A little space between
thought and reaction.

English transcript

A natural-language adaptation of Iris’s original talk. Philosophical statements below express the speaker’s perspective; they are not presented as established facts.

Do you feel your fate is already decided? As if you have no power to change anything? Today, let me share how I understand fate.

Think of fate as underlying code, set before we entered this life. That code shapes our instinctive reactions to what happens. Our perspective, and how we understand things. These are the seeds we carry. There is nothing mysterious about them.

Buddhist teachings have long explored this. All things arise in the mind, and are shaped by it. The mind gives rise to thoughts. Those seeds are thoughts we have not yet noticed. A thought takes shape in what we experience. As Wang Yangming put it: nothing is outside the mind.

Our thoughts also give rise to emotions. They become habits, and shape our character. Eventually, they become fixed patterns of reaction. Buddhist teaching calls this karma. We may call it fate. It is not really about outside events, but about what happens within us. Fixed patterns we have never noticed keep running on their own.

Why do so many people feel trapped by fate? We identify too strongly with the self. With everything I believe is right. When something becomes mine, attachment follows. My money, my children, my car, and so on. Buddhism calls this attachment to the self.

So how can we step outside that pattern? Through awareness. Through conscious observation. In other words, take the perspective of an observer. Try stepping back and simply watching yourself. Notice every thought, every rise and fall of emotion. Even what you think of as the self.

I am angry. I am anxious. I am sad. These are thoughts, arising and passing away. Yet our true awareness itself remains still and unchanging.

So true spiritual practice is not just meditation. It is not about how long you meditate or eat vegetarian food, or spend chanting and worshipping. It is whether we can keep that awareness alive. Watching our thoughts arise and pass away, while our deeper nature remains completely undisturbed.

From reflection to everyday life

Iris’s interest in inner growth eventually led her toward Chinese classical wisdom and daily self-care. Read her five-year journey, or watch the gentle combing ritual she returns to each morning.