Letting Go

【Description】

With the right knowledge, anyone can let go of their attachments. In this lesson, Grandmaster JinBodhi shares truths about the causes and illusionary nature of illnesses, worries and sufferings. His wisdom will surely help you along the path of enlightenment. Embrace liberation by learning ways to let go of your attachments easily.

【You will learn】

• The causes of illness
• Ways to be less attached to the perceptions of our six senses
• Truths of life and how to accept and let go
• How to be at ease by rethinking life direction
• The wisdom of playing dumb
• The right way to pursue goals when young
• Special reminders for youths

【Featured aphorism】

• One of the reasons for suffering from illness is attachment to sensations.
• To stay healthy or alleviate illness, we should lessen our pursuit of and attachment to various sensations.
• Most illnesses are your “war trophies.”
• Midlife is when we harvest the fruits of our hard work.
• Most of our worries come from dissatisfaction with our circumstances.
• Being attached to certain trends or what people do is a sign of insecurity.
• The essence of contentment is the ability to stick to your choices while ignoring what others are going after.
• Pursuing vanity is seeking trouble.
• The moment you see through to the truth is when you rethink your goals in life and become pure.
• There is no pain which cannot be endured; be tolerant, and then you can accept everything you are given.
• Letting go of our attachments gives us peace of mind.
• The greater the threat you pose, the more danger you attract.
• Play dumb when people make fun of you or humiliate you; smile and give them praise.
• Only those with ultimate purity may, like Divine beings, share the lifespan of Heaven and Earth.
• Discard all attachments and you are left with purity.
• With purity comes wisdom.
• Chase your dreams when young and let go in middle age.
• Don’t be overly attached to power and wealth, but never stop building your capability.
• Having capability but not pursuing extreme power or illusions of beauty is true enlightenment and liberation.

【Content】

Many friends come here because of various health problems. You wonder if my teaching can help you. In today’s lesson, I hope you can learn to see through your troubles. So your illnesses will disappear soon, and you’ll have good health. Thus, you reach your goals earlier, have long-lasting happiness, and keep troubles away. I believe today’s lesson will benefit everyone. Today’s lesson is called “Letting Go.”

To achieve the goal of having overall health, we first need to know the causes of illness. The first major category of illness is hereditary, originating from parents. However, within the first major category of diseases, there lies a variable factor. For example, if parents have heart conditions or diabetes, is there a 100% chance that their children will inherit it? Even if the parents died of an illness, their child might not. Instead, their children could die of high blood pressure or liver cancer.

Although the children inherit their parents’ DNA, the parents’ conditions may not manifest in their children. The parents have it, but not their children. If they have 3 or 4 kids, it’s possible that only some of the children inherit their parents’ diseases. Does this sound scientific? But I’m talking about an even more profound phenomenon and science. It’s not DNA, but fate.

Some people have rare and strange illnesses, or weird medical conditions. But those are not found in the last 5 generations of their family. Why do they have this illness? This is called “karma.” Karma can cause many illnesses. Yesterday, a student shared during class that when he has a headache, it feels like his head is being drilled. That is such a vivid description. He indeed feels that way. Isn’t it strange? I believe it might be related to karma. If one has heavy negative karma, it could manifest as various hardships and difficulties in life.

And many illnesses originate from emotions, such as problems of blood pressure, liver or lymphatic system. Being angry for several days can hurt the liver. For example, if you saw your child stealing your money not for books but drugs, would you get angry? For a woman, if you caught your husband cheating on you, would you get angry? Some people have an enlarged thyroid gland, breast lumps, benign breast tumors, breast cancer, or enlarged lymph nodes. These are caused by your uncontrollable liver heat.

These swellings happen when liver and spleen heat burns upward. Heat flares upward. If you look at a fire, you’ll see flames burning upward. It’s the same for the heat in our body, like heart or liver heat. It forms energy which affects our head, thyroid gland or facial features. After being angry, your vision starts to blur. People who are often angry may get cataracts easily. Anger can trigger many illnesses.

