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Elysian Bliss · Peak Experience (Internal Version)

Source Quotations

I. Peak Experience Text: The Eighteen Characteristics

Source: Xuefeng, "The Peak Experience and Elysian Bliss of Life" (September 30, 2011)

American psychologist Abraham Maslow, through extensive research across five continents, confirmed the highest experiential state that human life can reach — the Peak Experience. Xuefeng studied Maslow's Peak Experience and aligned it with Buddhism's "Pure Land" and Taoism's "union with the Tao," reaching this conclusion: Maslow's Peak Experience is the blissful realm of which Buddhism speaks — Lifechanyuan's Elysian Bliss.

Xuefeng summarized the characteristics of peak experience into 18 points: 1. Harmony and wholeness — feeling complete and unified 2. Self-dissolution — merging with heaven and earth as one 3. Everything flowing — being at one's absolute best 4. Effortless mastery — moving with ease and grace 5. Boundless confidence — nothing feels impossible 6. Free of pain — seeing everything through optimistic eyes 7. Innocent simplicity — pure as a child 8. Fluid and spontaneous — improvising with natural ease 9. Uniquely oneself — free, uninhibited expression 10. Fully present — absorbed entirely in the now 11. Transcendence — spirit rising above the mundane 12. Vitality — full of life force and inner completeness 13. Poetic rapture — mysterious, ecstatic delight 14. Complete release — unburdened and liberated 15. Clear and transparent — free from enemies, free from hatred 16. Serene detachment — extreme inner peace 17. Enchanted wonder — inexplicably beautiful 18. Joyful gratitude — overwhelmed with thankfulness to the divine

II. The Wonder of Zero: The Essential Mechanism

Source: Xuefeng, "The Wonder of Zero — No-Form Thinking (Part IV)" (July 28, 2008)

What is the Pure Land? It is the Zero-State world. The Pure Land is the Zero-State of consciousness. What is Nirvana? It is the Zero-State. What is the ultimate purpose of meditation? To enter the Zero-State.

There are three pathways to temporarily enter the Zero-State: one is to stand within vast nature, with mind undistracted, concentrated and present, ego dissolved; second, when a man and woman engage in perfect lovemaking and reach the state of climax, consciousness returns to zero; third is sitting meditation, contemplation — when deep meditation is reached, consciousness returns to zero.

To remain in the Zero-State permanently and forever is to remain in the formless state permanently and forever. No-Form Thinking is the only path to the eternal Zero-State. The Diamond Sutra is the finest scripture for cultivating No-Form Thinking.

III. Five Aggregates Are Empty: Nirvana Is the Zero-State

Source: Xuefeng, "Five Aggregates Are Empty, Return to the Zero-State" (January 7, 2014)

Nirvana is the Zero-State; the Zero-State is Elysian Bliss.

I come from emptiness, and to emptiness I return. The five aggregates are all empty — Elysian Bliss — no clinging, nothing to hold.

Constantly returning to the Zero-State — this is the eternal way to reach Elysian Bliss.

IV. Self-Assessment of Cultivation Achievements

Source: Xuefeng, "Self-Assessment of Cultivation Achievements"

Cultivation results qualifying one to enter the Elysium World (excerpt): ... Frequently experiencing Elysian Bliss. ...

V. The Eight Mysteries of Life: Spiritual Clarity and Elysian Bliss

Source: Xuefeng, "The Eight Mysteries of Human Life"

Among the eight mysteries of human life: ... spiritual clarity (空灵秀) ...

Spiritual clarity — a state of unconscious awareness, union with the Tao, heaven and humanity in resonance — this is spiritual clarity; Elysian Bliss dwells within it.

VI. The Complete Definition of Self-Coherence

Source: Xuefeng, "The Peak Experience and Elysian Bliss of Life" (September 30, 2011)

Self-Coherence (自洽) means a life possesses complete yin-yang wholeness within itself — achieving inner harmony and balance without needing to draw on external sources — like the Taiji symbol where yin and yang are perfectly merged.

Four conditions for Self-Coherence: first, no weeds in the Soul Garden; second, repay the karmic debts of lifetimes, achieving freedom from all attachment and hindrance; third, accumulate sufficient heavenly merit; fourth, consciousness enters the perfect celestial-Buddha state, undergo bone-deep transformation, truly embody celestial consciousness.

The construction of the Second Home is designed precisely to accomplish these four tasks — paving the road toward eternal Elysian Bliss.

VII. Sexuality and Elysian Bliss — Complete Exposition

Source: Xuefeng, "Climb Boldly Toward Elysian Bliss" (June 27, 2016)

The great Eastern Han historian and literary scholar Ban Gu wrote in the Book of Han, Treatise on Arts and Literature: "The arts of the bedchamber are the ultimate expression of emotion and nature, the frontier of the Supreme Tao." This means that lovemaking between man and woman is the most ultimate expression of feeling and natural disposition — the most Tao-aligned form of joy. "Supreme Tao" means it reaches the highest realm of the Tao — the state of entering the Tao, attaining the Tao, merging with the Tao.

The Buddha Shakyamuni taught for forty-nine years; the highest aim of the Dharma is to guide sentient beings to "leave suffering and attain joy." Lovemaking that reaches Elysian Bliss is the ultimate of joy — therefore, in a human lifetime, one cannot fail to seriously study and experience lovemaking.

Patriarch Bodhidharma in the Bloodstream Sermon (血脉论) explicitly expounds: "Nature is Buddha; Buddha is nature (性即佛，佛即性)." Nature (性) refers to natural disposition — which naturally includes the sexual union of two people. Thus within sexual union the light of the Buddha shines forth; or in other words, when two people reach the climax of Elysian Bliss, they have in fact entered the state of Buddha — the Buddha-state.

