Zhuan Falun is not flowery in its language and even does not conform
to modern grammar. However, if I try to use modern grammar to polish
this book of the Great Law, there would arise a serious problem: the
language and grammatical structure of the writing might be standard
and beautiful, but they will not be able to impart deeper and higher
implications, because it is completely beyond the capability of
contemporary standard vocabulary to express the Great Law as a guide
in different higher dimensions and its manifestations in each
dimension so as to give an impetus to the evolution of the
practitioner's True Being and cultivation energy, and promote a
substantial transformation. ......
Li Hongzhi
On Buddha Law
"Buddha Law" is most profound. It is the most mystical and supernormal
science of all theories in the world. To open up this field, it is
necessary to make a fundamental change of the mentality of ordinary
people; otherwise the truth of the cosmos will forever remain a myth
to mankind, and ordinary people will always crawl along within the
boundary delimited by their own ignorance.
What is "Buddha Law" after all? Is it a religion? A philosophy? That
is only the understanding of "the modernistic scholars of Buddhism".
They merely study the theory. They regard "Buddha Law" as something
like a category of philosophy and make a study of and do the so-called
research on it with a critical eye. Nevertheless, "Buddha Law" is more
than that little bit recorded in the Sutras, which only deals with
"Buddha Law" at the elementary level. "Buddha Law" is an insight into
all mysteries of the cosmos, and encompasses everything while leaving
out nothing from the particle, the molecule to the universe, from even
the smaller to the greater. "Buddha Law" is an exposition of the
cosmic qualities "Zhen Shan Ren" ( Truth Compassion
Forbearance) presented at different levels in different ways. It is
what the Tao School means by "Tao" and Buddha School by "Law".
Well advanced as the contemporary human science is, it is only a
portion of the mysteries of the cosmos. Whenever we mention some
specific phenomena concerning "Buddha Law", somebody will say, "We are
now in the electronic age! Why bother with these out-of-date
superstitions when science is so progressive that spaceships have even
reached other planets?" As a matter of fact, no matter how advanced a
computer is, it is no match for the human brain, which remains an
unfathomable enigma today. No matter how far our spaceships can fly,
they are unable to get out of the physical world in which we human
beings dwell. The knowledge of the contemporary human beings or what
they know is just skin-deep, and too far from the real understanding
of the truth of the cosmos. Some people even dare not face up to, dare
not approach or dare not admit the facts of the existing objective
phenomena because these people are too conservative and unwilling to
change their traditional mentality. Nothing but "Buddha Law" can
thoroughly reveal the secrets of the cosmos, time and space and the
human body. It can genuinely distinguish between good and evil, right
and wrong, and establish the right view by eradicating all fallacies.
The guiding ideology of the present day human science can only be
confined to the physical world for its development and research. It
follows such a way that a subject will not be studied until it is
recognized. As for the existing objective phenomena, which are
invisible and intangible but reflected in our physical space in
concrete forms, people dare not approach them and regard them as
unidentified phenomena. Those opinionated people argue stubbornly and
groundlessly that they are natural phenomena. Those with ulterior
motives simply put labels of superstition on all of them against their
conscience. Those who make little effort to seek truth evade them
using as an excuse the under-development of the science. If human
beings can change their rigid mentality and have a new understanding
of themselves and the cosmos, they will make a leap forward. "Buddha
Law" can provide humankind with an insight into the immeasurable and
boundless worlds for them. Throughout the ages, nothing but "Buddha
Law" can give a perfect and clear exposition of humankind beings, all
different spaces of material existence, life and the whole cosmos.
Li Hongzhi
June 2, 1992
Contents
On Buddha Law
* Lecture One
* Genuinely Guiding People Up to the High Hierarchy
* The Law Varies from Dimension to Dimension
* Zhen Shan Ren Is the Sole Criterion Used to Judge a Good Person
from a Bad One
* Qigong Is a Prehistoric Culture
* Qigong Is Cultivation
* Why Doesn't Your Cultivation Energy Increase When You Do
Cultivation?
* Characteristics of Falun Dafa
* Lecture Two
* Issue of the Celestial Eye
* Supernormal Capability of Remote Sight
* Supernormal Capability of Total Recall
* Transcending the Five Elements and the Three Realms
* Issue of Pursuit
* Lecture Three
* I Regard All the Students as My Disciples
* Qigong of the Buddha School and Buddhism
* Be Constant in a Single Cultivation System
* Supernormal Capabilities and Energy Potency
* Reverse Cultivation and Energy Borrowing
* Spirit Possession
* Cosmic Language
* What the Teacher Has Given to His Students
* Energy Field
* How the Students of Falun Dafa Should Spread the Cultivation
System
* Lecture Four
* Loss and Gain
* Transformation of Karma
* Upgrading Xinxing
* Filling Energy into the Top of the Head
* Xuanguan-Shewei (Placement of the Mysterious Pass)
* Lecture Five
* Configuration of Falun
* Rare Cultivation Way
* Cultivation of the Evil Way
* Double Cultivation of a Man and a Woman
* Integrated Cultivation of Both Human Life and Nature
* Law Body
* Light-Opening
* Zhu You Ke (Subject of Supplication)
* Lecture Six
* Cultivation Insanity
* Demonic Interference during Practice
* Demonic Interference from one's Own Mind
* The Main Consciousness Should Play a Governing Role
* Mind Must Be Upright
* Wushu Qigong (Martial Arts)
* Desire to Show Off
* Lecture Seven
* On the Issue of Killing
* On the Issue of Eating Meat
* Jealousy
* On the Issue of Healing Illnesses
* Hospital Treatment and Qigong Healing
* Lecture Eight
* Bigu (Abstention from Food)
* Stealing Qi
* Gathering Qi
* He Attains Cultivation Energy Who Does the Cultivation
* Heavenly Circuit
* Attachment of Complacency
* Self-Imposed Silence
* Lecture Nine
* Qigong and Physical Culture
* Intention
* Clear and Clean Mind
* Inborn Qualities
* Enlightenment
* A Person Well Grounded in All Virtues
* Glossary
Lecture One
Genuinely Guiding People Up to the High Hierarchy
During the whole course of my Law lecturing and practice exercise
teaching sessions, I have been responsible to society and my students,
and therefore we have achieved good results and have had a good effect
on society. Some years ago, many qigong masters came to teach qigong,
but what they were talking about all belonged to the level of healing
diseases and keeping fit. Of course I do not mean that their qigong
practice was not good, but just that they did not bring into the open
anything of a high order. I have the situation of qigong of the whole
country well in mind. At present, I am the only person genuinely
teaching the gong in high dimensions both at home and abroad. Why
isn't there anybody else who can do it? Because doing this means
dealing with many big and controversial issues, which involve the
remote historical origin of qigong, and which are of a wide range.
What's more, teaching the gong at a high level can not be done by an
ordinary person, for it involves doing away with things belonging to
many systems of qigong. In particular, we have a lot of practitioners
who have made a mess of their bodies by practising this qigong today
and that one tomorrow, and therefore they are bound to be unable to
ascend in cultivation. Unlike those who go up in cultivation by
following one main cultivation way, he takes all the branch roads.
While he is practising this one, that one comes to interfere; while
practising that one, this one comes. As they all come to interfere, he
has been left unable to go on with his cultivation.
I am going to sort out all those things, retaining the good and
eliminating the bad, so that you will be guaranteed to be able to
practise hereafter. However, I will do this only for those who have
come to learn the Great Law truly and wholeheartedly; I will not do
this for those who are attached to various desires, who have come to
seek after supernormal capabilities, to cure diseases, to learn some
theories, or for certain ill purposes. As I have told you, I am the
only person doing this. There will not be so many opportunities
because I cannot always give lectures like this. I think those who are
able to attend my lectures in person are really... You will understand
what I mean when you feel your appreciation of this period of time in
the future. Of course we believe in predestined relationship, and it
is this relationship that has brought us here together.
Let's just think, why do I teach the gong in high dimensions? What is
this? Aren't we saving people? Saving people means cultivating
yourself in a true sense rather than just healing diseases and keeping
fit. Thus true cultivation requires a high Xinxing ( mind
nature) in my students. Since all of you sitting here have come to
learn the Great Law, you should regard yourself as a true practitioner
and let go of your attachments. You will gain nothing if you come here
to learn the gong and the Great Law for the purpose of pursuing
various personal interests. To tell you a truth: The whole course of
one's cultivation is to let go of his attachments unceasingly. In
human society, one vies with the other, tries to cheat or outwit the
other, and hurts the other for a bit of personal interests. All these
attachments must be done away with. Especially those who are learning
the gong here today should do away with them better.
I am not going to talk about treating diseases here, nor shall I treat
diseases. However, as a true cultivator, you cannot cultivate yourself
without a healthy body. So I'll purify your body, but only for those
who really have come to learn the gong and the Law. Here I would like
to point out emphatically that I have no way to help you if you cannot
rid yourself of your attachments, and I can do nothing for you if you
cannot let go of your diseases. Why? As there is such a Law in the
universe: According to Buddhism, the causational relationship governs
everything in human society. Birth, old age, diseases and death stay
with an ordinary person the way they are because the wrongdoings he
committed in his previous lives incur karmic debts, which make him
suffer from illnesses or tribulations. To suffer is to pay your karmic
debts; therefore no one is allowed to change it as he pleases.
Changing it means that the debt one owes does not have to be paid off;
and no one is allowed to do it of his own free will, or he is as good
as committing evil deeds.
Some people believe they are doing good when treating diseases and
keeping fit for others. In my opinion, they have not really cured the
diseases, but only put them off or transformed them, instead of
rooting them out truly. Only by dissolving one's karma can you really
remove his tribulation. If someone has reached such a level that he is
indeed able to cure the disease and dissolve the karma completely, he
must be in quite a high dimension. He has already seen the truth, that
is, the Law of the human world cannot be violated as one wishes.
During the course of their cultivation, practitioners are allowed to
do some good out of compassion, such as to help people treat diseases
and keep fit, but they can not cure the patients completely. If you
were able to cure an ordinary person of his diseases thoroughly, as a
non-practitioner, when he left here diseases free, he would still
behave like an ordinary person, scrambling for his own personal
interests. Why should his karma be cleared off for him? This is
definitely not allowed.
Then why can we do it for cultivators? This is because a cultivator is
most precious. He wants to cultivate himself, and it is this very
thought that is most valuable. In Buddhism, there is Buddha nature to
it. Once this nature reveals itself, the enlightened beings (
) will come to his help. What does this mean? In my view, this is
because I am teaching the gong in the high dimension, dealing with the
Law in the high dimension, and the issues involved are quite big. In
this universe, the real life of a human being is not born in this
human world, but in the cosmic space. In the universe, there are quite
a lot and a great variety of life - creating substances, the interplay
of which can create lives. That is to say, the earliest life of a
human being came from the universe. The cosmic space itself was
originally nice and compassionate, actually possessing such qualities
as Zhen Shan Ren ( Truth Compassion Forbearance), with which
human beings were born. However, as more and more lives came into
being, there occurred a kind of social relationship among groups of
people. Some of them might have developed selfish motives, and thus
gradually lowered their dimension; they could not stay where they were
and had to drop to a lower dimension. However, in this new dimension,
they became bad again and still could not stay there, so they
continued to drop until reaching the dimension of human beings.
The whole human society stays in the same dimension. Having dropped to
this stage, these living beings should have been destroyed, from the
point of view of supernormal capabilities, or according to the great
enlightened. However, the great enlightened gave them another chance
out of mercy, and thus created such a special environment and space,
while the living beings in this space are quite different from those
in all the other spaces in the universe. They cannot see the living
beings of the other spaces, nor can they see the truth of the other
spaces, nor can they see the truth of the universe; therefore they are
as good as lost. In order to cure their diseases, stop their
sufferings and rid themselves of their karma, these people have to
cultivate to return to the origin and go back to the truth. This is a
view held by all schools of cultivation. The real purpose of being a
human being is to return to the origin and go back to the truth. So
once a person wants to cultivate himself, he is said to have revealed
his Buddha nature. This thought is most valuable because he wants to
return to the origin and go back to the truth, jumping out of the
level of ordinary people.
You may have heard of a saying from Buddhism: Once Buddha nature
presents itself, it shakes the Ten Directions of the universe. Whoever
sees it will come to his help unconditionally. Buddhas save people
without making a condition, without asking for anything in return.
They can help people unconditionally. So we can do many things for our
students. As for an ordinary person, we will not help him because he
just wants to remain an ordinary person and be cured of his diseases.
Here is someone who thinks: I'll start cultivation as long as I have
recovered from illness. He cannot make a condition for cultivation. If
he wants to cultivate, he may start to do it. However, there are some
people who have come with unhealthy bodies; some carry disorderly
messages in their bodies; others have never practised qigong at all;
still others have practised for decades only to find themselves still
wandering in the state of qi, and therefore have not gone up in
cultivation.
What shall we do then? We'll purify their bodies to enable them to go
up to a high level of cultivation. During the lowest level of
cultivation, there is quite a process of purifying the body thoroughly
and completely; emptying the mind of bad thoughts, cleaning up the
karmic field around the body and driving away the factors causing
diseases all at once. Otherwise, with such a turbid body, a blackened
body and a filthy mind, how can you reach the high dimensional
cultivation? Here we do not exercise qi, therefore you do not have to
practise low level things, for we'll push you over to make your body
free of diseases. Meanwhile, we'll plant a series of what is
ready-made for you to lay the foundations at the lower levels. In this
way, you can start practising at a very high level.
According to a saying from cultivation, cultivation consists of three
phases, including the practice of qi, but genuine cultivation has only
two great phases (excluding the practice of qi): One is the
cultivation of Shi Jian Fa ( the In-Triple-World-Law); the
other is the cultivation of Chu Shi Jian Fa ( the
Beyond-Triple-World-Law). These two are entirely different from the
terms World-In and World-Out used by monks and nuns in the temple,
which fall into the category of theory. The two great phases of ours
have brought about a transformation in the true cultivation of the
human body. In the course of the cultivation of the
In-Triple-World-Law, the human body keeps being purified, and is
purified incessantly; and when a person arrives at the highest form of
the In-Triple-World-Law, his body will completely be replaced by
substances of high energy. And the cultivation of the
Beyond-Triple-World-Law is virtually the cultivation of the Buddha
body, a body made up of substances of high energy, with all the
supernatural powers emerging once again. What we refer to are these
two great phases.
We believe in predestined relationship. Since we are all sitting here,
I can do this for all of you. Now we have only over two thousand
people, but I can do it for several thousand, even more than this, or
ten thousand. That is to say, you do not have to do low level practice
any more. I'll push you over this level after purifying your body, and
then equip you with a set of integrated cultivation systems for you to
begin your high dimensional cultivation directly. However, I'll do
this only for those who really have come here for cultivation without
saying that you are a cultivator as long as you are sitting here. Only
by making a fundamental change of your mentality can we give you all
these, but what I give you is not limited to them. You will understand
what I have given you later on. Here we have no consideration for
treating diseases, but we go in for purifying your bodies as a whole
to enable you to practise. With such an unhealthy body, you will not
be able to come up with cultivation energy. Therefore, do not ask me
to treat your diseases, and I am not going to do this for you. The
chief purpose of my coming to the public is to guide people up to the
high hierarchy, genuinely guide people to the high hierarchy.
