Practicing Cultivation After Retirement  

It is a great pity that some students who attended my lectures and have good inborn quality have stopped practicing because they are busy with work. If they were average, everyday people, I would say nothing more and leave them alone. But these people still have some promise. Human morality is declining a thousand miles a day, and everyday people are all drifting along with the current. The farther away from the Dao, the more difficult to return through cultivation. As a matter of fact, cultivation practice is about cultivating one’s heart and mind. The complex environment of the workplace, in particular, provides a good opportunity for you to improve your xinxing. Once retired, won’t you lose the best environment for practicing cultivation? What will you cultivate without any troubles? How can you improve yourself? One’s lifetime is limited. Oftentimes you plan things quite well, but do you know whether you will have sufficient time left for your cultivation? Cultivation practice is not child’s play. It is more serious than anything of everyday people—it isn’t something to take for granted. Once you miss the opportunity, when will you be able to get a human body again in the sixfold path of reincarnation? Opportunity knocks but once. Once the illusion that you cannot let go of disappears, you will realize what you have lost. 

Li Hongzhi

October 13, 1995