Disciple: Venerable Master, please spell out what "Holy
King Who Turns the Wheel" is about. (Audience laughs, applauds)
Teacher: Our students who have read Shakyamuni's
scriptures probably know that back when Shakyamuni taught the Fa, he talked
about a "Holy Law-Wheel King," otherwise known as the "Holy King
Who Turns the Wheel." The name Holy King Who Turns the Wheel has been used
more often in the human world, whereas Holy Law-Wheel King is the title used in
the heavens.
Buddha Shakyamuni once said that the Holy Law-Wheel King is
the most omnipotent and powerful Tathagata in the universe. A Tathagata Buddha
is a King of Law.1 The king of a Buddha's paradise is a Tathagata. We call it
"Tathagata" based on ideas in cultivation and enlightenment. "Tathagata"2
means that the Buddha has come with the truth and the power to do what he wants.
So the world's people call Kings of Law "Tathagatas," which is another
correct way to understand it, since they [the Tathagatas] grasp the truths at
that level, and among all of the beings in their respective domains they are the
highest and grasp the highest truths of those levels. That's why they are Kings
of Law, that is, kings of the beings at a given level or of that group of
beings. There are many Kings of Law. Of course, to humans there are countless
beings who are Tathagatas, one of whom is the Holy Law-Wheel King. Why did
Buddha Shakyamuni name specifically the Holy Law-Wheel King? It was because the
Holy Law-Wheel King was going to descend to the human world to teach the Fa and
save people. Of course, you might have heard that Buddha Shakyamuni also said
that Maitreya would descend to the human world and save people. Actually, "Maitreya"
is a name, and "Holy King Who Turns the Wheel" is a title--the title
of a king--which, if it's put in human terms, is, well, a job title. (Teacher
laughs) (Applause)
As I have explained before, the gods at the levels close to
the Three Realms need to be replaced after a certain period of time. The act of
replacement brings about a problem, namely, that the sentient beings in lower
realms are supposed to have a perpetual concept of gods, and yet if, say, one
god leaves and people were not to know where he had gone, if nobody knew, then
this kind of constant replacement could leave the sentient beings of the Three
Realms in a state of disarray. The sentient beings of the low realms have
emotion (qing), so they would be puzzled. The beings would think,
"What happened to the god I believe in? Oh no, he's gone. Then who is to
look after me in his absence?" That's the problem that would arise. So the
god who takes over continues to look after the people who were going to be saved
by the previous god. And because he replaces the previous god, he thus assumes
the previous god's title and even his image, all at the same time. Their images
are not identical, but they are basically the same, they're quite alike and
similar. Fundamentally speaking, though, what is taken over is the god or
Buddha's title. Everyone is familiar with Bodhisattva Guanyin. Well, you know
how many Bodhisattva Guanyins there have been? If they were all to sit together
it would make for quite a crowd. Phew... it would probably take some time to
count them all! And what about Buddha Shakyamuni--how many of him have there
been? It is again a sizable number. Over the past twenty-five hundred years
there have been as many as thousands of him. How many Buddha Amitabhas have
there been? How many Jesuses have there been? How many Saint Marys have there
been? How many Honorable Divine of the Origin have there been? They too would
amount to large throngs with their numbers. And I'm not talking about things
like their Law Bodies or when they replicate themselves. Because they are so
close to the Three Realms--and when one is close to the Three Realms the emotion
in the Three Realms, what the sentient beings in the Three Realms act out, and
the factors that come from the many notions the worldly people have, are seen
directly and are directly projected to where one is--these things will interfere
with those gods. They are gods outside of the Three Realms and are different
from the sentient beings inside the Three Realms, but still, when things carry
on for long, it amounts to interference for them.
You know, I've told you a principle before: everything a
person sees is infused into his brain. When he is infused with a lot of good
things, he will be a good person. And if he is infused with a lot of bad things,
he will be a bad person. When a Dafa disciple continually reads the books of
Dafa, he is a being of upright Fa, and when he cultivates into a god he will be
a King of Law. Gods observe from high places the behavior of sentient beings in
the Three Realms. And though they are gods, they can be, over time, affected
just the same. The beings in the Three Realms, though very different from gods,
can still affect them. That's why at a certain point in time the gods beyond the
Three Realms need to be replaced. They have to leave, to go away. When they
leave, the people down below who they were trying to save still call out to
Jesus, Shakyamuni, Bodhisattva Guanyin, [or whoever it is]. Then what happens
after that god leaves? Who will look after them? When a god leaves, he really
stops handling all of the things he handled before. So before he leaves, he will
save someone and bring the person up to replace him, give him the same Fa power,
and have him cultivate an identical image, which is a divine body; they end up
having the same image. Because the previous god had him cultivate the previous
god's image, he looks very similar to the previous god. But his own factors are
incorporated as well, so there is a difference in how they look, though the
similarities are strong. And their mighty virtue, grace, and divine powers are
about the same. That is because the one who takes over has to reach that level
before he can do so. It can't be that your name is, say, John Doe, while his is
Jack Smith, and when you get up there and someone asks you who you are, you say
that you are John Doe and not Jack Smith. That wouldn't work. You will have to
be Bodhisattva Guanyin, you will have to be Jesus, you will have to be Buddha
Shakyamuni, you will have to be Honorable Divine of the Origin, and so on. Your
earthly name can no longer be used. So all of this is to say that after a
certain length of time gods are replaced, though the divine position, the divine
title, and the god's mighty virtue aren't changed.
