Chapter 151: Borrowing Scenery To Cultivate The Heart
The boy saw many people who didn’t know how to cultivate, and some confused repentance with regret. Actually, although these two words seem like the same thing, they are two different things during cultivation.
Repentance means, after knowing one’s past mistakes, to regret and resolve to change.
Regret is about dwelling on that matter and suffering.
Rather than regretting and always dwelling on it, it’s better to summarize and constantly arrange for oneself to make corrections. This is the correct direction.
Constantly regretting and feeling bad for a long time will cause one’s own heart to malfunction. Every time one recalls the regrettable matter, one will re-experience the pain.
As for repentance, there’s no need to dwell on the matter; just remind oneself to change.
After a while, one will naturally change, and this is one way of upward growth.
The boy figured out a method to adjust his body and mind without meditation. When he has nothing to do, he lies down or sits, relaxes his body, and then imagines himself in a very beautiful park with lovely buildings, mountains, and trees. In the center of the park is a large lake, and he’s on a small boat, looking beautiful. Then he lies on the boat, feeling the gentle breeze and the warm sunlight on his body, so comfortable that he wants to fall asleep. He lies quietly in the small boat for a while, thinking nothing, just lazily enjoying the comfort.
Come out of this state now, feeling good?
Feeling not enough, wanting to taste other flavors, he conjures another scene: a small Chinese-style courtyard with a small pond filled with blooming lotus flowers, which are super beautiful. He takes a sip of tea and lies on a lounge chair in the courtyard, with his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. The rocking chair gently rocks, accompanied by the breeze caressing his face, feeling peaceful and comfortable. He feels light, and even his breath smells fragrant. He rocks for a while.
Alright, come out now.
This is called using scenes to nourish the heart.
One creates the most comfortable scene for oneself, allowing the intention to fly over to relax and nourish, and afterwards, one truly feels a sense of beauty in their heart, and their body also feels comfortable. It seems to be even more refreshing than actually going there.
It’s not that not having thoughts nourishes the spirit; sometimes, useless thoughts are not thought about, but deliberately creating thoughts, or rather, arranging good thoughts for one’s consciousness, is also a way to adjust oneself.
When the spirit is refreshed, the body naturally feels refreshed too. It has nothing to do with whether you actually go or not. Going might just be tiring and result in taking a few photos, and if it’s hot, you might feel exhausted.
However, by not going and sending one’s intention there to nourish one’s spirit, and by experiencing that comfort and ease, one can lend that feeling of the spirit to the body.
I remember many experiments studying the human mind; in a burn experiment, a person’s eyes were covered, and they were deliberately suggested that a very hot iron had burned their arm. After the person truly believed it, their arm actually developed a burn mark and blisters.
When the boy was in class, there was an elder sister who had studied yoga, but she greatly admired the boy’s cultivation and enlightenment in Buddhism and often asked him questions. The boy told her, isn’t there the Yoga Sutras? You can read and learn from them. The elder sister didn’t understand.
The boy had flipped through the Yoga Sutras before, but didn’t read them extensively. Actually, the Yoga Sutras are also books for cultivation, for cultivating the heart, and he knew this.
In yoga, there is a method called Kundalini yoga, which also exists in Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism and is considered a form of qigong.
Through the combined influence of breathing and intention, a person becomes warm like a furnace. Even in severe cold on a snowy mountain, wearing a wet blanket will not make them feel cold; instead, their own body heat will dry the moisture from the blanket.
There is also a Daoist method that allows one to adjust their body temperature to adapt to the weather changes. When it’s cold, they adapt by becoming cold, and when it’s hot, they adapt by becoming hot. Actually, it’s all due to the state of mind.
The boy’s body is different; when it’s hot, his body feels cool, and when it’s cold, his body feels warm. He can also adapt to temperature by controlling his mind, without impatience or agitation, not perceiving cold or heat, and even not perceiving hunger, blocking these sensations. However, he doesn’t pursue this, nor does he deliberately cultivate it.
These might seem mysterious and extraordinary. In reality, they can be summarized in a few sentences: one is arranging thoughts to absolutely believe and hypnotize oneself, causing the body to believe and produce physiological reactions; another is shifting attention away from oneself to block bodily sensations. There’s also a state of thoughtlessness, mindlessness, and lack of perception, where one simply remains still, somewhat like being in a daze.
It sounds simple, and it’s not difficult to do, as long as one can control their thoughts. However, practicing this isn’t very interesting; it’s not fun. It’s better to let the spirit go out and relax.
At critical moments, when needed, understanding this principle is helpful. The mind method is to firmly believe in oneself. Intention, when used well, is divine; when used poorly, it is demonic.
It is enough to understand these things; there is no need to practice them. If you want to cultivate, cultivate freedom; don’t cultivate those restrictions that bind you.
Body and mind at ease is the best; this is Daoist Methods Natural.
For example, when the boy occasionally goes out to play, he either doesn’t worship Buddha, or if he does, he doesn’t ask for anything. He just worships with reverence for Buddhist wisdom, out of admiration and gratitude, without any selfish motives.
If one seeks, what they seek is desire, not Buddha. Seeking Buddha is seeking the naturally complete wisdom. Not through external forms, as that will trap one’s heart.
Prostrating one’s head a lifetime without understanding the meaning of the original heart is useless, even if one breaks their skull.
When worldly people seek, they are actually directing their thoughts in the direction they aspire to. They use the appearance of Buddha, or rather, the human form of Buddha, to recharge themselves and make themselves believe.
With ignorance within the heart and a lack of understanding, one will entrust their soul to the cultural attributes of a savior, hoping that some force will help and save them.
In the wisdom of Buddha, one should seek within, not externally. In other words, you are your own savior!
Seeking externally is a weak culture; seeking internally is a strong culture. A weak culture has no hope, hoping for hope. A strong culture believes that one is already hope!
There is a saying that the mind is the origin of all things.
This is unrelated to idealism or materialism; the mind can create life, and matter can carry the mind.
For example, using prayer beads as a metaphor: a person first imagines having this object, then makes it. Once it exists, the intention is attached to the prayer beads, and they become a magic tool.
“Fa” means method, and “Qi” means tool. Similarly, in the human body, the mind is the “Fa,” and the body is the “Qi.” The mind controls the “Qi” as the “Fa,” and the body carries the “Fa” as the “Qi.” When mind and matter are united, it becomes a “Fa Qi.”
To explain in words: Dao refers to karma, patterns, principles, and essence.
Fa refers to strategy, thought, tactics, and values.
Shu refers to schemes, tactics, skills, and means.
Qi refers to tools, the body, thought, intention, and so on, anything that can be utilized.
The original heart manipulates intention to act according to patterns, manipulates the changes of intention, and influences oneself.
Then it becomes Dao, Fa, Shu, and Qi, all used by me.
With Dao but no Shu, Shu can be sought; with Shu but no Dao, it stops at Shu. Using Dao to command Shu leads to infinite transformations.
Dao Law Tathagata is not culture. Dao is God, and God and Dao are the same thing, with no difference; both originate from the same source but have different names.
The original heart is God, is Dao, is Buddha, is Tathagata.
Tathagata is me, and I am Tathagata. Namo Amitabha.
（ What is not realized by oneself cannot be held onto, and even if held, cannot be used. Only what is realized by oneself is truly one’s own.
Once this is understood, reading books is no longer just reading books. It’s possible that you are actually, hehehe, awakening to the Dao.
