What Determines the Level of a Person's Existence?

In worldly existence, if one had to choose between high technology and high moral character, which would people select? Which determines a person's quality of survival? Alternatively, replace high technology with high education, high culture, and high quality, or with high authority, great wealth, and immense power. High quality does not solely refer to the enjoyment of the physical body and material comforts; it primarily denotes the enjoyment of the mind, as well as present and future karmic retribution. Within the cycle of the Six Realms, the quality of survival in the heavenly realm surpasses that of the human realm, and the human realm exceeds that of the Three Evil Realms. The quality of sages who transcend the Six Realms is superior to that of ordinary sentient beings.

I raise these questions because, both recently and in the past, I have observed elementary and middle school teachers exhibiting an extreme lack of professional ethics, and even university teachers lacking exemplary conduct. Furthermore, some undergraduates, graduate students, doctoral candidates, and international students display poor character, regardless of gender or age. Seeing such individuals, I recognize that the current educational environment is severely flawed. The goal of education is not virtue, but knowledge, diplomas, academic qualifications, and credentials, emphasizing externals over internals. With teachers like that, how can students be educated to excel in both character and learning? Learning may excel, but character cannot. Education increasingly neglects the quality of the mind; there is no education aimed at spiritual elevation. Even scholarship is often used as a facade to acquire worldly resources. Is education abroad any better? No, it too lacks spiritual education and neglects human morality and character.

Is the Buddhist community any better? Similarly, no. Both monastics and lay practitioners in Buddhism originate from the secular world and remain entangled within it. Old defilements cannot be eradicated, and new defilements cannot be avoided. Buddhist educators themselves struggle to resolve their own afflictions, especially lay practitioners, who are burdened by worldly mindsets and self-centered desires. How can they properly educate their followers? Proceeding this way, what hope remains for humanity? Data from various sources indicate that humanity is on a downward trajectory. Once it descends to a certain point, it will plummet, falling into the Three Evil Realms. Few will remain in the human realm; the population will dwindle.

Modern cultural knowledge fails to fill people with positive energy, elevate human thought and morality, or uplift the spirit. Similarly, the knowledge and theories within Buddhism have not enabled practitioners to enhance their personal cultivation and quality, with the exception of a few individuals of high caliber and awakening. Can those of low quality, lacking cultivation and virtue, possibly enjoy a good quality of survival? Whether good or not, observe the global environment in recent years: various disasters, frequent natural and man-made calamities, constant small-scale conflicts, and no guarantee against large-scale wars. Human hearts have grown more selfish and short-sighted, focused only on the immediate square inch, incapable of long-term planning, let alone considering matters beyond this life. Judging by the global situation and its trajectory, humanity's prospects are bleak.

Looking further ahead, from the perspective of the three periods of karmic cause and effect, what influences human destiny: cultural knowledge and theories, high technology, or humanity's own moral cultivation and practice? What determines karma? Is it determined by cultural knowledge, status, power, wealth, and other markers of human identity recognized by the secular masses, or by human thought, morality, and concrete actions of body, speech, and mind? If the former, then where are all the successful individuals throughout history, those of great renown and immense wealth? Search within the Six Realms—in which realm are they? How many obtained human rebirth? How many ascended to the heavens? How many ended up in the Three Evil Realms? Why did emperors and nobles of the past fall into the Three Evil Realms after death, while some peasants and ordinary people from the lower strata of society, as reported today, were directly reborn as humans? What determines such karmic outcomes?

I once told a disciple that for a child's education, a basic level of cultural knowledge suffices; there's no need to compete with others by spending exorbitantly on learning knowledge useless for the cycle of birth and death, or theories unrelated to one's character. Such things cannot determine the destination after death and may even increase karmic obstacles for rebirth. People should be more genuine. What is genuine? That which pertains to the great matter of birth and death is the most genuine. Everything else can be treated casually; it is unimportant. Prospects, wealth, status—none are necessary. Looking toward higher aspirations, one should harbor great ambitions, not drifting with the secular currents of the world. Only by transcending the mundane can one have a good future.