Also, there is fear. In terms of internal organs, fear harms the kidneys. It causes a higher risk of kidney stones as people grow older. It even rapidly reduces kidney energy. Sometimes, fear can affect the brain. When sound waves travel through your ears, you can hear the sounds because your brain received and processed the signal. So fear also harms the brain. It harms the kidneys and the brain.

Emotions harm our internal organs and cause many health problems. People who get scared easily don’t sleep well at night. Seeing ghosts or hearing strange sounds makes it hard to sleep, which harms the kidneys. If your kidneys are harmed, you have a dull complexion, usually because of low kidney function or a deficiency of kidney energy. In Dream of the Red Chamber, there is a lady named Lin Daiyu who has lovesickness. What illness would lovesickness cause? Mental distress harms the spleen. Sorrow also harms the lung.

Does worrying cause illness? For example, I’m worried about college admission and can’t sleep. I devote all my energy to studying, but I still worry that I won’t be accepted by my dream college. I work very hard, and I’m about to be promoted to a higher rank, say, a department chief in the government. Suddenly someone more competitive appears. A graduate of a prestigious university who is charming, smart and good-looking. So now I worry about my future. My superior told me to work hard and I’ll become a department chief. But with such a strong competitor, I’m so worried about my future. It causes illness.

Laughing, like making jokes or laughing constantly, can also harm the body. Look at Buddha statues; very few are depicted with open-mouthed smiles, except for Maitreya Buddha. Many buddhas and bodhisattvas are depicted with an emotionless expression. They’re calm, which is the right behavior. In meditation and Buddhism, Buddha always reminds us to maintain a calm state.

Sakyamuni Buddha has revealed to us the causes of sufferings and illnesses. This is written in The Heart Sutra. A cause of illness is our attachments to our perceptions. Perceptions are our feelings and awareness. How are feelings formed? From our sight, hearing, and sense of smell. Also, what we taste: sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, etc. It’s our physical sensations and mental perceptions. If we want to be free from illnesses, we should become less attached to feelings and sensations.

For example, some people crave delicious food. When young girls see ice cream of different flavors, they’ll say, “I’ll just eat a bite.” But a bite turns into 2 scoops. They vowed to lose weight, but they eat a whole container. Some know that they have a cold body constitution. They have dark eye circles, low energy, and often feel discomfort. Their minds are slow, and they can’t sleep. They shouldn’t eat too much cold food.

I asked, “Why do you eat so much cold food when you want to lose weight?” The girl answered, “Master, ice cream has a silky texture. It’s like Heaven. The delicious taste makes me feel enlightened. It’s refreshing and sweet. I feel my Divine-Eye has been awakened and all my troubles have disappeared.” It’s just an ice cream! That’s what she felt when she was eating her ice cream. What was she attached to? The sensations of eating ice cream and the taste. This attachment makes girls who are physically weak, weaker.

There are attachments worse than this. For example, you suspect that your boyfriend has cheated on you. You get extremely angry. This is bad for your liver. That leads to swelling in your lymph nodes. When illnesses come, a person is diagnosed with cancer, such as breast cancer or lymphatic cancer. When you listen to the doctor’s diagnosis, you may be extremely fearful for your life. That’s when you start to cherish your remaining years. “I’ve never loved this world, why do I love it so much now?” You start to fear losing your life.

We can learn about the main cause of many illnesses and take control of our health. The key is to learn to be aware of our feelings. It’s the perceptions and sensations. In general, there are no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body or mind. The 6 senses tell a lot about the world. The mind refers to your thoughts, consciousness and judgment. The 5 sensory organs affect us the most, causing many illnesses.

When you see something beautiful, you want to spend money on it. When a guy sees a beautiful girl, he pursues her. Because he’s afraid she won’t like him, he spends more on gifts for her. He buys gifts, food, flowers and jewelry. That’s a lot of money. Are you emotional when you pursue someone? I ask you all. The emotions of anticipation and longing. After becoming a couple, he’ll have new emotions such as joy. Is joy an emotion? Too much joy is harmful too. Being overjoyed every day can be bad. It’s quite ironic. But still, best to have positive emotions. The more eruptive emotions are, the more illnesses they cause.

