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Life's Wisdom
Life's Wisdom
  • Forword to the "Chapter of Wisdom"
  • Crossing the River as Stones
  • Where Did My Six Hours Go?
  • Emptiness, Spirit, Grace
  • Balancing the Abstract and the Concrete
  • Avoid the Long-Term Impact of Small Load Energy
  • Enemies Are Benefactors: The Path of Repaying Debts
  • Space and Hatred
  • Faith is Truth, Love is LIFE
  • What Are You Busy With?
  • The Longer the Gestation, the Sweeter the Fruit
  • Adding Value to LIFE
  • The Secret to Health
  • Do Not Disturb—Joy Lies Within It
  • Eliminate One Source of Profit, Amplify Efforts Tenfold
  • The Sun in the Black Hole
  • Observing the Profound and the Manifest
  • Enlightenment
  • Follow Your Nature
  • Those Who Have Long-Term Concerns Will Have Immediate Troubles
  • Move the Earth
  • The Way of the Tao Seems Obscure; Advancing in the Tao Seems Like Retreating
  • The Highest Form of Communication
  • Always Do Simple Things
  • Seeking the Optimal Combination
  • Unused Medicines are the Best Medicines
  • The Sustenance of Life
  • The Path of Understanding, Seeking, Realizing, Attaining, and Upholding the Way
  • How About Turning 180 Degrees to See the Scenery?
  • Transform Consciousness and Abandon Wisdom—Entering the Hall of LIFE
  • One Who Is in Harmony With the Tao, the Tao Likewise Delights in Him
  • The Highest Goodness Is Like Water
  • The Highest Wisdom is Formless
  • The Harm of Thought Inertia
  • The Scholar Stays Home
  • Expanding the Space of LIFE
  • Seeking the Best Fulcrum for Life
  • Follow Your Heart’s Desires Without Overstepping Boundaries
  • The First Step to Returning to Youth
  • Resolving Contradictions in the Invisible
  • The Most Easily Obtained is the Most Precious
  • The Magical First Time
  • Whimsical Fantasies: Exploring Extraordinary Abilities
  • Unshakable and Following One's Nature
  • Follow Your Intuition When Necessary
  • The Great Way (Tao) and the Small Path
  • Enrich Your Inner Self
  • Surrendering Life to the Tao's Arrangement
  • The Finite and the Infinite
  • Small Matters and Big Matters
  • The Three Essential Elements of a Fulfilling Life
  • A Revelation from Walnuts and Peaches
  • Chaos and Holographic Order
  • Establishing Oneself in Society through Rich Inner Content
  • The Heart of Comparison is the Heart of Malice
  • Examining Whether You Belong to the Masses
  • The Differences Between Minor, Moderate, and Great Filial Piety
  • The Subtle Techniques for Achieving a State of Emptiness
  • Do Not Suffer Yourself for Goals
  • So-called Coincidences are Links in the Chain of Inevitability
  • Is Coincidence Accidental?
  • From the Kingdom of Necessity to the Kingdom of Freedom
  • Everything Is Inevitable; Only I Roam Free
  • The Self in All Things
  • The Constant Nature of All Actions
  • The Benefit of Existence and the Utility of Emptiness
  • The Utility Cannot Be Seen and the Visible Cannot Be Used
  • Act Without Striving, Handling Things Without Interfering, Savor the Flavorless
  • The Objective World is a Reflection of Subjective Consciousness
  • Break Through the Consciousness of Walls
  • Unite with Heaven, Resonate at the Same Frequency
  • The Reference Frame and Coordinate System of Life
  • Mutual Generation and Restraint Maintain Balance
  • Destruction and Creation
  • Two Parallel Lines Intersect at One Point
  • The Secret to Acquiring Infinite Energy
  • The Three Major Pursuits in Life
  • Appearance and Essence
  • Positioning Your Life
  • Secrets of Diet
  • The Many Benefits of Knowing About the Afterlife
  • The Three Great Treasures of Life
  • Strategic Life
  • The Spiritual Life
  • A Life Without Regrets
  • Escape from Despair
  • Chasing the Sun and Escaping the Night
  • Infants Who Never Grow Up
  • Do Not Offer Help Unless Asked For
  • Further Discussion on “Do Not Offer Help Unless Asked for”
  • Looking for Your Own Garden of Eden
  • Abandonment Is an Achievement
  • Consciousness, Structure, and Energy are the Three Elements of the Universe
  • Who is Wrong?
  • How to Use Free Will
  • Should We Maintain Kindness?
  • Conquering Demonic Nature
  • Your Enemies Will Be the Members of Your Own Household
  • The Eight Great Awakenings from Human to Celestial Being
  • The Cerebellum and the Brain
  • That which is Easily Hurt is Weak and Flawed
  • Fate and Transcending Fate
  • Escaping the Traps of Life
  • Patterns and Endings
  • It was We who Sold our Own Liberty
  • Four Outlooks will give you Harmony
  • Some Perceptions about Life
  • My Reply to the Four Questions Raised by the Chairman of the International Federation of Philosophic
  • The Thinking Style and Approach to Action in Spiritual Thinking
  • Those Who Have Constant Faith Will Have Constant Actions
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The First Step to Returning to Youth

Xuefeng

Christ Jesus, who saves our souls, warns us: “Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Buddha Shakyamuni advises that if you still carry the “appearance of longevity,” you cannot become a Bodhisattva.

