Falun Buddha Fa
Teaching the Fa at the Conference in
(September
4–5, 1998, Geneva)
Good day to you!
Among those seated here, there are people who just
rushed here from the Singapore Fa conference, people who rushed here
from other countries and regions, and new students. The main purpose of our
holding a Fa conference is for everyone to draw upon each other’s experiences
to discover their own shortcomings so that they might improve together in cultivation. At the same time, this event itself is an occasion
for spreading the Fa.[1] Everything we wish to do is for enabling us to cultivate and
improve—it’s by no means about formalities. So any time in the future when we
hold a Fa conference, we have to adhere to this principle so as to truly help
our students make progress. We have to ensure that
before we can hold such conferences. Too many experience-sharing conferences
too often will easily bring about a kind of competition, where you run one way,
I do it another, etc., while everybody holds
tight to the human mindset. That won’t do. All of us have to proceed from the
Fa and hold conferences like this entirely for students’ cultivation.
Quite a few of you in the
audience are veteran students. I’m really
happy to see all of you. You are really improving yourselves by leaps and
bounds on the path of cultivation. You can’t see the changes in yourselves as
of yet, but the changes are tremendous. You’ll be able to confirm and see it in the not-too-distant future. So I’m really pleased.
During this period in which you cultivate, by listening to
the Fa that I teach at Fa conferences and continually studying Zhuan Falun in depth, you can see many different manifestations of the
truth, and you have gained a different and deeper
understanding of the Fa. Along with this, I’d like to discuss further with you
the process of your cultivation and the concept of another type of cosmic
structure. I’ll first talk about another type of cosmic structure. There’s
something here I’ve got to explain first: The cosmos was actually constructed
by the Fa. So the purpose of my talking about the cosmos definitely isn’t to
propel contemporary science to some higher realm, and it’s not told to you as some kind of
knowledge. It’s to allow you to cultivate. That’s because it goes hand-in-hand with the Fa. The goal is to have you reach
different realms through cultivation. That is, you are
to
return to the places in different realms
where you were created, to return to
different levels and realms of the cosmos. This Fa is as immense as the cosmos is large, and that’s still a concept
unknown to your mind. Today I’ll speak from another angle and see whether your
thinking can keep up.
I’ll first talk about the cosmos. To talk about the cosmos is, to put
it another way, to actually discuss matter
or the
understanding of matter. Regardless of how advanced modern science is, its understanding of matter is still extremely
shallow. It’s just not even worth mentioning when
compared with the entire cosmos—they can’t be compared. You know that I’ve said that
the
cosmos is composed of elementary particles. And what are the elementary
particles composed of, then? It has to be explained in a specific way. In the concept of different layers of cosmic bodies (not the different layers of universes), how large are the cosmic bodies? The expanse of just
one cosmic body alone is extremely large. Yet it’s not like there is regularity whereby one cosmic body
consists of some average number of layers of universes. Some consist of upwards of ten thousand
layers of universes. And there are ones that consist of upwards of 100 million layers of universes. This concept is extremely vast. So every cosmic body is an
unimaginably vast cosmic expanse.
When people talk about the concept of the universe, they are basically talking within the expanse of the number of galaxies that
people can recognize. The expanse that modern science can observe is just the
small universe that people talk about. Let me take Earth as a standpoint.
Starting from this small universe, three thousand small universes of our size
constitute the second-layer universe. Then,
three thousand universes each as large as the second-layer universe
constitute the third-layer universe. Think
about it, everyone: The magnification is quite large. Nevertheless,
this
is to talk about an expansion from one standpoint. But there’s not just one particle the size
of Earth in this universe. Particles roughly the size of our Earth are spread
throughout the universe, and they’re countless. I just spoke of the universes’
magnification from the standpoint of a single particle. In fact, particles of
that size are spread throughout the entire cosmos. They are in anything and
everything. They all have that kind of expansion system, spanning from large to
small, from small to large. To mankind, even just this layer of small universes
is enormous. The number of planetary particles of different sizes within it is
immeasurable. Why? Because although Buddhas,
Gods, and Daos at very high levels have insight into everything, no one has
thought about counting the specks of dust. A planet within
a vast cosmic body is really just like a speck of dust drifting in the cosmos.
So three thousand universes of this size continually multiply and
expand the range; they continually multiply
and expand the system. At roughly the one-thousandth layer, the boundary of this first
cosmic body system is reached. But even that expanse is not the only one: In
the vast cosmos it is still a particle, and particles of that level, too,
pervade the immense cosmos. Beyond the expanse is a state of complete emptiness. And just how empty? If any substance in
this system were to enter it, it would be the
same as self-disintegration. That’s because any
substance within the range of this system has life, characteristic features, and thought. To enter into a microscopic emptiness of that kind would be as
if the particle could no longer sustain thought and life. It would instantly
disintegrate. In other words, anything that fell into it would disintegrate.
Explaining the concept this way makes it
easy
for us to understand. Beyond that
expanse of emptiness, however, there are
actually yet other cosmic bodies of even larger expanses. But all the same, the
lives in this realm can’t possibly move a single step toward going there, since
factors of an even more microscopic nature exist at more, and even still more,
microscopic levels. Over in the even larger expanses, however, the concepts of
matter and life are different in that cosmic body—the concept of matter no longer
exists. Within the range of cosmic bodies, the number of layers of universes is not the same, but each and every cosmic
body is composed of the
most microscopic and elementary particles. And all of the elementary particles
are formed from the nature of the cosmos, Zhen, Shan, Ren.
The concepts I’m talking about here are really complex. You
need to pay attention since
human language is truly
limited. For instance, the largest particulate matter of a certain cosmic body
is, as well, made into a layer of particles of that size from the infinitesimal
particles in its own system. It’s called a horizontal particle-composition
system. That is, the particles of a
substance aren’t only assembled from a vertical microscopic system, but are
themselves at the same time also composed of substances—from microscopic to
larger and even larger—in a system of their own. In
other words, the different-sized particles in every level of that system are
themselves systems composed of microscopic substances. And particles of different
sizes at each level of that system
pervade everything. So its particles of different sizes form horizontal
compositional schemes as well. Its most elementary particles and its level of
largest particles are quite far apart from each other.
Then what, ultimately, is the most original matter? It’s water. But the water I’m talking about is not the water of our
ordinary
human society. Nor is it the water of the rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans
that exist at different levels. This water is what creates all matter and lives
of a cosmic body at a given level.
You can call it “original matter”… [actually,] you
can only call it original matter. And this kind
of water differs from the concept of water that we understand in the dimension
of ordinary human beings. To be precise, it should be called “still water,” as
it doesn’t move. It’s completely still and motionless. It wouldn’t ripple or
splash if you were to toss something into it.
Now that we’re talking about water, let’s first talk about
the water of the human world. We can take an example from secular science. As
you know, in our society of ordinary people, contemporary scientists say that
there are organic and inorganic substances. Those are in fact just
understandings limited to this dimension. Matter isn’t only composed of
substances of this surface dimension. Usually scientists classify as “organic
substances” the things considered in this dimension alive—trees, flowers,
grass, plants, animals, and human beings. They’re made of this dimension’s water,
in fact. You know that water comprises more than ninety percent of the body. That is, we humans are composed of this dimension’s water. I mentioned
before that water can create all things. It’s just that contemporary scientists
can’t figure it out. Yet [as you know] the water of this physical dimension can grow vegetables. When a vegetable is squeezed
again and again in the hands, eventually nothing will be left but some
chlorophyll. And if the chlorophyll is specially treated, nothing but water
will remain. In other words, everything of this dimension that people consider
to be organic substances actually originate from the water of this dimension. That means that water forms and creates everything.
So let me tell you: So-called inorganic substances are in fact created
by water of a higher level. But modern science can’t recognize this, and so it
thinks that those substances aren’t alive.
But they
are in fact alive. Their form of existence is quite different from what
modern science can recognize. People will never recognize their form if modern
science continues to evolve with its current concepts. There was a saying in
Chinese cultivation circles of ancient times: “Immortals are so powerful they
can toss a rock into a wok and extract water from it.” It sounds like a joke,
but in reality it’s no joke. Throughout
the entire expanse of this cosmic body that this
universe belongs to, the most fundamental origin of any object is water. What’s the more microscopic water like? And what’s the even more microscopic water like? It’s inconceivable, unimaginable. So
I’ve said that it can only remain an idea
to you.
What I just said was that particles of different levels all have one
most fundamental, most original element. But those particles as a whole have
both vertical and horizontal arrangements. It’s just like starting from the
Earth we’re on: Such and such a number of galaxies constitute one universe, and
then such and such a number of universes compose a universe of a larger
expanse. We take Earth as a starting point because we human beings are here,
and I’m here teaching the Fa. So I take Earth as a starting point. But Earth
isn’t the starting point for all substances in this universe. We think that all
of the substances we see around us are the most material ones. When I taught
the Fa in the past, in order not to confuse everyone, I said that they were the
lowest-level substances. But in reality, they can’t be regarded as the only
kind of material substances. You could call them “elementary matter.” We can
use other terms to refer to them. There is still super-matter, super
super-matter, even more super super-matter…
Earth occupies the central position in the dimensions of these Three
Realms. It’s in the center vertically, horizontally, and in terms of granular
size. Then there also exist substances whose masses are even larger than our
Earth. It’s not the kind of mass I’ve
discussed before, whereby atoms or atomic nuclei form things of great mass, it’s not that concept. Those are all substances that humankind can recognize. What I’m talking
about is super-matter, something that’s not a substance of the human dimension
whatsoever. It surpasses the substances of this dimension in terms of its particles and its surface compositional state. So the base
point of the largest super-matter is the edge of the Three Realms, and
likewise, the base point of the smallest matter is at the edge of the Three
Realms. The human dimension, or the base point of matter that humankind knows,
lies between the large and small substances. If you were to call everything of
this human dimension “matter,” then the things in the Three Realms that are
smaller than substances of the human world could only be said to be non-matter,
and those even smaller substances would be called non-non-matter, and so on
until the smallest particles in the Three Realms
were reached. That’s what I meant when I said
before that the concept of large and small in the universe isn’t like what
ordinary people understand.
And the cosmos as a whole is the same. All particles are alive—they
have life. So think about it, everyone: The universe is alive, too, no matter
how large its expanse. But within the
boundary of a cosmic body, there are numerous, countless particles of different
sizes, each existing as an individual living entity. How many layers of heavens are there in this cosmos? How many layers of universes does it have?
How many layers of cosmic bodies are there? No being inside
it can assess how vast and complex the cosmos is. The concept of the cosmic
body that I spoke of includes tens of millions of layers of universes, yet it’s
still merely a speck of dust in the immense body of the
infinite cosmos. It too is a tiny particle. If you could dash off to a very,
very far away place and take a look back, you would see that it’s smaller than
what a grain of sand looks to a human being. Looking at it from further away,
it would seem smaller than a speck of
dust. Looking from even further away, you couldn’t see it anymore. Just now I was explaining it over and
over, but to put it plainly, the whole cosmos appears
to be constructed with particles composed of particles, and particles composed
of particles. But actually, to look at it from an even broader perspective,
it’s not composed of particles. There is no language for it, and it can’t be
told to human beings.
The human way of thinking is always limited. When I said that particles
comprise particles, you were led into a simplistic logic, which actually is not appropriate. The complexity of the structure of the cosmos can’t
be clearly explained using human language. Moreover, thoughts, time,
dimensions, life-forms… everything changes upon leaving our dimension.
Especially when the space-times become different, there are great differences
among particles. For example, we know that between
planets
there are distances which are quite far. But did you know that our bodies, wood, air, water, etc., are all composed
of molecules, that molecules are also a level of particles, and that this level
of particles is right next to planets? That is, molecules are the largest particles that are smaller than
planets. Atoms are the largest particles smaller than molecules. When the
distance between molecules and atoms is viewed with human concepts,
we think that they’re quite close together, almost
without distance between them. But if you were to enter into that realm, you
would find that dimension to have its own time and
state, too, and that it’s an extremely vast
and
extensive dimension as well. Every level is like that. Positioned between molecules
and planets, we feel that the cosmos is huge. But if you were to stand
in-between atoms and molecules, you would feel that that cosmic expanse is even
larger than this one. In other words, you have to
conform to the way of its time and space in order to understand it.
By discussing this issue just now, I was telling everyone that while
you see great distances between planets, the distances between molecules—which are close when viewed with our human
notions—are in fact really far. Particles can form
countless beings, including us human beings, various kinds of animals, various
plants, wood, cement, steel and iron, as well as the air in which we live. I’ve mentioned that human beings are actually
living in a mound of soil. We’re aware that worms crawl around in soil. But did you know that gods look upon us humans in the
same way—that human beings are burrowing
around in soil? Why
is that?
We humans deem soil to be soil, but gods see all molecules—that is,
the molecules in the Three Realms—as soil, and as the coarsest and dirtiest substance. They take them to be soil, and they are indeed soil. So think about it, everyone: How do those gods view this universe and the world? The
air is composed of molecules, and the whole environment that exists around you
is composed of molecules. The water of this dimension is composed of molecules,
too, and so is even the air. Gods see molecules as
soil, so you are completely buried in soil, and human beings are burrowing
around in soil—human beings just live in that kind of environment. By
explaining it this way, maybe you can see why in the Western religious
tradition Yahweh or Jesus taught that God created man from clay, right?!
Actually, in the East it’s said that Nü Wa[2]
created human beings from clay. This explanation should make it easier for you
to understand. Gods in fact see all particles
made of the matter of this dimension as soil dust, or soil. It’s really true.
Just now I said that particles can form everything in a dimension. The
cosmic bodies are extensive and flourishing. The more microscopic the particles
that compose a world, the more beautiful and
glorious
the world. Actually, even larger particles can form even larger cosmic expanses
or even larger lives. While these planets appear to us human beings to be
pretty far from one another, they seem quite close to one another in the eyes
of larger beings; it’s much the same way human beings perceive the distances among molecules. Then could what human beings see between
planets be part of a being’s body? In other words, could it make up an even larger life?! It’s really
the same idea. In the past it was said
that there were giants and dwarves. Whether ordinary people say they existed or
not doesn’t matter, I’m teaching in terms of principles. It’s just that times
have changed. With history’s progression to this stage, it had to conform to
the historical and cultural requirements of this time period. So that caused
today’s society to become how it is. People no longer
believe in what they can’t see or experience. And the more they disbelieve, the less they are allowed
to know
the truth. That’s because human beings have become
foolish. And human beings’ disbelief was actually something arranged. I often
say that human beings want to be in charge but they never, ever have been.
As for the matter of human
beings
wanting to be in charge and desiring democracy, in
reality, human beings have never truly been in charge, for it is gods that
control the world. For instance, when persons have many blessings in their
lives and great talent, it was certainly arranged that way, or that they become
high-ranking officials. Those who have minor blessings and those who aren’t all that capable, conversely,
definitely can’t become high-ranking officials. The
Paris Commune overturned the monarchy. But let me tell you,
all of the presidents elected generation after generation in
I just mentioned that the different particles of the universe can make
up beings of different sizes. Lives exist on every planet. It’s just that they
don’t appear in this dimension of human beings, so we human beings can’t
comprehend them. Today’s science doesn’t understand this since it’s underdeveloped and can only
crawl around within this dimension. Actually, it’s quite easy to see into other
dimensions. As
long as you have a huge microscopic observation system you can see the form of existence of those objects composed of particles smaller than
molecules. Human beings can’t see their true
existence because humans have all kinds of obstacles—they have mental obstacles
that prevent them from believing. They don’t dare to do it, and they don’t see the point of doing that. But regardless
of whether you want to see them or not, they will reveal their true appearances from time to time. Some people just suddenly see them. Under a
strange combination of circumstances, substances that are in motion might
suddenly reveal themselves. It’s something that happens every now and then.
People always explain mirages as a kind of refraction of the atmosphere. That is a self-justifying theory adopted to explain what modern science cannot, it makes no sense.
In reality, they are the true manifestations of
other dimensions. You can grasp the concept
of the universe that I just discussed, right? (Applause)
All matter in the universe is composed of Zhen,
Shan, Ren. At different levels Zhen,
Shan, Ren has different manifestations and is displayed in
different ways. It has created different living environments for the beings of
different levels. When it comes to human beings’ level, the manifestation of
this Fa is extremely vast and extremely complicated, cultivation ways are abundant, and the truths that people enlighten to are numerous. If one wants to
be a good person, the criteria that exist in this dimension are: benevolence,
loyalty, propriety, learning, trustworthiness, and so on and so forth. They are
all derived from Zhen, Shan, Ren, and
are incredibly many. And that’s not all. Elements that constitute women are
delicateness and gentleness, while men need to be strong and upright, and so on. Those are all manifestations of the Fa. How material beings appear and how material forms of existence are,
those are all manifestations of the Fa. The Fa has created everything.
Next, let me talk about cultivation. In cultivation, why do you have to
meet a realm’s criteria in order to go over there? Because there is Fa for that
particular level. In that realm there is a required standard for those beings,
as well as a standard for the environment of those beings. A karma-laden body that doesn’t conform
to that dimension’s environment is unacceptable. A filthy body
absolutely cannot enter a dimension that high. So you have to conform to the
bodily state of that higher realm—namely, a karma-free state. Not only do you need to be free of karma, but your body’s substances need to be
microscopic and fine in that way. That’s something people who don’t truly
cultivate cannot attain, even if they
wanted to and pursued it—it can only be cultivated. It’s attained by enduring hardship and going through grueling cultivation.
Moreover, the living side of you has to conform
to the standards of that realm. Or in other words, your mind, your thoughts,
and all of the spiritual properties of your existence have to conform to the
standards of that level.
Of course, there’s also a standard for the form of existence of that
dimension’s lives. You can’t go there as a human being like this. You have to
assume the appearance of the beings in that dimension when you are about to
Consummate. The higher the level, the more youthful and beautiful the
appearance of those beings. The lower the realm, the less beautiful. As one
goes higher, not only is the appearance more beautiful, but also the thoughts
have to be more pure and refined. One’s way of existence, speech, demeanor, and movement will all undergo
changes. Their speech is like poetry, and that’s just the way of things at one
certain level. Higher levels are even more splendid. It definitely wouldn’t
work if you didn’t conform to the requirements of that realm. I often say that
“cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master.” In other words, though you want to reach
that kind of realm, how could you reach it when you don’t even know about it?
How could you do that? You yourself can’t do it.
I only look at the heart you have for cultivation. Master will take care of the
other side if you’re determined to keep cultivating. What’s critical
is whether you can be steadfast and whether you can finish your cultivation.
I haven’t discussed the specific way in which gong is evolved,
and
I don’t want people to focus on it. Doing it this way keeps attachments from
springing up and it spares people from letting their imaginations run wild. As
you know, the higher one goes, the more tranquil one’s mind. Yet it’s not right for you to insist on seeking tranquility without
raising your xinxing. Some people are
bent on seeking tranquility when they do the exercises. They insist on trying
to attain tranquility, and it develops into an attachment. But I can say that
as low-level cultivation ways see it, it is a method, whereas when viewed from
high levels, it’s intention-filled conduct. Why?
Tranquility can only be achieved through cultivation and gradually eliminating
attachments. If someone wants to will himself into total tranquility and part
with all attachments just like that, in general that can’t be done. (Of course, there are special circumstances that we won’t discuss.) Being able to
achieve that kind of tranquility means that your mind has become pure to that extent. What I call “special circumstances” refers
to cultivation ways that cultivate the assistant soul (fu yuanshen), whereby a person can will himself to be tranquil from
the very start. But that’s not our Dafa’s way of cultivating. This is no
minor thing.
