Chapter 182: Innocence, Childlike Innocence, Purity
“Big Brother, you’ve become my idol now. How come everything is so clear to you? You’re truly amazing!”
“No way! Don’t! Don’t deify me, don’t treat me like a character in a myth. You’re praising me too highly. What if one day you feel I’m different from what you imagined, and then you curse me out again? Damn it, hahahahaha.”
“Heeheehee, that won’t happen. My dear Big Brother, don’t worry. I’ve learned so many beneficial things from you. I’ll remember your kindness, hahaha.”
“I like hearing that. Just pick up what’s good and useful from me. Don’t think of Big Brother as a god; Big Brother is also a mortal, and I need to make money to eat. If too many girls try to seduce me, I’ll have to run away too, wahahahaha.”
“Hahahaha, Big Brother, you’re too funny. After cultivating to become an immortal, will you truly have no desires and no demands?”
“It depends on the realm. Some people just have lower desires, while others replace certain desires with other desires.
When it comes to having no desires or demands, it’s a matter of personal understanding. Take me, for example. I possess all the thought changes and emotional desires that a human has, but I use them all for cultivation. Therefore, I can change my thoughts at will; in other words, I can change my cognition at will. The source of desires comes from human nature and beastly nature. Human nature is the desire and longing in cognition, while beastly nature is what organisms inherently possess.
I am now in a state of consciousness and thought united, along with samadhi. This means that when a thought arises, I need to actively generate it, or if a few arise passively and occasionally, I immediately know them and can see them. I can then choose to let them grow or dissipate, thereby changing mental habits and biological habits. For me, what are desires? They have simply become my tools.”
“Big Brother, what do you mean by childlike innocence, purity, and childlike innocence? I sometimes can’t understand.”
“Childlike innocence means having a simple heart and a sincere disposition, without any pretense or hypocrisy. Childlike innocence is a feeling of immaturity, with an innate kindness and carefree nature. Purity means being pure and sincere, with simple thoughts.
To put it simply, it means being very, very foolish, that is, after experiencing all sorts of things, still remaining foolish like that.”
“Ah? Then how can someone so foolish attain the Dao?”
“Having these traits doesn’t mean a person isn’t intelligent. To become a great cultivator, one needs to be super intelligent, meaning to have comprehension, and also possess these three qualities. For example, I heard others say, ‘The Buddha says all sentient beings are Buddhas, and you yourself are a Buddha.’ I believed it. Others said Buddhas only have joy and no other emotions, and I believed that too. The Buddha said that seeing a flower, a blade of grass, or an ant is no different from seeing a person, and I truly believed it. Then I achieved all of it, and I directly entered that state. At that time, I even thought I had attained Buddhahood, hahahahaha. I had no troubles at all then; I saw through everything. Everything seemed happy, even my dreams were filled with joy. In my eyes, nothing was bad; even breathing was an enjoyment.”
“But because Big Brother is kind, he felt it was unfair to those around him if he was the only one liberated, so he jumped out of the Buddha state. Only then did I realize that was the Buddha Aspect. Anyone who was a bit selfish and clung to that state wouldn’t have been able to leave. Some people desperately tried to get in but couldn’t. I entered completely and then came out.”
“In other words, first, be an exceptionally good person, and understand how to be human. Endure all suffering and still be that intelligent, foolish, and innocent person when dealing with others. That is childlike innocence, purity, and childlike innocence. It’s easy to say but very difficult to do, and you shouldn’t try to learn it. If one person can’t handle it and can’t accept it, they’ll fly off the handle.”
“After coming out of the Buddha Aspect, there is the sentient being’s form. Seeing all sentient beings, even a plant, as no different from oneself, that’s why one doesn’t kill. But one still needs to eat, so one is grateful for all the gifts and nourishment.”
“As for the life-span form, there’s no need to even think about it. People like that naturally have the spirit of a child in their temperament, so they wouldn’t have the life-span form.”
