I.The truly enlightened individual can harness the power of pure emptiness. Laozi said, "Existence is used for profit, non-existence is used for utility."
The world is constantly pursuing existence, pursuing profit. "The world is bustling with excitement, all for profit; the world is chaotic, all for profit."
Existence and non-existence complement each other.
By pursuing existence, one only understands half of life.
The truly enlightened individual can harness the power of pure emptiness, creating something from nothing, seeing emptiness within existence. Between immersion in the world and transcendence from it, they can flexibly navigate.
There are three specific practices:
Firstly, adjust oneself to a state of emptiness.
Imagine yourself as a mobile phone battery. If you are at 100% charge, plugging in the charger won't fill you up at all.
If you're at 70% charge, you can only fill up 30%.
If you're at 0% charge, then you can fill up 100%.
0% represents emptiness.
Following this principle, you'll understand why the ancients always emphasized humility leading to progress, while arrogance leads to regression.
Empty your mind, let yourself be empty, and all external information will flow in. You just need to select the information that benefits you; this is creating something from nothing.
A complacent person's mind is already full, and external information cannot enter. So, besides their own small world, they gain nothing, gradually falling behind and being phased out by time.
Secondly, non-action is as important as action.
Every day, as soon as we wake up, we think about what to do today.
Our schedules are full: work, meetings, reading, exercising, listening to music, writing, taking care of children, doing household chores...
Basically, always something to do.
Doing things consumes energy. This is reduction, loss.
Non-action, doing nothing, accumulates energy. This is augmentation, gain.
People age gradually because they keep doing things, constantly expending energy without enough "non-action, doing nothing" to conserve and replenish their vitality.
Thirdly, doing things when there are things to do, and emptying yourself when there's nothing to do.
When tasks arise, deal with them without complaint or resistance.
When there are no tasks, don't go looking for trouble or worrying unnecessarily.
When tasks are completed, turn the page without holding grudges. Forgiving others is forgiving yourself.
It sounds simple, but it's hard to achieve; this is spiritual practice.
I set my state as both "existent" and "non-existent".
When there's something to do, I engage my brain 100%, think, act, correct, and go all out.
When there's nothing to do, I'm at 0%, not thinking about anything, not consuming myself. I eat, sleep, go out, live normally, but my mind doesn't engage in thought; therefore, there's no internal consumption.
II.The good or bad of a situation is defined by you.
The human mind instinctively judges the good or bad of situations, and it's not very objective.
Anything beneficial to oneself is considered good;
Anything detrimental to oneself is considered bad.
This judgment of the mind is isolated, both right and wrong.
Living as if on an island, one doesn't consider others.
The objective fact is, the same situation can be both good and bad, depending on how you see it.
For example, if I'm late for work, it's bad for me.
But because I'm late, I don't take the bus and instead take a taxi to work, which is good for the driver; I contribute to his income.
Living in society means interconnectedness, a give and take.
If you replace old thinking with this mindset, you can transform all factors unfavorable to yourself into beneficial ones.
When facing my mistakes, failures, or losses, I always quickly find the beneficial side because it's the best opportunity to recognize, correct, and improve myself.
A person who never makes mistakes in their life indicates they're stagnant.
A person who continuously makes mistakes but corrects them indicates progress, getting better and stronger.
What's to be feared is many people make mistakes but refuse to admit them, instead shifting blame and covering them up; that's the bad part.