Alright, let’s go back to our example. Suppose this man wins the beauty and marries her. Shortly after, his wife is diagnosed with cancer. She loses her hair and eyebrows. Her beauty diminishes. Her body becomes emaciated, like a bedridden skeleton. She can’t even speak. How would you feel now? Fear returns. It’s a fear of loss. It’s like you have a beautiful flower. Everyone likes a fragrant flower in full bloom. Watching a flower dying slowly in front of us is painful. Watching your loved ones undergo a slow and painful death is extremely tormenting.

What senses are involved? Sight, touch, hearing. You hear her moaning in pain. She can’t eat, can’t chew, and has no appetite. You’re worried and surrounded by negative emotions. No doctors can treat your loved one. This helplessness is also a torture. Everyone who loves her suffers with her. These experiences are tied directly to our senses, causing emotions and affecting our health.

Now let’s look at another scenario. What if your wife doesn’t have cancer, but she falls in love with another man? How would you feel? Hateful or angry. Even if your anger doesn’t hurt your wife, it’ll hurt you. The excessive liver heat will affect your liver, heart, lymphatic system and even your brain. Relationship issues hurt, not just emotionally but also physically. It could affect the brain. The more intangible things are, the greater their impact on us.

Therefore, understand this: To recover from illnesses or to avoid them, shouldn’t we downplay it? Buddha has taught us to be less attached or not care too much about the perceptions of our body and mind: form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharma. Form refers to appearance. Is a person beautiful or handsome? Even furniture, items, watches or clothes we buy, are they beautiful? They don’t matter at all. You must take these perceptions lightly and weaken the emotions that arise from our eyes, nose, ears and mind.

Thus, when some self-cultivators reach a certain state in their practice, they stop caring about brands and the prices of their clothing, jewelry, furniture and house. Having clothes to cover the body is enough. Not freezing to death in winter is enough. Having light clothes in summer is enough. This is not giving up on life but seeing through life. Be less attached to perceptions from your senses such as knowing, hearing and seeing. Minimize it. It doesn’t matter.

Regarding desires, temptations or other matters that easily cause your emotions to fluctuate, learn to be less attached or ignore it. Gradually, our state of mind shall reach a new height. Minimizing these senses is a new perception. It’s like turning a deaf ear. All the beauty, attractiveness, handsomeness and uniqueness have nothing to do with me.

But escaping from our consciousness is challenging. You are angry when your lover cheats on you. You think about how well you treated them, how much you spent, and how much you love them. You’ve thought it through. You are conscious. From your consciousness, you think anger is right. “I’d be a fool if I weren’t angry.” Emotions arise. Please remember, regardless of right or wrong, these emotions and feelings have already harmed your health and illness is on the way.

Why do people have all sorts of illness after the age of 40? Ever since you were a teenager, you’ve been pursuing love, wealth, beauty, fame or profits. You’ve been in battle and suffered many injuries. When you’re in your 40s, your body slowly ages, and these illnesses start to surface. Many illnesses are your war trophies. When you start having heartaches because of your cheating boyfriends, you’re sowing seeds for your heart illnesses.

What about happiness? After making lots of money, you want to enjoy life. So you drink alcohol and eat lots of meat. Such a diet can lead to high blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. How much time have you spent saddened by the death of your parent, good friend or respected teacher. For example, if you are not sad, people might say you are disloyal and unfilial. So you cry for 3 years after your mom dies, portraying yourself as filial to your relatives and friends.

How long can you live after that much crying? Whether you cry for real or fake it, it harms your health. Faking pain is even more damaging than real pain. When you’re pretending for an audience, it’s not easy to force out tears, and it costs your health. Just our emotions bring us so much damage.

Some people have asked me the following. I get anxious when I take college exams. When in love, I will experience joy, anger and sorrow. Should I work? There’s competition at work. I’m bound to have emotions. Should I not do anything at all? This leads to the second consideration.

