FAQ

xidai

1, There is no more traditional “family” in the Second Home. Husband-and-wife relationship pattern is broken automatically when the couple start living in the community, and they become independent of each other. ” I read this from your article A new life mode of human being has come into being,I’m wondering how does the Husband-and-wife relationship broke automatically when living in your community? Do you have couples in your community now and what did you do to make it happen that each of them will be independent and not attached to each other any more? Do they have to follow some specific rules?

A: All activities of the Second Home are open and made public to the whole society. Couples who want to join the community and experience this new life mode are encouraged to apply for chanyuan celestials together, thus once the other conditions are met, they can come live in the community. Lifechanyuan Values are support anyone who is chasing a happy, joyful,free and blessed life, so we’re not here to break their relationship by force，but to establish a harmonious relationship between people. So Love couldn’t only be shared between two persons or a small group of people, however, it must be shared among everyone in this big family. We have had several couples in our home since the community was established, and they knew our values quite well before they came, so they were prepared for converting the old relationship into a new one, which is a more trustful, free , happy and harmonious relationship between husband and wife, or partners.

We don’t have rules that require them to follow strictly, but narrow love for two or several people are not allowed in our community. If some couples can’t meet this requirement at the beggining, our guide will lead them and give them time to adapt and adjust. We study new articles of our guide and 800 values every Monday and Wednesday to make our consciousness ordered and remind ourselves that we’re moving towards our ideal not the opposite way. Such study helps beautifying our soul garden too. The core values like removing the jealousy, complaint and anger are not only a slogan, but for us to practise in real life. And only by practicing it thoroughly can our community be a real pure and wonderful homeland.So far the results are quite good, many couples are living separately in three branches and they adapted it quite well and now live happily. We don’t apply traditional management method in our community because the most beautiful part of human nature can only be motivated through proper guide. If there are some people who can’t accept it or are not able to put this value into practise in their real life, our guide will suggest them to leave the community and go back to the secular world to continue their previous life. After all this community is founded for starting a new life mode and we won’t compromise on our core principles. At the same time we don’t want to force anybody if they really can’t meet the requirements. So make a choice which suits both parties is the best solution. Mutual respect is very important. One of our most important principles is that pepole do things according to their own will, we don’t impose one’s personal will on anyone else, especially our guide or branch directors, they will never do that.

2, Do you have members who are originally from one family and how do they get along with each other once join your community because you’re not supporting “the traditional small family” any more?

A: Yes we have some families with two or three generations together living in our community, from grandpa, grandma to the parents and the grandchildren. The transformation is mainly from the consciousness. They know that once they join the big family, they should treat everyone as their family member and no longer attach to or rely on their small family but should rely on the community. At the beginning they lived in the same branch when we only had one branch, later they’re separated gradually in three branches and they now have a more simple and harmonious relationship than they were in the secular world. The relationship between traditional family members is based on reliance and obligations, but here, everyone’s needs are taken care by the community, so there is no need to keep the old relationship. There is no need to worry for the old, no need to worry for the children or young people, the community will take care of them. Each member will share their love to everyone. On such basis everyone will grow and be independent, they would be able to devote themselves completely to the community, and rely on the Greatest Creator and the community for the wellbeing of themselves. In such process everybody’s soul garden is beautified and their consciousness is transformed and sublimated, therefore, a community without traditional marriage and family will be realized smoothly and achieved naturally without any pressure.

3,“The nurture and education of kids, the care of the senior residents will be the pure responsibility of the community, which means that children are no more responsible for the wellbeing of their parents and vice versa.” Does this mean parents can’t keep a close relationship with their children and once the child is born,they need to be passed to the community? How do you implement this specifically?

A: The way our community works is humane.  After the babies are born, their mothers are responsible for the breast-feeding and the baby-caring and the community will provide any necessary support too. When they grow up till about 3 years old when the breast-feeding isn’t needed any more, they will be taken cared by the professional workers of the community. This is a big family so all children do not belong to their father or mother, but belong to the community. For parents joining the community together with their children, they can take time to adapt to this new lifestyle. Otherwise we don’t encourage the blood-based relationships which is too close between parents and children, because that’s not good for the independency of the children, also not good for the shaping of their character. We have professional teachers who are responsible for their daily life and education. We design the classes and have a home school for them to get knowledge in comprehensive aspects. This is better for their growth. Children in our community will have a healthy and happy childhood without any worries or fear, any pressure or trouble, they can just enjoy the happy time of living in this wonderful home and grow up as a new generation with a healthy and beautiful soul.

