b.A Chicken Farm is Born

The last part is here:   Japan Is In Recession Again

Tra la la la la la ... Finally can celebrate a little.

Converting from big head projects to small head projects. Immediately, I received success. Kekeke ... I bidded 3 times the reserved price. All the small fishes went into hiding. They all avoided me as they worried that I might even bid 4 times the reserved price or I just freeze and let them have the small head project at 4 times the reserved price. Their expressions were gold. Their confusion and their angst in their loss fueled their pain. They now learned that I was no kind soul but a medium-sized bully.

People queued up to buy iPhone 6. I queued up to buy chickens. Unlimited supply of chickens. Now that I can keep lots of chickens, I wonder if they also let me go for the next small head project - keeping dogs.

Although I was blessed in small head projects, I am still interested in having a big head project and show my Jones that I have arrived. Fuck! Fucken characteristics at work.

Afternote:
The most natural question is that why did I pay so much for such a small head project? At low price quantum, the barrier of entry is extreme low. Every adventurer would have to pay cash to have a quick go at these projects. Therefore, there is a certain level of irrationality. Adventurers compete with each other and have an unnatural sense of achievement when any one of them won the final bid. These achievements are hollow.

I quote a current worked example:   An adventurer once bidded for a chicken farm and won with a 2 times reserved price. He was so happy and proud and even jided me on his victory march out. Months later, rumour had it that he didn't have the capital to buy cages and equipments to start his chicken farm. To date, his chicken farm remained a piped dream. It is only a matter of time that the license plus land would be revoked and resold again in the open market. That's when I shall return and have some more fun with it. You see:   James Sassoon once said it is better to lose opportunity than capital. Only blur fucks are happy for such a hollow victory march. The issue at hand is if you don't have sufficient cash to play the game through, the chicken farm would never yield a single cent of income. Indeed, it is a 100% return or 0% income perpetual shit-hole. Therefore, no matter how small or big is the project, generating cash-flow income is key to success in investment.

Then why should I have paid 3 times just to get at it. You are quite right to assume that I was out of my mind. I was frustrated for the better of one full year. I was without success I needed a successful bid to 冲冲喜. So yes. The bid was irrational but good as it rebuild the team's morale which money cannot buy.

All chicken farms are different. Some have super under-priced and some have totally overpriced reserved prices. I happened to gun for the super under-priced ones. But at 3 times the reserved price, you need an iron nerve to either blink or not blink. Remembering always your worst enemy is another human. In fact, none of the bidders knew that I was thinking of setting up a toy chicken farm which does not bother to turn in any revenue. So they can't really test my fathoms.

The true battle is about to begin ...

Winter is round the corner. Leaves are now falling like nobody's business. In some nights, there were even frost on the window sills.

I have contacted some banks and they were happy to give me an advance on all my assets. But, I am not going to take that route. All my life, I have been played time and again by the fucking banks. I intend to play it totally safe. If I can't get a loan on the strength of my purchased property, I have no intention of buying it. Further, in winter, the sellers might even give me a repayment period in return for a good lump sum upfront. They are desperate to sell to finance their ongoing lifestyle. After all, they were once the immortals that walk this earth. Now they are old and fragile, they needed that assurance that they still can walk independently without help. Well, their gambling sons are definitely not helping. 

Interesting things do happen now and then. The chicken farm I just bidded successfully was in fact one of the 10 chicken farms in the area. This farm is currently the most juicy amongst them. All the chicken farms belong to a single owner. That's when the fun begins. The owner doesn't know that I happened to be a good chicken farmer. In fact, I hope to buy the other nine farms off him and make it into a big dog farm.

b.3rd Country - The White Land is Not White (Part 3)

 

The last part is here:   3rd Country - The Point of No Return (Part 2)

Some took the aeroplane jump into white land washing backsides and building rail roads.

