Subtle Application of the Discriminative Mind

Remember, if someone truly dedicated to cultivation wants to help you, they won't care about your wealth. They'll only consider whether you're worth helping and if you have good character.

For those deeply involved in cultivation, money is just a piece of paper, a product of convenience in a specific era.

Cultivation is about seeing through things and letting go. Once you enter the Dharma, you let go of everything. Yet, some people cultivate for over a decade and still cling to worldly ways. Their bodies may have left home, but their minds remain worldly. Sometimes, they're even more adept at bringing those worldly methods into Buddhist and Daoist circles to show off. They must truly understand these things to genuinely let them go.

Otherwise, they'll remain trapped by perceived realities, driven by external circumstances.

Some might ask, shouldn't cultivators have no discriminative mind? Actually, having no discriminative mind doesn't mean being unable to distinguish anything. If you can't distinguish anything, aren't you just foolishly cultivated? Our inherent nature already possesses the function of discernment. What's called non-discrimination is to discern clearly, but without the thought of discrimination. That is true non-discrimination.

For example, if you take a cup, you can't say it's a jar; that would be deliberately obtuse. If you pour me a cup of water, I can take it and drink it. But if you pour me a cup of urine, I shouldn't drink it, should I?

Therefore, many unclear aspects in cultivation can lead people down the wrong path. The discriminative mind should not discriminate with thought; this is non-discrimination.

Don't get bogged down by this. I may not own all things, but all things can be used by me.

When I want to drink water, whether it's in a cup, a jar, or a large basin, as long as it holds water, it's fine.

When I want to eat, whether it's corn or sweet potato, I can eat it, but I won't eat feces.

A non-discriminative mind doesn't mean being unable to distinguish anything; it means that when the outcome is the same, the process doesn't need to be dwelled upon.

It's similar to the mosquito bite incident I mentioned before.

Normally, when a mosquito bites you, you'd discriminate it as an harm. But you actually know that a single bite will heal quickly and isn't a big deal.

If you dwell on this point, distinguishing good from bad, you'll become agitated and bothered by the incident.

But if you shift your mind to think from the mosquito's perspective, you won't feel resentment and will naturally accept it, without fixating on the bite. After a while, you'll find that the bitten area inexplicably heals.

So, did I discriminate in this situation? Actually, I did and I didn't. I discriminated that the mosquito was still a mosquito and it bit me. I didn't discriminate by not treating it as just a mosquito, but rather considering it as a life.

This is called a subtle application. The mosquito truly bit me, but I considered it from the mosquito's position. Truly, because I thought this way, I wasn't agitated or distressed, and I attained freedom.

In daily life, discrimination and non-discrimination aren't always fixed.

If you're walking in a desert and run out of water, you can change your thoughts and use urine as water without discrimination, with the goal of quenching your thirst.

If you live in a city with abundant water sources, you can distinguish between water and urine to avoid gagging by drinking urine.

Therefore, both discrimination and non-discrimination can be used as subtle applications. In different environments, you arrange different perceptions for yourself to achieve the ultimate goal.

In other words, if a person can step outside their own thinking, observe the patterns of their thoughts, and then skillfully and freely alter their cognitive perceptions through methods, they can achieve freedom through this approach.

Colloquially, this is called self-understanding, self-guidance, and self-persuasion.

A person may not be persuaded by others, but they can certainly persuade themselves. If you can manage your own thoughts, then all problems become stepping stones to your cultivation.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, regulating and balancing emotions is extremely important. TCM believes that emotional fluctuations affect human health, and by regulating emotions, one can achieve the goal of treating and preventing diseases.

Among these, joy can overcome sadness. By experiencing extreme and continuous joy, happiness, and a sense of well-being, one can dissolve sadness. This is a method of self-regulation of emotions. This method is based on the TCM theory of the five elements' interactions, where anger overcomes contemplation, contemplation overcomes fear, fear overcomes joy, joy overcomes sadness, and sadness overcomes anger. Through this cyclical interaction, emotional balance and regulation are achieved.

Furthermore, from a psychological perspective, positive emotions like joy can help people emerge from negative emotions, improving their mood and motivation. Joy is a positive emotional state that can stimulate people's positive emotions, helping them see problems from different angles, and thus find solutions.

Therefore, by cultivating a positive mindset and finding ways to increase joy in life, people can overcome sadness and other negative emotions, achieving emotional balance and health.

A cultivator is someone who can summon any emotion they desire.

In my own words, the process of cultivation is: breaking illusions, awareness of thoughts, shifting thoughts, transforming thoughts, breaking thoughts, and controlling thoughts.

This allows for every thought awakened, where every arising thought is immediately perceived by oneself.

Then comes unconscious awareness. After a long time, you no longer need to consciously observe your thoughts; you automatically perceive them.

Finally, awareness beyond awareness. At this stage, you don't even need the thought of awareness; you directly observe your thoughts.

From the initial deliberate practice, it becomes a habit, operating through ingrained habits. This cultivates a Dao, a pattern or law.

However, this pattern is counter-intuitive to human nature, so it can be called defying heaven.

Some people might feel this sounds like a fantasy. I would have thought the same before achieving it. But once you truly accomplish it, you realize this is the most incredible supernatural ability, and all other supernatural abilities exist beneath this state.

Once you reach this state, you will gradually begin to see the patterns of many things, including the patterns of human nature.

From a person's eyes, physique, and expressions, you can completely know what they are thinking. This is called Mind Telepathy.

Seeing these patterns is Clairvoyance. Knowing what they are about to say is Clairaudience, and so on.

Moreover, you can completely alter their thoughts and intentions without them realizing it.

Just like when I was working in a factory in Guangzhou, a woman asked me if I had any abilities after cultivating.

From the moment she asked me that question, everything she said was guided by me, and she didn't notice.

Hahaha, what supernatural abilities do you think there are? Isn't being able to control what a person thinks and says a supernatural ability?

Also, there was a period when my throat was very sore. So, I shifted my thoughts to other matters and forgot about my sore throat.

By transferring my mental focus, I genuinely stopped feeling the discomfort in my throat.

Isn't this a supernatural ability?

It's simple to say, but hard to do.

It sounds like anyone can do it; isn't it just shifting attention?

But try it yourself: when you're physically uncomfortable, can you control yourself not to notice it!

There are many subtle applications that I can't fully explain at once.

I can only share them with you slowly. I hope those who are fated can gain inspiration from this and find the method for liberation and freedom.

Namo Guan Zizai Bodhisattva.