As for Buddha Maitreya, you know, in the human world there
have been many who have managed to become Buddha Maitreya by cultivating. There
was a "Cloth-Bag Monk," for instance, who cultivated into Buddha
Maitreya. When he was in the human world, he always had a cloth bag on him. When
he was begging for alms he would put the food he received inside the bag and
carry it on his back. Cloth-Bag Monk was often in the Hangzhou area. During the
summer it gets pretty hot in the region south of the Yangtze River, so he often
left his shirt unbuttoned, exposing his belly; and he was kind of chubby. So,
ever since, Buddha Maitreya has been depicted that way in China's Han region.
[They made that association] because when he reached Parinirvana [and was about
to depart the earth], he left a poem indicating that he was Maitreya, saying
"Maitreya, Maitreya, the true Maitreya." Monks and others back then
didn't understand what that was about. They thought that he was a reincarnation
of Maitreya. They thought, "Oh, so Cloth-Bag Monk was actually a
reincarnation of Maitreya." But in fact, he wasn't a reincarnation of
Maitreya. He had cultivated into Maitreya. And it's for the same reason
that in Tibetan Buddhism monks are taught to cultivate toward a designated god.
They aren't clear on what the fundamental reason is. But that is in fact the
purpose. Once the person completes his cultivation, he becomes the replacement
of that previous god. But it has always been the assistant soul who was
cultivating and doing the replacing.
Many persons throughout history have cultivated into Buddha
Maitreya. Each was in fact chosen from a heavenly paradise and sent down to
cultivate. Maitreya is the position of a Buddha, and the Fa-name of a Buddha.
During Buddha Shakyamuni's time, one of his disciples was going to cultivate
into Maitreya, so Buddha Shakyamuni talked about how Buddha Maitreya would
descend to the human world at the Time of Law's End. But he wasn't in fact
talking about the Maitreya of that time. He was speaking of a Buddha
title and how in the future a Buddha Maitreya would descend to the human world.
In other words, since it was the title of a Buddha, who that succeeding god is
was not something to reveal to the world's people, and his original name no
longer was important. But having arrived at this point today in history,
sentient beings have learned that the Holy Law-Wheel King and Buddha Maitreya
were to descend to the human world and so the exact relationship between the
two becomes important. Just who really would be the Buddha Maitreya that comes
this time becomes something sentient beings are concerned about. Before, human
beings weren't allowed to know about the succession of the Buddha titles, and
even less could they know who really is the god who holds that position. But
talking about it in the sphere of celestial beings, among Dafa disciples, is
okay.
So in other words, the Maitreya that Buddha Shakyamuni spoke
of is as a matter of fact the Buddha Maitreya who descends to the world to save
people during the final time of the world, in man's final days. In fact, some
people in the human world did know--and it's not limited to people of the East,
as some in Western society knew as well--that the one who would really come is
Maitreya. The god who holds that Buddha title is the only savior of the
cosmos's sentient beings, is the supreme King of Kings in the heavens, and saves
the cosmos's sentient beings under the title of Buddha Maitreya. So, given that
he uses the title of Buddha Maitreya, who was he before he descended to the
human world? He came from an even higher place, reincarnated at many different
levels, and as he came down, level by level, he was different gods at various
levels and he assumed the Fa titles of those levels as he passed through. And
when he descended to the Fa Realm, he was the Holy Law-Wheel King, otherwise
known as the Holy King Who Turns the Wheel. (Applause)
Under normal circumstances it is rare to have someone from a
high level come down and directly replace a certain god. And it's rare to have a
god directly replace [another god] of the same level in the heavens. But it is
normal to have gods created at the same level as one another. It's not as if all
the gods have to cultivate up there from down below. In other words, many [gods]
are created in higher realms in the normal course of things, and since the time
of the Three Realms' creation the number of those who have been sent down and
who then cultivated back up hasn't been small. That's why later on the practice
of inheriting the title of a Buddha or a god became quite common. The Holy
Law-Wheel King is the Maitreya who would descend during this period of time to
save people. And "Maitreya" has become a Buddha's title. Shakyamuni
said that the Maitreya who was among his disciples held the attainment status of
Bodhisattva. So in people's minds, especially among [believers of] the religion,
the idea formed that before Maitreya would descend to the human world he would
hold the attainment status of "Bodhisattva," and that when he would
descend to the human world and complete his task of saving people, he would
validate the attainment status of Tathagata, that is, the attainment status of
"Buddha." Buddha Shakyamuni was talking about a general principle that
holds under normal circumstances, instead of the full story of Maitreya or the
specifics of a particular Maitreya. In fact, though, the Holy Law-Wheel King was
spoken of by Buddha Shakyamuni in great detail, he said much about him. As you
know, the Buddhist scriptures were compiled some five hundred years after Buddha
Shakyamuni had left the human world. So as later generations handed them down,
they came to lose, little by little, much of what the Buddha had once said. When
the Buddhist scriptures were composed, much of what was recorded was not Buddha
Shakyamuni's original words. And on top of that, the scriptures couldn't fully
capture the circumstances, the times, or the places of Buddha Shakyamuni's Fa-teachings
or just what exactly he was referring to. So what was said about the Holy
Law-Wheel King's descent to the human world wasn't recorded in full.
