The Illusion of the Worldly Path

This is a record of an interview with Chang Yung-fa, the founder of the Evergreen Group, who sought deliverance at the Hsiang Kuang Pure Land Buddhist Centre in Australia. He now resides in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. This account reflects upon his life and his transition from a worldly businessman to a practitioner of the Buddha’s teachings. Recorded by the disciple Shi Fajing on December 30, 2019.

Chang Yung-fa speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. The path of the world, the emotions of the world, the affairs of the world—they are all filled with confusion and entanglement. There are thousands upon thousands of attachments in this world that make it impossible for you to let go. How far must one walk, and for how long, before one can finally see the exit to this life?

From the very day you appear in the human world, your name is clearly written in black and white. Your birth date and time are recorded, and a fortune-teller can immediately calculate your destiny. They ask: Does the daughter have the fortune to support her husband? Can she bring blessings to her family? Does the son have a treasury of wealth? What will his future career be like? In which year will he face a calamity? No matter what questions you have, the fortune-teller only needs to pinch their fingers, cast a few lots, or shake a tortoise shell to provide you with an answer. If, at that moment, the fortune-teller tells you that your entire life will be miserable, would you be willing to accept it?

The Burden of Worldly Expectations

Even if you are unwilling, you feel you must accept it! But if I told you there was a chance to turn it all around, would you want to seize it? I doubt anyone would tell me 'no.' After all, it is your own life, and you are the one who suffers. If you can change your fate, why would you let destiny manipulate you? Unless you have lost all ability to make a change, even if you are lying in bed unable to move, as long as you have one moment of clarity to take charge, you must strive for your own life.

I have lived in this world for nearly ninety years, and I have interacted with more people than I can count. If you were to ask all those people whether the path of the world is easy to walk, I guarantee that more than half would shake their heads. Why is this? Is it truly so difficult to live in this world? I have observed many of our senior executives; they earn a good living, and their parents, wives, and children are all by their sides. So, where exactly is the difficulty in this worldly path? It turns out the problem lies within our own hearts.

The Heart: A Complex Maze

This heart can be very simple, yet it can also be incredibly complex. Unfortunately, we all choose to make this heart cluttered, chaotic, and troubled. Even regarding something that does not exist, or something that has not yet happened, this heart can make you worry for an entire day, leaving you without a moment of peace. As long as this heart is in motion, your entire being cannot be still, and your body can never be truly healthy. Naturally, this worldly path becomes difficult to walk. This is only a small part of it. The greater part is that our hearts are never satisfied. No matter how much we possess, we always desire more. As long as there is desire, the heart will never have a moment of peace, and the path of life will never be smooth.

A Businessman’s Realisation

I am a businessman. If you ask me to calculate whether an investment will succeed or fail, I can answer you with great confidence. But if you ask me how to play the game of life, the Chang Yung-fa from before—the one who had not yet learned the Buddha’s teachings—would have given you an answer that might not have been correct. Even if he were skilled at reading people, he was still looking at people and events through the eyes of a worldly person. However, if you ask the Chang Yung-fa of today, I can give you a different answer.

If you want the path of the world to be easy to walk, and if you want to find the bright exit to your life, you will never achieve it in a lifetime without the Buddha’s teachings. This is something I can guarantee with absolute certainty. Why are the Buddha’s teachings so important? Because only the Buddha understands the hearts of us ordinary people in this world. Our hearts need to be changed. Only by listening to what the Buddha teaches us, and by following it step by step, honestly and diligently, can our hearts truly change. Once the heart changes, life follows. You ask if it is easy to change one's destiny? Once the heart is transformed, it naturally becomes easy to change. This is a very natural process.

The Only Path to True Light

I understand many worldly affairs, and I know many people want to follow in my footsteps. They want to understand worldly matters and earn a lot of money. But I want to tell everyone: unless you intend to live in this world for thousands or ten thousand years, what is the point of knowing so much? What is the use of earning so much money? Now that I have passed away, I finally understand the importance of this spirit. It turns out that all the worldly things we know are just like burying soil, layer by layer, covering up our souls. By the time this body dies and the breath stops, your soul has already been buried under a thousand or ten thousand layers. How can it find a way out? How can it see the light? Stop digging traps for yourselves to jump into. There are no other choices for us now; the only path that guarantees us a smooth journey is learning the Buddha’s teachings. This is what I, Chang Yung-fa, sincerely share with everyone.

Namo Amituofo."

Recorded by the disciple Shi Fajing.