Philosophical Sayings About Worldly Matter LXX70

Those who make achievements start from experiencing all kinds of sweet-sour or bitter-spicy tastes. How can one know delicious food if one has not tasted the foul? Those raised on syrups will never know what it is like to be frustrated and will become arrogant. This arrogance will alienate them from other people whose support and help they will need to achieve real fame. A single lion can do nothing.

(This is a translation of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu’s philosophical sayings about worldly matters originally written in Chinese.)

Below is not an official translation, just for reference

Anyone who becomes a person of substance in this world must naturally experience the full range of life’s flavors — the sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and numbing. In other words, one must go through various hardships and trials before ultimately achieving success and becoming a virtuous, knowledgeable person who earns the respect of others.

If a person has never tasted the sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and numbing flavors of life, they will not truly understand how good things taste in contrast. Why is this so? For example, someone who has never faced adversity and has always lived a life of comfort — a privileged person raised in a world of sugar water — will find it hard to empathize with the hardships of people at the grassroots level.

When such a person is given great responsibility, they often become directionless, arrogant, self-satisfied, and dismissive of others. They may even become indifferent to actions that harm the public interest. A person like this lacks both moral character and true knowledge.

Without virtue and knowledge, people will not like or trust this person. They will avoid them and refuse to help them. As time goes on, just as the old saying goes, “A single thread cannot make a line; a single tree cannot make a forest.” They will be unable to accomplish anything in their career on their own.