Prelude: Our world has always harbored one colossal misconception — the belief, held firmly by many, that as people ascend through social tiers, those around them grow progressively more civilized and refined.
Master Chi finds it impossible to agree. Such a worldview is, in truth, no different from the fantasies of star-struck teenagers — a self-imposed blindness that locks you in a state of comfortable delusion.
For any person of substance who has carved their own path through this extraordinary land of ours, the truth is well understood: rising above the ordinary is itself a process of stripping away whatever softness and cowardice still lingers in human nature.
Ascending to the very highest echelons of power is the process of reloading Buddha-nature — the capacity for compassion and transcendence — back into the shell.
Lose your humanity, lose a great deal. Lose your beast-nature, lose everything.
This article, then, is Master Chi’s supplement to the earlier piece: The Marrow-Washing Classic of Tier Ascension: The Mediocre Must Break Through Three Heavens.
That earlier piece was written for this channel’s early readers — people whose social standing is already quite elevated, who spend their days operating as predators. For them, beast-nature is precisely what needs to be tempered and elevated by Buddha-nature.
But for you, still in the thick of your own ascent, Buddha-nature is a luxury item you cannot yet afford to nurture while waging war. It is a distraction you cannot carry.
What is it that you actually need? No rush. Let’s talk it through.
As this piece unfolds, you will gradually come to understand that during the process of ascension, the things “bookish idealists” condemn as the worst of human nature — desire, greed, cunning — are in fact profoundly meaningful.
Main Text:
This World Belongs to the Beast
Speaking of which, let me say a few words about the titan of capital who passed away just days ago. His hawk eyes and falcon-sharp face were unmistakably the features of one born to seize wealth and devour fortune (in Chinese physiognomy, a face reading indicating a predatory destiny).
And so it was. Assessments of his life are sharply divided between the world of high finance and the world beyond. One camp sees his story as a chronicle of our own capital transformation — he helped build the first generation of Chinese financial titans who broke onto the world stage, and he ushered in the first wave of global players who entered our markets.
Indeed, the foundation of half our financial world was laid, step by step, by trailblazers like him.
The other camp sees his existence as the lesson that truly taught our first generation of financial players what the “capital game” is really about.
What is the capital game, at its core? Predation and harvest. The big consuming the small. Pure, uncompromising force overcoming cleverness — winner takes all. As for the losers? Stripped to the bone.
This titan was clearly a figure of ruthless power — one around whom the rise and fall of countless powerful dynasties revolved.
Few people know how the infamous “Wangbei Tower” affair — a gathering that shook the elite world and preceded a wave of high-level downfalls — actually came together.
Today, Master Chi will put it this way: it began with a dinner party. That dinner was also the moment when the major players who collectively fell during the years of Dingyu (2017) and Wuxu (2018) appeared on the same stage together.
Strip away the outer layers of this group, and you find names worth hundreds of billions — or even trillions. This is why Master Chi has always said: our public “list of the fallen” is the visible surface. The real list, hidden from sight, is where the true dragons and phoenixes reside.
At that dinner, everyone had come in a spirit of reverence — paying homage to a higher power. That is simply how things work. Just as in the entertainment world, even the most powerful figure cannot circumvent the top patron, so too in the world of capital: no matter how large a player you are, you cannot stand firm against those with true institutional power.
And then, at the table, the host’s wife let slip a remark that sent cold sweat soaking through the clothes of several of these supremely powerful men. What did she say? She said, with casual lightness: “XXXX restructuring — something this good, and you didn’t even tell me. Really, young people have no sense of propriety.”
In certain circles, knowing your place matters far more than raw ability. If you don’t grasp that now, you will grasp it later.
Especially when your lack of propriety reaches the point where the host’s wife has to say it to your face — at that moment, prepare your essentials and run. Because when something can be said openly at the table, it is a crystal-clear declaration: I am coming for you. And I’m not afraid you know it. Go ahead and resist — you cannot escape.
Sure enough, these several men who “didn’t know their place” were collectively taught what it means to be human.
Their next gathering was at 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong.
