Chapter 14: Watching The Mortal World’s Many Actors With A Smile
Cultivating Buddhism is cultivating awareness; cultivating the Dao is cultivating patterns.
Applying the power of these two points to make one’s own spiritual energy abundant is cultivating immortality.
The term “cultivating immortality” originated from ancient health preservation philosophies. The popular period for people to practice Qigong was during the Wei and Jin dynasties, where it was a method for individuals to cultivate their own lives based on self-awareness.
This means that the deepest level of the subconscious processes the awakening of emotion and sensibility, fundamentally changing one’s destiny, thereby achieving eternal life and merging with the Dao for ultimate pursuit and aspiration. This can be done through calming the spirit and nourishing nature, or through cultivating truth and enlightenment, in pursuit of the highest, perfect immortal realm of indestructibility.
Simply put, it is the entanglement between consciousness and the subconscious, where each is within the other, influencing and reflecting each other. The person who can stand between these two and influence their changes at will is known as an immortal.
Because if you can actively influence the subconscious, the subtle energies within the body that are imperceptible to the physical eye, such as cells, qi and blood, and fungi, these subtle life forms will undergo changes accordingly. If they develop in a positive direction, one will naturally achieve longevity and endure in the world; conversely, illness will befall them.
However, this is not absolute. Some individuals who are born with severe leakage of innate qi may also die young.
Generally, after their birth, they often exhibit uncommon characteristics, meaning they appear exceptionally intelligent from a young age and possess extraordinary talent in certain areas.
Due to the premature leakage of too much innate qi, they lack stamina and are often prone to illness.
Such individuals either do not live long, or after growing up, lose their spirituality, or only exhibit extraordinary abilities in one area while being pitifully weak in others.
This is the so-called fairness of the Heavenly Dao, which opens one door for you while closing another.
What is gained must be lost, and what is lost must be gained. What is unexpectedly lost is often rare and sparse.
Mr. Guo’s godson is a typical example of someone who leaked too much innate qi. From a very young age, he displayed a unique talent for Peking Opera. If he had followed the normal developmental path, he would have faced unprecedented blows after reaching adulthood and undergoing a traditional transformation in Peking Opera, as well as some harm from external evaluations.
In common parlance, the more glorious you were at that time, the greater the backlash you will face after that stage passes.
It was simply that he had the good fortune to meet Mr. Guo. Mr. Guo valued his talent and could not bear to see the young man face such external malevolent persecution years later.
Therefore, he made arrangements beforehand and, at that time, used his own energy to resist those selfish faces and endured much slander.
The karma that should have befallen the child prodigy was all taken upon himself by Mr. Guo.
This is a typical case of a person shielding others from natural disasters and man-made calamities.
This is akin to how a young man who exhibits extraordinary brilliance in his youth will face a more intense lightning tribulation than others when it comes time to transcend the tribulation. If he cannot overcome it, his body and spirit will perish.
However, before the tribulation period, his teacher behind him directly triggered the lightning tribulation, bore everything for the young man, and protected him as he grew up.
As for that Yang Wei or whatever his name is, I won’t say much more. Just looking at his facial reading, he is not someone who values loyalty and righteousness.
Of course, one cannot blame Mr. Guo for misjudging him. Even a donkey sometimes dozes off, let alone a human.
It is common to know people’s faces but not their hearts.
Although Mr. Guo is not without his own shortcomings, and no one is perfect, this is not a reason for others to betray their teacher.
What kind of person could forcefully change “a day as a teacher is a lifetime as a father” into “a day as a teacher is a lifetime of payment”?
For thousands of years in China, such a perverse individual has not emerged, one who sways a large frog-like head and tells ghost stories to the camera.
Apologies, but as cultivators, we should not overly comment on worldly affairs, as we can see the factors of karma and right and wrong, and it is inconvenient to get too entangled.
I am merely providing examples, which admittedly include some past worldly experiences. This cannot be said to be good or bad, because only by integrating with worldly law, meaning worldly patterns or worldly understanding, can one better express what they wish to convey.
Otherwise, if I were to speak in archaic language like “Zhi Hu Zhe Ye” or mention the Great Tathagata, you would be even more dazed.
Regarding Mr. Guo’s former disciples, Xiao Wei or Xiao Jin, it depends on one’s perspective. If you are their close acquaintance, you will see their merits; if you are their opponent, you will see their shortcomings.
As cultivators, do not view issues excessively from a personal perspective or viewpoint. You must look at the fundamental essence, which is to directly face the laws of human nature and penetrate the human heart.
Adding too many personal opinions is harmful and yields no benefit. Remember this, remember this.
As the saying goes, “Wine and meat pass through the intestines, the Buddha remains in the heart. If worldly people emulate me, it is like entering the demonic path.” This is what it means.
Do not look at me as I am, nor learn from me as I am, because I know why I am this way and I understand how not to be this way.
Do not view why sentient beings are the way they are based on personal will.
The Daoist Methods of the Tathagata are inconceivable.
Here, I will also emulate Mr. Ding from the Heavenly Dao, using the wisdom I retained from nine years of compulsory education, and recite a poem:
《 Passerby》
Originally a guest in the void, I chanced to descend into the world.
I watch the many actors in the mortal world’s play with a smile, and I am one of them.
…
Shame, shame.
Although I understand the profound principles of the Great Dao, I still fall into vulgarity, unable to resist showing off before my fellow Daoists.
Cough!
In fact, many times, the true cultivation methods are found in ordinary life. For example, the saying you’ve heard since childhood: “Don’t look with your eyes, look with your heart.”
Although this sentence is very simple, its true meaning is that your eyes are just organs; they cannot distinguish right from wrong or good from bad. What distinguishes for you is your habitual cognition. Do not mistake the good, bad, right, and wrong told to you by your habitual cognition as truth. Instead, stand outside of it and observe with your true heart and nature; only then can you truly and concretely see the original appearance of things.
This is why the Great Dao is Simple.
Some people say overthinking is bad, while others say overthinking is good.
In fact, overthinking that is irrelevant is bad; it is a bad thing.
But for fundamental and deep thinking, it is certainly a very good thing.
Because you can clearly grasp the key points of matters and face them with composure.
Some say life’s impermanence is its permanence, while others say life is both impermanent and permanent.
In my personal opinion, both are correct; it’s a matter of perspective.
If you view impermanence as permanence, then it is permanent; if you view permanence as impermanence, then permanence is also impermanent.
To be truly carefree and at ease is the fundamental freedom of humanity.