Remember now that the whites are not stupid. If they allow that immigrants or migrant workers to threaten the jobs of their own kind, how can they then stay in power amongst the whites? Commonsense would have told us that we are nothing but locusts that invade their land. The whites would never allow parity. That must be the order of the day. We yellowskins would stay locusts for a long, long time to come.

The only thing the whites love is our little kiddos. They will do better than us, the old fucks. But ever then, the kiddos from the legend retold took 20% down-payment from his daddy for her big apple million hair apartment and so did her two lawyer and big accountant brothers. The kiddos fed off his daddy's dish-washing blood money. They wanted to be the Jones immediately. They can't lose. The kiddos went to ivy league varsities and now having great jobs. But, these jobs are still not as good as they get because they would never be true bosses in white companies. Sooner or later, these kiddos will scream discrimination and do the same return path too to mudland. Right now, the old daddy only travels to chinatown and back every day. He never even venture out to his own suburbs to explore the country. He refused even to speak a sentence of English. He is so home-sick. Mudland may not be any better middle kingdom land, but it gives him hope to be among the equals. He is waiting now to collect his sale money of his 50 years hardwork and buy the first air tickets home to mudland. In a way, he has never make it that rich in white land. Just a normal joe doing a joe's dish washing job, living in a joe's apartment or house.

Elsewhere. Similar stories are happening in the immigrants from large island in the east. They too are returning. One case:   The old fuck even shouted at me drunk. He said he was the scholarship holder together with the current president of that large island. That scholarship was the first scholarship given by the wife of their beloved and affectionate old president. He was then already a ceo of a huge subsidiary of the island's largest company controlled by the current president. He lamented over his lost 2 decades in white land. He is now with no sons (all returned to large island) and friendships are not real in white land.

Give you another worked example:   A yellowskin from a bigger island took residence and citizenship in white land. His daughters refused to stay. They ran back to their big island. There are simply no jobs for their white degrees. No white establishments would give nice white collar jobs to yellowskin white degree holders. So his daughters ran back to their large island and found great jobs in huge companies with lots of appreciative guys waiting to jump them. So the fairy tale did have a good ending - the gals found great jobs due to their overseas education. But, herein lies the sad part. The old folks are now left marooned in white land. No friends, no money, no decent paying jobs. Every day, they curse younger yellowskins like me who gave them nothing to sponge off. They hated that as not all new yellowskins are blur fucks. So they wildly invest in business ideas but none of that took off. Now, they have no choice but to consider deeply their shameful way home to their big island. Disgraced.

The pinoys, indyes, pakis, nigers and mudlanders all knew their game plan very well. They go to white land, work like dogs, receive nice cash and buy houses back home. In the meantime, their kiddos will have great education degrees to fight another day. They will then return home as immortals with at least 10 houses to boot.

So this migration move benefited only one party - the young-lings.

But, the bad news remained is what are you going to do? You would be old, burned-out, fuckened, marooned in a strange white land who speaks not your lingo? Your kiddos are so happy that they wouldn't even bother about your plight. Move back to that fuckened little island, you would be dead within 5 years from shit water and radioactive food poisoning.

A twist of white land fairy tale:   The white land may kill their health support plans soon. Soon you will find that the whites no longer provide health support. That's when you will feel truly fucked. Since I can't re-enter that fuckened little island, I am truly and utterly fucked.

This generation game is 50 years long ...one wrong footing ... all would be returning in deep disgrace.

Today, a strange white caller asked me to release my church for their purchase. They will agree to any price if I am willing to sell. Deep down, I know they refused to provide the real reason - a true icon that has been stolen from them. The 100-odd years of history where they married and had their first baptism is now owned by a yellowskin. They must re-purchase it as I told them I would be converting it to a mosque anytime soon. I still want my four wives to make me happy. They go to the extent that I may exchange the church for 2 nearby houses.

I am no longer interested in paper houses ... although I still have a weakness to buy that police station that is put up for sale. I even have a post office that looks like fullerton's for sale.

