442. The symbol of a pure and perfect soul: grateful, praising, reverent, faithful, honest, kind, diligent, unsophisticated, intelligent and vivid, clean and tidy, innocent modest and gentle, open-minded, tolerant, magnanimous, unselfish, positive and optimistic, enthusiastic and unrestraint, humorous, and affable.
443. The dirt and dust that should be cleansed from the soul: jealousy, anger, bitterness, suspicion, curse, comparison, reprehension, attack, contention, complaint, passiveness, decadence, selfishness, avid possession, arrogance, unscrupulousness, indolence, sluttery, indifference, and unruliness. The heaven will accept only those with a pure and perfect soul. If your soul is contaminated with any of the above 20 defects, you will be denied the entrance to heaven—the realm of the Greatest Creator.
444. The most severe crisis of mankind is the crisis of soul. As long as we have solved man’s crisis of soul, we can solve all the crises faced by mankind. The building of Soul garden is a matter of urgency for mankind. Any other measures and ways are only trivial and cannot solve the crises faced by mankind. Everyone should build their own garden of soul, which is a miraculous panacea for mankind to avoid tribulations and catastrophe.
445. Man is not born with sin. Sin is caused by the imperfect operating mechanism of human society. The root of tribulation and afflictions of human society for thousands of years does not lie in the sin but in the imperfect operating mechanism of human society. A perfect operating mechanism will make people free of sin, while an imperfect mechanism of operation will breed sins of man.
446. The physiological diseases are mostly caused by the defects in spirit and soul. The spirit embodies the energy feature of life, while soul represents the structure feature of life.
447. Praise is the symbol of the richness of one’s soul. Praise of the Greatest Creator, nature and other people is the symbol of a beautiful soul.
448. Gratitude is the first element to sublime life. Repentance is the most effective way to purify soul.
449. Gratitude is the headspring of happiness and the foundation for the harmonious coexistence with the Greatest Creator, nature, and the broad masses of mankind. With a feeling of gratitude and humility, you can be molded into a capable being and can obtain“ the supreme-enlightenment mind”, and can accomplish your greatest wish. Without a feeling of gratitude and humility, you will become a useless dead wood not suitable for sculpture”.
450. If through self-improving and self-refining, one can achieve a body and soul of integrity, he can have real spirit and great talent and great virtue concentrated in himself. Without spirit, it may mean that we have not achieved a body and soul of integrity. If we do not have great talent and virtue, it also proves that we do not have a body and soul of integrity.
451. Stay away from all evils and pursue all good conducts.
What are evils?
Answer:
Profanity against the Greatest Creator and god and deities, slanderous comments on celestials and Buddha, mockery of the sages and saints, shame on ancestry, maltreating one’s parents, murder and robbery, maltreatment and slaughtering of animals, bullying the disadvantaged, scheming to harm one’s own brothers, humiliating one’s superiors and seniors, hoodwinking people under age, cheating the kind people, defrauding strangers, vilifying one’s schoolmates, hideously harming one’s colleagues, false accusation, stir strife among the clan relatives, maltreating one’s inferiors and claiming their merits as his own, fawning on one’s superior for personal gains, showing no gratitude for the favors done to him, harboring endless resentment, slighting the people under heaven, disrupting the state affairs, encouraging injustice, torturing the innocent, filling up caves and overturning nests, destroying embryos and eggs, pilfering other’s harvests, covering others’ good and kind deeds, uncovering others’ weaknesses, damaging other’s countenances and images, forcing the female to engage in prostitution, wasting others’ properties, riding roughshod over others, humiliating others for one’s own victory, shifting blames on others to protect oneself, shifting the misfortune onto others, acting arrogantly because of one’s wealth, deriding the poor people, frustrating others’ advantages, covering one’s own disadvantages, theft and heist, lying and deception, breaching the dyke and incendiarism, trespassing the civilian residence, damaging others’ implements, ruining others’ feats, envying others’ wealth and rank, being jealous of others’ talents, trickery in business, selling substandard goods at the price of good products, littering, smudging the environment, making somebody do things he can’t do, forcing somebody on the road of suicide, digging up others’ ancestral tombs, destroying others’ home, gossiping, disrupting people’s peace of mind, jumping the queue, showing ferocity, plagiarism and piracy, harming others behind their backs, embezzlement in the name of the public welfare, concocting various pretexts, corruption and bribery, randomly setting up items, dissipation and extravagance, instigating the public feelings, advocating violence, destroying mountains and forests, randomly uprooting grass, polluting rivers, plunging people into abyss of misery, jerry-building, building dangerous structures, gathering others for gambling, scheming to cheat somebody of his money, publicizing ghosts and demons, poisoning souls, engaging in crookery, publicizing superstition, randomly building temples, corrupting people’s feelings, engaging in witchery, conducting fortunetelling for others, taking away others’ organs, injuring others’ limbs, cursing others and wishing them to meet disasters, praying for others’ misfortunes, greediness, squandering food, laziness and acting in a slick way, comparison, engaging in tumultuous behaviors, interrupting others’ rest, exposing others’ privacy, trespassing on the private residence, intimidating and threatening, kidnapping and hijacking, occupying other’s territory and objects, defaulting on one’s debts, abusing one’s power to seek personal gains, bullying others with one’s power, complaint and jealousy, trumpeting and flaunting.