As I mentioned before, when you speak to others with your own goals in
mind, wanting to change or persuade them, no matter how reasonable your words
are, other people will have a hard time completely accepting them. Nor can the
words move people’s hearts. Why? Let me tell
you: It’s actually because the words you say contain all of your thoughts. Your
sentences have complicated thoughts included in them, such as your human
emotions and desires, and even those many attachments of yours. That makes your
words not so powerful and rather diluted. Also, people often look at things
from their own viewpoints when they say things to others, and those might not
conform to the Fa of the universe. So in this respect
they
lack the power of Truth. Moreover, when speaking to others, people add things to
protect themselves so that they won’t get
hurt. In other words, the intention behind your words is no longer pure, then.
And as a result your words get really frivolous. But when your
mind can truly become tranquil, when your attachments get less and less, or
when the distracting thoughts get less and less, then you’ll find that your
words have power. Why was it that when I
spoke about non-action I
mentioned that you shouldn’t interfere with things that shouldn’t be interfered
with? That’s because your words already have power, and words with power can
change people. It doesn’t matter if your changing someone seems right, you
might be doing something wrong. You don’t know the truth since what your eyes see is superficial, and since you can’t perceive karmic[3]
reasons from the past. Your mind will become increasingly pure as you reach higher levels. What your
thinking brings forth then, and what you say,
will be extremely pure. The purer and simpler they are, the more they conform
to the principles of that level of the universe. The words you speak then can
instantly pierce people’s hearts, strike
the depths of people’s thoughts, and
strike the more microscopic part of their existences. Now isn’t that going
to be powerful?! So if you can become tranquil, that ability signifies that you
have reached a certain realm.
In our cultivation we need to meet the requirements of a given realm in
order to reach that realm. Otherwise you
can’t go there. That’s why in our cultivation human attachments have to be
discarded, why karma has to be eliminated, why the requirements of the Fa have
to be met, and why I ask you to read the book a lot
and understand the Fa well.
I’ve only discussed the topic briefly. This is a Fa conference. You
don’t have a lot of opportunities to meet me, and you’ve had lots of questions
brewing which you have wanted a chance to ask me.
So I
will use the time that’s left to answer your questions. But there is one thing
you should pay attention to: Some people (of course,
they are all new students) have a brash attitude when
they ask questions, and don’t show due respect for their master. Of course,
it’s not so much that I’m demanding respect for a teacher by upholding
old-fashioned formalities, but I am your master after all, and will save you to
a high realm. What I’m giving you is something that you can never repay in the
eternity of your lives. So I hope your tone
will be that of a disciple. All right, you can pass your question slips up.
Question: After Shakyamuni, Lao Zi, and Jesus, how
many people have attained the Tathagata Righteous Attainment through cultivation?
Teacher: All in all there
have been a lot. Many people did after Shakyamuni attained the Way; they
cultivated successfully in the Buddhist religion. And there were people among
Jesus’ later disciples and monks whose cultivation met with success. Of course,
in
Question: It’s mentioned in Zhuan Falun [(Volume II)] that the
moon was constructed by the humankind of a remote age. Could Teacher tell us a
little about the reason and purpose back then for constructing it?
Teacher: Everyone here is
laughing, because that’s so far from why I teach the Fa. You are seeking knowledge and letting
your imagination run wild. And when your imagination runs wild, your thinking
becomes less pure and tranquil. But instead of letting go of those things
you’re attached to among ordinary people, you’re asking me about them and even
mixing them together with the Fa. That’s
precisely what I’m worried about with you all. Put your mind to cultivation. Of course, I can answer, since the question has been
raised.
In the past, the situation never resembled that of today’s science. So
the mankinds of different time periods were of course developing in the ways of
those times. People at one time recognized the trouble that the dark of night
caused people, so they constructed a moon up there to bring light to Earth
during the night. That has nothing to do with cultivation. It’s not that I’m
unwilling to tell you about it. It’s that whatever I say will materialize
something, as the things I say become Fa. So don’t ask me to casually talk
about human interest things.
Question: Is the speed of
one’s intention faster than the speed of light?
Teacher: That’s for sure.
The speed of human thoughts is quite fast. As your level rises you will
penetrate every dimension in the levels below you. Listen carefully to what I’m
saying: As your level gets higher, when your gong penetrates any of the dimensions in the levels below you, it
isn’t subject to the time restraints of those dimensions. Gong is directed by intention. Since you live in this environment,
your walking speed, the speed of your car, and so on, every single thing is
limited by the time of this dimension. The intention that people emanate is
rapid in this human dimension. If a person is a cultivator, he transcends the
restrictions of this dimension and his intention is extremely fast. Meanwhile,
we’ve said that a person’s gong and
all of the abilities carried in his body are controlled by his thoughts. So
that means, when his intention arises, his gong
arrives—that’s how powerful he is. I’ve said that if the abilities of those of
you who have cultivated to very high realms were not locked up for you, you
might really turn the Heaven and Earth upside down in just an instant. So
before a person has reached complete Enlightenment, he is absolutely prohibited
from being unrestricted while he cultivates on the earth, it’s absolutely
prohibited. It is all right for those people with minor abilities, since this
dimension is watched over by the gods of this
dimension, and those gods can control all
of this so that a person can’t topple Heaven or overturn Earth. But if a
person’s abilities are greater it won’t be allowed. Master also has to watch
over this.
Question: In this universe
of ours, what type of matter has the greatest speed?
Teacher: You’re asking about science. To tell you would be to satisfy your pursuing mind, and that’d be the same as expanding your attachment. Yet if I don’t tell you, well, you’ve raised the question.
In regards to the speed in this dimension that people nowadays know of,
it has even greater energy that people haven’t discovered and can’t utilize.
The ideas of what’s the largest and smallest all come from the perspective of
human understanding; they are understandings within the range of the human dimension and time field. Size, as conceptualized by humans, doesn’t exist in this universe. So in the universe,
what is fast—as referred to by you—depends on the level. For
example, the rate at which a very high-level god speaks is still faster than
the speed of your mind—even when that god is speaking
very, very slowly. The words I’m saying here and what I just said about your
being attached have just taken place, but in a specific dimension they actually
occurred hundreds of years ago. That’s how big the
difference is. The universe is just incredibly vast. The differences in time
fields have formed the universe’s complicated dimensions.
Actually, not being subject to the
restrictions of time, that’s what is most rapid.
But
human beings will never really understand the real
meaning of that sentence. Your idea, “what type of matter has the greatest
speed,” is a human notion
and a human
understanding. Time is not absolute, even in this present dimension of ours. As
you know, I mentioned in Zhuan Falun
that a certain star is seen to be 150 thousand light years away from us. But in
fact, I was only discussing it by using what human beings can understand with contemporary science. That’s not really how it is. Then how is it? Let’s think about it: There
exist different times in different dimensions. Within the expanse of our Earth
there is a time field, and everything is confined within the
boundaries of that time. As soon as a man-made
satellite goes beyond our atmosphere it is in another time field, which is definitely
not the same as Earth’s. So there are
also the time fields of other planets when it passes by those planets. The larger the cosmic body, the greater the time and speed differences within it.
It’s said that it takes 150 thousand
light years for us to see the things that occur
in the Milky Way system. Actually, let me tell you
that perhaps you can see them in just two or three years. Why? Because the
speed of light, too, is subject to the restrictions of time fields.
When light penetrates through different time fields, its speed, “shwa—, shwa—, shwa—,” suddenly becomes fast
or slow. When it gets here to our Earth, it then conforms to Earth’s time field
and becomes extremely slow. There is simply no
way to assess the time in the universe using this time field that Earth’s inhabitants can comprehend. Humankind’s understanding of truth, of matter, life, the universe, and many things, including the
development of human beings, is wrong.
Question: How do the great enlightened beings of the
Buddha system explain the light of this universe?
Teacher: What’s so great about just seeing light?! There are many kinds of light, and
they’re different at different levels. And how, as well as for what purpose,
light is emitted is different. Don’t use human
thoughts to think about things that are higher than man. I’d say that if you
want to cultivate, you need to read the book more and study the Fa a lot. What
you can’t enlighten to and what you don’t know will, in the future, all be
visible in the Fa. Think about it: I’ve said that every
object has energy—even molecules have energy. People can’t sense
that molecules have energy because man himself is composed of molecules. That’s
why people can’t sense it. Things that have energy have light and power. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill or inflate the significance of every
little thing. When Dafa disciples’ mighty virtue is displayed, now that will
be glorious and brilliant.
Question: Can we publish
Master’s articles in newspapers in order to spread the Fa?
On the other hand, I’m concerned that people might misinterpret
the meaning of the articles.
Teacher: They will, they
all will. So it’s best not to do that. Why? Let me tell you: Our best method for spreading the Fa is
for everybody to do the exercises in groups. We’re only saying that we don’t
want to leave out people who have a predestined relationship. When I talk about
spreading the Fa, I’m not asking the
entire humankind to come obtain the Fa—that’s
not the idea at all. I’m talking about getting people with a predestined
relationship to come obtain the Fa. Today I
might as well tell everyone clearly: The Fa-spreading method we’ve adopted all
along is that you do the exercises outdoors. Another one is to have our Dafa
books for sale in public bookstores. My Law Bodies will direct people with a
predestined relationship to buy the book, and as soon as they read it they will
come and learn. Also, we’re doing the exercises outdoors, so the Law Bodies
will arrange for them to find the practice sites and obtain the Fa. Through
a strange combination of circumstances they will be led over here to do the
exercises, or they will find our students. That’s how
we’ve arranged it.
You want more people to know about it and you’ve used many, many
methods. It’s the students’ good intention, I
can see that. And you’ve done well. But all of it is self-initiated, individual
action, so I don’t approve or disapprove. In the Fa, however, the Fa-spreading methods
that I’ve left behind for Dafa are these: We do the exercises outside in groups, hold Fa conferences, and have books for sale in bookstores. People with
a predestined relationship will go buy the book, and they’ll want to cultivate after they read it. And then they will find us of
their own initiative and learn. That’s how it is. Of
course, sometimes students will, as a personal act, put announcements in
newspapers to inform other
people
about it. That too can allow a lot of people to obtain the Fa. I don’t disapprove of that approach,
for it can
help the predestined ones become
aware of it. I’m just saying that the best forms I leave for you for spreading the Fa are group exercises and Fa conferences.
Question: I’ve made
spreading the Fa an integral part of my cultivation, but Master has said that spreading the Fa has nothing to do with
reaching Consummation.
Teacher: Spreading the Fa
and reaching Consummation are of course two
different terms and concepts. But there’s one point to be made: For those who work to spread the Fa, if you treat it as a job and, although you often work hard and make
a great
effort to do it, if you normally don’t read the book much and you don’t have time to do the exercises, this kind of work will
inevitably depart from the Fa. In other words, you won’t have
integrated your cultivation with your work. You’re really attached
when doing the work, and you don’t think about whether the troubles you
encounter are related to your xinxing or whether the way you do things conforms to the Fa or to the standards
of a cultivator. If you don’t look inside yourself in this manner,
if you don’t look at it this way, then your work
is
just the work of ordinary humans, and you’re just an
ordinary person doing work for Dafa. At the
very least, you haven’t conducted yourself according to the standards of a
cultivator. Cultivation needs to be integrated with our work. When you run into any challenge in
your work, you should always check your own xinxing and be able to examine yourself. When you come across troubles, look at yourself and think:
“Why are things happening like this? Have I done
something wrong? Is there a problem with my intention? Or is it
because of something else?” That is, you should demand
of yourself and evaluate yourself with a cultivator’s standard at all times. You are truly cultivating when
you treat yourself as a cultivator and don’t let up with any bit of your thoughts. Then won’t your work be integrated with the Fa? As for Consummation, that depends
on the extent of your cultivation and whether it
reaches that stage. Even though a person might cultivate every day, whether he’ll Consummate depends on whether he can reach the level of Consummation.
Question: I read Zhuan Falun every day, but with respect to some parts of it, such as “The Subject of Sorcery,” “Bigu,” “Fasting,” “Stealing Qi,” and “Gathering Qi,” I think it’s enough to just
have a general understanding.
Teacher: I’ll tell you,
although I used those things as examples, what I talked about wasn’t limited to that. What I talk about
are principles of the Fa! The meanings behind them are countless, boundless, endless. However large this cosmos is, the Fa is no less. I’m just using human beings’ most mundane deeds, the plainest language, and the lowest forms—those of human beings—to teach this Fa. The point is
to allow you to understand and enlighten to its boundless and endless inner meanings. So make sure you
don’t read it selectively. You must read the Fa from start to finish with
nothing left out. Pay attention to this. Its continuity is highly beneficial
for your cultivation. The Fa has
continuity, so you can’t read it selectively like that.
Question: Is everything in a
practitioner’s environment conjured by Master?
Teacher: The surrounding
environment isn’t conjured. Everything that occurs around you during the course
of your cultivation is a result of prenatal karmic reasons, namely, it’s your
karmic retribution as well as rewards for your past good deeds. Everything is a
result of your goodness or badness. I utilize them to allow you to cultivate. They aren’t something I conjured. When you go
through some ordeal it’s true you are paying for karma, for
sure.
What a lot of students see in dreams or while they do the tranquil exercises
isn’t entirely conjured, either. Much of it is reality being displayed, only
you don’t see it
too clearly.
Question: Master, could you
please disclose a few things about your cultivation to those disciples who will
Consummate?
Teacher: You will know
things after you Consummate. I intended to share with
you my background. Given the present circumstances, though, it looks like
that’s becoming less possible. And why is this? It’s because, in the future people
won’t be allowed to know of my existence. So I don’t want to leave my story
behind for people. As for you, once you Consummate you will know. At that
point, words won’t be enough to describe the greatness of your master! (Applause)
I’ve given my utmost concern not just to you, but to all lives. I have almost depleted everything of mine for all lives. Of course, that kind
of depletion isn’t what you understand, where there is nothing left. I’ve often said that I have incorporated
into this Fa everything that can allow you to cultivate
and advance, and everything that you can
attain through cultivation. Although you are in
different realms, none of you can truly
understand the weight of my words. You will obtain everything so long as you
cultivate. But do you know how many things
of mine are incorporated into what you obtain? (Applause) Of course, I don’t want to talk about these things that
concern me. I just want to tell you that
you should cherish this undertaking that your Master is carrying out! You have
to do well in
cultivation. Don’t miss this chance.
Question: When can we get
Dafa translated by Westerners?
Teacher: Zhuan Falun will be available soon. The
French version will soon be sent to the publisher for printing and the English
version is already available. The German version is in bookstores now;
apparently a lot of bookstores have it. As for versions in other
languages, the Italian and Spanish ones are apparently being translated, and
the Russian one is available. That’s the case for
the Western
languages. And there are people translating it into still other languages.
Personally, I’m really concerned about this matter. Often the reason is that
conditions aren’t yet ripe in many regards. And there’s interference from different sources that you’re not aware of. So it’s been dragging on.
Question: Since xinxing cultivation is most important, why does Master still
mention cultivation levels and divine powers in the book?
Teacher: A lot of
questions are being raised by new students. At least read the book before you ask! Cultivation and a Buddha’s abilities are
inseparable. So I only speak of those
things in a general sense in terms of underlying truths
and
principles of Fa, and this allows you to
comprehend. I give one example to allow cultivators to
understand the rest—that’s the reason. It’s not that I ask you to not pursue those things but I go and tell you about them. Those things
can’t be separated from Buddha Fa cultivation. What
you pursue and the truths of the Fa that you should understand are two entirely different things; divine powers are a manifestation
of another aspect of Buddha Fa. Your inability to see the
extraordinariness of Buddha Fa’s divine powers results from
your reading the book with a human mindset. You’re just reading those things that you like. You don’t read, and even reject, what your human
thinking fails to grasp. That’s precisely why you can’t make progress.
Question: Why is
homosexuality considered immoral?
Teacher: Think about it,
everyone: Is homosexuality human behavior? Heaven created man and woman. What was the purpose? To procreate
future generations. A man being with a man, or a woman with a woman—it doesn’t take much thought to know whether that’s right or wrong. When minor things are
done incorrectly,
a person is said to be wrong. When major things are
done incorrectly,
it’s a case of people no longer having the
moral code of human beings, and then they are unworthy of
being human.
Let me tell you why today’s society has become how it is. It results from there not being an upright Fa to keep human
beings in check. This Dafa is taught right in the most chaotic environment, at
a time when no religion can save people, and where the circumstance is that no
god takes interest in people anymore. The Fa is
almighty. The best time periods wouldn’t require such a great Fa to be taught. Only in the worst
time periods can the power of the Fa manifest. There are other reasons, too.
Question: Why is it that
homosexuals are considered bad people?
Teacher: Let me tell you,
if I weren’t teaching this Fa today, gods’ first target of annihilation would be homosexuals. It’s not me who would destroy them, but gods. You know that
homosexuals have found legitimacy in that homosexuality was around back in the culture of
ancient
When gods created man they prescribed standards for human behavior and
living. When human beings overstep those boundaries, they are no longer called
human beings, though they still assume the outer appearance of a human. So gods
can’t tolerate their existence and will destroy
them. Do you know why wars, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters happen in this world? They’re precisely because human beings have karma, and those events exist to remove it. No matter how
wonderful a time period may be in the
future, there will still be wars, epidemics, and
natural and man-made disasters on earth. They
are a
way of eliminating karma for people. Some people who have sinned can have their
karma eliminated through the death of the flesh body and suffering, and then
they’ll be free of that karma when they reincarnate. Their lives don’t really die and they
reincarnate again. But the karma that some people have accrued is too much, in which case the fundamental
elements of their existence will be implicated and destroyed.
Homosexuals not only violate the standards that gods set for mankind, but also damage human society’s moral code. In particular, the impression it gives
children will turn future societies into something demonic. That’s the issue.
That kind of destruction, however, isn’t just about disappearing after they’re annihilated.
That person is annihilated layer after layer at a rate that seems pretty rapid to us, but in fact it’s extremely slow in that time
field. Over and over again, one is annihilated in an extremely painful way. It’s terribly frightening. A person should live in an upright manner, living honorably like a human
being. He shouldn’t indulge his demon-nature and do whatever he likes.
Question: I want to achieve
a Righteous Attainment. My goal is set at Arhat Status. I haven’t taken the initiative to help those who
have no karmic connection to me, and this includes spreading the Fa. Have I
done wrong?
Teacher: You have. That’s your human thinking at the surface. Do you know that
I have arranged good things for where each one of you should cultivate to, the
extent of your ability to endure, the amount of your virtue, and the level of your material foundation? You want to arrange for yourself
the path of cultivation, but that can’t hold, nor would anybody recognize it.
Why do you want to settle yourself at the Arhat level?
It’s because for now you can only understand the Fa to this extent. You have
many attachments that you’re unwilling to let go of.
It
can only be said that you’re thinking that way because
that’s how much you comprehend the Fa. In
the future, when you’ve understood the Fa at a higher level—when you’ve
increased the number of times you have read Dafa’s books—you will definitely
change how you think. You will feel that you shouldn’t have asked that
question, and at that point
you’ll feel embarrassed. Right now I can only tell you
that
it represents where you’re at right now, so I don’t blame you, but your conduct isn’t right. If you relax the demands on yourself, the
attachments you’re unwilling to break will make it hard for you to progress
diligently.