“Then, from the sentient being’s form, one realizes there is both no difference and a difference. One will deeply care for sentient beings, hence the boundless compassion and empathy for all beings. One will feel deeply for sentient beings and not want them to experience the same suffering as oneself, thus generating the heart of compassion for all beings.”
“Afterward, with ‘every thought is aware,’ I began a period of cultivating awareness. In the very beginning, how could one easily perceive thoughts arising? I constantly reminded myself, cultivating bit by bit, until I could perceive them. However, I could perceive them but not control them. So I understood concepts like changing thoughts, transforming thoughts, and controlling thoughts, and then I cultivated further, turning this into my ability, and then continuously cultivated to make it an instinct. Afterward, thoughts arising would be observed immediately, and their influence would lessen gradually, until they no longer affected me. This process of reversal was also very difficult.”
“That’s not all. I continued to cultivate, and finally, one day, consciousness and thought spontaneously united. I didn’t understand why, but I directly became awareness; I no longer needed to specifically perceive or illuminate. Thoughts arose and were seen immediately.”
“I still persevered in cultivating. As I cultivated, I found that I was no longer easily susceptible to random thoughts arising. I continued to cultivate, and the passive thoughts became fewer and fewer, until there were basically none. Only I could actively generate thoughts. Only then did I realize this was the state of the true self.”
“Then I continued to cultivate and cultivate, transforming what I learned and the kindness of being human into instinct. Thus, I was living in unity with the Dao. Or you could say living in unity with the Dao means doing or saying anything without needing to deliberately think about it, like automation.”
“In this state, you might wonder, what kind of state would the primordial spirit be in? It wouldn’t run wild without being actively used. Wouldn’t that be good? Then I continued to cultivate, striving to enhance the power of the primordial spirit.”
“Recently, when I meditate, or sometimes when I lie down, I can occasionally see whoever I want to see, like things in a dream. I’m still practicing breaking through these illusions.”
“That wasn’t enlightenment achieved in a single leap. That was me madly enlightened and madly cultivating, cultivating like a madman.”
“I infuse my power into these words. Those who read them, if they are intelligent and have comprehension, will naturally receive some power into their hearts.”
“Actually, it’s quite interesting. It’s as if, even though I don’t see you, I know you, and you can also feel me. If our fate is strong enough, you might even dream of me. The me you dream of can be considered my Dharma Aspect. However, it is your own thoughts that create the image. It’s the same as connecting with gods and Buddhas.”
“Although I don’t know what I’ll say to you in your dreams, it will certainly be to guide you upward and toward betterment. I won’t lead you into a big pit. Anyone who leads you into a big pit is definitely not me. Hahahaha.”
“I don’t know if you understood what I said.”
“Ah? Is cultivating immortality so difficult, Big Brother?”
“Not necessarily. After I cultivated, I simplified my experience for you, so you can absorb a lot of the essence and take fewer detours. However, if you want to cultivate like me, you can’t do it if I’m not by your side. Because some methods are too cruel, it’s like extinguishing your soul several times. If you’re not careful, you might fall into demonic ways. You need to absolutely trust me and have me watch over you, teaching you directly. Otherwise, cultivation will be very, very difficult. You certainly won’t be able to transform everything into instinct and use it like I do.
I’m not scaring you. I myself forcefully broke through tribulations. Several times I almost went mad. The moment I spoke, my protector of dharma, that three-headed, six-armed Asura Dharma Aspect. If I had gone mad and couldn’t come out, I would have been like a mental patient, not only unable to speak properly but possibly not even recognizing people around me. Do you think just reading my books and wanting to cultivate to be like me is possible? That’s a joke. If it were possible, those young bhikkus who have been cultivating under their masters for decades would they still need to ask for advice? Wouldn’t they have attained the Dao long ago?”
“Oh my goodness, Big Brother, you went through so much during your cultivation? I thought once enlightened, one would just wake up.”