I'm not saying that the scriptures of Shakyamuni's Buddhism
aren't good. In the past people could cultivate by his scriptures, and
there were Buddhas looking after things. But because the human world is a vile
world that's full of vice, the upper realms stipulated that any Fa to be
bequeathed to the world's people couldn't be entirely true. That is why much of
Buddha Shakyamuni's original words couldn't be recorded in his times. As humans
would put it, it was "Heaven's will." As gods see it, it was what Fa-rectification
dictated. Why was it that Jesus' original words were likewise compiled from
memory by those who came later? Why did Lao Zi leave behind merely five thousand
words after a lifetime of teaching the Dao? Exactly because true and complete
scriptures couldn't be left to the vile world; higher gods had forbid true and
complete scriptures from being left to man. Actually, true scriptures aren't
left to man because, for one, human society is not a society of gods, and, the
Three Realms is supposed to be a world where principles are reversed. Leaving
true scriptures here would be an insult to the gods. Only the Fa Realm and the
realms above it are worlds of gods and Buddhas that have true Fa and true
scriptures. Another reason is, gods would never do something just for one
purpose alone, and thus many, many factors are involved. They knew that the
ultimate reason for the creation and existence of the Three Realms and the human
race was for them to be used, at last, in the Fa-rectification. They didn't want
the Fa they had taught to be left behind to man and interfere later on with the
fundamental Great Fa of the cosmos that would be taught during the Fa-rectification
at the end. That's the fundamental reason. When people later on recollected
certain things and compiled scriptures it was a matter of people trying to do
good and searching for god, and that's altogether different. (Applause)
Student asks: Does the requirement that you set forth in
Zhuan Falun about not drinking alcohol hold for all beverages and food that
contain alcohol? For example, having a beer as a beverage with your meal
(audience laughs), having a bowl of fermented rice porridge for breakfast, or
occasionally having a piece of chocolate with an alcoholic filling in our daily
life (audience laughs). Do these things violate the rule against alcohol?
Teacher: If you really understand what cultivation is
for, you will understand all of these things. But today's society has made a
mess of everything. Even when you don't drink alcohol there are alcoholic things
mixed in to the food we eat. So even when you haven't drunk any alcohol you
still have alcohol in your stomach. Now that society has become this way, to
avoid it altogether you'd have to stop eating, wouldn't you? Also, in Western
society there is the matter of custom: they (especially the French) have an
alcoholic beverage with their meal, it's part of their diet. So when everyone is
doing that and you don't, your family might think you are a bit weird. That is
why back when I first imparted the Fa I said that if this is the situation, then
for new students drinking a small glass of it isn't a big deal. In cultivation
what matters is your heart and mind. But being a cultivator, if you want to be
diligent, you will take cultivation very seriously. If a person can truly hold
himself to a high standard, he will manage to do better with such things. But if
instead he thinks these things don't matter, then he will be more lax with
himself, and that's how you get differences.
While we're on this subject, I will talk a little about
myself. You know, a few years back Master seldom stayed in one place for long.
That was because amidst the persecution swarms of evil beings in other
dimensions were searching everywhere for me. There were so many evil factors at
the time that they saturated all of the Three Realms' dimensions. And they would
have bad people look for me so as to disrupt my focus on doing Fa-rectification
and eliminating the evil things. That's why I kept moving about. At the time I
was basically in a car around the clock, traveling daily. A line from a poem I
wrote, which said, "Journeying thousands of miles by car," is in fact
describing what it was like. With my constant movement, and with the protection
of gods and powerful gong, things were kept invisible to the evil, and
the evil couldn't locate me. Hardly anybody knew where I was. I wanted to
swiftly eliminate the evil factors and speed up the progress of Fa-rectification,
and I needed to prevent many matters of Fa-rectification from being disrupted.
Along with this I was watching how our students were doing. This led to a
problem with eating. Not everywhere I went had Chinese restaurants (everyone
laughs), so a lot of times I had American, Japanese, Korean, or European
food. All kinds of food are fine for me. But with many restaurants, when you go
in there and just eat without ordering anything to drink, the owners get a bit
upset (Teacher laughs), especially when there's a long line to be seated;
a lot of restaurants make most of their profits from drinks. So I came up with a
solution. There is non-alcoholic beer nowadays, and so I would order a
non-alcoholic beer to get around that. Now with that said, I'm not telling you
to follow my example.
Talking about this reminds me of something. In all these
years there is one facet of Fa I haven't brought up with you. When the
persecution was really intense, back in 2000, students in Mainland China were
exposing the slanderous propaganda about Master that the evil had made up, and
something said by one student has really stuck with me. And it is a view that
needs to be corrected. The evil ringleader and the CCP made up lies and told our
students how their teacher was so rich, how he had such-and-such luxury
apartments in Beijing and Changchun, and how he led such an extravagant
lifestyle. When I taught the Fa in China my lifestyle was in fact quite basic.
Well, a student in Mainland China said, "Our Master is the best and he
wouldn't be like that. If our Master were that way I wouldn't follow Him."
I was saddened by that, and more than ever I understood the hardship and pains
felt by the previous divine beings who had descended to the world to save
people. Cultivation is about cultivating oneself--why look at others?
