Introduction

Sifu: From my studies and even before I began to study, I understood two things that match each other perfectly.

The first thing I learned comes from Buddhism: life is perfect. Before I learned this, back when I was born, I carried a deep awareness by heart, a feeling of life: life is perfect. But why did my heart feel that life is perfect? Why does Buddhism teach that life is perfect? I’ll explain to you.

It’s not just perfect for me; it’s perfect for every life. If you don’t have the ability to see it, then it doesn’t seem perfect. If you are awakened, if your awareness ability has reached to a high level and can see every angle, you will see that life is perfect. I’ll explain that to you, too.

Why is life perfect?

Red Bull: Life is perfect because life has suffering and we learn to be perfect from that suffering.

Sean Rat: Without suffering, people would never want to develop themselves. It’s only when suffering gets too great that they will change.

JC: Because life is fair: it’s based on cause and effect.

Michelle: Life is perfect because it has unlimited potential.

Sifu: All life has unlimited potential to develop and become perfect.

Simon: Life is a perfect test or perfect freedom. It’s a perfect test because whatever suffering appears perfectly matches your ability. It’s perfect freedom because once you develop the wisdom to pass the test, then you’re free to enjoy that wisdom.

Sifu: Life will not reach the point where it says “I am free to enjoy” because that’s ego. Your answer is generally correct but not complete.

Life is perfect. If you can stay in that, then your mind will stay bright, your psychology will stay free, and you will stay happy. If you don’t have that awareness, then you will always be worried and stressed.

Sean Rat: Life is neither good nor bad, but it has the potential to be either if you make it that way through your own ability.

Sifu: Yes, that covers all.

Part One: Essence

The main reason life is perfect is that everything which is created has an essence.

There are millions of ocean waves – some big, some small – but the essence of all of them is water. All human beings are made from four elements (earth, water, fire, and wind), and consciousness, which controls them. The condition behind the essence is the same. Because they are all the same, life is already perfect from the beginning. It’s completely fair and perfect: equal essence. We all have unlimited capability and potential.

If the essence is the same, look at the unlimited universe that comes from this essence. Unlimited universe, unlimited potential, and unlimited possibility are all in you already. The essence is the same, so all the unlimited power is already in every life from its beginning, so life is perfect.

Part Two: Unlimited

Because we have this potential, from this unlimited power of the essence, so we can develop our ability to become unlimited, eternal and perfect. The essence is perfect, so the goal is perfect, too. The essence has this ability to be anything, so the goal is equally unlimited. From the perfect beginning comes the perfect end.

We have the chance to become perfect by learning our potential, by learning the essence of life, by learning the true force inside us, because that power itself is perfect.

When I first understood this idea I was amazed because it means that life should be full of joy. Perfect power gives you a great feeling every second. When I awakened and understood that power, it gave me a heart filled with excitement. I wanted to understand what that perfection is and how to enjoy life to the maximum. I even wanted to challenge my next life because it, too, will be perfect; it will be unlimited.

If I am already aware of the most that I can, then surely I can overcome another challenge. That brought me to understand the third aspect.

Part Three: Potential

Life has the potential to be more and more perfect.

If your heart doesn’t get lost in your stupidity, in your blind thinking, in any blind influence from outside, and instead concentrates to open your sensitivity with pure observation, you will find out all the answers, how to enjoy in a valuable, beautiful way that comes from the inside, not the outside. You will be the perfection.

If you try to search for perfection in the outside, you will fail because everything is fuelled by causation. No matter what happens in your life, underneath are a hundred different causes. If you want to find pleasure or happiness from outside, you will never find safety because there are too many causes, there is too much changing. You will always feel insecure. Blindly stupid people try to grab pleasure from outside and they never truly find it, just more worry and more stress.

An awakened conscious no longer does that; they don’t want to depend on anything that’s outside, only on their own pure heart. They make their heart stay sharp, pure, clear, wise, kind, loving, caring, smooth, and full of art harmony power to enjoy every present because they know life is only in the present.

If you can’t make it perfect in the present, the perfection won’t come in the future. So in every present, every choice is important. For that reason, they live perfectly in every present, so life always stays perfect.

Try to absorb this wisdom and understand that whatever makes you feel that life is not perfect is your own blindness, your greed towards outside. You haven’t developed your inside to see the value of life, which is to learn life and be the perfect life.

It’s not about your appearance – fake, superficial good looks – it’s about really feeling good. It’s having no tension, a good heart, being sharp and wise to observe all the angles, and having self-trust. It’s being sensitively aware of all the possibilities, giving you the self-assurance and all the freedom to go anywhere you want. That brings you freedom to enjoy life.

Every life has this power, but we get lost in outside influences, by our greedy, stupid choices and habits. We create a life that doesn’t feel perfect, but that’s not the reality. The reality is that life remains perfect. Potential is our essence and the goal is always perfect.

Making every present perfect depends on you: your heart has the power to make it perfect.

See also: The greatest news to all life: Life is perfect

This post is taken from a talk by Forever Wisdom Forest on 10 July 2011 at the Sydney dojo.