I am sad that the white land is indeed not pure white ... The push for a 3rd country is now eminent ... 世界虽大,却无我容身之处.

b.Land - Rights

The last part is here:   Land - The Waterfall 

Each land has different rights. Learn to defeat each right.

Tenure
means you must get estate-in-fee-simple, i.e., freehold land. Leasehold is a joke and never fall for it no matter how cheap. You don't actually own the land but you have tenure in freehold. You are like a knight given control of land masses by the king and may collect taxes.

Surface rights 
are “every right in land other than mining rights.” It is quite normal for you when purchasing land to have surface rights. This is a powerful right.

Someone who owns surface rights to land owns not only the surface but also the air space above it (subject to the rights of others, such as airlines) and any sand, gravel, peat, clay or marl which can be excavated by surface operations.

However, surface rights do not include ownership of minerals. Someone who owns mineral rights to land may own one specific mineral, several specified minerals or all of the minerals (except gold and silver, which, with few exceptions, are the property of the country).

Mining rights
are “the right to minerals on, in, or under the land.” This right is normally not given to the land purchaser (90% of the land masses). You must learn to defeat this right.

Miners will try to stake the land by applying to the land office. Normally this right is granted to the miners for a fee per year. The fucking miner will dig here and there for minerals and the miner need not even give notice to the landowner for the activities. Most of the time, he don't even cover back the holes he drilled.

A mining claim cannot be staked out nor can prospecting be done on the part of the land if any of the following is done:

• house/residence/cottage/dwelling
• church 
• cemetery 
• public building 
• spring
• artificial reservoir
• dam or waterworks 
• outhouse 
• manufactory
• a garden, orchard, vineyard, nursery, plantation or pleasure ground or where crops can be damaged

The last exemption is the most important and the one used to defeat this mineral rights:

• Crop: Crop is given a broad interpretation and includes grass and hay fields. ‘Orchard’ can consist of several fruit trees on the land. You need at least 14 fruit trees to form an orchard.
• Vineyard: “Plots” that are managed in the usual agricultural sense for personal or commercial purposes.
• Nursery: “Nursery stock” are coniferous or hardwood seedlings, transplants, grafts, or trees propagated or grown in a nursery and with the roots attached, and includes cuttings with or without the roots attached. Nursery stock grown for sale as: 1. any place where fruit trees, fruit stock, or ornamental plants are propagated for sale; 2. a place where plants other than herbaceous plants are grown, for the purpose of marketing. 3 Plantation: A woodlot.
• Pleasure Ground: Grounds for recreation, including summer resort locations. 
• Waterworks: Any public, commercial or industrial works for the collection, production, treatment, storage, supply, and distribution of water or any part of any such waterworks.
• Waterworks system: Any system of plants, wells, structures, equipment, pipes, apparatus or other things for the obtaining, treating, purifying, disinfecting, distributing or supplying of water intended to be used for human consumption or in swimming pools and, without limitation, includes aqueducts , cisterns, culverts, cuts, flumes, m a ins, pumps, reservoirs, tanks, engines, and machinery used in connection with the system.

That is, start improving the land as soon as you have connected or not power into the land. The best is to plant hardwood seedlings. It cost only a couple of thousands of dollars to start and finish.

Timber rights
reserved means that all the timber (trees) standing on the property are not included with the property. These trees are reserved to the government- or to an individual. This includes all tree species except Pine trees.

Although the government owns the trees they do require the permission of the property owner to harvest those trees. If the property owner wishes to harvest the trees on the parcel, the owner must call the government. A stumpage fee is owed to the government when harvested. When timber rights are included, the property owner owns the trees- except the Pine- unless the deed states, “all pine rights are included”. Pine trees are reserved to the government- meaning that all Pine trees standing on the land are owned by the government. The property owner does not own these trees. To harvest Pine trees you must contact the government. The Pine rights can be purchased from the Government.

This right is not too biggie although timber rights should always be alienated.

My Comment

It is alright to buy land only with the surface rights. But, you must defeat the other rights immediately by doing something to it. Normally a simple improvement to the land would allow you to have the cake and eat it. But, if you are lazy, you are waiting to be fully defeated. A lazy guy has no place in town.