The Law Varies from Dimension to Dimension
In the past many qigong masters stated that qigong was divided into
what was elementary, intermediate and advanced. They all belong to qi,
something staying in the phase of exercising qi, which was also
divided into the elementary, intermediate and advanced. As for what is
really advanced, the broad masses of qigong practitioners are quite
ignorant of it, and do not know it at all. What I am going to lecture
about from now on is all about the Law in the high dimension. Besides,
I would like to rehabilitate the reputation of cultivation. In my
lectures, I am going to speak of the unhealthy phenomena in the world
of cultivation, and how to look at and deal with them. I also intend
to make clear such things as those quite big and even very serious
issues involved in lecturing on the Law and teaching the practice
exercise of the high order. I also want to disclose the interference
in our ordinary human society from other spaces, especially the
interference in the world of cultivation. At the same time we'll solve
the problems for our students. Otherwise, you will not be able to
practise. In order to resolve the problems once and for all, we must
regard you as genuine cultivators, and we can do all of this for you.
Of course, it will not be easy to change your mind all at once, but in
the following lectures, you will change gradually, and I hope you will
listen attentively. I am different from others in teaching gong. When
doing so, some people simply said something about their principles of
qigong, then asked the students to receive messages, and ended up by
teaching them a set of hand movements. People are already used to this
way of teaching qigong.
To teach qigong indeed, one must preach the Law and expound the Tao.
In my ten lectures, I'll expound the Law at the advanced level so that
you can cultivate yourself; otherwise, you simply cannot do it. What
the others teach all belongs to the stage of healing diseases and
keeping fit, and you will not be able to reach high dimensional
cultivation without the guidance of the Law of the high dimension even
if you want to. This is also true of your going to school. You are
still a schoolboy if you attend the college learning the textbooks of
a schoolboy's. Some people think they have learned many kinds of
qigong, from which they have received a pile of certificates, but
their cultivation energy has not gone up yet. They mistake these for
the true essence and all of qigong. They are wrong because these are
only the superficial knowledge of qigong at the lowest level. Qigong
covers far more than these. It is cultivation. It has extensive
knowledge and profound scholarship; and the Law varies from dimension
to dimension, so qigong does not seem to be what we now know about the
exercise of qi, for it is all the same for you to learn it even more.
Let me illustrate it with an example. You have learned the textbooks
for British primary schools; you have learned the textbooks for
American primary schools; you have learned the textbooks for Japanese
primary schools; you also have learned the textbooks for Chinese
primary schools. You are still a schoolboy. The more lessons about
what is elementary of qigong you have learned, and the more full of it
you are, the more harm it will do you because you have made a muddle
of your body.
I'd like to stress another point. In cultivation, we must expound the
Law and teach the practice exercise. From this point of view, monks
from some temples, especially those from the school of Zen Buddhism,
may have some different ideas. They do not feel like hearing people
say anything about preaching the Law. Why? Zen Buddhism believes that
the Dharma cannot be preached. Once it is done, it will no longer be
the Dharma. It can only be understood tacitly because there is no
Dharma to preach. Therefore, all through the evolution of Zen Buddhism
up till today, they have been unable to preach any Dharma at all.
Patriarch Dharmer taught Zen Buddhism according to a statement made by
Sakyamuni, who once said, "There is no Dharma without change". Based
on this statement, Dharmer founded the school of Zen Buddhism. So far
as we understand, this school is getting into a bull's horn (a dead
end). Then, what do we mean by getting into a bull's horn? When
Dharmer began to dig into it, he felt it spacious; the Second
Patriarch felt it not so comfortable; the Third felt it not too bad;
and when it came to the Fourth, it became quite narrow; the Fifth
found there was not much space left; and when it came to the Sixth
Patriarch Huineng, there was no room left, and he could no longer get
into it. If you go to a Zen master to learn the Dharma today, do not
ask questions. If you do, you will get a stick-hit on the head, which
is called "stick-warning". It means that you cannot ask questions, but
that you should make yourself understood by yourself. You may say, "I
have come here to learn just because I do not know. What on earth can
I understand by a stick-hit on the head?" That is to say, they have
reached the tip of the bull's horn, and there is nothing for them to
say any more. Even Dharmer himself said that he could only pass down
his teaching to the Sixth Patriarch, and that thereafter there would
be no more teaching of Zen Buddhism. Now several hundred years have
passed. However, there are still some people who cling to the
principles of Zen Buddhism. Then, what exactly did Sakyamuni mean by
saying that "There is no Dharma without change"? Sakyamuni was in the
status of Tathagata. People, including many monks after him, did not
awake to that status in which Sakyamuni was, nor the mental state of
his realm of awareness, the true sense of the Dharma he had preached,
and the real meaning of his words. So, people thereafter explained his
words this way or that way, causing much confusion. They believe that
"There is no Dharma without change" means that you cannot preach the
Dharma, or it would no longer be the Dharma. It is not so. Sakyamuni
did not reach so high a status as Tathagata immediately after he
became enlightened and opened his cultivation energy under the Bodhi
Tree. In all his 49 years of teaching the Dharma, he also kept on
improving himself. Whenever he reached a higher dimension, looking
back, he would find that all the Dharma he had just taught was not
right. Then, after reaching an even higher dimension, again he found
the Dharma he had preached was wrong. After that, the same thing
happened again. For the whole 49 years, he kept going up in such a way
that every time he reached a higher dimension, he would realize that
the Dharma he had preached before had a poor understanding, and he
also found that the Dharma in each dimension was the embodiment of the
Dharma in that dimension with no exception. Every dimension had its
own Dharma, but no one was the absolute truth of the universe. The
Dharma in a higher dimension came closer to the cosmic qualities than
that in a lower dimension. This is the reason why he said, "There is
no Dharma without change."
At last, Sakyamuni also said, "I have preached no Dharma at all in my
whole life." This is again interpreted by Zen Buddhism as there is no
Dharma to be preached. In his later years, Sakyamuni had reached the
status of Tathagata. Then why did he say that he had preached no
Dharma at all? What exactly did he mean by this? What he meant was,
"Even if I've reached the status of Tathagata, I still fail to see
what the ultimate truth and the Dharma of the universe are." In this
way he told people after him not to accept his words as the absolute
truth, the unchanging truth; otherwise they might be confined to or go
below the status of Tathagata without being able to make a high
dimension breakthrough. The people after him could not grasp the true
sense of these words, and misinterpreted them as "If spoken out, the
Dharma will not be the Dharma." Actually, what he meant is: The Dharma
varies from dimension to dimension, but the Dharma in each dimension
is not at all the absolute truth of the universe. However, the Dharma
in a dimension does serve as a guiding principle for that dimension.
This is exactly the truth he referred to.
Many people in the past, especially those of Zen Buddhism, kept such a
prejudice and an entirely wrong view all the time. Without being
taught and instructed how to cultivate, how can you practise and
cultivate yourself? Maybe some of you have read some Buddhist stories
in Buddhism, which said: Someone went up to the heaven, and after he
had got there, he found that the Diamond Sutra above was different
from the one below both in the writing of each word and in its
meaning. Why was this Diamond Sutra so different from the one found in
the ordinary people? Another one also said: The scriptures in the
Paradise of Ultimate Bliss were completely disfigured and no longer
recognizable as compared with the ones below. Such was the change that
they differed not only in writing but in connotation and denotation of
the words as well. This is because the same Law varies and differs in
manifestations from dimension to dimension, and it can serve as a
different guiding principle for cultivators in a different dimension.
We all know about a booklet in Buddhism entitled "Travel Notes to the
Western Paradise". It says that a monk was sitting in meditation
practice when his Yuanshen ( True Spirit) arrived in the
Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss and saw some scenes. After a day's
visit, he returned to the earth where six years had passed. Did he see
anything? Yes, he did. But what he saw was not the truth. Why? Because
he had reached a dimension not high enough, and he could only be
shown, in his own dimension, the manifestations of the Buddha Law that
he should see. He could not see the truth because such a world is
exactly the embodiment of a component part of the Law. This is what I
mean by "There is no Dharma without change."
Zhen Shan Ren Is the Sole Criterion Used to Judge a Good Person from a
Bad One
People in Buddhism have been investigating and studying what Dharma
is. There are also some people who believe that the Dharma preached in
Buddhism is truly all of the Buddha Law, but, in fact, it is not. The
Dharma preached by Sakyamuni 2500 years ago was aimed at those
simple-minded ordinary people at an extremely low level, just newly
born out of primitive society. The Period of Decline he referred to
meant today. People nowadays will not be able to use that Dharma to
cultivate themselves any more. In the Period of Decline, even monks in
the temple can hardly save themselves, let alone save others.
Sakyamuni preached the Dharma in view of the situation at that time,
but he did not bring to light all the Buddha Dharma in mind at his own
level. So it is impossible for the Dharma he had to remain all the
same without change for good.
With the development of society, the human mind is becoming more and
more complicated, which makes it rather difficult for people to
continue with their cultivation this way. The Dharma in Buddhism
cannot cover the whole Buddha Law, or rather it is only a tiny part of
it. There are many Great Laws of the Buddha School which have
circulated among the people, and have been handed down to only one
person for each generation through the ages. The Law differs from
dimension to dimension, and from space to space. These are all the
different manifestations of the Buddha Law in different spaces, and in
different dimensions. Sakyamuni said in the same way that there are
altogether 84000 schools of the Dharma cultivating Buddhas. However,
in Buddhism there are only over a dozen of them, such as Zen Buddhism,
the Pure Land School, T'ien-t'ai School, Hua-yan School, Tantrism,
etc., which certainly cannot contain all of the Buddha Law. Even
Sakyamuni himself did not preach all of his Dharma, but only part of
it on the basis of the ability of the people at that time to
understand it.
But what is Buddha Law after all? In this universe, the most
fundamental qualities Zhen Shan Ren ( Truth Compassion
Forbearance) are exactly the most essential Buddha Law, the highest
manifestation of Buddha Law. Buddha Law differs in the way of
manifestation, differs in the role it plays as a guiding principle,
from dimension to dimension. The lower the dimension is, the more
jumbled and numerous its manifestations are. These fundamental
qualities, Zhen Shan Ren are found in all substances -- particles of
the air, stone, wood, earth, iron and steel, the human body; ancient
people stressed that the ten thousand things of creation in the
universe composed of Five Elements also have these qualities, Zhen
Shan Ren. The cultivator who has reached a certain dimension can only
perceive the specific manifestation of Buddha Law in that dimension.
This is his attainment status, the level of attainment. Broadly
speaking, the Law is quite enormous. At the highest point, it is very
simple, for it is quite similar to the shape of a pyramid. In an
extremely high dimension, three words can be used to generalize it.
They are Zhen, Shan and Ren. Revealing itself in each dimension, the
Law is extremely complex. Take a human being for instance, Taoists
regard the human body as a small universe. A human being has a
physical body, but only a body itself cannot complete an integrated
human being. It needs to have temperament, character, personality, and
the existence of Yuanshen (the True Spirit) to become an integrated,
independent and specific individual. This is also true of our cosmos.
There are Milky Way galaxy, other galaxies, and life and water, the
ten thousand things of creation in this universe. This is one side of
the physical existence, but there also exist these fundamental
qualities, Zhen Shan Ren simultaneously. They can be found in the
particle of any substance. Tiny particles all contain these qualities.
The fundamental qualities, Zhen Shan Ren are the criteria of judging
between the good and the bad in the universe. What is good and what is
bad? It is only by this criterion that we can judge. The same is true
of the virtues we referred to in the past. Of course, the moral
standard of today's human society has already changed, and it has been
distorted into the bargain. If a person were learning from Lei Feng
now, he might be considered to be mentally ill, but who would have
thought so if this had happened in the 50's and 60's? The moral
standard of mankind is going downward; public morals are declining day
by day; people are bent on nothing but profit; they try to hurt others
for their own personal interests; they try to overtake each other for
personal gain by fair means or foul. Just imagine! Can this be allowed
to continue? Someone is doing wrong. If you told him he is wrong, he
would not believe you. He really does not believe he is doing wrong.
Some people even judge themselves by the deteriorating moral standard
and consider themselves better than the others because the criteria of
judgment have already changed. No matter how the moral standard of
mankind has changed, the fundamental qualities of the cosmos will
always remain the same. These qualities are the sole criterion of
judging whether a person is good or bad. Therefore, as a cultivator,
you must act according to the fundamental qualities of the cosmos
rather than according to the standard of ordinary people. You have to
act on these criteria if you want to return to the origin and go back
to the truth, if you want to ascend in cultivation. As a human being,
only by being able to go with the fundamental qualities of the cosmos,
Zhen Shan Ren, can you become a good person; going against these
qualities, you will become a truly bad one. At your work unit or in
society, some people may say you are bad, but you are not necessarily
really bad; some may say you are good, but you are not necessarily
really good. As a cultivator, assimilating yourself to these
qualities, you will definitely achieve the way. It is just so simple a
logic.
The Taoist cultivation of Zhen Shan Ren lays stress on the cultivation
of Zhen. So they go in for cultivating the truth and nourishing their
nature, telling the truth, acting on the truth, becoming true,
returning to the origin and going back to the truth, and eventually
become immortals in cultivation. However, there is also Ren, and there
is Shan, but with the emphasis on Zhen in cultivation. While the
Buddha School puts emphasis on Shan of Zhen Shan Ren in cultivation,
for the cultivation of Shan can give rise to the growth of the great
loving kindness and compassion. Once their compassion is up, they see
all sentient beings suffering. As a result, they make a vow to save
them out of their suffering. However, there is also Zhen, and there is
Ren, but with the emphasis on Shan in cultivation. Our school, Falun
Dafa is based on the supreme criterion of the cosmos -- an integrated
cultivation of Zhen Shan Ren, and therefore the energy we cultivate is
enormous.
Qigong Is a Prehistoric Culture
What is qigong, anyway? Many qigong masters are trying to explain what
it is, but what I say is rather different from what they say. Many
qigong masters explain this at a certain level of theirs, while I
state my point of view about qigong at a much higher level. It is
entirely different from theirs. Some qigong masters say that qigong
has a history of 2000 years in our country; and some say 3000 years;
others say 5000 years, as old as the history of the Chinese
civilization; and still others say that it should be 7000 years old,
as is shown by archaeological findings, far beyond the history of the
Chinese civilization. Whatever the viewpoints may be, the history of
qigong is almost the same as that of the human civilization. According
to Darwin's theory of evolution, human beings evolved first from water
plants to aquatic animals; then climbed up to land; and further up to
the trees; again came back down to land and became apes on land; and
finally developed into modern human beings with mind, and culture.
According to this calculation, the real emergence of the human
civilization does not go beyond 10000 years yet. For further backward
calculation, there even was not such a thing as tying knots to
remember things. It is true that they wore leaves as clothes and ate
raw meat. Further backward, they were totally savages, the sort of
primitives, who perhaps even did not know how to use fire yet.
