What Counts as Having Crossed the River? (1)

Deiform Buddha

December 3, 2006

Why is it so hard to find soulmates in our lives?

A soulmate is another self that resonates with our souls; those with souls that do not completely resonate with ours cannot be our soulmates.

Life becomes fulfilled when one finds their soulmate, but although this is the dream and expectation of most people, it is very rare that they actually find them. Why can we not find ours? Why is it so hard? There are thousands of reasons, but the core one is that we ourselves are not frank and honest with each other.

Being with friends brings us joy; being with soulmates brings us sedateness; such beautiful feelings are really beyond description. Where is heaven? Heaven is the place where soulmates unite with each other.

Soulmates do not possess each other, but enrich each other; do not occupy each other, but allow full freedom for each other; do not pillage each other, but give to each other. If both parties are willing to devote their lives to each other, then they are soulmates.

The human world is only a mortal world because we cannot find our soulmates here; the place where there are no soulmates is the mortal world. The reason why the Thousand-year World, the Ten-thousand-year World, and the Elysium World are paradises is because we can find group of soulmates there.

Only by baring our souls, by baring ourselves completely, and by dedicating ourselves, can we find our soulmates. Darkness confuses people and makes them afraid; see nothing and understanding nothing. How can people be joyous and comfortable in darkness?

People wrap themselves up, do not let outsiders see their inner worlds, watch and monitor others like thieves, and make others clear but keep themselves unclear, so how can they find a soulmate? Climbing to the sky is hard but understanding oneself is even harder! Pursuing Tao is extremely hard, but facing one’s true self is much harder. Being hypocritical is ugly and one of the symptoms of an imperfect LIFE structure. Selfness is the chief criminal that causes our own and others’ pain, and the greatest obstacle to the way of self-improvement.

The greatest difference of self-improvement and self-cultivation between Lifechanyuan and other sects is that our emphasis is on the perfection of nonmaterial LIFE structures; as long as our structures are perfect, then we will acquire Tao and become celestials. From differences of perfection, we achieve differences of fruition. Other sects emphasize the training of skills, such as dredging meridians, alchemy, chanting mantras, reciting sutras, meditating, practicing pranayama, collecting qi, twin-cultivation, and so on.

The difference between Lifechanyuan and other sects such as Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, is that Lifechanyuan follows two paths at the same time; one is the path of life, the other is the path of LIFE. Not only do we enjoy our lives, but we also pursue a beautiful afterlife; not only do we devote ourselves to humanity and to creating the Lifechanyuan Era, but we also extend our LIVES into the higher-level spaces of LIFE. Other sects generally take no account of this life, but emphasize pursuing their future (afterlife); we are unique in that we do both.

Obviously, without processes, there are no results; without good processes, there are no good results. Those who do not feel joyous and happy as humans are absolutely unable to reach heaven. How could we enjoy heaven if we always wear sad faces? If there is no joy and happiness in our LIFE structures, then how could we enjoy pleasure and happiness in heaven? If we cannot conduct ourselves well as humans, then how can we understand how to become celestial beings or attain Buddhahood? if we cannot learn courses of primary and middle school very well, then how can we study university courses well?

The self-improvement and self-cultivation of Lifechanyuan is unique. Our aim is to let everyone always lead joyous and happy lives, to really laugh, to become children with wisdom, to forget what fear, worry, and death are, to be each other's soulmates, adore each other, dedicate ourselves to each other, and love each other until death. Finally, we will abandon and forget about ourselves completely, only devote ourselves, and become so “foolish” that we will not even care about what is in our own best interest. When we become this way, then we will have achieved our goal.

Newcomers to Lifechanyuan might have the illusion that Chanyuan celestials are silly children who lack profound wisdom and enjoy fun all day without self-cultivation, but the opposite is actually true. All Chanyuan celestials have clear minds and brilliant wisdom, our self-cultivation directs our core, and we attain magical powers naturally. Supreme self-cultivation is contained within human nature and NATURE. Gradually, our wisdom will exceed many masters and our nonmaterial structures will approach those of Super Celestial beings. This can be stated as, “The pinnacle of good writing is nothing special, it is only being just right; the pinnacle of good character is nothing unusual, it is only being one’s natural self”.

We need to climb mountains and cross rivers on our journey. The highest mountain is the self; we need to climb over the self. If we still maintain our present selves, then we cannot become celestial beings. Where are these rivers that need to be crossed, how many are there, and what counts as having crossed one? I will explain those things in the backyard of Lifechanyuan.