Does it have to be this final? Would it not be better to leave a way out for people? No — leaving a way out is very, very bad.
In the animal kingdom, there is a fascinating phenomenon: the leader often takes pleasure in periodically humiliating someone far weaker than itself.
Not purely for sport — but to display its power through the act.
The same is true in the capital world, and in every other world. Often it is not that the top figures are looking for trouble. Rather, it is through repeated “reminders” that everyone is kept firmly in their place — that is the true intent.
You must understand: human beings are creatures prone to reckless confidence.
Those who stand close to power will always mistakenly believe they too hold power. Those who stand close to success will always mistakenly believe they too possess wealth. So the periodic act of making an example of someone — killing the chicken to warn the monkeys — is precisely how hidden threats are prevented from accumulating.
Do not be fooled by the fact that these figures are all prominent leaders in their own domains, submerged giants below the waterline, eagles soaring above the rest.
Even they cannot withstand an opponent who is a Kunpeng — a mythical creature of immeasurable scale, for whom a dragon is a snack and phoenix blood is a drink.
So what does it mean when we say “bearing flows from the heart” (相由心生)? “Bearing” here refers to one’s Chi field (气场) — a presence and authority that is invisible yet unmistakably felt.
When an aging man can send a roomful of billion-dollar names into cold sweats with a single icy glance — then you understand what those words truly mean.
Those who have witnessed it know: “bearing flows from the heart” is not about the physical face. It is about the aura.
Mysterious? Not at all. Do you remember the feeling of dread when a strict teacher punished you as a child?
You were young then. Adulthood has since given you a sense of fearlessness, and you have forgotten that oppressive weight.
But the day you are fortunate enough to stand near the apex food chain, you will know again what it feels like to be a lamb before a tiger: legs giving way by instinct.
Of course, with so many stories shared, it may seem as though these tales of power and intrigue are about to hijack today’s real theme. But Master Chi believes this backdrop is entirely necessary.
Without real, living examples drawn from beneath the surface, every argument lacks grounding in reality. That is precisely how hollow inspirational content is born.
Regrettably, many people will go their entire lives without truly seeing it.
What they fail to see is this: the pinnacle you admire and aspire to is composed of two inseparable halves — a polished, glittering surface, and a bloody, savage underside. Just as the entertainment world is a place where fans serve as cattle in the spotlight and artists as horses behind the curtain.
The beast-nature of that world has never diminished. It has only been concealed.
Always Confront Your Own Desires and Beast-Nature
Countless ordinary people today have been branded with a “thought-stamp” burned deep into the bone. This stamp keeps telling you: pursuing material things and luxury is wrong. You should embrace a simple, contented life. All that extravagance and refinement is just paying a fool’s tax.
Master Chi takes strong exception to this kind of “consensus.” Because you must understand a fundamental reality: desire, at its core, is simply the longing for a beautiful life.
Think about it — the reason we push ourselves so relentlessly in this world is, at the end of the day, to give ourselves and those we love a rich and abundant material existence. Isn’t everyone ultimately chasing their own version of that rice bowl?
Desire, in this sense, is the most powerful driving force within the human heart. Of course, you must learn to harness it with restraint.
At the same time, remember this: a refined material life is, bar none, the single greatest tool for sustaining ambition and protecting your position.
Once you have tasted the life of fine cars, grand homes, and luxury goods, an inner drive arises naturally.
If life can be this beautiful — how can I ever settle for less?
This is why Master Chi wholeheartedly encourages young people and those in the midst of their ascent to disregard others’ judgments and upgrade their standard of living to the fullest extent they can afford.
Everyone knows that a luxury watch or a designer bag is paying a fool’s tax — that is obvious to anyone. But what I want is for the person surrounded by beautiful things to develop an instinctive refusal to descend back to something lesser.
Yet this plain and correct observation is not understood or accepted by many — because our culture carries an innate reverence for “preserving heavenly principle and extinguishing human desire” (a neo-Confucian doctrine that advocated suppressing personal desire in favor of moral principle).
