A teaching on the futility of worrying

This is a wonderful teaching by Master Chingche https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lmtDB8ZK0F0 on the futility of worrying.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lmtDB8ZK0F0

Here is the English translated by AI which is sufficiently accurate.

When we talk about the problems of us sentient beings, especially us ordinary people — and even more so those so-called successful ones — there's often a kind of delusion.

They’ll think, “Why am I successful? It’s because I obsess over my career, I think about it all the time, I worry over every detail — more than the average person. I stress myself out for it, and that’s why I’ve succeeded.”

But actually, that’s not the case.

Success doesn’t come from obsessive thinking. It comes from your karmic blessings, from your merit. Understand? Even if you didn’t stress over it, you’d still succeed — because your blessings are already there. You get it?

Plenty of people stress about things — but only a few actually succeed. Right?

So we ordinary people always think, “If I don’t stress over it, things won’t go well.” But let me be honest — whether things turn out well or not, it’s not because of your worrying.

If something is going to go well, it just will.
If it’s going to fall apart, your stressing won’t stop it.
So in the end, all that worrying? It’s just pointless.
No matter how clever or calculating you are, in the end, it’s just delusion.

Maybe you happened to worry about something that was going to succeed anyway — and so you think your worrying caused the success. But that’s not true. You worried for nothing.
Even without it, it would’ve worked out.

This teaching actually touches on the concept of non-self (anatta).
Impermanence (anicca) and non-self often come together — because the idea of constantly thinking and planning is actually unnecessary.

That’s from the perspective of space.

From the perspective of time, there's no trace of past or future.
The present is always shifting forward.

As Master OuYi often said:
“Why are past, present, and future minds said to be unattainable?
Because before something is born, it has no place to exist.
When it’s actively happening, it has no fixed place — it’s not inside your body, not outside — but still, you’re caught up in it.
And when it’s over, it has no place it’s gone to. It disappears without a trace.”

So the past mind is unattainable.
The present mind is unattainable.
The future mind is unattainable.

These are all just provisional names, appearances, and uses — without any inherent reality.
They don’t have any real basis in time or space.

In conclusion:
Don’t mistake your constantly flowing, restless thoughts as your true master.

These thoughts arise and disappear moment by moment — in tiny, fleeting instants.
Because they’re continuous, we mistake them for something real.

Chinese script from the video:

說到我們眾生的毛病呢 我們凡夫 尤其是那種成功人士的 他往往有一種錯覺 所以我為什麼成功呢 因為我對我的事業我打很多妄想 我比一般人用心 我操碎了心 我今天才會成功 其實不是這樣子的 因為成功跟你打妄想沒有關系的 是因為你有福報力了 知道吧 你不用這麼操心 你也會成功啊你懂嗎 操心的人多了去了 少數人成功吧 是吧所以我們凡夫總是覺得 我什麼事都得操心 這個事情才會變好 我跟你講實在話 這個事情會變好 你操心也沒有用 他他本來就變好 他就是變好 他本來會變不好 也跟你的操心沒關系 所以我們操心叫做白操心 就饒你會思量 終歸罔象 可能剛好是因為你操心 這個事情本來就會成功 所以剛好讓你碰上了 所以你認為你的操心讓他成功 其實不對 你是白操心的 你不操心他也會成功 好 所以這個地方是說明 其實這個地方有種無我的意思了 其實無常跟無我他們兩個是混著 混著 說的就是其實打妄想是多餘的啊 這是從空間上來說 從時間上來看呢 過未無踪 現在原長往 過去心不可得 現在心不可得 未來心不可得 蕅益大師常說的 為什麼叫過去現在未來三心不可得呢 因為未生無潛處 你看你這個操心的心 外境沒有生起之前 沒有生之前 他在哪裏 你正操心的時候 正生無住處 這個心在活動 它住在哪裏 它也不在身體裏面 也不在外面 但他就是在 操心啊正生無住處 滅已無去處 這事情過了 那個心也不可得 所以過去也不可得 現在不可得 未來不可得 他就是一個假名假相假用 沒有真實體性 所以他沒有所謂的時間空間的東西啊 所以結論 切莫把流注的心機做主張啊 這個念頭就是剎那 剎那生滅啊 因為很相續 所以我們把它當真實啊