The Significance of Birthdays
by Master Lee Feng San Shifu
Translated by Sophia Lui
Edited by Ric Meyers
Everyone has a birthday. A student said that, on his birthday each year, he would remind himself that this is a day of suffering for his mother. Therefore, he ought to make a number of resolutions to execute them in the coming year. Sadly though, his plans often turned out to be much talk and not enough action.
I do not think much of celebrating birthdays because, for me as well, it marks a day of agony for my mother. But when we look at it from the standpoint of a lifetime, a birthday is the day when new life begins for the baby. As for the mother, this is also a rebirth. Why? Because in those times, delivering a child was a matter of life and death. If one is able to survive this ordeal, one will appreciate life even more. Therefore, it is a birth for the both of them - for one, a new birth, and, for the other, a rebirth.
Later, I discovered a peculiar phenomenon. If we do not openly celebrate our birthdays, then even if we make a resolution, we will eventually not take action. This is because we basically have a mindset of keeping things under cover, afraid that others will know about our birthday. As a result, regardless of the type of resolutions we make, no one knows about them except heaven, earth, and the resolution maker. In that case, it is easy to lose motivation to implement them and, finally, we often forget about them.
Since the time my students have taken the initiative to help celebrate my birthday, out of respect and appreciation for their teacher, everyone gradually starts to do likewise for themselves. The older and the younger generation begin to celebrate their birthdays together.
In this way, they know how to better motivate themselves. Regardless of the kind of resolutions we make, they must be for benefit of the whole of humanity, and not just ourselves. It is not enough to make resolutions — we have to carry them out and do something meaningful for society, thus making our birthday more meaningful.
“Regardless of the kind of resolutions we make, they should be for the benefit of the whole of humanity and not just ourselves” — Lee Feng San Shifu
