Life and Death — 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¶
In the Lifechanyuan system, "life and death" does not refer to the actual termination and origination of LIFE itself, but to the transformation of LIFE's carrier — the physical body. The essence of LIFE is a spiritually endowed antimatter structure that never perishes. What is called "death" is the spirit body departing from the physical carrier and transforming into another dimensional space. "Life and death" is one of the universe's great dialectics — life and death are mutually rooted; where there is birth, there must be death; where there is death, there must be birth. True cultivation is awakening to life and death and liberating oneself from the cycle of life and death, so that after the physical body dies, the spirit body enters a higher space.
I. The Nature of Life and Death: Appearance, Not Substance¶
"LIFE itself has no problem of life and death — only a problem of transformation. What is called 'life and death' is an illusion; it is merely the survival and demise of LIFE's carrier being mistaken for the survival and demise of LIFE itself."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · LIFE Section · New Concepts of Life and Death)
"LIFE has no death. The life and death seen by the world is an illusion — it is the evolution and expression of LIFE's carrier. LIFE has nothing to do with time."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Preaching Section · How to Liberate Oneself from the Cycle of Life and Death)
"Life and death are appearance, not substance; life and death are form, not root. 'The grass on the plain withers and flourishes year by year; wildfire cannot burn it away, for spring winds bring it back to life.' The boat reaches the opposite shore; one abandons the boat and goes ashore."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 474; Chanyuan Corpus · Wisdom Section · The Eight Great Awakenings from Human to Immortal)
"A person is composed of a material physical body and a spiritual spirit body of LIFE. The physical body is only LIFE's carrier. When the physical body disappears, LIFE still exists."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 358)
"A living being is composed of two parts: the physical body and the spirit body. The physical body of LIFE dies; the spirit body is immortal."
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Second Home Section · 80 New Concepts of Lifechanyuan)
II. Life and Death Are Mutually Rooted: The Great Dialectic of the Universe¶
"Life and death are mutually rooted. Where there is birth, there must be death; where there is death, there must be birth."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 307)
"Death is not LIFE's final destination."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 308)
Among the Eight Great Dialectics of the Universe, the fourth is: Life and death are mutually rooted; yin flourishes and yang declines.
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 439)
"The Möbius strip tells us that life and death are not opposites. Life is death; death is life. Within life there is death; within death there is life. Life and death depend upon each other; life and death accompany each other. The Huangdi Yinfu Jing says: 'The living are the root of the dead; the dead are the root of the living.'"
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Unconventional Thinking Section · Life and Death Are Appearance; LIFE Has No Life or Death)
"Dying continuously, and being reborn continuously — the meaning of LIFE lies within this."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 345)
The Life-and-Death Formation: Among the Thirty-Six Eight-Trigram Formations, the "Life-and-Death Formation" is one of them.
"Life ceaselessly renewing, cycling without end; former memories erased, appearing anew as a 'new self' in a specific region of time and space — tirelessly, with hope always present, all things flourishing, LIFE cycling without cease, the plot ever unfolding, the game never ceasing to play. This is the Life-and-Death Formation."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Thirty-Six Eight-Trigram Formations · The Life-and-Death Formation: No. 18 of the Thirty-Six)
III. The Principle of Transformation in Life and Death¶
"LIFE cycles through transformation. The death of LIFE that we commonly observe is not the death of LIFE itself, but a phenomenon of LIFE's transformation. LIFE moves from one dimension to another, from one world to another, passing through the 'gate of life and death.' LIFE enters another realm; from this realm's perspective, it has 'died,' while from that realm's perspective, it has been 'born.'"
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Preaching Section · How to Liberate Oneself from the Cycle of Life and Death)
"The physical body is a boat; LIFE is a person. When the physical body dies, it is as if the boat has reached the shore. The LIFE riding in the boat disembarks and begins a new leg of LIFE's journey."
(Source: Xuefeng Corpus · Prose Section · Eight Pieces of Advice for Atheists)
"The ultimate goal of human life is not to move toward death but to pass through to another world — just as the ultimate goal of a fetus is not to grow in the womb but to come into the human world. Human society is thus a great womb; a person must pass through what appears to be the 'death' channel in order to reach another world. Therefore death is not an ending but the beginning of another leg of LIFE's journey."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 662)
IV. Three New Conceptual Definitions of Life and Death¶
Xuefeng proposes new definitions that transcend the traditional understanding:
Death: A person in the human world transforms downward — transforming into the animal or plant realm, the underworld, the frozen layer, the fire-refining layer, and so on. This is what it means to say that person has "died."
Half-dead, half-alive: The person still reincarnates back into the human world, in a half-dead, half-alive state. Half of their LIFE is dead, half is alive.
Birth: A person in the human world evolves upward — evolving toward the Thousand-Year World, the Ten-Thousand-Year World, the Elysium World, and the Celestial Islands Continent of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is what it means to say that person has been "born."
