141. What Is Practicing Beyond Your Level?
In many stages of cultivation, you may not have reached this level yet, but some powerful beings above you may use certain spells to let you experience what the previous level or future level is like. This is very important because sometimes we need to have that kind of experience in our cultivation.
142. What is impure purity?
The benefit of communicating with the Dharma realm is that what it says is not important, and it doesn't matter if you don't understand it, but you can understand its meaning—the more transparent, pure, and immaculate you are, the more you can reflect or mirror the essence of all things. In that instant, you feel what immaculateness and crystal-clear purity mean, and suddenly you have a deeper understanding of what the Buddha once said: "The past mind is unattainable, the present mind is unattainable, and the future mind is unattainable." We usually recite scriptures, but as our levels of understanding and cognition differ, our understanding of the scriptures also differs. "No thought, no desire" is called "immaculate." It doesn't mean you don't think or want; it must conform to "when full, there is nothing"—it means you've understood everything, experienced everything, and finally reached a state of immaculate purity. "No thought, no desire, no wish, no concern for life and death"—it must be "when full, there is nothing."
143. The Rule of Not Knowing You're Wrong
Spiritual practice is a gradual process. What you think you've mastered is simply because you haven't reached that level yet. There's a law: all sentient beings are incapable of understanding things beyond their current level of knowledge; they can't conceive of them. When your understanding hasn't reached that level, you don't know you're wrong, nor do you realize you have a problem—this is a law. Why is it essential to interact with people whose understanding is higher than ours, and to understand knowledge from various dimensions? Because without doing so, you won't know where you're wrong; you simply can't imagine where you're going wrong.
144. What is the view on life and death?
True understanding of life and death leads to the state of no birth and no death, or being born and dying anywhere—this is true enlightenment. Understanding something in your mind and actually experiencing life and death are two different things. Don't always think you can understand it in your head. Those who truly understand life and death reach the final stage—the ultimate liberation from birth and death—by passing through the tribulations of birth and death. These tribulations can last for thousands or even tens of thousands of lifetimes, requiring you to experience all kinds of birth and death. You haven't even experienced many of these yet, so it doesn't count. You don't understand life and death, you don't understand great calamities, you don't understand the killing of loved ones. You only have a general understanding of death; true life can only be understood in the realm of ghosts—you can't experience it in the human world because you only see the living, you haven't experienced death. You need to be in the realm of death to understand life, and in the realm of life to see through death.
145. Requesting an official title and worshipping the moon.
Seeking conferment and worshipping the moon are rules established by the laws of heaven and earth. Some animals, no matter how powerful their magic, must approach humans to gain their favor and recognition in order to have a successful cultivation. If you are of this species, you must follow this rule. Yellow immortals, white immortals, and gray immortals must seek conferment—they must find a human or a higher-level being and ask, "Do I look like a human?" As long as you say they do, the conferment is successful, and there are no problems with cultivation. After cultivating for hundreds or thousands of years, successfully seeking conferment is considered enlightenment. Failing to seek conferment means all cultivation has been in vain. Fox immortals do not seek conferment; they worship the moon. At the time of enlightenment, they need to worship the moon, and if everything goes smoothly, they have attained enlightenment; if they happen to encounter a celestial dog swallowing the moon, their cultivation has been in vain.
146. Interpretation of Divination Text
If the divination text said there were some problems a year or two ago, you must take a closer look now and avoid contacting the person in question—people's attitudes have changed. Previously, the warnings were milder and more subtle, falling into several categories: "You'd better not touch this person"—very dangerous, but they didn't dare say it directly. "This person is average"—average compatibility, average temper, average fortune. Average means below average, around 30 or 40 out of 100. We can't say they're below average. "This person's temper is average"—they used to be fine, but not anymore. Due to the influence of the environment, they might do something terrible when things aren't going well. "Okay"—borderline or around average. "Not bad"—60 or 70 out of 100. "Pretty good"—70 or 80 out of 100. "Very rare"—80 out of 100. "Don't let this opportunity pass you by"—90 out of 100. The fortune-telling industry has some coded language; it's not meant to offend people, so learn to listen to it.
147. What is the connection of the consciousness field?
The connection of consciousness fields is difficult to explain. Sometimes it's not about who has a grudge against whom; sometimes, a search reveals that two people didn't know each other at all in their past lives, yet they still have mutual likes and dislikes. Many cases lack karmic connections from past lives—someone simply dislikes your speech, actions, appearance, or tone of voice. When two souls are incompatible, the connection is drawn to the negative aspects of the other, preventing a connection to the positive. When couples start arguing, they often focus on the other's negative aspects, pointing out problems and even recalling past hurts—why don't you think about the good things he did for you? The connection is broken; this is disharmony in the consciousness field, which creates bias and easily influences one person's perception of another.
