Bone-Deep Transformation — Internal Version¶
This version collects the core source quotations from the Lifechanyuan corpus on "bone-deep transformation," organized by theme for deep study.
I. Critique of Erroneous Paths¶
"To cultivate from a human being into a celestial being or Buddha, there must be bone-deep transformation and remaking.
First, we must recognize at the level of thinking that our traditional consciousness has nothing to do with celestial beings and Buddhas — that is all human consciousness. Second, we must understand that even though history books and contemporary works contain spiritual wisdom on how to become a celestial being or Buddha, if that understanding, knowledge, and realization is not truly put into practice in the reality of daily life, it is all empty words, lip service — it has no connection whatsoever with becoming a celestial being or Buddha.
Past cultivators mostly worked on 'techniques, methods, and powers,' thinking that was cultivation. In fact, that is not cultivation — it is either physical fitness, or obtaining 'abilities' to win people's admiration, satisfy vanity, or obtain a better life.
Many cultivators are actually absorbing others' wisdom without applying it to the reality of their own lives. They only absorb; they do not release. What qualification and merit, then, to go to the celestial realm?
I don't know when it was handed down, but there is a teaching that if you recite Amitābha Buddha tens of thousands of times each day you can be welcomed into the Western Pure Land. Simply nonsense. If it were that easy to reach the Pure Land, then the so-called Pure Land must surely be the tier of birds and animals."
— Xuefeng, Try This Bone-Deep Transformation Cultivation (2011/3/31)
II. The Eight Practices of Bone-Deep Transformation (Complete Source Text)¶
"So how does one cultivate? Try this bone-deep transformation cultivation.
Donate all your possessions to wherever you consider valuable, and make yourself have nothing at all.
Allow the person of the opposite sex whom you love to make love with whomever they desire — and feel genuinely happy and joyful.
No matter how terrible your circumstances, never blame heaven, never blame earth, never blame society, never blame the government, never blame others.
Do not quarrel with others, do not fight with others, do not compare with others, do not argue with others, do not struggle with others, do not contend for or grab at things with others. No matter what circumstances or what people you encounter, only manifest truth, goodness, beauty, love, sincerity, and trustworthiness.
Do not seek a partner. Love all people under heaven. Love those who have hurt you. Love your enemies.
Never gossip about or spread others' private matters or disputes.
Thinking of all the many people under heaven who are still suffering and laboring, keep your own life simple — never extravagant or wasteful.
Regard yourself as the most lowly, most incapable, most useless thing in the world. Hold in the deepest appreciation and gratitude that you still have food to fill your stomach, a room to shelter in, a few garments to wear, people who can exchange words with you, eyes that can see, legs that can walk and run, a mouth to eat and speak, ears that can hear, and work to do.
If you can do these eight, you have achieved bone-deep transformation. But to truly become a celestial being or Buddha, in addition to striving to repay accumulated karmic debts from past lives and storing up treasure in the celestial realm, you must also use the consciousness of celestial beings and Buddhas to completely replace your original consciousness.
If you cannot do these things, no cultivation or practice whatsoever has any possibility of resulting in becoming a celestial being or Buddha."
— Xuefeng, Try This Bone-Deep Transformation Cultivation (2011/3/31)
III. Life's Leap — The Six-Word Maxim and Natural Analogies¶
"The ascent from human to celestial being is a leap of life — a change from one form into another. This requires bone-deep transformation.
What is bone-deep transformation? A butterfly comes from a caterpillar. The change from caterpillar to butterfly is bone-deep transformation — it is a leap of life.
…The caterpillar crawling on the ground undergoes bone-deep transformation and becomes a butterfly dancing among flowers. The dandelion undergoes bone-deep transformation and becomes the beloved, more valuable plantain. These phenomena reveal to us: humans can undergo bone-deep transformation and become celestial beings. Every life that undergoes bone-deep transformation is a life that has made a leap.
For a human being who wants to undergo bone-deep transformation and become a celestial being, only six words are needed: no selfishness, no self, no clinging.
Selfishness, self, clinging = the human state. No selfishness, no self, no clinging = the celestial state.
The moment a person reaches the life state of no selfishness, no self, no clinging — that is bone-deep transformation. That is the caterpillar becoming the butterfly. That is the dandelion becoming the plantain. And that person can proceed to the celestial realm and enjoy the life of a celestial being."
