Liao-Fan’s Work Team Sponsored and recorded by The Foundation of Liao-Fan’s Four Lessons

Mr. Liao-Fan’s

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