However, we have discovered something, i.e., there remain across the
world so many sites of ancient civilizations, far beyond the history
of our human civilizations. Technologically speaking, these places of
historic interest all have a very high order of technology and
craftsmanship. Artistically speaking, they are at such an extremely
high level that modern people are simply imitating the arts of ancient
people, which have a very high value of appreciation. Yet, they were
the remains of tens of thousands of, hundreds of thousands of, several
millions of or even a hundred million years ago. Just think it over.
Are they making fun of the history of today? But there is nothing to
joke about, for mankind also has been unceasingly perfecting itself
and creating a new understanding of itself. Such is exactly the way of
the development of society, as the initial recognition is not
necessarily absolutely correct.
Maybe many people have heard of "prehistoric culture", also called
"prehistoric civilization". Now I am going to deal with this. The
earth has Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, Africa
and Antarctic on it. They are referred to as the "continental plates"
by geologists. Tens of millions of years have already passed so far in
history since they began to take shape. That is to say, there is a lot
of land which rose from the bottom of the ocean, and also a lot of
land which went down to the bottom. As a result, the land became as
stable as it is today after a passage of tens of millions of years of
history. However, we have discovered, on many ocean bottoms, huge
buildings of ancient times, whose carving and sculpturing are too
exquisite to be the cultural remains of today's human beings. Thus
they must have been built before the land was deposited onto the ocean
bottom. Then who was it that had created these civilizations tens of
millions of years ago? Human beings were not even monkeys at that
time, how could they possibly have created things of such high
intelligence? Archaeologists have found in the world a kind of
organism called "three-leaves insect", which came into being between
600 million and 260 million years ago, and became extinct thereafter.
An American scientist found a fossil of "three-leaves insect", on
which there was also a human footprint, left by a shoe he was wearing,
and clearly printed on the fossil. Aren't they joking with the
historians? How could there possibly have been human beings 260
million years ago according to Darwin's theory of evolution?
In the museum of National University of Peru, there is a rock on which
is engraved a human figure, which, after close examination, was
engraved 30000 years ago. However, this human figure is wearing
clothes, a hat and a pair of shoes, observing celestial bodies through
a telescope in his hands. How could people of 30000 years ago possibly
have woven cloth and worn clothes? The most inconceivable is that he
is holding an astronomical telescope to observe celestial bodies, and
that he has certain knowledge of astronomy as well. We have been of
the opinion that Galileo, a European, invented the telescope, which
has a history of only over 300 years up to now. But who was it who
invented the telescope 30000 years ago? In addition, there are so many
other such mysteries. For instance, the slabstone frescoes discovered
in many stone caves in France, South Africa and on the Alps were
wonderfully done, vivid and true to life. The human figures engraved
on them are very exquisite, coated with a mineral paint, as well.
However, they are all dressed up in modern style, somewhat similar to
Western suits, wearing close-fitting trousers. Some of them have
something like pipes in their hands; others are holding walking
sticks, wearing hats. How could monkeys of several hundred thousand
years ago possibly have had such a high order of the arts?
To say something further, there is the Gabon Republic in Africa, which
is rich in uranium ore. As the country was relatively backward, and it
could not extract uranium from ore on its own, it exported it to the
advanced countries. In 1972, a French plant imported this uranium ore.
To their great surprise, chemical examinations showed that this ore
had already been extracted and utilized, therefore they sent people of
science to the country to investigate, and scientists from many other
countries went there, too. They confirmed, at last, that this uranium
ore was in fact a large-scale nuclear reactor, which was so well laid
out that it would be impossible even for modern people to produce it.
Then when was it completed? It was two billion years ago that it was
completed, and it had been in operation for about 500000 years. This
is a sheer astronomical figure beyond the explanation of Darwin's
theory of evolution. There are so many things like this. What has been
discovered now in the world of science and technology is convincing
enough to rewrite our textbooks of today. Once a series of working and
thinking styles has fallen into a habit based on their inherent
conventional modes of thought, men find it difficult to accept new
ideas. When the truth presents itself, they dare not accept it, but
will reject it, by instinct. Owing to the influence of conventional
modes of thought, there is no systematization of these things now;
therefore, men's mentality cannot keep track of the developments all
the time. Whenever we talk about these things, which have already been
discovered, though not popularized as yet, some people will say this
is superstition and cannot be accepted.
A lot of dauntless scientists abroad have openly accepted these
phenomena as prehistoric cultures, which are the civilizations
previous to this cycle of our present human civilization. That is,
there were still the periods of civilization prior to this cycle of
our civilization, and there was more than one. The archaeological
finds reveal that they did not belong to the period of only one
civilization. Thus, it is believed that only a few people had managed
to survive the crushing destruction a number of times, and thereafter
began to live a primitive life and reproduce new human beings, and
enter a new civilization. Then, they experienced a new destruction
again, reproduced new human beings once more. This is how mankind went
through such different periodic changes, one after another. The motion
of matter, as physicists put it, follows a certain pattern, so do the
changes of the whole universe.
The movement of our earth cannot possibly be all smooth sailing in
this vast expanse of the universe or within the motion of the Galaxy.
It is most likely to run into another planet, or rather some other
troubles, which will give rise to a catastrophe. In the light of our
supernormal capabilities, it has been arranged this way. After a
meticulous check which I once did, I discovered that mankind had been
left in complete destruction 81 times. Only a few people survived each
time, leaving behind a little bit of their prehistoric civilization,
and went into the next period, living a primitive life. Human beings
multiplied until there were so many when another civilization emerged.
Going through 81 such periodic transformations, I still did not count
down to the origin. Chinese people believe in favourable weather,
favourable terrain, and the group morale. Variations in celestial
phenomena and variations in weather will bring about different social
conditions in ordinary human society. In the terms of physics, there
is regularity in the motion of matter; the same is true of the
movement of the universe.
The prehistoric cultures I referred to above mainly tell you: Qigong
is not an invention of this cycle of human beings, but of a
prehistoric culture, left behind after going through a remote past. We
can find an exposition of some viewpoints in Buddhist scriptures.
Sakyamuni said in his life time that he had completed his cultivation
and found the Way some billions of kalpas before. How many years is
one kalpa? One kalpa means some billions of years. Such a huge figure
is simply unimaginable. If this is true, doesn't it tally with the
human history and the evolution of the earth? Sakyamuni also said that
there had been seven Buddhas of the primeval age previous to him, and
he had had his own masters, all of whom had found the Way in
cultivation some billions of kalpas before. If all this is true, are
there such cultivation ways as those genuine Orthodox and true qigong
we teach in society nowadays? If I answer this question, of course
I'll say yes, but not many. At present, sham qigong and fake qigong
masters and those spirit possessed have casually invented some things
to deceive the public. These qigong outnumber genuine qigong so many
times that it is hard to tell the genuine from the fake. It is not so
easy to identify genuine qigong and it is not easy to find one as
well.
As a matter of fact, not only qigong was left behind from the remote
past, but Taiji, Hetu, Luoshu, Zhouyi (Book of Changes) and the Eight
Diagrams, etc. are all prehistoric as well. So, if today we make a
study of and come to understand them from the viewpoint of ordinary
people, we will get nowhere in doing so. At the level of ordinary
people, from the angle of ordinary people and in the realm of
awareness of ordinary people, we will not be able to become acquainted
with what is true.
Qigong Is Cultivation
Now that qigong has such a remote history, then what on earth is it
used for? Let me tell you. Ours is a great cultivation Law of the
Buddha School, naturally cultivating the Buddha, while Tao School
naturally cultivates the Tao (the Way) and finds the Tao. I'd like to
tell you, this "Fo (Buddha)" is not superstition. This "Fo" (
) is Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language. There were actually two
words which were introduced to China at that time, called "Fo Tuo".
And there was also a translation as "Fu Tu". Having translated this
way or that, we Chinese left out one word and called it "Fo". What
does it mean when it is translated into Chinese then? It means the
enlightened , the enlightened person through cultivation.
Where on earth is there any superstitious colouring here?
Now, come to think about it. Cultivation may be able to bring out
supernatural powers. At present, there are six supernormal
capabilities which have generally been recognized in the world, but
there are more than these, and I should say there are no less than ten
thousand real supernormal capabilities. A person sitting there,
without moving his hands or feet, may be able to do what others cannot
do even by hands and feet; he is able to perceive the true reasoning
of all different spaces, see the naked truth of the universe, and see
what is invisible to ordinary people. Isn't he a cultivator who has
found the Tao? Isn't he a great enlightened one? Can he be regarded as
the same as an ordinary person? Isn't he a person who has become
enlightened through cultivation? Isn't it right to call him the
enlightened one? It is translated into the ancient Indian language as
"Fo". This is a matter of fact and this is what qigong is used for.
When it comes to qigong, some people would say, "Who will practise
qigong if he is not ill?", which implies that qigong is used to heal
diseases. This is a very superficial understanding of it, extremely
superficial. For this, these people can not be blamed, for many qigong
masters all do the same thing of curing diseases and building up
health, all teaching curing diseases for better health. None of them
has ever told about high level cultivation. I do not mean that their
cultivation systems are not good, but that their mission is to teach
what is at the level of curing diseases for better health and to
popularize qigong. Quite a lot of people want to go up to a higher
level cultivation. They have such a thought and such a wish but they
do not know how to cultivate themselves. As a result, they have caused
many difficulties for themselves, and many problems have arisen as
well. Of course, genuinely teaching qigong in a high dimension deals
with what is quite high. So, out of my responsibility to society and
people, we have received good results during the whole course of
teaching the Gong. It is true that some of what I said is very high.
It sounded superstitious. However, we tried our best to explain it
with the help of modern science.
There are certain things which someone will say are superstitious
whenever we talk about them. Why? His criterion means what science has
not yet acknowledged, or what he himself has not experienced, and what
he considers to be impossible to exist, he believes, are all
superstitious, all idealistic. This is his conception. Is this
conception right? Can we say what science has not yet acknowledged and
what science is not advanced enough to explain are superstitious and
are idealistic? Isn't he himself trying to practise superstition? And
practise idealism? If based on this conception, can science develop
and advance? Human society will not be able to be pushed forward,
either. All inventions in the field of science and technology are all
what did not exist previously. If we looked on all of them as being
superstitious, there would be no need to develop them, of course.
Qigong is not something idealistic. As many people do not understand
what it is, they always think of it as idealistic. Having tested
qigong masters with some instruments, we found in their bodies
infrasonic sound waves, supersonic waves, electromagnetic waves,
infrared rays, ultraviolet rays, ( rays, neutrons, atoms, trace
elements of metal, etc.. Aren't they all what is material existence?
They are also matter. Aren't all things composed of matter? Aren't
other timespaces composed of matter? How can we say they are
superstitious? Since qigong is used to cultivate the Buddha, it will
naturally involve many high and profound issues, all of which we are
going to talk about.
Since qigong is used for this purpose, why do we call it qigong? In
fact, it was not called qigong, but what was it called then? It was
called cultivation, and it is cultivation indeed. Of course, it had
other specific names, but it was called cultivation as a whole. Why is
it called qigong? As we all know, qigong has been popular in society
for more than 20 years in history, beginning in the middle of "the
Great Cultural Revolution" and reaching its climax in the later years
of it. Let's come to think about it. At that time, the ultra-left
trend of thought went rampant. We did not teach it with its names from
prehistoric culture, because, in the progress of this cycle of human
civilization, and after going through feudal society, qigong often
took names with strong feudal colouring. Those related to the
religions often have names with strong religious colouring, e.g.
something like "the Great Cultivation Way of Tao ", "the Dhyana of
Vajra", "the Way of Arhat", "the Great Cultivation Way of Buddha
Dharma" and "Ninefold Internal Alchemy". They all say the same thing.
If you had used these names during "the Cultural Revolution", you
would have been criticized and denounced. Their wish of popularizing
qigong was good ( to help the broad masses to remove diseases and help
them to keep fit, and raise the quality of their health. How good this
was, but they could not use or dared not use these names. So, in order
to popularize qigong, many qigong masters quoted two characters,
called qigong, out of the context of the texts of Internal Alchemy and
Tao Tsang. Some people even make a study of the word qigong, which
surely has nothing to study, for it was called cultivation in the
past. Qigong is no more than a new term given to conform to the
ideology of modern people.
Why Doesn't Your Cultivation Energy Increase When You Do Cultivation?
Why doesn't your cultivation energy increase when you do cultivation?
Quite a lot of people think this way: I have not received any genuine
teachings for my cultivation. If a certain teacher teaches me some
unique skills, and some super hand skills, my cultivation energy will
go up. Now 95% of the people share the same opinion. I find this
rather funny. Why? Because qigong is not mastery of a skill used in
ordinary people, but it is something entirely supernormal, therefore
it must be measured by the Law at the high level. I'd like to tell you
all the basic reason why your cultivation energy can not go up. Of the
two words "cultivation, practice", people only pay attention to
"practice" rather than "cultivation". If you go searching outside
yourself, you will never achieve anything. How can you imagine
transforming high energy substances into cultivation energy with an
ordinary human body, ordinary human hands and an ordinary mind? How
can your cultivation energy go up this way? This is by no means easy.
It seems a joke to me. This is as good as going searching outside
yourself, seeking after something outside yourself. You will never
find anything.
This is unlike what is mastery of a certain skill by our ordinary
people, which you can learn and manage to learn well by paying some
money. This is not true, but is beyond what is at the level of
ordinary people. So you should be required to act on the supernormal
Law. How? You should only go cultivating inside yourself, but can not
go searching outside yourself. How many people all go searching
outside themselves, looking for this today, and that tomorrow. And
they are also obsessed with seeking after supernormal capabilities.
They have various purposes. Some people even want to become qigong
masters, treating diseases to make a fortune. However, true
cultivation entails the cultivation of your heart, which is called the
cultivation of Xinxing . For instance, in a
person-to-person contradiction between people, you should care less
about the seven emotions and the six sensory pleasures, and various
desires. It is by no means easy for you to want to increase
cultivation energy when you are competing and contending with others
for your own personal interests. Aren't you doing the same as ordinary
people? How can you increase cultivation energy? So, you should pay
attention to the cultivation of Xinxing. In this way, your cultivation
energy can go up and cultivation attainment can rise to a higher
dimension.
What is Xinxing ? It covers many aspects of things,
including De ( virtues, a kind of matter), Ren(forbearance),
awakening quality, giving, giving up all kinds of desires and all
kinds of attachments which are common to ordinary people, and the
ability to bear hardships. Only when every aspect of your Xinxing has
been improved, can you really go up. This is one of the key causes of
strengthening your energy potency.
