Introduction 🌟
In this sixth part of The Four Lessons of Liao-Fan series, we turn to the teaching: “Destiny is created by myself; blessings are sought by myself.” Unlike abstract philosophy, Master Chin Kung illustrates this truth through his own lifelong experience—showing how sincerity, repentance, and compassion can truly transform destiny. From treating even ants and cockroaches with respect to patiently overcoming deep-rooted habits, he reveals that fate is never fixed; it is shaped by every thought, word, and action.
🌟 A Life of Guidance and Transformation
Mr. Liao-Fan’s transformation of his destiny was very difficult. In my own life, I have been very fortunate; compared to him, my changes have gone more smoothly. The reason is that I never left my teacher. My teacher was always by my side, urging and guiding me. Thirteen years of constant instruction brought immense benefit. When I was young, although I worked diligently, I did not meet the standards spoken of by the ancients. If I graded myself, at most I scored only sixty points, barely passing. Now I can reach eighty or ninety points, so the results have become increasingly evident.
🧾 The Twenty Words of Practice
Someone asked me: “Dharma Master, how do you practice? How do you teach others?” I summarized my fifty years of cultivation into twenty words: “Sincerity, purity, equality, right understanding, compassion; see through, let go, freedom, accord with conditions, recite the Buddha’s name.”
🔑 Inner State and Practice
The first ten words describe one’s inner state. Whether the environment is favorable or adverse, whether relationships are good or bad, we must use circumstances to refine ourselves. We must always act with sincerity in dealing with people and situations. If others treat me with false hearts, that has nothing to do with me; even if they slander me, insult me, or harm me, it has nothing to do with me. I must always treat others with sincerity. In this way, misfortune can quickly turn to fortune, disasters vanish and blessings arrive.
🪷 Purity and Compassion in Daily Life
In daily life, deal with people and matters with a pure mind. Purity means without a trace of defilement. In favorable conditions, one does not give rise to greed; in adverse conditions, one does not give rise to anger. By always maintaining a pure and equal mind, wisdom naturally arises. From this, the heart of compassion—love for all beings—will naturally manifest.
🌿 Example of Master Yin Guang
A compassionate heart will bring results in just two or three years. In his early years, Master Yin Guang lived in a small hut infested with mosquitoes and fleas. His attendant wanted to drive them out. The Master said: “No need. Their presence shows that my own cultivation is insufficient and I cannot move them with virtue.” After he turned seventy, those pests truly disappeared.
🐜 Ants and Cockroaches at My Temple
I myself am now over seventy. In my earlier residence, there were also ants and cockroaches. In the past two years they have gradually disappeared. I am happy to see this result. At my small temple in Toowoomba, at first there were many ants, cockroaches, and small insects. Two fellow practitioners also lived on the mountain. I told them that we must not kill. Toward them, we must hold a pure mind, a respectful mind, and a heart of true love. We must not harm them, nor even entertain the thought of harming them. When we see them, we put our palms together and address them as “Ant Bodhisattva” or “Cockroach Bodhisattva.”
🌸 Living in Harmony with All Beings
This is the mind with which we should treat them. I told them: our living environment is different. The house is my environment, outside the house is yours. Let us live together in harmony, without interfering with each other. Over the past year and a half, the ants have decreased by ninety percent; they no longer swarm in large groups as before.
This attitude extends not only to small animals but also to plants. In our garden, we grow many trees, flowers, and vegetables. We also treat them with love and care. Because of this, the flowers bloom especially beautifully and fragrantly. The small trees and vegetables grow especially well. We use no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, only care and love. Therefore, the trees, flowers, and grasses all respond.
💡 Destiny Is Created by Oneself
All these examples demonstrate the truth that “destiny is created by oneself, blessings are sought by oneself.” This is what I have realized over fifty years of practicing Buddhism—my destiny has completely transformed. Although I dare not say I have reached perfect freedom and great fulfillment, I am close, and I have confidence that I can attain it.
📚 The Teachings of the Ancients
As the classics say, “What is spoken in poetry and books is indeed clear instruction.” The admonitions recorded by the ancient sages and worthies must be believed.
🧘 Teachings of Buddhism
“In my teaching,” says Master Yun Gu, “my teaching is Buddhism.” The sutras say: “Seek wealth and one obtains wealth; seek sons and daughters and one obtains sons and daughters; seek long life and one attains long life.”
When I first began studying Buddhism, I also had wishes in my heart. Master Zhangjia told me: “In Buddhism, whatever is sought will have a response.”
🙏 Removing Karmic Obstacles
He also taught me how to seek. His method was simpler than that of Master Yun Gu, and very effective. He said: “If you sincerely pray and receive no response, it means you have karmic obstacles. The obstruction is not in the Buddha-dharma, but within yourself. As long as you eliminate karmic obstacles, whatever you seek will be answered.”