What are kind deeds?
Answer:
Reverence for the Greatest Creator, LIFE, nature, and god and deities, following the examples of sages and saints, showing filial piety to one’s parents, respecting one’s seniors and loving one juniors, treating people equally, praising kind deeds, encouraging others, having a kind heart, loving others and oneself, showing compassion for others’ misfortune, feeling happy for others’ happiness, relieving others of their urgency, rescuing others from danger, displaying others’ advantages, uncovering one’s disadvantages, forgetting about the favors done to others, repaying the favor received from others, complaining not about humiliation, harboring no hatred for hurt, starting others’ wisdom, leading others to sunshine, imparting knowledge, teaching others skills, keeping diligence and thrift, working hard, faithfulness and honesty, maintaining an honest, simple and sincere self, making people happy and pleasant, offering others freedom, helping others to get happiness, catching thieves and subduing demons whenever they are spotted, singing praise of sincerity and virtue, hiding other people’s wrongdoing and praising their good deeds, being practical and realistic, restricting falsehood, not pocketing anything found on the roadside, not bolting the door at night, finding pleasure in helping others, providing conveniences to others, consistence in words and deeds, acting and thinking in the same way, not taking the path of evils, being scrupulously honest even when no one is around, wishing for others’ safety, praying for others’ good fortune, not engaging in ostentation and extravagance when you are rich, engaging in no sycophancy when you are poor, feeling thankful, feeling appreciation, showing no arrogance when you have achieved your ambition, becoming not dispirited when you met with frustrations, fostering others’ ambitions, promoting others’ confidence, helping somebody to fulfill his wish, aiding others to do their jobs, being faithful and forgiving to others, having generosity and tolerance, possessing courtesy and civility, abiding by order, retreating heroically before a rushing torrent, standing aloof from worldly affairs, showing equity and justice, having impartiality, voluntary dedication, placid and peaceful mind, neatness and tidiness, having a benevolent and kind countenance, offering explanation for any doubt, showing hospitality and enthusiasm, being philanthropic and making contributions, helping those in dangerous and strait situations, telling truth, planting fruit trees, showing no arrogance and impetuosity, having a gentle and placid temper, restraining from ostentation, not envying rank and wealth, getting up when the day breaks, getting to rest when the dusk falls, being studious and eager to learn, being as bright as a mirror, appropriately attired, having astounding beauty, projecting a pleasant image in every posture, being sanguine and lively, being good at relaxation and games, having pleasant voices, sweet tongues, considering others first in terms of benefit, considering oneself first whenever difficulty arises, straightforward, doing nothing underhand, keeping cautiously to one’s duty, not coveting what belongs to others, loving peace, extensive love for the broad masses, closeness to nature, protecting grass and flowers, being easy to approach, having compassion for insects.
Misfortune and blessing know no gate, and you have only yourself to blame for the possible misfortune, and you may rewarded with blessing for your good deeds.
Good will be rewarded with good and evil will be punished with evils, there is close association between one’s deeds and the consequent reward.
Reap as one has sown. The mill of the Greatest Creator grinds slowly but surely.
452. Honesty is one of the symbols of the perfect soul. One had better be frank and honest with each other if he wants to ensure that in his relations with others there is no friction, jealousy, trepidation, vexation, and afflictions. Getting along with others in this way involves the least cost, and can give birth to the most genuine, close and enduring friendship. And the relationship formed on this basis incurs the least negative and passive effect.