"Whether one dies, remains half-dead and half-alive, or is truly born — each person chooses for themselves."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · LIFE Section · New Concepts of Life and Death)
V. Ignorance of Life and Death Is the Root of Human Tragedy¶
"As long as a person is not clear about the circumstances after their own death, whether they live nobly or humbly, they are in fact merely struggling on the verge of dying."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 55)
"If the problem of life and death is not resolved well, all other problems are illusory. Death can descend at any moment. Once death arrives, all regret is too late; nothing can be remedied; everything will return to emptiness, return to zero."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Divine Revelation Section · Reach the Standard Quickly and Retreat in Time)
"The tragedy of human life lies in 'ignorance' — in the inability to liberate oneself from the cycle of life and death."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Greatest Creator Section · Forty Proofs of the Existence of the Greatest Creator, No. 26 — Life and Death: A Phenomenon That Perplexes Ordinary People)
VI. What Happens After Death Is Determined by the Structure of LIFE¶
"The quality of LIFE lies in LIFE's structure. The more perfect the structure, the higher the quality, the better the space of existence, and the greater the degree of freedom."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 359)
"Whatever kind of life structure one has, one lives in the corresponding kind of space."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 468)
The standard for determining post-death destination (direction of reincarnation):
"Those of supreme love are elevated to become celestial immortals; those of supreme goodness are elevated to become Buddhas; those of supreme joy are elevated to become divine immortals; those of supreme health are elevated to become terrestrial immortals; those of supreme compassion are elevated to become human immortals; those of perfect loyalty transcend to the noble way; those who practice filial piety are reborn into the fortunate way; those who are fair return to the human way; those who accumulate virtue are reborn into the prosperous way; the muddled are redirected to the animal realm; the indifferent enter the plant realm; the malicious sink into the ghost way; the domineering descend into the frozen layer; the cruel descend into the fire-refining layer."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 364)
"If there are unfulfilled wishes, a person will reincarnate back to the human world."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 363)
VII. Awakening to Life and Death: The Second of the Eight Great Awakenings¶
To move from the human world to the Kingdom of Heaven requires the Eight Great Awakenings. The Second Great Awakening is awakening to life and death:
"Life and death are appearance, not substance; life and death are form, not root. … The boat reaches the opposite shore; one abandons the boat and goes ashore."
Awakening to life and death requires first awakening to LIFE (the First Great Awakening):
"LIFE is a spiritually endowed antimatter structure — ceaselessly living and breathing, cycling through transformation, never perishing."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 474; Chanyuan Corpus · Wisdom Section · The Eight Great Awakenings from Human to Immortal)
VIII. How to Liberate Oneself from the Cycle of Life and Death¶
"What obstructs our liberation from the cycle of life and death? Answer: greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt. Greed is selfishness and the desire to possess. Hatred is anger, resentment, grievance, and jealousy. Delusion is believing oneself to be correct, believing oneself to be right. Arrogance is haughtiness and self-conceit. Doubt is excessive suspicion, refusing to believe anything, refusing to face facts, hypocrisy and self-deception. Overcoming greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt enables one to understand the above principles and to liberate oneself from the cycle of life and death."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Preaching Section · How to Liberate Oneself from the Cycle of Life and Death)
"Die to yesterday's self; embrace today's self. Die to today's self; embrace tomorrow's self."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 394)
"Without killing off the human heart, one cannot attain the nature of an immortal. Without killing off the human world, one cannot enter the immortal realm."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 392)
"Three things that must be done on the path from human to immortal and buddha: repay debts and resolve worldly yuan; give and contribute, accumulate merit and virtue; perfect and beautify the antimatter structure of one's own LIFE."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 465)
IX. A Person Can Self-Control Their Own Death¶
"A person can control their own life and death. When necessary, one can use intention to complete the act of dying. But before dying, one must be clear about one's destination after death. When you have thoroughly understood the position in the Kingdom of Heaven you should reach, and have repaid all your debts in the human world — that is, after resolving all worldly bonds — you can decide for yourself at any time when to depart from the human world."
(Source: Chanyuan Corpus · Cultivation Section · Evidence of Self-Controlled Death)
X. The Best Destination — Death Is Not an End but an Elevation¶
"LIFE's best destination is to enter the Greatest Creator's back garden — to live in the Celestial Islands Continent."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 360)
"Having repaid all debts, having accumulated sufficient merit, having achieved excellent quality — in the next life one can proceed to heaven. … If you revere the Greatest Creator, revere LIFE, and walk the way of the Greatest Creator, and have acquired divine abilities, able to conjure into being a world you yearn for — beyond any doubt, the next life will be in the Elysium World of the Celestial Islands Continent."
(Source: New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition, Concept 496)
Related Entries¶
Life · Soul · Karma · Retribution · Reincarnation · Awakening · Antimatter Structure · Kingdom of Heaven · Celestial Islands Continent