【德多少，就得多少】
YOUR VIRTUES DETERMINE HOW MUCH YOU GET

最近家附近有建築工地，噪音多了。

客人聽我的聲音不會有問題，因為我的耳機有麥克風，但如果他們不戴有麥克風的耳機，我聽他們的聲音會比較辛苦。

幾天前，為一位年輕的保險經紀通過Zoom批八字。

他進入Zoom會議室後，呆看著我。

我微笑看著他，故意不出聲，觀察著他。

幾秒後，他才粗魯的說：「哈囉？!」

奇怪了，貴為一個保險經紀，見人應該無數，打招呼的方式，怎能這麼粗俗？我阿姨阿伯級的客人，雖不常用Zoom，都比他懂禮貌。

我馬上回：「X先生，您好。您進來會議室，怎麼打招呼這麼粗俗？」

「我一向來都是這樣先哈囉，有聲音我才正式打招呼。」

「我倒是從來不會這樣。」

其實，這是個人修養的問題。

「你沒有讀我發給你的貼文嗎？為何你視訊沒有戴耳機？」

「我一向來Zoom都是這樣，沒有戴耳機。我以為你只是建議而已，不一定要戴。」

「我在貼文裡寫關於戴耳機的理由，你覺得不成立嗎？」

他想了幾秒，回：「是成立的。」

「我們都是提供服務的人。客人找我們，需要三大元素。第一個，就是同理心。你沒有同理心，難怪你說你的客人寧願聽別人說，也不信你說。」

「如果你要我戴，我現在就戴。」

他講完後，依然坐在那裡看著我，一動也不動。

後來，我說了幾句，他肯戴上耳機後，藍牙耳機也並沒操作好。

等了我一個月，這麼簡單的事情都不願事先做好。

看著他理直氣壯的模樣，頓時覺得他很可憐。

貴人坐在他面前，他說的一大堆話，都是以「自我」為出發點，完全不懂得「以和為貴」的道理。這不就是親手把貴人轟出門嗎？

「你這樣講話，就算講贏了，你真的贏了嗎？」

換成我是他的客人，我絕不會向他買保險，因為很明顯這不是一位真心為別人著想的保險經紀人。

那天，雖為他看八字，該說的我都有說，但我依然保留許多。

因為他缺德。

許多人把「德」看得很輕，覺得沒做壞事就是好人。事實上，不按照別人合理的要求做事，蓄意破壞規則，只顧自己，也是沒有德行可言。

有些人會吐槽，哎呀你學佛的人，要慈悲，何必跟他計較？不要著相！

我不是在意氣用事。

沒有智慧的慈悲，會害死人的。

祖師有訓 - 看命本來就是依客人的福德多寡，而賜福。品行不端的人，承受不起更多的福報，反而會遭反噬。再說了，對貴人都不好的人，對沒有利用價值的人就會更善良嗎？

不是捐錢的，就一定是好人，什麼事情都是要用心才算。

每個人都想要與眾不同，可是如果你的所作所為和一般人一樣，沒有比他們做得更好，那你的命格只配拿得起一般的命運。

不要迷信，以為什麼都是人家為難你，就跑去求神拜佛要打小人。我們命運裡的每一個障礙，每一粒石頭，都是自己放進去的。

你不改，障礙物就不會移。

在這裡聲明：沒有麥克風耳機的Zoom客人，我一概會取消諮詢，進行退款，沒得商量，沒得瞎掰。

能突然放假，真是太過癮了！

——————————————————

Recently, a construction site sprouted up beside my place, creating a lot of noise every day.

Zoom clients wouldn’t have a problem hearing me, but if they do not have a earpiece with a mic, I would have a problem hearing them.

Few days ago, I did a Bazi analysis for a young Insurance Agent via Zoom.

After he entered my Zoom meeting room, he looked at me blankly.

I smiled at him, deliberately staying quiet, and observed him.

Few seconds later, he said bluntly, “Hello?!”

How strange that an insurance agent, who probably have met tons of people, would greet in such an abrupt manner. My middle-aged clients, who rarely use Zoom, have better etiquette than him.

I replied instantly, “Hi, Mr X. Why is your greeting so crude, upon entering this meeting room?”

“I always say hello like this and wait to hear a reply, before I greet officially.”

“I never do that.”

Actually, this demonstrates the refinement of a person.

“Did you not read the post I sent you? Why are you not wearing a earpiece?”

“All along, I do Zooms in this manner without a earpiece. I thought it’s just a suggestion from you and it was not mandatory.”

“I wrote about the reason for clients to wear a earpiece. Do you find it invalid?”

He pondered for a few seconds and replied, “It’s valid.”

“We are both service providers. Clients look for us based on three main qualities. The first being the quality of empathy. You lack empathy and it’s no wonder you say your clients rather listen to others and not trust you as much.”

“If you want me to wear, then I will wear it now”

And he sat there looking at me, not moving an inch.

When he finally put on his ear pods, they did not operate well either.