4, “The main income of the Second Home comes from the donation of Chanyuan celestials. “ All residents “own nothing but have everything”. All properties belong to everyone; individual no more owns any property or money. No one is treated specially.” So if a member wants to join the Second Home, how should he treat his money or property? Should he donate all of his money to your community or is this a must-meet requirement? How do you implement this in reality?

A: This is a good question. Yes our target is to build an everything-shared community, therefore each member should “own nothing but have everything”. For new members that apply to live as a permanent resident (not a visitor or short-term resident) in our community, they have four options:

1), Leave their money or property in the secular world (give to their family or close friends etc.).

2), Save your money in our “community bank”. We have our public accounts of the community and we can keep your bank card or accounts for you, of course we won’t use it, it’s just like make a deposit in a bank without interests.

3), Contribute your money to the community.

4), Combination of the above three.

In the community, we don’t use currency and members don’t own private money to buy daily things because our branches are far from the city and we have the purchaser to buy everything for the whole community including personal items. This ensures the relationships between members are simple and pure. Thus there is no ground for competition, jealousy or complaint like money, power or fame. There is no classes like the rich or the poor. We don’t force people to do this, but it’s the way to realize our ideal, so people may consider this before make their decision. Since we can save the bank cards for members, just like they have a deposit in our community bank, they can withdraw it whenever they need to use it to solve some special problems. We won’t change the vision of building up a prefect community in any situation, but we are flexible because the way of the Greatest Creator is the way of nature, which is no enforcement at all.

5,What’s the difference from your community and other Utopian or ecovillage spiritual communities? How can you be confident to say that you have the ability to promote your life mode to the whole world, establish 256 branches and get acceptance from all human beings?

A：Please refer to the article“the Utopia and the Second Home”.

6, May I ask what is your source of income, because it’s not easy to support a large community, for example to supply food and clothes, to generate income for transportation, birth, sickness and taking care of the old and the young. Do you have your self-productive grain, vegetables, fruits and are they enough to feed the whole community? Do you have your business to sustain the community? From this aspect, what makes you confident that the community can be developed in a sustainable and promising way?

A：We’re walk on the way of the Greatest Creator, and the Greatest Creator is caring us at every moment. In the past four years, we started from a small building and practiced this new life mode, four years later we have three beautiful branches with plenty food and supplies for our daily life. We never worry about the future because we know the Greatest Creator is taking care of us and we’re diligent people who are working wholeheartedly to create our life needs everyday. Presently our source of income are mainly from the donation of chanyuan celestials, at the same time we plant vegetables, a lot of fruit trees,raising chickens and ducks to produce eggs. Also we’ll implement Permaculture this year. We have the best climate in China, we’ll create wealth mainly on spiritual and soul products and also some from farming such as organic fruits and veges. Our needs are simple because we’re coming for creating a new life mode for the whole human being, not for enjoying a comfortable life without contribution, so each chanyuan celestial works diligently everyday,and walks on the Way of the Greatest Creator, we have no worries and fear and we believe that everything is in the control of Tao (the consciousness of the Greatest Creator), by trusting Tao and doing job creatively, we’ll have everything we need and our future will be very bright and beautiful.

7, Q: Lifechanyuan values and the Second Home are all born in China, now from your information we know that most of the chanyuan celestials are Chinese including the community residents, so once there are more overseas visitors come to your home, do you think they can fit in your lifestyle smoothly and happily? Will the culture and language a big problem for communicating and mutual understanding? For example do you celebrate more festivals or holidays besides Chinese Middle-Autumn festival and Spring festival? Will you consider to celebrate the festivals from other culture or nations? When more and more people from different country,nation,race,culture and background come to New Oasis for life, will you create a wonderful and excellent healthy world-culture to make everybody feel like they are at their  home? How do you achieve that?

