Chapter 42: Benevolent Hearts Are Moved
Look at me, Big Brother. When others hear I’ve dated seven or eight, they call me a scumbag.
That’s utter nonsense. Every single time, I put in my all, giving them everything good I had.
That’s precisely why I’ve realized: people, the more you indulge them, the more they go to ruin.
Every time, right at the start, I only needed to put in a little effort to get along well. But once I went all out for someone.
Then that person would feel dissatisfied, and treat me, Buddy, like a simpering dog.
Damn it, what kind of nonsense is this.
I’ve noticed that some girls nowadays seem poisoned by inspirational quotes. Many have nothing, but they naturally feel they’re charming little princesses. They think it’s only right for anyone to be good to them, and they imagine themselves as protagonists in TV series, always fantasizing about marrying some rich young master from a noble family.
With such a small mind, oh my goodness, what rich person would nurture a big fool to fall for you?
People choose wives who have temperament, appearance, and culture, who have everything. And that woman herself doesn’t lack money.
Look at you, standing at one meter thirty-eight, with a thick waist, short legs, a big butt, a round face, and a not-so-intelligent head, always daydreaming!
There are also some who aren’t old, spend all day just messing around, drifting here and there, claiming they’ll find an honest person to marry after they’ve had their fun, and then demand betrothal gifts of three to five hundred thousand.
Are you crazy, or is someone else crazy? Is the person you’re marrying an honest person? Are you sure that’s not a big idiot?
An honest person is someone who doesn’t mess around, not someone with a hole in their head!
Although I am a cultivator, honestly, I’m not surprised by all this. I just feel that people, this thing, are quite interesting.
Just like, back in the day, I didn’t do few wrong things. When I didn’t have a partner, which grand bathhouse didn’t I frequent?
If I didn’t go, what else could I do? When one isn’t cultivating, who can ensure they aren’t lustful?
Besides, when I had a partner, I didn’t mess around. Only when I was alone would I get frisky.
That was a long time ago. Look now, even if women actively sought me out to hang out, I wouldn’t go.
Firstly, because I have a partner now. Secondly, even if I didn’t have a partner, I wouldn’t bother.
Because it’s just meaningless. This isn’t me saying this just because I’m someone with experience.
It’s truly meaningless. It’s nothing more than going out to eat, drink, and have fun, bragging and flattering. If you have money, who can’t you brag to?
The other day I saw some news.
A buddy married a wife, and after the wedding, she contracted AIDS in one go.
The most infuriating thing is that this buddy even got a premarital check-up, but the doctor didn’t tell him the woman had a disease and instead told him he was fine and healthy.
Tell me, isn’t that a scam? After the final investigation, it was said that the woman had had AIDS for ten years.
Cough cough, stop showing off so much; being promiscuous carries risks, and praise requires caution.
Of course, I’m not saying this out of spite because I’m tired of it, but rather I think that life cannot be just about creating humans and having no other pursuits; what’s the difference between that and a breeding pig?
Do the right thing at the right age; the heart isn’t the same heart as it used to be, and pursuits have also changed.
I’m not saying that once people cultivate, they become less lustful or have no need in that regard, but rather that they can control themselves well.
No longer being controlled by those simple pleasures that should have been overshadowed by a weakened soul’s fighting spirit.
Before enlightenment, how many times a week, Big Brother, would I not indulge myself seven or eight times? After enlightenment, the needs gradually reduced.
By the way, here’s a dual cultivation technique that can help increase the duration of combat.
That is to control your heart from becoming too excited; as for how to control it, you’ll have to figure it out yourselves.
What you realize yourself is your own; what others tell you, you won’t be able to do if you don’t understand the principle.
As the saying goes, true legacies are passed down in a single sentence, while false ones fill ten thousand books.
Think about it, Big Brother, I used to be able to last an hour with ease.
Nowadays, I can casually last forty minutes, and whether it’s early or late depends on my mood.
This thing gets tiring after a while; for men, it’s not that interesting, but women can still feel a little fun.
Alright, let’s talk about something else; talking too much about this topic might get us banned.
I particularly like a sentence spoken by Mr. Guo: if a person has nothing, they can afford to lose anything; if a person has everything, they cannot afford to lose anything.
In cultivation, there is selflessness; if there is no “self,” then what is there to be afraid of?
Fear arises because of the cognition and perspective of “self”; I am in pain when my feelings are hurt, I am in pain when friends are gone, and I am in pain when the puppy at home dies.
Without the perspective of “self,” where would the pain come from?
Some people can’t help but shed tears upon entering a temple, while others feel uncomfortable, and these people often believe it’s some kind of sensing or fate.
Actually, that’s not the case; think about who is crying and who is feeling uncomfortable. Isn’t that still because there is a “self” in your heart?
Even if it’s a body sensation, as long as you can feel something, it must be that your heart has been moved.
Speaking of the topic of heart moving, it reminds me of a story.
When Magician Yin Zong was seated in his assembly preaching Dharma, he once posed a question: the wind moves the flag, is it the wind that moves or the flag that moves?
Two young monks argued endlessly.
One insisted the flag moved, the other insisted the wind moved.
The one who said the wind moved reasoned that because the wind blew the flag, the flag moved, so it was the wind moving.
The one who said the flag moved argued that the wind cannot be seen at all, and what can be seen is only the flag moving, so it was the flag moving.
At this time, the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng came out and said, it is not the wind moving, nor is it the flag moving, it is the enlightened one’s heart moving.
From this sentence, we can see that,
regardless of physical pain or spiritual suffering, if the heart is unmoving, where does the suffering come from?
To know suffering, to know sweetness, to see the wind, to see the flag, all are due to the heart moving.
Disbelieve? Let’s conduct an experiment here. Think of something you consider very happy. Think about it carefully, and aren’t you happier the more you think about it, perhaps even laughing out loud?
Then, did this event happen? No, it was just you thinking. When you think, your heart moves, and when your heart moves, you obtain happy emotions.
Similarly, if you think of a painful event, regardless of whether it happened or not, you will still feel pain in your heart. This is also the heart moving.
From this experiment, we can easily discover that a person’s happiness and pain have nothing to do with whether the event itself happens, but rather with what is being thought in the present heart.
Perhaps a friend might say, encountering a bad thing will surely make one sad; it’s not that one can avoid sadness by not wanting to be sad. Then, may I ask, when encountering this event, who is thinking in the direction of sadness?
Then, if you think in the direction of sadness, can it change the result of the event?
If it cannot change the result of the event, and you think and think, suffering, even getting sick because of it, then isn’t that pain upon pain, suffering upon suffering?
Do you know why, when an old person passes away, a group of people around them say he has gone to enjoy blessings?
This is helping people to obtain liberation from painful thoughts, encouraging them to think more in a good direction.
Similarly, if the essence of a matter does not change at all due to a person’s thoughts, then a person’s negative emotions are often of a hundred harms and no benefits.
This is not cold-blooded, but Prajna Wisdom.
And also, when a person passes away, wherever you think they have gone, that mental power will connect with their soul and send them there. If you only think negatively, they are already flying to heaven, but you are here moaning and groaning endlessly, pulling them back.
Remembrance is remembrance, longing is longing. If you remember someone’s goodness, long for someone’s goodness, how can there be pain? You will only obtain a strong sense of happiness.
These two points have no relation to pain whatsoever; it’s just that you’ve added pain to them, which is why you feel pain.