Young people should have life goals. For example, you might want to pursue an honorable profession. Young children often have a vague ambition. Say, I want to be the highest-ranking judge, the chief justice. I’ll be powerful and make a difference in people’s lives. The parents might be surprised and happy. It’s a good goal. To arrive at that position, you have to study hard. Some children may want to become a business tycoon and have lots of money. That’s not wrong. They’ll make money through their wisdom and hard work. If a kid says he’ll buy his parents a mansion with the money he earns, his parents will fully support him to make a lot of money. Being ambitious like this is fine, in my opinion.

I’ve seen many children without pursuits. Many of them turn into real troublemakers. Some are unaware of their wrong deeds. Some people use heroin and methamphetamines, or do other bad things. Some people form a company to scam others. Nowadays, there are lots of scamming activities. Children can’t tell right from wrong. Without moral guidance, they could do bad things. So, if a child is not sensible and doesn’t have positive pursuits in life, it’s easy for them to end up on the wrong path. Some children end up with depression, social isolation, etc. These illnesses are similar. This could happen when you have no goals. Terrifying, isn’t it?

So, living a good life is very challenging. Being overly ambitious is a sign of being overly attached. But without pursuits, some are afraid to leave home, make friends or work. They’ll have a morbid life, which is even more troublesome. What should we do? When you’re young, you need to pursue the right life goals. Here’s a very important reminder. When a person is in their 40s to 50s, they should learn to live the second phase of life, which is letting go.

We hear stories of successful people every day. How many people have gone from being penniless to having immense wealth? Do these people cause pain in the process of becoming rich? Property developers, from contractors who provide construction materials to developers who build office towers, have made quite a fortune. When they become more successful, they have fewer competitors. The few remaining competitors are fierce and strong. Not being able to beat them becomes your eternal trouble.

Why is it called affliction? Have you thought of winning? Did your competitor sabotage your project? If he did, do you want to settle the score? If your answer is yes, hate arises and conflicts ensue. During your transformation from poor to rich, you harm others and yourself at every stage of your success.

Next, there’s also a fast track to death after you reach middle age. You’ve been working hard all your life. Your middle age, 40s or 50s, is like autumn. It’s the best season for harvest. For example, you’re worth $100,000,000. But during the process of accumulating this wealth, you endured sufferings. You had emotional ups and downs, even thought of suicide. The tax bureau audited you many times and even froze your assets. There were many risks.

You’ve experienced life-threatening situations on the construction site. Your workers have gone on strike. Here you are now, 50 years old with $100,000,000. Say, this happened in South Korea. One day, you have an opportunity to dine with the richest Korean tycoons. There, you feel your clothes are embarrassing. Your $3,000 shirt and $20,000 watch make you feel inferior to the richest people. A billionaire’s dog costs $200,000. That dog is more expensive than everything you’re wearing.

As someone who just got rich and has $100,000,000 in assets, you feel like a construction worker in a group of tycoons. Having $100,000,000 in your savings account is no small feat. Having $100,000,000 is very impressive. But somehow, you lose confidence in yourself. Then, you decide to make more money so you can be their equal. You want a $200,000 dog too.

That’s when drama begins. You want to become richer, but scammers will swindle your money with fake projects. If you’re not alert enough and are blinded by greed, you’ll fall for these fictitious projects. They’ll take away your hard-earned wealth, and reduce it to zero. Erase “1” from $100,000,000, and only “0” remains.

When a person reaches middle age, it’s time to see through and let go. When you’re in midlife, instead of aiming to be the chief justice, you should be content with your local court judge position. You overcame many challenges to obtain this position. Think about it: Do you have the wisdom, strength and capability to become a supreme court judge?

Contentment is happiness. Contentment is knowing how much is enough. You feel that you have enough. What does “enough” mean? “Enough” means that you have sufficient power or wealth. You feel content. Let go of the way you pursued things when you were young. Say, you’ve been pursuing this career since age 20. You’re almost 50 now, and you’ll realize one day that you have enough. You stop pursuing because you feel content. This is the easefulness of letting go.