It’s peculiar how despite a month of waiting for me, he was slow to get this simple thing done right.

Seeing how “self-assured” he was, for a brief moment, I find his behaviour pitiful.

His benefactor was sitting right in front of him, yet his words remained self-serving, totally oblivious to what harmony is about. Wasn’t this sending your benefactor straight out of the door?

“Even if you gain an upper hand talking like this, have you really won?

I would never buy insurance from such an agent, as obviously he was not the considerate kind.

I still read his Bazi that day, said what I should but there were also a lot I did not reveal.

Because he is lacking in virtues.

Many people think lightly of virtues. They assumed that if they do no evil deed, they are virtuous humans. Fact is, if you do not follow the reasonable requirements of other people, deliberately breaking the rules for your own gain, you have no virtue to speak of.

Some naysayers will tell me, but hey you are a practicing Buddhist, so you should exercise your compassion and not be bothered with his behaviour! Don’t get attached to external form!

This isn’t about me.

Compassion without wisdom brings more harm than good.

Since ancient times, it is a rule of thumb that we practitioners allocate good fortune to clients, based on their conduct and luck.

A person with undesirable conduct is unable to bear greater fortune, or there will be adverse consequences. Moreover, if a person is unkind to his benefactor, it is very unlikely that he will be kinder to another person with no value to him.

You can’t define a person as a good man, just because he is willing to donate money. We got to look at how he uses his heart.

Everybody wants to be special and different from others. But if what you are doing is the same as other people, nowhere better than them, then you can only carry a mediocre Destiny.

Don’t be superstitious to think that everybody is out to get you, and you go running to the temples or Feng Shui masters to chase away the villains.

Every obstacle in our destiny, every little stone that trips us, is placed in our lives by no other person but ourselves.

If you do not change, the obstacle isn’t going to budge either.

And here’s an official note: For any Zoom client that does not wear a earpiece with a microphone, I will cancel the consultation and give you a refund.

Having off days out of the blue are so much more fun!

早安～還記得三毛筆下的撒哈拉嗎？
來看紐時怎麼紀念三毛！

「流浪作家」三毛：撒哈拉、愛情和死亡
Overlooked No More: Sanmao, ‘Wandering Writer’ Who Found Her Voice in the Desert

#今天來讀紐約時報

🏜 In the early 1970s, the Taiwanese writer Sanmao saw an article about the Sahara Desert in National Geographic magazine and told her friends that she wanted to travel there and cross it. “I looked around at the boundless sand across which the wind wailed, the sky high above, the landscape majestic and calm,” she wrote in a seminal 1976 essay collection, “Stories of the Sahara,” of arriving for the first time at a windswept airport in the Western Saharan city of El Aaiún.
20世紀70年代初，台灣作家三毛在《國家地理》(National Geographic)雜誌上看到一篇關於撒哈拉沙漠的文章，隨後告訴朋友她想去那裡旅行，並穿越撒哈拉沙漠。她在發表於1976年的經典散文集《撒哈拉的故事》中寫道，當她第一次來到撒哈拉，到達撒哈拉西部阿尤恩市一座狂風肆虐的機場時，「我舉目望去，無際的黃沙上有寂寞的大風嗚咽的吹過，天，是高的，地是沉厚雄壯而安靜的。」

🌅“It was dusk,” she continued. “The setting sun stained the desert the red of fresh blood, a sorrowful beauty. The temperature felt like early winter. I’d expected a scorching sun, but instead found a swathe of poetic desolation.” It was one of many adventures she would have, and the books of essays and poetry she went on to write would endure among generations of young women in Taiwan and China who viewed her self-assured prose and intrepid excursions as glorious transgressions of local conservative social norms.
「正是黃昏，」她繼續寫道。「落日將沙漠染成鮮血的紅色，凄美恐怖。近乎初冬的氣候，在原本期待著炎熱烈日的心情下，大地化轉為一片詩意的蒼涼。」這是她將要經歷的諸多冒險之一，她此後寫下的散文和詩歌在台灣和中國的幾代年輕女性中流傳，她的文字中流露出的自信和深入當地探索的勇氣，被她們視為是對當地保守的社會規範的勇敢挑戰。

📸 Her prose, which oscillates between memoir and fiction, has a laconic elegance that echoes the Beat poets. It can also be breezy, a remarkable quality at a time when her homeland, Taiwan, was under martial law in an era known as the “White Terror,” in which many opponents of the government were imprisoned or executed.
她的散文介於回憶錄和小說之間，有一種讓人想起垮掉一代詩歌的簡潔優雅。同時它們又是輕鬆愉快的，與她的故鄉台灣當時所處的「白色恐怖」戒嚴時期相比，這是一種不尋常的品質。那時許多反政府人士正被監禁或處決。


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Welcome to the next chapter in the success story of the first ever Sports Activity Coupe in the mid-size class, which has racked up over 200,000 sales. Second generation of the BMW X4 places a far greater emphasis
on sportiness and expressive design. World premiere at the International Motor Show in Geneva in March 2018.