If ever possible, I would fully establish an alpaca farm on it. An alpaca farm is not very monied in nature but yield enough for full-time workers. You can then alienate a small part of the land to conduct high money items such as ginseng, truffles, fox, deer velvets or wine. 

The song is here:    白狐 (正式版) - 陳瑞

我是一隻 愛了千年的狐
千年愛戀 千年孤獨
長夜裡你可知 我的紅妝為誰補

紅塵中你可知 我的秀髮為誰梳

我是一隻守候千年的狐
千年守候 千年無助
情到深處 看我用美麗為你起舞
愛到痛時 聽我用歌聲為你傾訴

寒窗苦讀　你我海誓山盟銘心刻骨
金榜花燭　卻是天涯漫漫陌路殊途

能不能讓我為愛哭一哭
我還是千百年前愛你的白狐
多少春去 春來 朝朝暮暮
生生世世都是你的狐

能不能讓我為愛哭一哭

我還是千百年來不變的白狐
多少春去 春來 朝朝暮暮
來生來世還做你的狐

我是一隻守候千年的狐
千年守候 千年無助　
情到深處 看我用美麗為你起舞　
愛到痛時 聽我用歌聲為你傾訴

寒窗苦讀 你我海誓山盟銘心刻骨
金榜花燭 卻是天涯漫漫陌路殊途

能不能讓我為愛哭一哭
我還是千百年前愛你的白狐
多少春去 春來 朝朝暮暮
生生世世都是你的狐

能不能讓我為愛哭一哭
我還是千百年來不變的白狐

多少春去 春來 朝朝暮暮
來生來世還做你的狐

多少春去 春來 朝朝暮暮
來生來世還做你的狐

來生來世還做你的狐

Let's enjoy the song ...

(Another very quiet night for me ... It is so difficult to grind the nose alone) 

b.MegaTrend - The True Magic of Nature

The last part is here:   Mega-trend - Depression pushing through

My partner-in-crime is truly brilliant. As I have said before, not many guys have a deeper understanding of philosophy than him. He can harness energy from the universe as his own. His skill level is now way beyond any mortals. If that fucken little island had ever engaged his service to the nation, he would make a fine 帅才。 "能领兵者，谓之将也。 能将将者，谓之帅也。" But, unfortunately, fuckens would never know what they missed. There were too many paper generals, but none of them I considered 帅才。To be a 帅才，not only is he good at military strategies, his moral scruples must be up to speed. He does not give in to pressure to do evil. His moral compass must be sharp and pointing correctly upright. 

He explained that technology by man is unfortunately fallible. Every time, a smart guy comes along with his little new-found trick. Every one on the market gets excited about his little toy. He made a rave nifty profit out of it. After about 6 months, a newer smart toy comes into the market. The interest in the older toy is now dead. The original smart guy can't believe his toy is already dead. He then reinvested his entire profits and even poured his entire life-savings to rehash his fledgling toy. He can't believe his formerly extremely popular toy just lose traction like that (read stories about rise of Apple II, rise of IBM PCs, rise of Nokia, rise of Blackberry and so many others). After another 6 months, he not only loses all of his gains, his original capital and his life-savings are gone forever too. The market is so clever. The market just eats up all of his smart toy invention and hard work. To sum, he just did hard work for nothing.

My partner-in-crime said that therefore, trust no smart toys of man, trust instead the workers of nature. Trust the little bacteria, viruses, spores, yeasts, mushrooms, fruits, plants, animals and etc. to do the job for you.

Each of these little critters have billions of years of evolution, revolution and knowledge behind them, for them to be able to survive till now, they must have one hack of survivor skills. They are your best workers. They are tired-less eager beavers. Their technologies are the best you can ever find. So why invent more silly toys of man when you can get the best knowledge and hard work from our almost free tired-less little critters.

