Download - Yang-Sheng

By Shiuan Gee
Many years ago a Chinese Magistrate traveled
to Tai mountain. That day he was tired and thirsty,
he found a cabin at the foot of the mountain and a
man chopping wood in front of the house. The Magistrate
walked towed him and asked for some water.
The man entered his house and brought a bowl of
cold water out. The magistrate said “Thank you” and
drank the water. At this time, a twenty something
young man came out from the house. He said to the
man, “Ye Ye (grandpa), do you have a guest?” The
Magistrate was shocked by hearing this, since the
man appeared to be about 45 years old. How could
he have a 20 years old grandson? He could not hide
his curiosity, and could not help but ask:
“Can you tell me how old are you? “
“I am 80 years old, not too old.” The man said
with a smile.
The Magistrate got another shock. He Said:
“I am 48 years old, but I looked older than you.
What do you eat? Do you have any secret to keep
you young?”
The man said:” I eat simple food, live in the hut
and work every day. If you ask my secret, maybe I
have one. Come on…”
He let the Magistrate came over and held out his
hand, than he used his right index finger to
write two Chinese characters “ 养 心 (Yang Xin)” in
his palm.
The magistrate suddenly realized that there are
thousand rules of Yang-Sheng, but it has only one
key—Yang-Xin.
“How do I practice Yang-Xin?” He asked the
man.
“Keep your mind in peace and your heart happy.
Just remember one word “happiness” and then
everything will be fine.”
The Magistrate considered the old man’s advice
as valuable as gold. After he went home, he practiced
Yang-Xin and found happiness for himself. So
many years later, he was still young and healthy.
He lived his 85 years happily.
The above story made me reflect about how
nowadays people spend a lot time and money to
keep them healthy and young. Yet, its effect is negligible
because they forget one simple and natural
rule: “Yang-Xin” which means “cultivate happiness”.
Of course when we talk about health, we should
not miss anyone of these three elements-----mood,
food and movement.
Mood is your mind, your spirit and your psychology,
it is the power. Food is the fuel of your
body as the gas of car. Move is movement; it is the
rule of
the universe.
If a machine
has
power
and
fuel but
you
don’t
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use it,
it is pile
of scrap metal. So three elements one connect another,
they help each other and restrict each other.
38 Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 2, Issue No. 5