Sometimes, the evil in human nature is that I make you believe what I say, while knowing full well that no two people can ever be exactly alike.
So while reading this book, I hope you can think objectively, rather than agreeing with a certain point and then carrying out everything exactly as I have constructed it.
I hope everyone can recognize this.
The same principle will yield different answers in different people's eyes.
There is no absolute good, nor is there absolute evil.
Different perspectives will inevitably produce different outcomes.
Only a rational, independent way of understanding can clearly see the true face of things.
When I tell you that cultivating Buddhism is awesome, it is really no different from telling you that cultivating the Dao or cultivating immortality is awesome.
Because that is merely from my own perspective; I have not looked at it from yours.
You may draw on it for reference, but you must also understand rationally that this experience is only someone else's experience. Whether it suits you is an answer you must find for yourself.
It is like how some say talent matters, while others say hard work matters.
Those blessed with talent will tell you that talent outweighs hard work, while those who have always relied on hard work will tell you that hard work is also a kind of talent.
Even if you know how someone cultivated themselves into a god, there is no need for you to follow their path, because at some particular time and place, that path may have suited only them.
But if you can analyze their experience and find a road you yourself can walk, perhaps that is the meaning of reading.
A tiger's experience does not suit a goat, and the experiences of oxen and horses do not suit humans either.
That is why success cannot be replicated. If you asked Jack Ma to build another Alibaba from scratch in this era, it would be impossible.
Because the environment and state of mind he had back then were vastly different from those of today.
So you cannot use his experience to build an Alibaba just like his, but you might be able to create a Douyin, or even some Big Banana or whatever.
But you will never reproduce something exactly identical.
You cannot even reproduce your former self.
Perhaps at some moment in the past, the you of that time was only the you of that time.
And the you of today is only the you of today.
The girl you admired in your youth may have become a fat middle-aged woman when you look at her now.
You cannot say your aesthetic tastes have changed, because you still enjoy looking at other young girls.
Nor can you say your heart has changed, because the human heart changes every moment of every day.
The key lies in your understanding of yourself and others amid those changes.
Allow yourself to be yourself, and allow others to become themselves.
The person you once liked has now become a fat middle-aged woman with two children. Would you still have the heart to grow old with her?
You might, but she certainly would not. If she did, then the person she married back then should have been you.
But if you can take it in stride, then you can pick up two grown sons for free. As for whether they would be filial, that depends on them; it really has little to do with you.
Make your heart clear and right.
Allow him to be him, allow me to be me—this is the essence of kindness.
If my experience can help people grow, that is a good thing. If it cannot, that is also fine.
Do not try to change others; instead, keep trying to change yourself, or rather, your own heart.
Possessing a heart that is wholly independent and freely under your control may be life's greatest meaning—at least, that is true for me.
But for others, whatever they believe in, if you let them believe in it, they may feel happy.
If you shatter their dream, what you receive may not be gratitude. More likely, it will be resentment.
If they wish to live in their own dream and do not want to touch cruel reality, then you should wait until they wake naturally.
Interrupting anyone's sweet dream is never a particularly safe thing to do.
Do not deny others, and do not deny yourself. Do not believe in others, but you must believe in yourself.
Some people become happy when they drink, while others fall into pain when they drink. That is their own choice; you cannot make the decision for them.
The Wuji Sword Sect is only my Wuji Sword Sect. Only those who enjoy turning thought into swords to clear away distracting thoughts can turn thought into swords.
And those who enjoy turning thought into gods are only suited to turning thought into gods.
What is happiness? Happiness is becoming the self you want to become.
What is sorrow? It is when what I think and what I want are completely different.
What is kindness? I possess the ability to wake you, but I do not take the initiative to wake you unless you ask me for help.
What is evil? Without your knowing, I decide that I should wake you, and I do it.
I believe the meaning of life is to become one's true self, but that represents only me.
I am still taking myself as the first and most immediate perspective. That is not kindness, but evil.
Perhaps the meaning of life to you is simply living. I cannot deprive you of your right to that meaning.
Some pursue wealth and end up with nothing, yet they enjoyed the process.
Some pursue love and end up with nothing, yet they too experienced the process.
Whether midway through or at the end, I should not judge.
Because I am not him, and he is not me.
If I make a judgment through my own perspective, then what I judge in my eyes is very likely another version of myself.
In other words, who can be certain that this thing which sheds self-attachment and can freely alter its thoughts is not, in a certain sense, another me?
I say shedding self-attachment means selflessness? Then who is this person now?
Buddhism gives the best explanation: emptiness does not mean there is nothing at all; it means there can be something, and there can be emptiness.
Like the number zero, you can be zero, or you can add one, or become something else.
It is also like Daoism says: sometimes I am me, sometimes I am not me, and I can shift freely between them.
Look at it objectively. Use whichever one suits you. I think cultivators should not be bound by anything.
You can meditate, or you can run naked. As long as you are happy, that is enough.
Some time ago, I casually helped people read their palms. Every reading was spot-on. You could say I know palmistry, but I have never studied it at all. You could say I do not know it, but I have never been proven wrong.
The method I use is called first impression—intuition.
It is not experience.
But if you say I have no experience, I have looked at quite a few people.
If you say I do have experience, then at the beginning I was just bluffing, talking nonsense like a god, or making hard guesses.
That is the fun part: I could see clearly both what had happened and what would happen afterward.
Some people feel I am no ordinary person; some think I am very mystical.
But honestly, when I read people, I was not thinking about anything. I did not have a single distracting thought.
I simply sensed things with a straight face, looked at the different traits in the lines, and then analyzed and guessed.
So how did I see it?
It was the original me behind thought itself. Some call it the true self, some call it the primal self, some call it the superego—there are all kinds of names for it.
In the eyes of ordinary people, some call it Buddha, some call it Jesus, some call it God, and some call it an immortal.
I cannot say any more; I have already divulged heaven's secrets. Brother Thunder is asking me out for drinks, so I will stop writing here.