Some people are thinking: The issue of Xinxing you have talked about
belongs to what concerns the field of ideology, concerns the realm of
awareness, but it is not the same thing as the Gong we practise. Why
is it not the same thing? In the field of ideology throughout the
ages, there have always been discussions and arguments over the
question: Which comes first, matter or spirit? I can tell you that, in
truth, they are the same. When doing research on the science of human
bodies, scientists now believe that the thoughts the brain gives out
are exactly matter. While it is something material, isn't it also
something spiritual then? Are matter and spirit identical? The same is
true of the cosmos I have talked about, which exists in the form of
matter, and exists with its fundamental qualities at the same time. Of
the fundamental qualities, Zhen Shan Ren of the cosmos, ordinary
people cannot feel their existence because they stay on the plane of
this one dimension as a whole. If you go beyond the dimension of
ordinary people, you will be able to feel them. How? All matter in the
universe, including all matter filling the whole universe, are
entities of intelligence. They all can think, and they are all
existing forms of the cosmic Law in various dimensions. They do not
allow you to rise to a higher dimension, and even if you want to go
up, you just cannot because they do not allow you to. Why not? Because
your Xinxing is not good enough for that. As each dimension has a
different standard, if you want to raise your dimension, you will have
to give up your bad thinking and empty your mind of all things dirty
and filthy, and assimilate yourself to the standard required of that
dimension. Only in this way, can you ascend.
With the improvement of your Xinxing, there will definitely come a
fundamental change in your body. With the betterment of your Xinxing,
there will surely occur a change of the substances that make up your
body. What change? You will let go of those bad things which you are
after and obsessed with. For example, a bottle is filled with dirty
things and is fastened up tightly with its lid. When thrown into the
water, it will sink to the bottom at once. Now you empty it of the
dirty things. The more you empty them, the higher the bottle will
rise. When you have emptied all of them, it will rise to the surface
of the water completely. In the course of cultivation, you are
required to empty your body of all kinds of bad things in order to
enable yourself to ascend to higher dimensions. The fundamental
qualities of this cosmos just play such a role. If you do not
cultivate your Xinxing, do not raise your moral standard, do not let
go of your bad thoughts, bad substances, they will not allow you to
ascend to a higher dimension. Then, how can we say that matter and
spirit are not identical? Let's illustrate it with a joke. If a man is
allowed to ascend to the status of a Buddha with seven human emotions
and six desires found in an ordinary person, just imagine, is this
possible? Maybe an evil thought would be born into his mind when he
had seen a senior Bodhisattva so beautiful, or he would fall into a
contradiction with Buddhas because of the jealousy he has not given
up. How can such a thing be allowed to exist? What should you do then?
You should get rid of all kinds of bad thoughts you have as an
ordinary person completely. Only in this way, will you be able to
ascend to a higher dimension.
That is to say, you should pay attention to the cultivation of Xinxing
and cultivate yourself according to the cosmic qualities, Zhen Shan
Ren, doing away with your desires, the mind with ill intentions and
the thoughts to do bad as an ordinary person. With a little bit
improvement of your ideological level, some of the bad substances in
your body are already gone. Meanwhile, you will have to endure some
hardships and suffer a little to remove some of your karma, and thus
you will be able to ascend a little. That is to say, the cosmic
qualities will remove some restrictions from you. Cultivation is your
own business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is done by
your master. Your master has provided you with a kind of energy which
can increase cultivation energy. This energy will function when it can
transform the substance, De (virtues), into cultivation energy outside
your body. As you increasingly improve yourself and go up in
cultivation, your energy pillar grows higher at the same time. As a
cultivator, you should cultivate yourself and steel yourself in the
environment of ordinary people, and get rid of your attachments and
various desires gradually. What we human beings often consider to be
good is usually regarded as bad when seen from the high dimension. So
we say, the more personal interests one has gained in ordinary people,
the better he lives, the worse he has become in the eyes of the great
enlightened, but ordinary people count these good. How bad is he then?
The more he gains, the more he hurts others because he has obtained
what he should not. And he will give much attention to wealth and
fame, and therefore will lose De. If you want to increase cultivation
energy, but pay no attention to the cultivation of Xinxing, you will
never increase your cultivation energy at all.
The world of cultivation believes that one's Yuanshen (True Spirit) is
immortal. In the past, if you had talked about one's true spirit,
people would have probably said you were superstitious. As we all
know, physics deals with our human body, which includes molecules,
protons, and electrons, further down to quarks and neutrinos, etc.
through studies. They are beyond the visibility of a microscope at
this stage. However, this is still too far away from the origin of
life, the origin of matter. We all know that in the atomic nuclear
fission, there has to be a great amount of energy collision and
considerably huge heat is needed to enable the atoms to split and
cause nuclear fission. When one is dying, how can the atomic nuclei in
his body die off, easily? So we have found that a person died when the
biggest molecular components of the layer, just staying in our space
had fallen off, while his bodies in other spaces are not destroyed.
Let's imagine what a human body looks like through a microscope. The
whole human body is moving. Even when you are sitting there still,
your whole body is moving. Molecular cells are moving and the whole
body is loosely arranged as if composed of sand. Such is what a human
body looks like through a microscope, completely different from the
human body we see with our eyes. This is because this pair of human
eyes can create false impressions for you, prevent you from seeing
such things. The Celestial Eye, if opened, can see things by enlarging
them, as was originally an innate capability of a human being, but it
is now called supernatural power. If you want to bring out the
supernatural powers, you should return to the origin and go back to
the truth, cultivate yourself backward.
Now let me say something about these De (virtues). What exactly is the
interlocking relationship between them? I would like to analyze this.
A human being has his one body in each of all the many spaces. The
biggest components of a human body we can see now, are cells, which
comprise our human physical body. If you get into the area between the
cells and molecules, between the molecules, you will find yourself
having already entered into another space. What does the existing form
of that body look like? You certainly cannot understand this with the
interpretation of the concept used in this space we have now, for your
body has to assimilate to the requirements of the existing form of
that kind of space. Of course the body in another space can become
bigger or smaller, and then you will find that is another incomparably
vast space, too. This is what we mean by a kind of simple form of the
existence of another space, which exists at the same place and at the
same time. A person has a specific body in each of many other spaces,
and in a specific space, there exists a kind of field around the human
body. What field? This field is exactly what we mean by De. De is a
white substance, but unlike what we thought of in the past as
something spiritual of a person, something ideological, it is fully a
kind of material existence. So, old people used to talk about
accumulating De, or losing De, and what they said was absolutely
right. These De form a field around the human body. In the past, what
the Tao School did was that a master looked for his disciples, but the
disciple did not look for his master. What does it mean? The master
just wanted to see whether this disciple was carrying a large
proportion of De around his body. If so, it would be easy for him to
do cultivation, otherwise it would be difficult for him to do so and
attain high achievements.
With this there also coexists a black substance, which we call karma
here, and which is called bad karma in Buddhism. White substance and
black substance, both substances coexist. What is the relationship
between these two substances? The substance De is achieved after we
have endured hardships, suffered setbacks or done good deeds, while
the black substance is received after we have done bad, done wrong or
bullied others. Nowadays some people not only are bent solely on
profit, but also stop at nothing in doing evil. They commit all manner
of crimes for money, killing and framing innocent people, redeeming
lives with money, practising homosexuality, taking drugs among many
other things. When one does bad, he will lose De. How does he lose it?
When this person is swearing at the other one, he feels he has taken
the advantage of the other one because he has given vent to this
anger. However, there is a law in this universe called: No Loss, No
Gain. If you gain, you will lose. If you do not want to lose, you will
be forced to. Who is in charge of this? It is the cosmic qualities who
are in charge, and therefore you are not allowed just to think of
gain. How do they do this? When the person is swearing at or bullying
the other, he is throwing his De over to the other, while the other is
wronged, suffers loss and endures pain, so he will be compensated for
all this. Now the person is swearing at the other. As he is doing so,
a piece of De is flying off his own field of space and falling onto
the body of the other person. The more he swears, the more De he will
give the other. The same is also true of beating or humiliating
others. Now one punches the other or kicks the other. How much De has
fallen onto the other person depends on how heavily he has beaten the
other as he is doing so. Not being able to see this law, an ordinary
person thinks he is bullied, but cannot tolerate. Now that you have
punched me, I'll punch you in return. "Pa" he strikes the person back
with a fist, pushing this De back to the person. Neither of them has
lost or gained. The other one may think, "You have dealt me one blow,
I'll deal you two; otherwise I cannot give vent to my anger." So he
has dealt the person one more blow, and another piece of De has flied
off his own body and has been given to the person.
Why do we attach so much importance to this De (virtues)? What kind of
relationship exist for De to be transformed? The religion teaches, if
one has these virtues, he will gain in the next life, if not in this
life. What does he gain? If he has lots of virtues, he will probably
become a high official, make great fortunes, will be able to get what
he wants, all of which are exchanged for virtues. The religion also
teaches, if a person has run out of virtues, he will fall into
perdition of both body and soul. His Yuanshen (True Spirit) will be
destroyed, and all of him will die with nothing left after he dies.
But we, the world of cultivation, mean that De (virtues) can be
evolved into cultivation energy directly.
Now I am going to say how De is evolved into cultivation energy. In
the world of cultivation, there is such a saying called "Cultivation
is one's own business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is
done by one's master." However, some people teach placing a crucible
onto a furnace to make elixir of immortality with the gathered medical
substances, and intention, because they think these are very
important. But I'd like to tell you that they are not at all
important. If you think much about them, you will have an attachment.
If you attach much weight to them, aren't you seeking after them?
Cultivation is your own business, while the evolution of cultivation
energy is done by your master. It is enough for you to have this wish.
It is your master who really does this for you, and it is entirely
impossible for you to do this. Will you be able to evolve that kind of
entity of intelligence composed of these high energy substances with
an ordinary human body? It is out of the question. It is all a joke
talking about this. The evolution process of the human body in another
space is quite miraculous and abstruse, and very complex, and is
utterly beyond your capability.
What will your master give you? He will give you the energy which can
be used to increase cultivation energy. As De stay outside the human
body, it is the De that give birth to one's real cultivation energy.
It is all the De that give rise to the height of one's level of
attainment, the strength of his energy potency. Your master evolves
your De into cultivation energy, which grows in an upward spiral. The
cultivation energy which truly decides one's level of attainment grows
outside one's body and forms an energy pillar after growing spirally
to the top of one's head in the end. Seeing how high a person's energy
pillar is, we can tell how high his attainment of cultivation energy
is. This is truly his level of attainment, the achievement status
Buddhism refers to. While some people are sitting in practice, their
Yuanshen (True Spirit) can leave their bodies, rising high into the
sky all at once, further upward, and then cannot and dare not ascend
any further. They are ascending by sitting on their own energy pillar,
and therefore they can only ascend that high. Because their energy
pillar is that high and they cannot ascend any further. This is what
Buddhism teaches about achievement status.
There is another yardstick used to measure how high one's Xinxing is.
The yardstick and the energy pillar do not stay in the same space, but
they exist at the same time. If you have improved your Xinxing in
cultivation, for example, among ordinary people you do not utter a
word but feel completely at ease when somebody shouts an abuse at you;
you do not say a word but laugh it off when somebody deals you one
blow with a fist. You have already shown very high Xinxing. Now that
you are a cultivator, what should you gain then? Don't you gain
cultivation energy? As your Xinxing goes up, your cultivation energy
is growing. How high your attainment of cultivation energy is depends
on how high your Xinxing is. This is an absolute truth. Some people in
the past practised qigong hard and quite well either in the park or at
home, and they were pretty sincere. However, once they went out, they
were no longer cultivators, doing whatever they liked, competing with
others and striving for fame and wealth with ordinary people. How can
their cultivation energy grow? Not at all. This is also the reason why
they cannot get well from their diseases. Why haven't some people
recovered from their diseases after a long time of practice of qigong?
Qigong is cultivation, something supernormal, not physical exercise
done by ordinary people. So, only by paying great attention to Xinxing
can they recover from their diseases or increase their cultivation
energy.
Some people believe that this elixir of immortality in placing a
crucible onto a furnace to make the elixir of immortality with the
gathered medicinal substances is exactly the cultivation energy, but
it is not. This elixir of immortality contains only part of the
energy, but not all of it. What is the elixir of immortality then? As
we all know, we still have another part which is used to cultivate
life, our bodies will also turn out supernormal capabilities and the
numerous magic arts, most of which are locked up and not allowed to be
used. There are many supernormal capabilities, ten thousand kinds of
them. As soon as one has taken form, it is locked up. Why do they not
come out? The purpose is that you will not be allowed to use them to
do what you want to in ordinary human society, that you cannot
interfere in it as you like, and that you cannot show off your
abilities in it at will, because they will interfere with the state of
ordinary human society. There are a lot of people who are cultivating
themselves while becoming enlightened. If they made all their
abilities appear, seeing that they are all true, then all people would
come for cultivation, even those who are unpardonably wicked would
also come along. This will not be allowed to happen. Therefore you are
not allowed to show off this way. Besides, you are liable to do bad,
for you cannot see the causational relationship of the matter and the
root cause of it. You think you do something good, but maybe you do
something bad, and therefore you are not allowed to use these
supernormal capabilities. Once you do bad, you will drop down off your
dimension, and all your cultivation will be in vain. So many
supernormal capabilities are locked up. What will you do then? By the
time you have opened your cultivation energy and become enlightened,
this elixir of immortality will serve as a bomb, blowing up all the
supernormal capabilities, all the locks and the acupuncture points in
your body. With a shocking "Pa", all are blown up. This is what the
elixir of immortality is used for. When a monk is cremated after
death, there are usually relics left, which some people say are bones
and teeth. But why has an ordinary person not got them? This is
exactly the elixir of immortality, which has exploded, and its energy
has released. It itself contains plenty of substances from other
spaces. It is also something of material existence after all, but it
is useless. People nowadays regard them as something very valuable
because they are glossy, energy possessing and very hard. This is the
very elixir.
There is another reason for failing to increase cultivation energy.
Because you do not know the Law existing in the high dimension, you
will not be able to go up in cultivation. What does this mean? As I
have just said some people have practised many kinds of qigong
exercise. I'd like to tell you that it is no use their learning many
more than this, and that they are only primary school pupils, in terms
of cultivation, because what they have learned all belongs to the
principles guiding elementary levels. The principles applied to such
low levels cannot guide them up to high dimensional cultivation. If
you are learning primary school textbooks at college, you are still a
primary school pupil. It is no use learning more, and the result will
be still worse. The Law varies from dimension to dimension. It differs
in the role it plays guiding a different dimension, and therefore the
principles applied to the low levels cannot guide you up to high
dimensional cultivation. What we are going to expound to you from now
on is all about the principles guiding high dimensional cultivation. I
am combining my talk with what exists in different dimensions, which,
as a result, will always serve as guidance for your cultivation from
now on. I have got several books, magnetic tapes and video tapes. You
will find in them that after you have read or listened to them once,
when you read or watch or listen to them again after a while, they are
sure to still serve as your guide. As you are increasingly improving
yourself, they will continuously give you guidance. This is the Law.
The above are the two reasons why one does not increase cultivation
energy when he does cultivation. He does not know how to cultivate
himself because he does not know the Law guiding high dimensional
cultivation. He does not increase cultivation energy because he fails
to cultivate inside himself and fails to cultivate his Xinxing. These
are the two reasons.
