To practice asceticism is very wonder. That does not mean going to deep in the mountains to suffer.
Instead, that should mean having a passcode of life-being thereby making life practice become practical validation of oneself.
Moreover, you should perform simulations for self-training before getting into the mountains instead of practicing blindly. Practicing in blind is very risky.
Going into deep in the mountains to practice asceticism in isolation is for escaping from distractions and worries of the world.
Only through a nirvana-like attitude, you can bravely break through and perform experiments with yourself, and ensure not to affect others no matter what happens to you.
Before I started to practice asceticism, I made people no longer care about me through becoming a bhikkhu (a Buddhist monk).
That would make me be ignored, or even be given up on. At the beginning, it didn’t matter to people whether I still existed in the world. In the end, there was no one who ever knew me.
In addition, I lived in seclusion, in isolation, in deep of the mountains, and to practice asceticism. I performed simulations as that I had left the world and was irrelevant to anyone in the world.
Only in such a situation without worries, I could boldly start my tests and experiments within my practicing asceticism. Once something went wrong with me or I happened to pass away, no one would be aware of it.
After everything had been settled down, I was ready to prove that there’s nothing to be derived from the primitive “Ah” in its nature,
to prove that the nirvana is not due to practices or verifications for a status, to prove that the primitive “Ah” comprises everything, to prove what the primitive being is, and
to prove that there is neither derivation nor disappearance with the primitive “Ah”.
According to the passcode of life-being, there should be a king of great daemon before the phase of proof, and it’s unknown to what will happen. No matter what would come,
I boldly broke away from all constraints, such as control from consciousness, domination of power, vicious forces,
religious influences (disputes, restrictions, principles, supremacy, founders of religions, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, gods, and Lord), power of love and desire, and force of seed (Bija in Sanskrit).
I jumped out of my body for observing my body; I jumped out of my self-being for observing my self-being. I was facing to be a penniless pauper, to be suffering, to be painful,
to be ill, to be aging, to be dead, to all fear and anxiety, and so on. All of those are constraints.
When boldly breaking away from the constraints, I realized why a real life-being is suppressed and controlled by so many forces and power. That’s incredible.
How can sentient beings in the Saha world know their true selves? Thinking about that, it is very precious this time. The previous training, tempering, and all the tests were for this moment.
I was about to get into the phase to versus the king of great daemon which is mentioned through the passcode.
To versus the king of great daemon, there are two kinds of experiments for proving the scenario. One is what is generally described in scriptures and movies,
where there will be daemons attacking with extremely terrifying weapons, and there will be several extremely sexy and pretty beauties tempting you as well,
and finally there will be an attack with thousands of arrows piercing your heart. I also induced the consciousness of seed (a.k.a. Bija) through asceticism, isolation,
and simulation in virtuality, and then programed with the passcode to simulate the above-mentioned three phenomena close to the attack driven by the king of great daemon, and then got into the experimental test.
After several experiments and improvements, I achieved more realistic phenomena of attack and temptation, and simulated the fear of attack and the difficulty in controlling temptation as well.
When I got into practical testing, I tried many different methods to solve those problems and found that none of them relied on our conventional comprehension such as chanting Mantras, depending on Dharani,
power of keeping precepts, reciting the name of a Buddha, or driving special mental ability.
Later, through ways of "a nirvana-like attitude", "none of self-being", "awareness" (that could be due to performing a lot of experiments in my daily life for proofs, and unconsciously,
the originally complicated phenomena were instantly connected into a very pure and peaceful state, which was beyond expression), "none of resistance" and "none of protection", I succeeded.
Although I achieved, I didn’t know if it was the correct experience, because during the period from inducing the visualized symptom (Lakshana in Sanskrit) of seed to creating the programed scene,
it was all in my virtual experimentation.
Such proving process can only be taken as a reference. I just expressed my personal experience. If you want to do your practice, you should still follow up the methods delivered from the ancestors of your sect.
That will be better and safer. As for me, I prefer multiple kinds of simulations and self-experiments, and I think being closed in isolation will make me feel freer and be easier to break away from the constraints.
That conflicts with the conventional acknowledgement from general people, thus my expression can only be taken as a reference.
