People pursue many things in life — a successful career, wealth, relationships, good health, or whatever they find meaningful in life. They work diligently to achieve their goals and fulfill their aspirations.
No doubt, goals keep us moving forward in life and make our lives more fulfilling.
Imagine someone who has spent 40 years building a successful life. They have a good career, a comfortable home, and people who love them.
Yet one quiet evening, they find themselves asking:
Is this the true purpose of life?
Nothing is necessarily wrong or missing. And yet, something feels incomplete.
Have we paused to ponder whether pursuing materialistic goals is all there is to life? Is there a deeper truth to our existence?
Material possessions give us happiness and a sense of satisfaction, but that happiness doesn’t last long.
How, then, do we achieve a state of true happiness and peace that lasts forever?
Lasting happiness comes from a state of selflessness and purity, a state that comes from inner cultivation — where one strives to give up attachments, various desires, false beliefs and notions, and emotions and feelings that keep us tied to humanness.
In other words, it is spiritual growth through cultivation of the mind and body, which means refining one’s character by letting go of negative traits such as jealousy, showing off, fears, incorrect notions, worries, overthinking, greed, pride, superiority, inferiority, and many more. Through cultivation, achieving a state of balance becomes possible.
When we achieve a state of balance:
We won’t feel down when we lose something because we are free of attachment.
We won’t feel hurt when someone insults or berates us. We truly look within for our own faults and if we find none, we let go and forgive.
We won’t resent anyone for the harm and hurt they’ve caused us.
We won’t feel depressed or overjoyed by life’s ups and downs.
We remain unmoved by losses and gains, and the uncertainties we face in life.
We achieve a state of selflessness and purity, free from selfishness and ego, and experience lasting peace and happiness.
The idea of self-cultivation is not new, it is ancient. Inner cultivation, in essence, means purifying the mind and body.
Most cultivation methods involved practicing a set of exercises, meditation or certain techniques and studying teachings.
Ancient ways of cultivation required practitioners to meditate or cultivate in remote areas, away from ordinary life. They would isolate themselves or stay with a master or guru who would guide them on the path to enlightenment. Many methods involved a process of eliminating karma, transforming energy within the body, and developing higher energy.
One may ask: How is this kind of cultivation possible in modern times? Is there a cultivation method that enables us to cultivate in ordinary society?
The cultivation practice of Falun Dafa makes this possible. This method does not require us to cultivate in solitude or away from society. With slow-moving exercises and meditation, it makes it easy to incorporate into daily life.
The main focus is to look inward and let go of various attachments, and rectify faulty beliefs, notions, emotions, and feelings. It is a constant process of improving one’s character by looking within amid life’s trials, hardships, and conflicts. By eliminating karma and transforming the body with higher energy, gradually, one can achieve a state of balance and lasting peace.
This cultivation way makes it possible to attain the state of enlightenment and continue cultivating to higher levels with a deeper understanding of the Universal Law or Dharma, transforming one’s human nature into divine nature.
Mr. Li Hongzhi, who is revered as the Master of Falun Dafa, has explained the Universal Law (Dharma or the Fa) in the book Zhuan Falun, which serves as a guide for one’s cultivation practice. Through cultivation, practitioners improve themselves and constantly elevate their levels by aligning their values with the core principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
It is a commonly held belief in some spiritual traditions that eliminating one’s karma and stepping out of the cycle of reincarnation are the main purposes of spiritual growth and human life. Achieving a state of transcendence, one is no longer subject to reincarnation.
According to this spiritual view, the human body is a vessel that the soul inhabits as it goes through life’s trials and tribulations. Human existence is essentially the soul’s journey through the cycle of reincarnation, with liberation from this cycle being the true purpose of human life.
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