— Xuefeng, Life's Leap Requires Bone-Deep Transformation (2024-07-22)
IV. Let Your Cognitive Edifice Completely Collapse¶
"If you find that someone in this world has a depth of understanding that surpasses yours, let your cognitive edifice completely collapse — abandon all the understanding you believed to be correct, and go serve that person whose understanding surpasses yours. The process of serving others is the process of achieving yourself, of realizing your heart's aspirations.
Religious feeling and veneration inject powerful energy and vitality into oneself. When I was venerating Creator God, venerating Jesus, Shakyamuni, Laozi, and the Guanyin Bodhisattva, I received an entirely new self. From that point, my life entered a new channel. It could truly be called bone-deep transformation."
"The celestial realm is not without doors or paths — the problem is that you insist on being right, so you cannot see the path or find the door."
— Xuefeng, Let Your Cognitive Edifice Completely Collapse (2020-10-12)
V. The Lamb in the Womb — On the Timing of Bone-Deep Transformation¶
[Question] I am grateful for the Buddha's teaching, but after more than twenty years of cultivation I feel empty-handed. Compared with the prosperous people around me, I feel I have nothing to show for it. I lack confidence in continuing on this path.
[Xuefeng's response on behalf of the Buddha/Greatest Creator] I understand your feeling… Go learn from nature. Observe a fruit tree: from the spring budding and growth, to flowering, bearing fruit, and finally ripening — this requires a process. The truly mature period is very short, but the gestation period is very long. Your twenty-plus years belong to the gestation period — do you understand?
Now observe a ewe giving birth: before the lamb is born, it stays in the ewe's womb the entire time, growing, developing. As long as it has not yet been born, it stays in the same environment, unable to see the future, unable to see the world outside the womb. Once it is born, that is bone-deep transformation — that is achievement. The achievement period is short, but the gestation period is long. Your twenty-plus years of cultivation are like the little lamb developing in the womb. As long as it has not yet stepped out of the womb, confusion is very natural and perfectly understandable. But anxious impatience must not arise. Deeply believe: the day will come when you step out of the womb and enter the world of nature. Trust in the power of the process and the law.
— Xuefeng, The Buddha Shows the Way at a Crossroads (2018-11-10)
VI. Phoenix Nirvāṇa — Bone-Deep Transformation Through Extreme Crucible¶
"Nirvāṇa is not death — it is a qualitative leap and elevation of life: the transition from one life-form to another. In plain language: a pig or dog becoming a human; a human becoming a celestial angel or Buddha; a celestial angel or Buddha becoming a god.
Nirvāṇa is not easy. For nirvāṇa to occur, extreme factors must be present as catalyst. Sun Wukong's fiery golden eyes — able to see through fortune and misfortune, to distinguish true from false and righteous from demonic — were forged in Lord Laojun's Eight-Trigram Furnace by the 'Six-Ding Divine Fire.' The Six-Ding Divine Fire is the most potent fire of all. Without it, Sun Wukong would never have had fiery golden eyes.
In Western legend there is a divine bird called the Phoenix. Every 500 years, bearing all the sorrows, pains, grievances, and resentments accumulated in the human world, it throws itself into a roaring blaze and self-immolates — sacrificing its life and beauty to bring peace and happiness to the world. The result: having endured immense physical pain and fiery tempering, it is reborn with more vigorous life force and radiant beauty. This is what Chinese culture calls 'Phoenix Nirvāṇa.'
Those who fear death and cling to life cannot achieve nirvāṇa. Without the roaring fire that places life in mortal peril, nirvāṇa cannot occur."
— Xuefeng, Nirvāṇa in the Fire (2020-05-01)
VII. Take Off the Cassock — Crossing Six Great Walls¶
"We need to take off the cassock we are wearing — this cassock is our traditional way of thinking and way of living. We can no longer allow traditional human thinking patterns to constrain us…
We must now enter the state of advanced cultivation. Advanced cultivation is a bone-deep transformation of the self. To enter advanced cultivation, one basic requirement is to be in resonant frequency with Lifechanyuan's ideas. Without this, it will cause harm to yourself and harm to the construction of Lifechanyuan.
Advanced cultivation requires the unity of heart, spirit, and intention — without impurity. What is said with the mouth, thought in the heart, and done with the hands must all be highly consistent. We cannot say love with our mouths while doubting in our hearts and acting according to a different agenda."
— Xuefeng, Take Off the Cassock, Cross the Great Wall (2006-02-09)
Related Entries¶
Feathered Transformation · Transcending the Ordinary · No-Self, No-Form · Advanced Cultivation · Letting Go · Mind Without Abiding · Mind Without Hindrance · Becoming a Celestial Being · Awakening