Student Question: Hello, Master. What can reading actually do for us? In ancient culture, there were perhaps three answers to this: “a thousand bushels of grain” (千钟粟), “a house of gold” (黄金屋), and “a beauty like jade” (颜如玉). The promise was that studying would bring official rank, wealth, and a good marriage. Of course, these were the aspirations people once placed on education. So what is it that we truly gain the most from reading?
Master Chi’s Response: The greatest benefit we gain from reading is, in fact, transformation — transformation of our life’s journey, transformation of our perspective, and the transformation brought about by the worlds we encounter through books.
This includes reading works on the humanities and history to explore the patterns behind social change and the methods that drive it. These things are profoundly valuable to us.
So I believe the purpose of reading does not lie in memorizing every story, every sentence with perfect clarity. Reading is really no different from nourishing the body. Think of a bowl of plain white rice at lunch — you cannot say which single grain of rice did the work. But through continuous eating, you absorb certain nutrients from that bowl. Those nutrients keep you alive and carry you further down the road.