I’ve interacted with an individual who had major authority in a country. I could sense his insecurity. One day, he couldn’t help but ask, “Master, please have a look, does the president still like me?” I said, “He likes you.” Hearing my words, he was happy and took me to dinner. After he asked this, I didn’t sleep that night and wondered why a powerful person feels insecure.

He had the power to easily remove a provincial leader from office. He worked alongside the president. I asked him later, “What is causing your concern?” He said, “A new guy, Mr. Zhang, was promoted. He’s well-rounded and makes the president very happy. The president takes Mr. Zhang everywhere he goes. I always feel that I’m neglected. That’s why I was worried.”

I often ask ordinary people, “Do you feel at ease?” Some of them would say no because their children are doing badly at school. Although some people have smart children, they worry that their kids can’t enter a good college. “Can my heart be at ease as a father? I have to make more money so I can send my child to the best private school.” And the result? He doesn’t have that money, so he’s troubled every day.

I’ve met people in Taiwan who run street stalls. One was a young university graduate. After working in a company, he wanted more freedom, so he became a street vendor. He bought low-cost clothing from overseas. His stall opened at 9pm every night. He didn’t have to pay tax, and he made some money at first. One evening, 2 thugs approached him. They were dressed in black and asked him for a protection fee. He gave them NT$200. But the thugs were unhappy, they wanted NT$5,000. He refused to pay, and a fight broke out. He was beaten and suffered a concussion. Now he’s still suffering the long-term effects.

People of authority worry. People working in the middle rank worry too. Everyone is worried about something. Regardless of how much authority and wealth people have, no one can be entirely worry-free. Thus, no one is perfectly healthy. Many people have savings, their own house, their children have jobs, and their children are married. Are they still worried? They’re still worrying.

How can we live at ease and without worries? On our journey of life, regardless of our age, we should think about what we really want. What are we pursuing, after all? After you get a clear answer, write it down. After confirming your goals, decide how you’re going to achieve them. Do this, and maybe you’ll have some peace of mind.

The Buddha said in The Heart Sutra, “To let go, you need to see through this world.” You need to ignore the perceptions of your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. Without these organs, we can’t perceive colors, shapes, beautiful melodies or annoying sounds, as well as fragrance or odor. Without our tongue, we can’t experience the tastes of food. You even need to forget your body. Gaining or losing weight and your skin condition shouldn’t bother you. No sensation should be worthy of your time. When I rely on eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind, these perceptions may result in misfortune, deception, suffering and illness.

The Buddha says all existence, including humans, animals and all matter, arises from the karmic conditions of earth, water, fire and wind. Due to various causes and conditions, humans have come into existence. Human life is fragile. A person only lives around 90 years if they live well. 90 years is just a short period of time in the Universe. That shows humans’ lives are not as real as you think.

The Buddha wants us to start understanding the concepts of reality, emptiness and existence. Be content with what you have: your home, children, loved ones, savings, the clothes keeping you warm in winter, etc. If you work hard enough, you shall have enough money for food, a shelter, clothing and medical care. Remember, it’s already excellent that you can work hard to support yourself for a regular life.

Most of our worries come from dissatisfaction with our living conditions and our attachments to fame, wealth, and people we love. Someone once told me she was sad because she wanted to get married, but no one loved her. To help her, I said that many married couples never stop arguing. The longer they are together, the more pain they feel. So, they want to divorce and be single again. She said she was aware of this, but she still wanted to suffer for once and jump ship later. She sought to satisfy her desire just like all beings do. She knew it would be painful, but she had to try it.

It’s like a phenomenon in Korea. After seeing white dogs in TV dramas, everyone wanted a white dog. Where’s your compassion for the brown dog you had? Do you still love it? Being attached to certain trends or doing things by following in others’ footsteps shows that we lack peace of mind. Walk your brown dog confidently while others are walking their white ones. When everyone else is pursuing vanity, but you still love your brown dog, it shows your state of mind. It’s contentment.

