Standards of Perfect Human Nature (Friendly Version)¶
What does "being a good person" actually mean?¶
Most people would agree that being a good person matters. But when pressed on what exactly that means — a concrete checklist, not vague platitudes — answers tend to get fuzzy.
Guide Xuefeng of Lifechanyuan gave a remarkably specific answer: perfect human nature has eight standards. Meet all of them, and you become, in his words, the person with the greatest prospects in human society.
Not the wealthiest. Not the most powerful. Not the most famous.
The most promising — because perfect human nature is the sole passport to the Millennium Realm, the higher life realm that awaits those who truly perfect themselves.
The Eight Standards, One by One¶
1. Reverence for the Greatest Creator, respect for celestials and Buddhas, respect for all people¶
Reverence begins with recognizing your own limitations.
You cannot control lightning or tides. You cannot stop your own aging. The universe operates by laws far beyond human mastery. To be in awe of the intelligence behind that order — that's what reverence means.
Respect for all people means treating every life as fundamentally equal, regardless of social position, religion, health, or wealth. "All lives are equal" — not as a slogan, but as something you actually practice in how you speak, listen, and act.
Respect means accepting that other people can be different from you — different faith, different habits, different preferences — without needing to correct or judge them.
2. No sense of winning or losing, no fighting spirit¶
This may be the hardest standard — and the most important.
Shakyamuni Buddha taught: reaching the state of no-contention is the highest attainment a human being can achieve. Guide Xuefeng echoes this: "A person with no winning-or-losing mind and no fighting spirit is a living Bodhisattva."
Modern life is saturated with competition — for grades, salaries, status, attention. But ask yourself: what has all that fighting actually won? Everyone leaves life empty-handed in the end.
This standard doesn't mean passivity. It means doing your work well because it has intrinsic value — not because you're trying to beat someone. It means letting go of the scoreboard.
3. Love of nature¶
Nature is a gift, not a resource to exploit.
Every tree, every stream, every creature that shares this planet with us is part of a web we depend on. When we destroy that web in pursuit of "progress," we are, as Xuefeng put it, slowly digging our own graves.
Practical expressions: don't wear animal furs; don't eat wild animals; don't hunt; don't pollute. Protect nature, and nature protects you.
4. Modesty, trustworthiness, and honesty¶
Modesty isn't false humility. It's accurate self-assessment — knowing what you know, and knowing what you don't.
A truly modest person holds this view: "The universe is infinite and I know only a tiny corner of it."
Trustworthiness means you do what you say. Parents who raise their children with care are trustworthy. Employees who do their jobs well are trustworthy. You're trustworthy when people can rely on your word.
Honesty is even simpler: say what you actually mean. Don't play word games, don't hide behind polite evasions, don't perform what others want to hear while thinking something else.
5. Compassion and mercy¶
To look at human history — the wars, the famines, the diseases, the loneliness — and feel something... that's the beginning of compassion.
Compassion is not weakness. It's the bridge to what Xuefeng calls Buddha-nature. It makes you wiser and more perceptive.
One important nuance: don't impose compassion on people who haven't asked for it. For someone with strong self-respect, unsolicited pity can feel demeaning. Real compassion sometimes means sitting quietly beside someone without trying to fix anything.
6. Stay calm in good times and bad¶
Favorable circumstances: don't let success go to your head. Attribute your good fortune to something larger than yourself and stay grateful.
Adverse circumstances: don't blame others. Look inward. Ask what you may have done to bring this about, and what you can learn from it.
The goal: no resentment, no regret, no hatred. When those three are absent, the mind stays clear — and a clear mind can handle almost anything.
7. Follow natural laws — don't chase shortcuts or special powers¶
Xuefeng was clear on this: cultivation practice is not for acquiring supernatural abilities. Chasing powers diverts energy from what actually matters.
Do the basics. Sleep. Eat. Work. Rest. Love. Engage with life at a human scale. The deeper transformation — the genuine transcendence — grows naturally from that foundation.
"Attainment follows when the work is done." There are no shortcuts worth taking.
8. Love LIFE and love labor¶
Our physical body came from our parents. Our spiritual body came from the Greatest Creator. Loving LIFE means honoring both — taking care of the body as a gift from parents, and nurturing the spirit as a gift from the divine.
Labor is the most noble of human activities. Every contribution — trimming a hedge, preparing a meal, teaching a child, writing a sentence, building a house — is meaningful labor. Despising labor, or thinking some kinds of work are beneath you, is a sign of diminished human nature.
The recommendation: work eight hours a day. Not necessarily for money — but as a discipline for staying alive, healthy, and engaged with the world.
Putting It Together¶
These eight standards aren't a perfection test to pass or fail. They're a compass.
Where are you already strong? Where do you struggle? Which of these feels most foreign to how you actually live?
That gap — between where you are and where these standards point — is exactly where growth happens.
And according to Lifechanyuan, that growth is not just self-improvement. It's the work of becoming someone who can one day walk through the door of the Millennium Realm.
Quick Self-Check¶
| Standard | Honest reflection |
|---|---|
| Reverence and respect | |
| No competitive agenda | |
| Care for nature | |
| Modesty, honesty, trustworthiness | |
| Compassion for others | |
| Equanimity in all circumstances | |
| Living naturally, no shortcuts | |
| Love of LIFE and daily labor |