Chapter 20: Selflessness
If this light in your heart doesn’t dissipate, the Great Dao of the immortal path will shine brightly!
If you are for all living beings, then consider this strength of yours.
What else can break through your defenses? What else can block your spear?
In life, no matter what suffering you encounter, no matter how confused your inner heart is, as long as you hold firm to the belief in Great Righteousness.
You will be invincible and unparalleled in the world!
Don’t you believe it?
Go and check, go and see, those who grew up in military compounds back then, the descendants of revolutionary ancestors, go and see that kind of enlightenment.
If you haven’t inherited the righteousness of the ancestors, how can you be famous in the world today?
Isn’t there a saying, people from military compounds raised half the entertainment industry.
Why is this? It’s because they inherited the traits from the previous generation, being uncommon and possessing an fearless spirit.
You can’t just look at how good they are; you must study them fundamentally to understand.
Look at their courage, their effort for a goal.
And their resistance to any oppression, which means having a mindset of independent selfhood.
You tell him learning to weld is good, you tell him driving is good, he says no, I just want to write.
No matter what you say, it’s useless, and you can’t change him.
Whether you are parents or anyone else, it’s useless for you to want him to live as you wish; he will stick to his own ideas and act on them.
However, when it comes to Great Righteousness for the country, he has his bottom line, as well as the enlightenment passed down from his parents.
This is the difference between them and ordinary people.
You look at ordinary people; this one tells you to do it this way, that one tells you to do it that way, and in the end, you listen to a few words from this person, then a few words from that person, and you become confused, not knowing what you’re doing, and finally, you don’t even know how you should live.
When you get a little older and achieve nothing, you start to lament the injustice of society and the unfairness of the environment.
You even start to blame heaven and others, saying your country is bad, but in reality, you haven’t lived as yourself.
You were too obedient before, lacking a sense of self.
Later, when you had a sense of self, you lacked Great Righteousness, completely living like an empty shell.
You live a life of going with the flow, yet lamenting the impermanence of the world and speaking of such injustice.
Forgive this poor Daoist for speaking plainly, but you are nothing, you are not even yourself, so why are you talking about the injustice of the Heavenly Dao?
You need to first live as yourself, understand the laws of society and human nature, and then talk.
You can’t even see the patterns of your own habits, mistaking rumors for facts.
You are living in a world you imagined for yourself, so why are you talking to me as if you starred in “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio”!
You can’t even decide your own thoughts or emotions; what’s the use of reading scriptures for eight hundred years and copying ancient texts for ten thousand years?
You haven’t even become yourself; do you think what you say is credible? Isn’t that all based on your cognition under the influence of your habits?
If you were raised by a dog, would I believe you if you told me eating shit is right?
If you were raised by a monkey, would I believe you if you told me humans should climb trees?
If I believed any word you said, wouldn’t I become you? Then I might as well not be myself. You could be me, and I could be your father or something.
Cultivators should cultivate selflessness; selflessness doesn’t mean the person ceases to exist, but rather that the perspective of individual cognition ceases to exist.
Having oneself and others can be called a wise person, while selflessness is being a saint.
If one can achieve selflessness, without even having a self, then where do troubles come from?
This selflessness refers to removing the characteristic of viewing things from one’s own perspective.
Viewing problems from a self-centered perspective is called self-attachment, which is the attachment in the heart. Removing this self-attachment is the so-called True Self.
Then you will be beyond the Three Realms and outside the Five Elements.
Of course, I’m not talking about zombies; I’m talking about this state of being immortal and becoming a saint.
Free from the suffering of the Six Paths of Rebirth, fearless of life and death.
This is the reason why the True Heart does not die, and this is also the reason for eternal indestructibility.
If there is no self, how can I be destroyed? If there is no self, how can I die?
This selflessness is the state after removing self-attachment, the state of this heart.
Why do some cultivators say nothing? Because speaking represents a personal opinion, and a personal opinion is self-attachment.
But if you don’t speak, you can’t teach sentient beings, which is why the term “convenient speech” exists.
So-called convenient speech is to use forms such as speech and text to describe the process and state of cultivation to you.
Of course, because everyone’s comprehension is different, the results of their cultivation are also different.
Some people think self-attachment means “I don’t think so,” or “he doesn’t think so,” but that’s completely incorrect.
As long as you view problems from any perspective, it is called self-attachment.
Even speaking from outside of self-perception is the same, because speaking represents the self.
Therefore, many people say, “The Buddha said this,” or “The immortal families said this,” or “Laojun, or some representative figure, said this.”
Because they cannot say it was their own opinion, they say it was said by the Buddha or someone else, so people believe them and respect them.
Using this method or wonderful application to save others.
That’s why you see these Masters and Second Masters, and you feel like what they say and do is no different from ordinary people, why are they charging money here and there?
Because their state of mind is not enough; while helping you, they also want to gain benefits from you.
And also, ordinary people have a biggest flaw, which is the notion that “cheap goods are no good.”
Due to habitual cognition, ordinary people do not cherish things obtained easily and for free, but rather cherish things that are hard-won.
Sometimes, some masters with insufficient skill, or who haven’t broken free from self-attachment, will also deceive people for profit, or try to save them by saying “you will be rewarded only if you give.”
When you don’t understand, you will feel very surprised.
Moreover, many people are using human nature to cheat for money and sex, completely lacking the demeanor of a cultivator.
What does it mean to benefit all beings? It means I seek no reward!
If I seek a reward, is that benefiting all beings? I don’t think so; that’s just an exchange or a transaction.
Think about it, you give me twenty thousand to help you with this matter, I take your money and help you, then who am I benefiting? Isn’t it myself? Aren’t I seeking something from you?
If I am seeking something from you, isn’t it because there is a self existing in my heart?
Since there is a self, why am I a Master or some kind of dog-master?
What is a Master? It is to preach the Dao, teach knowledge, and resolve doubts, but it does not include receiving benefits.
A Grand Master is a Master with deeper cultivation, so they should have even less of that.
You trust me, and then I use this trust to ask for your money, saying it’s for this Patriarch or that Patriarch.
Yes, I did buy incense for the Patriarchs, and some of the money was used for repairs.
But the majority was still spent by myself, for my own food and drink? Then what kind of Master am I? Am I not a great deceiver?
Spending your money, and still acting like your grandfather in front of you, sorry, I don’t have such twisted psychology. I also don’t want you to have such a humble trait!