Question: I was quite
involved and diligent when I first took up this cultivation way. But not long ago, I suddenly had doubts about
Dafa. I’ve repeatedly made mistakes and haven’t been able to pass the tests. Is this thought-karma or demonic interference?
Teacher: Why do I ask you
to return to your origin and true self? What’s the purpose of returning to
your true self? It’s to return to what your true self is. Human beings have
many attachments, all kinds of notions, and a
range of emotions and desires. All these thoughts are in your head, yet none of them are you. I’ve said that
this door is wide open and that only your heart matters.
It’s just
up to a person’s heart whether he can cultivate, and whether he can still have the thought and intention of returning to his
origin
and true self. So I’m telling you that everything that interferes with your thinking might not be you. As for
some people who can’t forgo their self-interest while it is at stake among
everyday people, or those who can’t tell
which thoughts are theirs and which aren’t, and who even think that those bad
thoughts are theirs, we definitely won’t keep looking after them. Why? Because
those people have taken those bad thoughts to
be themselves, and yet these things of ours are not
to be given to those bad thoughts.
Question: In Zhuan Falun, it’s mentioned that great enlightened beings constructed the universe based on their own characteristics.
Teacher: Let me tell you,
a lot of people have read [and wondered about] this section. It refers to
things that happened in the universes of multiple realms in the vast cosmos that encompasses all universes. The cosmos is simply vast. What I was
discussing wasn’t about the entire cosmos. Great enlightened beings at different
levels of the cosmos enlighten to the different truths of the cosmos’s Dafa,
and even what great enlightened beings of the same
level enlighten to is different. When some universes of different sizes within
the vast cosmos start showing signs of degeneration, great
enlightened beings who have enlightened to a high level and to righteous laws will
construct a new universe at that level. This doesn’t refer to the greater, tremendously vast cosmos that encompasses countless layers of
universes.
Question: In the article
“Dialogue with Time,” a god is mentioned. How should we understand the concept
of a god and how it differs from a Buddha or Dao? What relation does it have to
the primeval gods?
Teacher: All those in the
cosmos who have abilities surpassing those of ordinary human beings are gods. The microscopic, yet immense beings that permeate the air are
countless and formless gods, that’s the idea. Gods are in a variety of realms
and are of varied kinds. Aren’t Buddhas gods? Aren’t Daos gods? Collectively they are known as gods. It’s only that
they each have their own cultivation features and appearance. Plus they’ve formed their own unique things. So one is called a Dao, one is called a Buddha, and the other is called a God.
Everything in the universe has thought and life. Could you say they aren’t gods? The time in any dimension strictly delimits the changes that occur in all
substances of that dimension. Could you say time isn’t a god? It knows the thoughts of
all lives within the range of its control. If it wants to speak, it can speak;
if it wants to assume a human form, it can do that. Wouldn’t you say it’s a god? Human beings think that
time is just a concept. The sun rises and sets, people mark off some points
and put some numbers on a clock—and that’s supposed to be time. That, along with the
rising and setting of the sun, is how time is
expressed in the society of ordinary people. But I can tell
you, even the rising and setting of the sun and
Earth’s
orbiting around the sun are
delimited
and arranged—without deviation—by this dimension’s time.
Question: I’m determined to
achieve Consummation. Once Teacher stops
teaching the Fa, will I still be protected by Teacher’s Law Bodies?
Teacher: I’ve actually
stopped teaching the Fa. The period of my systematically teaching the Fa has
passed. Now I’m just here to participate in
the Fa conference and answer some questions for
you while I’m here. The assistance center coordinators always want me to talk about more profound things and tell you a little more. My teaching
the Fa was most important before. Today, it’s your
cultivation and improvement that are most important.
How could
there be no Law Bodies looking after you? When my Law Bodies no longer look after you, you will have reached Consummation.
Question: Some new students
who
have just obtained the Fa really want to hear and watch the audio
and videotapes of Teacher’s Fa-speeches in
Teacher: There is now a
book of my Fa-speeches from when I first went to the
Question: My wife and I both
practice Dafa. A few months ago, one after another, the two of us each dreamed
of an extremely beautiful large bird. The bird
disappeared after it entered my body, whereas my
wife heard birdcalls. What did it signify?
Teacher: It’s just a bird. In your reincarnations lifetime after lifetime, even a
god who comes down from a very high level can reincarnate as a human being in
one lifetime and as an animal in another. That’s
how
it is in the human world. The first thing
you see at the beginning stage of your cultivation is probably your original
form or an image of the earliest place you ever were. It could be in the form
of a human, an animal, or this or that. Birds in the heavens are deities, too.
Question: Can cultivators
take nutritional supplements?
Teacher: You haven’t read the book, you simply have
not read the book. Think about it, everyone: A cultivator’s body couldn’t develop gong if it were sick. That is, your impure body wouldn’t be suitable for cultivation. When you
cultivate your body needs to be cleansed to the point of absolute purity, and
only then can it start to develop gong.
So I’ve said that we don’t do
healing. But I will cleanse true cultivators’ bodies, and that
kind of body is free of illness. We intend to attain the kind of body found in
a Buddha’s realm. Can you attain that
by taking nutritional supplements? Definitely not. So why take them? It’s not
like that stuff is something delicious and worth sampling for its delicate flavor. We make your body
purer and purer during the course of cultivation so as to have it gradually reach the most natural and optimum condition. That’s something taking
medicine can’t achieve. Aren’t you still
doubtful about cultivation if you
take medicine or ingest supplements? You simply
are
not seeing yourself as a cultivator. Isn’t that the reason? If you don’t
see yourself as a cultivator, how could we? Makes
sense, right? Whether it be Chinese herbal medicine or
Western medicine, it’s medicine all the same, for sure. Your goal is simply to have a
healthy body, but our cultivation achieves
something well beyond that. I’ve described how these things work. So how do you think it should be handled?
Question: We are disciples
who’ve come from
Teacher: I didn’t want to
let even the five of you come. Why? As I just said, before my teaching the Fa
was most important, while today your cultivation and improvement are most
important. Put your mind entirely on cultivation and cultivate steadily and
solidly—that’s what is key. With the heart unsteady, wanting to find me,
wishing to listen to my talks on Fa, chasing me everywhere… that doesn’t
benefit your cultivation at all, not in the least. When the Fa conference was
to be held in
Question: My husband has
never done the exercises, although he has read Zhuan Falun once and watched videos of Master’s Fa
speeches. But his Third Eye has opened and he can even do Remote Viewing.
Teacher: That’s because of his predestination. His spiritual foundation might be quite good, which caused his Third Eye to open as soon as he read the book. As for whether he studies it or whether he cultivates, everyone in this complicated society has become extremely complex. Before each of you here in the audience came to the human world, sometime in the past the seeds for you to obtain the Fa today were sown in the depths of your heart and soul. I have looked for and found you many times in human society and conferred markings on you. All of these things play a strong role, yet none of them can lessen your human attachments. And none of them can make you feel the way you did back when you encountered the Fa: “Oh, I’ve waited so many years. I’ve come just to obtain it.” A lot of people no longer have that feeling, and it results in their cultivating on and off and not being diligent. Some people who are predestined and have obtained the Fa still can’t discard their attachments. There are all kinds of scenarios. Once the predestination ends, it’s over.
Question: Master, when you
talked about the srivatsa[4]
symbol, you said, “A Buddha whose level is twice as high as a Tathagata has two
srivatsa symbols.” Were you referring to the height
of a person’s gong column being twice
as high as a Tathagata’s?
Teacher: I was referring to a person’s xinxing and mighty virtue. Gong is just a manifestation of that. It’s fine to understand it as a person’s gong column, too. But it will have to be the gong column after a person Consummates. That is to say, the height of the gong column after Consummation has to be double that of a Tathagata’s. The gong column developed in the cultivation process doesn’t count. That’s because it’s not yet finalized, for other parts of you haven’t yet Consummated. So it’s just a form of energy’s existence. Yet from a certain vantage point it does represent your level and xinxing while cultivating.
Question: During the
Teacher: I use a single hand toward my disciples. But there’s one thing: When I see everyone’s pure hearts and that they’re advancing diligently and continually, I’m really happy, and then I like to use both hands. Under normal circumstances a Master uses a single hand toward his disciples.
Question: I’ve heard that
when a person can recite Zhuan Falun, he can forever carry Dafa with his main
soul (zhu yuanshen), regardless of whether he Consummates.
Teacher: Who’d be willing
to just remember the Fa but not Consummate? Why do you memorize the book? Isn’t
it for reaching Consummation? Memorizing Zhuan
Falun helps you improve, since both the microscopic part of your body and
the human part at the outermost surface are memorizing it together. But no
matter how you memorize it—and this goes even for people who’ve memorized it
very well—at a certain time you will suddenly find that you can’t recite it.
Why? It’s that the main part of you, the part that memorized it, separates from
you after it has met the standard. You suddenly feel like, “Oh, how come I
can’t recite it anymore?” That’s because the part that is up to par has been separated,
and the human surface can no longer recite the whole thing, for it has
forgotten it. Some forget a lot, some forget less. This kind of situation does
occur.
Many of you have experienced a situation where periodically you hear
well or periodically your Third Eye sees things clearly. When can a person see
clearly or see the best? It’s when he is cultivating really well in a given
stage, while the separation hasn’t occurred and he’s just about to meet the
standard. He can see clearly, hear sharply with his ears, and his body is
sensitive. Once the separation takes place he finds that he’s lost that state,
and he’ll think, “Is it because I’ve dropped down? How come things aren’t as
good?” It’s not that you have dropped down. It’s that the part of you that has
finished cultivation has been separated, and what’s left is the part that
hasn’t yet finished cultivation and that should keep being cultivated. So
you’ll be sensitive from time to time. That’s how it is. This only happens when
practicing Dafa.
Question: Is it that as you
cultivate to higher levels, you sleep less?
Teacher: That’s not the
case. It’s related to the changes and elevation of the particles intrinsic to
your thoughts. But it does happen periodically. The matter I just talked about
also involves this factor. At the surface you will return to the normal state
when the well-cultivated part of you is separated from you. That’s what you
will experience all the way until you Consummate. All of this allows you to
live like regular people. Yet your human side will become weaker and weaker.
And if you hold yourself to high standards, perhaps you will conduct yourself
among ordinary people better and better. That’s the way it is.
Question: Time is pressing,
but I still can’t sit in the full-lotus position. How can I do better?
Teacher: Don’t be
anxious. Nobody is saying time isn’t adequate. I have never said anything like
there isn’t enough time. I ask that you hurry up cultivating, and you should
just focus on practicing. But that said, you should know that you need to have
strict requirements for yourself—that’s what I mean. Anyway, those who
absolutely can’t fold their legs into position are very, very rare. There are
some whose souls (yuanshen) in the
heavens don’t assume a human being’s appearance but that of other gods, who
don’t fold their legs in the lotus position. Maybe that factor is involved. But
since you have a human body, a flesh body today, I believe all of you can fold
your legs into position, except for the extremely unique ones. I’ll put it in a
lighthearted way. Of those seated here, many people really have cultivated
quite well. Those Bodhisattvas in the heavens are covering their mouths and
laughing at those of you who can’t put your legs up, saying “Look at that those
cultivators who still can’t put their legs up.”
Question: Could Master
please talk about the concept of attachments?
Teacher: What’s the
reason people can’t see the truth of the universe? Why is this dimension
deluding? Let me tell everyone: Among ordinary people, what you see and what
you come into contact with in the dimension of ordinary human society, along
with the knowledge learned among ordinary people, these all limit you and
confine you. When your knowledge of this dimension accumulates, when your understanding
of everything in this dimension becomes clearer and clearer, and when you
seemingly become more and more aware, you are actually closing yourself off
more and more. What you consider the truth in this dimension of ordinary human
beings could well be, in reality, wrong or the opposite. So you won’t see the
truth of the universe if you don’t let go of those understandings from the
society of ordinary people. Especially those things that we as human beings
can’t relinquish for purposes of survival, for protecting ourselves, or for
benefiting for ourselves more, I call them all attachments. Those attachments
are just like a big, sturdy padlock that locks you in. You have to open every
padlock as you progress on your path. If you don’t, they will lock you in and
delude you, and you won’t see the truth. And, if you fail to open those locks
while on the path that returns you to your origin and true self, you won’t be
able to continue forward. That’s what a test is. Everything you are attached to
is your obstacle. These tests that you come across in cultivation are in fact
your own hardships. The point of my utilizing them is to open the locks of your
attachments, to allow you to see the truth, and to have your mind elevate.
Question: How should we
understand discarding all attachments?
Teacher: It means letting
go of the attachments that can’t be released in the ordinary human dimension,
because the way you cultivate today is different from all past ways. I knew
that many, many people would come to learn it, and a social phenomenon would
emerge. Even more people will learn it in the future. Then this social
phenomenon that emerges—the masses that cultivate—will have a great influence
on society. If everybody were to cultivate with his abilities unlocked and everyone
were to go around doing supernormal things, the entire face of society would
change. And then instead of resembling a human society it would resemble one of
deities. That can’t happen. Since human society is just the way it is, we take
advantage of this environment and cultivate in it. Not only do we not disturb
this environment, but at the same time we need to conform to it as we
cultivate. That’s because you would have no way to cultivate if you didn’t
conform to this environment. The approach we’ve adopted today is like that. Now
there are over 100 million people practicing Dafa. It wouldn’t work if they all
left their homes to become Christian or Buddhist monks. There will be even more
people in the future. What would happen to this society? Who would feed you if
everyone came to cultivate? It wouldn’t work. So we should conform as much as
possible to the society of ordinary people. We’re utilizing this kind of
societal form of ordinary humans to cultivate, so we have to conform.
You all need to have a job, an environment, even a family, and plenty
of relatives in the society of ordinary people. Every aspect of these things is
a reflection of our ability to conform to the conventions of ordinary people’s
society. At the same time, they create good opportunities for us to cultivate
and they provide us with an environment for cultivation, for you are
cultivating among ordinary people. Then, since you’re cultivating among
ordinary people, we conform as much as possible
to the way of ordinary people’s society in regards to dealing with material
items or material possessions. But there’s one point to make: You are not the same as other people. Since you are cultivators your hearts and minds aren’t attached to those
things. You can have a lot of money, a family, property—you can have lots
of things. But you need to let go of the attachment to them. That’s your way of cultivation.
The total abandonment that
we’re discussing here doesn’t mean you have to give up material things for it
to count as letting go. On the contrary, if you give up every material thing
but in your heart and mind you haven’t released them, if you’re reluctant to part with them, if you’re not able to sever
them, or if you’re even thinking
about them often and letting that affect your cultivation sometimes, then I’d say that’s not letting go but being forced to
let go. So, superficially taking material items lightly is a formality. As I
see it, the real reason one can ascend by way of cultivation is because the
human heart and mind undergo a change. Only when a person’s heart and realm of
thought have reached the standard has he truly ascended in cultivation. We take
material things very lightly. It doesn’t matter whether you have them or not.
What’s critical is whether you can let go of the attachment and whether you can elevate—that’s what is most crucial. Moreover, our
entire cultivation form is arranged for cultivating among ordinary people, and
this allows you to progress diligently while not having your gong regress. All of the arrangements,
in every regard, conform to this form of cultivation that we have today. So when I first started to teach the Fa years ago, the gods were saying
that this is a “Fa of High Virtue.” They felt that it
is really good.
Question: Should the methods
of spreading Dafa be adjusted to suit Europeans?
Teacher: It’s great for a
cultivator who has obtained the Fa to have this aspiration and think about how
to spread it and allow more people to learn it. Regardless of whether it’s in
So as for how to spread it and the
methods of spreading it, actually, the best way is for our students to do the exercises in public areas
so that those who are predestined can find them. Another is to have our Dafa
books be available in the bookstores of various ethnicities and countries. I
have countless Law Bodies who can instantly
see who is predestined and who is supposed to obtain the Fa. If we have books
in bookstores and our students are doing the
exercises in parks, Law Bodies can find the
predestined
ones and bring them to look for this Fa. Some
challenges will arise if we lack this type of environment. But no matter the method used, a predestined person will find the book and think it’s
good when he reads it. Since he’s predestined he will definitely think it’s
good and seek it out, and, since there are those of us doing the exercises in the parks, he’ll find us right away. Since the
time I first started teaching the Fa a lot of people have obtained it that way. But there are still many people who heard about it from our students. They thought it was really good and
told their family members to come learn
it.
If they felt that it wasn’t good, they definitely wouldn’t have told their
family to come get duped. It was precisely
because they felt it was good that they told their family members to come
learn. Then their family felt it was good, and they told other friends and
relatives to come learn. People are
strongly impacted when students themselves talk about their personal experiences and how
they feel. They wouldn’t lie to their own family members, nor would they lie to their friends.
So
their friends believe it. And if they then believe it, they’ll come learn it too, and they’ll have their own experiences. That’s how Dafa spreads.
But that said, there is a small
number of people who obtained the Fa from seeing articles that our
students placed in newspapers or magazines. I said yesterday that I don’t
object to obtaining the Fa that way. But what problems might come up in this scenario?
It’s that not only the highest type of men will come, but the lowest, too. So
the people who come will have different goals and many different states of
mind, and that is why some people
practice for some time and then leave. They could well
be among the lower type of men. Maybe they don’t want to obtain it, or they’re not supposed to obtain it. That’s often the case. And it’s a good thing for students to write articles themselves or put information in newspapers. I don’t object to that, since after all, it does help
predestined people to come—superior people will see the newspaper and come.
That’s why it can be effective. But there are only
two mainstream methods: One is that we have books in bookstores and that we
have practice sites, so Law Bodies can take people to find
them; the other is Fa conferences and our students sharing their experiences
with family. It’s mainly with these two methods that more people come, and
their quality is high. As for adopting other methods, be they Eastern or
Western, I think those are still the two main methods. People in many regions
at the initial stage don’t yet have an understanding of Falun Gong, so we introduce it to people by writing
articles in newspapers or magazines and such. Of course that too spreads the Fa, to be sure.
Question: I’m Caucasian. When
you come across a test, do you take it or let it go?
Teacher: “When you…” That’s referring to me, right? There’s something I’d like to tell you all. It’s a
very
good question. I think it’s time to clarify something for everybody.
I can tell you that today, no matter how many people are practicing Dafa or how many students or disciples I have, you
are all cultivators. Nobody is an exception. So you’re all cultivating. Whether you’re cultivating well or poorly,
diligently or not, or your level is high or not, all of
you
have to hold yourselves to strict requirements as you cultivate and treat
yourselves as cultivators. I, however, am
not here to cultivate. You need to be clear on this distinction. I don’t have
my own ordeals, nor do I have cultivation factors like yours. There’s a point I
want to make: I’m taking you as my disciples, so I am offering
you
salvation, I’m saving and transforming you. So from this you can tell I’m
different from you. You need to treat all of the troubles you encounter as
cultivation, because they are definitely cultivation. But if trouble occurs for
me, that’s a disruption and harming of Fa. Why should it be looked at that way?
This cosmos is primordial. The purpose of my doing this is Fa-rectification.
All of the cosmos’ beings have strayed from the Fa, so they have to be
rectified with Fa. What I often say to you is that
this is something one doesn’t come
across
even in thousands of years. To teach the Dafa
of the whole cosmos in the human world, a Fa that even
gods weren’t aware of before, that’s something which
has never happened in all of creation.