148. The Trap of Reincarnation Advantage
One possesses a strong advantage in reincarnation—impressive appearance, powerful magic, strong martial arts, high intelligence, cleverness, high education, extensive knowledge, great reputation, successful career, wealth, and power. When you surpass all beings in one or more of these aspects, you become intoxicated by this advantage, by the gap between yourself and others, and trapped in this feeling. At this point, you redefine your difference from other beings, and over time, arrogance arises. Superficial arrogance also appears—you believe you possess these qualities even when you don't actually have them; the online world and modern technology easily breed this superficial arrogance. Whether you are truly superior or not is unimportant; this is the root of arrogance. Once arrogance arises, discrimination, comparison, competitiveness, vanity, and jealousy all emerge. You feel you are different from others—the perception of self, the perception of others, and the perception of all beings all appear. Essentially, this is called the reincarnation advantage trap; countless superior beings throughout countless reincarnations and immeasurable eons have died because of this.
149. Five Poisonous Beasts
Once, I visited a friend. He had a Five Poison Beast at home and also ran a Taoist temple to help people cleanse themselves of the Five Poisons and Four Mental Impurities. He said he would give me some things to recite and comprehend, and the Five Poison Beast would help cleanse me accordingly. I remember very clearly my arrogance—although I wasn't very capable, I had never seen a high mountain, and standing on a small hill, I always felt incredibly tall. My limited perspective made me think I was superior, and that everyone else was an idiot. Although I wasn't rich, I always thought I was very wise and had a great understanding of the Dao, and even my speech was aggressive. I recited what he said and found that all the phenomena of my arrogance matched my own, and the more I recited, the more cold sweat broke out—all of this was my arrogance! That noon, I hadn't eaten and was hungry, and the Five Poison Beast landed on my head. Because I realized my arrogance, I broke out in a cold sweat after reciting, and then I started burping—even though I was hungry, I was burping. My friend said, "You have too much arrogance; the Five Poison Beast couldn't swallow what it ate, so it's burping on your head." The cycle of reincarnation is something of thought and mindset; it only becomes useful if you let go of it yourself. If you don't let go, don't understand it, or don't accept it, it's useless. If you don't accept it, even the Five Poisonous Beasts can't solve the problem.
150. Strategies for Couples Arguing
When I was younger, I would argue with my wife. As the argument went on, I'd realize she had a point, but my vanity wouldn't let me admit defeat. My male chauvinism wouldn't allow me to lose the argument; my wife was so much younger than me, yet I felt I wasn't as insightful as her—so I'd start stirring things up or using my authority, imposing presence, and physical strength to suppress her. Everyone could see I'd lost the argument, but I couldn't admit it. I'd throw things, slam the table, glare—I couldn't lose in terms of presence. If the argument ended there, I'd start bringing up past grievances or changing the subject—all driven by vanity. Now that I've fixed this, I accept whatever my wife says. If I realize I'm wrong, I admit it. I accept my imperfections, and in doing so, I find myself becoming more perfect. In the middle of an argument, I'll say, "What you said makes a lot of sense; I just didn't understand it." My wife stops arguing with me—she won the argument, I acknowledged what she was saying, and I humbly accepted it. Before, it was "Yes, yes, you're right," but I couldn't lose face. Later, I discovered that accepting my imperfections and having problems actually solved the problem quickly, and people were even more willing to talk to me. The more you dwell on it and try to protect yourself, the less you can protect yourself.
151. Postpartum depression
Postpartum depression is common among women after childbirth. First, hormonal imbalances after childbirth can lead to uncontrollable emotions. Second, the baby wakes up every two hours – either to poop or nurse, requiring you to soothe and hold them. You barely get any sleep yourself, especially if you have difficulty falling asleep. This constant stress, coupled with sleep deprivation during postpartum confinement, hormonal imbalances, and unfavorable care from your mother-in-law or family, as well as a lack of support from your husband, greatly increases the risk of postpartum depression or even a mental breakdown. She may act or think in extreme ways. Talking to her about being rational is futile. Men must perform well during this time, and family members should avoid pressuring her. Prepare parenting materials beforehand and maintain a unified approach – otherwise, you might find yourself criticizing your parents' parenting methods and being told, "You were raised like this when you were little, how did you survive?" During pregnancy, the whole family should sit together to review the latest parenting information, reach a consensus, and follow mutually agreed-upon methods to avoid conflicts. As for food and drink—if the pregnant woman already has a poor appetite, forcing her to drink braised pork knuckle soup or chicken soup right away, even the smell can make her nauseous, and refusing can be seen as disrespectful—this will cause a lot of trouble. First, reach a consensus, make a plan, and if necessary, go to a postpartum care center. Don't overdo it, especially in the first month; adjust your mood, and it will pass.