Gratitude — Internal Version¶
This version compiles the original texts of Guide Xuefeng without alteration, organized by section with source annotations. Intended for Chanyuan Celestials and in-depth researchers.
Overview¶
Gratitude, within the Lifechanyuan system, is defined as "the foremost element for elevating the quality of LIFE" (Concept 109). It is the fundamental gateway through which the antimatter structure of life evolves toward perfection, a necessary quality for reaching the Kingdom of Heaven, and the core culture of the Second Home. Gratitude encompasses thankfulness toward the Greatest Creator, sages, parents, and all sentient beings, and stands alongside contentment and cherishing as the Three Codes of Happiness. Its opposite — "becoming accustomed to receiving grace while forgetting to be grateful" — is the most easily formed and most harmful of all bad habits.
I. Core Definition and Its Significance at the Level of LIFE¶
Gratitude is the foremost element for elevating the quality of LIFE.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 109; Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Keep a Heart of Gratitude — Second Home Cultural Development, Part II)
LIFE is a spiritually endowed antimatter structure. This structure can be malformed or it can be symmetrically perfect. The life structure of a person who holds no gratitude is malformed. The more perfectly symmetrical a life structure is, the higher the space in which that life exists. What does it mean to elevate LIFE? It means guiding one's own antimatter structure of LIFE toward supreme beauty. How? Through gratitude. Daily gratitude allows the antimatter structure of LIFE to evolve continuously toward perfection, ultimately achieving the quality of an immortal.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
Gratitude is the source of happiness and the foundation for living in harmony with the Greatest Creator, with nature, and with humanity at large.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Soul Section · Signs of a Pure and Beautiful Heart)
From this we derive the Three Codes of Happiness: Gratitude, Contentment, and Cherishing. Without any one of the three, a person cannot live a truly happy life. The key principles to remember in life are: contentment, gratitude, and cherishing — no matter what circumstances one finds oneself in, even in the midst of suffering, one must still hold contentment, gratitude, and cherishing. Gratitude is like pulling back from the edge of a cliff — it is the art of coming back to life from the brink of death.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Soul Section · The Code of Happiness; Xuefeng Corpus · Soul Section · The Key Principles of Being Human: Contentment, Gratitude, Cherishing)
II. The Hierarchy of Gratitude's Objects¶
Gratitude has levels. The original texts identify the objects of gratitude from the highest to the lowest:
First: Gratitude toward the Greatest Creator
The Greatest Creator has given us bright eyes, ears, and the capacity for romantic love between men and women. He designed and created the inexpensive yet precious air and water that allow us to survive and thrive, to be bathed in sunlight and nourished by rain. How could we not be grateful to the Greatest Creator? Among all the objects of gratitude, the one most easily overlooked is the Greatest Creator — people have grown accustomed to the warmth of sunlight, freely breathing air, the beauty of flowers, and the pleasure of sexual love, yet have completely forgotten that all of this is the Greatest Creator's gift, and in so doing have forgotten their greatest benefactor.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE; Xuefeng Corpus · Warning Section · The Worst Habit People Easily Form)
Second: Gratitude toward Sages
Thank Jesus Christ for redeeming our sins with his life. Thank Shakyamuni Buddha, Muhammad, and Laozi, whose wisdom dissolves inner sorrow and elevates human nature. Thank the sages and philosophers of every generation for their teachings and guidance.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
Third: Gratitude toward Parents
The grace of parents' nurturing cannot be carried away even by the mountains or moved even by time and space. It must never be forgotten. Once forgotten, one has already failed as a human being.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Soul Section · Forgetting Gratitude Will Lead You Astray; Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
Fourth: Gratitude toward All Sentient Beings
Thank children for the joy they bring to life. Thank friends and relatives for encouragement and comfort. Thank teachers for their diligent cultivation. Thank the righteous and heroic for their helping hand. Thank colleagues, classmates, and strangers for their sincere cooperation.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
Be grateful! Be grateful for everything the Greatest Creator has bestowed, for living in the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator, for everything the people of the home have done for you. With gratitude, the road ahead is smooth and filled with flowers and birdsong. Without gratitude, the road ahead will be shrouded in dark clouds, tangled with thorns, and full of twists and hardships.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Second Home Section · This Is How Citizens of the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator Should Be)
III. Forgetting Gratitude — The Worst Habit of Humankind¶
The habit most easily formed, most easily overlooked, and most harmful to one's life is: becoming accustomed to receiving grace while forgetting to be grateful.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 30; Xuefeng Corpus · Warning Section · The Worst Habit People Easily Form)
One enjoys the grace of others freely and extensively; then, the moment that grace is not delivered even once, one forgets all gratitude and instead blames and reproaches the very person who has long been giving — repaying kindness with resentment. This is the worst habit most easily formed. The closer, more important, and more selflessly devoted another person is, the more easily one turns to complaint and blame, and the more easily one forgets gratitude. Growing accustomed to receiving and forgetting grace — this is why those who are closest and most intimate are most easily the ones who cause heartache.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Warning Section · The Worst Habit People Easily Form)
Once the heart of gratitude is lost, grace is cut off, and one's life thereafter will not go smoothly. Forgetting gratitude, we grow increasingly isolated and the road narrows. Holding gratitude, neither the individual, nor the nation, nor the country will suffer — the road only widens.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Soul Section · Forgetting Gratitude Will Lead You Astray)
Without a heart of gratitude, desire will inflate, dissatisfaction will grow, complaints will fill one's days, laziness will set in, one will stir up trouble, one's words will wound others, and one will be unable to settle into doing one's own work well.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Keep a Heart of Gratitude — Second Home Cultural Development, Part II)
IV. The Practical Effects of Gratitude¶
Keeping a heart of constant gratitude — one's mind grows clear; one no longer demands excessively; one stops fixing one's eyes on others' shortcomings; one no longer attempts to control or possess others; one no longer gets angry, loses one's temper, or grumbles; the heart expands and the spirit brightens; selfless love and the spirit of giving flourish; one becomes understanding and is able to forgive and tolerate others' faults.
