Full Moon Message

Cherishing Vs Attachment

Jun 24, 2021

When we cherish something, we see it for what it is and recognize its value and importance, and we treat it as something that is precious and special. While it may sound like only when something is rare and unique that it deserves to be cherished, a healthy heart cherishes everything unconditionally. It is a natural manifestation of a healthy heart.

As we learn to cherish, we should be mindful that cherishing is distinctively different from growing attachment. We cherish people in our lives – family members, friends and all the people we encounter. Cherishing them means we make a connection with them and value them with our hearts. We don’t own them and shouldn’t project our own expectations onto them. We enjoy the good times with them but don’t lament when they are gone. We cherish life. All the wonderful things we have experienced in life are to be cherished but we shouldn’t become obsessed with or addicted to them and keep wanting more and more.

Cherishing makes life unified – it brings the heart, consciousness and Shen together. Cherishing also enables us to feel true gratitude. Attachment does the opposite – it spoils the unification as the false self (patterns) tries to get its way at the expense of the heart and Shen. When we are attached to something, be it a person, an experience, or a physical object, we develop fear of losing it. Life will be controlled by it and by this fear. This is one of the main sources of pain and suffering in life.

As we live our lives, we are constantly experiencing. What do we make of all the experiences we have in life? Our survival instinct will drive us to seek pleasant experiences and avoid unpleasant ones. We seek with great effort to repeat the pleasant experiences and we also find all kinds of ways to avoid and hide from the unpleasant ones. Either way attachments are developed. Cherishing means we value all experiences with our hearts. We face and see all experiences for what they are and learn and grow from them because that is the true and ultimate purpose of experiences.

Cherishing puts the heart to work and turns it into the primary player in everything we relate to, which is very helpful for building a heart-based way of living. It is therefore well worth the effort to cultivate the ability to cherish.

Yuan Tze


If you would like to learn more from Yuan Tze about this topic check out our Learn REN XUE website for the Replay of his Learn to Cherish and Find Gratitude online workshop that was six-part of the Living From the Heart workshop series run in 2021.

Read

Yuan Tze on Anger

Harmony is a state of peace and balance, a state free of conflict. Harmony nurtures growth. When harmony is present, no harm is done. I would like focus on one thing that often disrupts harmony – anger, in particular anger in reaction to injustice. When facing...

Yuan Tze’s New Year Message

Dear Ren Xue family, In this time of celebrating a new beginning, I would like to extend my best wishes to you. Every 365 days, we have this opportunity to start anew. How would you like to make a good start for your 2023? I have a few suggestions here. Firstly,...

What is Jingshen?

The common translation of the word Jingshen is spirit or spirituality. In Ren Xue it refers to the totality of the heart (Xin), consciousness, and True Self (Shen). These three components have close connection with one another and therefore can be seen as a unity....

What is Realization and Wisdom?

  Realization and wisdom are the natural abilities of the True Self. They constitute the core content and ultimate goal of Ren Xue life cultivation. From the perspective of Ren Xue Realization manifests as the growing ability to better understand, face, change,...

The Theory of Totality

The Theory of Totality is one of three theories that form the foundation of the Ren Xue and its two application systems – Yuan Gong and Yuan Ming. This theory has absorbed relevant teachings and wisdom from both traditional Chinese culture and modern science. It can...

Watch

Yuan Tze on Money

Take a little longer and watch as Yuan Tze helps us to see more of totality in terms of the role money plays in life.  This is an excerpt from Yuan Tze's 10-day Seeing Your Original Face 2 retreat that took place in France in May 2023, where he focused on two of the...

Who are we protecting? How to truly love and protect your (True)self

In this 28min video Yuan Tze applies how the pattern of Polarized Thinking (right/wrong, good/bad, black/white) can influence the setting of boundaries in life, and helps us to understand the best way to 'protect' ourselves. This is an excerpt from Yuan Tze’s 10-day...

The Pattern of Fixed Expectations

Watch this short video where Yuan Tze talks about the pattern of Fixed Expectations. This is an excerpt from Yuan Tze’s Transforming Patterns for Unconditional Gratitude workshop that took place in 2022, where he spoke about the barriers to experiencing unconditional...

The Importance of Working on Identity

Watch this short video where Yuan Tze helps us to experience what, when we're working on patterns, we should identify with and why it is so important to work on identity and identification when working on patterns.  Join Yuan Tze for his two-part workshop on Identity...

The Pattern of Avoiding & Hiding

Watch this short video where Yuan Tze talks about what's behind the pattern of Avoiding & Hiding. This is an excerpt from Yuan Tze’s Seeing Your Original Face 9-day retreat where he focused on two of the Ten Fundamental Patterns identified by Ren Xue: Avoiding...

Full Moon

Identification and the False Self

Identification and the False Self

We have built a very strong identity that has mistaken the false self for the True Self. This false identity serves as a foundation to support our unhealthy patterns. The patterns are like a house built upon this foundation. We create a reality based on living in this...

Identification and Identity

Identification and Identity

When we take something as true or real, and fully accept it and take it onboard, we have identified with it. This is an internalization process, making it part of our own lives or our own identities. For example, when we equate having big muscles with being healthy,...