I have taught you cultivation, but that doesn't mean I am
cultivating just as you are. If that were the case, and if we had become bad,
then you'd just stop cultivating? Is that how it would work? Nothing in the Fa
I've taught says that the Master must go through grueling cultivation just as
cultivators do. The evil has assaulted me because I have been suffering on
behalf of sentient beings. And when it's Dafa cultivation--where people don't
leave the secular world to cultivate, and the disciples are from all walks of
life--how could the Master be the same as all his disciples? And why would he
have to live like those of his students who have the most karma or the most
hardship? If it happens that your Master does things differently from you and
you find it objectionable, then are you going to stop cultivating? Isn't [your
notion that] the master who saves you must be like his disciples, the result of
being poisoned by the Party-culture of the CCP? Do human beings really want
their master, who brings people salvation, to undergo human suffering along with
them? And only then will they approve of him? In fact, what I want to establish
and the problems that I intend to resolve during the Fa-rectification include no
longer having divine beings who come down to save people be persecuted by the
sentient beings in the Three Realms. Divine beings who save people come down to
rescue them, so they can't be the same as human beings. In the past they went
through the same ordeals that human beings experience, or suffered even worse
than humans, for it was hard to save people, and those divine beings bore the
karma of human beings. That was also to leave their own examples and to help
people learn from them. They willfully went through that for the sake of human
beings and to teach people how to live properly. So should divine beings, who
don't have karma, have to suffer even a bit? It was human beings' karma weighing
them down.
Divine beings who save people really can't be the same as
those being saved. Say someone has fallen into a mud pit: would it make sense
for him to refuse help if I offered to pull him out, and he insisted, "You
have to jump in here and be like me before I'll let you save me"? There's
no such thing. During this evil persecution, [think about] how many students who
had such thinking fell after seeing, reading, or hearing the slanderous
propaganda against Master. While teaching the Fa before, I discussed a
principle. To illustrate the issue, one thing that they say in the CCP's
Party-culture is, "Before you advise others to do well, you have to first
do well yourself." So after some people have done something bad and others
point it out to them, they say, "You haven't done well yourself. Don't tell
me what to do. If you want to tell me what to do, you first have to do well
yourself." Just like with the notion I mentioned above, their reasoning is
deviant here. There is no such issue as a master who saves people not handling
himself well. That is a crooked idea born of the malevolent Party's warped
culture. In other words, the idea that a divine being, regardless of what
approach he uses to save people, must be the same as human beings is absolutely
not the case. Divine beings might choose, though, to teach people with words or
by example, but that is an act of those divine beings being merciful, and
absolutely not because they are supposed to do that. You must be clear on
this. (Applause) While they walked the earth Shakyamuni and Jesus did
suffer a lot for human beings. But the fact is, they didn't have to do that at
all. That was caused by the enormous karma they bore for human beings and the
fact that there were related things that couldn't be harmonized by the cosmos's
past Fa. It entailed that they beg for alms among human beings and be mistreated
and harmed by them, even to the extent that their entire lives were difficult.
You all must be clear about this.
Going back to what I was saying before, if there is something
alcoholic in your meal or in a piece of chocolate, that's not a big deal. But if
you set a high standard for yourself you will do better in these situations. New
students and students who haven't studied the Fa much won't be thought of as not
doing well just because of these things. Gauge it for yourself. The Fa on this
has been taught, and Master has taught you to conform to ordinary people as much
as possible as you cultivate. As always, though, there are people who are set on
being more diligent [than others] and have higher standards for themselves.
That's what accounts for the differences [between people]. If you, as a Dafa
cultivator, say that you just have to drink alcohol, then you have an
attachment.
Student: The Fa's rectification of everything in the cosmos
has reached its final stage and history is about to enter a new stage, but our
gesture of salute to Master is still not uniform. (Audience laughs)
Teacher: You mean how you should greet Master? I've
actually made clear since I first taught the Fa that people can address me in
whatever way: you can call me by my name, call me Teacher, call me
Master--whatever is fine. Master isn't a stickler for these things. But if you
are a true Dafa disciple, you can't address me directly by my name. It doesn't
matter if ordinary people call me by my name--they can call me whatever they
want. But Dafa disciples should call me "Master," or
"Teacher," etc. It's up to you, and you can address me however you
like. But be sure not to address me as "Buddha." That's because
whatever the case, Master is teaching the Fa with a human body and saving you
using a human form, he is manifesting in this world with a human body. A human
body cannot be called a Buddha. Calling a human body Buddha blasphemes Buddhas.
Some students might think, then: "I know in my heart who you are."
Well, that's you knowing in your heart then (audience laughs, applauds),
and it's fine for you to call me whatever you want to in your heart. (Teacher
laughs)
Disciple: Dafa disciples from Chengdu and Nanchong of Sichuan
province send Master their highest regards and wish to pass on greetings to
Master. Master, what should we do about those people in remote mountainous areas
who have no access to information?
Teacher: Thank you, Dafa disciples from Nanchong. It's
not a problem. Let's not forget that as for many things, aren't there Master's
Law Bodies? And there are many gods who are playing a positive role helping out,
too. What's more, there are so many Dafa disciples in Mainland China, and they
will do many things. Even if those people really can't access the information,
there are still ways to handle things. And if they are really getting left out,
then there are ways to take care of that. But they actually won't be left out.
Did you know that after the Nine Commentaries came out, within just one
month's time all of China knew about them? Since they are for all people--and
especially Chinese people--everybody will for sure be given an opportunity. (Applause)
Some remote villages are pretty isolated, but gods are helping to spread
them. And as they are spread, people will learn of them quickly, since at this
most crucial time everyone must give their stance.
Disciple: For many people in Mainland China, especially the
60 million CCP members, coming to see clearly the evil Party's wicked nature and
completely break from it takes some time. Once the denunciation and removal of
the malevolent Party begins, what will happen to those people who have been
branded with the mark of the beast?
