Half way through回想半截人生：译天资 , 天命 , 胜者心态

与感恩

Anthony K. H. Tung, 邓锦浩National U. of Singapore

atung@comp.nus.edu.sg

Early years• Mostly a blur now,

but three things stand out:– I always start behind

others– I always want to win– I always manage to

improve and go to the front

• Examples:

I was not the first choice for all this because I am always the slowest in class. But I work the hardest on whatever task that is given eventually when others fail, I took over and succeed.

What drove me? Parent and grandmother who came into the room to cane me when I forgot some of the dance steps!

The trend continued…• Primary school ranking

– 1978: 14/40– 1979: 10/41– 1980: 8/40– 1981: 5/39– 1982: 1/37– 1983: 1/37

• Secondary school ranking– 1984: 9/40– 1985: 10/40– 1986: 6/42– 1987: 2/42

The year I got caned because my marks was lower than previous year!

By the time I was 16, I learn that…

• I am probably average ( 天资有限 ) but that can be overcome with a winning mentality (胜者心态 )

• Winning Mentality( 胜者心态 )– The desire to overcome

challenges and meet targets that one set for oneself regardless of one’s limitation

Choices

• One have no choice on whether one is born rich or poor, handsome or ugly etc. There are too many “no choices” in life

• But one can choose to be nice, to be hardworking and to have a winning mentality

• Life is beautiful because of these choices among the “no choices”

BSc, MSc, Phd…• Subsequently, it was

always the winning mentality that get me through..

• 1992-1996: BSc. (2nd Upper)

• 1997-1998: MSc.• 1998-2001: Phd.

– Completed by sleeping 5 hours on the floor of the lab. everyday

Career after Phd.• Measured in term of number of SIGMOD/VLDB

papers

• Again starting with nothing…

So what really is you life about?• 子曰：吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而

不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲不踰矩

• Mission from heaven(天命 )– Use to sound superstitious to me– But it is really a question of what you can do to

maximize the impact of you talents and the opportunities that are given to you

– one never know exactly what exactly it is. you should just do your best with a winning mentality to find out

– How about starting with “ 立志”？

Who should join us?"I have a lot of respect for people, not because of their talent but for what they do with their talent and how they get the maximum from their talent. What do you do to get talent? You have the right genes, or the right parents. But what you do with that talent is down to you. I have met many people who had lots of talent, but they never did anything."--- Arsene Wenger on "talent", Sep 2007

Not necessary the smartest, but need to be sincere and want to do something with their talents.

Advises• Easy come, easy go

– pick an easy topic to go into means others can easily go into it as well

• How can you distinguish yourself from others when you graduate?

• Focus– sincerity ( 诚 ) - 》 peace ( 静 ) - 》 emptiness ( 空 )

– 子曰：吾十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲不踰矩

Stages in Mastering Anything• 诚 -> 静 -> 空• 诚 (Sincerity)

– Sincerity bring out the best in a person so much so that he can bring out the best in the universe

– 《中庸》 第二十二章 : 唯天下至诚，为能尽其性；能尽其性，则能尽人之性；能尽人之性，则能尽物之性；能尽物之性，则可以赞大地之化育

• 静 (Peace)– The highest form of sincerity bring peace

– 故至诚无息。不息则久，久则征，征则悠远，悠远则博厚，博厚则高明。博厚，所以载物也；高明，所以覆物也；

– 无”自心” , Losing yourself

Emptiness( 空 )• 空： Throw away after learning• 空： A free mind ， see things from many

angles and many things can connect. 空 = 通• 佛家 (Buddhism) ： 本来无一物，何处惹尘埃• 道家 (Taoism) ： To be like water 水 • 儒家 (Confucianism) ： To be able to act freely

without doing wrong 从心所欲不踰矩• 基督教 (Christianity): Everything is given to

God anyway.

Examples

Football Learning a SongSincerity Fall in love with

footballFall in love with a song

Peace Keep watching and keep practicing

Keep listening and keep singing

Emptiness Forget all about the techniques, do things as they come. Feel your teammates without looking

Sing the song with your own style

Attachment( 执着 )

• Attached to paying the least to get the most• Attached to how to make the boss happy• Attached to which direction is the hottest and

which big name is doing what• Attachment is the biggest opponent of

creativity• Sincerity is not there with the wrong

motivation

Mathematics (Statistics etc.)

Poetry

Physics B

iolo

gy

Computer Science

Morality

Freeing the Mind

Real World

Languages are descriptiveinterfaces (always contain information loss)

Personal Cultivation and Scientific Research• Both are a search for Truth( 真理 )• Students are encourage to seek the Truth about themselves

with the same passion as seeking for scientific Truth. ( 会要求心境提升的人，会以同样的态度提高科学修养 )

• Scientific research can be inspired by personal cultivation– 太级生两仪，两仪生四象，四象生八卦，八卦演万物 (I-

Ching)– 万物分而不分， there are always similarity and

dissimilarity• At 25, when you look back, are you a better person?• Will you be a better person when you look back at 35, 45, 55,

65?

Sub-Mission of the Group

Honesty

Open Mindedness

Belief in the Truth

Scientific Research

Mat

urity

Society

Character building through scientific research

Gratitude(感恩 )• To be born in a healthy family with loving

parents• To be born in Singapore• To have many good classmates, friends and

colleagues along the way• 懂得感恩就懂得惜福就更懂得努力