Lives have become increasingly impure over endless historical ages, and
everything is deviating. If it continues like this for long, even the most
fundamental base of Zhen,
Shan, Ren will deviate. That’s
incredibly horrible. But I cherish the lives in the cosmos. I wish to preserve the original lives as much
as possible and to avert the process of elimination. That wish came
forth, and so I came. (Applause) Since I’ve come here, I come in a manner such that I’m bringing with me
everything that is most original, most wonderful, and of the beginning of
time—which is more perfect. You know that the
Falun rotates. The Falun you see is just a superficial form of the Falun. It also has a Fa side that you can’t
see. It’s constantly rotating and has an automatic repair mechanism, returning
everything to its most original and optimum state. From the microscopic level
to the surface, all matter and all lives are like this, with everything
turning and in motion. I have created
and restored all of this. What’s more, it’s continually perfecting and
harmonizing. There’s no question of cultivation for me. In doing this
undertaking, what I need to resolve is the obstructive effect of the evil
forces that formed after the universe’s lives became impure. At the same time,
there is the challenge presented to me by the karma created by all beings in human society. I often say that I know why Jesus
was crucified by people, why Shakyamuni had to undergo Nirvana,
and why Lao Zi hastily departed, leaving behind a book of five thousand words.
Say a person came to the world and has
reincarnated lifetime after lifetime. You have no idea how many lives and how many lifetimes you’ve been
through. But in each and every lifetime
you have accrued many debts to others and done much wrong. Some people came from various levels and have reincarnated onto this earth. They did
wrong things as they were descending step by step, which is to say they’ve
spent time in some high-level dimensions. Why couldn’t they remain in those
dimensions? It’s because over there they again
did bad things and descended further; they did bad things
again and descended even further. So the debts accrued from doing wrong in the heavens were owed to gods.
The gods in the heavens won’t allow a human
being to return to the heavens! Without a Master to teach you, without a master
looking after you, you could never return no matter how great your abilities.
After coming to the earth it’s forever impossible to return if you aren’t taken care of by
the kind of master who truly saves people. That’s
because
even if you could really pay for the karma of the human world, you still
couldn’t pay for what is owed in the heavens. Jesus wanted to save people and
had great mercy, so he ignored all of that. He then had to undo those
hard-to-undo karmic knots that were tied onto people. Yet in this universe
there’s a law that states: “Those who don’t lose, don’t gain; to gain, you must lose; what is owed
must be repaid.” That’s absolute, it’s an absolute
and
eternal law. Accordingly, if you release a person from it, who will pay for his debts? So those accounts or all of those debts naturally fell on Jesus.
“You
untied it for them, then you pay for it on their behalf.”
All of the knots that couldn’t be undone, everything that was owed, and the things that those people being saved simply had no way
to free themselves from, all of it was fastened onto Jesus since he was on the
earth. There were karmic debts from all different levels; meaning, they weren’t
only from here, among humans. What extent did it finally reach? The more people
he saved, the more knots he carried. He simply had no
way to free himself, nor did he have the energy to do those things. The knots couldn’t be untied. So in the end, Jesus saved those people,
but his own human body couldn’t be freed. Jesus thus had no choice but to
abandon this body to pay the karmic debts for them. A lot of lives’ karma as well as great hatred all landed on
Jesus. “Alright, I will pay them for all believers.” He was crucified and died an agonizing death. All
knots were bound to his flesh body,
and with the death of his flesh body they were released. Jesus
was freed the moment that body was cast off. That’s why
Jesus had to be crucified, and why people say Jesus suffered
for people. That’s the reason.
You’ve all seen that many people have come to learn this Fa. In the future there will be even more. You know, for you to cultivate, those things need to be done by the master. But I’m different from them, for whether it be
Jesus or Shakyamuni, they are, after all, enlightened
beings of a small scale. I’m not inside the cosmos, so
I can resolve problems of the lives at different levels and in different cosmic
bodies of the cosmos. I said that saving human
beings isn’t my true goal, but they are one
level of beings that’s included—they are a level of life that I wish to save.
In fact, I myself don’t have any ordeals, I’m not
cultivating. The troubles I encounter rarely manifest here on the ordinary
human side, but there are those that do manifest here, and most of them aren’t
known to you. The reason I can free myself from this problem is that I’m not
within it. I won’t be like them, unable to disentangle myself. I can
disentangle myself, but the difficulty is extremely great, it’s something none
of you beings can imagine. I can give up to the greatest extent possible
everything of mine, and that is why I can resolve all
of it. (Applause)
By the way, let me further emphasize something
related to the question that was just
raised. There are often some students who accompany me, by my side, and in each
region there are some people in
charge—center coordinators or others in charge. You need to understand
something: Everything you run into is about dealing with hardships. Yet you cannot
represent Master. When it comes to any matter in which you know I’ve
participated, you have to consider the matter from my perspective. That’s
something you’ve neglected before. Troubles created
for me are damage directed at this Fa. So it’s completely different from your passing through your hardships.
It’s definitely not that your master is cultivating or that your
master is passing tests. It really is damage directed at the Fa and the cosmos, so they can’t be equated.
Be clear on this. When I handle problems, I
treat them as real demons, but you cannot! Everything you encounter is directly related to your
cultivation. So you always need to treat it as cultivation
and find reasons inside yourself. These are completely different.
Question: It seems very hard
for Europeans to enter tranquility. Why?
Teacher: Actually, it’s
the same for Asians and Europeans. A
person who can reach true tranquility while cultivating
in ordinary people’s society is really at a high
level.
Since you have a job in the
society of ordinary people and you have to attend to ordinary human affairs of
every sort, so as you sit there, you don’t
want to think about anything, but those things will
affect your mind to
the point that you think about them unwittingly. That’s why you can’t become
tranquil. In cultivation we’re constantly improving ourselves and
getting rid of attachments. As your attachments become less and less, you will
find that you naturally become more and more serene, more and more serene. It
reflects your level. It’s not realistic
to expect that you reach tranquility right from the outset. No method can achieve that, except for
cases where you have extremely special
circumstances; such persons’ human sides are
really weak and the other side is really strong.
They’re in a state of being partly enlightened, partly not. Those are extremely special people who can achieve a certain degree of tranquility, and it mainly owes to
their godly side taking effect, not their human side. Apart from cases like
that, others can’t possibly on day one reach the point where they can become
tranquil. So there is no difference for different races, it’s the same for Europeans and Asians.
Don’t be anxious if you can’t become tranquil. So long as your body is
comfortable and relaxed when you do the
exercises, just try your best to restrain yourself from
thinking all over the place. If you really can’t stop your mind from wandering,
then let it be, and treat those unbridled
thoughts as someone else: “Go ahead and
think. I’ll watch you think.” That’s also an approach. At least you can clearly distinguish that it’s
not you, and that is really
precious. Or, you restrain it and don’t let it think, in which case you’ve achieved what a
cultivator is able to do. After the body is relaxed, one enters the optimum
state for transformation and refinement. But what if your mind can’t calm down and you
can’t achieve the best state for transformation and
refinement? You know, our cultivation begins from the microscopic level, so the microscopic side of us is tranquil. Starting from there, as that side becomes increasingly
tranquil and is cultivated better and
better, what’s
on the
surface will be restrained and grow weaker all the
time. The surface is worse [than before], but it’s weaker. That’s the relationship. A lot of you have cultivated
for a long time and find that there are still bad thoughts in your minds. You can
suppress them if you want to. That’s because even
though they’re getting worse and worse, and more of them are surfacing, they’re
getting weaker since they no longer have roots.
Question: How do we Western
practitioners tell what’s right, and how should we lead our lives? Should we let things happen
naturally?
Teacher: I’ll tell you
what I think. Under different
circumstances I’ve talked about letting things happen naturally. I haven’t told you to let things happen naturally with regard to everything. When you work in
a company, your boss pays you. If you’re
muddleheaded with your work, you let things happen
naturally, and you don’t work hard, then you really
don’t deserve the pay. We should be good persons wherever we are. I’m saying that “letting things happen naturally” should be applied according to the situation. In cultivation we follow the natural course of events, but we still
have to make an effort to repress the bad
side of ourselves and we still need to work hard at cultivation—doing
otherwise is not called “letting things happen naturally.” This is in fact
how all of you have been cultivating. We know well that in cultivation we are to actively cultivate ourselves, and that in our everyday lives we need to conform as much
as possible to the ways of ordinary people’s
society. So you have
to separate your everyday human job from your cultivation—you definitely should draw a
distinction between them. Work is work, and cultivation is cultivation. But
there is one thing: Because you’re a cultivator, the high standards you hold yourself to will be reflected in your work,
in
society, at home, and in different
social environments. In other words, you’re always a
good person no matter where you are, and others will all say that you’re a good
person. That’s how they go together. The idea of letting
things happen naturally isn’t like what people said in the past, where a person would no longer care about anything and would just
sit there as though he’d left the secular world; a person who did that was thought to be “letting things happen
naturally.” That’s not how it is—that’s definitely not the idea.
If you encounter certain troubles, I think
that
as cultivators you
have
to first examine yourselves: “Is it because I
myself didn’t do well in some regard?” If each of you
cultivators can’t do this, you will have no way to make
progress.
So when any one of you encounters any troubles,
you have to always examine yourself first: “Is it that I did something that wasn’t quite right?” I often talk about a principle: Everything in the universe is in
harmony; if you do something wrong
yourself, it will create a kink, a discordance with others, and everything around you will seem
to be out of sorts. And interpersonal relations will become tense. At that
point, look inside yourself for the reasons and
correct your mistake. You will find that everything becomes harmonious and right
again. I don’t think we should argue with others about things. If trouble really
befalls you and it looks like somebody is wronging to you, I think it
could well be that you, a cultivator, owed it from a previous
lifetime. Endure it (ren) and let it go. Even an ordinary person knows that two people will leave upset after
they have a clash; friction arises and the two get entangled. When the friction
persists for a long time it will get
increasingly harder to resolve, and in the end they’ll become enemies. But we
are able to tolerate it, disregard it, and take a step back. In
Question: How can we know
our own level?
Teacher: Subjectively
speaking, I’m extremely reluctant to let you know your level at the beginning.
For a person to melt into such an immense Fa…
I’ll
give an example. It’s like if a wood chip or a piece of sawdust were to drop
into a blast furnace of molten steel: instantly you’d lose sight of it. As you
melted into such an immense Fa, your body’s karma,
thought karma, and all kinds of things would be gone in an instant. If we were
to do it entirely that way, it would be the same as your not having cultivated and it would be equivalent to my having re-created
life. It wouldn’t count as you having cultivated. So we can’t do it that way.
We need to have you cultivate yourselves and change yourselves. This Fa is immense. During the course of your cultivation,
as long as you take yourself to be a cultivator, cultivate steadily and firmly,
and keep reading the book, you will continually ascend and improve. Add to that
our supplementary method—performing the exercises—and your rate of improvement is very fast. It’s the
fastest way to cultivate.
If at the start I let you to know your level, you wouldn’t be able to handle yourself: “Whoa! I’m extraordinary! I’ve already
gotten this far in cultivation!” Suppose I let you
see the real changes that have occurred around your own body, think about it:
Since you carry emotions, desires, and all
kinds of attachments of ordinary people, wouldn’t your heart be swayed? I can’t
let you know too soon, for your ordinary
human thoughts are still quite strong. It’s
because
I want to ensure that you constantly elevate at the
fastest speed in your cultivation. When a superior person hears the Dao, he
will achieve Consummation simply by way of enlightening.
That’s the most admirable. And it’s the most rapid—it really is the most rapid.
We have some disciples whose situations are different, so some people
cultivate with their abilities unlocked and some are in
a
half-locked state. They can see, and some can
even see quite clearly and know
everything. Those are exceptional cases. Most people cultivate with their
abilities locked. Just focus on reading the book
and cultivating, and you will be constantly improving yourself and continually
enlightening to heaven’s secrets. The laws and
principles of the Fa are themselves enough to fill you with confidence. Of course, people in today’s society have been too deeply deluded by all kinds of false, so-called “realities” of the society of ordinary
people, and they are too strongly attached. It’s
just too hard for them to break out. They often struggle in choosing between
the Fa and their attachments to self-interest. A person would even rather give
up the Fa than give up his attachments. These
things are hard to determine, as today’s
society has come to this stage where people no longer know their true nature or
the standards for human beings.
Bad as it is, however, it provides us with the best environment for
cultivating. Isn’t it that the more complicated the environment, the more it
can forge highly accomplished
cultivators? That’s the principle. Many masters of qigong appeared in
Visible suffering that’s on the surface doesn’t count for much. What’s really excruciating is the
suffering that happens when you’re severing and breaking attachments—that is when it hurts most.
So this complicated environment provides the best conditions
and
allows you to cultivate to high levels. Conversely, the power of this Dafa can
only be revealed in these most adverse of situations. This Dafa wouldn’t be necessary were everything good in
a society. And Fa-rectification wouldn’t be needed in a good environment. It
would be enough to just have Jesus’ and Shakyamuni’s
Tathagata-level Fa in the world. But why have religions now entered the Age of
Law’s End, wherein none of them can still save people? People even dare to
curse Buddha, and statues of Jesus are
even stepped on and urinated on. In this age, asking
people to learn the Fa of [such Tathagatas] or saving
them with those Fa wouldn’t do the job.
Question: I really want to
cultivate, but how can I stop doubting Dafa?
Teacher: What I’ve told
you is that everyone in the society of ordinary people
will
acquire many, many notions in his mind after birth and absorb
“knowledge” from the false realities of ordinary people’s society, which delude
him even worse here. The many notions
and set ideas formed in your mind are all factors
that block your gaining the Fa. Aren’t those doubts that arise in your mind caused by your assessing the Fa with what you’ve learned from ordinary people’s realities? Isn’t that how those doubts surfaced? Definitely. In other
words, you are assessing the Fa by using notions formed from ordinary human
knowledge and ordinary human thoughts. Aren’t ordinary human beings at the
lowest level? Aren’t ordinary people lost in illusion? What can they possibly
have that can be compared to the truth of the universe? Nothing. Then again, this Dafa of ours is taught in the lowest, ordinary human manner using human language—the lowest form
of expression. So [Dafa] seems as though it
too is superficial. But as long as you keep on studying
it
you will find that it becomes ever more profound. The more you study
it,
the more it becomes too deep to measure and too distant to reach. Ordinary
human knowledge, on the other hand, doesn’t have that kind of profound content. You’re making a huge mistake if you take all of the disbelief and doubts you have to be
your own thoughts. Those are notions formed after birth among ordinary people.
You’re thinking that they are you, yourself, but
they’re not you.
Question: My Third Eye had
opened before I started the practice. I make my living by fortune-telling. Do I have to give up my job?
Teacher: If you didn’t cultivate and
were to remain an ordinary human, I wouldn’t be against it. I’m teaching the Fa to
cultivators to enable them to cultivate. I’m
not trying to get everyone to come practice Dafa. If you think you can cultivate, then do it. Otherwise, don’t. Perhaps in man’s
future society there will still exist these side-path practices like
fortune-telling, fengshui,[5] and even the healing of illness using
certain methods. It’s possible all of them will exist. They have always existed
worldwide since
ancient times. But in the time ahead the things you, as a cultivator, will see will
be of higher and higher realms, and the power of your words will become greater and greater.
Problems will arise when you tell other people their fortunes. Sometimes things in the human world are not fixed; they might not turn out a certain way. Then if a person believes what you say, and firmly believes it, it will
reinforce that likelihood. Once you have energy, it’s possible that your words might cause an element that isn’t
fixed to become fixed, resulting in something that wasn’t originally supposed to happen. What you see isn’t the
real situation; there exist other karmic reasons. Yet you will have fixed it when you speak of it. In this case, you might have done a bad thing. And
karma of this sort is something extra that you have added to your cultivation. Your trials and tribulations are in front of you here, and you have to pass
each and every one of
them.
You won’t be able
to pass
the extra tribulations that you add on. If you do something that has a great
impact or seriously bad consequences,
you won’t be able to pass the ordeal and cultivate. So cultivators emphasize cultivation of speech. Yet
you failed badly to meet that
requirement. If you directly tell others what you see, you are divulging heaven’s secrets, and you are casually and irresponsibly telling them to ordinary people. How could
that be okay? That’s even less acceptable.
Also, let me tell you that the great majority of fortune-tellers have
external factors that play a role, apart from their individual factors. So it’s a frightening thing. That’s really frightening for a living being! In
that case there’s no way to
cultivate. I’m just telling people the principles of the matter—I’m not against ordinary people doing that. If you want to cultivate,
I have to tell you about it and I have to be responsible to
you. If you do that, it will do
nothing but harm to you. That said, you’re sure to think, “So how am I to make a living?” I’m simply teaching the Dao, teaching the Fa, to cultivators. If you can
cultivate, then cultivate. I can only discuss it this way. I have to be responsible to
you. On the other hand,
it will be ensured that you, a Dafa disciple, can make a
living, which is the way it should be.
Question: How can I get rid of my fear?
Teacher: Fear is an
attachment, too. It’s a matter of whether your will is strong. You should overcome it. Some
people say, “I fall
asleep whenever
I do the exercises.” That too is something you
need to overcome with your own will. Although it’s not a demon, it can have a demonic effect on
cultivators. It will effect you if you can’t conquer it.
Question: I can never feel
the Falun spinning in my lower abdomen.
Teacher: Not everyone can
feel it. Some people are so sensitive that they feel it as soon as the energy
moves: “Wow! It’s so strong!” Some people still don’t feel anything when earth-shaking things happen in their bellies. Each
person’s bodily condition is different. Don’t judge the height of a person’s level according to what he feels. Be sure not to judge it based on feelings.
Question: Will my Third Eye never be opened?
Teacher: Are you pursuing
it? If it weren’t to open even when you succeeded in cultivation, then I think something would be wrong. What you mean is, “Won’t it be opened in the course of cultivation?” If you pursue it, if you
have that kind of thought—even just
slightly—you won’t be
allowed to see. And even when you do have
the ability to see, you won’t be allowed to see, since that attachment you have
hasn’t been eliminated. So you need to
get rid of that attachment and ignore it. Then see what happens.
Caucasian students are different from Asian students because the cultural origins of the
East—particularly of
Question: How does one
spread the Fa to monks and nuns?
Teacher: I often think
about monks and nuns. I’ve been especially concerned about them the past couple years. Be it Shakyamuni or Jesus, those great enlightened beings founded their own cultivation ways which disciples carry on. They’re considered Buddha system disciples, after all, so I
have been thinking
about
them. But the Age of Law’s End has come to this point, and there really aren’t
many people in religions who truly wish to cultivate. I’ve found a problem: Many monks and
nuns are upholding religions, rather than upholding Gods and Buddhas.
Their minds aren’t on
cultivation but fully
on preserving
the formalities of religion, and this attachment has resulted in a serious
obstacle for them. Also, some people think that beyond the religious forms there is no Buddha Fa, but only wicked practices and
crooked ways. It’s one of the biggest factors that seriously blocks them from obtaining the Fa. Still
though, there are those who genuinely think things through and can truly evaluate everything based on reasoning, and such people are extraordinary. They read my book, and
after they finish reading they know what this is, for people all have Buddha-nature within. It works just like electricity: When the two electrodes make contact, “Bam!”—they connect. If
they didn’t have Buddha-nature they wouldn’t connect, they couldn’t strike up those sparks, and electricity
wouldn’t be conducted. So some monks and nuns are different, and I think they are truly remarkable
since they know that their reason for leaving the secular world is to cultivate. On the other hand, some people don’t have that
righteous a mind. Of course, I won’t say much more about religious things, I’m just talking about it in passing. You can talk to them if you are their lay
patron, friend, or
relative. If they want to cultivate, they will. And if they
don’t want to cultivate, let them be. We really shouldn’t drag people: “Come cultivate, it’s really a shame if you don’t! You have to come with me!” The heart can’t be changed by personal or emotional ties.
