The Benevolent Heart Is Moved

People say I'm a player because I've been with seven or eight girls.

That's bullshit. Every single time, I put my whole heart into it, giving them everything good I had.

That's exactly why I realized this: the more you indulge people, the more they go to hell.

Every time, in the beginning, I only needed to put in a little effort to get along well. But once I gave my all to be good to someone.

That person would feel like they weren't satisfied, and they'd treat me like a simp.

Damn it, what kind of messed-up thing is this?

I've found that some girls nowadays are practically poisoned by cheesy self-help advice. Many of them have nothing, yet they naturally feel like charming little princesses. They think it's only right for anyone to be good to them, acting like the female leads in TV dramas, always fantasizing about marrying some rich young master from a prominent family.

With such a small mind, oh my god, what rich family would ever raise a complete idiot to fall for you?

People choose wives who have elegance, looks, education, everything, and who don't lack money themselves.

Look at you instead: 1.38 meters tall, a thick waist, short legs, a big butt, a round face, and a not-so-bright brain. Why do you always daydream?

Then there are some who aren't even that old, just messing around all day, saying they'll find an honest man to marry after they've had their fun, and asking for three to five hundred thousand in bride price.

Are you crazy, or is someone else crazy? Is the person you're marrying an honest man? Are you sure that's not a complete moron?

An honest man is someone who doesn't mess around, not someone with a screw loose!

Although I'm a cultivator, I'm actually quite used to these things. I just find people to be quite interesting.

Like how I made plenty of mistakes back in the day. When I didn't have a partner, which big bathhouse didn't I frequent?

What else could I do if I didn't go? Who, when they weren't cultivating, could guarantee they weren't lustful?

Besides, I didn't mess around when I had a partner. I only got frisky when I was alone.

That was a long time ago. Look at me now, I wouldn't even go if women actively sought me out to hang out.

First, because I have a partner now. Second, even if I didn't have a partner, I wouldn't bother.

Because it's simply meaningless. This isn't me saying this just because I've been around the block.

It's truly meaningless. It's nothing more than going out to eat, drink, and have fun, and bragging. If you have money, who can't you brag to?

A couple of days ago, I saw a news report.

A guy married a wife, and after the wedding, they only had sex once before she contracted AIDS.

Damn it, the most infuriating thing is that this guy even had a premarital check-up, but the doctor didn't tell him the woman was sick, and even told him she was fine and healthy.

Isn't that a rip-off? It turned out that the woman had AIDS for ten years.

Cough, cough, stop showing off. Playing around is risky, and bragging requires caution.

Of course, this isn't me saying sour grapes because I'm done playing. It's that I feel life can't just be about creating humans and nothing else. What's the difference between that and a breeding pig?

At the right age, do the right thing. My heart isn't the same as it was back then, and my pursuits have changed.

I'm not saying cultivators don't lust anymore or don't have those needs. It's that they can control themselves very well.

They are no longer bogged down by simple pleasures that should be stifling the fighting spirit of the soul.

Before I achieved enlightenment, how many times a week didn't Big Brother indulge himself seven or eight times? After achieving enlightenment, the needs gradually decreased.

Oh, right. Here's a dual cultivation technique that can help increase stamina during combat.

That is to control your heart and not get too excited. As for how to control it, you'll have to figure it out yourselves.

What you figure out yourself is your own. If someone tells you something and you don't understand the principle, you won't be able to do it.

As the saying goes, "True transmission is a single sentence, false transmission fills ten thousand books."

Think about it, back in the day, Big Brother could easily last an hour.

Nowadays, I can casually last forty minutes. Whether it's earlier or later depends on my mood.

Doing this for too long gets tiring. It's not that interesting for men, but women might find it a bit fun.

Alright, let's talk about something else. This topic is getting too close to the line.

I particularly like a quote from Mr. Guo: "If a person has nothing, they can lose anything. If a person has everything, they cannot lose anything."

In cultivation, there is non-self. If there is no self, what is there to fear?

Fear arises precisely because of the perspective of self. If my feelings are hurt, I suffer. If friends are gone, I suffer. If the family dog dies, I suffer.

Without the perspective of self, where does suffering come from?

Some people can't help but cry when they enter a temple, while others feel uncomfortable. These people often believe it's some kind of divine response or affinity.

But that's not true. Think about who is crying, who is feeling uncomfortable. Isn't it still because there is a self in the heart?

Even if you have a physical sensation, since you can feel something, it must be that your heart has been moved.

Speaking of the heart being moved reminds me of a story.

When Master Yin Zong was presiding over a dharma assembly, he posed a question: "The wind moves the banner, is it the wind that's moving or the banner that's moving?"

Two young monks argued endlessly.

One argued that the banner was moving, and the other argued that the wind was moving.

One side said it was the wind moving because the wind blew the flag, so it was the wind moving.

The other side said the wind couldn't be seen at all, and only the flag could be seen moving, so it was the flag moving.

At this point, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng came out and said, "It's not the wind moving, nor the flag moving. It's the benevolent heart that is moved."

From this statement, it is not difficult to see that

whether it is physical pain or mental suffering, if the heart is not moved, where does the suffering come from?

To know suffering, to know sweetness, to see the wind, to see the flag, all are the heart moving.

If you don't believe it, let's do an experiment. Think of something that makes you very happy. Think about it with your heart. The more you think about it, the happier you become, and you might even laugh out loud.

So, did this event happen? No, it was just you thinking. When you think, your heart moves, and once your heart moves, you experience the emotion of happiness.

Similarly, if you think about something painful, regardless of whether it has happened or not, you will feel pain in your heart. This is also the heart moving.

From this experiment, it is not difficult to discover that a person's happiness and suffering have nothing to do with whether the event itself occurs, but rather with what is currently being thought in the heart.

Some friends might say that encountering bad things will definitely make one sad, and it's not that one can avoid sadness just by not wanting to be sad. Then, may I ask, when encountering this event, who is thinking in the direction of sadness?

And if you think in the direction of sadness, can it change the outcome of the event?

If it cannot change the outcome of the event, and you think about it repeatedly, suffering, and even getting sick because of it, isn't that adding pain upon pain, and suffering upon suffering?

Do you know why, when an elder passes away, those around them will say he has gone to enjoy blessings?

This is to help people break free from painful thoughts and encourage them to think more in a positive direction.

Similarly, if the essence of a matter does not change in any way due to human thought, then negative emotions are often more harmful than beneficial.

This is not cold-bloodedness, but Prajna wisdom.

Also, when a person passes away, wherever you think they have gone, that force of intention will connect with their soul and send them there. If you only think of bad things, and they are flying towards heaven, your endless wailing and lamenting will drag them back.

Missing someone is one thing, thinking of someone is another. If you miss the goodness of a person, think of their goodness, how can you feel pain? You will only receive a strong sense of happiness.

These two points themselves have nothing to do with suffering; it's just that you've added suffering to them, and that's why you feel pain.