Of course, there would be arguments against it by suggesting we are now able to harness wireless technology to better our lives. Granted. No doubt about the contribution made by man did better our life. But, what we are discussing here is building of a very long-term business empire.

He further gave me a ridiculous but too obvious example:   Just take a look at book-covers in a bookstore, notice that book-covers that showed photographs are so much more vibrant than computer design artworks. What a great food for thought. He is a 帅才. I am glad to be of company to him.

Therefore, use the wisdom made by my partner-in-crime to further your quest of long-term business empire building.

b.Strategy - The Magic Flu

The last part is here:   Capital - Energy Units

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease (flu). Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of SARS in Southern China caused an eventual 8,273 cases and 775 deaths reported in multiple countries with the majority of cases in Hong Kong (9.6% fatality rate) according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries in early 2003.

During that time, all airports were closed to persons with high fever and eventually the disease was extinguished. SARS had a brilliant, but short life history.

Different humans have different strategies to life. Many like to rush about life and try to achieve as much as possible. But, sadly, such individuals later developed poor health and stopped abruptly their ambitions. People like Yue Fei, Steve Jobs and Genghis Khan.

I would like to re-enact my theory of man:   The length of man is fixed, i.e., a man's life is like a fixed length candle, you can choose to lit brightly, everyone will notice you, but you will burn more fuel and have a much shortened life. If instead you choose to burn it slowly, your life will lack luster and no one will ever notice your existence. But, you will have extremely long life.

Same thing for flu viruses, if a flu virus is vicious, it goes around killing every host it contacts, very soon the hosts will gang-up together and remove that vicious virus. If the virus is weaker, can easily be removed by medical treatment and it doesn't kill its host, chances are that the host is willing to tolerate some level of the viral infection. Such co-existence will ensure the survival of the virus strain.

In the Yue Fei's story, Yue Fei didn't know that his boss only wants to stay boss, but, yet Yue fei insisted on saving the boss' fathers from the Manchurians. If this is ever allowed to happen, the boss' captured fathers would return and retake the throne from the boss. How can the current boss' future be threathened by Yue Fei? Hence, Yue Fei was brought to death. Thus, ended his lustrous, but very short life. His enemies were many, fast and furious.  

In the Genghis Khan's story, Genghis Khan is a person who remembered who has wronged him. He went on to kill every one that opposed him in the path. He and his son then only managed to rule the Yuen empire for a very short time. His enemies were many, fast and furious.  

In the Steve Jobs' story, Steve was a perfectionist which is very good for the business but very bad for his health. He attended every single detail to perfection, he worked very long hours and had very little sleep. He got cancer and died very young. More than one-third of his life was lobed off. His enemies were many, fast and furious.  

To sum, we have to behave like the most successful virus: Not be too vicious. A virus has to a certain extent be vicious, i.e., it must be able to break down the host's defence system, procreate and spread. Yet, at the same time, it can be contained using some strong medication. Somehow, we must be like dandelion (蒲公英), cheap, easy to grow, very deeply rooted, fast to spread and extremely hard to kill. Yet, it never grows tall, in fact it just lies very flat on the ground, readily to be trampled upon. No shame at that.

Don't learn from wisdom of man, learn from nature and tengri. Nature is billions of years old, it is infinitely wiser than man.

As a fresh immigrant, do the same. You will be given a chance to really fight another day.

p.Zen Stories

Empty Your Cup

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself.

“It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

We'll See ...

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

"Such bad luck," they said sympathetically.

"We'll see," the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses.

"How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"We'll see," replied the old man.

The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

"We'll see," answered the farmer.

The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"We'll see" said the farmer.

Working Very Hard

A martial arts student went to his teacher and said earnestly, "I am devoted to studying your martial system. How long will it take me to master it."

The teacher's reply was casual, "Ten years."

Impatiently, the student answered, "But I want to master it faster than that. I will work very hard. I will practice everyday, ten or more hours a day if I have to. How long will it take then?"

The teacher thought for a moment, "20 years."

Is That So? 

