Spiritual Cultivation and Movement
What do I mean by comparing body, mind and spirit with a computer?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
The comparison helps explain their cooperation. Body resembles hardware, spirituality software and intention the instructions given to a programme.
Equipment needs software to perform different tasks, and instructions bring corresponding responses. In people, body means the flesh born through parents. Mind means thoughts and thinking, not merely the heart organ. Spirit means the deeper self I describe as original spirit, primordial spirit or soul.
So cultivation cannot attend only to spirit. Physical condition affects thoughts and spirituality, which also influence one another. Care for all three instead of focusing on perceptions and ignoring the rest.
This is Sheng Zhen Men’s explanatory understanding. Others’ use of these words may differ. I have discussed mind and spirit influencing the body, and illness affecting will and emotion. No fixed order should be retained as the only sequence.
Adjustment need not start with the most abstract part. Examining thoughts or caring for the body can each be an entry. After understanding unhappiness, actually change ideas and actions. Explanation alone while life remains unchanged does not resolve the problem.