Characteristics of Falun Dafa
Our Falun Dafa is one of the 84000 Law cultivation
schools. It has never been made public and taught in the history of
this cycle of human civilization. But it was popularized to offer
salvation to people during a prehistoric period of time. Now I have
brought it into the open once again during the last days of Last
Havoc. Therefore it is extremely precious. I have explained such a
process in which De (virtues) are directly transformed into
cultivation energy. It is actually acquired through cultivation rather
than through practice. Many people pursue cultivation energy by only
paying attention to practice instead of cultivation. In fact,
cultivation energy is achieved only by cultivating Xinxing. But why do
we here also teach people how to practise the exercise then? First I'd
like to say why monks do not practise the exercise. They can increase
cultivation energy, the cultivation energy which determines their
level of attainment, mainly by sitting in meditation, chanting
scriptures and cultivating their Xinxing. Because Sakyamuni taught
giving up everything in the world including Benti ( the True
Being), physical movements were unnecessary. As the Tao School does
not teach offering salvation to all sentient beings, they do not have
to face people of all kinds, such as people who are from different
levels, with various mentalities, some of whom may be very selfish,
and others may be not. They select their disciples, and find three,
only one of whom is to receive true teachings. He is destined to have
very high virtues, to be good and to come with no problems. So the
master emphatically teaches him hand movements in order to cultivate
his life, for some hand movements are needed to cultivate supernatural
powers and other magic skills.
Falun Dafa is also a cultivation way with an integrated cultivation of
both human nature and life, and therefore it has some movements to
practise. On the one hand, movements are used to strengthen
supernormal capabilities. What is strengthening? Use your strong
energy potency to make your supernormal capabilities strong, causing
them to get stronger and stronger. On the other hand, there will also
be evolved many living entities in your body. Arriving at high level
cultivation, the Tao School tells that Yuanying (the Immortal Infant)
comes into the world while the Buddha School refers to a Vajra's
indestructible body, and numerous magic skills will be evolved as
well. All these things will be practised and evolved by hand
movements, in other words, movements are used to cultivate all this.
An integrated set of the cultivation way cultivating both human nature
and life, requires both cultivation and practice. Now I believe all of
you have come to understand how cultivation energy has come into
being. The cultivation energy which really determines your level of
attainment is not at all achieved by practice, but by cultivation. It
is in the course of your cultivation and among ordinary people that
you have improved your Xinxing, and assimilated yourself to the cosmic
qualities, which no longer restrict you, and thus you will be able to
ascend to the high dimension. The De will begin to be evolved into
cultivation energy, and with the betterment of your Xinxing, your
cultivation energy will naturally grow. Such is the relationship
between them.
Our cultivation system belongs to the cultivation ways which genuinely
cultivate both human nature and life concurrently. The cultivation
energy that we cultivate, the cultivation energy composed of such high
energy substances, is stored in every cell of the body, all the way
into the particle components of the origin of substances existing in
the extremely microcosmic state. With the growth of your energy
potency, its density increases, and its might intensifies. Such high
energy substances are intelligent. They are stored in every cell of
the human body and all the way into the origin of life. As time
passes, they will fall into the one formation with the cells in your
body; the same as the order of molecular arrangement, and the same as
the formation of all atomic nuclei. But a fundamental change has taken
place, or rather your body is no longer the kind of body composed of
the original physical cells. Are you out of Wuxing (the Five
Elements)? Of course your cultivation is not over yet, and you will
continue with your cultivation among ordinary people. So you look like
an ordinary person from your appearance. The only difference is that
you look much younger than the people of your age. Naturally, first of
all, we should remove the bad things from your body, including
diseases. However, we do not treat diseases here, instead, we will
clean up your body. We do not use the term treating diseases, but call
this cleaning up the body. We clean up the body for those who really
cultivate themselves. Some people have come here to cure diseases. As
for those who are seriously ill, we do not allow them to come to the
lectures because they cannot let go of their obsession with treating
their diseases, they cannot stop thinking that they are ill. If they
are seriously ill and suffering great pain, can they stop thinking
that they are ill? They cannot go into cultivation this way. We have
stressed again and again that we cannot permit those who are seriously
ill to come in, as we are here for cultivation, which is a far cry
from what they have in mind. They might as well find some other qigong
masters to do this for them. Nevertheless, we have many students who
are ill, and we are going to deal with this for them because they are
genuine cultivators.
Students of our Falun Dafa will take on a complete new look in their
appearance after a period of time in cultivation. The skin is becoming
delicate and smooth, and white, glowing with health. The wrinkles on
the faces of the aged will become fewer, and even very few. This is a
common phenomenon. I am not here telling you something quite
impossible. Many of the old students here understand what I have said.
What's more, the old women will even regain their menstrual period
because the cultivation ways which cultivate both human nature and
life concurrently need the menses to cultivate life. At the present
stage, there will be a little bit menstrual flow, but not much, just
enough to cultivate life. This phenomenon is also quite popular,
otherwise, how can you cultivate your life without it? The same is
true of men. The old and the young all will feel light all over. Those
who really cultivate themselves will feel this change.
Our cultivation system cultivates in quite a big way unlike many other
systems which imitate the movements of animals. This cultivation
system cultivates simply in so enormous a manner. The principles
Sakyamuni and Laozi taught in their life time were confined to the
principles guiding our Galaxy. What does our Falun Dafa cultivate? We
do our cultivation according to the evolutionary theory of the
universe. We take the criterion of the supreme cosmic qualities Zhen
Shan Ren as our guidance in cultivation. We cultivate such a big
thing, the same as the cultivation of the universe.
Our Falun Dafa has another extremely distinctive and unique
characteristic completely different from all the other forms of
qigong. All the qigong forms which are popular in society nowadays all
belong to the cultivation of the Internal Alchemy, the refinement of
the elixir of immortality. It is very hard for such qigong forms to
serve the purpose of opening cultivation energy and becoming
enlightened among ordinary people. Our Falun Dafa cultivates a Falun
at the place of one's lower abdomen rather than going into the
Internal Alchemy. In class, I'll plant it into my students' bodies by
myself. While lecturing on Falun Dafa, I'll plant Falun into your
bodies in succession. Some can feel it, others cannot, but most of you
can have the sensation due to different human physical qualities. We
cultivate Falun rather than refine the elixir of immortality. Falun is
the miniature of the cosmos, having all the supernormal capabilities
of the cosmos. It has the ability to turn round and rotate
automatically. Once it is planted into your body, it will always
rotate at your lower abdomen, and will rotate like this all the year
round, and will never stop. When turning clockwise, it will
automatically absorb energy from the cosmos, and it will also evolve
energy by itself to supply the energy needed to evolve all the
different parts of your body. Meanwhile, when turning counter
clockwise, it will release energy to deliver waste matter out of your
body afterwards, and disperse around your body. When it is releasing
energy, Falun will deliver the energy very far, and then will bring in
new energy. The energy it releases will benefit all the people around
your body. The Buddha School teaches self-salvation and salvation to
others, salvation to all sentient beings. They not only cultivate
themselves, but also offer salvation to all sentient beings. In this
way others will benefit from them, for they can accidentally regulate
the bodies of other people and treat diseases, etc.. Of course, the
energy will not get lost. When Falun is turning clockwise, it will
collect the energy back to itself, because it rotates constantly and
incessantly.
Some people may wonder: Why does this Falun rotate constantly and
incessantly? Still some people asked me, "Why will it turn? What is
the working principle? It is easy to understand that more energy
collected can form the elixir of immortality, but it is hard to
imagine the revolution of Falun." I am going to take an example. The
cosmos is moving. All the Milky Way system, and all the other galaxies
are moving in the cosmos, the nine great planets are revolving around
the sun, and the earth is still rotating itself. Let's think about it.
Who is pushing them? Who is putting more force to them? You cannot try
to interpret it with the concept which applies to ordinary people, for
it truly has its own mechanism of revolution, and the same is also
true of our Falun, which turns round as it does. It solves the problem
of practice done by ordinary people under the circumstances of normal
life, and increases the time for practice. How does it do so? Because
it never stops revolving and absorbing energy from the universe and
then revolving it incessantly. When you are at work, it practises you.
Of course, not only Falun, but also the numerous functions and
mechanisms we are going to plant into your body, which will turn round
and evolve automatically all along with Falun. That is to say, this
cultivation system all evolves the practitioner totally and
automatically, and in this way there occurs a kind of "Gong
cultivating the practitioner", also called "the Law cultivating the
practitioner". While you are not practising, Gong is practising you.
While you are practising, Gong is also practising you. When you are
eating, sleeping or at work, you are being evolved by Gong. What do
you practise for then? You practise in order to strengthen Falun as
well as all the functions and mechanisms I have planted into your
body. In the high dimension cultivation, we do active no action, do
movements along with mechanism as well without any intention to guide
you, and we do not do breathing, etc..
We do not consider the time and place necessary for practice. Some
people asked, "When is the best time for practice, midnight, dawn or
noon?" We do not pay attention to the time necessary for practice. If
you did not practise at midnight from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Gong
was cultivating you then. If you did not practise at dawn, Gong was
cultivating you at that time. While you are sleeping, Gong is also
cultivating you. While you are walking, Gong is cultivating you as
well. When you are at work, Gong is still cultivating you. Does not
this shorten your time for practice considerably? Many of you cherish
a sincerity of truly finding Tao, which is, of course, the purpose for
cultivation because the ultimate goal for cultivation is exactly to
find the Way and reach the consummation. For some people, the time
left for them in their life is quite limited, and may be not enough
for cultivation, but our Falun Dafa can solve such a problem by
shortening the course of cultivation. Moreover, it is a system
cultivating both nature and life. As you continue with your
cultivation, your life will be prolonged. You continue with
cultivation and your life is prolonged so that the time for
cultivation will also be enough for you, who have good inborn
qualities but are getting on in years. However, there is a principle
that the life beyond your destiny, beyond your allotted original span
of life, i.e. the life prolonged hereafter is all rearranged for you
to cultivate. So the least deviation of your thinking will surely
incur danger to your life, for your natural span of life has already
been over long before unless you have gone beyond the cultivation of
Shi Jian Fa (the In-Triple-World-Law). By then you will get into
another state of affairs, and will be out of this control.
Our system has no consideration of direction in which you should
practise or the way you end up your practice because Falun revolves
constantly and never stops. When there is a telephone call or somebody
knocks at the door, you may simply go and do these things without the
necessity of winding up your practice. When you go and begin work,
Falun will immediately turn clockwise and take back the energy emitted
out of your body. No matter how much effort you make when artificially
holding qi in both hands and filling it through the top of your head,
qi will lose. As Falun is an intelligent entity, it knows itself it
should do all this. We do not consider direction either, for the whole
cosmos is revolving, so is the Milky Way system. The nine planets are
turning round the sun and the earth itself is rotating. We cultivate
ourselves according to the Law which is as enormous as the universe.
Which direction is the North, South, East or West? No direction. No
matter which direction we are facing when practising, we are facing
all the directions. No matter which direction we are facing, we are as
good as facing the North, South, East and West simultaneously. Our
Falun Dafa will protect our students from going wrong. How can it do
so? Our Falun will protect you if you regard yourself as a genuine
cultivator. Since I am rooted into the cosmos, whoever can challenge
you can challenge me, and to be frank, can challenge the cosmos. This
sounds inconceivable, but you will understand what I mean if you
continue with your cultivation. There are things too profound among
some others, which I cannot tell you. We will systematically expound
the Law governing high dimensions from the simple to the profound.
However, if you harbour evil intentions, seeking after something, you
will inevitably get into trouble, and therefore you are not allowed to
do so. I find that the Falun of many of our old students are, somehow,
out of shape. Why? This is because they cultivate by mingling what
belongs to the other schools with ours, and because they have accepted
what belongs to others. Then why does Falun not protect them? Because
it has been given to them, it belongs to them and is under the control
of their own thinking. Nobody will take care of what you want. This is
the Law of this universe. If you do not feel like going on with your
cultivation, nobody can force you to, otherwise he as good as does
evil. Who can make you change your mind? You should make demands of
yourself. You practise this qigong today and that one tomorrow,
learning the strong points from all schools and accepting things of
all others for the purpose of removing diseases. Did you manage to do
so? No, you did not. Your diseases have been put off until later. For
the high dimensional cultivation, we teach the importance of being
constant in one cultivation system. Whatever school you have decided
to cultivate, you should concentrate on and put your heart into it
until you have opened your cultivation energy and become enlightened
in this school. Then you can change over to another cultivation
system, which is a different set of things to cultivate. Because an
integrated system of things which has truly passed on, was left behind
after going through a considerably long period of time of the remote
past, and has undergone quite a complex process of evolution. Some
people practise by virtue of their sensation. What is their sensation?
It is nothing at all. The process of real evolution goes on in another
space, which is devastatingly complex and marvelous, without a
tolerance of a single error, just like a precision instrument, which
will immediately go wrong if you put into it a part from another
instrument. Your bodies in all the different spaces are taking
changes, devastatingly abstruse and marvelous, and no tolerance of
error is allowed. As I have told you, cultivation is your own business
while the evolution of cultivation energy is done by your master. If
you accept things from other people casually and add them to what you
cultivate, the messages from the others will interfere in what you
have in this school, and you will become deviant. Moreover, this will
be felt in ordinary human society, and will bring trouble to yourself
as an ordinary person. However, others cannot help because this is
what you want yourself. So this is a question of your ability of
comprehension. Besides, what you have added to your cultivation has
already made a mess of your cultivation energy, and therefore there
will arise such a problem that you cannot continue with your
cultivation any more. But I do not want you to learn only Falun Dafa
by all means, either. If you do not learn Falun Dafa because you have
received true teachings from some other cultivation systems, I also
approve of this. But I'd like to tell you that you must be consistent
in your cultivation system if you really want to reach the high
dimensional cultivation. In addition, I have one more point to make to
you. At present, there is not another person who really teaches qigong
in the high dimension like me. Later you will realize what I have done
for you, and therefore I hope you should not have such a poor
awakening quality. Many of you want to reach the high dimensional
cultivation but you may not realize what it is when it is presented to
you already. Even if you go and take many people as your masters, and
spend so much money, you will not be able to find it. Today when it is
offered to you, you may not yet realize what it is. This is a question
of whether or not you want to be enlightened, and this is a question
of whether or not you can be saved.
Lecture Two
Issue of the Celestial Eye
Many qigong masters have mentioned something about the Celestial Eye.
However, the Law differs in manifestations from dimension to
dimension. A cultivator of a particular attainment level can only see
the scenes on that level. He cannot see or believe the truth beyond
that level. Therefore, he only believes what he has seen on his own
level. When he has not gone up to such a high level of cultivation, he
would think those things do not exist and are incredible. This is
determined by his attainment level, and therefore his mentality will
not be able to ascend. That is to say, about the issue of the
Celestial Eye, some people talk this way, others that way. As a
result, they have talked it into a mess, and nobody has given it a
clear explanation. As a matter of fact, this Celestial Eye cannot be
explained clearly on the low level. As a top secret in the past, the
structure of the Celestial Eye has never been revealed to ordinary
people, and nobody has ever mentioned it. Here, we are not going to
dwell on that theory of the past but explain it with modern science in
the most simple and plain modern language, presenting its fundamental
issues.
