Saving Others Is Difficult

Of course, this compassion also includes a heart that embraces all things, understanding the ignorance of sentient beings, their thoughts, or perceptions, are merely caused by the discriminative mind of individual cognition, so one does not dwell on them and can tolerate them.

And sorrow, in turn, includes precisely this: feeling sadness for sentient beings, a sorrowful heart.

Study and comprehend this well, child. If you don't grasp this principle in this life, it will be incredibly difficult to do so in the next.

As Master Meng Can said, it's not easy to attain a human body, and a human body allows one to hear the Buddha-dharma better.

The Buddha-dharma here refers to the methods for becoming a Buddha.

That is, the methods for illuminating the mind and seeing one's true nature, and pursuing the True Self.

That you can see this book on this platform for free is a tremendous affinity in your life.

Don't believe me? Look online, look around in your life. They will ask you for money, a lot of money.

Of course, you can't blame them. Things that are easily obtained are often not valued.

Conversely, rare things are cherished.

It's like if it's free, you won't listen attentively. "It's free anyway, I'll be lazy. At worst, I'll come back and listen later, since it's all free."

But if they charge you? If they charge ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million, you'll think, "I must listen to this class seriously. I'll listen even if I have to beat myself up, because this is so rare. It contains the truths of life, it contains the methods of cultivation." This is the tragic nature of humanity.

Things that are clearly simple are made complicated by the complexity of one's own mind.

Therefore, it is difficult to help others, and even more difficult to help those who don't pay.

This is also the helplessness of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Some masters charge money for helping people out of greed, while others do so purely out of helplessness.

I don't charge you, and you don't believe me. What am I supposed to do?

I see you have a desire to seek the Dao, and I teach you directly. You'll overthink things, your mind won't be focused. Instead, if I charge you a lot of money, you become serious.

Your principle of not believing easily prevents you from distinguishing truth from falsehood, right from wrong, and genuine cultivation from false cultivation.

Actually, there's no such thing as genuine or false cultivation. If you think what they say makes you understand, makes your mind clear, benefits you, and helps you grow, then it's good.

It has nothing to do with the cost. It's just that some people deliberately instill in you the idea that you must spend money, and that spending too little is unacceptable, making you believe that practicing cultivation and seeking the Dao requires money, that you need money to do it.

This opens the door for some, while closing it for others.

Closing and opening have pros and cons in the eyes of ordinary people.

Today, I had a conversation about cultivation topics with a friend who is into top incense. He surprised me.

Because for many people who have certain cognitions, it's very difficult to break through them. But his understanding and comprehension are very high. I guided him to think about some issues, and he could grasp the underlying principles.

But precisely because of this, it will be difficult for him to awaken. Do you know why?

Because it's too easy for him to hear the Buddha-dharma. He doesn't understand that what he's comprehending is Buddha-dharma and Dao principles, nor does he understand that he is Breaking Illusions.

It will create a strong conflict with his own cognitions, and may even cause his mind to go blank, leaving him unsure of what to do.

Because after breaking past cognitions, he will realize that what he previously thought was right, and what he previously thought was wrong, are both incorrect. Even the gods and Buddhas he believed in have changed their appearance.

Ordinary people cannot accept this all at once. I shared too many things with him that differed from his past cognitions, and he will have resistance in his heart, developing a psychological state of being both curious and resistant.

Sometimes, free lectures are not enough. And I don't want to charge fees. It's like taking money from my own pocket to praise myself, which is very boring.

So, my favorite place to discuss scriptures and the Dao is in books.

I don't need to explain the principles of things. I need to write them for you to see and comprehend for yourself. Whatever you comprehend is your own.

Only by reading books can one be led to deep thought, whereas in conversation, the topic might not be fully understood before another topic is brought up.

So in the end, you feel like you know a lot, but you only remember a little.

To be honest, after reaching the stage of top incense, trying to break illusions is extremely difficult. Because you have benefited, and the more you benefit, the more you feel it's right.

This is a very normal, common sense perspective. Someone tells you you'll find money when you go out, so you go out to find money, and you actually find money.

Then someone tells you that the money was yours all along, and they just told you to pick it up. You definitely won't understand this.

Just like now, many people, when they have psychological or physical problems that can't be diagnosed, are told by someone that they have affinities and need to establish a hall and settle a home.

Why do they all say the same thing? If one person says it and you don't believe them, but then more people say it, will you eventually believe them?

And this "settling a home" they talk about, whose home are they settling? Isn't it the home of your own heart?

Did they help you establish a home where you believe in yourself?

Look, you don't believe in yourself, you lack courage, you're afraid of this and that, you even toss and turn at night with endless thoughts, making yourself lazy and weak.

After they "settle a home" for you, your heart becomes settled. You have gods, immortals, and backing. Even if you don't believe in yourself, you have to believe in gods, immortals, and the Buddha, right?

Once you believe, your heart calms down, and those ailments naturally get better, don't they?

Why does your heart still stir up trouble even after believing? Because you're not believing in yourself. You're borrowing cognitions, borrowing the names of gods and immortals and Buddhas. You yourself are still not confident.

Also, you place the gods and immortals you believe in into your heart, and you mistake your own innate ability to communicate with your heart for Supernatural Abilities.

You treat your original heart as someone else. You will still feel uneasy, being managed and watched by others. Can you not be distressed?

Thinking about something? Doing something? You always feel like the old immortals will punish you, and you feel guilty and scared. You're so scared you don't dare to do anything, but then you're afraid when you do.

Actually, those are all just your own thoughts.

Do gods and immortals care about mortal affairs? Who do you think you are?

Just because someone says you have an affinity, you think gods must look after and bless you?

There are over 1.5 billion people in the country. Do you think they can manage everyone? Are you special? Isn't Ma Yun much more special than you? Isn't Li Ka-shing more special than you?

You, who struggle even to go to work, are too lazy to do anything or think about anything, without goals or ideals, yet you can presumptuously believe that gods and Buddhas have an affinity with you?

Do you even believe it yourself?

Since you have such great divine power and such a powerful state, why are you still an ordinary person? Why are you still troubled, agitated, and overwhelmed by the endless chaos of life, unable to cope?

To be honest, you've probably never even seen your own truest self.

If you don't believe me, think back. At every stage of your life, your thoughts and state have been constantly shifting within the habits of your perception.

There has been no moment of true stability.

Don't be a puppet controlled by your self-perceived desires; instead, become a strong individual who controls yourself.

Redefine yourself, reset your cognitive programming, become your own god, unify the true and false self, and let the true self control the false self.