The celestial Laozi guides us to “return to our roots” and “revert to infancy.” He said, “What is strong will grow old; this is not the Way, and that which is not the Way soon ends.” He also taught, “Aggressors do not die natural deaths; I consider this a teaching.”

If fortunate enough to visit the heavenly realm of the Thousand-Year World, you’ll find that the celestials there almost all resemble children, with pure, beautiful hearts, playful yet embodying the highest goodness, mischievous yet authentic, wise yet simple, carefree yet caring.

Wudang Master Zhang Sanfeng’s famous saying is: “Going with the flow makes one ordinary; going against the flow makes one immortal. This is the reversal within the Tao.”

The teachings of gods, Buddhas, celestials, saints, and Xuefeng’s insights from Lifechanyuan reveal a truth—if you wish to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must first become like a child.

What should be the aim of our cultivation and practice? The answer is: return to youth and revert to the state of infancy.

Please note that “returning to youth” does not mean our bodies should become those of children again; rather, it signifies that our spiritual essence should return to the heart and mind of a child. We should not be bound by the “appearance of longevity” and should not think that because we are in our forties or fifties, we cannot play, cry, or have childish fits.

The first step to returning to youth is to strive for purity, authenticity, naturalness, and spontaneity.

Who isn’t afraid of wild lions and tigers? Would you fear them? Now, if they were lion cubs or tiger cubs, would you still be afraid? I once saw a scene at Lion Park in Harare where people, both adults and children, happily and affectionately petted several lion cubs. The cubs were playful and endearing; no one was afraid. Why? Because the cubs are pure.

Have you heard the story of the wolf children? Babies raised by wolves—would you dare to go to a wolf’s den to be raised by wolves? Why not? Because the babies are pure, while you have lost that purity.

There is a story in the Bible where three men are thrown into a furnace and are not burned. Why were they unharmed? Because they were pure. Laozi said, “I have heard that those who excel at preserving life do not encounter rhinos or tigers on land, nor are they harmed by weapons in battle. The rhino finds no place for its horn, the tiger no place for its claws, and weapons find nothing to cut.”

Can you become invisible? No, right? Why? Because you are no longer pure; your desires cloud your thoughts. Why can’t children become invisible? Because they lack that desire.

When a child sees someone eating an apple, they immediately call out, “Mom! Mom! I want an apple too!” But adults, even if drooling inside, pretend to be indifferent. Why? Because children are authentic, while adults are hypocritical.

When a child is sad, they cry; when hungry, they shout. Adults, however, say, “Real men don’t shed tears” or “You must have self-control.” Why? Because children are real, and adults are false.

When someone sees a beautiful woman, they may instinctively look twice and say, “She’s beautiful!” Others may feel an itch, wishing to take her as a second wife, yet sarcastically mock that person for their lack of taste, calling them superficial. Why? Because the first person is genuine, while the second is hypocritical.

As long as what you feel does not match what you say and do, you are not genuine.

When it snows, little MaoMao and JiaJia next door play joyfully in the snow, even touching JiaJia’s rosy cheeks—two innocent children. But who has seen old Zhang next door playing joyfully with Auntie? Would old Zhang dare touch Auntie’s cheeks? This shows the difference between following one’s nature and not. Children act naturally, while adults are bound by societal morals, unable to act freely.

No matter how distinguished the guests at home, if a child is tired, they’ll simply sleep—so natural! But adults won’t; even with drooping eyelids, they insist, “I’m not tired! I’m not tired!”—unnatural.

In short, if we maintain purity, authenticity, spontaneity, and naturalness, we are returning to youth.

Childhood is joyous and happy; middle and old age are less so. So why not return to youth?

Imagine a pond that continually receives fresh water and drains from the other side. It will never dry up and will stay fresh. Without fresh water, it will stagnate or flood. Childhood is like the fresh pond with inflow and outflow; middle and old age are like a stagnant pond that grows foul. By maintaining our pure, authentic, spontaneous, and natural nature, we stay connected to the fresh source of life. Holding onto old views and resisting new ones is like blocking that source, causing life to wither and making it harder to return to youth.

Those who "speak freely and openly, saying what they think, just as they think it," are people with a childlike heart. They are lovable people and are more likely to enter the heavenly kingdom. But those who are deeply scheming, vigilant from every angle, with everything they say perfectly calculated and without a trace of error—these people can be intimidating. It’s hard to know what they are truly thinking, and while they may be exceptionally clever, they are far from the kingdom of heaven.

Let's imagine this scenario: If you were the manager of the heavenly kingdom, what kind of people would you admit into its society?

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Last updated 6 months ago