Causality & Meaning of Life · Origin & Values
Origin & Values · Causality & Meaning of Life
5 reflections
《The Heart’s Fate》 Where do I place my heart, and where does it take my life?
There is no fate decreed by heaven, only the “heart’s fate”: where the heart is, there lies fate!
My heart is everything; everything is my heart!
《Cause and Effect》 When things go against my wishes, what can I examine in my own conduct and choices?
Everything that goes against your wishes is the return of your own conduct. Virtue is the root: strong roots make abundant flowers and fruit!
A bitter fate comes from what one brings upon oneself, unrelated to the outside world;
A smooth fate comes from what self-cultivation attracts, unrelated to luck.
《This Life》 Before placing hope in a future life, how should I live well today?
Do not seek karmic rewards in the next life; cultivate only cause and effect in this life.
Lesser teachers teach rewards in the next life, entering “self-seeking and self-attachment,” greed, anger, delusion, and arrogance…
If this life is not lived well, how could the next be good?
Great teachers teach cause and effect in the present life, entering “growth without shame” and living in the present…
If this life is lived well, how could the next not be good?
A bitter fate comes from what one brings upon oneself, unrelated to the outside world;
A smooth fate comes from what cultivation attracts, unrelated to luck.
Everything that goes against your wishes is the return of your own conduct. Cultivating the heart is cultivating fate. I decide whether my heart moves; the outside world does not control it.
There is no fate decreed by heaven, only the heart’s fate: where the heart is, there lies fate! My heart is everything; everything is my heart!
《The Return of Choices and Actions》 Which long-standing choices and actions have led to today’s results?
See results as the return of long-standing choices and actions.
《Leave Value That Can Be Passed On》 In my finite life, what do I hope to leave for those who follow to keep using?
Within a finite life, leave value that can be remembered, used, and passed on.