Chapter 16: The Evil Of Human Nature
If you are interested in reading this, then I, the old man, have something to say to you.
No matter how old you are, in my eyes, you are still a child.
Child, I tell you, you are unique! You are also the most special! Don’t listen to what others say is wrong with you.
You only need to have a kind heart and good thoughts, fill your heart with great love, love this country, and love everything around you.
Then I will definitely teach you how to truly cultivate to achieve immortality and enlightenment, with your primordial spirit roaming freely between heaven and earth.
Leap beyond the Three Realms, exist outside the Five Elements, and do not let the disturbances of this world bully you!
As long as you believe in me, your Master, I will be your most reliable backing on your cultivation journey! I will teach you the most genuine cultivation methods in my writings.
But the prerequisite is that you must be someone who, even after awakening, can still love your country, your family, and this world. Otherwise, I, your Master, will punish you. I hope you can understand.
This book is not for nothing. While you are growing, if your heart is not upright, and you have evil thoughts that are not corrected in time, and you cause great trouble in the future, then I, your Master, will extract your spiritual soul, shatter your physical body, and beat you to eternal damnation, never to be reborn!
If you have made up your mind and truly decided to cultivate, then take an oath with me now!
“Always be ready, struggle for the cause of communism! Firmly believe, be loyal to the motherland, treat all beings kindly, and serve the people wholeheartedly!”
Shout with me!
“Always be ready!”
…
Alright, since the oath has been completed, I permit you to continue following my cognitive perspective to cultivate.
It is not scary for worldly people to achieve enlightenment, but awakening is very scary.
Why do I say this? Because with enlightenment, you merely understand many principles, but with awakening, you will see the darkness of human nature in this world. If your will is not firm, you will go down the wrong path. This is why I had you take an oath. Because I do not wish for all my efforts in teaching you to ultimately result in a demonic disciple.
You must remember my words. Because what I am about to tell you next is how to trigger karma and how to apply this ability flexibly in life, which is called a wonderful application method.
Some people say, Bodhisattvas fear the cause, while mortals fear the effect.
But immortals do not fear cause and effect.
Therefore, helping others and harming others can be done with ease.
Actually, the evil in human nature is greater than the good. Selfishness and greed can be seen in small details.
For example, always trying to get a small advantage. Doesn’t everyone do this? Discounted clothes, discounted eggs, discounted soybean oil. Think about it.
Even when playing a game, if there’s an event, you play enthusiastically, just to get something for free.
Others spend five hundred to buy a piece of clothing, while you only spent three hundred. You feel smug.
On the network, those e-commerce stores sell things. Regardless of whether you need them now, as soon as you hear they are several times cheaper, you feel it’s suitable, that you’ve gotten a good deal.
All these kinds of things are because you feel you haven’t lost out, and you feel you’ve gained something without losing anything.
Often, these cheaper deals are just traps for being harvested.
They exploit human greed to harvest you.
For example, if you buy a house today, originally priced at one million, but today it only costs eight hundred thousand, you feel it’s very suitable and that you’ve gotten a good deal. A few years later, this area is no longer valuable, and a house only sells for sixty thousand, so you feel you’ve lost out.
The house hasn’t changed. The change in price, or rather the change in your perception, makes you feel there is a benefit or a detriment.
If people want to get rich, they must act by exploiting people’s habitual cognition.
You set up a stall here selling sausages for five yuan each, and have your friend sell them opposite for three or two yuan.
Then people will instinctively think it’s more suitable to buy from your friend because it’s cheaper.
But in reality, no matter how they buy, you still make money, because they don’t know that you and the opposite stall are in cahoots. This is a trick of misdirection, caused by a contrast in perceived value.
Prices are all set by people. The goods are all the same. Under different circumstances, they will have different effects.
You buy clothes online for a few yuan and sell them outside for ten or twenty, with a sign saying the factory is closing down and liquidating stock.
Those who believe will feel they’ve found a bargain. This is profiting by exploiting human vice, that is, greed.
Those who sell magic tools will instill in you that this item cannot be measured by price, and then claim it possesses divine power and effects, making you feel you’ve gotten a good deal. They might also suggest that if you don’t buy it today, you won’t be able to get it later. Haha, it’s the same principle.
They are instilling in you that buying it is to your benefit, exploiting your greed and your ulterior motives.
They find something that a factory produces non-stop, and claim it has been enchanted with divine power. You will then feel that the value of this item cannot be measured by money. Why can’t it be measured by money? Isn’t it produced by a factory? Didn’t they buy it and then sell it to you? Or perhaps they partnered with the factory to sell it to you.
A “Mountain Ghost Coin” costs a few yuan to buy in Yiwu, but they resell it to you for tens, hundreds, or even thousands. They show you a video of the ritual, a video of applying cinnabar, and then its value increases?
How simple people are. As long as they feel it’s suitable, they will feel it’s worth it. This suitability is what they perceive as getting a good deal.
Even in relationships, when you feel someone is suitable for you, it’s simply because you feel that person is very good.
In reality, there’s no such thing as suitable or unsuitable. If you marry a fool, you can still spend a lifetime together if you deem them suitable.
Everything in this world is merely a matter of benefit and harm.
Having children is for continuing the lineage and for care in old age.
Studying is for going to university and for changing one’s life.
Working is for money, drinking water is because you’re thirsty, eating is because you’re hungry.
What is it all for?
Even our cultivation, at the very beginning, was just for liberation, to no longer be so troubled, or for something else.
It’s all about seeking, about gaining benefits. This is human nature.
Having no desires means no harm, and one will not be confused by desires or various phenomena.
Internal evil will not arise, and external evil will not enter. This means not being attracted by one’s own thoughts or by external alluring things.
If you who are reading my book wish to acquire wealth, you can gain insight from it. But remember one thing: do not harm heaven and earth. After achieving success, you must dedicate your merits to society and to all sentient beings.
Remember, all relationships and bonds are due to relationships of benefit.
Not seeking means no trouble, and no resentment will arise.
If parents do not seek for their children to become dragons, why would they make demands of them? If you don’t seek anything for your child’s future, why would you have children in the first place?
When you have money and don’t seek anything from your children, only wishing them safety and happiness, that is still seeking something.
Whether good or bad, the fundamental reason is seeking.
It’s just that when you have the ability, this seeking will not cause much trouble for your children. But when you lack the ability and place your hopes on your children, it will create pressure for them out of thin air. This is human evil.
Everyone will die. In your relentless seeking, you harm yourself and the people closest to you.
In our cultivation, we must achieve a state of having no desires. If you have no desires, all that you receive will be good. If you seek, what you receive will be desires. It’s all about benefit and harm.
Here, I need to make it clear. What I mean by having no desires is not that you should do nothing, but rather that you should not place all your reliance on other people or things.
As Heaven’s movement is ever vigorous, so must a gentleman ceaselessly strive for self-improvement.