People’s hearts have to be stirred of their own accord.
Question: How should monks who have set duties in
temples truly cultivate? Should they go back to secular life?
Teacher: They definitely
don’t need to return to the secular world. Why not? The matter of “practicing only one cultivation
way” that I talk about mainly relates to the Fa which we now cultivate. In the past, behind every word in the Buddhist scriptures there were
the images of Buddhas. Now when you flip open the scriptures you can’t see
them; even behind Shakyamuni’s and Jesus’ names there are no longer their
images. That is, the books no longer have the power to save people, for they are merely black ink on white paper. Furthermore, performing religious rituals is just a religious formality, and I just consider them
ordinary work. Actually, many monks have come to treat those formalities as a job—they think they’re working and earning a salary. The monks
in Mainland
Question: Does having “a clear and pure
mind” mean getting
rid of all attachments and everything one is interested in?
Teacher: It’s like that
if one truly attains the state of having a clear and pure mind. But you cultivate starting from the level of ordinary people. You’d immediately become a
Buddha if you could achieve it
instantaneously. So it’s impossible. In order to reach a Buddha’s realm,
you have to go through a process of
cultivation and have a deep and
substantial mental foundation. That is, you are continually
cultivating, continually deepening it, and improving yourself more and more. It’s attained gradually. If you
were made to truly reach that level immediately, you might be so scared you
would no longer dare practice. That’s because your thinking is not yet at a level that high, since you’ve just started from the level of ordinary people. So it’s reached gradually and naturally, and it can be attained without too much effort. You will attain it as long
as you cultivate and read the book. The principles of the Fa
can resolve all of your problems. It’s not done forcefully. Doing it forcefully is itself an action with intent. Just conduct yourself as a cultivator—you’re clear on this. Everyone cultivates his own heart and mind and
tries his best not to do bad things. That’s not called intention-filled action. It’s called getting
as close as possible to
your innate, original nature.
Question: You said that science is a
religion, yet I still have to do well in my scientific research work. This is
always a contradictory scenario.
Teacher: I’ve said that
science is a religion and have discussed it in great detail. Why is it a
religion, and why is it a comprehensive one? The reason is, it neither pays attention to virtue nor recognizes the existence of
gods, and since it can’t see the
existence of gods, it doesn’t recognize that people are punished for doing bad
and rewarded for
doing good. It uses scientific theories to negate and attack anyone who says that
there’s good fortune as recompense for doing good, that there’s retribution for
doing bad, or that gods exist.
It even attacks upright religions. It is undermining human morality. In the
absence of moral restrictions people dare to do any bad thing. Based on this one point alone, would you say this science is upright or wicked? Isn’t
it playing a wicked role? Why has the morality of people today degenerated to such an extent? It’s precisely because people no longer
have upright beliefs. Actually—and this holds especially for Westerners—what you truly believe
in is not religion, but your science. Think about it from the depths of your
mind: What you believe in most is really science. Everything else is secondary
to you. Science is very
much foremost. I’m pointing
this out to you because it’s an obstacle in cultivation.
It’s said that in the past the Roman Catholic Church disagreed with the notion that human beings evolved
from apes. They believed that man was created out of
clay by God. I hear the Roman Catholic Church has now publicly conceded that humans evolved from apes. Haven’t they denied their Lord? This science is so powerful that everyone believes in it today. I can clearly explain everything about humankind, from major things to minor things; I can
clearly explain every part
of the
development of humankind from
antiquity to today. But I don’t talk
about such things since those are all
affairs of ordinary people. I only talk about things that relate to your cultivation.
The basis of almost all
understanding in science is
flawed, and that includes the basis for understanding matter, the universe, and life. Today’s science says that the hole in the atmosphere above Australia, that is, the breach in the ozone layer that
appeared in the sky above the Antarctic, was caused by
industrial emissions—the fluorocarbons
used in air conditioners and other waste gases—and that it was these things that caused the damage in
the ozone layer. Actually, I want to tell you: Everything in this universe is
life—everything is alive. The massive gaseous entities that you can’t see are layer upon layer upon layer upon layer—you couldn’t count how many
there are. They are all lives, all deities. It’s the
industry brought about by modern science that’s been seriously damaging humankind’s habitat. That’s absolutely
true.
It’s not the damage
of the
gaseous entity that caused the
hole in the atmosphere
above
the Antarctic. Human beings
can’t harm
high-level beings. Why didn’t a hole appear in
Nowadays, humankind’s
development has reached a
stage wherein science controls all domains. So now humankind can no
longer break free of it, for it has become a reality of man’s social development. It
doesn’t work if you are at odds with it. We act in conformity with ordinary
people to the greatest extent possible. So, do a good job with your scientific research.
It’s not your fault. It’s not something that an individual, a people, or a nation can
break free of. Since it’s a job, you should do it well, fulfill your
duties, and do your work
well. That’s all. Don’t
think that you are doing such and such for the sake of science. In reality, science has
unsparingly occupied every domain of humankind. Almost everything
of humankind exists
for its sake, so you can’t stop doing
everything because of [what science is]. As for cultivators, I just want you to understand the principle. I’m not asking you to separate from this
reality that has shackled human society. It’s not that I am asking you to give up your job.
I said that science is a religion and that it’s a complete one. It leads you to first recognize things in a material sense, which
makes you believe in it spiritually. True religions, on the other hand, have
you understand principles first—you come to truly comprehend things in your mind. Your understanding develops from the intangible to, at last, the tangible.
Eventually you can understand it in a material sense and return to your heavenly paradise after reaching Consummation. It’s that sort of process. Science reverses the process. It starts from
material things
that
drive people’s faith. Religions, on the other hand, start from
spiritual understandings that propel material changes. I explain this principle so that you can understand it. Since
science has become a reality of society I’m not against it—it’s something human existence has come to rely on. I’m just talking about the real situation of
contemporary science.
Question: Could Master
please talk about causal relationships and the heart of compassion?
Teacher: Since you’ve
mentioned compassion, I need to correct your thinking. Let me tell you what compassion is. People in the society of
ordinary people think that if they live quite
comfortably with no disasters or hardships, if each day is
pleasant and carefree, and if
they’re not short
of
money and have everything they need, then God is compassionate toward them and is being really good to
them. Let me tell you
though, that God isn’t like that. If He were really that way,
He would be being terrible to people. That’s because human reasoning is totally reversed. You know that people living in this world are bound to have social interactions, and so they will accrue
karma. Jesus said that people have sins. Because they have sins they dropped down to this dimension of
ordinary people. They are accruing karma in this dimension and committing sins lifetime after
lifetime. By wanting to be comfortable, aren’t you unwilling to pay for your karma? If you don’t pay for the karma and you accrue more in this life, in your next
life you won’t even get a human body—you might reincarnate into something worse. And if you accrue
still more karma you can only fall towards hell. If you fall even further you will be destroyed. Then when it’s looked at in
light of this principle, tell me, how should God treat you if He is to be considered “good to you”? That’s what causality is.
What do I view as
true compassion (cibei), then? If a person is truly good, he will encounter
many, many hardships in this life. The goal is to have
him pay his karmic debts in the midst of these hardships, to seize this
lifetime in which
he has
a human body and quickly pay for all of it. After all debts are repaid he can go up to a heavenly paradise
to enjoy happiness forever. So he will suffer when among
ordinary people. Think about it, then: What is true compassion? Buddhas’ take on things is completely different from that of human beings.
Ordinary people think that Buddhas or Gods are compassionate to people if they let them enjoy ordinary, human fortune. They complain to heaven and earth when they suffer, “Oh,
God, why do you forsake me? I’m a lost soul!” By having you pay for karma, God is taking care of you so that you may
return. How wonderful it is to return to a place where there is no birth, annihilation, or falling downwards. That is true compassion. You know that you’re cultivating. So why don’t I eliminate all of your suffering? It
would be unnecessary for you to go through tribulations, as I’d simply take you up there and
that would be it, right?—and how compassionate that would be! But that wouldn’t do! You yourselves have to pay for what you owe. Hurry up and
pay for it! Hurry up and pay for it, and only this way can I save you as quickly as possible. Isn’t that the principle? I’m
speaking from another perspective about compassion and what compassion is. The Fa is taught to you,
not ordinary people. Don’t ever forget that. Ordinary humans are forever lost in illusion. They
aren’t allowed to know these principles. Humans are humans, whereas you students are students. Cultivators and
ordinary humans will always be different.
There’s something I can tell you: Nothing in the
world is by chance—gods are
watching. In this dimension, there are those who arrange reincarnation, those who are responsible for order in society, those who arrange social systems,
those who control the stability of the earth, those who are in charge of the air and the various components of
air, and those who watch over what different gods are doing on the earth. In this
dimension there are all
kinds of gods. How could they not be overseeing such things? Could the
things in human society just follow from what people want? That’s absolutely impossible.
Question: With respect to the principle of
mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition,
is it true that at high
levels, one of these two substances is closer than the other to Zhen, Shan, Ren?
Teacher: It shouldn’t be understood like that. The
entire universe is composed
of Zhen, Shan, Ren. Let me put it this way: The two substances [you referred to]
are both created in the universe by Zhen, Shan,
Ren. If in this universe
only the positive side existed, it would be extremely pitiful for beings. They would have neither happiness
nor pain, and life would
be a bore. It’s
exactly because there is hardship and pain
that people know to
cherish and treasure happiness when they have it; only this way will they feel that life is interesting. So since there
exists a positive side in the universe, the existence of a negative side was
arranged for beings, and it can eliminate karma for them.
Question: Since resolving my
problem at the root, I’ve felt my blood boil as soon as someone mentions protecting Dafa. Master, is this a correct state?
Teacher: No, it’s not
right. It’s not right.
Everyone, pay attention to this! Just now I talked about there being a positive side and a negative side. As the negative side gets to the level down here, it becomes the bad side; while the positive side, as it gets to the level down here, is the good (shan) side. So I’m telling you that in the society of ordinary people we absolutely
can’t do things the way ordinary people do. We must always have our good side be in command. Buddha Shakyamuni
said that all sentient beings
have Buddha-nature. Actually, let me tell you that all sentient beings have demon-nature at the same time. That is, demon-nature and
Buddha-nature coexist in each being. In situations where a person loses his temper or is violent or
irrational, it is his demon-nature at work. In situations where a
person is rational, kind, and compassionate, it is that person’s Buddha-nature at work. These two different natures manifest under different circumstances. So we always use the good
side. Not so long ago, when a television station broadcast a groundless report on us and we went to meet with them, everyone talked to them rationally and with goodwill. A lot of people
went there that time, but
having a large number of people didn’t necessarily make it a bad incident. The attitude and approach that people adopt can be good or bad. They explained things with reason and in an entirely
kind
way. They didn’t get involved
in the nation’s political issues, nor did they damage public property. Everyone managed to act like a cultivator and explain our reasoning. People [at the station] were moved because they had never met people
like that. Conversely, why is there violence in human society? Ordinary people
hold demonstrations and protests when they want to take a stand on some issue or to reason with someone. There is violence
and yelling,
and they even take up arms. That’s because people have a demonic side and those
are ordinary
people. Here we are cultivators, and we should use only the good side, not the bad side. Ordinary
people use both the good
side and the bad side; ordinary people employ both reason and violence. They swear and lash out when they can’t win an argument. Ordinary people have both
a good side and a bad side.
Question: Teacher said that
when the universe was cleaned up, there were alien beings who escaped onto the earth. Do they exist in the form of
possessing spirits or in some
other form?
Teacher: Let me first
explain what alien beings are all about. You know that this Earth isn’t the only planet with
life in this universe, and Earth hasn’t existed just this once. I’m saying that
at Earth’s position
there were Earths that existed before. Those previous Earths were discarded. Some
exploded. It happened many times—the number has been quite large. The final
stage of an Earth has always been a time when its lives were the most corrupt and its matter was the most
impure, so the Earth could no longer be kept. It would be eliminated
since the whole sphere had
turned into a ball of karma. The reason is, lives reincarnate. They reincarnate into soil, rocks, plants or matter, and regardless of what
they are reborn as, they carry karma with them. Earth would become a ball of karma when karma was all over the
place, so at that point it would be eliminated. There would still be some people on Earth who were relatively good, and those exceptionally few or extremely few ones were taken and placed onto
another planet within the Three Realms. Yet through the ages this Earth has
been replaced innumerable times and each time there were people who remained.
So over time those remaining lives increased in number. The gods in each time
period created humans with a different appearance, so the
differences are quite
substantial, and there are some who were created on other planets. These are alien beings.
They’ve become like a record of history, placed there like a page of history
left behind. That’s the
function they serve, a minor one. They were left behind from the final stage of
Earth during those
times, and took with
them the
technology they had in those times over to other planets, so their starting point was more advanced. Over this long period of time, the knowledge of the universe they came to grasp far exceeds that of
the inhabitants of today’s Earth. Their bodies can enter other dimensions and
adjust to the mode of those dimensions they are
in; they’ve developed to this stage. Those things they ride in
that fly back and
forth—those
aircraft that human beings call flying saucers—can enter other dimensions and
fly into other space-times. If they travel in a fast space-time, after being there for just a short while they traverse a long distance. So
that speed is
inconceivable to human beings. The types of fuel they use aren’t in the least the kinds of substances
conceivable by the technology,
theories, or concepts of modern science.
Over the ages, these alien beings have continually been developing and metamorphosing. So in this universe there
have really appeared the abnormal social relations that these kinds of lives have. Greed and lust have caused something like
star wars to actually happen over where they live. They haven’t yet threatened humankind because humankind doesn’t have the ability to pose a threat to
them. So they haven’t
attacked humankind. They
would attack humankind if you were to threaten them. Although alien beings
haven’t attacked humankind, they
know that a human body is the most perfect. They’ve
thus taken a fancy to the human body
and want to steal it. They saturate all domains of humankind with science to make human beings firmly believe in science and rely on it. When human beings’ thoughts and way of
existence are completely
assimilated to theirs, they just have
to replace people’s souls and humans will become them, and they will eventually replace the human race.
It’s a long story.
They have been coming here full-scale since the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in the
West. They had come prior to that time, but they didn’t control people then. Their full-scale arrival began when
Caucasian society entered the industrial age. They made full preparations and
systematic arrangements for occupying this earth. It was they who created
science for human beings. So this science was set up by aliens. Their purpose was to unify human beings and simplify their thoughts to the point of being as uniform as machines. And they unified knowledge to make it easy for them to later on control and replace human beings.
Furthermore, they’ve chosen a few nationalities as the vanguards of their future, total control of humankind. Japan is the vanguard that drives
technology. The United States is the vanguard in breaking away from all ancient cultures on earth. The cultures of even
the most ancient and closed-off nations haven’t been able to escape. The whole world is being impacted by America’s modern culture.
England was the vanguard in the manufacture of machinery during the early stages, and Spain was the vanguard
for mixing the human races. The way alien beings get human beings to shake free
of the gods is to
mix the races, causing human beings to become rootless people, just like the
plant hybrids people make nowadays. South Americans, Central Americans, Mexicans and some people
in South East Asia—all of
these races have been mixed. None of this can evade the gods’ eyes. Alien beings have made rather extensive preparations for overtaking
human beings.
Everyone who knows how to operate a computer has been registered. Of course, our students don’t have this problem. Once you obtain the Fa, I clean
up that layer of your body that’s been occupied by them. They have formed a
layer of their body within the human body. It’s incredibly frightening! Everything people learn from elementary school right up through college is the science they brought, and everything that human beings use nowadays is the product of this omnipresent science.
Why do the inspirations
people get make computers and
technology develop with such tremendous speed? It’s done by that layer of the
body that alien beings formed so as to control the human race. It’s exactly because that system of their technology and
science that has formed in the human body is making people’s minds do so. Today it’s incredible how developed computers are. But it is
not a human technology.
Man will be replaced by alien beings if it continues like this for long. But think about it,
everyone: Alien beings are, after all, beings within the Three Realms, where
ordinary humans are. There are other reasons why they dare to do
this sort of thing. It has happened because the Fa of the universe has deviated and gods no longer look after
things. So it has to do
with
high-level beings as well. If this situation is to be turned around, it has to begin from high
levels. That’s because they have this idea that human beings are no longer
any good, their morality has degenerated, and everything
is perverted. So they think it’s all right
to just
replace them, given that they are going to be
eliminated all the same. Buddhas are merciful to people because Tathagatas and
Bodhisattvas are closest to humankind—they’re the lowest-level Buddhas. When Buddhas who are many
levels above that level of Buddhas stop and take a look, Tathagatas are to them
likewise ordinary people. Then what are human beings to them? Human beings count for nothing. When they see that human beings are no longer good, they just destroy them and start over.
That’s their thinking. Mercy to them is not towards human beings but towards Buddhas. When gods at even higher levels stop and
take a look, human beings are nothing to them and more
trivial than microorganisms. You see the idea here, right? Some people are even saying, “Teacher, you should save us such-and-such way.” To that I reply, “So you think that if a Buddha doesn’t save you he’ll suffer withdrawal, just as if he were addicted to doing
that?”
That’s not how it is. Buddhas [save
people] only out of their mercy upon people, upon you. People want to choose, they want to be saved in some specific ways, and they want to cultivate in certain ways. They don’t know what
they’re talking
about.
That’s the situation as far as alien beings go. They are being swept out up there, and they found out about the cleaning, so they scurried over here, and in particularly large numbers in recent years. Yet they
don’t know that this thing I’m doing has been systematically arranged, so no
matter where they run to they can’t escape. They have to pay for all of the bad
things they’ve done, for sure. The principles of this universe are absolutely
reasonable toward any life. So they have to answer for everything they’ve done. As for how
their lives will eventually be dealt with,
alien beings definitely won’t exist in the future. If there are truly good ones among the alien beings, then
their lives can reincarnate as other lives. Bad lives will be eliminated. So every thing that every being does positions himself for the future. And that includes all human beings. Whatever a human being does positions him.
As of right now, most of the alien beings who have come here did so fleeing for their lives. They knew
that in the end it would be hard for them to escape, so some alien beings have married Earth dwellers. But it’s not that they marry
legitimately, because no one would marry them. They catch a village woman to leave behind their offspring. And there are those who
are hiding among ordinary people. They can’t stay under cover no matter how they hide. Immense gong is coming up from the
microscopic level. Whether it be steel, iron, wood, the human body, water, rocks, air, plants, animals,
substances, etc., from the microscopic level of everything gong is coming up
toward the surface. Tell me, where could they escape to? The gong is omnipresent and rushing up to the surface. So they’ve seen that there is no way to dodge it or to hide from it. How do
they exist? They aren’t actually possessing
spirits. But some of them have assumed man’s appearance and walk the streets. You have no idea who they are. Some have
hidden and don’t come out. But the number is now small, very small. In the past they could hide, and their flying saucers could
fly up and go to another dimension. But the other dimensions have all been cleaned up. Immense gong is rushing here and they
can no longer hide. They can only hide in a cave or at the bottom of the sea in this dimension. Even so, they can’t stay concealed. Anyway, that’s the problem they face. All lives are positioning themselves in this affair.