453. People whose souls have the same frequency with and resonate with those of ours are all our kin relationship. All those who meet the following eight conditions are our close relatives. 1. Revere the Greatest Creator and follow the road of the Greatest Creator; 2. Revere life and nature, love life and peace. 3. Share weal and woe, show care and concern for us, and never oppress, exploit and bully us; 4. Speak gently, and never reprobate us, never show resentment against us, never sneer us, and never humiliate and retaliate against us; 5. Forgive our faults and always meet us with smiles; 6. Never contend and quarrel with us, never create a disturbance, never snatch from us, and always consider our interest first; 7. Give us happiness, joyfulness，freedom and blessing; 8. Get on well with us and never hurt us. It is time to redefine the kin relationship based on blood relations. We need to establish the new kin relationship, we should make all people have many kin relations on their journey of life, and we shall make life more and more beautiful.
454. What keeps me alive is my spirit; what makes me dead is my mind. When the mind is peaceful and tranquil the spirit shall abide within; when the mind is astir the spirit will disappear.
455.“Everything is consumed in commotion and is brought into existence in tranquility, and tranquility is the abode of spirit”. “Without peace of mind, you cannot go very far”. “Tranquility gives birth to wisdom, while commotion breeds fatuity”. What keeps me alive is my spirit, what makes me dead is the death of my mind. When the mind is peaceful and tranquil the spirit shall abide within; when the mind is astir the spirit will disappear.
Answer: We shall sow and plant: sincerity, kindness, beauty, love, faith, honesty, diligence, bravery, unselfishness, devotion, service, care, tolerance, consideration, compassion, mercy, and other flowers and plants.
What weeds and barnyard grass shall we eliminate from our garden of soul?
Answer: jealousy, hostility, outrage, contention, complaint, comparison, hatred, fear, anxiety, falsity, wickedness, ugliness, lie, hypocrisy, greed, possession, forced occupation, desire to excel over others, exculpation, and other weeds and barnyard grass.
Reap as one sows. You will see and enjoy whatever you have sown. This is what the master of the earth requires us to do. Once we have built our garden of soul, and once we have get well prepared, we will be the selected seed to enter the era of Lifechanyuan and we will enter a brand-new era no matter what may happen around the year 2013.
457. There is one energy is called the energy of soul, which mainly comes from affection and love. Affection and love is itself a top-grade energy. A person with affection and love has a soul full of energy. A person without affection and love has a soul void of energy. As is always observable, anyone rich in affection and love is always full of vigor and vitality. They are optimistic, positive, lively, and intelligent. Even when they are in adversity, they are always filled with hope and yearnings. However, a person void of affection and love is always tedious, passive, stagnant, prim, devoid of vitality, vigor, and creation. Even if they are in favorable circumstances, they wear a woebegone expression, they sigh in despair, and cannot feel happiness and pleasure.
458. The substrate of art form is real nature. If we go deeper into everything we can finally trace each of them to its origin and ultimately find out its real nature. There is only one real nature in the universe. With the exception of the Greatest Creator, anything else is merely miraculous transformation and the artistic representation of the Greatest Creator.
459. The mechanism that maintains the order and harmony of art forms is kindness. To be more specific, kindness means the reverence for the Greatest Creator, LIFE, and nature. All behaviors that maintain the Greatest Creator, order, LIFE and nature are kindness.
460. The harmonious proportion and symmetry of art form is beauty. The beauty of everything is created by the Greatest Creator. Maintenance of beauty is the sacred obligation of God and Buddha, the ideal and pursuit of the sages and saints, and the wish of the populace.
461. Visualize your dream, and it will come true. When the image is formed and informed to the Greatest Creator, all you need to do is to wait patiently. Do not feel impatient and visualize another one. It takes a very long time for some visualization to become a reality.
462. No matter how good a doctor may be and no matter how miraculous medicine he has prescribed, he will be capable of nothing if a patient refuses to take the medicine and does not admit that he is ill.
463. The greatest love is the love for LIFE. The greatest man is one who loves the LIFE of other people and the LIFE of the whole mankind and the LIFE of the whole universe. Love cannot only purify the soul of other people, but also perfect the structure of one’s own LIFE. The value and significance of love is inestimable.
464. If you do not have the Greatest Creator in your mind, you do not deserve to talk about love, because your talk of love will only be a smirch and blasphemy of love.
465. Bravely love those who deserve your love and devote yourself heart and soul to people pursuing sincerity, kindness, beauty, love,faith and honesty. In this way you will reap bounty rewards. “The retribution will be incredible”.
