The so-called Guan Zizai is a translated term; translated, it means that you are able to observe your own inner self and attain total ease.
And the meaning of a bodhisattva is that you possess this brave, fearless resolve.
Or perhaps you can compare it to some kind of powerful energy, and possessing this energy allows you to attain liberation.
Once upon a time, there was also a moment when I felt bewildered about my own cultivation. I did not know whether continuing to cultivate would lead me astray or skew off course in some way.
Yet in a dream I saw Guanyin Bodhisattva. Just as I wanted to repent for some past misdeeds, fearing that the bodhisattva would reprimand me,
she smiled at me with a mother's kindness and said, "Don't rush, take it slowly."
Ever since then, I firmed up the path of my own cultivation and knew that I had not been cultivating incorrectly; all of my realizations were walking a correct path.
From then on I persistently practiced, continuously gaining complete mastery over myself.
Then an altruistic heart instinctively arose, which was to think about how I could use what I understood to help the masses.
Actually, cultivating Buddhism and understanding the Dao is both simple and somewhat complex.
It is simple to the point that every little bit and every single thought is cultivation. It is complex because of doctrines and theoretical frameworks like dialectical dualism.
For instance, someone tells you that a practitioner needs a lot of money, while someone else tells you that cultivation has nothing to do with whether you are rich or poor.
Which one do you think is right? Actually, both are right, and both are wrong.
When they lecture you on the Dharma and cultivation, they intermix their personal cognitive views, which is why there are different explanations.
True cultivation in the real sense means that you should not obsess over existence or non-existence. If it exists, then it exists; when you are wealthy, think about how to use it to help all living beings.
If it does not exist, then so be it? Even without money there are many ways to help others.
If you care about existence or non-existence, you are clinging to appearances and will fall into arising and ceasing, because existence and non-existence are spoken of in opposition—only through existence can non-existence be manifested, and only through non-existence can existence be manifested.
Look at some masters who instill in you that practitioners must cultivate wealth, and that if you lack wealth it is difficult even to eat, so how can you save others?
Words like these are basically heretical doctrines. Why? Are you propagating the Dharma out of an altruistic heart or for the sake of monetary profit?
If it stems from an altruistic heart, how could you seek a return? If you seek a return, isn't this still just buying and selling?
Understand? Anyone who propagates the Dao and the Dharma with an ulterior motive is actually just aiming for the loose change in your pockets.
What is compassion? Desiring nothing in return is compassion. Expecting no return whatsoever is the greatest compassion and blessing.
What is merit? After helping people, the joy genuinely obtained without expecting anything in return is merit.
This is the key point of an altruistic heart.
If an altruistic heart is followed by the pursuit of wealth and ulterior motives, then this altruistic heart is not sincere.
Some friends might say, doesn't that make one a fool? No, this is not being a fool at all; on the contrary, it is a form of supreme wisdom.
The resources you obtain are not begged for, but rather the result of helping others without expecting a return—this kind of character comes with its own rewards.
That is also why you can see certain eminent monks and high Daoists who do not touch money, yet seem to live without worries about food and clothing. It is because many believers or disciples will take care of these cultivators' daily meals and living arrangements straight from their hearts, purely so that the master can have more time to propagate the Dharma and preach the Dao.
Just remember this: whenever anyone makes money under the banner of cultivation, that is called business. It is not called propagating the Dharma.
Because the true meaning of the Dharma is not lightly transmitted and the Dao is not sold cheaply is not to say that it is not easily passed on, nor does it mean you need a lot of money to buy it from you.
This phrase must be understood separately. The true meaning of the Dharma is not lightly transmitted is to say that you should not transmit the Dharma to just anyone. When living beings have not yet opened their wisdom, instilling this cognition into them not only fails to help them, but instead brings a lot of distress to them and to yourself. Helping means helping those who genuinely need help and ask you for guidance, rather than preaching and speaking to every person you see.
The meaning of the Dao is not sold cheaply actually has not a single half-cent's worth of connection with money; it means that the Great Dao cannot be measured in value by money or other things, and even less can it be used to gain profit. Furthermore, it cannot be easily passed on to others. Instead, one must look at a person's character and moral quality, and it can only be imparted to those who harbor upright hearts and Right Mindfulness. One must not easily teach it to others for reasons of monetary profit or anything of the sort.
Many fiends and demons have tampered with its true meaning, and whenever they collect money from others or carry out scams, they repeatedly use this set of rhetoric to collect money from you.
Opening and closing their mouths with the Dharma is not lightly transmitted and the Dao is not sold cheaply, claiming that the beings behind them also need to receive offerings of incense and the like, recounting a whole stack of reasons to ask you for money.
They even tell you that she is acting on behalf of Heaven! Ridiculous! Truly fucking ridiculous!
Which family's acting on behalf of Heaven requires asking other people for money? Whether it is Heaven or deities, things that you think are good—if you offer them up, do you think they need them?
Out of all those sacrificial offerings you buy, which ones are not things you love to eat? Which ones aren't eaten by you? What have you given to those deity statues? Aside from incessantly and loudly lighting those few cents' worth of incense, isn't everything else profited by yourself?
What kind of rough-and-ready grand master are you putting on airs as in front of me? Isn't this just you going to work, you fucker? What are you babbling to me for? Fuck!
As the ancient saying goes, Heaven in its motion maintains vigor, so a gentleman continuously strives for self-improvement. You lot are fucking wonderful instead: Heaven in its motion maintains fuck-all incessant bluffing, truly a bunch of pieces of shit.
No wonder there are so many fiends and demons nowadays! Look at them, each one looking human on the outside, opening their mouths to say Amitabha and closing them to say Boundless Heavenly Venerate, and when they are neither opening nor closing them you are burping and farting again.
Good grief! Not a single one of them fails to amass fortunes on a massive scale. Taking it all together, is this how you fuckers all cultivate the Dao, this Buddhism, and this Spirit Medium path?
The Buddhist sect is a place of pure senses, yet you fuckers actually turned it into a listed company! Monarch Mountain is a Dao of ease and detachment, yet you fuckers actually turned it into cultural tourism!
The most exasperating are those playing the role of Spirit Mediums: out of a hundred people, ninety-nine are scammer criminals. One moment they bluff people until they are hobbled, the next they bluff people until they are numbed.
When they cannot trick any silver out of people, they turn around and say they are going off to uphold righteousness and vanquish demons. Fuck me, completely bamboozling these ordinary folk.
Their own daughters and sons, who since childhood cannot recognize a single big character, are too lazy to use their brains and too lazy to use their asses, take some cold medicine, go out and run wild all night, and in the end all get bluffed into going out on the path of the spirit medium.
Holding a handful of incense in one hand while shaking bells to make you dazed in the other. Heh, fuck me, this group of scum has plunged the mortal world into a reeking miasma.
In the end, the most basic trust between people has been completely ruined by this bunch of grandsons. Whoever starts a conversation to ask for directions has to ponder for ages, terrified that they might be running a pyramid scheme and trick me into going out on the spirit medium path as well!
The reason I say these things is not because I can't stand certain things; there is nothing I can't stand or can stand, because my attention will not be placed on such idle matters.
It is simply that after saying it out like this, it will bring a bit of vigilance to some people, so that in the days to come, when encountering the same matters they will not be at a loss.
Don't panic, don't cower, figure out whether someone is human or a ghost before you trust them, so you don't end up being played by a ghost while calling them a true deity. Am I right?