My Spiritual Growth This Year Part IV

My Spiritual Growth This Year Part IV
這一年的心靈成長之四

By Charlton

Good Day to all Tao Relatives: 

First of all, thanks to the grace of God and the virtue of all our predecessors, and to all Transmitting Masters as well as Assistants for giving me the opportunity today to share how Tao benefits my life

各位前賢，大家好！

首先感謝　天恩師德，感謝老前人、前人輩的聖德，感謝各位點傳師、各位道務助理，今天給我機會分享：道如何造福我的生活。

My name is Charlton and I am a Tao member from the Philippines. Some people here may not know who I am; I am the brother-in-law of 阿強. 20 years ago, my family and I immigrated to Canada. After obtaining PR (permanent residency), we went back to the Philippines. I owned a hardware supplies business in the Philippines. Since our kids were all working in Toronto—no plan to go back to the Philippines—my wife Brenda and I decided to retire last year and came back to Toronto. For those years, listening to Tao lectures has helped me a lot in my daily life activities, including running my business.

我叫吳燦頓，是來自菲律賓的道親。有些人可能不清楚我是誰，我是阿強的姊夫。20年前，我和我的家人移民加拿大；但得到身分以後，我們就回去菲律賓了。我在菲律賓做建築材料的生意，但是因為我們的孩子現在都在多倫多工作，也不打算回菲律賓了，所以去年我和我太太Brenda就決定退休，回來多倫多。這些年來，去佛堂聽道理，對我日常生活的各項事務，包括經營生意，都有很大的幫助。

The purpose of having your own business is to earn much more money than an average worker. If possible, we even wanted to earn much more money than you could imagine. Aiming to make a lot of money could make a person greedy, selfish and discontented. After acquiring these traits, that person might forget to care about other people’s feelings and would even take advantage of others when there is an opportunity to do so. When people become greedy and selfish, they would be tempted to do anything just to benefit themselves. Therefore, they will forget to be contented or grateful for what they have gained or able to possess through the help of others. Frequently attending Tao classes helps me avoid all those behaviors.

自行創業的目的，是為了要比一般受薪階層賺更多錢。如果可以的話，我們甚至希望賺到超乎想像的金錢。當一個人一心只想賺大錢時，往往會變得貪婪、自私，以及不知足；而養成這些心態，會讓人忘記或是不在乎別人的感受；在有機可乘時，甚至會為了自己的利益而去利用別人。當人們變得貪婪與自私時，為了自己的利益，他們什麼事都可能做得出來；因此，他們會忘記感激自己所擁有的，以及那些曾經幫助過他們的人。常常去佛堂聽道理，幫我避免這些行為。

Listening to the Tao lectures, I learned that there is Karma in everything we do. In my business, I always refuse to buy stolen goods when someone offers them to me. You will always encounter this in a construction supplies business because excess materials in construction sites are usually stolen by construction workers and sold to suppliers. I could actually make more profit if I bought them because I can buy these goods at a very cheap price and sell them at a regular price. But for me I am contented without making a lot of profit from my business transactions as long as I earn it in an honest way and with a clear conscience. Also, instead of allowing customers to cheat their employers by asking to price items they bought at a higher price so they can pocket the price difference, I always offer to just give them a commission based on the regular selling price. By doing this, I would make less profit but I avoided helping them cheat their employers.

因為有參班聽研道理，我了解到我們生活中所做的一切事情都會有因果。因此，在我的生意中，當有人向我兜售贓物時，我總是會拒絕購買；這種事情在建築材料的生意中很常見，因為建築工地裡，有些沒有用完的材料常被工人偷拿去賣給建材店；買這些物品的店主可以賺更多錢，因為他們可以用非常便宜的價格買下偷來的建材，再以正常的價格賣出。對我來說，雖然沒有賺到這些錢，但是我是用誠實的方式、問心無愧地賺錢，這樣我也心滿意足了。有時候，我們也會遇到一些採購員，他們想欺騙他們的雇主或公司，會要求我們開發票時提高價錢，這樣他們就可以將價差放入自己的口袋。但如果我讓他們這樣做，就是幫他們欺騙他們的雇主或公司，所以我只好跟他們說：「不必這樣做，因為我可以依正常的價格給你們佣金。」這樣做，我賺的錢會減少，但避免了幫他們欺騙雇主的行為。

