Life's Third Step: Taking Action

Xuefeng

Establishing ambition, contemplating, and taking action form the three essential steps of life.

Ambition is deciding what kind of person you want to become; contemplation is figuring out how to achieve it; and action is the movement toward your goal.

Once ambition is set and contemplation is complete, without action, "everything becomes a wasted effort," and everything returns to zero.

There was a beggar in a city who wandered daily through the bustling, colorful crowds, holding out a broken bowl, pitifully begging for alms. Ninety-nine percent of the responses he received were disdainful, and even the one percent left was not warm or caring—they were condescending. Every time the cold wind howled, and night fell, he huddled in a corner, thinking to himself, “Damn it, I can’t live like this anymore. Tomorrow, I’ll clean myself up, put on fresh clothes, and get a job. I’ll save a little money, start a business, and sell apples from the east side of town to the west side. Didn’t my old buddy, a fellow beggar, get out of this life by doing exactly that?” But when he woke up, he put on the same dirty clothes, grabbed his broken bowl, and went out to beg again. Ten years passed, and "his begging cry still echoed."

When the winds of reform and opening-up swept across the land, a university graduate working in a government office thought to himself, “Deng Xiaoping called for some people to get rich first. You can’t get rich working for the government no matter what. If I want wealth, I have to go into business. I’ll quit my iron rice bowl job, dive into business, and seize a golden rice bowl.” But twenty years later, he was still working at the same office, now a minor section chief, earning just over two thousand yuan a month. Why? Because he never took action.

There was a highly talented and capable man who dreamed of becoming an extraordinary figure. Over the past ten years, however, he remained stuck in indecision. Through his efforts, he became a department head, but life was still difficult. He still lived in a cramped 40-square-meter apartment. From the perspective of even slightly more developed nations, such housing would be considered a slum. As a department head, he could have easily pocketed tens of thousands of yuan each year through corruption without anyone noticing. But he was a man of integrity, unwilling to betray his principles. He told himself, “If I don’t engage in corruption, I’ll never get rich. But I also can’t compromise my morals. I’ll quit this job, start my own business, and live life on my own terms. People with far less talent than me have become millionaires and billionaires—how can I not surpass them?” His ambition was clear, and he had thought it through, but his situation never changed. Why? He never took action.

There was a beautiful woman who deeply admired a man, thinking of him day and night, and decided she wanted to marry him. She thought, “As a lady, I can’t confess my feelings. If I do, I’ll be seen as improper.” So she waited and waited. Her prince charming eventually married someone else, yet she kept waiting. “I’ll wait for him to come to me. Even if I can only be his ‘secret lover,’ I’d be happy.” And still, she waited. I wonder—how long will she wait? Until the flowers have wilted, the world decays, and the earth is covered in snow?

There was an ordinary man who had an epiphany one day: “Life is short; in the blink of an eye, a hundred years pass. If I keep muddling through like this, what will I accomplish? No, I want to cultivate myself, seek immortality, and achieve enlightenment. I swear I won’t stop until I reach the Western Paradise.” The next day, he picked up a Buddhist scripture and started reading. His wife urged him, “Dear, life in this world is good. Put the book down. The fruit in the garden is ripe; let’s go pick it and sell it at the market. Making a living is what matters. Reading Buddhist books won’t fill your stomach or buy us a car. Face reality, darling, and pursue something practical.” A business friend mocked him, saying, “You can’t even afford your kids’ college tuition or buy your wife a gold necklace. And you’re sitting here reading about this imaginary stuff? Are you out of your mind?” In the following days, friends, family, and neighbors all tried to "save" him from his folly. He reconsidered, thinking, “So many people say I’m wrong—maybe I am. And who knows if Buddhism is even real? Can anyone really achieve immortality? Listen to others, fill your stomach first. Forget about becoming a Buddha or an immortal. I’ll think about it in the next life.”

So many things in life remain undone. Without action, "they fade into nothing, becoming just laughter in the air."