Teacher: When gods go about doing something they
definitely take everything into consideration, and all will be given an equal
chance. As you will see in the future, it will have been impossible for somebody
to go without hearing about this [Dafa] during this Fa-rectification and at this
time when Dafa is publicly spread. When the world's people try to avoid being
persecuted and say that they have never heard of Dafa, that's just not true. Of
course, this time around, where Dafa disciples cultivate as they validate the Fa,
is different, and not everybody can become a Dafa disciple. But this is a major
thing that involves sentient beings' very existence; even the Three Realms'
existence is for the sake of Fa-rectification. If the salvation of all
beings--something so significant--were not relayed to every single person on
earth, if it weren't relayed to the sentient beings when all was said and done,
then I, he who administers the Fa-rectification, would definitely not let those
responsible off the hook. (Applause) All people will know about it, not a
single person will be left out. And then the choice is in their own hands, and that
is the crucial thing. The entire Three Realms, the long, drawn-out years of
history, and the sentient beings in the Three Realms were all created for this,
so how could today's people be left out? That's impossible. I don't think
[what you described] should be a problem.
Disciple: Venerable Master, recently certain students have
felt substances from other dimensions badly repressing them. Does that have to
do with the state of Fa-rectification?
Teacher: Some students were coughing a while ago, and
some students have had certain abnormal reactions, especially in the period
after the Nine Commentaries came out. It was the work of the factors,
lodged in people's bodies, that belong to the malevolent Party's evil specter.
You need to eliminate them when you send righteous thoughts. They can't have
that much of an effect on Dafa disciples, but they do interfere. Basically all
of the recent interference, including interference of other sorts, has been the
work of those evil factors.
The evil factors that were pressing down into the Three
Realms from beyond at the time of July 20, 1999, have been cleaned out to the
point that basically few remain. Before the mighty force of Fa-rectification
reaches this surface dimension, there will still be factors here which were
created by the old forces before that, along with the factors of the malevolent
Party's evil specter, doing evil. But since in this dimension there is gong that
I left here earlier on, and there are some righteous gods, along with Dafa
disciples and their righteous factors, they have now cleaned out the evil
factors that persecute Dafa disciples to the point that not even one out of 100
million parts is left--a lot of the evil has been cleaned out. What remains in
the surface dimension now is only eight or nine percent of what used to be here.
(Applause) And the factors of the malevolent Party's evil specter are
being destroyed on a large scale; and of late, especially, they have been
cleaned out rapidly. They have been eliminated in the other dimensions where Fa-rectification
has been completed. [What remains in] the surface dimension now doesn't even
amount to one ten-thousandth of the total amount from before, and it only
accounts for about seven percent of the surface dimension. The field that Dafa
has established in this world occupies forty-five percent of what should be
filled up in this dimension. If you look at the proportion, [you will see that]
the factors left by the old forces in the surface dimension, the rotten demons,
and the factors of the malevolent Party's evil specter altogether account for
fifteen percent, while the field established by Dafa in this dimension occupies
forty-five percent--and that doesn't even take into account the effect of Dafa
disciples themselves. When I added up all of the evil factors that persecute
Dafa disciples, they only amounted to fifteen percent. This says that during
this time before the mighty force of Fa-rectification arrives at the surface,
Dafa's factors occupy forty-five percent of the dimensional field at the
surface, where human beings are, and that doesn't even include the Dafa
disciples themselves.
Disciple: Please talk about how we should distinguish our
cultivation from our work. A lot of our projects now face challenges in their
management.
Teacher: If it's something that involves Dafa disciples
working on validating the Fa, then that [process] in itself is cultivation. But
you can't replace Fa-study with doing Dafa work--that wouldn't do. Haven't I
said that you need to do all of the three things, and do them all well?
Outside of Mainland China some students have set up media
outlets and other company-like entities that aim to validate the Fa, and they
are managing them in the way ordinary companies are run. And there is nothing
wrong with that, don't think that this is wrong. If something can't be run in a
normal manner, then that might not be good for validating Dafa. Running a media
outlet, starting a company, etc.--these are forms in human society. Human beings
take a methodical approach to managing things, and Dafa disciples can learn from
it, which you can't say is wrong. But for a certain period of time before the
company is fully able to operate normally, there will be some challenges.
Gradually you should arrive at the point where it really is run like a company,
though, and that way it can more effectively play its role of directly or
indirectly validating the Fa. So I think you should do your best to cooperate
with others and coordinate things well. When something is beneficial to Dafa
disciples' validation of the Fa, you should try your best to do it well.
Disciple: Some of my family members who don't cultivate
cannot understand why the Nine Commentaries were published. This reflects
shortcomings in my, your disciple's, cultivation in the past. How can I clear
away this kind of interference?
Teacher: Even though your family members understood
things before, it was at a shallow level. You didn't help them to really
understand the truth.
Since the time when the Nine Commentaries came out,
one thing that has happened is that [some students have] made declarations of
withdrawal from the Party on behalf of their family members. When a few of the
family members refused, [the students would say,] "You can't refuse! I'm
going to represent you and withdraw you from the Party." (Audience
laughs) In fact, it really doesn't count if they refuse. You may do it on
others' behalf, but they have to agree to it, and it doesn't count if they do
not consent to it. Even gods have to look at what a person chooses. This shows
that many students haven't done well, done enough, or had success in clarifying
the truth to their families. Do you know what the biggest reason for that is?
