A Person Who Miraculously Changed His Destiny (Part 1)
 
Yuan Liaofan (1533 – 1606 AD) was the author of a well-known book of Chinese proverbs called Four Admonishing Statements of Liaofan. He was a native of Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province. When he was young, an accomplished fortune-teller accurately predicted his entire life, however he was able to change his fate in his later years.
 
Yuan's father passed away when he was a child. As a teenager, his mother asked him to give up the traditional study of Confucius' classics and instead study medicine so that he would be able to earn money to support himself, as well as to offer help to others.
 
One day, he went to Ciyun Temple. While there, he met an elderly man who had the appearance of a Taoist deity. The old man told him: “You belong to the officialdom. Next year, you will be able to take the exam and enter the 'Scholar's Palace.' Why did you give up your study?”
 
Yuan told the elderly man about his mother’s wishes. The elderly man introduced himself as surnamed Kong and a native of Yunnan Province. Mr. Kong said that he was the true successor to a type of fortune telling passed down from Shao Kangjie (1011 – 1077 AD), the Song Dynasty philosopher and cosmologist. According to the fortune Mr. Kong observed, Yuan Liaofan was supposed to be the next successor of this fortune-telling technique.
 
Yuan invited the elderly man to his home. Yuan’s mother said: “This gentleman is an expert on fortune-telling. Why don't we ask him to do fortune telling for you? We will see whether the predictions are accurate or not.” Mr. Kong was able to tell Yuan's life with great accuracy, even for minor experiences. He then made predictions for Yuan's future, such as in which year he would pass the imperial education exams and that his ranking would be such and such; in which year he would become a Lin scholar (a Lin Scholar has passed the initial exam and has started to receive a specific subsidy from the government); in which year he would become a Gong scholar (a Gong Scholar is a scholar of good qualification and is selected to attend the Imperial Academy, the highest academy in ancient China); and that after Yuan graduates from the Imperial Academy, he would become a county magistrate in a certain province. Yuan would quit his job after three-and-a-half years and return to his hometown; he would pass away after midnight between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on August 14, when he is 53. One pitiful thing in Yuan's life, per the elderly man's prediction, was that Yuan would not have a son.
 
Yuan Liaofan recorded Mr. Kong's words in great detail. Then he resumed his study of Confucius' classics. In all the following exams, his rankings were always the same as Mr. Kong had predicted. After he became a Lin scholar, according to Mr. Kong's prediction, he would not be selected as a Gong scholar until he had received 91 Dan and Five Dou of rice as subsidy from government (Dan and Dou are both Chinese units of dry measure. Ten Dou is equal to one Dan.) However, the head of the Education Division, Mr. Tu, approved to have Yuan become a Gong scholar when he had received 71 Dan of rice. Yuan started to suspect that Mr. Kong's predictions might have become inaccurate after this point.
 
Later, another supervisor, Mr. Yang, denied Yuan's promotion from Lin scholar to Gong scholar. It was not until he indeed received 91 Dan and 5 Dou of rice that Yuan become a Gong scholar. Since then, Yuan further believed that one's ranking and fortune are already determined by heaven; in addition, the timing of each fortune and promotion was also pre-determined. So he took everything lightly, and no longer pursued this or that.
 
As Yuan was selected as a Gong scholar, he would go to the Imperial Academy in the Capital Nanjing to advance his study. Before he went to the academy, he went to the Qixia Mountain in the suburb of Nanjing to visit Monk Yun Gu, a highly accomplished Buddhist monk.
 
They met and had a conversation at Monk Yun Gu's meditation room. Monk Yun Gu was very surprised and asked him, “Ever since you came in, I have not seen you develop a single greedy thought. Why is it so?” Yuan Liaofan told him: “My whole life has been accurately predicted by Mr. Kong. My time of birth, time of death, successes, failures. There is no way I can change it. If I had a greedy thought, trying to pursue something, it would end up in vain. Therefore, I would rather maintain being simple-minded and not think of anything. That is why I do not have any greedy thoughts.”
 
Monk Yun Gu laughed. He said, “I thought you were an outstanding person. Unexpectedly, you are simply a mundane secular being.”



《了凡四训》与更改自己命运的奇人(上)
 
《了凡四训》的作者明朝人袁了凡（1533年－1606年），原名袁黄，字坤仪，明朝江苏吴江县人。他的一生曾被一位算卦高人批得准准确确，但后来却改变了自己的命运。
 
袁了凡童年丧父，十几岁的时候母亲便命他弃学从医，以便赚钱养活生命，也可以救济别人。有一次他去慈云寺，碰到了一位老人，相貌非凡，一脸长须，看起来飘然若仙风道骨，那位老人对他说：你是官场中的人，明年就可以去参加考试，进学宫了，为何不读书呢？
 
袁了凡就把母亲叫他放弃读书去学医的缘故告诉老人。老人自称姓孔，是云南人，曾得到宋朝邵康节先生所精通的皇极数的真传。老人告诉袁了凡照注定的数来讲，应该把这个皇极数传给他。
 
于是袁了凡便把这位孔先生请回家中，并将情形告诉母亲。母亲说：这位先生既然精通命数的道理，就请他替你推算推算，试试看灵不灵。结果孔先生所推算的，虽然是很小的事情，但是都非常的灵验。孔先生又给袁了凡推算终生的吉凶祸福，他说：哪一年考取第几名，哪一年应当补廪生，哪一年应当做贡生，等到贡生出贡后，在某一年，应当选为某省的一个县长，在做县长的任上三年半后，便该辞职回家乡。到了五十三岁那年八月十四日的丑时，就应该寿终正寝，可惜你命中没有儿子。
 
袁了凡把孔先生的话一一记录下来，就这样又开始继续读书了。从此以后，凡是碰到考试，所考名次先后，都不出孔先生预先所算定的名次。有一次，按照孔先生推算的做廪生所应领的米，应该领到九十一石五斗的时候才能出贡。但领到七十一石米的时候，学台屠宗师（学台相当于现在的教育厅长）就批准他补了贡生。袁了凡私下怀疑孔先生所推算的是否有些不灵了。
 
后来这事果然被另外一位代理的学台杨宗师驳回，不准他补贡生。直到丁卯年，才准许他补了贡生，经过这番的波折，又多吃了一段时间的廪米，算起来连前所吃的七十一石，恰好补足，总计是九十一石五斗。袁了凡因为受到了这番波折，就更相信：一个人的进退功名浮沉，都是命中注定。而走运的迟或早，也都有一定的时候，所以一切都看得淡，不去追求了。
 
本来人的一生到这份上已经定型了，袁了凡也抱著这样的态度。当他选了贡生，按照规定，要到南京的国家大学读书，在没有进国家大学以前，他先到栖霞山去拜见云谷禅师，这是一位得道的高僧。
 
在云谷禅师的禅房里，云谷惊诧地问他：自从你进来后，我不曾看见你起一个妄念，这是什么缘故呢？袁了凡老实告诉他：我的命被孔先生算定了，何时生，何时死，何时得意，何时失意，都有个定数，没有办法改变。就是要胡思乱想得到什么好处，也是白想；所以就老实不想，心里也就没有什么妄念了。云谷禅师笑道：我本来认为你是一个了不得的豪杰，那里知道，你原来只是一个庸庸碌碌的凡夫俗子。