The Awakening of Spiritual Awareness (28)
The essence of a person is a combination of divinity and animality. The reason why sages are considered sages is that they constantly maintain their divinity without losing it. In contrast, ordinary people often act based on animal instincts and habits, causing their divinity to be hidden. The teachings of Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Zen focus on how to awaken the inherent divinity that everyone possesses.
Purifying animal instincts and habits while maintaining divinity allows the bright side of human nature to manifest in the world. Using this bright divinity enables people to do good rather than being dragged by animal instincts and acting recklessly. When people fail to do good, their actions become indistinguishable from those of beasts; worse still, they may act even more poorly than animals. Recently, there have been news reports about individuals committing patricide, matricide, killing wives and children. There are also those who have lost all sense of morality; for the sake of making money, they poison the public and harm their fellow beings. They bring disaster upon their descendants and can even lead to the extinction of their own kind. They fail to realize how many bodies or mouths they possess—what do they need so much for? Can they consume or wear it all? They are simply wearing human skin while harboring a heart possessed by demons. Lacking shame yet considering themselves superior to others, they truly do not know how they will face future generations when everyone despises them. How pitiful and tragic.
On the path of life, those whose spiritual awareness is just awakening may not know whether this is an unfortunate or fortunate circumstance. Unfortunate individuals are left confused by spiritual awareness without understanding what divinity is. They seek ultimate transcendence in the realm of Dharma but willingly allow themselves to be driven by beings within that realm. They do not recognize their inherent divinity but instead are constrained by thoughts conditioned by worldly beings. Their minds create illusions in the realm as if they were real while failing to perceive true divinity within themselves, mistaking supernatural beings in that realm as worthy of reverence.
The journey from initial awakening to full enlightenment is simple and easy; one should not overcomplicate it with imagination. It merely requires stopping all thoughts—no thoughts arising about right or wrong, good or evil; no illusions or mixed imaginations; no attachments whatsoever; no clinging to right or wrong or love and hate; no fixation on past, present, or future moments. In this very moment where one’s thoughts are clear and free from impurities or obstructions lies awakening itself. At this point, one can see their true heart clearly and use this true heart appropriately in interactions with others—free and unrestrained. This practice already places one on the sacred path: cultivating oneself with virtue and acting wisely according to one’s nature—this is indeed great fortune in life.
by – Master Liu Hongming