Thirty-Six Eight-Diagram Arrays: The Array of Affection

Xuefeng

What in the world is affection, that it inspires beings to vow to accompany each other in life and death?

Travelers flying together from south to north, their old wings enduring the cold and heat.

Joy and sorrow, parting is painful. Among them, there are even more infatuated men and women, you should have something to say,

Over ten thousand miles of layered clouds, a thousand mountains with evening snow, for whom does the lone shadow depart?

—Yuan Haowen, "Moyuer - Goose Mound Lyrics" (First Verse)

What is affection? The Weaver Girl descends to the mortal world to marry the Cowherd, the White Snake transforms into Lady White to marry Xu Xian, Meng Jiangnu travels thousands of miles to search for her husband and weeps at the Great Wall, Du Shiniang angrily sinks a treasure chest, Romeo willingly drinks poison, Zhu Yingtai willingly jumps into a grave. The stories depicted in books are just the tip of the iceberg. For thousands of years, the world has witnessed countless tragic stories of affection, where affection is so deep, it’s like a cliff of broken hearts, and longing consumes the jade-like skin. In the end, the soul is shattered at the end of the world. Secret affairs, elopements to distant lands, sacrificing one’s life for affection, dueling for affection, accumulating debts for affection, committing murder for affection—all these lead to chaos, destruction of homes, and the demise of people. What’s the point of such fervent affection? Brilliance fades, regrets last a lifetime, speechless before the heavens, only hatred and shame remain.

Besides romantic affection between lovers and spouses, there is also affection between father and son, mother and daughter, father and daughter, mother and son, siblings, confidants, friends, comrades, classmates, masters and disciples, teachers and students, hometowns, etc. These constitute the web of human affections, the sea of affections, and the array of affections. Many people live and die for affection. Once affection is lost, people feel lost and aimless, wandering souls on the verge of collapse.

What exactly is affection, that people vow to each other in life and death, suffer insomnia from lovesickness, persevere through countless hardships out of deep affection, spend their entire lives without regret, risk their lives in desperation, or engage in illegal activities?

Affection is a kind of nonmaterial energy that is embedded in the nonmaterial structure of life to maintain harmony in family, society, fairyland, and humanity. Life must have affection; without affection, life will perish. The Greatest Creators have affection, Celestial Beings have affection, birds and beasts have affection, trees have affection, and even demons and monsters have affection.

The more abundant and richer the affection, the closer it is to heaven. The more impoverished and barren the affection, the closer it is to hell. The broader the affection, the closer it is to heaven; the narrower the affection, the closer it is to hell.

Affection is a series of Eight-Diagram Arrays, with gods having divine affection, demons having demonic affection, celestials having celestial affection, humans having human affection, monsters having monster affection, ghosts having ghostly affection, beasts having beastly affection, birds having bird affection, trees having tree affection, grass having grass affection, and flowers having flower affection. Thus, it forms the levels and steps of LIFE, the heavenly net, and the heavenly array, binding each level of LIFE to thrive and flourish in their respective spaces, orderly and disciplined.

Consciousness, structure, and energy are the three elements that constitute the universe. Nature, love, and Dao are the three great treasures of LIFE. Nature is the characteristic of structure, love is the characteristic of energy, and Dao is the characteristic of consciousness. So, what about affection?

Affection embodies all three characteristics of consciousness, structure, and energy. Affection not only has the components of consciousness and structure but also contains the essence of energy. In other words, affection is the need of consciousness and structure, but its essence is a kind of energy, an essential nonmaterial energy needed by consciousness and structure.

Therefore, affection is closely related to nature, love, and Dao. As long as there is nature, there is affection; as long as there is love, there is affection; as long as there is Dao, there is affection. Conversely, without nature, there is no affection; without love, there is no affection; without Dao, there is no affection.

For human life, affection is like salt. If affection is too weak, life is tasteless; if affection is too strong, life is bitter.

To elevate oneself to Celestial Being, one must escape from the human affection array. Without escaping human affection, one cannot enter divine affection; without entering divine affection, one cannot become a Celestial Being.

How does one escape the human Eight-Diagram array?

In short, abandon human affection and seek divine affection.

Specifically, diminish parental affection, deepen the affection for the Ancestor of Buddha, the Greatest Creator; diminish the affection for siblings, friends, deepen the affection for the universe, all things in nature; diminish the monogamous affection between men and women, deepen the predestined ethereal affection of the fairyland; diminish the affection between master and disciple, teacher and student, deepen the affection for Tao, the truth.

Theoretically, the richer and broader the affection, the more divine it is; the poorer and narrower the affection, the more human it is.

In practice, the more relatives, the more divine affection; the more lovers, the more divine affection; the more beloved ones, the more divine affection; the more one loves mountains, rivers, and nature, the more divine affection; the more one cherishes all LIFE, the more divine affection; the more one enjoys playing and having fun, the more divine affection.

What is affection in the world? At this point, the answer is found.

Deeply affectionate, earnestly heartfelt,

Mountains, rivers, and all things are loved by me.

Heaven and earth merge with affection,

Yin and Yang unite, and the fairyland is born.

Unending affection, not obsessed with affection,

My affection pervades all.

When my work is done, I will be fulfilled naturally,

Beautiful ideals turn into reality.