Question: The science of
ordinary people’s society is wrong, so can we directly enter into cultivation
without being indoctrinated with ordinary human knowledge?
Teacher: From another perspective, we can still increase our knowledge [by studying science]. When I teach the Fa, I also
use modern people’s concepts to explain the Fa so that people can
understand. Knowledge can open your mind, so it’s helpful for obtaining the Fa. If a person’s educational level is really low, it will be
hard for him to understand the
modern terminology that I use. But it’s not that one
cannot do without it. If the culture weren’t this type—one brought about by science—I could teach the Fa with an ancient language instead of the way I
teach today. All the same, society has become this way, so it’s fine for you to conform to the way
of ordinary people’s society. For now it can only be this way. Whether you’re
an adult or a child, I think that you
should, as a cultivator, do everything well in whatever position you have. If you’re a
student, learn your schoolwork well; if you work, do your job well. If you come up with some special approach, your way of
cultivation might change correspondingly and bring difficulties to your life and cultivation.
You should know that although alien beings brought their science to human beings
to achieve their goals, gods are in charge of everything and are in turn using
them.
Question: Should we spend a
lot of time on cultivation and less time on our jobs among ordinary people?
Teacher: That’s not the
idea. You should do
your best to complete your work within the work hours ordinary people have. I think that no matter how busy
you are, you have time to do the exercises and read the book. That’s the way it
is. I think that you should, as a diligent disciple, want in your heart to use more of your spare time to cultivate.
Question: Do we need to
intentionally seek a complicated environment for cultivating?
Teacher: That’s not
necessary. You can’t always want to do things according to your own will, nor arrange your
cultivation path for yourself. Don’t go by your own will in wishing to do this or do that—your path is arranged by me. If you want to
cultivate, that’s the way it is. Just do whatever you’re supposed to do. In China there are some
people who suddenly stopped paying attention to their attire after they started practicing. It goes without saying that a person should dress presentably and groom himself neatly, like the way a human being should. But they became sloppy and unkempt, to the
point of almost being
shameless. That’s unacceptable. [The way we
cultivate] isn’t the way Zhang Sanfeng[6] cultivated the Dao years ago. You are
cultivating in the society of ordinary people. At the very least you should
look like a decent human being. Gods are higher than human beings and should act even better—they need to act better in every respect. Be sure not to ignore everything and become sloppy, unkempt, and grimy once you practice Falun Gong—that’s unacceptable. From a certain point of view, you are
damaging Dafa’s image. Isn’t that the case? So for this conference I told everyone and notified
the persons in charge
that
everyone should dress neatly and not look inappropriate to others, right? The Chinese economy has been good these years, so it’s really
not a problem for someone to [buy and] wear a decent outfit. I’m not saying you have to wear expensive clothes, but at the very
least, tidy up and dress a little neatly. Remember, we cultivate
in
the society of ordinary people. This shouldn’t be a problem. So, as far as cultivation goes, you shouldn’t arrange for yourselves a cultivation
environment.
Question: A four year-old
child’s Third Eye has opened and he can see Falun and Teacher’s name emitting light. But sometimes he’s strong-willed, and if adults
don’t yield to him he
will cry
and throw a tantrum. This agitation makes me upset.
Teacher: “This agitation makes me upset.” Didn’t you just point
it out? You’re upset, and if you are upset, your mind is perturbed. Isn’t the child
helping you improve?
Question: When this two
year-old child sees a Falun, she
excitedly says,
“Falun.” When she sees
Teacher’s picture,
she says, “Master.” She often sits on the floor with
her hands in the Heshi position, saying, “Do the
exercises.” Sometimes when
we play Teacher’s audiotape she says, “Listen to Master.”
Teacher: Then this child
is really special,
as she is only two years old. Children like this have probably come to obtain the Fa. Among our four to five year-old and five to six year-old little
disciples, little students, there are a great many who’ve cultivated well. They are really amazing. Some of them possess quite a few extraordinary abilities. There are lots of people
like that. The gods above see clearly which family
will obtain the Fa in
the future: “Oh, this family will obtain the Fa.” Maybe they then make arrangements to reincarnate there, since they can obtain the Fa that way.
Question: Do hospitals have more karma than other places?
Teacher: A hospital in the society of ordinary
people is an institute that treats diseases, and it does seem to have slightly more pathogenic qi. Then again, what are you afraid of as a
practitioner? It has
nothing to do with us practitioners.
Those things can’t harm us.
Question: Does performing autopsies in a hospital
have a bad effect on [Dafa] practitioners?
Teacher: If it’s your
job, just do it. There’s no issue since those
people are dead. We require that in
cultivation you conform to the
society of ordinary people to the greatest extent possible. Don’t alter the ways of ordinary people’s
society because you are now
cultivating. That wouldn’t do.
Question: If a person doesn’t swear verbally but swears in his mind, will this
person lose virtue?
Teacher: Some people say, “I’ve cultivated quite well
and have conducted
myself
quite well,” but the attachments in their hearts haven’t been discarded in the least. Can that count as
cultivation? Isn’t that
fake? So only fundamental changes are true changes. What’s on the
surface is all show. Whether or not you swear verbally is a formality. Whether or not
your heart and mind have
changed is what’s real. If you swear in your mind, then of course
your mind hasn’t changed.
Whether or not you lose virtue is a minor issue. Dafa is not being taught to preserve ordinary people’s virtue.
Question: Some students are
afraid of poisonous animals and other creatures. Can one Consummate if these fears aren’t discarded?
Teacher: Those are two
different things. Just get rid of
the attachment of fear and you will be fine. Many of you aren’t necessarily afraid of them, but dislike those things because they’re dirty. It’s not the kind
of dirtiness a person
feels upon seeing excrement, but rather, it’s the kind of dirtiness he feels when he thinks those things are bad.
In the world of the future, in the universe of the future, such creatures won’t exist. Let me tell you
that the universe initially didn’t have those poisonous, wicked things. Why did they emerge later on? Because lives’
karma became greater and greater, the lives became worse and worse, and the universe became more and
more impure. So more and
more bad things emerged, and gradually they became more and more poisonous. That’s how they evolved.
Question: In the scripture[7]
“Enlightenment,” it
says, “pair after pair continually arrive (liang liang
xiang ji er lai).” How should we understand
“pair after pair (liang liang)”?
Teacher: That’s ancient
Chinese syntax. Ancient Chinese syntax can explain things clearly. The language is concise, yet the meaning it conveys
is profound and the inner dimensions it encompasses are
comprehensive. It’s the best written language. In the past, people said it was
the language of the heavens, the written language of the heavens. Nowadays, man’s morality has become corrupt
and is no longer good, so the vernacular is used. If this “pair after pair continually
arrive” is to be
explained, it means: three in a group, two together; once someone discusses it with another person, saying, “This Fa is pretty good,
let’s go cultivate,” that other person will think it’s pretty good too, so he will come as well.
Then he too will tell and bring his family members, and people will come in pairs and trios.
Using the plain vernacular of our
day, I had to use so
many words. Using “liang
liang xiang ji (pair after pair
continually)” arrive, everything is encompassed in just four words. That’s what
it means. As for “xiang
ji (one after another),” it means coming at different times, one after another, continually,
continuously. Explaining xiang ji also takes a lot
of words.
Question: Can Dafa disciples
who do business in books and periodicals buy Dafa books at wholesale price and sell them at
retail price?
Teacher: Not so long ago, I thought about
something myself. Since recently more
workers had to
leave their duties (actually, they became unemployed) in China and a small number of them are our students, I thought about whether to let them sell Falun Dafa books. This way, not only could
they make a living, but also ease the difficulty of
students buying books. And some students have done so. Afterwards, I thought about it more carefully and it didn’t seem right. In
what way was it wrong? Think about it, everyone: Dafa—a Great Way this
sacred—can save us, yet we’d be using it to make money. Where would we be placing ourselves? Where
would we be positioning Dafa? It really shouldn’t be done. So I didn’t let them do it. Why can it be done
[by ordinary people] in society, then? Because I’m making use of the
society of ordinary people to spread the Fa. The society of ordinary people is also a manifest form of the
Fa at the lowest level, so its various trades and professions just exist like this, which
isn’t wrong. Were our book not to have dimensions behind it and were it just
black ink on white paper, it would just be a book. It is because it has its dimensions behind it that it has the effect of the Fa. It’s no problem for bookstores and book dealers in ordinary people’s
society to sell them; that is, it conforms to the Fa at the level of ordinary
people’s society. But as for our disciples, the kind of problem I described does in fact exist. If
we used the Fa to make money, and since most of the
people buying the books are our disciples, how
could we spend that money?
If you yourself own a bookstore and make use of that convenient circumstance to sell Dafa books, and if the bookstore isn’t established
specifically for Dafa and you owned the bookstore beforehand, then I don’t object to your doing this, since you were already dealing
books prior to this, after all. But that said, I think that as you keep deepening your understanding of the Fa, you will have a new way of handling it.
Question: I ignored
everything and fell out
with my family members in order to see Teacher. Was that right or wrong?
Teacher: If you came from
Mainland China, it is quite possible you weren’t allowed to come. Or, it’s quite possible that my Law
Bodies didn’t want you to come and tried to keep your mind on cultivation. If you aren’t
from Mainland China, then maybe there are other reasons on your part. Maybe it was to see whether you are steadfast. Anything is possible. You have to figure it out yourself.
Question: I know that I need
to make good use of time to
cultivate, but I also want to have children. Does this count as an attachment?
Teacher: We’ve said that
we should cultivate while conforming to
ordinary people to the greatest extent possible. Now there are tens of millions of young disciples who
cultivate. If none of
them
gets married and has children, wouldn’t that be
a form of harming ordinary people’s society? At the very
least, I can tell you that you wouldn’t be conforming to the way of ordinary people’s society in your cultivation. Then again,
some people say, “In this
lifetime, I simply don’t want to get married. I’ve made up my mind.” I’m not against that, either. You can cultivate that way. As long as it doesn’t cause any additional burden or problems in your life or in other
respects, I won’t do
anything about it. Matters in the human world are decided and done by you, yourself. If you are saying that having children
would affect a person’s cultivation, I don’t think it’s the case. That won’t happen.
Question: What are the forms of
Consummation? Do they all require taking one’s benti?
Teacher: I’ve discussed this. Only those who go to the Falun Paradise take
the body. As for those who are going to other places, since many of you have come to obtain the Fa from
different levels and different realms, from the perspectives of the beings up there, were you to take a body
back, those Gods and Buddhas would think it was as if you’d brought back with you
some kind of strange and bizarre thing. So they definitely don’t have bodies there and do not want them. If that thing were brought
back it would disrupt their entire cultivation system. Please note that no matter
where you came from, I am only assimilating your original things to the new and most righteous
Fa. When it comes to
the surface things of
your
cultivation, I don’t touch any of them, so as to ensure that you will return to your original place. In other words, if you were a Buddha, you will be a Buddha; if you were a
Dao, you will be a Dao; and if you were a God, you will be a God. Your appearance and anything that you had before won’t change. Those who
didn’t have an Attainment Status before might be able to attain one through this round of
cultivation, and then wherever you
are supposed to go, it will be arranged for you to go there.
Question: Whenever I do the
exercises, I always hear the same, non-Dafa music. I’m concerned that there is
interference by other dimensions’ messages.[8]
Teacher: Music in other
dimensions is different from the music for our cultivation. But there is indeed beautiful
music in other dimensions. If you hear it, then let it be—don’t be concerned about it. Those are sounds in other
dimensions. And don’t worry: Music itself doesn’t represent cultivation. When you are cultivating in
Dafa I let you exercise with this music. The purpose is to replace thousands of thoughts with one thought until at some point your mind can reach a tranquil
state.
That is to say, when
you listen to the music, your mind won’t run all over the place but
will just listen to the music. It benefits your doing the exercises. But the music you use has to be the one for doing our exercises.
Question: My body has encountered a type of interference,
which involves words and pictures. It’s been half a year and I haven’t been
able to overcome it.
Teacher: If you are a
true cultivator, no matter what your intention was when you initially took up Dafa, you have to let it go and not be concerned with anything. You have to be clear
that you didn’t come to cultivate in order to
resolve some issue. The purpose of
my spreading this Fa is to
save people, to enable
people to cultivate, and to enable people to
return. It’s not to resolve some problems of ordinary human bodies. It’s a serious
thing. You have to be sure that you yourselves are truly cultivating, and then any problem can be resolved
for you. But if you just want to
resolve some ordinary human problems, then we can’t resolve any of them for you. In a sentence: The Fa is
for cultivation. For example, some people know that healing is not Falun Gong’s purpose, so they think: “Then I won’t do it to get healed. I understand that the purpose isn’t to heal my
ailments, and I won’t
mention
healing. I won’t
ask for healing either.” Yet in their minds they’re still thinking, “As long as I do the
exercises, Master is sure to clear out my ailments.” You see, in their minds they’re still thinking, “As long as I do the exercises, Master
will surely clear out my ailments.” That bit of thought
is still there, buried deep in their minds. They still
want me
to resolve their health problems, which is to say, they’re still attached to their ailments. If they truly let go of them, don’t think about them at all, and aren’t concerned with them,
then see what happens. It’s called
“gaining naturally without pursuit.” Every cultivation way and method works like that. In the society
of ordinary people you can obtain whatever it is you want by trying hard or even going after it
doggedly. But the principles in other dimensions are
precisely the opposite, they’re reversed. You will get nothing when you
go all out trying to gain something or do something,
full of attachment. You can only obtain it when you let go more and are less concerned with it. So it’s called “gaining naturally without pursuit.”
Question: When Master was
doing the large hand signs at the Singapore conference, some people felt
comfortable, some people felt the signs were wonderful, and some people felt heartbroken and
sad, and wept. Was it
related to cultivation levels?
Teacher: Close
enough—that’s basically not far off. Each persons feeling and understanding is
different.
Question: In order to Consummate in cultivation, everyone has to reach the realm
of no selfishness and no ego. Then why are there different levels [at which people Consummate]?
Teacher: Let me put it this way. A person can Consummate at the level of the initial level Arhat Attainment Status as well; attaining self-liberation
is adequate. It’s not necessary to think about saving all sentient beings, and
a person doesn’t need to think about taking care of others—the cultivator just needs to work at [attaining
liberation] himself and achieve it. That’s the initial-level Arhat Attainment Status. If you want to achieve
the Bodhisattva Attainment Status—even if it’s just the initial Bodhisattva
Attainment Status—you need to cultivate and develop a heart of great compassion as you
cultivate, and along with
achieving
self-liberation, you have to also help others be liberated. Whether you can accomplish that or not, you will have that
compassion, see all sentient beings as truly suffering, and shed tears at the sight of them. It’s not feigned—it is real. It’s not something you will to happen. Of
course, in cultivation that state won’t occur all the time, but it will occur. Your compassion will be different if you cultivate into a
Buddha.
You definitely won’t shed tears like a Bodhisattva does when looking upon sentient beings. You will
have compassion, will more clearly understand
the karmic connections among sentient beings, and will view everything with greater wisdom. When Buddhas who have cultivated
to a level much higher than a Tathagata stop and look at it, they’ll think, “What kind of compassion is
that?” They think that
the compassion Buddhas have toward ordinary human beings is also an attachment.
They can only be compassionate toward those Gods, Buddhas, and sentient beings
in the paradises of Buddhas below them, but have no compassion towards human beings. That’s not to say they
aren’t compassionate, but rather, their realms are too high. To them, the lives down here are so trivial that they’re even lower than microorganisms. They don’t think that those deficient human beings are any kind
of useful life form. When Buddhas who have reached even higher realms look back, they think: “Oh, these Tathagata Buddhas are ordinary people
too; what are those people doing down there?” What do human beings look like to them? Humans are nothing; they burrow around in the
dirt like extremely tiny microorganisms. Then what about Buddhas in even higher, and even
higher higher realms? If you want to
achieve that state, you have
to cultivate to that realm. I’m only giving you a simple idea of what it’s
like. It’s not limited to just this.
The True Fa can’t be made known to human beings, because you still have human minds. Beings in different realms have different ways of existence. Also, the physical bodies of beings on this side are constantly changing. If a
Buddha’s body is composed of
atoms, then the bodies of those even higher Buddhas, and the bodies of the
gods who are higher than
Buddhas, could be composed
of what is equivalent to neutrons. Further up, they could be composed of
neutrinos or quarks. And that’s only the microscopic scale that humans can recognize. What about those
that are composed of more microscopic, even more microscopic matter? Their
energy is visibly greater. The smaller a substance’s particles, the greater its density. Their
appearances are thus extremely fine and lustrous. We can see pores on the human body, but if you look at a god’s body,
there aren’t any pores. If you look at the beings in the Three Realms with bodies that are one
level higher than those of humans—that is, the heavenly beings at different levels
inside the Three Realms—you will see that to the human eye, their bodies are
smooth, fine, and just wonderful. That’s because
their particles are smaller and denser than those of humans in the secular world. In other words, as a being continually elevates, the entire form at the surface elevates in tandem;
but elevation of realms is a prerequisite. Consummation can be achieved in different realms. No matter which level you reach in cultivation, what’s below your level
will no longer be a mystery to you. Everything below will be displayed before
your eyes, and you will see things as they truly are. Yet everything higher than your level will forever
be a mystery to you, you will never know about them, as [where you
are] is the Attainment Status you have enlightened to. You will get out however much you put in and cultivate.
Question: I realize that cultivation is a serious thing. On the other hand, is it wrong to find joy in hardship and to cultivate cheerfully?
Teacher: That isn’t
wrong. If you can remain cheerful at all times in your cultivation, and do so
no matter what problems you encounter, then I’d say you are really remarkable.
Everyone will truly admire you and hold you in high regard, as what you
described is hard to do. It’s hard to keep your mind steady in the
face of any difficulty and to cheerfully handle things. But being able to maintain an
optimistic disposition and a
compassionate heart at all times—even when we don’t meet with troubles or face tests—is what a cultivator should normally do. That is the best state of mind.
Question: May practitioners
have sexual relations in their marriage?
Teacher: We’ve said that you are cultivating among ordinary
people and are not disciples who have left the secular world to dedicate yourselves to cultivation.
So your way of life needs to conform to the
ways of ordinary people. We don’t deem
the physical forms found here among ordinary people to be important. Why is that? What’s being changed is the human heart and
mind. If a person’s heart and mind don’t change, it’s all meaningless. If, say, on the surface
you have nothing and yet deep down
inside you can’t let go of things and are antsy when it comes to these [human] things, it’s
useless. If you say, “Deep down inside I’m not attached to them and I just
see them as things that allow us to keep a human
state,” then I would say you’re doing pretty well. Of course, all of these
things are to be left behind when you reach a
high and profound level in cultivation. What you do during this period of time can’t be counted
as wrong. I’ve discussed it clearly in Zhuan Falun—I’ve
talked about this situation.