466. Mind is the most important of the Three Realms, and cognition is the most important of all rules.
467. Form arises from the mind and reality is created by mind.
468. Diseases arise from the mind, and disaster is be gotten by the mind.
469. There are dust and dirt in our souls. If the souls are purified, celestial beings will abide in our souls. If we are not willing to have them cleaned, demons and goblins will take possession of them.
470. If the mind is not empty, everything will be empty; if you are bent on possession, you may end in having nothing at all.
471. We can only find our bosom friends if we have opened all our souls; we can only find our bosoms if we completely expose ourselves; we can only find our bosom friends if we devote ourselves heart and soul.
472. In the state of jubilation and joyance, people have the best psychosis, the agilest thinking, and the most beautiful souls.
473. The highest level of communication in the universe is not the communication in language but the communication in soul, which can also be called communication in consciousness or communication in soul. The most perfect communication in soul is the communication of love in soul.
474. The power of soul can transcend over time and space, and possesses the holy power of transforming nature and transforming the corruptible into the mysterious life.
475. If mind revolves around the form, you will be destined to enter the mundane world; if you are in pursuit of forms every day, you will be a laity. If your mind does not follow the revolution of forms, you are a sage. Just let forms change at their will, my mind will stick to the only Way. If you can make form revolve around your mind, you will be an immortal. If you can create form with mind, you will be a celestial being. If your soul transcends over all forms, you will have an unperturbed mind. If dharma-form arises in your mind, it will be a shackle; if your mind is free of dharma-form, it will be agile. If non-dharma-form exists in your mind, arrogance will grow in your mind and lead you to the path of evils and demons. When your mind is holographic, there will be no contradictions.
476. The broader the mind is, the more expansive the universe will be; the more profound the thinking is, the more extensive the space of LIFE will become.
477. Everything in Lifechanyuan is beautiful—beautiful soul, beautiful clothes, beautiful language, and beautiful looks. Even a person with extremely ugly look can unfold his most beautiful aspects to other people so that he can show his respect for them. You cannot become a celestial being if you don’t love beauty, don’t know what beauty is, and cannot or is not willing to exhibit your most beautiful aspect before your spectators.
478. The good operating mechanism of society shall need people with beautiful souls to engage in its construction. If your soul is not beautiful, the good operating mechanism of society can never be built. Therefore, the building of soul is of prime importance. And beautiful souls alone are not enough, we should build good operating mechanism of society with beautiful souls. Otherwise it will be difficult for beautiful souls to last for long. This is comparable to the love between man and woman. Initially everything is as wonderful as both parties have expected, but if both parties do not build a mechanism to maintain the continuous operation of their original goal and intention, very soon contradictions will arise, which will either cause both parties to fall apart or plunge them in a life of misery.
479. It is impossible to build the beautiful homestead in the wilderness of soul and in the desert of culture. Even if it is momentarily established, such homestead cannot stand the battering of rainstorms. Different cultures give rise to different human groups, and different human groups give birth to different social systems.
480. Do you want to have a rough time? That’s easy. You will certainly have a lot of hardships to endure if you insist on splitting hairs and do not open your soul, and if you always think that you are correct. Do you want to be pleased and happy? No problem. You will enjoy boundless pleasure and happiness if you open your soul and think in unconventional way and can realize that you are wrong.
481. The pursuit of pleasure and happiness in reality begins with the restoration of spiritual perception and the cleansing of soul. Only if the frequency of our souls are the same as that of the Greatest Creator and resonates with it, can we enjoy infinite pleasure and happiness. Even the discomfort and diseases in our flesh are caused by the dirt in our souls. The diseases will disappear when the souls are cleansed.
482. Any disease, be it heart trouble, arthritis, cancer, or AIDS, stems from the problem in the structure of life form. The root does not lie in the superficial form but in the essence. The structures of our bodies will change with the change of our soul. To have a healthy body, we should first have a healthy and sound soul.
483. The eating of poisonous food will not affect one’s soul, instead it will only harm the physical health of the eater. Therefore, neither smokers, nor meat eaters, nor wine drinkers will go to hell. Whether one goes to hell or heaven has nothing with cigarettes, wine and meat but is directly related to the nonmaterial structure of life.
484. The best recipe for keeping a beautiful soul is following teachings of Jesus Christ and Sakyamuni. The next approach is to conduct self-improving and self-refining in Lifechanyuan.
485. Perfection is created by perfection, and defects are caused by defects. A beautiful soul can perceive beauty, and an ugly soul can perceive only ugliness.
