Sensory · Rational · Intellectual · Spiritual｜Internal Reference¶
This version presents the complete source passages for deep study. Original Chinese texts are rendered in faithful translation; all attribution follows the source documents.
I. Definition and Essence — Xìng (性) Is the Governing Principle of the Universe¶
Sensory, rational, intellectual, and spiritual awareness all share the common element xìng (性, nature/essence). Sensory awareness (gǎnxìng) means receptivity to xìng. Rational awareness (lǐxìng) means understanding and ordering xìng. Intellectual awareness (zhīxìng) means knowing and comprehending xìng. Spiritual awareness (língxìng) means relating to xìng with fluidity and spontaneity.
Xìng is the governing thread of the universe — grasp that thread and the mysteries of human life and the cosmos become self-evident.
What is the universe? The universe is xìng. The ten thousand things are xìng in bloom. Nothing can exist apart from xìng — mountains have their xìng, water has its xìng, fish, birds, beasts, humans, gods, demons, flowers, buddhas — who can exist without xìng?
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
II. Civilizational Framework — Four Ages of Humanity¶
A work titled The Mystery of LIFE: Extraterrestrial Civilization Contact describes an ancient continent called Lemuria, which floated in the Indian Ocean some 37,000 years ago, whose civilization was centered on sensory awareness. Around 10,000 years ago, the Atlantean civilization was centered on rational awareness. The following 10,000 years of human civilization have been centered on intellectual awareness.
And what comes next? Human civilization will evolve toward spiritual awareness — this is the defining hallmark of the Lifechanyuan Era.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
After 2013, humanity will enter a new civilization — the Lifechanyuan Era, whose defining characteristic is spirituality (língxìng).
Spirituality is the nature of celestial beings (xiānxìng). Over the coming thousand years, all members of humanity will live as celestials do.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
III. Levels of LIFE — From Animals to Celestials¶
LIFE has sensory, intellectual, rational, and spiritual dimensions. Those predominantly sensory are mainly animals and plants. Those predominantly intellectual are mainly ordinary and common people. Those predominantly rational are mainly sages and scholars. Those predominantly spiritual are celestial beings.
(Guide's Other Writings · 2023 · Rational Thinking Is the Greatest Obstacle to Becoming Celestial)
Human beings fall into five categories: those governed by instinct are undifferentiated people (húnrén); those governed by interest are common people (súrén); those governed by emotion are feeling people (fánrén); those governed by rational thinking are wise people (xiánrén); those governed by spirituality are sages (shèngrén). The sage is the celestial.
(New Era Human 800 Concepts, 4th Edition · Concept 22)
IV. Rational vs. Spiritual — The Critical Transformation¶
The greatest obstacle between a human being and a celestial being is rationality. Say your heart wants to visit an old friend, but rational thinking stops you: "What if he doesn't want to see me?" "What if he's changed?" "What if he asks to borrow money?" "What if I disrupt his routine?" — and in the end, you decide not to go. Or your heart wants to emigrate to Iceland, but rationality intervenes: "What if it's too cold?" "What if I can't make a living?" — and again, you let the impulse pass.
(Guide's Other Writings · 2023 · Rational Thinking Is the Greatest Obstacle to Becoming Celestial)
The rational thinker excels at reasoning from experience and knowledge, examining every detail, tracing every cause, before acting. The celestial operates differently — acting from inner joy, in the simplest and most direct way, without calculating consequences, following only the deepest wish and impulse of the heart.
Romance and optimism are the basic characteristics of celestials. But for rational thinkers immersed in worldly life, these qualities are nearly inaccessible — their thinking is too meticulous, too grounded, too careful. They can project exactly how things will go wrong, so they are serious and exacting. To a rational thinker, someone who acts on inner impulse without deliberation looks foolish, even incomprehensible. This is why rational and spiritual thinkers find it so difficult to communicate or align.
The spiritual thinker's plans often look unrealistic — too little foresight, too few reservations. When I decided to buy land in a remote place to build a community, it was purely because my heart loved the idea. But to rational thinkers: "How will you eat without income?" "You sold your house — what if the whole thing fails?" "Nobody's out there — what will you live on?"
The entire American and Canadian system was built by rational thinkers — law, regulation, due process, everything accounted for. For humanity, this is a near-ideal arrangement. For celestials, it is a golden cage. Rational systems are complex, cumbersome, slow, inefficient — they cannot accommodate the free release of spiritual nature.
Is rational thinking better, or spiritual thinking?
Rational thinking builds systems that protect everyone at every level. But for the spiritual thinker, it is like Sun Wukong trapped inside the golden bell — nearly impossible to break through. This is why people shaped from childhood by rational environments face a greater challenge in becoming celestial.