When gratitude fills the heart — only those whose hearts are filled with gratitude can experience true joy, can elevate the quality of their LIFE, can surmount the demonic obstacles of jealousy, greed, anger, rage, grievance, and complaint, and safely reach the ideal shore — and fully enjoy the joy, happiness, freedom, and bliss of the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator. Without gratitude, one will be perpetually on edge, seeing danger everywhere, encountering obstacles at every turn.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Second Home Section · This Is How Citizens of the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator Should Be; Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Keep a Heart of Gratitude — Second Home Cultural Development, Part II)
Gratitude reaches upward to heaven and earth and downward to human nature. With a heart of gratitude, one will surely receive the blessing of the Buddhas and the Greatest Creator, and will surely find a way through when encountering temporary adversity. With gratitude in every moment, in every matter, and in every place — the final destination is surely breakthrough.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Keep a Heart of Gratitude — Second Home Cultural Development, Part II)
Keeping a heart of gratitude is the secret to maximizing the absorption of food energy.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 258)
V. Gratitude and Reverence for the Greatest Creator¶
Reverence originates from gratitude, from humility, from love of life, and from heartfelt admiration for one's creator and steward.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 534; Xuefeng Corpus · Warning Section · Why One Must Both Revere and Fear the Greatest Creator)
Revering the Greatest Creator, revering LIFE, and revering nature is not prostrating oneself under some external will and losing one's dignity. It is using a heart of humble tenderness to be grateful to the Greatest Creator, to honor the divine, to cherish LIFE, to protect nature — while at the same time loving life, loving living, loving LIFE, and meeting everything on the journey of life with a positive and optimistic spirit.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Warning Section · Lifechanyuan Will Never Conduct Any Form of Religious Ritual)
Seeking joy, happiness, freedom, and bliss — fully enjoying the joy, happiness, freedom, and bliss on the journey of life — and from this coming to love living, love life, love LIFE, love nature, and hold a heart of gratitude: this is human morality, and also the main value and meaning of human life.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 28)
VI. Gratitude and the Path to the Kingdom of Heaven¶
To enter the Thousand-Year World of the Kingdom of Heaven, the first of eight conditions is: revere the Greatest Creator, firmly believe in the Greatest Creator, and always hold a heart of gratitude toward the Greatest Creator.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 492)
Those who do not understand gratitude will never have the opportunity to move to the higher spaces of LIFE. Daily gratitude allows one to be bathed in the light of the Greatest Creator; the antimatter structure of LIFE evolves continuously toward perfection, ultimately achieving the quality of an immortal.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
True happiness belongs to the grateful. True light belongs to the grateful. A beautiful future belongs to the grateful. Those who do not understand gratitude have no love in their hearts; those who do not understand gratitude never repent; those who do not understand gratitude lack humanity.
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Gratitude — The Foremost Element for Elevating LIFE)
VII. Gratitude in the Practice of the Second Home¶
Every Chanyuan Celestial keeping a heart of constant gratitude should become a defining cultural characteristic of the Second Home. To become a Chanyuan Celestial is to be grateful; to live in the Second Home is even more reason to be grateful — having escaped the ordinary worldly program, enjoying all the pleasures of life in the home, how could one not be grateful? Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation are all the home's responsibility; birth, old age, sickness, and death are cared for by the home; romantic and sexual love is open and free; there is a guide for navigation; one no longer anxiously worries about the future of one's LIFE — what more could one ask for?
Without a heart of gratitude, desire will inflate, causing others distress and pain, making it impossible to settle into doing one's own work well, and ultimately becoming a burden to the community. Only by holding gratitude at every moment can one find a way through in any temporary difficulty and ultimately achieve breakthrough.
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Keep a Heart of Gratitude — Second Home Cultural Development, Part II)
Related Entries¶
Awakening · Yuan (Karmic Affinity) · Formless Giving · Morality · Thousand-Year World · Second Home · Soul Garden · The Greatest Creator