Some people never tire of urging our young people and the masses toward so-called “noble” pursuits — and in doing so, they cause genuine harm.
How could human desire ever truly be extinguished? How many people are born as enlightened monks?
And besides — every temple we have ever seen was raised and sustained by the endless flow of incense offerings and donations.
Here is another example: a friend once asked Master Chi how to ensure that children, upon entering university, don’t retreat into being reclusive shut-ins, but instead develop genuine ambition.
Master Chi’s answer: let the child, while still young, experience a somewhat lavish quality of life — in food, clothing, and everything else. Do not fear raising a spendthrift.
Acknowledge their desire. Guide their desire. And ultimately, teach them to hold the reins of their own desire.
Many parents operate from a peculiar logic: “Children shouldn’t be exposed to the glitz and glamour of the world too early.” For children under sixteen, that is valid. But as the child approaches eighteen, you should be actively taking them out to see the world — to experience it firsthand.
Why do children from disadvantaged backgrounds so often retreat into phones and computers? Because they simply don’t know what the world has to offer. They don’t know the comfort of a luxury resort or the exhilaration of a vibrant nightlife — so they seek stimulation and escape on a small glowing screen.
At this point in the reading, many parents will feel Master Chi is talking nonsense. Can luxury hotels and trendy nightclubs really raise a good child?
No — of course they can’t. But they can show the child what this world is. And that exposure will accelerate their maturity, instead of leaving them as a desire-free adult-infant. Without desire, there is no ambition — that much is beyond doubt.
Of course, as a parent, the education must accompany the experience: let them know clearly that this wealth is hard-earned, but it can be earned through the right means.
Ironically, what truly breeds reckless materialism is precisely the opposite: the “raised poor” child who has never encountered real wealth — until they suddenly stumble into it after entering society. Because they never saw it growing up, they are forever mesmerized by it.
A girl from a poor background is the easiest target for a shameless older man armed with a single luxury bag. And nothing can pull her back.
This is the power of desire. It never fades. It is only suppressed — and the longer the suppression, the more violent the rebound.
So what is the distilled message of everything above?
For a force you can never truly eliminate, the best approach is not to dam it up. Redirect, don’t block.
In the early stages, let it flow freely through you — get to know its temperament. Then, in the later stages, when you fully understand it, seize the reins and bring it under your own command.
See Heaven and Earth, See All Beings, See Yourself
Know this: a human life is ultimately a journey of ascending levels of understanding.
At the highest level — seeing heaven and earth — means knowing the operating rules of all things in this world.
Where are the peaks, where are the abysses, what are the true boundaries of this world, what are the actual rules of the game.
To reach this level, one must be a genuine master in their domain. Such masters are rare, though not as precious as one might think — we might generously call them people of the highest material.
At the middle level — seeing all beings — means knowing what others think and feel.
Know what people want, and move one step ahead of them. Know what people fear, and yield one step to them. In this space of movement and concession, the hearts of all beings fall into your grasp.
To reach this level is often to become a leading figure in an industry — holding command of your own domain with ease.
And finally — seeing yourself — means sitting down at last and having an honest conversation with yourself.
Where are my limits? What is my true purpose? Do I, like all beings, carry beast-nature within? Am I truly as unique as I pride myself on being?
Only when you reach this stage do all your questions resolve themselves. From that point forward, you move with perfect ease — no longer bound by the dust of the mundane world — and you wield both beast-nature and Buddha-nature freely, at will.
Those who can break through to this level on their own are vanishingly rare. Only a true genius can reach it unaided.
In closing, Master Chi offers you the most essential lines from Water Margin (水浒传, one of China’s four great classical novels) — a passage so perfectly formed it could only have been written with divine assistance.
When the monk Lu Zhishen — the beloved “Flowery Monk” of the novel, a man who embodied both violence and sudden enlightenment — passed into nirvana, the author wrote of him:
A lifetime without accumulating virtue, only loving to kill and set fires.
Then suddenly the golden cord snapped open, and the jade lock was torn apart.
Ah! The tidal surge rises on the Qiantang River — today at last I know: this is myself.
Perfect.