Intermediate Life Manual (Internal Reference)¶
Overview: The Intermediate Life Manual is the middle tier of Lifechanyuan's Life Manual system, compiled by Xuefeng in four volumes: (1) the wisdom of celestials and sages — entering the Tao; (2) the language of prophets — communing with divine spirits; (3) the wisdom of the Buddha — transcending space and time; (4) the wisdom of the divine — attaining eternal life in the higher LIFE planes. It draws from Taoist classics, biblical proverbs, the Diamond Sutra, and the words of Jesus, forming the core spiritual nourishment between the Elementary level (wisdom of sages and worthies — keeping safe) and the Advanced level (the Spirit of the Greatest Creator — the mysteries of the universe).
I. System Position¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · "The Life Manual")
"The Elementary Life Manual contains entirely the wisdom of sages and worthies; gaining this wisdom enables one to keep safe and at peace.
The Intermediate Life Manual Volume One contains the wisdom of celestials and sages; gaining this wisdom enables one to enter the Tao.
The Intermediate Life Manual Volume Two contains the language of prophets; understanding its meaning enables one to commune with divine spirits.
The Intermediate Life Manual Volume Three contains the wisdom of the Buddha; gaining this wisdom enables one to transcend space and time.
The Intermediate Life Manual Volume Four contains the wisdom of the divine; gaining this wisdom enables one to attain eternal life in the higher planes of LIFE.
The Advanced Life Manual addresses the Supreme of the universe — the Spirit of the Greatest Creator, the True Lord, and Buddha — and the way it governs the universe, so that all may come to understand the mysteries of the cosmos and the true meaning of human life."
II. Volume One — Wisdom of Celestials and Sages (Entering the Tao)¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · Intermediate Life Manual Vol. 1)
"Hold fast to the great Tao, and all under heaven will come to you."
"The great Tao has no form, yet it gives birth to heaven and earth; the great Tao has no feelings, yet it moves the sun and moon; the great Tao has no name, yet it nourishes all things."
"The Tao is always without action, yet nothing is left undone."
"The bright Tao seems dark; the advancing Tao seems to retreat; the level Tao seems uneven."
"When the superior person hears of the Tao, they practice it diligently. When the mediocre person hears of the Tao, they half believe it. When the inferior person hears of the Tao, they burst out laughing. If they did not laugh, it would not be the Tao."
"The great Tao is perfectly level, yet people prefer detours."
"The reason all beings fail to attain the true Tao is that they harbor delusive minds."
"Advance where there is Tao; quickly retreat where there is none."
"It is easy to know the Tao but hard to believe in it; easy to believe but hard to practice it; easy to practice but hard to attain it; easy to attain but hard to hold to it. If it were not hard, the streets would be full of immortals."
"The one who forgets self has entered the Tao."
"People live within the Tao; the Tao lives within people — as fish live in water and water lives in fish. When the Tao departs, the person dies; when the water dries, the fish perishes."
"Calamity and fortune have no gate; people summon them themselves. Good and evil follow one like a shadow."
"As mind inclines toward goodness, even before the good act is done, auspicious spirits attend; as mind inclines toward evil, even before the evil act is done, malevolent forces attend."
"The minor person sacrifices life for gain; the scholar for fame; the ordinary person for family; the sage for the world; the celestial for the Tao — and since the Tao is eternal, the celestial's life endures."
"Take the Greatest Creator as your foundation, the divine and the Buddha as your guides, and non-action as your constant mode. This is the way of the sage."
"A person without faith will harbor much deceit and greed."
"In pursuit of learning, something is gained each day; in pursuit of the Tao, something is surrendered each day. Surrendering and surrendering again, one arrives at non-action — and with non-action, nothing is left undone."
"Correct your mind, cultivate yourself, harmonize your family, govern your state, bring peace to all under heaven, enter the Great Void, advance into the realm of immortals."
"When human conduct is in accord with the human Tao, the celestial Tao is not far off."
"Those who cultivate the Tao are like those pushing a stone up a mountain — the higher the mountain, the harder the ascent."
"Practice the Tao by its methods, and the Tao is not difficult. Seek immortality through the Tao, and immortality is quite easy."
"The greatest sorrow is the death of the mind."
"The celestial way treasures LIFE, delivering countless beings. The celestial way prizes the real; the human way prizes display. Joyful are the celestials — the great void is their home."
"Nine difficulties of human life: constraint of clothing and food; entanglement of love and affection; being snared by profit and fame; calamities that arise without warning; restriction by a blind teacher; discrimination in discourse; laxity of will; passing of time in vain; disorder of the age."
"Ten demons of human life: the six thieves; wealth and status; passions and desires; love and attachment; hardship; cleverness; weapons of war; joy and pleasure; female beauty; goods and profit."
"Those who do not depart from the Source are called heavenly people. Those who do not depart from spirit are called divine people. Those who do not depart from truth are called true people. Those who take heaven as their foundation, virtue as their root, and the Tao as their gateway, who foresee the signs of change, are called sages."
