What you wish is what you get

The whole hall burst into applause as Xuân stepped onto the platform. Xuân had just returned with the title of Miss Central Vietnam, bringing honour to the youth union of her home province. To win the title one must have looks, knowledge, a record of activities and high moral conduct. Xuân had met all these standards outstandingly.
The celebration of Xuân's victory lasted the whole afternoon before everyone parted and went home. In the evening she was tired and went to bed early, but before long the phone kept ringing. Xuân groped for the button and answered:

• Hello.
• Sorry for calling at this hour, Xuân. This is Thủy from Ward 12 youth union. I truly admire you, so I'd like to ask you a few things about life.
• Yes, go ahead, Thủy, I'm listening.
• I've noticed that the older you get, the more beautiful, lovable and successful you become. I've known of you for six years. This is very strange. In many people, growing up sometimes means losing some of their good points. But with you, the older you get, the more your good points develop. I think you must have some wonderful secret. Could you share it with me?
  Xuân burst out laughing:
• Hehe, that's a hard question to answer. It's a long story and sounds a bit spiritual, so it's hard to say.
• I believe in the spiritual. Please tell me.
• When I was in grade 6, there was a girl in my class with a peculiar temperament, and I didn't like her, so I secretly wished she would be moved to another class. But a few months later it was I who was moved to another class, and I was so angry I cried a great deal. Then I thought about it for a long time: I wanted her to be moved and instead I was the one moved, how strange. I vaguely understood that there is a secret law governing life: whatever I wish for others, I will get myself.
  From then on I tried applying it to see. I began secretly wishing good things for other people, very sincerely. And I also did something to support them. For example, I wished my classmates would study well, and I helped with materials and reminders. The classmates really did improve, but I ended up the best of all.
  I secretly wished my classmates would have enough to eat, and often bought cakes and fruit for them. As a result, wherever I went, I came across a feast.
  Gradually I came to believe in that secret law, so my heart kept opening in love for everyone, kept hoping that everyone would be successful and happy, and whenever I could help someone, I helped with all my heart. I realised that my mind changed first, became brighter and better. Then my face changed along with it and gradually became more beautiful. Then lucky circumstances kept coming from somewhere.
  So now you've heard my secret: sincerely wish every good thing for everyone, and happiness will come to you quite naturally.
• What you say moves me so much, Xuân. You have lived by that ethic for more than ten years; now I will begin. Thank you so much 💃

Whatever we wish on others, we will receive. Whatever we wish for others to gain, we will gain. That is exactly how the law of cause and effect works. Whoever harbours an evil mind to harm others will see their own life sink into deep mud later. Sorcerers who use spells to wish suffering, sickness and pain on their targets end up in a state where they cannot die and cannot live, vomiting blood and groaning, and still unable to die.

Conversely, a person with a kind heart who keeps wishing to take care of everyone, that they may have enough to eat and be happy, will grow more peaceful and happy as time goes on. Confucius said that the noble person is the first to worry about the world's worries and the last to enjoy the world's joys; this is the same profound ethic.
In a bustling life of competition and envy, we must all the more keep our hearts loving and tolerant, keep wishing that others do better than us, keep helping others to do better than us, and yet our own life turns out lucky and flourishing. The selfish instinct often leads us to secretly hope that others fail, suffer or lose their reputation. That instinct is dangerous and keeps leaving us broken and diminished. Now we resolve to correct it, to turn that tendency around and practise wishing for others' happiness and success. Even if we have not yet achieved happiness and success ourselves, we have achieved the ethics we need. With ethics alone, our heart is already confident and at ease.

If we know that the mind that wishes well for others is the key that opens many good doors in the future, then we would be foolish not to use it, since it costs us nothing.