从前有一个人，名叫袁了凡，他本名袁学海，是明朝的名儒，小时候就读书，可是父亲要他学医，济世救人，所以改学医。后来遇到一长须老相士对他说：“你命带官印，你应该读书可做大官。某年某月某日可考中秀才，某年某日可作县官，俸录多少。某年某日升官，俸录多少。到五十四岁八月十四日半夜子时寿终正寝，终生无子。”于是乎袁学海就转读书，一切都如算者所言中，十分灵验。既然命中是注定，所以他就等命运安排，受命运支配，不求上进，终日游山玩水。

Once there was a man named Yuan Liaofan, who was originally named Yuan Xuehai and was a famous Confucian scholar in the Ming Dynasty. He pursued scholarly studies in his youth, but because his father wanted him to learn medicine in order to save the world's people, he changed his course of study to medicine. Later, he met an old, long-haired diviner of physiognomy who told him, “It is your fate to become an official. You should pursue scholarly learning, for then you can become a great official. On a certain day, month, and year, you can pass the examination and become a graduate of the first degree. On a certain day and month, you can become a district magistrate with a salary of so much. On a certain day of a certain year, you will be promoted and your salary will become so much. At midnight on August 14th of your fifty-fourth year, your life will come to an end. You will have no sons.” Thereupon, Yuan Xuehai changed his course and pursued scholarly studies, and everything turned out as the diviner had predicted. It was completely accurate. Since he thought his destiny was fixed, he just waited for fate to take its course. He was ruled by fate, and did not seek to improve himself. Instead, he spent his days traveling and enjoying the scenery of mountains and rivers.

有一天，游到南京栖霞山，闻有云谷禅师，他就上山参访。禅师给他一个蒲团，二人无言对坐三天。云谷禅师很惊奇说：“你从何处来？能够三天安坐不动不打妄想，是有道奇人也。”

One day he traveled to Qixia Mountain in Nanjing, and hearing that the Chan Master Yunku was there, he went up the mountain to pay a visit. The Chan Master handed him a cushion, and the two of them sat facing each other for three days without speaking. The Chan Master was very surprised and said, “Where are you from? If you can sit peacefully without moving or having idle thoughts for three days, you are an exceptional cultivator of the Way.”

袁学海就说：“既然什么事都是命中注定，所以我就不贪、不求、不妄想。”

Yuan replied, “Since everything is determined by fate, I crave nothing, seek nothing, and have no idle thoughts.”

云谷禅师说：“我还以为你是非常人，原来只是凡夫俗子。”

The Chan Master said, “I thought you were an extraordinary person, but it turns out you are just an ordinary person.”

袁学海不高兴说：“为什么说我是凡夫俗子？”

Yuan was upset and asked, “Why do you say I'm an ordinary person?”

云谷禅师曰：“如果不是凡夫，为什么被命运所缚？”

The Master replied, “If you weren't an ordinary person, why would you allow yourself to be bound by fate?”

袁学海就问：“命运可逃吗？”

Yuan asked, “Is it possible to escape fate?”

云谷禅师回答：“你是读书人，《易经》上不是说得清清楚楚‘趋吉避凶’，如果命数不可逃，那怎么可以趋吉避凶呢？”

He replied, “You are a scholar. The Book of Changes very clearly says, ‘Pursue good fortune and avoid calamity.’ If it were not possible to escape fate, how could we pursue good fortune and avoid calamity?”

袁学海大悟，所以改名为“了凡”，意思就是从今天起，已不是凡人了。从此以后，他广行善事，多积功德。如此一来，以前相者所说的，都不灵验，并且活到八十多岁，又有三个儿子。所以命运不是一定的，凶吉也不是一定的，古人说：“君子造命”，有道德的人、正人君子，是可以改造命运，超出命数之外的。

Yuan experienced a great awakening and changed his name to Liaofan (Ending the ordinary). From that day onward, he was no longer an ordinary person. Thenceforth, he extensively practiced good deeds and accumulated a lot of merit and virtue. The diviner's words were no longer accurate. He lived to be over eighty, and had three sons. Thus, fate is not fixed, and fortune and calamity are not fixed. The ancients said, “The superior person creates his own destiny.” People who are virtuous, wise and proper can mold their own destinies and transcend their fate.

为什么不吉祥？就是心里不吉祥，种下恶因当然有恶报，要是能改过迁善，就可以趋吉避凶。从这个看来，命运是可以改造的，操之在自己手中，所谓“大善大恶，超出数外”。

Why is there misfortune? It's because there is misfortune in the mind. If you plant bad causes, of course there will be a bad retribution. If you can reform your faults and go toward the good, then you can pursue good fortune and avoid calamity. From this perspective, we see that fate can be changed, and the power to do so is in our own hands. As it is said, “Great good and great evil can transcend fate.”