"The great death! Immortals ascend from it; the noble return through it; the small are subdued by it."
"When desires no longer arise, true stillness is at hand. Responding normally to all things, maintaining one's natural being, responding and yet still — this is constant clarity and stillness. In such clarity, one gradually enters the true Tao; having entered the true Tao, this is called attaining the Tao. Although it is called attaining, in truth nothing is attained. In order to transform all beings, it is called attaining the Tao. Those who can realize this may transmit the way of the sage."
"Contemplating inward, the mind has no mind; observing outward, the form has no form; looking far, things have no things. Contemplating emptiness, emptiness is also empty; the emptiness of emptiness has no ground; what is emptied is nothing; the nothing of nothing is also nothing. One who understands this principle may serve as a white hare."
III. The Four Grades of Celestials¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · Intermediate Life Manual Vol. 1 — Plain-Language Commentary Vol. 5)
"There are four grades of celestials: human celestials, earth celestials, divine celestials, and heavenly celestials. Below human celestials are ghost celestials, also called returning celestials.
Human celestials live in the Thousand-Year World. They have physical bodies, but their consciousness differs from that of ordinary people: they understand the structure of the universe, the 36 dimensions of space, the origins of the universe, LIFE, and humanity, the mechanics of karma and transformation, and the laws of LIFE reincarnation. They are sages who have attained the Tao and who embody perfect humanity. They have no private property, participate in no form of opposition or competition, and in all things follow the flow of circumstances, remain at ease wherever they are, act as occasion demands, and move in accord with their nature — living according to perfect human and spiritual nature. About one in ten thousand people in human society possesses the qualities of a human celestial; those who go one step further may join the ranks of human celestials.
Earth celestials live in the Ten-Thousand-Year World. They enjoy long life, require little food, have no illness or anxiety, can walk on water, pass through walls, fly along treetops, and travel ten thousand li in a day without tiring. Earth celestials occasionally appear among humans, but ordinary people cannot encounter or perceive them.
Divine celestials cannot yet embody themselves in countless forms, but possess spiritual powers and transformations — riding clouds, becoming invisible, changing form; they move freely between the realms of yin and yang, do not eat the food of the human world, can perceive past and future, and can travel in an instant at the hundredth power of a hundred thousand li. Divine celestials prefer not to dwell together; they have no permanent base. They 'act here, pause here, hasten here, wander here.' Except for the Pure Realm and the Celestial Realm, they leave no trace and can go anywhere — truly 'roaming the skies, coming and going alone.'
Heavenly celestials are unconstrained by time or space. They can sense the finest changes throughout the universe, perceive the consciousness of the Greatest Creator and the divine spirits, and respond swiftly according to that consciousness. Heavenly celestials can transform form into formlessness and formlessness into form; they possess infinite transformative powers and can embody themselves in countless forms, existing simultaneously in different LIFE spaces. The base of heavenly celestials is the Celestial Island Archipelago in the Elysium World.
Ghost celestials: their physical bodies have died, but their consciousness remains in the human world. They are typically formed from those who are exceptionally clever and in too great a hurry to succeed."
IV. Volume Two — Language of Prophets (Communing with Divine Spirits)¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · Intermediate Life Manual Vol. 2)
"In the vast blue sky, my heart is known; among the unseen divine spirits, my name is known; in the movements of sun and moon along the Tao, my conduct is known."
"The Greatest Creator is the source of wisdom; only by revering the Greatest Creator can one gain spiritual wisdom."
"The spirit of the Greatest Creator is the Tao; only by following the Tao can one taste the joy of life."
"The Greatest Creator is the source of LIFE; only by praising and glorifying the Greatest Creator can one escape the net of death and attain the eternity of LIFE."
"Before the destruction, the Greatest Creator will establish a LIFE sanctuary on earth, gathering those who understand and seek him — just as Noah's family was gathered into the ark."
"Guard your souls with diligence; with the soul, your LIFE connects to the living water of LIFE and will not meet death."
"Only those who see beyond the material world to the antimatter world possess spirituality; those without spirituality cannot find the Tao."
"Follow those of strong faith, spirituality, and wisdom in the Greatest Creator — for they are chosen by the Greatest Creator, and only they can lead you out of the valley of death and preserve your LIFE."
"You love the Greatest Creator, and the Greatest Creator will love you; you feel grateful to the Greatest Creator, and the Greatest Creator will bless you; you knock on the door of the Greatest Creator, and the Greatest Creator will open it. You blaspheme and defame the Greatest Creator, and the Greatest Creator will hold you accountable; you forsake the Greatest Creator, and you will descend to the ice hell and fire hell."
"Resonance of the same frequency; unlike natures do not gather. The divine is spirit — only your spirit can commune with divine spirits; without spirit, you will never see the divine."
"The Greatest Creator is loving, just, and forgiving; if you repent, the Greatest Creator will show you the great path of LIFE; if you pray sincerely to the Greatest Creator, the Greatest Creator will respond to you and bless you."
