Starting to practice when young or in middle age has a higher success rate?

Source: Author: Xiaofeng

<The Mahaparinirvana Sutra> says: “Those who eat meat and those who kill living beings fall together into the great hell. Those who eat meat does so by using money to kill living beings.”

<The Brahmajala Sutra> says: “Those who eat meat cut the seeds of great compassion and mercy in the Buddha nature of all beings, and all beings see them and abandon them.”

<The Avatamsaka Sutra> says: “Those who eat meat eat the flesh of their parents and relatives.”

<The Buddha’s Name Sutra> says: “The sin of eating meat is unforgivable.”

<The Ten Precepts Sutra> says: “Those who eat meat are often sick and should practice great compassion and abide by the non-killing vow.”

<The Lankavatara Sutra> says: “Meat is not good, meat is not pure. It produces all kinds of sins and destroys all kinds of merits.”

<The Surangama Sutra> says: “Those who eat meat will not achieve any merit they seek; those who eat meat are kept away by the heavens and feared by all living beings.”

Some people say that the ideal age for spiritual practice is when one is in their forties, when they have a material foundation, have experienced all the ups and downs of life, and have a stable character. Is that true?

You definitely should start practicing when you are young. I have heard more than one person say that they plan to find a mountain to live in seclusion and read some classical masterpieces to cultivate themselves after retirement. They hope to have some success in practice at that time.

I told him: “Don’t be silly, you have to cultivate while you are young.”

I said: “It’s too late, and human cognition is limited. If one relies on self-realization, there is a great limitation. Since ancient times, genuine practitioners have always needed a teacher to enlighten them. The true knowledge is always passed down orally.”

He said that made sense. The world is full of wonders, and if there are real knowledge in books, wouldn’t most people be able to become an immortal?

I went on to say: “If you wait until you are old and gray to look for a master, firstly it will not be easy to find a true master, and secondly who would like to take an old man as a disciple?”

What if one can’t let go of earthly life while in their youth and pursuing spiritual practice?

Who says that one must let go of earthly life in order to practice spirituality? Even during the era of the Investiture of the Gods, Li Jing, got married and had children, can still become an immortal.

In ancient times, many practitioners, who did not like earthly life, chose to live and practice in the mountain.

So at some point, many people began to believe that spiritual practice means letting go of family members. They also modeled after the ancient practitioners to find a secluded mountain to stay on, reciting sutras or meditating, thinking that was the way of practice.

Just like in recent years, Mount Zhongnan has become very popular. There are thousands of people who go there to practice and live in seclusion, thinking they can find the ultimate method of becoming an immortal.

Because there is a legend that someone had already succeeded there, everyone went there in admiration. However, they would not have thought that the energy of a mountain is limited. Someone has already become an immortal means the energy there has been used up and cannot support so many people to practice anymore. Although the people who come later had very sincere intentions, they are going in the wrong direction and are wasting their time.

The above is about advantages location.

Spiritual practice requires to hold all the aces: heavenly favor, earthly advantage, and harmonious people. All of the three are essential.

Heavenly favor means the favorable timing is even harder.

Nowadays, wealthy businessmen like Jack Ma have leisure time and money, are surrounded by various masters and experts who are always display their skills. However, they still cannot obtain any ultimate method of practice. The key is that the lack of heavenly favor.

With his intelligence and information channels of Jack Ma, he should know what he should do to take advantage of the timing. But he was obsessed with those unconventional methods and that doesn’t make any sense only a waste of time.

Don’t ask me how to be so sure. Let me put it this way: anyone who has already been famous is not following the right way.

As for ancient times, Emperor Qin Shi Huang was crazy enough to spend the entire country’s resources on this matter. With his wealth and power, what else couldn’t he get? But he still couldn’t get what he wanted because this guy was too arrogant.

Once a person becomes arrogant, god of heaven will ignore him. If you don’t even believe in God, then why do you throw yourself into spiritual practice?

Nowadays, there are various ways of practice, and everyone considers they are reasonable. Everyone says that they are on behalf of heaven, either with a lineage or from a famous and upright sect. However, the truth is chaos and confusion abound everywhere. But I won’t go into detail about it here.

That requires everyone to distinguish good or bad for themselves. But there is a kind of person who are well-suited for practice with the following characteristics:

1. They are born with a natural intuition that is different from ordinary people, and their sixth sense is strong. Sometimes their feelings are very accurate.

2. They have their own independent judgment and will not follow the others blindly.

3. They have an unconscious rejection of fake and disguised things in their hearts .  They have faith in many things but not obsessive.

4. They often prefer to be alone, even if they are just sitting quietly.

5. They always feel out of place in this world, as if they don’t belong here. They have a “home” in their hearts that they want to return to.

6. So far, their life has not been smooth, with some big or small ordeals and regrets.

7. The further they go, the more they find that the distance between their loved ones, relatives, and friends is getting farther and farther away emotionally. It is difficult to find a soulmate. Loneliness is the norm.

There are many more characters, but I don’t want to say them all. Everyone should cherish what they have. Those who came by this time did not come easily.

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