It's that you see them as your family, rather than as part of the sentient
beings or as just like all of the other independent lives. You should earnestly
and carefully clarify the truth to your family members, just as you would with
other people in the world. When you regard them as family members and don't take
it seriously, the results won't be that good. Or, if you think, "He's
family, so I can represent him," that won't work. Even the formation of the
Three Realms was done for the sake of today's Fa-rectification, so people can't
be flippant about something as monumental as this. Is any life that simple? At
the critical moment, is there any being who can be fully represented by someone
else? Is there any being who can be denied the opportunity of choosing his own
future? At the critical moment, all beings have to verify how they are. So if in
your family you have this scenario [you described], then you need to carefully
clarify the truth. You can do any ordinary things on your family members'
behalf, but when it comes to something that involves a being's future--something
that major--nobody can represent someone else. If you really want to save your
family members, then clarify the truth to them as you would to other people.
That's because their knowing sides all realize, "In this life you are my
family member, but in the next life who knows who we will be related to. Just in
this lifetime is our relationship predestined." It's just like staying at
an inn: you lodge there briefly for a night and then part ways the next day. Who
could possibly take someone else's place? That's really how it is.
Disciple: How can we help the lawsuits in Africa against the
evil people to move forward better? Right now there is constant interference.
What's the role, in Fa-rectification, of the lawsuit against Jiang in Africa?
Teacher: I affirm all of these things that you have done,
and you have done a great job. I'd say you have done several brilliant things in
Africa, which have shocked and frightened the evil and the bad people, helped
the world's people to see the nature of the evil, and had a good impact in
saving sentient beings and with many other things. They are things that should
be done, and you haven't done them in vain. As for how to do things even better
and how to move things forward, that is still up to you. And the extent
to which you accomplish things depends on you as well. Actually, as far
as each cultivator goes, you are all walking down the path that you need to take
on your own. And you have done those things very well. Sometimes when I look at
the things you have done, I really want to say "Bravo!"
Disciple: A relative of mine is a [Communist] Party member
and lives in Mainland China. He doesn't want to quit the Party. I have tried to
persuade him many times but he refuses to listen. When the weeding-out takes
place, will he lose his life? (Audience laughs)
Teacher: (Teacher laughs) Whether someone will be
weeded out or not, or kept or not, these are things that belong to the next
stage. Right now we should just think about saving people. Getting attached to
[what will happen in] the future does no good, for when the Fa-rectification
arrives here it has its standards [to judge by]. But one thing is for sure: no
matter what we do, a large portion of people are no longer savable. Among them
may be those who don't want to listen to the truth, who refuse to listen when
the truth is told, and who don't want to read the Nine Commentaries. That
is their choice. You have done what you should do. While being subjected to the
most evil persecution, Dafa disciples are still saving sentient beings and
overcoming all sorts of challenges in order to tell people about the truth. Yet
some people don't want to listen. And what's more, Dafa disciples are saving
people while being persecuted. Well, people's unwillingness to listen to or read
about [the truth] is also a way by which people make their choice. If they don't
want to be saved, then we have no option but to let them go with the malevolent
Party.
Disciple: I didn't work before I started to cultivate and I
haven't worked since. Since taking up cultivation I have had a good amount of
leisure time to do things to spread the Fa. Is this in accordance with our
cultivation way that conforms to ordinary society? Do I need to go out and look
for a job now?
Teacher: If your family has no financial hardship or
other burdens, then it's up to you whether or not you work, and it has nothing
to do with being out of line with our cultivation way. I know that some students
have borrowed a lot of money and yet they don't go out to work, saying that they're "too busy validating the Fa" to work. They can't pay off the
money they have borrowed, and yet still they keep borrowing more. That is a
problem. Have you thought about the principle of Fa that Master has taught about
the obligation to pay off debts? If you, having taken up cultivation or reached
Consummation, were to leave or consummate and become a god and yet have not paid
off any of your debt, who would pay it off? Even if the debt is owed to a Dafa
disciple, that's still unacceptable. Of course, when some students say, "I
don't want it back. It's a gift to you," that is a different matter. That's
a gift then, and it is a different concept than incurring a debt. You cannot go
to extremes. You might be thinking, "Since validating the Fa will end soon
anyhow, I won't need to pay back the money I owe you. When the time comes
everything will be over and it'll all be wrapped up." (Audience laughs)
How could it work that way? Is that thinking right? It is being irresponsible.
Haven't I said that a Dafa disciple should be a good person in every
circumstance? Most Dafa disciples are both working jobs and validating the Fa.
Of course, if you don't need to work, have no financial challenges, and don't
have to worry about affecting your family when you do things, then that's
different. Everybody has family and societal obligations, and everybody is
cultivating himself in the setting of human society and validating the Fa in the
secular world. Why must you [who don't pay your debts] do something that
diverges from the Fa's requirements? Of course, if those you owe say that they
don't need the money, or if your family doesn't need you to work, then that's a
different matter, and of course not a problem.
Disciple: Master, please spell out for us the deeper meaning
of "Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World."
Teacher: "Turning the Wheel Towards the Human
World"--so which wheel is it that's being turned? Of course it is the Law
Wheel (Falun). (Applause) Isn't turning the Law Wheel towards the
human world doing Fa-rectification towards the human world? That is what it
means. (Applause)
Disciple: Since Master's scripture "Turning the Wheel
Towards the Human World" was published, some disciples have thought that
the scripture is for disciples to read, while others have thought it should be
run in newspapers so that ordinary people could read it. I'm not sure how to
handle this.
Teacher: It's okay to let ordinary people read it, too.