🔎 True Repentance
I asked my teacher: “How do we eliminate karmic obstacles?” He said: “Repentance.” To remove karmic obstacles does not mean performing ceremonial repentance rituals like the Emperor Liang Repentance or the Water Repentance. Buddhism values essence, not form. What is essence? Never creating again. For example, if we give rise to an evil thought, speak evil words, or commit bad deeds, and now we recognize these as sins, then from this point onward we never commit them again. This is true repentance. Only in this way can karmic obstacles be eliminated.
🚫 Misunderstanding Repentance
If you recite sutras and mantras before the Buddhas, but afterward continue to commit the same misdeeds, and then repeat the recitations thinking that is repentance, you have completely misunderstood the Buddha’s meaning.
🔔 Perseverance and Long-Term Cultivation
When karmic obstacles are truly eliminated, then whatever you seek will certainly have a response. Deep-seated habits of karma must not frighten us; we must patiently eradicate them. Mr. Liao-Fan used decades to reform himself. I also spent twenty to thirty years. Without such a long period, it is impossible.
📖 The Importance of Reading and Recitation
Bad habits and defilements must be overcome. We must constantly remind ourselves. This is why the ancients emphasized reading and recitation—it is very reasonable.
🎤 My Own Life Experience
In my own life, what success I have attained is due to more than forty years of never leaving the lecture platform, speaking on sutras daily, advising others daily, and also advising myself daily. Whether others gained benefit, I do not know, but I truly benefited myself.
This is what Buddhism calls “entering deeply into one practice and nurturing it over a long time.” Without long periods of cultivation, how could one succeed?
🌱 Determination for Lifelong Cultivation
Our bad habits and defilements have been accumulated over countless lifetimes. Now, to rid ourselves of them and to emulate the ancient sages and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, we also need time. Therefore, we must have determination and perseverance, and over the long term cut off our habits. Only then can we reach perfect accomplishment.
Conclusion 🌸
The message of this chapter is clear: destiny is not written by Heaven or others—it is written by ourselves. If we continue old habits of greed, anger, and delusion, suffering follows. But if we sincerely repent, act with compassion, and cultivate pure thoughts, our fortune transforms. Master Chin Kung’s testimony affirms the truth of the classics: “Destiny is created by myself, and blessings are sought by myself.” This is not theory but living proof.
✨ Next week in The Four Lessons of Liao-Fan Series #7, How can we truly receive spiritual responses and see our wishes fulfilled? Why did Liao-Fan, despite years of effort, still fail to gain rank and remained childless? His shocking self-reflection uncovers the hidden habits that quietly blocked his blessings — lessons we cannot afford to miss.
✨ Essential Questions & Takeaways
Here are the central questions drawn from this chapter’s teaching. They are designed to clarify the main ideas and help you integrate the lesson into your daily thoughts and actions.
1️⃣🌿 What does “Destiny is created by myself; blessings are sought by myself” truly mean in practice?
Destiny changes not through wishful thinking, but through transforming our thoughts, speech, and actions.
Blessings appear when the mind becomes sincere, pure, equal, tolerant, and compassionate—because environment and fate are reflections of our inner state.
2️⃣🪷 Why does sincerity and purity toward even insects, plants, and small creatures change our fortune?
A mind of genuine compassion radiates virtue.
This virtue harmonizes the environment—so insects stop disturbing, plants flourish, and obstacles dissolve.
This demonstrates directly: inner cultivation transforms outer destiny.
3️⃣📿 What are the “Twenty Words of Practice,” and why are they the foundation of changing destiny?
“Sincerity, purity, equality, right understanding, compassion;
See through, let go, freedom, accord with conditions, recite the Buddha’s name.”
The first ten build inner character; the last ten guide daily action.
Together they purify karmic seeds and create a new destiny.
4️⃣🙏 Why does repentance—not rituals—erase karmic obstacles?
True repentance is never committing the same mistake again.
Ceremonies without behavioral change do nothing.
When harmful thoughts, words, and actions stop at their root, karmic obstacles dissolve—and prayers naturally receive responses.
5️⃣🔥 Why does transforming destiny require decades, not days?
Our habits and defilements were accumulated over lifetimes.
Like Mr. Liao-Fan and Master Chin Kung, deep change comes from long-term perseverance—daily self-reflection, reading, recitation, and correcting faults.
Without sustained effort, karmic inertia remains too strong to shift.
📚 Source: Venerable Master Chin Kung’s lecture on The Four Lessons of Liao-Fan, delivered on April 16, 2001, on Phoenix TV