"The Greatest Creator saves the humble and forsakes the arrogant."
"To revere the Greatest Creator is to gain wisdom; to turn from evil is wisdom."
"In the end, place your hope in the Greatest Creator; hold fast to the Greatest Creator's hand — never place your final hope in any individual person."
"Having entered Lifechanyuan, guard your spirituality. Do not be frightened or anxious; do not let what you hear around you make you afraid. Whatever violence, turmoil, licentiousness, or natural disaster occurs — regard it as a gust of wind, a downpour, a drama. Do not let the storm disturb your mind; do not let the drama's plot direct your judgment; do not run in confusion from poverty, illness, hardship, or the scornful eyes of others. As long as you hold the Greatest Creator in your heart and keep to the great path of LIFE, you will surely be saved."
V. Volume Three — Wisdom of the Buddha (Transcending Space and Time)¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · Intermediate Life Manual Vol. 3)
"The Buddha Dharma is the highest limit that human wisdom can reach."
"Since robes appeared, the true Buddha Dharma has already been lost."
"The Buddha is not a person but a spirit living in the Elysium World."
"People can become Buddha, if they master the lost Buddha Dharma."
"The true Buddha Dharma is the Tao."
"All appearances are illusions. When one sees all appearances as non-appearances, one understands the Tao; knowing the Tao, one sees the Tathagata."
"Understanding the Buddha Dharma is to attain supreme, perfect, great wisdom of complete enlightenment."
"Coming without coming, going without going — when space and time are exhausted, the Buddha Dharma becomes clear."
"Give rise to the pure mind in just this way: do not give rise to a mind dwelling on form; do not give rise to a mind dwelling on sound, fragrance, taste, touch, or mental objects. Give rise to a mind that dwells nowhere."
"The Buddha Dharma belongs not to the material plane but to the antimatter plane. To seek the Buddha Dharma in the material world is like fishing for the moon's reflection in water; to pursue it from the spiritual level is to part the clouds and see the sun, like a fish finding water."
"All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows, like dew and like lightning — so should they be contemplated."
"The body is the bodhi tree; the mind is a bright mirror-stand — always wipe it diligently; let no dust alight. ——Shenxiu
The bodhi is fundamentally no tree; the bright mirror has no stand — fundamentally there is not a single thing; where can dust alight? ——The Sixth Patriarch Huineng
The mind holds the bodhi tree; the spirit is the bright mirror-stand — illusion gives birth to ten thousand things; illuminating one's nature transcends dust. ——Hundun Yuanchu"
"All Buddhist sutras derive from the Diamond Sutra; understanding the Diamond Sutra illuminates all Buddhist sutras."
"The great form has no shape; the highest method has no method — the more one explains, the more complex it becomes."
VI. Volume Four — Wisdom of the Divine (Eternal Life in the Higher Planes)¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Life Manual · Intermediate Life Manual Vol. 4)
"Jesus is a divine spirit created by the Greatest Creator. Jesus came to the human world to save people. The path Jesus pointed to leads toward the higher LIFE space."
"Satan is also a divine spirit created by the Greatest Creator. Satan came to the human world to harm people. The path Satan tempts people onto leads toward the lower LIFE space."
"The 'food' Jesus gives humanity is antimatter: spirituality, spirit, thought, faith, morality. The 'food' Satan gives humanity is material: money, status, fame and profit, group, nation."
"Jesus and Satan are the 'two polarities,' forming the unity of opposites of the LIFE universe. Without Jesus, there would be no Satan; without Satan, there would be no Jesus."
"LIFE has six higher spaces and six lower spaces — symmetrically arranged. The human world is the interface between the higher and lower LIFE spaces, a transit station between heaven and earth."
"The higher LIFE space is a world of truth, goodness, and beauty; the lower is a world of falsehood, evil, and ugliness; the human world is where they coexist."
"To leave the human world and go toward heaven, the best way is to walk the path that Jesus points out."
Jesus says:
"The Kingdom of Heaven is near; repent."
"Human beings cannot live by material nourishment alone — spiritual nourishment is more important."
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for spirituality, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them."
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see the Greatest Creator."
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of the Greatest Creator."
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth — store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moths nor rust destroy and thieves do not break in and steal. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
"You must pursue the perfection of humanity; otherwise it will be difficult to enter the higher LIFE space."
"Enter through the narrow gate; for wide and broad is the path that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; but narrow and confined is the gate and the path that leads to LIFE, and few find it."
"The one who endures to the end will be saved."
"Where two or three are gathered in my name, my spirit is present among them."
"I tell you truly, it is hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of the Greatest Creator."
VII. Reading and Application¶
(Chanyuan Corpus · Wisdom · "Always Do Simple Things")
"In leisure, listen to music to cultivate temperament; from time to time take a few lines from the classic maxims and taste the wisdom and integrity of the sages; or contemplate the spiritual realm of divine spirits, Buddhas, and celestials through the Intermediate Life Manual."