What we call the Celestial Eye actually lies in the area from a place
a little above the point between the eyebrows to the pineal body,
which is the main channel of the Celestial Eye. There are numerous
eyes in the human body. The Tao School says that each qiao (aperture),
which is called an acupoint in traditional Chinese medicine, is an
eye. The Buddha School claims that every pore is an eye. Therefore,
some can read with the ear. Others can see with the hand or the back
of the head. Still others can see with the foot or the belly.
To talk about the Celestial Eye, at first, we are going to say a few
words about our physical eyes. Now some people believe that the
physical eyes can see any substance or any object in this world of
ours. Therefore, they fall into a rigid notion, believing that what is
seen through the eyes is true and real, and they do not believe what
they cannot see. People of this sort have been thought to have a poor
awakening quality. Some people do not understand why they have such a
poor awakening quality. It sounds quite reasonable that not seeing is
not believing. However, to look at the issue on a slightly higher
level, you will find this unreasonable. Every timespace is composed of
matter. Of course, the material structure differs and the various
manifestations of living beings differ from timespace to timespace.
I would like to give you an example: Buddhism presents the idea that
all the phenomena of human society are illusions (maya), and not
solid. How can they be illusory? Those objects are so real and
tangible. How can you say that they are false? In fact, the existing
form of an object is different from its manifestations, but our eyes
have the capacity to stabilize the object in our physical space into
the state we have now seen. Actually, it is not in such a state, not
even in this space of ours. For example, what does the human body look
like under a microscope? You will find the whole body is made up of
loose and moving molecules, which are like grains of sand, small and
roundish, with electrons moving around the atomic nuclei. The whole
body is wriggling and moving. And the surface of the body is not
smooth or regular. Any object in the universe, steel, iron or stone,
is all the same, as the molecular composition in it is in motion and
the whole formation is invisible to you. It is actually unstable. This
table is also wriggling, but our eyes cannot see the truth. They can
only give us a delusion.
It is not that we are unable to see something microscopic. It is not
that man does not have this ability. In fact, man is endowed by nature
with such an ability and is able to see things microscopic. It is just
because of the eyes we have in this physical space that we have a
false impression, and therefore we cannot see them. So, it is believed
in the world of cultivation that people who do not believe what they
cannot see have a poor quality of comprehension because they are
misled by ordinary people's wrong views and are lost among ordinary
people. This is a view which has been taught in the religions, and we
actually find there is some truth in it.
The eyes have no other great abilities except that they can stabilize
the things we have in the physical space into such a state. When one
sees something, the image of the object does not form in the eyes
directly. The eyes, which are like a camera lens, only serve as a
tool. When taking a picture at a distance, the camera lens becomes
longer. Our eyes also have such a function. When one looks in the
dark, his pupils become larger. When taking a picture in the dark, the
aperture of the camera has to become larger as well; otherwise, with
insufficient exposure, the photo will turn out to be black. When one
comes to a very bright place, his pupils become smaller rapidly;
otherwise, dazzled by the strong light, he cannot see clearly. Using
the same principle, the aperture of the camera also has to be made
smaller. Therefore, as a tool, it can only take in the image of an
object. When we actually look at something, a person or the existing
form of an object, it is in the brain that the image of it is formed.
In other words, we see through the eye and the image it receives is
conveyed through the optic nerve to the pineal body which is located
in the back half of the brain and appears in that region. That is to
say, it is the pineal body of the brain that actually reflects the
image and sees an object. Modern medical science also has come to
realize this.
The opening of the Celestial Eye we refer to means opening a passage
between the eyebrows so that the pineal body can directly look out by
avoiding the use of the optic nerves. This is what we call opening the
Celestial Eye. Some may think: but this is unrealistic. After all, our
eyes can serve as a tool and take in the image of an object. How can
we do without them? Modern medical dissection has already discovered
that the front half of the pineal body has the whole structure of an
eye. As it lies in the skull, it is postulated to be a vestigial eye.
Our cultivation world has some reservations about whether it is a
vestigial eye or not. But at least modern medicine has realized that
there is an eye in the centre of the human brain. We open the passage
straight to that point. So it just tallies with what modern medicine
has discovered. This eye, unlike the naked eyes, will not create
illusions. It can see the reality of things and the essence of matter.
Therefore, a person with his Celestial Eye on a very high plane can
see through our space into another timespace and perceive the scenes
an ordinary person cannot see. A person with his Celestial Eye on the
low plane may have a penetrative sight, which can penetrate a wall or
see through a human body. So the Celestial Eye has such a function.
The Buddha School presents Five Types of Eye Sight: the Flesh Eye
Sight, the Celestial Eye Sight, the Wisdom Eye Sight, the Law Eye
Sight, and the Buddha Eye Sight. These are the five major planes of
the Celestial Eye. Each plane is subdivided into three levels: upper,
middle, and lower. The Tao School says there are 9 times 9, eighty-one
levels of the Law Eye. Now we are opening your Celestial Eyes, but not
below the plane of the Celestial Eye Sight. Why? Though you are
sitting here ready for cultivation, you just start practising as
ordinary people and still have a lot of ordinary people's attachments.
If I open your Celestial Eyes to below the plane of the Celestial Eye
Sight, you will possess the supernatural powers as called by ordinary
people and can see through a wall or into a human body. If we spread
this supernormal capability on such a large scale and open your
Celestial Eyes to such a plane, it would seriously affect the society
of ordinary people and disrupt its normal state: the state secrets
would have no way to be kept; it would be all the same to you whether
other people wear clothes or not; you could see a person in the room
when you are out of it; walking along a street, you would stop before
a lottery and pick out the first prize ticket. Such things will not be
allowed to happen! Just imagine, is it a human society if its members
all possess the Celestial Eye Sight? Anything that seriously disturbs
human society is absolutely not allowed to exist. If I really opened
your Celestial Eye to such a plane, you might become a qigong master
instantly. Some of you wished to be a qigong master in the past. Now
with the sudden opening of your Celestial Eyes, you will be able and
ready to treat diseases in others. By so doing, aren't I leading you
astray?
Then, what plane am I to open your Celestial Eyes to? I am going to
open them straight to the plane of the Wisdom Eye Sight. If I open
them to a higher plane, your Xinxing is not high enough;
should I open it to a lower plane, it would seriously disturb the
normal state of society. So I open them to the plane of the Wisdom Eye
Sight, and you are able to see the scenes existing in other spaces
though you cannot see through a wall or into a human body. What
advantage does it have? It can build up your confidence in
cultivation. When you have clearly seen what ordinary people cannot
see, you will believe that it really exists. Now I am going to open
your Celestial Eyes to this plane no matter whether you can see
clearly or not, as it will be good for your cultivation. A true
cultivator of the Great Law who is strict with himself in the
improvement of his Xinxing will achieve the same effect by just
reading this book.
What is the thing that determines the plane of one's Celestial Eye? It
is not that you can see everything after your Celestial Eye is opened.
No, it is not so. It also involves the division of its planes. What
does the plane of one's Celestial Eye depend on? It depends on three
factors. The first factor is that one's Celestial Eye must have a
field from inside to outside. We call this field the vital essence (
). What is its function? Just like the screen of a
television, if there is no fluorescent material on it, it is no more
than a light bulb which only gives light, but shows no picture when
you turn on the television. It is the fluorescent material that makes
it possible for the images to appear on the screen. Of course, this is
not an apt example, because we see the images directly, while the
television shows them through the fluorescent screen. It roughly
illustrates what I mean. This bit of vital energy is extremely
valuable. It is composed of the more essential things refined from the
substance, De ( virtues). The existing vital essence varies
from person to person. Only two in ten thousand people may be found to
be on the same plane.
The plane of one's Celestial Eye is the direct manifestation of the
Law of our universe. As something supernormal, it is closely connected
with one's Xinxing. A person of low Xinxing stays on a low level. As
his Xinxing is poor, he has lost much of his vital essence. If one
possesses very high Xinxing and cares little about fame, wealth,
conflicts among the people, personal interests, and seven emotions and
six carnal desires, his vital essence may be well preserved, and he
can see quite clearly when his Celestial Eye is opened. A child under
six will have a very clear vision when his Celestial Eye is opened,
and it is very easy to open it. A word is enough to have it opened.
In the powerful current and gigantic dye vat of ordinary human
society, what people believe to be right is actually often wrong. Who
does not want to live a good life? To live a good life, you may
infringe upon the interests of other people, which may whet your
selfish desires, you may profit at other people's expense and bully
and harm others. To gain personal interests, you may compete among
ordinary people. Doesn't it go against the cosmic qualities?
Therefore, what people believe right is not necessarily right. When
educating a small child, the adult is likely to tell him that "You
should try to become wily" so that the child can get a foothold in the
society of ordinary people in the future. In the view of our universe,
however, it is wrong to be wily, as we should follow the natural
course and care little about personal interests. Why should he become
so wily? Because he wants to gain personal interests. "If someone
bullies you, just let his teacher or his parents know", "When you see
money on the ground, you should pick it up and put it into your
pocket". The child is educated in such a way. When he grows up, he
will receive more and more such teachings and he gradually will become
more and more selfish in the society of ordinary people. He will gain
advantage by unfair means and thus lose his De (virtues).
This substance De, when lost, will be transferred to another person
instead of disappearing. However, the vital essence will disappear. If
one has been wily and crafty from childhood up till now, has a strong
desire for personal interests, and puts profit-making before anything
else, he will not normally see clearly when his Celestial Eye is
opened. This, however, does not mean that he will never have a clear
vision. Why? Because we cultivate so that we can return to the origin
and go back to the truth. With continuous cultivation, there will be
continuous compensation for the lost vital essence. Therefore, we lay
stress on Xinxing, on the improvement as a whole, and on the ascension
as a whole. When one has improved his Xinxing, he will also find
himself improved in other respects. If one cannot improve his Xinxing,
his vital essence around his Celestial Eye will not be compensated.
This is how the principle works.
Now let's come to the second factor. If a practitioner has good inborn
qualities, he can get his Celestial Eye opened through his own
cultivation. But he may get frightened the moment his Celestial Eye
opens. Why? Because one usually cultivates in the hour of Zi at night
when all is quiet. He is practising when he suddenly sees a large eye
just before him, which gives him a start. He is so frightened that he
does not dare to practise any more. How frightening it is! Such a
large eye is looking at him, now closing, now opening. It is so real
and vivid. So some people call it a demon's eye and others call it a
Buddha's eye, etc.. In fact, it is one's own eye. However, cultivation
is one's own business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is
done by one's master. The whole process of the evolution of
cultivation energy for a cultivator is very complex in other spaces.
All the cultivator's bodies, not only the one in another space but
also those in all the spaces are changing. Can you do it yourself? No,
you can't. All these are arranged by the master. It is the master who
is doing this. Therefore, we have the saying that cultivation is one's
own business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is done by
one's master. You only have such a wish or thought, and it is your
master who has actually done the job.
Some people have got their Celestial Eyes opened through their own
cultivation. We say it is your own eye, but you yourself are not able
to evolve it. Some people have masters. When your master finds that
your Celestial Eye is open, he will evolve an eye for you. This eye is
called True Eye. Of course, there are some people who have no master,
but they have a passing-by master. The Buddha School says: Buddha is
present everywhere. There are so many Buddhas that you can find them
everywhere. Others say: There are deities three feet above one's head.
It means there are such a great number of them. The passing-by master
will evolve an eye for you when he finds that you are well cultivated
with your Celestial Eye open but are short of an eye. This eye can be
counted as a result of your own cultivation, because, to offer
salvation to people, a passing-by master will have no prerequisites
and care nothing for the cost, reward and fame. He is far nobler than
an exemplary person of ordinary people. He does so entirely out of
compassion.
When your Celestial Eye is open, you will find yourself in such a
state: The light dazzles you. You feel it dazzling your eyes. In fact,
it does not dazzle your eyes, but dazzles your pineal body. You feel
as if the light were dazzling your eyes. That is because you have not
got the Eye. When you are provided with the Eye, you will no longer
feel the light dazzling you. Some of you can feel or see this Eye. As
it has the same nature as that of the universe, it is quite innocent
and curious. It looks inward to see if your Celestial Eye is open, or
if it is able to see. It is looking inward at you when your Celestial
Eye is opened. It will give you a start when you suddenly see it
looking at you. In fact, it is your own Eye. In future you will see
things with this Eye. Without this Eye, you can see nothing at all
even when your Celestial Eye is open.
The third factor involves one's breakthrough of his attainment level
which reveals the difference from space to space. This is exactly what
determines one's attainment level in cultivation. One sees not only
through the main channel of the Celestial Eye but also through plenty
of subchannels. The Buddha School says that every pore in the human
body is an eye; The Tao School says that every aperture of the human
body is an eye, that is to say, every acupoint is an eye. Of course,
what they say still refers to the one way the Law evolves in the human
body. So any part of the body has the ability to see.
The attainment level we refer to is different from this. There are
several main subchannels in the eyebrows, upper eyelids, lower left
eyelid and the area between the eyebrows besides the main channel.
They determine the breakthrough of one's attainment level. Of course,
if an ordinary practitioner can see through them, the level this
person has broken through is already quite high. Some people can also
see with their physical eyes, because they have perfected their eyes
in cultivation, thus their eyes also possess the forms various
supernormal capabilities take. However, if one does not use this eye
properly, when he can see this object, but can not see that one, this
will not do. Therefore, some people usually use one of the eyes to see
things in another space, and the other one to see things in this
world. There is no subchannel below this eye (the right eye), as it
has something immediate to do with the Law. People tend to use the
right eye when they do bad things. Therefore, there is no subchannel
below the right eye. Those are some of the main subchannels which
develop in the Cultivation of Shi Jian Fa.
When one has reached an extremely high level beyond the cultivation of
the In-Triple-World-Law, he will develop an eye like a compound eye
which is so large that it covers the upper part of his face with
countless small eyes in it. Some great enlightened beings in a very
high dimension have developed so many eyes that they cover the whole
face. All the eyes can see through the large eye, and they can see
whatever they want to and they are able to see all the dimensions at a
single glance. Now zoologists and entomologists have done some
research on flies. A fly has a large eye. Through a microscope, you
can see that it is composed of countless small eyes, so it is called a
compound eye. One will not acquire such an eye until he has reached an
extremely high dimension, a dimension much higher than that of a
Tathagata. But ordinary people cannot see its existence, nor can
practitioners on an ordinary level. They can only see he is the same
as an ordinary person, as this eye exists in another space. Here I
have talked about the breakthrough of one's attainment level, the
question of being able to break through all the spaces.
I have basically revealed the structure of the Celestial Eye. It would
be a quicker and easier way to open your Celestial Eyes by external
force. When I am talking about the Celestial Eye, each of you will
feel that the muscle of the forehead becomes tight as if the muscles
had gathered there, drilling inwards. Is that so? Yes. As long as you
have come here really to get down to learning Falun Dafa, you will
have such a sensation. You will feel a strong power pushing the
muscles inward. We have released the energy specially for you to open
your Celestial Eyes with. Meanwhile, I have also released Falun to
mend them. When I am talking about the Celestial Eye I am opening it
only for those who cultivate Falun Dafa. But this does not mean that
everybody will get a clear vision or even will be able to see. This
has something to do with you yourself. Never mind. It does not matter
if you are unable to see. Take your time to cultivate yourself. As you
raise your level continuously, you will be able to see gradually, and
a dim vision will by and by become a clear one. As long as you
cultivate yourself and you are determined to do so, you will regain
what you have lost.