A: Yes most of the residents here are Chinese and the main language is Chinese. But we believe such situation will be changed in future. As chanyuan celestials are those who have a global view and an open heart. We know that although we live in China presently, in future we’ll go overseas and live with Chanyuan Celestials from other countries and cultures. New Oasis for life is for all people on the earth, and nothing can’t prevent people from chasing after the same wonderful dream. When there is no bounary in our mind, it will be much easier for people to communicate, understand and learn from each other. People in our community are currently studying English every week and looking forward to making friends with visitors from other countries. We have an open heart and are open minded, therefore culture integration will be a smooth and natural process in Lifechanyuan.

In terms of the holidays or festival celebration, please refer the article :

Festivals of Lifechanyuan

Except that, we’ll be flexible to have  a variety of activities or celebrations, but such celebration should be commonly accepted by all cultures and not only for any specific culture. By absorbing the essence of each culture and successful culture integration, a worldly healthy and wonderful culture will be born for sure and it would be like a fantastic beautiful flower blossom in the most fertile soil.

8, Q：From your online articles, I know that the Second Home advocates and practices “free love”, at the same time there is an important piece of value says”Ladies are the first respected” and man shouldn’t take initiative in any situations trying to harass a woman. So can a man express his fondness to a woman? If yes, what’s the appropriate way to do it so that it will not be regarded as “harassment”? If not, such value could be a strict restriction for men since they can’t even express themselves and thus how can their “free love” be ensured? So could you please explain the value of “free love” in both theoretic and realistic way?

A：Respecting women is the virtue of a civilized society and a civilized man. From the statistics of United Nations, we know that every year there’s a lot  of women being hurt, mentally and physically; and tragedies are still happening and will be continuously happening because women are not protected enough and sex discrimination makes them afraid of speaking it out. In New Oasis for Life we won’t allow any forms of hurt to a woman. In our community, the old, women and children are the first to be protected, include their body, spirit and soul, especially women. As we can see women are relatively weak physically, thus in a community where implements free love, we need to protect women first. A woman can take initiative to express her fondness to a man, but a man can not do that even he loves her very much. From this perspective you may conclude that men’s freedom is taken away under such policy, but men must understand that when a woman has a feeling of complete security and comfortability in a community where she won’t be harassed by any men, she will take initiative to approach the man she likes or loves. In Lifechanyuan, we call it “the fragrance will attract butterflies to flowers naturally”. If you’re an excellent man, ladies will like you and come to you. Therefore you don’t need to have such worries but should concentrate on self cultivation, the situation will change when you become more perfect.

However, we have exceptions when people are working or playing game, in such time, flurting or joking are always welcome because it adds a lot fun and happiness to the community life. It usually happen not between two persons, but among a group of members.  And this is a way to open our heart and show our deep nature, which helps to beautify the soul garden too. But in any situations, men still can’t touch the sensitive parts of a woman body without her permission. We should ensure everybody feel comfortable and happy in a communal living environment.

Tips for men:  Respect should be presented from your heart and not only shown by surperfacial words or behaviors. Women are smart and sensitive enough to distinguish whether you’re sincere or not very quickly,hehe!

9, Q:  Do you have any religious or spiritual activities in your community?

A: No, Lifechanyuan and its community the Second Home are not like any religionary or political organization, and our community——the Second Home are more like a big family. Although we have a profound and systematic theory to guide our community practices and personal self-cultivation, we don’t practice it in a religious way. We’re focusing on the consciousness transformation and the soul garden beautifying, which is practiced in daily life activities but any magic arts or religious ceremonies. There are no temples or churches in Lifechanyuan.

“Our reverence and worship to the Greatest Creator are not represented in the form or on the mouth, but come from the inside.Loving LIFE, nature, self and others is equal to love the Greatest Creator.”
-- from No Church or Temple in Lifechanyuan

What we do is studing our guide’s new article or 800 values every Monday and Wednesday, this helps us to have an in-depth understanding of the values, as well as prompting us to practicing it in our daily life and therefore beautifying our soul garden.