Among ordinary people, there are some who are clued-in and who can understand
it. But there are definitely many foggyheaded people who won't be able to
understand it, so it might have a negative effect. That's how human society is
now. So when it comes to specific things, discuss them among yourselves. It's
just like with printing Master's photos in the newspaper: since Master said that
you could do that, you did that, and it was no problem. But you can't print in
flyers what I have written or what I have said and then distribute them. You
need to do these things as rationally as possible. Being responsible to the Fa
and to saving sentient beings is being responsible to yourself.
Disciple: In Western society there are some ordinary people,
especially professors and scholars, who are heavily into studying evil Communism
and evil Marxism. But these ordinary people are not members of the malevolent
Party in China. Master, please tell us how we can help these ordinary people.
Teacher: Show them the Nine Commentaries and ask
them, "How does our study fare against yours?" (Applause)
Right? We have come from that society and this is our study, which is born of
first-hand experience. Let's see who has researched it more thoroughly and
astutely, and let's hash it out. (Teacher laughs) (Applause)
Disciple: I obtained the Fa last May. Thank you, Master, for
mercifully saving me. After I obtained the Fa I soon got involved in Dafa work,
and sometimes I am so busy that I have simply no time to do the exercises. I'm
very worried about this. Master, please tell us again how a new student can walk
well the path of cultivating himself and validating the Fa.
Teacher: There's no shortcut in cultivation for any
student, and that holds for new students too. Just cultivate steadily and
solidly, and do well the three things that Dafa disciples should do. Those
things may appear ordinary, but all of your mighty virtue, and everything that
Dafa disciples will consummate in the future, come from them. Don't get anxious,
and don't do anything extreme. Just do things normally and rationally. That's
how you are supposed to cultivate. "Where there's a will there's a
way."
Disciple: How should Western students look at withdrawal from
the Party? Have Western students who lived in Mainland China before been
affected by the CCP's evil specter?
Teacher: Some have, and some have not. When Westerners go
to China many of them don't necessarily become part of Chinese people's circles,
so most of them are not affected. But there are a very small number who have
tried to make their way into the malevolent Party. As far as Dafa disciples are
concerned, [the specter] won't affect them, wherever they are.
Disciple: Greetings, Master! I have already quit the Party.
But party dues are being automatically taken out of my salary. What should I do
about that? (Audience laughs)
Teacher: Consider it robbery by the evil cult. (Audience
laughs, applauds). It's not a problem.
Disciple: Some students want to help withdraw their deceased
relatives or family members from the Party. Is that necessary?
Teacher: That's fine. There is no problem with that, for
they have passed away and it's not as if they can come over and ask the Epoch
Times to publish their statements in print or online, right? (Audience
laughs) (Applause) So yes, you can do that. And does it make any
difference? Yes, it does! (Applause)
Disciple: Some overseas disciples use aliases when they quit
the Party. Is that the same as quitting the Party using their real names, that
is, in terms of their righteous beliefs, righteous thoughts, and righteous
actions?
Teacher: It is the same. As I said earlier, using an
alias is fine, for gods look at people's hearts. But the formal act [of public
renunciation] can inspire people in human society and is necessary for saving
people.
Question: How should I apply my wisdom and use cinema or
television media so that we can do better in making our way into mainstream
society?
Teacher: If you have skills of that sort then go for it.
Using those approaches to validate the Fa, expose the persecution, and save
sentient beings is of course better. You can make your way into mainstream
society as long as you solve one issue, which is, to truly be able to produce
good work. But financial constraints should be taken into consideration as well.
The same goes for the media entities. If they are truly run well, they will
definitely manage to make their way into mainstream society and join the ranks
of mainstream media. That would of course be great. I know that you have in fact
been working hard on many things and that you will do them well. I believe that
with time that day will come, it definitely will. (Applause) I'll repeat
what I said before: they will not only be run well, in the future they will
definitely be the number one, primary media. (Applause) When the human
race comes to understand all of this I don't think it will have much interest in
anything else anymore, and being able to hear Dafa information and choosing a
wonderful future for themselves will be what's first and foremost to them. (Applause)
Disciple: When products that are made in China are sold in
the U.S., the money will flow to China and be used to persecute Falun Gong
students. So I will no longer purchase a product that is made in China. Is my
thinking right?
Teacher: Of course there's nothing wrong with that.
Aren't many of our fellow students boycotting them, too? (Teacher laughs)
But it appears that when only our students boycott them, the impact isn't that
big. (Teacher laughs) And don't do that if it's going to bring you
financial hardship. If you buy them owing to life's necessities, then it doesn't
matter. But if all people in the world could realize what you've hit on, it
would be terrifying to the evil.
Disciple: If an ordinary person has a positive attitude
toward Dafa but doesn't yet have the right understanding of the evil Party and
its evil specter, what will happen to him?
Teacher: Then it depends on his specific circumstances,
since a person's attitude toward Dafa is first and foremost. But if he is dead
set on supporting the evil Party and recognizing the evil Party, then he is in
grave danger.
Disciple: Students in Mainland China would like to ask
Master: Many ordinary people were at one point members of the [Communist] Little
Red Guards and the [Communist] Youth League. Please tell us if they too need to
still withdraw [from those organizations]?
Teacher: It's necessary to remove the mark left by the
evil. Even though declaring withdrawal is a formality, if the person can come
forward and make that statement, that is, if he is able to take that step, then
his thinking is changing through that process and his body is cleansed of the
poisonous factors. Some people have said, "I don't need to write it out. In
my heart I have withdrawn." That might not really effect a cleansing of
poisonous factors from the body. And gods are watching whether people are firm.