It is quite difficult for one to open his Celestial Eye himself. Now I
am going to say something about a few ways for one to open the
Celestial Eye by himself. For example, when sitting in cultivation, a
practitioner may observe his forehead and the Celestial Eye. He may
find nothing but darkness in his forehead. After a long while, he will
feel his forehead gradually turning white. After another period of
cultivation, he will find his forehead gradually becoming bright. Then
it will turn red. By then, it will begin to bloom, just like a bud
opening its petals instantly as is shown in a film or on television
with such a scene. That red colour is flat at the beginning when it
suddenly becomes protuberant in the centre and keep on blooming. It is
impossible for you to make the blossom thoroughly open even in ten
years or so, because your Celestial Eye is entirely blocked.
Some people's Celestial Eye is not blocked. It has a channel. However,
as they do not cultivate, there is no energy. When they cultivate,
there will suddenly appear a black disc before their eyes. With a long
time of practice, the disc will gradually turn white, then become
brighter and brighter until it is getting more and more dazzling. One
may say: I have seen the sun, I have seen the moon. In reality, he has
seen neither the sun nor the moon. What has he seen, then? He has seen
the channel of this Celestial Eye. Some people have made rapid
progress and can see immediately after they have been provided with
the Eye. But others would find it very difficult. They would run
outward along the channel which is like a tunnel or a well during
practice, or even in sleep they would feel themselves running outward.
Some feel they are urging a horse on; some feel they are flying; some
feel they are running; some feel as if they were rushing out in a car.
But they feel that they can never rush out of it, as it is very
difficult for them to open their Celestial Eyes on their own. The Tao
School regards the human body as a microcosm. If it is a small
universe, just imagine, then it would be more than one hundred and
eighty thousand Li from the forehead to the pineal body. Therefore,
they feel as if they were always rushing outwards but would never rush
out of it.
It is quite reasonable for the Tao School to regard the human body as
a microcosm. It does not mean that the composition and structure of
the human body is very similar to that of the universe. It does not
refer to the existing form of the human body in this physical space of
ours. What state is the physical body in below the plane of cells
according to modern science? There is various molecular composition.
Smaller than molecules are atoms, protons, nuclei, electrons and
quarks. The smallest particles which have been studied are neutrinos.
Then, what is the smallest particle in its true sense? It is extremely
difficult to find it. Sakyamuni once said in his later years, "It is
so vast that it is boundless; it is so tiny that it is indivisible".
What did he mean? The universe is so vast that one with the status of
Tathagata is unable to see its boundary; it is so tiny that one in the
status of Tathagata cannot see its smallest particle. This is what he
meant by saying "It is so vast that it is boundless; it is so tiny
that it is indivisible".
Sakyamuni also put forward the three-thousand-chiliocosmos theory. He
said that in the Milky Way galaxy of our universe there were three
thousand planets on which living beings with material bodies like
human beings exist. He also said there were such three thousand
chiliocosmos in a grain of sand. A grain of sand is like a universe
and there are such beings of intelligence as us living in it. There
are also such planets, mountains and rivers in it. It sounds rather
fantastic! If this is true, just think about it, isn't there sand in
the sand mentioned? Aren't there three thousand chiliocosmos in each
grain of the sand there? Then, isn't there sand in each of those three
thousand chiliocosmos? And aren't there three thousand chiliocosmos in
each grain of the sand there again? Therefore, in the status of
Tathagata one cannot see its bottom.
The same is true of human molecular cells. People ask how large the
universe is. I tell you that this universe has its boundary. However,
in the eyes of one in the status of Tathagata it is boundless and
unlimited. But the inside of the human body from molecules to
micro-particles is as large as this universe. It sounds like a tall
story. When a person or a life is made, his specially given
composition of life and his nature have been already formed in the
extremely microcosmic state. Therefore, it is far beyond our
contemporary scientific research. Compared with those living beings on
the high intelligent planets in the whole universe, the standard of
our human science and technology is quite low. We are even unable to
break through the other spaces which occupy the same space at the same
time. However, flying saucers from other planets come and go directly
in another space in which there are different concepts of spacetime.
Therefore, they come and go so quickly and mysteriously that the human
mind finds it difficult to accept it as a fact.
I mentioned such a question when I talked about the Celestial Eye.
While you are running outward in the channel, you will feel that it is
endless. Someone may see another scene. He would feel that he is
running not along a tunnel but along an endless broad road on either
side of which there are mountains, rivers, and cities. He just keeps
running outward. It may sound fantastic. I still remember a qigong
master's words. He said that in a pore in the human body there was a
city in which the trains and cars were running. Other people were much
surprised at his words and were incredulous. As you know, a substance
is composed of molecules, atoms, and protons in its microcosmic state.
In the end, you may keep investigating downward like this. If you can
see a plane, not a dot, in each dimension, that is, if you can see the
plane of molecules, or that of atoms, or that of protons, or that of
nuclei, you will see the existing forms of different spaces. Any
object, including the human body, coexists with and is open into the
spatial planes of the cosmic space at the same time. When contemporary
physics studies the particles of matter, it only studies a single
particle by analyzing and fissioning it. It studies its component
parts after its nuclear fission. If we had such an instrument through
which we could see the whole manifestation of all atomic composition
or molecular composition existing in this plane, if we could see this
picture, we would break through this space and see the true existence
of other spaces. The human body corresponds to the space outside it.
It has such a form of existence.
Other different states will appear when one tries to open his
Celestial Eye himself. We have dwelled on some relatively general
phenomena. Some can see their Celestial Eyes turning. A practitioner
of Taoist qigong often sees something turning in his Celestial Eye.
When the Taiji disc breaks with a snap, he will see the images. But
that does not mean that he has Taiji in his brain. In fact, at the
very beginning his master planted in him a set of things, one of which
was Taiji. The master sealed his Celestial Eye. When it is time for
his Celestial Eye to open, the Taiji disc will split open. So it is
something specially arranged by the master, not something innate in
his brain.
Some people are after the opening of the Celestial Eye. But, the more
they practise, the more difficult they will find it to open. What is
the reason? They have no idea themselves. The main reason is that the
Celestial Eye is not to be pursued. The more you pursue it, the more
you cannot get it. Your Celestial Eye will not open when you desire to
have it. Instead, something neither black nor white will flow out of
it and cover your Celestial Eye. After a long time, it will form a
great field. The more it flows out, the more it accumulates. The more
difficult you find it to open your Celestial Eye, the more you will
pursue it and the more it will flow out. As a result, it will surround
your whole body. To make things worse, it can be very thick and form a
great field. Even if your Celestial Eye is really open, you cannot see
anything, because you have been sealed by such an attachment. Only
when you think no more of it and give up this attachment completely,
can it disappear gradually. But it will take you a very long period of
painstaking cultivation to get rid of it, which, however, is not
necessary at all. Some people do not know this. When their master
warns them against pursuing the Celestial Eye, against seeking after
it, they just would not believe, would not stop thinking about it. As
a result, it runs counter to their desires.
Supernormal Capability of Remote Sight
A supernormal capability directly connected with the Celestial Eye is
called the Remote Sight. Someone says that he can see scenes in
Beijing, in America or scenes on the other side of the earth while
sitting here. Some people are not able to understand it. It cannot be
explained scientifically. How can it be possible? Some people have
tried to explain it this way or that way, but their explanations are
not convincing. They wonder how man can have such a great ability. In
fact, it is not so. A practitioner who cultivates in the phase of Shi
Jian Fa (the In-Triple-World-Law) does not have such an ability. What
he sees, including Remote Sight and many other supernatural powers,
all work in a specific space. They cannot go beyond the physical space
of our human existence at the most. They usually do not go beyond
one's own spatial field.
The human body has a field in a specific space. This field is not the
same one as the field of De (virtues). They are not in the same space
but are of the same size. This field corresponds to the universe.
Whatever exists in the universe can find its counterpart in it. But
this counterpart is only a kind of shadow, not a real object. For
example, the United States and Washington exist on earth. In this
field there is also the reflection of the United States and
Washington. But it is a shadow. However, a shadow is also a material
existence. Since the field corresponds to the universe, it changes
with the things in the universe. Therefore, with the supernormal
capability of the so-called Remote Sight one actually sees the things
in his own spatial field. When one has gone beyond the cultivation of
the In-Triple-World-Law, he no longer sees in this way. He will see
things directly. Such an ability is called the divine power of Buddha
Law, a power whose might knows no bounds.
How does the supernormal capability of Remote Sight work in the
In-Triple-World-Law? Here I am going to expound this to you. In the
space of this field, there is a mirror in the position of one's
forehead. A non-practitioner's mirror faces himself. A practitioner's
mirror will turn over. When one is about to develop the power of
Remote Sight, the mirror will keep turning over and over. As you know,
a film produces continuous movements at the speed of twenty-four
pictures per second. When it goes slower than that, the pictures will
keep bouncing. The mirror turns faster than that. It keeps the images
reflected in it, and then turns over to show them to you. The images
will be erased when it turns over again. Then it will do the same
again and again by keeping turning over and over. Therefore, what you
see is in motion. This is exactly how it shows you the things within
your spatial field it reflects, which are the counterparts of the
things in the universe outside.
Well, how can one see things behind him? How can everything around him
be reflected in such a small mirror? You know, when one's Celestial
Eye is above the plane of the Celestial Eye Sight and is about to
reach the plane of the Wisdom Eye Sight, it is going to break through
this space of ours. Just at the point of an entire breakthrough, the
Celestial Eye will change: When it looks at an object, a man or a
wall, they will all have disappeared, matter does not exist. That is
to say, in this specific space, when you look in depth, you will find
no man there. There is only a mirror standing in the scope of this
spatial field of yours, and this mirror is in your spatial field and
it is as large as your entire spatial field. So when it turns over and
over in the field, there is no place that cannot be reflected in the
mirror. The mirror can reflect everything in your spatial field, as
long as they are the counterparts of the things in the universe. This
is what we call the supernormal capability of Remote Sight.
In testing this ability, the scientists who study the human body are
likely to deny it. Here is the reason for their denial. For example,
one was asked to tell what someone's relative in Beijing was doing at
his house. When he was told the relative's name and some general
facts, he could see the person. He gave a description of the building,
how to enter the room through the door, and how the room was
furnished. What he said was all correct. When asked "What is the man
doing?" "He is writing," he replied. In order to verify his statement,
the tester asked his relative by telephone: "What are you doing now?"
"I am eating". Didn't it tally with what he had seen? This is the
reason why such a supernormal capability was negated in the past. But
what he saw about the place was exactly correct. As there is a time
difference between the space and time of ours, which we call
timespace, and that of the space where supernormal capabilities exist,
there is a difference in the concept of time between the two spaces.
The man was writing just before. Now he is eating. There is such a
time difference. Therefore, if these scientists usually make their
deductions and investigations based upon the conventional theories and
contemporary science in this way, they will get nowhere even after ten
thousand years of study. As these things are supernormal in the first
place, men need to change their mentality. They should not understand
these things in such a way again.
Supernormal Capability of Total Recall
There is another supernormal capability which has a direct relation
with the Celestial Eye. It is called Total Recall. Now there are six
supernormal capabilities which are generally recognized in the world.
They include the Celestial Eye, Remote Sight, and Total Recall. What
is Total Recall? It is a supernormal capability with which one can
know a person's future and past; if the ability is great, one can know
the rise and decline of a society; if the ability is even greater, one
can see the Law of the change of the whole celestial body. As matter
moves following a certain pattern, any object in a special space has
its existing forms in many, many other spaces. For instance, when the
human body makes a movement, the cells in the body will also move with
it. So will all molecules, protons, electrons, and the other smallest
particles in the microcosmic state. However, a body has its own form
of independent existence, and the existing forms of the human body in
other spaces will also be changed.
Don't we often refer to the conservation of matter? Whatever you do
will leave an image and some message in a specific space. When people
have done something, as they do with a wave of hand, it is all
material existence. In another space, it is conserved and will exist
there forever. A person who possesses supernormal capabilities will
know what happened in the past by just taking a look at the images in
the past which are still there. When you have developed the ability of
Total Recall in the future, you will find the form of the lecture I am
giving here today still existing. It exists here at the same time.
When a person is born, his whole life has already existed in a special
space where there is no concept of time. For some people, more than
one life is there.
Some people may think: Isn't it unnecessary for us to have a personal
struggle or to remold ourselves? They cannot accept it. As a matter of
fact, only small things in life can be changed through personal
struggle. Some small things may change after your personal struggle.
But you may get karma because of your effort to change them;
otherwise, there is no such thing as making karma or doing good or
evil. If you obstinately do so, you will take advantage of other
people, thus you have done evil deeds. Therefore, it is for this
reason that it is repeatedly emphasized that a cultivator should
follow the natural course, because you will harm other people when you
make your own efforts. Originally, there is no such thing in your
life, but you have received what belongs to other people in society.
Thus, you owe them a debt.
As for big things, an ordinary person can never change them. However,
there is a way to change them. That is, one can change his life by
doing nothing but evil deeds and committing all manner of crimes. But
a complete destruction of his life lies ahead of him. We can see in
the high dimension that one's Yuanshen ( True Spirit) does
not die at his death. How is it that the True Spirit can be free from
death? In fact, we find that a dead body in the mortuary is nothing
but a mass of human cells in this space of ours. All the cell tissues
in the internal organs and in the whole body in this space have fallen
off, while in other spaces a body composed of particles which are
smaller than molecules, atoms or protons is not dead at all. It lives
in other spaces and still exists in that microcosmic space. However, a
person who stops at no evil would have a complete disintegration of
all his cells. In Buddhism it is called perdition of body and soul (
).
There is another way to make one change his life, which is actually
the only way. That is, he begins to take up a way of cultivation. Why
can his life be changed when he takes up the way of cultivation? Who
has such a great power to change it? When one wants to take up the way
of cultivation, such an intention will glitter like gold and shake the
Ten Directions. The Buddha School's view of the universe is expressed
in the theory of the Ten Directions. In the eyes of an intelligent
being, a human life is not to be lived as a human being. He holds that
human lives originate in the cosmic space and have the same nature as
the universe. They are kind and are composed of the matter of Zhen
Shan Ren. But they also have their community. When they associate with
others in the community, some of them will become bad and drop down to
a lower dimension. When they become still worse and cannot stay in
that dimension any more, they will drop down to a still lower
dimension. They drop down and down and down in this way until they
have finally come to this dimension of ordinary people.
Man in this dimension should have been destroyed or wiped out.
