The "Buddha-like" Personality
The "Buddha-like" personality has recently become a huge trend.
Buddha-like social media: Liking posts as fate permits, all in the spirit of encouragement.
Buddha-like socializing: If you swipe right, enjoy the moment; don't ask if it's fortune or disaster.
Buddha-like shopping: If something fits, buy it; if not, keep it anyway.
Buddha-like life: Take it as it comes.
The world moves so fast, the soul gets restless, and as life goes on, you may inadvertently fall behind your dreams.
Thus, the Buddha-like international student emerged.
Buddha-like Studying Abroad
As a freshman, I still attended classes diligently, wrote papers carefully, and if I found grammar issues, I would go to the writing center to have a tutor help me make corrections. If there was a problem with a quiz score, I would go to office hours to argue with the TA.
I don't know when it started, but I stopped giving it my all like before. Flipping through lecture notes, I no longer grit my teeth to understand those proofs and theorems I couldn't grasp; opening my American History textbook, I lost the drive to grind through readings and problem sets; because no matter how late I stayed up reviewing, I would always magically miss all the exam points.
Before midterms, I initially had a bit of moral fastidiousness, couldn't stand those slackers who clung to others' coattails, so I relied on my own abilities. Although staying up late to review was tough, it was solid. But later I got lazy and realized that networking with top students at the right time, latching onto them, sitting next to the academic gods, and sneaking a glance brought far more returns than sacrificing my health for a GPA at 3 a.m.
And so, I lost my moral qualms about exams. Anyway, I couldn't outdo my fellow Chinese students in science, nor the native speakers in humanities. I learned to cling to others and even started skipping classes occasionally, since my GPA wouldn't change much anyway.
I got used to admitting defeat and knowing what was impossible. As long as papers passed and the easy courses were passed, I didn't care what I learned, just wanted a decent grade.
Still in Love
Wang Xiaobo once said: "That day I was twenty-one, in the golden age of my life, I had so many extravagant hopes. I wanted to love, to eat, and to instantly become a half-bright half-dark cloud in the sky."
Later I learned that life is a process of being slowly hammered. As one grows older day by day, the hopes fade away, until finally becoming like a hammered ox.
But I didn't foresee that on my twenty-first birthday. I felt I would stay fierce forever, that nothing could hammer me.
Indeed, sometimes you complain that studying abroad is boring and awful, and you often post screenshots of BoJack Horseman or Legal High in your Moments, or self-deprecating memes.
But in real life, you still muster all your strength to meet deadlines and finish the papers you need to write. You don't close your laptop just because it's 3:30 a.m.
Even though you might return empty-handed, you still go to the career fairs you need to attend, and you won't give up on what you should fight for.
Anyway, it's your first time studying abroad, and you've already persisted this long to get here.
Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior...
With each passing year, you grow a year older. Isn't that how everyone grows up?
Romain Rolland said: “The greatest heroism is to love life after seeing its true nature.”
Rejecting the Buddha-like Mindset
For those of you applying to study abroad, have you ever entertained such thoughts?
You scoff at grade improvement efforts during applications, only to have your GPA dragged down by one course; you prepare your essays half-heartedly, inadvertently affecting your application success rate; you underprepare for the TOEFL and get directly rejected by prestigious schools with rigid requirements.
You can console yourself with a Buddha-like attitude, but you still have to bear the real consequences and the regrets of missed opportunities. When these years become memories, you might still wonder: What if I had tried harder then, what if I had taken that step?
Studying abroad is not something you can approach with a Buddha-like mindset, because dreams must not be confused with desires. Have you equated your ideals with human desires and used the Buddha-like mask to cover up your laziness and weakness?
If you always take a day-by-day attitude, thinking a TOEFL score of 90 is enough, that school rankings don't matter as long as you get accepted somewhere, without a concrete plan or self-assessment, then in the end you'll only brush shoulders with your dream school.
Study abroad applications cannot be approached with a Buddha-like mindset. Your dreams are something you define and pursue for a lifetime; don't confuse dreams with desires, and especially don't use fake Buddha-like attitudes to excuse your laziness and procrastination.
Now is the golden age for post-90s in their twenties. I'd rather stay fierce and be shattered by nothing than admit to being part of the complacent Buddha-like tribe.
