Chapter Eight : Buddhahood 16 The Founding Master continued,
“Therefore, an ancient sage said, ‘Three days of practicing the mind becomes a treasure for a thousand years; an object coveted for a hundred years becomes dust in a single morning.’ Ordinary beings, however, do not understand this principle, so they treasure only their physical bodies and neglect to seek their minds even once. Those who cultivate the Way understand this principle, thus they forget their bodies in order to seek their minds. Therefore, you must not become attached to any existence, which is all too impermanent, but instead work hard to seek the eternal happiness of heaven. If one maintains the happiness of heaven for a long time, one will eventually attain freedom from body and mind and gain sovereignty over the triple worlds, so that one will transcend the being and nonbeing of myriad phenomena and the transmigration between the six destinies, will be able to freely tour the worlds of the ten directions as a numinous spirit without even receiving a physical body, and may freely enter and exit the world of birds, beasts, or insects, without any hindrance to one’s comings and goings, birth and death. No matter which world one enters and receives a physical body, one does not become contaminated by that condition, but enjoys happiness forever. This is the paradise of Ultimate Bliss. However, one fails to receive the happiness of heaven for long because one covets tangible happiness and returns to the material. Even if one is a person who has received the happiness of heaven, once he begins to covet only happiness without continuously performing deeds that are deserving of that happiness, then he will one day retrogress, losing the freedom of his body and mind and being dragged back into the turning wheel of great nature itself, so that he will be unable to avoid transmigrating between the six destinies.”
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