What does it feel like to enter Elysian Bliss? People describe it thus: "I felt as though I had arrived in heaven." "I felt extreme excitement, rapid breathing, and my head became light and floating — as if in a dream world, sounds blurred and distant, time seeming to stop." "It felt like an awakening and the beginning of life." "In some way, the awakening of desire gave me the opportunity to transcend myself, to wake from the fog of ordinary daily existence." "It was as if I had left my body, left my mind — and wasn't truly concerned with anything that seemed important to my ordinary self." "Life coming to a standstill, like a moment of eternity, through the intense merging of drinking deeply and tasting the sweetness of the body." "A strange feeling — another dimension of my own existence drifting free and dissolving from the very support of my life." "Nearly the whole time, all kinds of burning, wondrous sensations radiated inside my thighs, as if everything around me had stopped existing, and I was wholly immersed in this beautiful feeling — to this day I have found nothing more beautiful in life."

What state is being described here? The state of Buddha and celestial beings, of course!

American psychologist Maslow held that the highest pinnacle of human life is attaining "Peak Experience" — what Peak Experience amounts to is entering Elysian Bliss. Austrian psychiatrist and founder of psychoanalysis Freud considered the sexual drive to be the primary force in personality development — sexuality is the most powerful driver of human development — which is why ancient China produced works like The Arts of the Bedchamber and Spring Palace Paintings, detailing how to attain Elysian Bliss.

The most effective gateway to Elysian Bliss is sexuality — sex is the most effective key for opening the program-door of Elysian Bliss. Unfortunately, the number of people in the human world who truly attain Elysian Bliss in a lifetime is vanishingly small, and those who understand its subtleties are rarer still. The causes are many; the primary obstacle comes from traditional morality and ethics and lifestyle — especially marriage and family; the secondary obstacle is improper method.

To attain Elysian Bliss, I propose the following Eight Methods for reference:

  1. Develop an extreme psychological love of sexuality — overcome all discriminatory psychological barriers, clear away all the energy-preachings, prohibitions, and obsolete customs that obstruct sexual joy.
  2. Once in the bedroom, do not play the gentleman or lady — be free, be sensual, be alluring, be playful, be sexy.
  3. Speak sweet words generously — a wooden person will never enter Elysian Bliss.
  4. The Soul Garden must be well cultivated — weeds such as jealousy, complaint, anger, and selfishness will all hinder attaining Elysian Bliss; inappropriate words, actions, expressions, and postures will all directly affect the outcome.
  5. Bathe before lovemaking — cleanse any unpleasant odors from the body; brushing teeth is also necessary. Be sure to bring yourself into the optimal psychological and physiological state.
  6. Both parties must cooperate closely — promptly inform the other of what state you are in and make your wishes known with sweet requests.
  7. As things unfold — the body's movements, the modulation of sound, the tongue's biting, licking, and sucking — let these proceed naturally; do not fake, do not forcibly suppress, but do prevent excessive behavior from hurting the other person.
  8. If you are not fully satisfied with the other person's appearance, scent, posture, or manner, simply close your eyes and imagine them as the prince or princess of your heart.

Go, everyone — climb boldly toward Elysian Bliss!

VIII. The Beauty of Elysian Bliss — Seeing One's Nature Through Sexual Beauty

Source: Xuefeng, "It Is My Heart's Wish That Chanyuan Female Celestials Experience Elysian Bliss" (October 17, 2025)

Elysian Bliss is the most ultimate beauty that LIFE can experience. No beauty of appearance, art, physical form, mountains and rivers, or color can compare with the felt beauty of Elysian Bliss. A person who goes through life without experiencing the beauty of Elysian Bliss has suffered the greatest regret and loss of a human lifetime.

A person who has never experienced the beauty of Elysian Bliss can never truly know the state and realm of celestial beings and Buddhas.

Without having experienced the beauty of Elysian Bliss, one cannot understand the scene of ethereal spiritual clarity (空灵秀美), cannot know what the Elysium World is, cannot achieve complete selflessness and ego-dissolution, and will find it difficult to ascend to the Elysium World's Celestial Islands Continent.

The beauty of Elysian Bliss is not sensory beauty — it is the beauty of LIFE itself, namely the beauty of xìng (性/nature-sexuality). That ultimate sense of beauty arises from xìng. "Illuminate the mind, see the nature (明心见性); see the nature, become Buddha (见性成佛)" — to experience and feel the beauty of xìng is to have truly "seen one's nature" in the deepest sense. Having seen one's nature, one is Buddha. I can say with certainty: when a person experiences Elysian Bliss, their LIFE state is the state of celestial beings and Buddhas.

Sexual climax (性高潮) is the prelude to Elysian Bliss, but climax is not Elysian Bliss. At climax, one's consciousness still senses one's own existence and the partner's existence. In Elysian Bliss, self and other have completely dissolved — there is only the infinite, ultimate, beautiful sensation pervading and flowing everywhere.

Practitioner Notes

  1. The permanent path to Elysian Bliss is closely linked to Diamond Sutra practice. A dedicated entry on the Diamond Sutra (《金刚经》) exists separately; practitioners are encouraged to cross-reference.

  2. Xuefeng's 18 characteristics depart somewhat from Maslow's original — Xuefeng reorganized and elevated them through a Chinese cultivation lens, emphasizing their significance for practice rather than presenting purely psychological description.

  3. The distinction between sexual climax and Elysian Bliss: Xuefeng is explicit that climax is only the "prelude" — not the destination. At climax, self-awareness remains; Elysian Bliss requires the complete dissolution of self.

Self-Coherence · Zero-State · No-Self, No-Form · Non-Form Thinking · Purifying the Mind · Soul Garden · Awakening · Super Celestial Beings of the Elysium World · Return to Zero