Most Lifechanyuan members who have lived in the Second Home have deeply felt its beauty — because the Second Home is the product of spiritual thinking, not rational engineering. When I first asked everyone to give up all personal possessions, most people couldn't understand it. But once they experienced it, they understood: only by completely letting go can a beautiful community emerge. To the rational mind, this sounds like lunacy. That is precisely the point — the rational mind cannot access the spiritual thinker's scope and horizon.
No matter how rational thinking perfects itself — how logical, how analytical, how thorough — if a rational thinker does not transform into a spiritual thinker, they can never attain the celestial's perspective, never scale the peaks of the celestial realm, never arrive there. Every Lifechanyuan member with a strong rational mind needs to recognize this, and take it as their elevating challenge.
(Guide's Other Writings · 2023 · Rational Thinking Is the Greatest Obstacle to Becoming Celestial)
V. The Spiritual Civilization — Living Out Original Nature¶
The Second Home proves the point: no conflict, no争 contention, no intrigue, no sorrow or anxiety — people do not lock their doors, do not guard their belongings, and they live in joy, freedom, and happiness, like celestials. Why? Because this community has passed through the sensory, rational, and intellectual stages, and entered the age of spirituality.
The defining characteristic of the spiritual civilization is living out the original nature of the Tathāgata (rúlái běnxìng), living completely according to the will of the Creator, letting one's zìxìng (self-nature) bloom freely and without constraint. The Sixth Patriarch Huineng gave the classic expression: "All phenomena are inseparable from self-nature." "How unexpected — self-nature is originally pure. How unexpected — self-nature neither arises nor ceases. How unexpected — self-nature is originally complete in itself."
People live in xìng, not in "morality," "ethics," "ideology," "truth," "doctrine," "nation," "religion," "party," "family," or "organization." They no longer pursue, acquire, possess, or control anything — they bloom, like flowers, freely and in their own season.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
VI. The Cost of Ignoring Xìng¶
Those who cannot feel xìng are in a fog. Those who cannot understand or order xìng are in ignorance. Those who do not know xìng are in blindness. Those who cannot relate to xìng with fluidity are in a state of barbarism.
All is xìng. The entire universe is the dance of xìng. Trying to transcend xìng is as absurd as grabbing one's own hair and trying to lift oneself off the ground.
Cultivation that does not face xìng, that does not refine xìng, is scratching the foot through the boot — beside the point, upside-down, unreal. Such cultivation cannot bring the joy, freedom, and happiness of LIFE, and will never lead to the Celestial Paradise.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
VII. The Path of Cultivation — Refining Xìng, Ài, and Dào¶
What I guide Lifechanyuan members to cultivate is xìng (nature), ài (love), and dào (the Way).
Why these three? Because the three elements constituting the universe are consciousness, structure, and energy. Dào is the characteristic of consciousness; xìng is the characteristic of structure; ài is the characteristic of energy. So we cultivate xìng, ài, and dào.
How does one cultivate xìng? It is subtle and difficult to put into words. The best method is to follow my guide's route — I am the guide of humanity's spirit and soul. Walk with me, and your deepest wish will be fulfilled. This is already demonstrated by those Lifechanyuan members living full-time in the Second Home.
Live truthfully. Face reality and yourself directly. Move with your nature (suí xìng ér dòng). Abandon pretense and performance. Otherwise, you will not enter the new human civilization — the Lifechanyuan Era of spiritual living.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
VIII. The Connection with Buddhism — Buddha-Nature Is Xìng¶
The core of Buddhism is xìng. The one person who could truly transmit the Buddha's wisdom was Kāśyapa — "The Buddha held up a flower; Kāśyapa smiled" — others did not understand. Kāśyapa is the founding patriarch of Chan (Zen); the central figure of Chan is Bodhidharma, the last Indian patriarch and the first Chinese patriarch.
The Bloodstream Treatise of Patriarch Bodhidharma states with absolute clarity: "Buddha is xìng, and xìng is Buddha." Therefore, cultivating Buddhahood is cultivating xìng, and cultivating xìng is cultivating Buddhahood. To see xìng is to become Buddha.
(Lifechanyuan Corpus · Transmission Chapter · Sensory Rational Intellectual Spiritual)
Related Entries¶
Self-Nature · Buddha-Nature · Original Nature · Spiritual Thinking · Eight Thinking Ladders · Illuminate the Mind, See True Nature · Becoming Celestial · Becoming Buddha · Natural · Inborn · Habitual Nature · Spiritual Life · The Lifechanyuan Era