Starting from junior high school, I considered the practicality of my studies, always questioning the usefulness of each subject. If I deemed it useless, I merely went through the motions without serious effort, especially for liberal arts requiring memorization, which I generally neglected. In high school, my studies depended on the teacher's attitude. If the attitude was good, I studied diligently and meticulously; if poor, I merely coped. When happy, I achieved top grades; when displeased, I hovered around the upper-middle level, so teachers dared not criticize me. In university, I evaluated every subject individually and found ninety percent of the courses useless. Consequently, I studied extracurricular books. When disturbed, I went to the university library to read; finding nothing worthwhile there, I went to the city library. I visited the classroom daily to check the situation, left before class began, and returned to the classroom to read after classes ended. I crammed for exams at the last minute yet never failed or needed to retake any. Thus, I muddled through my student years.

Be genuine in your conduct. Genuine things transcend the mundane; vulgar things lack substance. The insubstantial cannot endure; one never knows when they will vanish without a trace, leaving no path to pursue.

The mind is the master of all things, not subject to the decay of the four seasons. In worldly dharmas, neglecting mental conduct yields no good retribution; this is even more true for supramundane dharmas. Studying Buddhism and practicing cultivation is about cultivating the mind. The goal is to transform mental conduct, for the mind is the objective of all cultivation. If one neglects mental conduct and nature, focusing solely on theoretical knowledge and techniques, it is like prioritizing the branch over the root. Many immerse themselves in reading, researching, pondering, and speculating, utterly disregarding the nature of the mind. They do not cultivate the Thirty-seven Aids to Enlightenment, practice the Six Perfections of a Bodhisattva, or generate the mind of enlightenment (bodhicitta). They seek only the result, ignorant of what the result entails, where it comes from, or what it represents. Heavy with utilitarian motives, seeking shortcuts, they ultimately take the longest detour. The mind is fundamental; the true shortcut is cultivating the mind. A good mind ensures all is well; a poor mind ensures nothing is well. Knowledge, theories, and various techniques, if unrelated to the mind, are merely techniques—they yield no fruit.

What is the fruit? In truth, there is no fruit. The so-called fruit is merely a term to express and describe the purity and integrity of the mind. If the mind is not pure and upright, the term "fruit" cannot be applied. The fruit represents the pure state of the mind. If the mind is impure, no technique can yield the fruit.

Several months ago, I intended to elaborate further on the Noble Eightfold Path, detailing what constitutes "rightness," the extent of rightness required in various aspects for the Eightfold Path to be fully cultivated, and the conditions necessary for realizing the fruit and eradicating the view of self. Until now, I have not found the time to discuss this. Few prioritize the cultivation of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, the Noble Eightfold Path, or the Thirty-seven Aids to Enlightenment—these are the practices that cultivate the mind and constitute the conditions for realizing the Path. People today are short-sighted, ignorant, and utilitarian, fixated solely on the result while ignoring the process and prerequisites. What fruit can this yield? Only the fruit of birth and death within samsara, the fruit of the Three Evil Realms—nothing else.

Most Buddhist practitioners cannot generate the mind of enlightenment (bodhicitta). They lack vows and the conduct driven by vows. They disregard Buddhist affairs and ignore the needs of sentient beings. Closing their eyes, they focus only on their own trivial matters, steeped in selfishness. They seek only to receive, not to give, let alone repay. Repaying the Four Great Debts of Gratitude—these matters are deemed irrelevant to them. The kindness others show them is taken for granted. "I can barely manage my own affairs; why should I care about your kindness?" they think, comfortably owing the Four Great Debts without remorse. They offer not a shred of repayment or contribution to the Triple Gem community, which has bestowed profound kindness upon them. While a drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring, they are unwilling to repay a gushing spring even with a drop. Such individuals, devoid of gratitude and righteousness, regardless of how much Dharma they study or knowledge they acquire, gain no tangible benefit whatsoever. They will die as they were destined to die and cycle through rebirths as they were destined to cycle.