Why are you allowed to be
this way during your cultivation? The reason is, this cultivation way
of ours, this Dafa that I’m teaching today, is purposely brought out to
be practiced in the complicated society of ordinary
people, and only that way can people from higher levels return. If the society of ordinary people weren’t complicated
enough—that is, if you didn’t have such big ordeals and
interference—those of you who came from higher levels could never return. Since
the Fa is great and is spread in the society of
ordinary people, it has provided you with the
convenience of being able
to live in ordinary people’s society. The
transformation of your body starts from the microscopic
level, from the origin of your existence—the fundamental particles that
comprise your being—and expands outwards from the inside, like the rings of a
tree. It will expand outward like the rings of a tree for as long as you cultivate, and
will do so as soon as you meet
the standard. When it expands out to the surface, just like tree
rings reaching the bark, the
transformation is complete and you Consummate. Before
it has reached the bark, that is, before
it has reached the outermost surface layer of your physical body, your physical
body on the surface still has thoughts like those of ordinary humans and you
are bound to have a variety of ordinary human desires, lust, feelings, and
other attachments of all sorts. Those thoughts are not as strong as ordinary people’s, but they
are there, and they’re purposefully left for you so as to make sure you can conform to the setting of ordinary humans as
you cultivate. The side that has finished cultivation,
however, won’t be driven by the ordinary human
surface body to get involved with human affairs. As soon as the side that you’ve finished cultivating meets the
standard, it is separated.
What’s the benefit of its being separated? No matter what activities the human surface on this side engages in among ordinary people, no matter what it does, the side that has finished cultivating sits over there and doesn’t move at all; it doesn’t have any mental activities or thoughts. That body doesn’t move and doesn’t engage in anything. This then ensures that when the person is doing human things his godly side doesn’t do them, and that it is the human side—which hasn’t been fully cultivated—that does those things. This ensures, then, that you will only keep ascending, and not descend, as you improve yourself. If, instead, we had chosen to start the transformation from the surface and gone towards the depths, and done so in the society of ordinary people, then you definitely couldn’t cultivate in that society. Everything you did among ordinary people would be equivalent to a god doing it, as a transformed body is equivalent to the body of a god. So it would be considered as if it was doing human things, and you simply couldn’t cultivate. Is it permitted for gods to do ordinary human things? It’s absolutely prohibited for gods to have ordinary human feelings. So we’ve reversed it: We start transforming you from your life’s origin. This way, it keeps expanding further and further out toward the surface. Before you Consummate you can always maintain the way of life among ordinary people at the surface level. It’s just that you become more and more free of attachments until finally you can take everything lightly and let go of everything. You’re then close to Consummation. You will have fully achieved Consummation when, as a whole, you have expanded all the way to the surface. It’s natural at that moment and there are no quakes. In the past, a person’s Consummation would generate shock waves. When a person Consummated, landslides, seismic sea waves, and earthquakes would occur across a large area. Yet our form of Consummation doesn’t generate shock waves. It’s thus suitable for more people to cultivate in the society of ordinary people, as it does not affect it. With so many people attaining Consummation, I think there’s no way the earth could take it. So we’ve arranged each and every facet to be suitable for cultivating in the society of ordinary people.
Before the part that is yet to be fully cultivated has expanded to your surface, I wouldn’t believe you if
you said that you
didn’t
have ordinary human attachments. You would be
forcing yourself [to achieve that]. You can strictly hold yourselves to high
standards and conduct
yourselves like practitioners. At the same time, conform as much as possible to
the ways of ordinary people’s society. But what I’m talking about applies to more than this one issue [of sexual
relations]. It’s not as simple as handling sexual relations between husband and wife a certain way, that’s not
the case. You can choose for yourselves
the most suitable
approach on this issue. Whichever way you feel is best, that’s fine. If you feel that you still have ordinary human thoughts, that they are quite strong; if
you still want to get married, want to find a boyfriend or girlfriend, and you like a particular young lady or a young man… if you have these desires and do these things, then it indicates that your cultivation
hasn’t yet reached that point yet, so you can partake of such things. Don’t claim that you can immediately let go of everything today, that
you can do so
instantaneously and be a Buddha. If
that were the case you wouldn’t need to cultivate—you would already be a Buddha. So cultivation is done little by
little, it’s a gradual process. Although I’ve said this, if you think, “Oh, Teacher said that
before I succeed in cultivation I will have all kinds of ordinary human emotions and desires at the
surface level. Then I can do that sort of thing,” then guess again! Although you have those things and I am telling you to conform to ordinary people as much as possible,
if you don’t strictly hold yourself to the standards for a cultivator, you are just the same as somebody who doesn’t cultivate. That’s the dialectical
relationship.
Question: Caucasian students
want to use all of their
time to listen to the Fa, but there’s not yet any audiotape with simultaneous
translation. Can they record themselves reading Zhuan Falun and then listen to
it?
Teacher: The result won’t
necessarily be too good. Why not? It’s because the Fa in my voice has power.
Since you are a cultivator, before you Consummate, everything you say carries various kinds of ordinary human messages. So when
you play it back, you absorb them back. This repeated, reciprocal contamination
isn’t good. It’s a different matter when you read the book. We’re now making a
simultaneous translation. We’re speeding up our pace in making it; it should be
available soon and this problem will be resolved soon. Anyway, I’m telling you
this principle: What you say carries all of those ordinary human attachments
and notions of yours. The Fa needs to be at work. A person won’t get much out
of it by listening to just the superficial principles. What comes out of your
mouth is your understanding at your level. When you come back and listen to it
again, your understanding will always remain at that level. Simultaneous
translation is different since my voice is there. Even though the volume of my voice is low and the translator’s is
higher, in actuality, he is translating, and it’s really me who is teaching.
The students can understand me as well as receive everything I carry when I teach the Fa. That’s what I
mean.
Question: I met, for a total of three times,
a little girl between three to five years old. When I was half asleep and half
awake, she would step on my pillow, jumping and laughing. Is she a Cultivated Infant
(yinghai) who has come out of the Falun?
Teacher: These situations are good
things, generally, but not always so. Cultivated Infants are little. Each
person’s background is complex, so don’t pay attention to these kinds of
things. She could be someone you brought along from the past, or there could be
other reasons. Anyway, she’s a little girl after all. It could be a good thing. Don’t pay attention to her. Just mind your cultivation.
It appears that I haven’t explained this clearly, because some people haven’t grasped
it yet. I’ll give an example to illustrate the point, though it might not
necessarily apply to this situation. When some people come down and
reincarnate, they are followed by their child from the past. The child hasn’t
reincarnated, though, and just follows over on that side. Also, there are other
people who had children in previous lives, and when they reincarnated in one
lifetime, their child didn’t reincarnate in that lifetime. Yet the child is
exceptionally intuitive and always follows him. There’s also this situation.
There are circumstances of all kinds. Because you’ve obtained the righteous Fa,
we’ll arrange all of this for you if the child has a karmic connection to you.
All of this will be appropriately arranged for you, so you don’t need to be concerned about it anymore.
Question: I racked my brain
but still couldn’t come up with a question. Is it that I haven’t cultivated
very…
Teacher: Some of our
veteran students who’ve cultivated well can’t come up with anything to say when
they meet me. I know that they feel uneasy when they can’t come up with
anything to say, despite trying really hard. Prior to meeting me they have a
belly full of things they want to ask me, but as soon as they meet me they’re
speechless. Let me tell everyone why that is. As long as you’re a cultivator, you will be like that when you
meet me. The reason you have nothing to say upon meeting me is because, as you
continually cultivate, the part of you that has become enlightened through
cultivation—the part that has been fully cultivated—is separated from you. It’s separated from the part
that hasn’t yet been fully cultivated. So the part of you that hasn’t yet been totally
cultivated will always feel confused, so it will have questions and will even
want to ask them. But since you see the master when you meet me, the part of you that has been
totally cultivated will, like your surface, also become attentive, and as soon
as it becomes attentive the ordinary human side of you is completely controlled
by it. Why is it that you have no bad thoughts and are so benign as you sit
here? It’s because the part of you that has been fully cultivated has become attentive, and
your entire body is controlled by it. Tell me, if the part that’s been fully cultivated weren’t up to par, could it
have finished cultivation? In other words, it knows everything. It’s just the
part that has not been fully cultivated that doesn’t know. Which is to say, at that point
you will no longer want to ask, and there’s nothing to ask about since you know
it all clearly. Upon your parting with me it will no longer pay any heed and
will stay motionless, so this part of
you here will again become unclear about things. “How come I didn’t ask Teacher just now?”
Isn’t that the situation? That’s in fact how it is.
I’ll tell you all, you should read the book more, read the book more,
and read the book more—you must read the book repeatedly. These teachings are
the Fa of the cosmos. Since ancient times, each cultivation way’s Fa that was
transmitted in the society of ordinary people has been Fa at or below the realm
of Tathagata. Such an immense Fa as this has created different living
environments for the different beings in the cosmos. It is the great Fa that
has created the entire cosmos. It’s just that you can’t see its content at high levels
until you reach those realms. But in it is everything you need to know in order
to achieve an Attainment Status and to Consummate. So you must read the book more—read the book
repeatedly. Of course, our veteran students know that if they have a question,
they just have to read the book and it’s guaranteed to be resolved. Later on, new and higher-level
questions will arise as you enter into new realms. When at that time you read
the book over again, it will again answer them for you. After that you will
again have questions in yet another realm, and at that time when you read the book some
more, it will again answer them. In this way you keep on cultivating and
constantly ascend. This Fa will answer questions when you have them. And as you
hold yourself to strict requirements in everyday life and constantly improve,
you are advancing diligently with force.
Question: Is selfishness the root of self-interest, emotion, and the desire for renown?
Teacher: Self-interest
and the desire for renown are both selfish. As for emotion (qing), I’ve revealed in previous Fa
speeches that it permeates this dimension of humankind as well as the Three Realms. No being inside the Three
Realms can escape it—they are all within its control. Human beings are
precisely amidst this emotion. The more you are attached to it, the greater its
power and thus the more effect it has on you. In particular, when people lose
their loved ones or when young people have their hearts broken, the more it’s
thought about, the greater the power emotion has. Emotion is inside the Three
Realms, so you, a cultivator,
must shake free of it. You should shed this emotion and go beyond it. As for self-interest and
renown, those are things that human beings value highly. But actually, they too
come from emotion. With renown, won’t you enjoy the happiness and good fortune it brings? You’ll then be really
pleased. Doesn’t a person pursue renown and self-interest to gain satisfaction?
If someone is satisfied, isn’t he then pleased? Isn’t that pleasure you feel
also emotion? Renown can bring you joy and honor, which are emotion, aren’t
they? If you’ve gained satisfaction over self-interest, aren’t you again
pleased? It’s again emotion. So human beings live precisely for this emotion.
Among ordinary people, whether or not you’re happy, whether or not you’re
against something, whether or not you want something, or whether you want to
attain a certain status, what you consider good or bad, what you do or don’t
want to do, all of it is emotion. I’ve said that human
beings just live for emotion. Could there be no emotion in human society? If
there were no emotion in human society, human beings wouldn’t find living
interesting—it really wouldn’t be. That’s just how man is supposed to live.
As for selfishness, I mentioned a principle to you earlier and you all applauded with
much delight. I spoke about the future universe’s not becoming extinct, and all
of you were happy about it. Do you know why it can be that way? Some people
say, “If a person is not out for himself, he’ll be damned by the heavens.” Some
people have taken this as their motto. Actually, you don’t yet know that this
selfishness reaches all the way up to very high levels. As a matter of fact,
for cultivators in the past to say, “I’m doing such and such,” “I want to do
such and such,” “I want to obtain such and such,” “I’m cultivating,” “I want to
become a Buddha,” or “I wish to attain such and such,” none of that was outside
of selfishness. But what I want you to do is to truly, purely, and unselfishly
Consummate with the real righteous Fa and righteous Enlightenment—only then can
you achieve eternal non-extinction. So I’m telling you that you have to
consider others first in everything you do. Some people are happy if others
give them money. When someone gives them money they don’t consider whether it
will bring the other person trouble, whether his financial situation will
become tight, and so on. “As long as others give me something, I’m happy, but I
don’t consider others. As long as others are nice to me, I’m glad, but I’m not
concerned about others.” Sometimes, even when some people are extremely
distressed and have no choice but to say something to please you, you aren’t
understanding of them. There are all kinds of situations. In other words, from
now on in your cultivation, in everything you do, you have to think of others.
Question: In [Zhuan Falun]
Volume 2 it mentions that there are people in the ocean, and that there are
several different kinds of people.
Teacher: Yes. Some live in this dimension of ours, some don’t. Not only are there people in the ocean, but in the dimensions existing at the same level as ours, too, there are other people—people who are the same as you and people who aren’t the same as you. You can call them humans, or not. Since they have certain feelings but don’t have sexual desire as ordinary human beings do, the lower half of their body is in the form of some material; only their upper body is in human form. So they can float and fly around. Most of the people in the ocean belong to human races that were eliminated from the earth during different time periods. And there are some people that are just people from the bottom of the ocean: There are those who are similar to human beings, there are those whose upper body is human and lower body is that of a fish, and there are those whose upper body is that of a fish and lower body is human. Also, underneath the continental plates too there are people from the past, that is, human races that were eliminated in the past. They can’t come back up because they were weeded out from the human world—from the earth, that is. So a portion of them that didn’t have that much karma and that many sins burrowed into the earth. That’s how they are, and they don’t come out—they just live there. Their number is quite small. They’re often a little more capable than human beings and not as deluded. Okay, don’t be curious or concerned with these things, as they don’t have much to do with your cultivation.
Question: In the future, after the new Japanese version of Dafa is officially published, how should we dispose of the old-version books that have translation errors?
Teacher: It can’t be said
that they have errors. It’s just that the translation was inadequate or that
the words chosen were inaccurate. We can only describe it like that. How should
they be disposed of? Don’t dispose of them, just leave them as is. No
foreign-language version could possibly be translated from the Chinese without
being somewhat off from the original. I’d even suggest that it is actually
better to have more translation versions. When people read them, they will
realize, “Oh, there’s this meaning… Oh, and there’s that meaning too… So that’s
the way it is.” So there are actually some benefits, if you ask me. Just leave
them as they are.
Question: Is timidity an
attachment or a physiological factor?
Teacher: Timidity is
caused by a factor called “timidity” that exists in this universe. It causes
you to be afraid. The more scared you are, the more its effect on you. You have
to conquer it with willpower—it’s a matter of willpower. This too needs to be
accomplished in your cultivation.
Question: While I do the
exercises, I often think about matters related to cultivation, spreading the
Fa, and Teacher’s words. Is this right?
Question: If someone takes
lives on my behalf, is the karma still accrued by me?
Teacher: If you do this
kind of work… I don’t want to discuss this matter in this kind of setting. I’ve
written two articles that discuss and explain this matter, but some people
can’t seem to realize what I’m saying. Let me talk about it this way: Do you
know how many lives you have harmed over the course of all your lifetimes? Each
person has harmed many lives. With a lesser Fa you couldn’t succeed in
cultivation in this lifetime, and you would have to pay for the lives that you
owe from each lifetime. In Buddhism it’s believed that cultivation can’t be
completed in one lifetime. So they too have seen that the lives which are
killed have to be paid for. But today we’re allowing you to reach Consummation,
so there isn’t that much time remaining. Then what’s to be done about those
lives that you have taken? Aside from the portion of suffering that you owe
them—a portion for which you are dissolving karma and paying through
suffering—I have to eliminate the great majority for you. The remainder is left
for you to pay, ensuring that you can pass this trial. At the same time, a
portion of the lives that you harmed will become beings in the paradise you
will have after you Consummate, so it will turn into a good thing. If the
to-be-harmed life knew, “Oh, I’ll go to a Buddha’s paradise in the future,” it
would stretch its neck out to let you kill it. It would happily, cheerfully let
you kill it. Of course, it wouldn’t have an Attainment Status. It would just go
to that paradise to be a common being, it would go to your Buddha paradise to
be a regular citizen, a flower, or an animal such as a bird. Anyway, there are
different arrangements per the different lives.
Yet after I talk about it this way, some people might understand it in
the opposite way: “Oh, it’s alright for me to take lives, then.” If you can’t
Consummate, you will never, ever be able to pay for all of the lives you’ve
killed, though you have to pay for them. That is how tremendous the karma you
have accrued is. In other words, your repayment process would be terribly
excruciating and almost endless. So it’s a really horrific situation. Yesterday
a student said: “Teacher hasn’t talked about hell.” I’d say that I can’t talk
to you about it. This setting of ours is so sacred, and it’s terrifying to talk
about that. Of course, it’s not terrifying for me, but to some people it’s
really horrifying. So I think that even though I didn’t directly answer you
just now, I’ve nonetheless explained it clearly.
In China there was a student who was a Ph.D. candidate in medical science.
He was doing dissection experiments. He was going to receive his doctorate
after completing the experiments. That is, he had passed all of his exams, but
he still needed to do some experiments and dissect a thousand or maybe five
hundred mice and then he could receive his Ph.D. Later on, he brought up with
his teacher that he couldn’t do this. He said, “I’m now practicing Falun Dafa
and I know that killing generates karma.” Then he told his academic advisor, “I
can’t take lives—I’d rather give up the degree.” Let’s think about it. If a
person can’t pass the trial of life and death, he cannot achieve Consummation.
But it’s not that you will definitely have to go through exactly something like
that for it to count as laying down your life; that’s only the form of it. I
don’t deem that important. What I look at is whether or not your mind can truly
do that. Think about it, everyone: Human beings live in this world for nothing
but renown and self-interest. If he were to receive his Ph.D. degree, he would
have a good job and future ahead of him. And naturally, his salary would be
high—that goes without saying. It would be higher than that of regular people
or an average person. Don’t people just live for those things? He could even
let go of those things. So think about it: He dared to forgo even that. He was
able to let go of those things as a young person, so wasn’t it that he could
give up anything? Wasn’t it that he dared to lay down his life? Don’t people
just live for those things? The cultivation realm of people who can do that is
up there, in fact. With regard to these people and these types of situations, I
said that since they could let go of their emotion, renown, and self-interest,
why not also let go of the very fear of taking lives itself? Wouldn’t that be
discarding the final attachment? I’m just telling a point. It would be
different if you couldn’t reach that realm, couldn’t pass the trial of life and
death, couldn’t abandon all of those things, and you did it this way. All of
the lives you took would have to be paid for in your own, endless payment
process—that’s how frightening it is. I’ve spelled out the principles of the Fa
and the underlying laws. But as for how you should act, that still remains for
you to determine for yourself. The principles of Dafa teach that you cannot
take life. For as long as you cultivate you cannot kill. At a higher realm,
however, Dafa is all-encompassing and the Fa displays principles that are in a
Buddha’s realm. I’ve said that some of the lives that you have harmed will be
consummated and become common beings in your future paradise, but everything
will come to naught if you can’t Consummate! All of your karma will have to be
repaid by you, yourself. That’s the relationship. I don’t want to discuss the
Fa at high levels precisely because even after I had revealed it, many people
still wouldn’t truly comprehend the principles I would have talked about.
Of course, the Fa is higher than the principles among ordinary people.
You wouldn’t find it even if you rummaged through all books—ancient, modern,
Chinese, and foreign—and you wouldn’t find it even in other scriptures. That’s
why everyone likes to hear it. But don’t regard it as knowledge—I’m not here to
satisfy your attachment to seeking knowledge. I’m teaching the Fa in order to
save you.
Question: Teacher, you often
use the word “we.” How should we understand this?
Teacher: I’m using the
phrasing used in modern Mainland China. I feel that you’re all members of Dafa
and thus a part of Dafa, so I’ve referred to you as “we.” I feel that when you
hear it perhaps you will place yourself in true cultivation. That’s the
thinking behind it.