Keeping up with trends is looking for trouble. That’s about a dog. What if you are a woman and the trend is to have a tall husband with fair skin? Wouldn’t you abandon your husband like you abandoned your brown dog? Endless pursuits brings worries and suffering. How can you uproot your fear and insecurity while gaining wisdom to free yourself from suffering? You need to see through to the truth.

Life is composed of karmic conditions. Our pursuit in life is just like the pursuit of white dogs, it is unreal and easily shattered. You deceive yourself to keep going. When do most people start to awaken? It can occur in several circumstances. When you are sick and hospitalized, and the doctor tells you that you can live a year if you take good care of yourself. Otherwise, you could die anytime. You will become enlightened when you’re lying in bed in great pain.

Say, you have $100,000,000, but money can’t save you. You can spend your money on staying in the hospital, but there is no medicine to cure your illness. You will awaken. You reconsider why you wanted more money and how you got sick. You got angry at others many times and argued with them. You avoided many risks, avoided going to court with quick thinking, and avoided going to jail. Life is not easy, right? You made money with great effort, but you are exhausted and hospitalized. That’s the first awakening.

After hospitalization, you have the second and final awakening. Your children come and try to get a voice or video recording of you, or your fingerprint or signature, to inherit your wealth. You know none of your children cares about your health. They all want you to quickly sign the will. They hope to inherit your wealth sooner. If you’re alive, your will may change. At night, you cry to Heaven, “I’m so lonely. I love them and raised them. I love them so dearly, but who loves me? I’m dying, but no one takes care of me. All they want is my money.” The more money a person has, the more likely this will happen. This is their final awakening.

Long ago, there was a monk called Qici. Legend has it that he was the reincarnation of Maitreya Buddha. He wrote a poem called “Planting Rice Seedlings.” “Holding the green seedlings, plant a field of fortune; Bowing the head, see the sky in the water. When the six senses are pure, rice will grow. Stepping back turns out to be moving forward.” When planting rice seedlings by hand, you walk backward. Stepping backward is a cultivation of the heart. I think it’s fantastic! This is the great enlightenment of seeing through and letting go.

Let go of your attachment to wealth and fame. The more you see through, the more you can let go. After seeing through, reconsider your decisions and goals in life. Then, you can attain the ultimate and genuine purity and freedom. You no longer have attachments to wealth and fame. You don’t have to worry about your children’s future and who will inherit your legacy and mourn for you. There’s no need to waste time thinking about this because fate has the answers. When you understand this, you can finally experience ease. Letting go gives you peace of mind.

If we reconsider life, how do you want to live? A life of letting go. What does letting go entail? Tolerance. Learn to tell yourself, “I can endure any pain. I won’t be disturbed by any ridicule or mockery. I can accept everything.” Say, a person is in jail. One might be humiliated in the worst manner by their fellow inmates. Being hurt is inevitable, both physically and mentally. But you have to stay alive. One day, you’ll be released from jail, so there’s nothing you can’t take. Why not use this mindset in our lives?

Learn to accept the negative aspects. Acceptance itself avoids conflicts, which impact both parties. You’re essentially protecting yourself. People often resort to lethal measures against those who pose a threat. Rarely would people use deadly force on those who pose no threat to them. For example, a vicious dog bit you and its owners don’t care. You want to put down the dog quietly by poisoning or beating it. Say, there’s a cat lying next to the dog. You want to kill the dog, not the cat. You won’t put down the cat because it’s harmless.

Would you get rid of the grass nearby? No. The grass is harmless and poses no threat, so you won’t harm it. The greater the threat you pose, the more danger you attract, and others may harm you. Harmful intent cannot be tolerated. Thus, we must learn to accept. We learn to accept willingly. I pose no threat, so no one hurts me. Your children won’t disappoint you if you place no hope in them. It’s hard to be a sensible person.

To be sensible but know when to play dumb is even harder. When you insult me, I pretend not to understand, and I will smile and praise you. I pretend not to understand. What’s the advantage? Let others feel that you’re a nonthreatening person, so that you’ll be safe. For example, a harmonious relationship between the parents-in-law and their children-in-law is not easy to maintain. I have some elderly female students; let’s see how they do it. One asked her son and daughter-in-law to manage the family’s finances. Would she feel insecure? Yes, but the risk is minimized.

