Inner Cultivation or Outer Cultivation

Xuefeng

From Buddhist philosophy to Osho and countless modern masters, a shared principle and encouragement has emerged—inner cultivation.

The essence of inner cultivation is that Buddha-nature is inherently complete; by turning inward, one can return to simplicity, attain enlightenment, and reach divinity.

This focus on inner cultivation is valid since the ultimate goal of cultivation is to refine one’s consciousness and perfect the nonmaterial structure of life. All appearances are illusory; only the structure of consciousness and life is real. Appearances and functions are just the external expressions of essence.

But without a foundation of outer cultivation, what exactly are we cultivating inwardly?

Cultivating what, exactly?

You might end up cultivating a mouse or a snake within yourself, turning yourself into a kind of monster. Think that sounds far-fetched?

Some animals recognize the first creature they see after birth as their mother. A child raised by wolves would become a wolf-child. People in isolated places often think that what they see and hear is the whole universe. Without outer cultivation, all one might cultivate is arrogance and a narrow perspective.

In The Structural Characteristics of Civilized Society (Six), Qiankun Buddha states: “Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Suppose you wake up and have lost all your memories—then who are you? You recognize ‘self’ because you remember yourself—your appearance, your social connections, your past experiences that continue right up to your awakening. That is why you perceive ‘I’ as real. If, one day, you were to wake up on another planet—say, in the Ten-thousand-year World—as long as your memories remained, you’d be pleased, knowing you’ve come from Earth to this new world. ‘Who am I?’ I am ‘awareness,’ a memory structure in nonmaterial form. Don’t think your brain is everything; your consciousness is also simultaneously recorded in the universal Alaya consciousness, shaping your past and future. As long as your consciousness exists, you exist. If memory vanished, there would be no awareness, no ‘I.’ The ultimate purpose of existence in the universe is to create awareness, to enable ‘I,’ thereby establishing the true, logical foundation of the universe.”

"I" is awareness. Without awareness, there is no “I.”

So where does this “awareness” come from?

Awareness is cultivated through outer experiences.

If a person is born without sight, hearing, taste, smell, or touch, who would they be? Ideally, inner cultivation should start at birth, but at birth, do you even know who you are? If you’re raised by wolves, you’d be a wolf!

If someone else adopts you at birth, would you recognize your biological parents? Without joining Lifechanyuan, would you know you’re a Chanyuan Celestial? Without understanding the universe, without knowing the vast world, without memories or personal experiences, could you know who you are? You’d be like a zombie or a person in a vegetative state!

Thus, inner cultivation must be built on the foundation of outer cultivation. Inner cultivation is like cooking; first, you need ingredients—vegetables, flour, oil, salt, seasonings, pots, and pans. Without these, what meal could you prepare? Just thin air! Without the accumulation of knowledge from elementary, secondary, and higher education or from life and work experiences, dreaming of becoming a scholar is just fantasy!

Inner cultivation is the pursuit of the well-learned.

Beginners, who cannot even distinguish north from south or tell wheat from weeds, yet shout “inner cultivation,” are cultivating illusions. I’d say they’re only hardening themselves into stone!

So, while we are alive, we must seize every moment for outer cultivation. We should fully experience life, explore widely, read extensively, and absorb the wisdom of others. Building on this rich foundation, we can continually reflect, verify, deepen our understanding, transform our thinking, refine our consciousness, and perfect the nonmaterial structure of life.

Inner cultivation must be grounded in outer cultivation, with both nurtured together. Otherwise, one becomes nothing more than a library exhibit or a storage bin of unused knowledge.