Why Does Self-Cultivation Nurture One's Nature?

Some people experience psychological barriers and afflictions, such as excessive suspicion, timidity, apprehension, anxiety, a hot temper, and so forth. These are all afflictions and psychological barriers. For some individuals, these issues stem purely from psychological factors, specifically karmic obstacles carried over from past lives. For others, they are directly related to physical health, arising from bodily causes, possibly due to conditions like spleen deficiency, heart deficiency, liver qi stagnation, gallbladder disease, and others.

People often speak of cultivating the mind and nurturing one's nature. A person's character, temperament, disposition, and so on are manifestations of their mental nature. Temperament refers to psychological emotions, some of which are linked to physical health. If there are problems with the internal organs, it can lead to issues with psychological emotions. To ordinary people, this appears to be a problem with cultivation. In reality, once physical constitution improves, psychological resilience follows suit, and cultivation naturally improves. It is the physical problem causing the psychological issue; this is temporary, not the fundamental problem. As long as a person has not attained the Fourth Dhyāna and transcended the realm of form aggregates (色阴区宇, rūpa-skandha realm), they will be subject to the influence and connection of the physical body composed of form aggregates, as well as environmental factors like surrounding magnetic fields. Once beyond the realm of form aggregates, no matter the state of the body, it will not affect the mind. One would remain unfazed even by knives or axes, with unchanged expression and steady heartbeat.

Therefore, there is another saying in the world: cultivate the body and nurture the nature. However, there are exceedingly many people with exceptionally good physical constitutions whose mental nature is poor. Such individuals genuinely have psychological problems; they are truly people with poor mental nature. On the other hand, those whose emotional issues are influenced by their bodies are not necessarily people with poor mental nature, nor are they necessarily lacking in cultivation. For example, consider someone originally of exceptionally gentle temperament. If they suddenly become physically disabled and cannot accept this harsh reality internally, their temperament may drastically change, becoming hot-tempered and irritable. Once the body is healed, they will likely return to being the gentle person they were before. Similarly, a person suffering from liver qi stagnation will also find their temperament and disposition affected. Someone with liver fire will experience irritability, intense anger, and a hot temper. Once the symptoms of liver qi stagnation disappear and the liver fire is extinguished, they will revert to their original gentle temperament.