From the conversations in REBIRTH
The appendices of REBIRTH preserve extended conversations between teacher and students. These six selections show their range: direct, practical, sometimes challenging, and always concerned with how understanding is lived.
Begin with the question closest to your life, then use the reflection beside it to notice how the answer might change attention, conduct, or choice.
Because all things in the world are impermanent and ever-changing, many things lie beyond your control. All you can do is accept them—and in that acceptance, worry fades away.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
The reply does not ask us to become passive. It separates sincere action from the attempt to control every result.
Influence is something cultivated through self-discipline. How is it cultivated? Simply put, before telling others what to do, you must first practice it yourself.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
Authority begins as a demand placed on oneself, not as a title placed above others.
There is no harm in recognizing your own progress; the problem arises when pride takes hold. The mind must remain unattached—not in the sense of being ignorant, but in knowing without clinging to gain.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
Progress can be seen clearly without turning it into a new identity to defend.
Having goals is important, but one should not constantly fixate on them with impatience. Simply put, concentrate on the task at hand and don’t concern yourself with what lies ahead.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
The conversation distinguishes direction from fixation: make the commitment, then return attention to the work in front of you.
Repentance is essential. Yet, after sincere repentance, our task is to diligently improve ourselves moving forward. The crucial point is not to become entangled in past mistakes.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
Responsibility and release are held together: acknowledge, repair, learn, and do not make remorse another form of self-absorption.
The principle of non-action means not approaching tasks with an attitude of attachment to gain or outcome.Zhen Yi · REBIRTH, Appendix II
Non-action is not inactivity. It points toward acting without allowing gain, loss, or self-interest to govern every choice.
Continue the conversation
Continue with discussions of desire, self-esteem, injustice, patience, meditation, wisdom, letting go, purity, life, and death—and see how each answer develops within the wider conversation.
Explore REBIRTH