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Becoming a Celestial Being (Friendly Version)

What does a celestial being actually feel like?

Not a robed figure floating in the clouds. Not a statue in a temple. In the Lifechanyuan system, a celestial being (xiān) is a living, breathing state of existence:

The first level: you have left behind all worry, pain, grief, anxiety, and fear — and you live in joy, freedom, and happiness.

That's it. If you've done that, you've already become a celestial being.

"Becoming a celestial being is that simple — have you become one?"

Three Realms of a Celestial Being

First realm — transcending the mundane: You no longer chase wealth, fame, or status. You are no longer bound by attachment to relationships. You live by suí yuán fàng kuàng — "going freely with whatever comes" — in a state of easy joy.

Second realm — no attachment, no debt: No worldly entanglements, no karmic debts, no possessiveness. You are at one with Heaven and Earth, at one with the Dao. "Owning nothing, you possess everything; homeless, you find a home everywhere; without kin, you feel love everywhere."

Third realm — boundless transformation: Your awareness has broken free of the human world. Your consciousness has transcended ordinary time and space. You possess 64 kinds of spiritual powers — you can manifest form from emptiness, create at will, and dwell in perpetual bliss.

You don't need to start at the third realm. The first is the door.

Three Steps to Becoming a Celestial Being

Step One: Leave negative emotions behind.

Leave behind worry, pain, grief, anxiety, and fear. Not by suppressing them — but by genuinely stepping away from what produces them.

Step Two: A heart with no fixed abode.

The heart has no fixed object, no attachment that won't release. Whatever comes, you flow. Whatever leaves, you let go.

Step Three: No heart — only nature.

There is no longer a "my mind" driving your actions. What moves you is your xìng — your original nature as given by the Greatest Creator. You flow with spontaneous grace, spiritual power emerges naturally, and you rest in bliss.

The Core Secret: No Longer Possessing Yourself

Guide Xuefeng revealed the deepest secret of becoming a celestial being:

"A celestial being and a buddha have no heart of their own — they take the heart of the Greatest Creator as their heart. To become a celestial being or buddha, you must stop possessing your own heart."

Why is "possessing yourself" the obstacle?

Look at every moment of worry, pain, anxiety, fear — they all come from the self feeling threatened, unsatisfied, or dishonored. Remove the self, and the entire mechanism that generates these experiences dissolves.

"When the self is completely gone, the heart expands boundlessly."

The other equally essential secret is seeing your true nature (jiàn xìng). The patriarch Bodhidharma taught: "If you see your nature, that is buddha. If you do not see your nature, chanting sutras and keeping precepts is of no benefit."

What conditions are needed?

In ordinary society, the conditions for becoming a celestial being barely exist.

This is not a failing of effort. The soil simply isn't there — under the weight of financial pressure, human sentiment, marriage and family, and the pursuit of wealth and status, even reading every text about celestial beings won't make you one.

In the Second Home, becoming a celestial being is natural.

No worries about food, clothing, shelter, old age, or illness. Living in nature. Free from money, power, fame, attachment, and lust. Surrounded by people vibrating at the same frequency.

"Becoming a celestial being is natural and inevitable there — just as rivers naturally produce fish, ponds produce frogs, and forests produce birds."

Eight Practices for Becoming a Celestial Being

Xuefeng gave eight simple guidelines. Do these, and you'll begin to taste what being a celestial being feels like:

  1. Don't marry, don't acquire property — eat simple food, sleep peacefully
  2. Don't talk about nations or ideologies — work diligently each day
  3. Don't flatter, don't network — whoever you meet on the path is a kindred spirit
  4. Don't wear gold or chase fame — a simple hut and a quiet heart are enough
  5. Don't scheme for yourself or for others — don't seek credit
  6. Don't talk about self or others — don't judge right and wrong
  7. Don't borrow or accumulate — two sleeves of clear wind, like grass in the field
  8. Don't follow crowds — climb steadily toward the celestial realm

"Do these eight things and you'll taste what it is to be a celestial being."

Traps on the Path

Xuefeng catalogued the traps that catch people on the way to becoming a celestial being:

  • Human sentiment — the stronger your sentimental attachments, the further you are from celestial feeling
  • One-on-one romantic attachment — "If you haven't passed through the gate of romantic attachment, becoming a celestial being is hopeless"
  • Rational thinking — "When a person is very rational, they can never become a celestial being" — celestial beings move by spiritual sense, not logical calculation
  • Following human teachers — following any earthly "master" inevitably leads into a trap
  • Clinging to life — "One who clings to life cannot become a celestial being" — clinging to life is a sign of unawareness, of not yet understanding what life actually is

Visit all versions of this entry: http://wiki.lifecosmos.org/en/becoming-celestial/