A beautiful girl in the village was pregnant. Her angry parents demanded to know who was the father. At first resistant to confess, the anxious and embarrassed girl finally pointed to Hakuin, the Zen master whom everyone previously revered for living such a pure life. When the outraged parents confronted Hakuin with their daughter's accusation, he simply replied "Is that so?"

When the child was born, the parents brought it to the Hakuin, who now was viewed as a pariah by the whole village. They demanded that he take care of the child since it was his responsibility. "Is that so?" Hakuin said calmly as he accepted the child.

For many months he took very good care of the child until the daughter could no longer withstand the lie she had told. She confessed that the real father was a young man in the village whom she had tried to protect. The parents immediately went to Hakuin to see if he would return the baby. With profuse apologies they explained what had happened. "Is that so?" Hakuin said as he handed them the child.

Obsessed

Two zen monks were travelling. They came to a ford of a stream that was running high, and the current was strong and frightening looking.

An attractive young lady was standing at the ford, looking nervous. She clearly was afraid to cross, but had an important reason to go.

Without a word, the older of the two monks lifted her in his arms and waded across the stream, and placed her safely on the far bank.

The younger monk looked shocked at this action, but kept his silence for quite some number of miles as they continued their journey.

Finally, he blurted out "You know that it is against the rules of our order to have any contact with women. How could you do that?".

The older monk replied "I put her down when I reached the other side of the river. You, on the other hand, have been carrying her this whole way."

Learning the Hard Way 

The son of a master thief asked his father to teach him the secrets of the trade.

The old thief agreed and that night took his son to burglarize a large house.

While the family was asleep, he silently led his young apprentice into a room that contained a clothes closet. The father told his son to go into the closet to pick out some clothes. When he did, his father quickly shut the door and locked him in.

Then he went back outside, knocked loudly on the front door, thereby waking the family, and quickly slipped away before anyone saw him.

Hours later, his son returned home, bedraggled and exhausted. "Father," he cried angrily, "Why did you lock me in that closet? If I hadn't been made desperate by my fear of getting caught, I never would have escaped. It took all my ingenuity to get out!"

The old thief smiled. "Son, you have had your first lesson in the art of burglary."
 

The Emperor's Seed

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked!

But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened, Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try." When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!" When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"

Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But,

If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.

When Tired

A student once asked his teacher,

"Master, what is enlightenment?"

The master replied,

"When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."

A blogger once said:

Living by Intention I need to know that I exist. I cannot know what lies beyond the end of existence, and I refuse to let my attention be taken up by it. There is too much here and now to be lost if I focus my eyes far away. Each moment holds the possibility: do I do, with this moment, that which leads to my dreams? Or do I accept by default that which is laid out before me, without being formed by my decisions? Do I let uncertainty, fear of the disapproval of others, considerations of my 'dignity', the thought that I have never chosen this choice before, do I let these things dictate my way? Or do I say "NO!" to the inertia of habit and choose each moment's course to be the one that satisfies my highest vision of myself-as-I-choose-to-be?

To have new-born eyes, to see the vast imponderable majesty of perfection in a common leaf-pile, to be emboldened by a puddle on the sidewalk to live life with the joy and abandon of a perfect child; this is the goal I seek. To see ahead of me a climb into the perfection of the moments I have passed through, without wasting regret on any path I have not chosen, to be exactly where I want to be because I chose my steps to get here -- that is the high estate to which I aspire.

I say that you can choose this aliveness by deciding what to do at any moment on no other basis than this: is this what I, in my entire soul and heart, know to be the thing I should do next? You do not ask yourself questions to know this; it comes to you from your whole body, and takes less than an instant to know, or you do not know it. You will have to practice silencing the voices of your past - mercilessly, for they will have no mercy on you and deserve none from you - but then you will hear the voice of your true self. It will know what to do so well, so perfectly gracefully that in a moment you will have lived longer than your last year of living within the mundane bounds of society, and by living fully this way, you live forever within the stretch of your lifetime.