Modest Rejoicing

In Adage 21 of the 108 Adages, Master Sheng Yen remarks, "When good things happen, we should rejoice in, praise, encourage, and then learn from them in modesty." This, I find, is a very interesting sentence to pack. It almost seems that when good things happen, we don't need very much instruction on how to accept the good thing; after all, do we not naturally "rejoice in" the good things, from the bottom of our heart? Here, I think it's important to perhaps clarify what might be meant by "good things" here. After all, "good" could mean any number of wanted, favorable things, but not everything that we want is beneficial. Perhaps when Master Sheng Yen is talking about good things, he is mainly talking about beneficial things. For example, getting a scholarship to attend a prestigious university might be thought of as a "good" thing because of the opportunities it unlocks for the person to realize their full potential in society. Good does not necessarily mean "for one's own pleasure": it tends to refer to something that is growth enhancing and potentially benefits all, not just one.
   That being said, perhaps one can think of rejoicing, praising and learning from good things as the ability to understand how they arise and to celebrate their arising. When I recognize that I succeeded in doing something I dreamed of, I rejoice not just in the ability to achieve that goal but also try to learn from the process of achieving it: the bumps, uncertainties, ups and downs, etc, are what lead a person to cultivate a more modest appraisal of the good, knowing that they require sacrifices on our part. And perhaps this is also where the "in modesty" part comes to play: without modesty, I might either overestimate the good that I experience or take it for granted without examining its conditioned arising. To learn modestly is to reflect on how good things arise and how they depend on many factors and people, not just to my own abilities and strengths. Reflecting in this way will help me cherish what I have but also not be reluctant to part with them if needed.


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