• Exterior design of the all-new BMW X4 is a picture of powerful agility and self-assured presence. Increase in length (+81 mm), width (+37 mm) and wheelbase length (+54 mm) as well as a 3 mm drop in height compared
with the outgoing model. With extravagantly styled and dynamically stretched lines, the new Sports Activity Coupe adds an eye-catching athlete to the BMW X model family.

• Modern, premium feel in the interior. Trademark blend of robustness and high-class elegance. Cockpit is designed clearly around the driver, in typical BMW fashion. Redesigned sports seats and knee pads.
• xLine, M Sport X and M Sport variants enable effective personalisation.

The BMW X4 is available for the first time with exclusive options from the BMW Individual portfolio, allowing a vehicle configuration closely tailored
to the customer’s personal style.

• Broad range of engines featuring three petrol and three diesel units and power outputs between 135 kW/184 hp and 265 kW/360 hp (fuel consumption combined: 9.0 – 5.4 l/100 km [31.4 – 52.3 mpg imp]; CO2 emissions combined: 209 – 142 g/km)*. Drive power is relayed via an eight-speed Steptronic transmission and BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive (both standard on all models).
• Two BMW M Performance models available: BMW X4 M40i andBMW X4 M40d boast phenomenally powerful engines, plus model specific design and equipment features.
• Noticeably superior driving dynamics courtesy of extensively upgraded and lighter chassis technology tuned specifically for the X4. First-class chassis systems fitted as standard or available as options:
Variable Sport Steering, Performance Control, Adaptive M suspension, M Sport differential and M Sport brakes.
• Vehicle weight lowered by up to 50 kilograms compared to the predecessor model, thanks to BMW EfficientLightweight measures.

Most efficient aerodynamics in its segment: drag coefficient (Cd) of 0.30.
BMW

• Latest version of the iDrive operating system and intelligent voice control fitted as standard, Control Display with touchscreen functionality and BMW gesture control available as options.
• State-of-the-art driving assistance systems enhance comfort and safety; optional Driving Assistant Plus including Steering and lane control assistant plus Lane Keeping Assistant with side collision protection.
• Comprehensive portfolio of services from BMW ConnectedDrive.

BMW Connected personal mobility assistant provides seamless connectivity between the customer’s car and their digital lifestyle

The new CLS pioneers the new design idiom of Mercedes-Benz, which is recognisable by its clear contours and reduced lines. Its character is marked by a grille contour that widens towards the base and a forward-slanting front section. Other features include wide, low-set headlamps and two-section tail lights. At the same time the design reflects the timeless aura of the first CLS, which founded a new segment and quickly became a design icon. All CLS models are equipped with new engines: in-line six-cylinder and in-line four-cylinder units as diesel and petrol versions. Like its predecessors, the new CLS exudes self-assured sportiness in exemplary style: a highly emotive vehicle offering impressive long-distance and acoustic comfort coupled with thrilling, unrivalled technology. The four-door coupé will enter the market in March 2018.

In 2003, with the CLS, Mercedes-Benz created a new vehicle segment that for the first time combined the elegance and dynamism of a coupé with the comfort and functionality of a saloon. With the third generation of the CLS, Mercedes-Benz is now building more strongly than ever on the aura and unique character of this trendsetting model: the new model has pure CLS genes with its arching waistline, flat side window lines and low greenhouse. At the same time it is another example of the logical evolution of the Sensual Purity design idiom: sharp edges and lines have been significantly reduced. It blends seamlessly into the current Mercedes-Benz coupé family with numerous design features. Its cd value of 0.26 is positive proof of outstanding aerodynamics.

The range of engines for the CLS is completely new. Three six-cylinder models will be available on market launch:

CLS 350 d 4MATIC (210 kW/286 hp, 600 Nm; combined fuel consumption 5.6 l/100 km, CO2 emissions combined 148 g/km)
CLS 400 d 4MATIC (250 kW/340 hp, 700 Nm; combined fuel consumption 5.6 l/100 km, CO2 emissions combined 148 g/km)
CLS d 450 4MATIC (270 + 16 kW/367 hp + 22 hp; combined fuel consumption 7.5 l/100 km, CO2emissions combined 178 g/km)[1].
The sporty CLS also has a comfortable side. The AIR BODY CONTROL suspension, ENERGIZING comfort controls and the very latest infotainment generation, smartphone connectivity via Mercedes-Benz Link and wireless charging accentuate this. The touchpad in the centre console gives haptic and acoustic feedback when operating the numerous convenience functions and settings.

The standard appointments of the CLS are as usual very extensive: The highlights include LED High Performance headlamps, 18‑inch light-alloy wheels with mixed tyres, Lane Keeping Assist, Speed Limit Assist, a 12.3‑inch media display, ambience lighting including illuminated air vents, Mercedes me connect services and a communication module with LTE.