Since young, I have harbored great ideals within me.
And as a result, I suffered a lot of frustration at times.
For the world we live in is still far from ideal.
Of course, there is no value in frustration as it does nothing to improve the situation.
And it is a cowardly to just blame and take no responsibility.
Thus, I often ask myself, what can I do to improve the situation, even just a little bit?
There was a period when I invested quite a bit of money in charity.
However,
sometimes, the side effect of such charity is that we are feeding
people with fish instead of teaching people how to fish. And we are
breeding "eaters of fish" instead of "fishers of fish".
While
fishers of fish grow in strength, stature and wit; eaters of fish
become fat, lazy and weak. If that is so, charity may bring harm instead
of good, if we are not careful.
If enterprise itself would bring good
to this world while bringing revenue as well, wouldn't enterprise be
better than charity? I am proud that Lotus On Water has been thus so
far.
Last Saturday, Lotus on Water presented the first
Lotus on Water Gold Medal to the Chinese Studies Honors graduate.
Together with the Gold Medal, we also gave out three book prizes to
students who did excellently well.
I
had made a special request that the awards be given to students who did
well in dissertation instead of examination. It is while doing the
dissertation that there is training of reasoning power. And
self-learning ability is enhanced. It is in true self learning that the
"fisher of fish" is nurtured.
May this "fisher of fish" breed more fishers of fish.
May the star of sparks set vast lands of wood on fire.
This is my wish for the winner of Lotus On Water Gold Medal, and the winners of the other three book prizes as well.
Congratulations
to all of you. And my gratitude to my Alma-mater, Nanyang Technological
University, for indulging in my dream to inculcate the "fishers of
fish" mindset in our culture.
-- Master Yun Long Zi, 2 August 2013
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