The other one is the king of great daemon described through the passcode. To versus this one, you have to break away from everything more boldly layer by layer,
and follow up the way disclosed by the passcode to break away from the constraints. When I completed to break away from everything for getting into the phase to versus the king of great daemon described through the passcode,
I found that there was no way to get in. I didn’t know what the root cause was. Did I not break away completely and boldly? Or had the king of great daemon mentioned in general movies already been simulated,
thus there was no need to get into this phase again?
No matter what the cause was, I still waited patiently and was ready to get into the system driven by the king of great daemon at any time. During this period of waiting,
I intuitively sensed that there were some differences in my life, in my perception, and in my dreams, but I couldn't figure it out logically. So, forgot it! I just kept waiting.
Suddenly one day, while I was meditating and awake, everything disappeared! I instantly got into darkness. I felt like a dot in the void. The sense of this dot was very clear, but everything else was pitch black.
There was nothing. I would like to think, but I felt it made me not easy to think. This dot didn’t move. I was at a loss for a flash moment, but I could feel something in deep. I didn’t know if it’s a seed or something.
It connected very quickly, but I didn’t know what it connected to. The only left feeling of life is like a dot in the void, without any appearance, without any thought, and without any movement.
This phenomenon lasted around three hours more. Suddenly, I felt a slight feeling of an immovable mind as its nature, which was gradually getting stronger. I felt like something is connecting in the deep,
and now it's all purified. Although it was still a dot in the dark void, all was in silence. Thereafter, even the feeling of that dot was gradually fading away. Fading from slight feeling to all darkness,
I was not frightened at all, and felt at ease. In a sudden, it turned into the phase to prove so-called “nothing derived from the primitive “Ah” in its nature”, and it's unable to be explained from now on.
According to the passcode of life-being, starting from boldly breaking away from the constraints, to facing the phenomenon caused by the king of great daemon,
thereafter to the phase of “nothing derived from the primitive Ah in its nature”, the phenomenon with the king of great daemon here is much different from the one that we usually know from scriptures or movies.
One is more like a dynamic one known as our conventional acknowledgement, that we should take nirvana-like attitude to counter it; the other one is more like a static one, recorded within the passcode,
that we should make use of the immovable mind in its nature to face such case.
Since it cannot be explained for the proof of “nothing derived from the primitive Ah in its nature”, some people may take it as an excuse to get into religions and then turn it into boasting,
mystification, mysticism, and ignorance. Once we mention it “unexplained” or “ineffable”, that would be described as the Tao, as if one can attain the Tao by directing everything into the wording related to “unexplained”.
In fact, it cannot be explained because it is being everywhere within the nature of a noumenon that it cannot be expressed through consciousness or human language,
just like the differences between the principles of classic physics and quantum physics.
Then someone may say that he has also realized the nature of a noumenon, but if he actually realizes the nature of a noumenon, he must prove himself that he realizes the “three proven promotions”.
The so-called “three proven promotions” means realizing the nature of each noumenon for the three kinds of being state (Trikaya in Sanskrit), three kinds of universe, and three kinds of hyper life.
The “three proven promotions” have already surpassed the present scientific domain by a lot, thus they may be mystified or metaphysicalized by religions.
Some people may say that he also has proved himself that he realizes the “three proven promotions” and he is the king of the universe, a god, or the Lord.
Therefore, if we would not like to let a proof to be shaped in a religion or to be metaphysicalized,
we should narrow down the scope of corresponding thesis to be proved so that people can validate what we would like to mean more clearly.
Since we have claimed the “three proven promotions”, we should implement the world's most cutting-edge science or technology on Earth and make it be exhibited in public.
To keep proving and validating the claims which we agree to, that’s the best spirit of science!
To me, as an Acharya, the happiest feeling in my life was going into the mountains to practice asceticism in isolation, boldly breaking away from the constraints,
constantly conducting practical experiments on life, and experiencing the incredibleness of life. Therefore, I as an Acharya, aroused my mind to benefit all living beings through
“sincerity, practical power, sacrifices, true love, and secret in silence”.
— Acharya Shi, Zhan-Ah 2023.10