..续本文上一页not need a lot of money all through life. Whatever amount of wealth we have amassed in life, not even a penny will go with us when we die. Steve Jobs (1955-2011), the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple just passed away. According to some reports, he had a net worth of $7 billion. But what did he bring with him when he died

　　Some of you may think: “I certainly wouldn”t mind to have all that money; it is perfectly fine with me even if I cannot bring it with me when I die! I”ll be happy just to enjoy it while I am alive.” But how much is there for you to enjoy

　　 It will be no more than buying a number of mansions or owning a few luxury cars. In fact, really rich people these days like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs care the least for money in their daily lives. Mr. Jobs had established himself a principle that money had no place in his decision making, and he would allow no chance for money to ruin his life. Now this is an intelligent way to deal with money.

　　But many people are far from reaching such a state. They crave money all the time, and their thoughts about renminbi—RMB—become desperate and obsessive, whether during the day working or at night sleeping. It never occurs to them to pay back society or help the poor and the weak. Such people are lost beyond help, as described in the saying: “Some people are dead, but their legacy lives on. Some people are alive, but they may as well be dead.”

　　To be sure, very few people are willing to look at these problems in the face. Mr. Lu Xun has pointed out in his article To See with Open Eyes: “By tradition, Chinese have not been equipped with the courage to squarely face social issues. First, they dare not look at the problems; later they cannot bear to look at them; eventually, they become conditioned to turn a blind eye to them. They smirk and sink lower and lower by the day, yet they assume their attitude with some kind of conceit….” His words deserve our deep contemplation.

　　3. Moral standards continue to fall

　　In our society today, moral standards are falling alarmingly. The root cause can be traced to the decade-long catastrophe, the “Cultural Revolution,” when the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” campaign rampaged. In that period, Chinese traditional culture suffered unprecedented demolishing—images of Confucius were destroyed, Buddhist monasteries and temples were leveled to the ground, and, most gravely, religious ideas were ditched as totally worthless.

　　In the past few years, I have visited quite a few universities and observed that people on campus, both faculty members and students, are in general ignorant of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Mencianism. Even fundamental filial piety, common ethics, and civil courtesy are sneered at, and this explains why all kinds of moral corruption and human apathy have come in sight. The incidence of “Death of Wang Yue” proves to be a stark illustration. You must have heard that two days ago, a 2-year-old girl “little Yue Yue” was run over by two vehicles consecutively in a narrow road in Foshan in Guangdong province. Unbelievably, according to surveillance footage, as she lay bleeding on the road, in seven minutes 18 passersby who either rode tricycles, motorcycles, or were on foot all chose to skirt around her body and ignore her. Eventually a female rubbish scavenger moved her to the side of the road and found her mom. Despite rescue efforts at the hospital, little Yue Yue succumbed to her injuries and died.

　　A toddler getting hit by a car is an unfortunate accident, but not unheard of. What makes little Yue Yue”s case particularly sad is the callousness and cruelty of those who passed her while she lay there dying. This news is indicative of a growing apathy in our contemporary society; the only thing many peop…

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