Since the deeper motives behind a person's thoughts are complicated, his actions
are the most accurate expression of himself.
Disciple: Many ordinary people are saying, "I stopped
paying dues to the Party or the [Youth] League long ago. I stopped being a Party
member long ago. I don't need to go through the formality of withdrawing from
the Party." How should we look at this?
Teacher: It's still the same issue. The problem is not
just with the formality of joining the Party. [The Party] has truly branded
people with the mark of its evil cult and made people join its ranks. That mark
must be erased. The mark doesn't manifest in the human world, and what is at
work also includes the [Party's] factors that are inside people's bodies. People
made deadly pledges to its blood-red flag, promising to give even their lives to
it, so would you say that only thinking about it in your heart, instead of
renouncing it openly, could do the job? Actually, now that we're on this
subject, [I'll say that] this malevolent Party is truly evil to the utmost
degree. It asks people to make deadly pledges to its blood-red flag, to dedicate
their lives to the evil Party, and to dedicate their whole lives to doing its
bidding. From ancient times to the present, not a single political party or
human organization has been so sinister or brutal.
Disciple: Some Western students think that the tone of the
Nine Commentaries makes them hard for Western society to accept. What should we
be mindful of when we introduce the Nine Commentaries to Western society?
Teacher: It's not like that. Doing it the way you have
been is just fine. Don't emphasize those things. There are differences
between the Eastern and Western ways of thinking, sure. But there are divine
factors behind the Nine Commentaries, and they will have a positive
impact on people, Asians and Westerners alike. In some people's cases, factors
left by the old forces are preventing the person from getting involved in Dafa
for the time being--they might be restraining him. It depends on the specific
situation. Many Westerners haven't been harmed by the poison of the malevolent
Party, and in those instances the person might come across as a bit indifferent.
That's not a problem. As for the Nine Commentaries, at this time they are
an important step in saving humankind. Perhaps, during the next stage, every
single person on this earth will soon have to give his stance on whether he
wants that evil Party around or not. Each person must choose his future. In
countries that aren't ruled by the malevolent Party, Communist things are still,
in reality, being practiced. Didn't a prophecy say that **** would rule the
world?
Some people have said that the Nine Commentaries are
too long and have asked whether they could be made more concise. The answer is
no. During the last hundred or so years, the gangster-like Communist clique has
been constantly at war with the free world, but nobody has been able to spell
out what this malevolent Party really is. The Republic of China [Taiwan] has
fought with the CCP for decades, and articles about the CCP have been written
one after another. But they too haven't managed to really spell out what that
malevolent Party is. We have managed to completely explain it, which is a first.
How could it be made more concise? Should it be turned into a short, toothless
article like what's been done before? Could such a piece take on the enormous
responsibility [this one must] and fulfill the duty history has bestowed upon
it? The goal of our fully explaining that malevolent Party is to expose its
malevolent nature and help people to see it for what it is, thus saving the
world's people. It is also done to help the world's people understand why it has
persecuted Dafa disciples so wildly. We aren't "playing politics." And
this isn't something politics could handle. In my heart is a great wish to save
sentient beings. We needn't promise anything to the beings who have crooked
thoughts. History will prove everything. I have given that malevolent Party many
chances, and when its evilness peaked I warned it time and time again, saying,
"I, Li Hongzhi, know and can explain everything." But the evil has
gotten so wild that it has lost all reason. Even today it is still senselessly
persecuting Dafa disciples. Let's see what is in store for it.
Disciple: Some ordinary people think that the Nine
Commentaries are great, but they don't accept Dafa.
Teacher: A lot of the thoughts that ordinary people have
result from their notions taking effect, and they say things without really
thinking it over first. They often say things they don't really mean and say
things that may mean something else. When that's the case, you need to help them
come to their senses. What do you mean by "they don't accept Dafa"?
That they don't want to learn it? If they won't learn it, that is fine. No one
is forcing them to learn it. Only an evil cult would force somebody to learn its
things, and it won't let people out even if they wish to leave. In Dafa,
however, we don't go in for those things. If you want to learn it, go ahead. And
if you don't want to, that's fine. What I tell people today is to make people
aware of the truth: I want people to know what Dafa is and why the malevolent
Party has persecuted it, and I do so in order to help people rid their minds of
poisonous factors. As for whether people want to learn it, that's up to them. If
they really don't approve of Dafa then they have chosen their future.
Disciple: Ever since the Nine Commentaries came out, I've
been very into writing articles that expose the evil Party, but I have slacked
off in my Fa-study. How should I balance things?
Teacher: That's not necessarily interference. You just
need to find time to study the Fa. Study the Fa steadily and solidly, and don't
just go through the motions. You have to do all of the three things. Writing
articles is a part of your validating the Fa, but it can't take the place of the
other two things.
[1] Or "Fa King."
[2] Translator's note: The Chinese term here, ru lai,
could be rendered as "thus come," as in "the Thus-Come One."
The explanation given in the text here thus relates to the sense and meaning of
the two Chinese characters ru and lai. We have followed convention
in using the Sanskrit gloss "Tathagata."
Translator's note: This teaching on Fa is being posted in three parts as a
temporary convenience while the translation is completed. The question and
answer portion is being posted in two parts, of which this is the first.
The translation is subject to further improvement so as to be closer to the original text. Last updated: April 26, 2005.