From listening to the Tao lectures, I realize that a person could be able to gain or possess more financial wealth or material things not only because that person is talented. For me you also need credibility and the trust of the people that you are doing business with. You also have to accept that there are people around you who have contributed to your growth so you need to be grateful for all the help they have extended to you. In my business, I give my employees what they deserve to get, without them, my business could not grow that well. And to show my gratitude, I do not underpay them, I raise their salary every year even before the government tells employers to do so. In the Philippines there is a kind of holiday called special non-working holidays. During this kind of holidays, business owners do not need to pay their workers when business is closed. But I still pay them because I know they still need to feed their family even during holidays. This way they will realize that we are taking care of them and encourage them to work harder.

聽道理也讓我明白：一個人不是因為很有才華就能夠得到很多的財富或物質。對我來說，你也需要有誠信，以及和你做生意的人信任你。你也必須承認，你的成長是因為周圍的人曾幫過你，因此你要對所有曾提供幫助的人們心存感激。在我的企業中，我會給我的員工他們應得的工資，因為對我來說，沒有他們，我的生意也無法發展；為了表達我的感激之情，我不會少付員工的工資；另一方面，在政府還沒要求所有公司提高工資之前，我每年都會給他們加薪。在菲律賓，有一種假期叫做「特殊非工作日」；在這種假期裡，公司如果沒有營業，則不需要發工資給員工。但我還是照發工資給他們，因為對我來說，雖然是假期，員工還是需要養他們的家人。這樣他們就會感受到我們有在照顧他們，並且激勵他們更加努力工作。

The Tao lectures also taught me that being successful in your endeavors is determined by the fate and destiny that God gives you. And that is why people with the same set of skills and worked as hard do not attain the same level of success. Accepting the fact that our life is guided by the fate given by God makes us feel contented with what we have. Therefore, we could avoid getting depressed and letting go of the struggle against things that we can’t control.

在佛堂聽課，也讓我了解到我們在事業上得到的成功不只靠努力，其中也有上帝安排給我們的命運和運氣。這就是為什麼兩個人有同樣的技術，也同樣努力工作，卻無法得到相同的成就。接受了「命運由天定」的事實，我們就會滿足所擁有的一切；因此也可以幫我們避免沮喪，並學會放下那些對我們無法控制的事情的掙扎。

Tao lectures also help me understand that both good and bad things happen to us in our lives. When anything bad happens, we can learn something good from it. For example, when I did not win the projects bid, I would just think that it was not meant for me. And later on, I found out that the suppliers who won the bid and supplied the project were not paid. This shows that everything that happens to us has been determined by our fate. If I had won the bid then, I would have lost money from the sale.

聽道理也幫我了解到，生活中會遇到好事和壞事發生在我們身上，而當遇到壞事發生時，我們能從發生的壞事中學到一些好的東西。例如，有時候我去一些公司投標，但最後卻沒有得標，我只會認為是因為它不屬於我的。後來，我發現那些得標的公司貨交出去了，卻沒有收到付款。這顯示出發生在我們身上的一切事情都是有原因的。如果當時我得到那個訂單，那麼接到那筆生意反而會讓我有所損失了。

These are the few examples of how Tao has affected my life in a positive way. I would like to end my sharing and if ever I’ve said anything wrong, I would like to ask our Transmitting Masters to correct me for my mistakes. Thank you!

這些是聆聽道理對我的生活產生正面影響的幾個例子。今天我跟各位學長的分享就到這裡，如果有什麼說錯的地方，請各位點傳師慈悲指正。謝謝。