In this world, many people are afraid of failure. They fear the prospect of not being successful because success is viewed by most as the object of admiration and failure the object of contempt. Therefore, people put forth all their efforts in pursuit of success; but between success and failure, how many are truly satisfied with what they have or have not achieved?
How, then, is success measured in ordinary terms? In business, success is profit and lost capital is failure. In science, an experiment is a success if it achieves the expected result; otherwise, it is a failure. In battle, victory equals success and defeat equals failure. In the investigation of a crime, when the case is solved, it is a success; if it remains unsolved, it is a failure.
There fore, the desirability of a given outcome and a certain level of achievement measure success and failure. If we receive a good grade on a test, we consider it a success. If a candidate wins an election, he or she considers the campaign a worthwhile effort. If a movie does not succeed at the box office, it is seen as a failure.
Although success is the object of our pursuits, we do not understand its attainment. Most people do not understand what it takes to be successful in life. They relegate success and failure to external causes and conditions, as if they have no control over what happens to them. They credit success to good fortune and failure to bad luck. They do not seem to understand that the key to success or failure lies within each of us.
In reality, there are no absolute definitions of success and failure. What seems to be a success may turn out to be a failure, and vice versa. When he was young, Sir Isaac Newton’s teachers treated him as if he was not too smart, but he later became one of the most influential scientists of all time. At the height of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar was the most powerful figure in the western world, but his fellow countrymen later assassinated him. In 1972, Richard Nixon won the presidential election by a huge landslide, but shortly thereafter, he was forced to resign the presidency because of the Watergate scandal.
According to the Buddha’s teaching, “an effect is determined by causes and conditions.” If we desire a certain result, we must first cultivate the right causes and conditions. If we wish to have a good harvest, we must first till the land and sow the seed. Nothing is free in this world; we must work for everything. In order to be successful, we must create the right causes and conditions; without them, success will not come about. Therefore, to determine success or failure, it is up to us to decide what kind of effort we are willing to put forth in our endeavors.
How, then, can we not be careful about the choices we make in life?
