Every Day Is a Good Day, Every Place a Blessed Land

Since moving, my spiritual home has shrunk from a former fifty-plus-square-meter private room to a small two-square-meter balcony in my apartment. My home also has a long seven-meter balcony; the wall-side space there I have commandeered for low floor-standing bookcases, and on top of those bookcases I keep potted plants and all sorts of sundries. My less frequently used books are stored in the bookcases on that long balcony, the ones facing away from the light.

The small balcony faces northwest. About an hour of afternoon sunlight reaches it each day, and for the rest of the time there is no direct sun, but the lighting is good. Two square meters is small, but I do not have many books or things in daily use, so it is enough. Outside the balcony is a small windowsill, on which I keep over a dozen pots of green plants. I also have two small chairs; sitting there and reading, when I look up I still see nothing but greenery, and my mood is as cheerful as ever.

So as not to take up too much room at home, I have not bought any new tall bookcases. I have replaced the tall bookcases from my former study with three-tier stainless-steel low bookcases roughly matching the height of my balcony wall. I ordered eight of them at once; the manufacturer is gradually making and delivering them, and so far I have received one. The small balcony already held an old integrated desk-and-bookcase unit (bookshelf on top, desk below), and adding one low bookcase has turned it into my new workshop.

After I tidied it up, this two-square-meter balcony became at once simple and refined. It took me only a second to fall in love with my new spiritual home. Medical books, the Buddha, green plants, and a singing bowl are all in place. Sitting in the small chair reading, writing articles at the desk, replying to patients' consultations, now and then striking the singing bowl and conversing with the Buddha — the good life I wanted is all here. I plan to arrange my various small ornaments and potted plants across the tops and empty corners of the eight low bookcases, so that each case looks elegant.

I do not ask much of this world; two square meters of private space is enough. In earlier years I bought far too many books — my home collection of medical texts is more complete than the TCM and oncology shelves of the Xinhua Bookstore — and now is a good time to digest them. The pandemic still has no visible end; it will most likely coexist with humanity for a long time. The plague at the end of the Ming Dynasty lasted over a hundred years and directly changed history. With the help of modern science, one wonders how much longer the current pandemic will last. I have prepared for the long haul, and this gives me extra time to read well and raise my own level.

I have no complaints about life, and I do not yearn for distant poetry and beauty; the life before my eyes is all I want. Beauty is everywhere, and our own hands can create it. To me, every day is a good day and every place a blessed land; every patch of earth in this world is pure land. However hard the day's work, my mood is cheerful. I thank Heaven for giving me a healthy body and an industrious nature. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, I have the physical energy and the perseverance to keep reading and writing, and I enjoy it.

Sometimes after a day of physical labor I am exhausted to the point of collapse, yet at night I still insist on reading for a while and writing an article. Just as Zen monks impose on themselves the rule of "a day without work is a day without food," I have my own requirements. Mine are simple: strive unceasingly, be diligent and untiring, persevere, be self-disciplined and restrained, desire little and ask for less, rejoice in Heaven's will and know one's lot, and repent and reflect — and then turn these maxims into action. People are quick to make excuses for themselves; only by absolutely refusing to make excuses can one persist in the unity of knowledge and action. I do not expect God to favor me specially, so I am willing to earn everything through my own diligence.

So however turbulent this world becomes, there is no fear in my heart. When battle is needed, I fight without hesitation; when it is not, I quietly live my own life. A diligent and self-disciplined person has the inner foundation, the wisdom, and the courage to meet every difficulty of life. Actively living is in itself enough to heal many physical and mental ills. Throw yourself into life, love it, enjoy it, praise it, and let it sweep away all the gloom within us!