Question: When is a person
considered to have psychosis?
Teacher: Psychosis is
just that a person can’t control his own body and is very weak. As soon as this
type of person encounters troubles, he doesn’t want to deal with anything. It’s
as though his main consciousness (zhu
yishi) is asleep, pays no attention to anything, and has suddenly let go of
this body. At that point the person is in what ordinary people call a psychotic
state. And why is that? When his main consciousness doesn’t control his
body—that is, when he’s not rational—the various thoughts of his that are
generated by karma and the various notions which formed after birth start to
control his body, mouth, eyes, and everything else of his. So he will talk
nonsense and act insane without any reasonable, normal behavior, and people
will say he’s psychotic. I have said that psychosis is not a disease. It
doesn’t have any pathological condition; it’s merely that the person’s main
consciousness is too weak. There are also congenital illnesses where the
person’s main consciousness is weak from birth and his body is always
controlled by other beings; it constantly gets handed over to others to
control. Add to that strong interference by messages from other dimensions, and
the person will do anything. The brain is a ready-made machine and anyone can
operate it. If you don’t operate it, and you turn it over, others will come to
operate it and then it won’t follow human standards. So a person has to have a
strong will. The will must be firm!
Question: Are there people who will have neither their innate body (benti) transformed nor an Immortal Infant (yuanying) cultivated at the time of Consummation?
Teacher: I’ve said that
many of our Dafa disciples come from different levels, so there might exist
different situations. All the same, don’t be concerned with which situation
yours is. I guarantee that as long as you cultivate I will allow you to reach
the state that you will be most satisfied with. The same goes for everyone.
Isn’t my giving you the best my creating the best for this cosmos? (Applause)
Question: When reading Zhuan Falun, I rarely feel that the
Buddhas, Daos, and Gods are clearly pointing out something to me. But in the
course of lived cultivation, I do enlighten to the Fa’s principles.
Teacher: You are able to enlighten on your own, so it’s not necessary to point things out to you. Managing to do that on your own is enlightening to the Dao on your own, and that is excellent. Some people really can’t enlighten to something, yet we see that they are good prospects. So what’s to be done? We drop them a hint.
Question: Of late I have
often had an awful state of mind, my thoughts haven’t been good, and my
thinking has been a mess. Have I really fallen that much?
Teacher: Karma will
attack like mad when you slack off. If you are strong on this side you can
suppress it. When you have suppressed and controlled it, if I see that you are
really good and indeed a cultivator, I will have to look after you and
eliminate those things for you. That’s how it works. It won’t do if you fail to
handle it yourself. You might say, “Oh, then as long as I suppress it Teacher
will eliminate it for me. Then I’ll start to suppress it.” It’s similar to what
I said earlier about the thinking people with illness have: It won’t work if
you practice only because you want me to eliminate karma for you! The bottom
line is, you shouldn’t be attached to anything. You must have righteous
thoughts.
Question: May we play the videotape of Master teaching the exercises when we are doing group exercises in the park?
Teacher: That’s all right
if the environment permits it and the government doesn’t intervene. Whether you
may play the video depends on the situation and the location.
Question: I’ve cultivated
for more than a year and it is as though the more I cultivate, the more fragile
I become. A tiny attachment can cause my heart much unrest.
Teacher: It’s also possible
that you have become increasingly sensitive and are afraid that you aren’t
doing well cultivating. Don’t develop that attachment, either. Cultivate openly
and with dignity. On the other hand, you have to hold yourself to strict
requirements. Every one of you will make mistakes in the course of cultivation
and will have trials that you can’t pass. If you could smoothly get over every
trial, then I, as your master, wouldn’t have arranged it well. So every trial
is challenging to pass. You will either pass it or fail to pass it, and you
will either pass it well or pass it poorly. But when you pass it poorly, you
agonize over it and know that you haven’t cultivated well and regret it deeply.
You make up your mind to cultivate well next time. Then the next time you will
try again to pass it. It’s precisely in this state of being able to pass it,
not being able to pass it, examining yourself, and doing this constantly that
you are cultivating. If you could pass every trial well you wouldn’t need to
cultivate. If no trial could stop you, you would be about to Consummate. On the
other hand, if you think, “Teacher said that it doesn’t matter whether we pass
it well or not, it’s fine as long as we cultivate,” and from here on out you
slack off and don’t mind when you fail to pass trials well, then you are no
longer cultivating. That’s how these things work. It won’t do if you do not
hold yourself to strict requirements.
Question: What is Consummation? Is it dying like an ordinary person, or is it arranged by Master?
Teacher: Consummation
takes many different forms. As you might know, Shakyamuni taught Nirvana in order to discard human attachments
to the greatest extent. In his cultivation way they didn’t even want the human
body. So a person in his practice shouldn’t be attached to the human body, and
should just cultivate that way. Tibetan Lamaism teaches Light-Transformation.
That is, the person sits there at the time of Consummation, and if his entire
body is successfully cultivated, at the moment of Consummation his body is
transformed into a beam of red light and his own Soul leaves with the
successfully cultivated Buddha-Body. Since the Buddha-Body that is successfully
cultivated doesn’t contain matter from this ordinary human side, human beings
can’t see it, and can see only light and that a shape made of light rises up.
There are people who haven’t cultivated that well and who can’t undergo
Light-Transformation of the entire body. So at the time of Light-Transformation
his body instantly shrinks, “Shwa!” to a full person about one foot tall. It
looks exactly like him but has been reduced to about a foot tall, with a
proportionate body. That is because he didn’t cultivate enough and was not
completely transfigured in Light-Transformation.
There are other scenarios too. In the Dao system in China, they take the form of “deliverance from the corpse” when they Consummate. What is “deliverance from the corpse”? In ancient China, many people practiced the Great Dao.[9] The cultivation way of Great Dao requires that after a person succeeds in cultivation he takes the body with him—their way even wants the body. But this type of person’s flesh body is no longer an ordinary human body, for it has been completely transformed into high-energy matter and become his Dao-body. Their method of deliverance from the corpse is as follows. The person knows that he has cultivated to Consummation and that his entire body has been fully cultivated. How is he to leave the secular world? Most Daoists don’t resolve their unfulfilled wishes among ordinary people until after their Consummation. The Buddha system isn’t like that, though, as things are resolved in the midst of one’s Consummation.
Deliverance from the corpse would stop people from looking for the person after he leaves. He will fake his death, though by that time he is in fact capable of going up to the heavens or entering into the earth. As he is about to leave, he tells his family: “I will pass away. I have succeeded in cultivation and I’m about to leave. Prepare a coffin for me.” Precisely at the time he predicted, he lays down in bed and a moment later stops breathing. Family members see that he has passed away, so they put him in the coffin and bury him. But in fact, he has used the ability of “camouflaging”—he has used a supernormal power. What his family saw that day wasn’t his real body. So what was it? It was conjured from an object he had pointed at. He used a shoe, a whiskbroom, a wooden pole, or a sword, and transformed it into his own image. He had pointed at an object and transformed its image. It knows how to say whatever is needed, and it says to his family: “I’ll lay down here and in a moment it’ll be over. Just put me in the coffin, that’s all.” So in actuality, it was that piece of wood, that whiskbroom, or maybe a shoe [laying there]. The real person had left and gone far, far away. So the family buries him. After being buried, in a few hours that object will in fact return to its original form; it will return to a shoe, a bamboo pole, or a piece of wood. That is what’s called “deliverance from the corpse.” Sometimes a persons will return from somewhere else and say: “Oh, I saw so and so from your family in a really far off place. We even spoke to each other when I went there for business.” His family will say: “That can’t be. He passed away.” That person will then respond: “I saw him. He hasn’t died. I really did see him. I even spoke with him and had a meal with him.” “That’s bizarre, he really did die.” His family knows that he was a Daoist: “Let’s dig him up and take a look, then.” When the coffin is opened they see a shoe in there.
In the Dao system there is also a form called “Ascension in Broad Daylight.” The Ascension in Broad Daylight form is used when a person’s body has been fully cultivated and he has fulfilled his wishes in the secular world prior to Consummation. It’s time for him to leave since there is nothing left to do. At that point something called “opening of the heavenly gate” takes place; in other words, the gate of the Three Realms is opened. Then, for some a heavenly god comes to receive him, or there comes a dragon, a crane, or whatnot, on which he rides and flies away, or a heavenly chariot comes to carry him. Such things happened a lot in ancient times. There is Ascension in Broad Daylight of this sort. In our practice system, I use the method of Ascension in Broad Daylight for those who are to go to the Falun Paradise. There are people in some cultivation ways who don’t want the body. Everything in that person’s entire paradise would be thrown into disarray if he were to be given a body. It’s just like with Shakyamuni’s Nirvana: If you were to give him a body it wouldn’t be Nirvana—wouldn’t the entire cultivation system be spoiled? His paradise is composed of the elements of Precept, Concentration, and Wisdom, and so he doesn’t want the body. Many of you think with a human mindset, “Oh, this Ascension in Broad Daylight is awesome. People will see me fly up.” You are thinking about divine matters with a human mindset, and that is totally unfitting. Put another way, at the time of Consummation there will naturally be a form for it. I can tell you, though, that with so many people reaching Consummation this time, I will definitely leave a profound lesson for the people who didn’t believe. So when my disciples Consummate in the future it will very likely be a magnificent sight, one that human society will never forget. (Applause)
With that said, you still have to discard all attachments and not be concerned with these things. Just keep cultivating. If your cultivation fails, everything is for naught.
Question: In the book Zhuan Falun, are there different Buddhas, Daos, and Gods behind different words?
Teacher: Yes, for sure.
That’s why I tell you all to read the book. Some people understand something,
“Aha!” and that instant when they realize that thing their bodies experience a
sudden shudder and feel
a warm current. Though they only have a subtle sensation, at that moment, the changes in the body
are in fact extremely substantial, and on the other side churning is occurring everywhere. That’s because you have ascended to yet another level, and the body experiences different forms of changes at different levels. As you know, in Chinese temples some Buddha statues have another four heads on top of the head, or yet another three heads on top of those four heads, and one more head grows atop those three heads. Actually, it is a manifest form of a Buddha’s Fa-image at different levels. Which is to say, at
different levels the changes in bodily states are quite profound. It’s not only magnificent, but solemn, majestic, and incredibly wonderful. So there is a reason why you
aren’t allowed to see it. Since you have ordinary human thinking, you will understand it with human thoughts, and might even act insane as a result. We can’t have anything like that
happen.
Question: Does hand-shaking
and bodily contact transmit karma?
Teacher: If you are a
true cultivator that will do no harm to you, no matter how sensitive you are.
Your cultivated body has gong: how could it fear something lower than
gong? There is a
big gap between the two in terms of realm and level, so you shouldn’t fear
it.
Hand-shaking among people, that is, contact and hand-shaking among
ordinary people, can indeed transmit karma. At the very least there is contamination. That’s for sure. Nowadays everyone shakes
hands. Hand-shaking came from the Western, Caucasian society. Asian people in the past didn’t
shake hands. When they met, they would cup a fist in the other hand. That was pretty good. Women wouldn’t cup their fists like that because it would look bad. They would cup a fist to the right front of their abdomen like this; when they met people they would cup a fist to the side of the body and slightly bend their legs. It seems that hand-shaking appeared only after the Renaissance took place in the
West; earlier on they didn’t shake hands, either. They had different kinds of greeting etiquette—some of this, some of that. Anyway, there
were different kinds, all kinds of them. The handshake came into use later on. Don’t we have Heshi? It is the Buddha system’s custom.
Question: In more than a year of cultivation people have rarely made trouble for me. If it continues like this, how can I get rid of the many attachments I have?
Teacher: It’s not like that. Everybody’s
circumstances are different. Maybe it’s this way, maybe it’s that way, maybe… There are all different sorts of factors. So make sure you don’t get attached to these
things [here]. The day hardship really does arrive you will find it difficult to pass, yet when there are
no hardships you want them. There’s a reason for
everything. Actually, some people truly don’t have that many hardships. That’s also true.
Question: There are dozens of people at our practice site, and the vast majority of them have bad complexions. Is it because we aren’t cultivating solidly?
Teacher: There are a small number of practice sites that really
aren’t right, where gossip circulates among the students and they “enlighten” to things indiscriminately. Some people indiscriminately “enlighten” to things that really have nothing to do with the
Fa I teach, and they even lead students to think in one way or another and let
their imaginations run wild. They even comment on the Fa, saying how this Fa is, how this section is, and how that section is. Are human
beings worthy of commenting
on
the Fa? At the very least you still have a human mindset, so it’s not right to do that. You should just cultivate yourself,
read, study, and perform the exercises in groups in accordance with Dafa. Use more of your
time to read and study the Fa, and less time to talk about
your own experiences and views. Or, after you finish doing the exercises you may discuss things together—that’s all right too. If you use
the time meant for cultivation and reading the Fa to instead discuss your
experiences, I don’t think that’s good. The things that some
people talk about carry various selfish thoughts and emotions, and even have nothing to do with the Fa. In that case they can lead students
astray and even indulge irrelevant thoughts. Human beings
all have an ordinary human mindset. Our students, whether veteran or new,
couldn’t possibly be allowed to talk about or know the principles that are
higher than the words’ surface meanings. After all, what you talk about is the
words’ literal meaning and principles at the surface, for Heaven’s Fa cannot be discussed among
ordinary people. I don’t know what has gone wrong with some people. I
don’t know how they “enlighten” to those messed up ideas. You must pay attention to this!
Question: What’s the
translation of “yin”?[10] Why does one need to do “Jieyin”?[11]
Teacher: Buddhas don’t
call it yin. It’s a manifestation of Buddha Fa’s dignity.
It’s a term from ancient India that was translated directly, called yin. Jieyin, large shouyin,[12]
and small shouyin are other expressions of the majesty of the Fa’s manifestation and language.
Question: I have cultivated for almost a year now, yet I have never seen the Falun.
Teacher: Let me put it this way. If you say that you haven’t had any changes in yourself, haven’t experienced any
changes that the Fa has brought you, or don’t know or have not enlightened to anything that goes beyond how ordinary people are, then I don’t believe you unless you
aren’t a cultivator. If you need to see something, have it
manifest, or have it concretely shown just as clearly as when one looks at
ordinary people, then I don’t think that will work. The reason
being, there are different ways
to handle each person in accordance with his own condition, his different mental states among ordinary people, and what
he will achieve when he reaches Consummation in the future. In doing this task, I
absolutely won’t do things uniformly in every situation. You might seek to see
the Falun, but you won’t see
it if
the attachment isn’t discarded.
Question: Since Buddhas at higher levels see human beings as nothing, please tell us why Master has come to save us?
Teacher: The Fa of the
cosmos created living environments at different levels for the beings at all of the many levels of the cosmos.
It follows that there have to be lives in these living environments. Ordinary human beings are at the lowest level of the different levels
created by this Fa for the entire cosmos. So from my standpoint, I need to take
into consideration the entire Fa and the entire cosmos. Have I explained it
clearly? (Applause) So from my
standpoint, I view lives—lives of both the positive and negative
sides—differently from you. It’s
not something you can comprehend.
Question: As I continually
study the Fa, the things I think about become fewer and fewer, to the extent
that sometimes I don’t want to think about anything.
Is this because my main
consciousness is weak? Has my cultivation has gone astray?
Teacher: It’s not so. And I can even tell you that it’s a good phenomenon. Why
do I say that it’s a very good phenomenon?
I will tell you. A person’s
brain
works really astutely among ordinary people. In order not to
lose out, a person’s thinking is extremely quick
in this respect, and his memory is sharp. What I’m saying is, using your brain that way isn’t good, for you will generate karma. When your brain is too developed like that, it interferes with your cultivation. So what’s
to be done? We use an approach whereby at first we restrain this part of your brain. In other words, we first lock it up, adjust it, replace it with the portion of your thoughts that can think like a cultivator, and have this part of your thinking
develop. Then the cunning
part is adjusted and we gradually loosen the restraint. At that point you will be
able to handle yourself properly. When you can’t even detect those bad thoughts of
yours—since that part of your brain is so well-developed—as soon as you think about something you burrow into that part
of the brain. That part of your brain severely interferes with your cultivation. So, many people will experience what I just
described. It is temporary. The thoughts that you often like to use to protect
your self-interest, the thoughts
that can hurt others, and those brain cells that
are too developed are all sealed off and adjusted. So this situation will occur, but it’s temporary. After
they are sealed off, they need to be taken care of for you so that they won’t be so developed and
will be just adequate for normal use. We have your righteous thoughts and cells develop. That’s how it goes.
Otherwise… Let me use a
colloquial
expression that can describe it more fittingly: You are an upright and noble person cultivating Buddhahood, so
your mind can’t be cunning,
crafty, slippery, and sly!
Question: Listening to others’ experiences
inspires and enlightens me, but I find it not as solid as
enlightening to things on
my own.
Teacher: That is right. Of course that’s how it
is. What you enlighten to yourself, which is mainly through your own cultivation, is the most solid. On the other hand, you can indeed draw lessons from what others say. That can facilitate your progress too, so it is
beneficial. Fa conferences
won’t be held often. Our conferences do have benefits. But don’t share experiences too often. You should focus your energy on studying the Fa and
reading the book.
Some of the questions that were raised were pulled out since were relatively low level or repetitious,
or they can be resolved by reading the book. Due to time constraints we’ll stop answering
questions here. (Loud Applause)
Glossary
(provided by the translators)
benti “innate body,” “original body,” or
“true being.”
Dafa “The Great Law,” or “The
Great Way”; short for the practice’s full name, Falun Dafa, “The Great
Way of the Law Wheel.”
Dao 1. Also known as “Tao,” a Daoist term for “the Way of
nature and the universe”; 2. An Enlightened being who has attained the Dao.
Fa “Law” or “Way.”
gong “cultivation energy.”
Heshi The position formed by placing the palms
together vertically in front of one’s chest; sometimes in the West called
“prayer pose.”
qi In Chinese thought, this substance/energy is said to
assume many forms in the body and the environment. Usually translated as “vital
energy,” qi is thought to determine a person’s health.
qigong A general name for certain Chinese
practices that cultivate the human body. Qigong has been immensely popular in China in recent decades.
xinxing “mind-nature”
(lit.), “thought,” or “character.”
Zhen, Shan, Ren Zhen – true, real, truth; Shan – good, kind, compassion, benevolence; Ren – to endure, tolerate, forbear.
[1] This and all subsequent Chinese terms not explained in a given passage appear in a glossary at the back of the book.
[2] (pronounced “nyew wah”) A Goddess from Chinese mythology. Note: This and all additional footnotes are the translator’s additions.
[3] In this and some other cases, “karmic” refers to both good and bad things.
[4] ( “sree-vat-sah”) Also known as “the swastika.”
[5] (“fung-shway”) Chinese geomancy, the practice of reading landscapes.
[6] (“jahng sahn-fung”) A famous Daoist immortal. He is said to be the creator of taiji (or “Tai-Chi”), a kind of traditional Chinese shadow boxing.
[7] As used in this context, the term refers to articles written by Master Li.
[8] This term, as used in qigong circles, refers to some intangible types of energy, influences, or information that can be transmitted.
[9] A certain type of cultivation system.
[10] (“yeen”) “hand posture”
[11] (“jyeh-yin”) “conjoined hands”
[12] (“show-yin”) “hand signs”
[ 1]the idea is, during this time when the fahui is held here and now