486. There is no jealousy in the paradise. Equally there exists no complaint in Thousand-year World, Ten-thousand-year World, and Celestial Islands Continent in the land of heaven. All those who yearn for the beautiful future and wish to live in heaven should not harbor jealousy and complaint. If people engaged in self-improving and self-refining do not get rid of jealousy and complaint, they cannot enter the heaven.
487. Jealousy reflects an ugly soul. Jealousy arises from comparison. The comparison with others in your category breeds jealousy. Jealousy indicates the defects of the nonmaterial structure of life. Jealousy is a disease of soul, which represents the ugliness of human nature. Jealousy will cause harm not only to oneself, but also to one’s kindred, community, and society. Jealousy stands for narrow-mindedness and lack of self-confidence. Jealousy marks the degeneration of man into wickedness. A jealous person can never go to heaven.
488. To eliminate jealousy, one must engage in self-improving and self-refining. Since jealousy arises from the community life, it is necessary to carry out self-improving and self-refining in the community life. One can never dispel jealousy if he conducts self-improving and self-refining behind the closed door.
489. The most expansive ocean can accommodate the greatest number of rivers. The most open soul is most likely to give birth to the greatest thought. People who are not particular about their food are most stout. People who obtain the most love are those who devote their love unselfishly to as many people as they can.
490. Conscience is the touchstone to verify whether one has a perfect soul. It is also a watershed to demonstrate the achievement of one’s self-cultivation and self-refining. More importantly it is the best credential by which to judge whether a person can enter the land of heaven. Perfect conscience is the symbol of a person’s purity of soul. Have a good conscience, and you will be rewarded with endless fortune and good luck. However, a bad conscience can only invites infinite disasters.
491. Admiration leads to perfection, while fastidiousness brings about deformity. Only people with a rich soul are capable of praising and admiring others. People destitute in soul never admire and praises others. A person with a perfect self often admires and praises others, while a person with an ugly self often is fault-finding and always debases others.
492. Be fault-finding at other’s blemishes and the blemish will be magnified, however if you admire other’s virtue, the virtue will be magnified. To ensure the pleasure and happiness of others, Chanyuan advocates that we turn a blind eye to the blemishes of other people and eulogize their strong points. In this way, with time people will become more kind-hearted, will have beautiful soul, will be grateful, reasonable and understanding.
493. You can shower words of praise. Good weather is favorable for the growth of crops, and fine words are beneficial to the development of friendship.
494. Discover and think about more of others’ advantages and strengths, pay less attention to their weaknesses and shortcomings. Think more about your own weaknesses and shortcomings and do not flaunt your own advantages and strengths.
495. Follow sincerity, kindness, and beauty closely and shun falsity, wickedness, and ugliness. Have a pious heart in achieving Buddhahood, and run towards Celestial Islands Continent!
496. We should first conquer and perfect ourselves. On the earth, few are immaculate. Everyone has his defects. A person with defects is not entitled to indoctrinate others. Let’s first think about ourselves and have an introspection if we feel angry about other people’s shortcomings and defects, if we attempt to educate and guide others, if we are not pleased with everything we have seen, and if we reprehend and complain against others.
497. A mind bent on comparison is a mind bent on wickedness. Once one’s mind begins comparison, the peace of mind will be disturbed. The result will be making trouble out of nothing. And trouble may even arise from within. A mind bent on comparison represents the insufficient self-confidence and connotations, the lack of understanding of common sense, the confused thinking, and the lack of understanding of the value and significance of life.
498. All tragedies are caused by the imperfect self. What’s worse, we are reluctant to face the reality and recognize our defects. We always focus our complaint and reprehension on others. A life of this kind is too hypocritical, too illusive, too vainglorious, and too unfortunate. Your suffering may never end if you escape from yourself and are afraid of facing yourself truthfully. One can get away from the abyss of misery and reach the land of heaven only by facing reality.
499. Wrath represents barbarism, ignorance, and the lack of civilization and good upbringing.
500. Hatred is the poison to oneself and others.
501. Suspicion is the symbol of intolerance and abnormal mentality.
502. Complaint is a poisonous arrow shot at others. Do not harbor complaint against others. Everyone follows his own track of life and LIFE, everyone has his debts to pay, everyone has his personality and specialty, and everyone has his own mission and responsibility. Do not complain no matter how well or how badly others have done something, because complaint is a poisoned arrow.
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