But some parents-in-law want total control of the family’s spending. They discipline their daughter-in-law by restricting her monthly spending. But they forgot about something. Under normal circumstances, who will typically need care first? Usually, it’s the parents-in-law. At this time, if the daughter-in-law is ignorant, she may get back at her in-laws for treating her strictly and taking control of the family finances. When the parents-in-law are ill, she controls their money but doesn’t pay for their medicines, treatments, or even their graves and coffins. Wouldn’t it surprise you and cause you pain? It’s better to learn to let go early.

There’s a proverb. It’s a reminder for everyone and myself. “Yellow earth buries the deceased everywhere.” Ashes can be spread anywhere. Think about it, where is your ancestor who was alive 200 years ago? Have you been worshiping them? It doesn’t matter, your ancestors are dead; their lives have ended. His life, whether carefree or painful, is history now. When you can see through, it doesn’t matter whether people visit your grave. When it comes to ancestral worship, most people can probably pay respect to their grandfather. It’s difficult to worship earlier ancestors. Time turns everyone into yellow earth eventually. You and the people worshiping you all become a pile of earth or some air.

What I say is not fearmongering but the truth. Today’s lesson is about living a life free from pain and suffering while attaining great ease. What is being at great ease? It’s a state of purity. Practicing The Meditation of Greater Illumination has great effects. We practice standing on a lotus flower. Who can stand on a lotus flower? How much would you weigh? Someone who is as light as air, right? Also, purity. Only those with ultimate purity may live like deities, sharing the longevity of Heaven and Earth.

Thus, we should learn to peel away the layers of vanity and false pursuits we are wrapped in. It’s like peeling onions. First, peel away a layer of ignorant pursuits. Next, peel away a layer of attachment to white dogs. Remove the desire for your children to attend the best university. Peel away your desire for cosmetic products. Peel away layers of attachments. Like peeling the layers of an onion, what’s left in the end? Nothing. The only thing remaining is purity. This is quite similar to the state of emptiness in Buddhism. The moment you let go of unnecessary pursuits is the moment you attain purity and ease. With purity, wisdom will arise naturally. Wise people always do the right things.

Some of you may ask, “Master, should I give up having any life goals?” Teenagers may say, “I won’t go to university. Without any pursuits, will I live an enlightened life? Will my life become better?” No, your life will be miserable. You will face the problems of getting enough food and supporting yourself financially. Moderation is the key. Pursue your goals when you’re young, and let go in midlife. Don’t be obsessed with wealth. Learn to see through and then let go.

Here’s a reminder for the young people. Don’t pursue anything extreme, but never stop making yourself capable. In what way? By being knowledgeable. Whether you become a dentist, veterinarian, scientist, school principal, or a government officer, it shows your capability. Possessing a capability is one thing; having desire for a job position is another thing. You can be a dentist but not attached to wealth. You can be a tailor without being a boss.

You need to be capable. You can be a scientist who is not obsessed with the Nobel Prize. You should pursue knowledge and skills that you find interesting. I strongly encourage you to learn knowledge. Life should be lived this way. Without skills and knowledge, one is living in hell on Earth. Having capability but not pursuing extreme power or illusions of beauty is true enlightenment and liberation.

If you understood today’s lesson, all your illnesses shall disappear. (Received.) Let’s visualize together. Follow me. Use a hand to discard a layer of vanity; it perishes in thin air. Discard attachment to wealth. Discard obsession with love. Discard the expectation of successful children. Discard the expectation of loved ones’ absolute loyalty. Discard worries about children. Discard fear of getting killed in traffic accidents.

If you visualized with me, close your eyes and look at your body. It’s empty, nothing is left. All your worries and afflictions have disappeared. The root causes of illnesses are gone. (Received.) Only by reaching this state can one attain great wisdom, great liberation, and great ease. (Received.)

Congratulations. (Thank you, Grandmaster.)

Thank you, everyone.