In the whole of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, there is no single treatise more deeply revered or widely practiced than A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. Composed in the eighth century by the Indian Bodhisattva Santideva, it became an instant classic in the curricula of the Buddhist monastic universities of India, and its renown has grown ever since. Santideva presents methods to harmonize one's life with the Bodhisattva ideal and inspires the reader to cultivate the perfections of the Bodhisattva: generosity, ethics, patience, zeal, meditative concentration, and wisdom.
Ganesha went outdoors one day to play and found a stray cat. Too small to know better, he began to pull her ears and tail. He roughed up that poor cat and even began to beat her with a stick, making marks on her head till, yowling, she ran for her life. Some hours later Ganesha went into the house. His mother, to his astonishment and dismay, was looking terrible. Her hair was a mess, she had scratches on her face and she limped from the bruises on her body.
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
This is the mark of perfection of character — to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness, or any pretending. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations,7.69
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
This is the very thing which makes up the virtue of the happy person and a well-flowing life — when the affairs of life are in every way turned to the harmony between the individual divine spirit and the will of the director of the universe. — Chrysippus, Quoted in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, 7.1.88
Fate is that thing we cannot avoid. It comes for us despite how we try to run from it. Destiny, on the other hand, is the thing that we must chase, what we must bring to fruition. It's what we strive toward and make true. When bad things happen, the idea of fate make us feel better, whereas taking the time to consider eulogy values help us think more about destiny. Success doesn't come from shrugging off the bad as unchangeable and saying things are already "meant to be," it's the result of chasing the good and writing our own future.
Less fate, more destiny.
—Howard Suber, UCLA Professor (Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science behind why everything you know about success is (mostly) wrong)