However, out of great compassion, the great enlightened beings have
specially made such a space as our human society. In this space, man
is provided with a mortal body and two eyes which can only see the
objects in this physical world. That is to say, man has fallen into
the maze in which he is unable to see the truth of the universe, which
can be seen in other spaces. In this maze and under such
circumstances, he is given such a chance. As he is in the maze, he is
amidst the greatest suffering. His body is to bring him sufferings.
The Tao School teaches returning to the origin and going back to the
truth through cultivation. If a man in this space can return to the
origin and has the mind to cultivate himself, that is, if he has
developed his Buddha-nature, people will help him, because such a
heart is regarded as the most precious thing. He does not get lost
under such difficult circumstances and still wants to return to the
origin, so people will help him. They will help him in every way and
without condition. This is the reason why we can do such a thing for
cultivators, but not for ordinary people.
We can do nothing for you if you are an ordinary person who just wants
to get rid of diseases. An ordinary person is just an ordinary person.
Ordinary people can only live in the state of society of ordinary
people. Many people say that Buddhas offer salvation to all sentient
beings and Buddhas teach the universal salvation of all life. I tell
you, you can consult all Buddhist scriptures and will find no words
there indicating that the removal of diseases in ordinary people means
the salvation of sentient beings. It is those pseudo qigong masters
who have messed up the matter these years. The real qigong masters and
qigong trail-blazers never suggested treating diseases in others. They
only taught you how to get rid of diseases and keep fit through your
own practice. As an ordinary person, how can you cure diseases when
you have just learned qigong for a couple of days? Aren't you fooling
other people? Doesn't that encourage your attachment? You are just
seeking after fame, wealth and supernormal things and showing them off
among ordinary people! It absolutely won't do. Therefore, the more you
seek after it, the more you cannot get it. You are not allowed to do
so, and you are not allowed to disrupt the social state of ordinary
people at will.
There is such a principle in this universe: When you want to return to
the origin and go back to the truth, someone will help you. He holds
that man should go back to the origin instead of living in the society
of ordinary people. Suppose human beings suffer no diseases and live a
comfortable life, they would even be reluctant to become immortals.
How wonderful it is if people suffer from no diseases, bear no
sufferings, and have whatever they desire. This is really a world of
immortals. But you have dropped down to where you are because of your
degeneration, so you do not feel comfortable. Man is likely to do bad
when he is lost in the world of ordinary people. In Buddhism it is
called the karmic principle of reward and retribution. Therefore, when
some people usually have a tribulation or some trouble, he is in fact
paying his karma according to the karmic principle of reward and
retribution. It is also said in Buddhism that Buddha is omnipresent.
It is definitely possible that one wave of a Buddha's hand will wipe
out all the diseases of mankind. There are so many Buddhas. Why don't
they do such a thing? One has to endure the suffering because of the
evil deeds he did in the past. If you have cured his disease, you have
as good as broken the principle of the universe. It means he is
allowed to do bad and does not have to pay what he owes to others.
This is not allowed to happen. So everybody is safeguarding the normal
state of human society. None of them would try to disrupt it. Nothing
but cultivation can make you really free from disease and bring you
the real liberation. To make people cultivate the Orthodox Law is the
real salvation of sentient beings.
How can many qigong masters cure diseases? Why do they go in for the
treatment of disease? Some people may think about the matter. Most of
such qigong masters do not go the right way. In the course of
cultivation a true qigong master will find that all beings are
suffering. He is allowed to help the sufferer out of compassion and
sympathy. But he cannot cure the disease. He can only repress it
temporarily, or postpone it so that you will suffer from it in the
future, or transfer it to other members of your family. He is unable
to completely eradicate the karma for you. This is the reason why it
is permitted to eliminate the karma only for cultivators, not for
ordinary people.
The salvation of all sentient beings put forward by the Buddha School
means that you are to be taken from the most painful state of ordinary
people to the high dimension where you will never suffer and can enjoy
real freedom. This is what it implies. Didn't Sakyamuni mention the
other bank of Nirvana? This is the true sense of his salvation of all
sentient beings. Suppose you live in ease and comfort among ordinary
people, having so much money that you can use the bank notes as a
mattress and bear no suffering at all, you will even be reluctant to
become an immortal. If you are a cultivator, your course of life can
be changed, and only through cultivation can your life course be
changed.
The supernormal capability of Total Recall works through a small
fluorescent screen like TV in the position of the forehead. Some find
it at the location of the forehead; some find it nearby the forehead;
some find it inside the forehead; some can see it with eyes closed;
some can see it with eyes open if it is very strong. But it is
invisible to other people, because it is something within your own
spatial field. That is to say, when this capability is developed,
there has to be another one to serve as a carrier to reflect the
images of other spaces so that one can see them with the Celestial
Eye. With this ability one can see the future or the past of a person
very precisely. Though one can also reveal something quite clearly
through divination, he is unable to know the small things or details
of an event. However, with the ability of Total Recall one can see
them very clearly. He can even see the dates and changing details of
the event, because what he sees is the true reflection of a person or
an object in a different space.
I am going to open the Celestial Eye for every cultivator of Falun
Dafa. As for the supernormal capabilities which will be mentioned
later, I will not open them. With the unceasing rise of your level,
the supernormal capability of Total Recall will turn up in due course.
You will meet with this case in your future cultivation. When you have
developed this supernormal capability, you will know how it is. So we
should tell you all these doctrines and principles.
Transcending the Five Elements and the Three Realms
What does "Transcending the Five Elements and the Three Realms" mean?
This is a sharp question to answer. In the past, many qigong masters
were choked off by those who did not believe in qigong when they were
talking about the matter: "Which one of you practitioners has
transcended the Five Elements and is not in the Three Realms?" Some of
them were not qigong masters. They just claimed that they themselves
were qigong masters. They should not have talked about the matter
since they were unable to make it clear, but they were bold enough to
talk about it. As a result, they were gagged by the listeners. It has
caused a great loss and confusion to the world of cultivation. Some
people have used this as a pretext to attack qigong. To transcend the
Five Elements and the Three Realms is a saying prevalent in the world
of cultivation. It comes from the religion. It is a product of the
religion. Therefore, we cannot talk about the matter by ignoring this
historical background and the environment of that time.
What does "Transcending the Five Elements" mean? Both the ancient
physics and the contemporary physics of China hold that the Chinese
Theory of Five Elements is right. It is true that the Five Elements of
metal, wood, water, fire and earth constitute myriads of things in the
universe. Therefore, we often look at this concept of Five Elements.
To put it in modern language, Transcending the Five Elements means
going beyond this physical world, which sounds like a fantastic story.
Just think about such a matter, a qigong master is possessed of
energy. I have been tested for my energy. So have many other qigong
masters. The material composition of this energy can be measured by
means of many apparatus available; that is, if there is such an
apparatus, the composition of energy a qigong master releases can be
determined. The apparatus available can determine infrared rays,
ultraviolet rays, ultrasonic waves, infrasonic sounds, electricity,
the magnetic force, rays, atoms and neutrons. A qigong master
possesses all these substances. Some substances released by some
qigong masters cannot be determined, because there is no such
apparatus to measure them. As long as there are such apparatus, all of
them can be determined and you will find that the substances released
by qigong masters are extremely rich in variety.
With the effect of a special magnetic field, a qigong master can
release a powerful and very beautiful aura. The greater one's energy
potency, the larger the energy field he has released. An ordinary
person also has an aura, but it is very, very small. In the study of
high-energy physics people believe that energy is nothing but the
substances like neutrons or atoms. Many qigong masters have been
tested. All the famous qigong masters have taken such a test. I was
also tested. The measuring apparatus showed that the amount of
rays and thermal neutrons I had released was 80-170 times
greater than that of the radiation of normal substances. However, this
was the result when the pointer on the apparatus had reached its
limit. As the pointer had moved to its maximum, we did not know how
great it might really be. It is really inconceivable that one can
produce such powerful neutrons. How can man release such powerful
neutrons? It has proved that we qigong masters are possessed of Gong
or energy, which has been verified in the world of science and
technology.
To transcend the Five Elements, one has to practise the cultivation
system for the integrated cultivation of both nature and life. By
practising the cultivation system which is not for cultivation of both
nature and life, one can only develop the cultivation energy which
marks his level of attainment. The practitioner of the cultivation
system which cannot be used to cultivate life does not care about
this, because he does not take the way of transcending the Five
Elements. As for the practitioner of the cultivation system for
cultivation of both nature and life, his energy is stored up in all
cells of his body. The energy released by an ordinary practitioner or
a person who has just begun to increase his Gong is composed of thick
grains which are not very close to one another, so it has little
power. When one is at a much higher level, it is possible that the
density of his energy will be a hundred, a thousand, or a hundred
million times greater than that of ordinary water molecules, because
the higher one's dimension, the greater is the density of his energy,
which is composed of smaller grains, and the more powerful is his
might. In such a case, the energy is stored up in each cell of one's
body, not only in the body in this physical space of ours, but also in
all his bodies in other spaces. Thus, one's cells, from the plane of
molecules, atoms, protons, electrons to that of the smallest particles
are all filled with this energy. With the lapse of time, one's body
will be completely filled with this high-energy matter.
This high-energy matter possesses intelligence and has some abilities.
When it has increased in amount, become dense and filled all the cells
of the human body, it can check the physical cells which are most
incompetent. Once checked, the cells will undergo no metabolism and
finally they will be completely replaced by the high-energy matter. Of
course, it is easy for me to say it, but it will be a long process for
you to cultivate it. When you reach this dimension in cultivation, all
cells of your body will be replaced by this high-energy matter. Think
about it, is your body still composed of the Five Elements, the
substances of this physical space of ours? It is composed of the
high-energy matter collected from other spaces. The substance, De
(virtues), is also the matter existing in another space and is free
from the control of the time field of our physical space.
Contemporary science holds that time possesses a field and anything
beyond the time field is not restricted by time. The concept of
spacetime in other spaces is different from that in ours. Can it
affect the matter from another space? Not at all. Think about it,
haven't you freed yourself from the bonds of the Five Elements at this
time? Is your body still like that of an ordinary person? No,
absolutely not. However, an ordinary person cannot tell the
difference. Even if one has had such a great change in his body, you
cannot say that he has come to the end of his cultivation. He has to
go on cultivating himself to reach a still higher dimension.
Therefore, he must cultivate among ordinary people, as it won't do him
any good if people can not see him.
What will happen to him later? In the process of his cultivation, all
his molecular cells will have been replaced by high-energy matter, but
atoms have their order of arrangement, and the order of molecular or
nuclear arrangement has not changed. The molecular arrangement order
of a cell is in such a state that it feels soft. The molecular
arrangement order of a bone is in such a great density that it feels
hard. The molecular density of blood is so small that it is a liquid.
Ordinary people cannot see the change from his outward appearance,
because his molecular cells still keep their original structure and
arrangement order. Though the molecular structure of a cell remains
unchanged, the energy in it has changed. So man will not grow
naturally old or weakened from then on. Since his cells do not die
out, he will remain young forever. In the process of cultivation, one
will look young, and in the end he will have a fixed appearance.
Of course, when knocked down by a car, such a body may also fracture,
and it may also bleed when cut with a knife, because its molecular
arrangement order has not changed though it will not die out or become
old naturally and no metabolism will take place in it. This is what we
call "freeing oneself from the bonds of the Five Elements". There is
nothing superstitious in it. It can be explained scientifically. Some
people are unable to explain it clearly. When they give careless
remarks, people would say that they are propagating superstitions, as
the saying comes from religion, not from the contemporary qigong.
What does "Transcending the Three Realms" mean? I said the other day
that the key to the increase of cultivation energy lies in the
cultivation of one's Xinxing. When you are assimilated to the cosmic
qualities, they will no longer restrict you. With the improvement of
your Xinxing, the substance, De (virtues), will evolve into
cultivation energy, which will grow up and rise incessantly. When this
energy has risen to a high dimension, it will form an energy column (
). The higher the energy column, the greater your energy
potency is. There is such a saying: The great Law is boundless. It all
depends on your heart to cultivate it. Which dimension you can reach
all depends on your forbearance and the ability to bear hardships.
When you have used up your own white substance, you can transform your
black substance into the white substance by going through hardships.
If you still find your black substance is not enough, you can bear the
sins for your relatives and good friends who do not cultivate. By
doing so, you can also increase your cultivation energy. This,
however, can only be done by a cultivator who is already in an
extremely high dimension. An ordinary cultivator should not have the
idea of bearing sins for his relatives. With such great karma a common
cultivator will find it impossible to attain perfection. What I talk
about here are the different principles for different dimensions.
The Three Realms mentioned in the religion refer to nine heavens or
thirty-three heavens. In other words, Heaven, Earth and the
Under-world form the Three Realms. It says that all living things
within the thirty-three heavens must go through the Sixfold Path of
Transmigration, which means that a human being in this incarnation may
become an animal in a next incarnation. So Buddhism says that one
should waste no time in this life. When will you cultivate if you do
not cultivate yourself now? For animals are not allowed to cultivate
or listen to the Law. Even if they have cultivated, they will not
complete the right achievement. If they possess high energy, they will
be killed by heaven. You are not able to get a human body in hundreds
of years. When you have obtained one in more than a thousand years,
you do not value it. Should you be reincarnated as a stone, you would
not get out of it even in ten thousand years. You will never get out
of it unless the stone is smashed to pieces or is weathered away. How
hard it is to get a human body! A person who can really obtain the
great Law is very fortunate indeed. Here we have talked about the
truth that a human body is hard to get.
For practitioners, there is the issue of cultivation levels. Which
level you will reach all depends on your cultivation. If you want to
transcend the Three Realms, keep on cultivating yourself. When your
energy column becomes very, very high, haven't you gone beyond them?
In cross-legged sitting some people may go up very high in no time
when their True Spirits leave their bodies. One of my students told me
in his experience report how many heavens he had visited and what
scenes he had perceived. I told him to go higher. He said that he
could not and did not dare to. He was not able to ascend any more.
Why? Because his energy column was just that high. He had ascended by
sitting on his energy column. This is the achievement status as it is
called in Buddhism. He had reached that achievement status. However,
for a cultivator, it is not the highest status. He is still going up,
sublimating and improving himself continuously. Haven't you
transcended the Three Realms when your energy column has broken
through the bounds of the Three Realms. We have found through a
measurement that the Three Realms mentioned in the religion only lie
within the limits of the nine major planets. Some say that there are
ten major planets. I would like to say it is not true at all. I found
that the energy columns of some qigong masters in previous years had
broken through the bounds of the Milky Way galaxy. They were in such a
high dimension that they had gone beyond the Three Realms long before.
The transcendence of the Three Realms I just talked about is in fact a
matter of attainment levels.
Issue of Pursuit
Many people have entered into our cultivation field with an attachment
of pursuit. Some crave after supernormal capabilities; some want to
hear the theory; some hope to be cured of their diseases; some intend
to get a Falun. They have come here with various desires. Some even
said to me, "One of my family members didn't come to attend the
lecturing session. I'll pay the tuition. Would you please give him a
Falun?" How can you expect to get a Falun, a product of so many
generations' efforts which was formed in an extremely long period with
a horrifying number of years, by spending dozens of Yuan? How can we
give it to each of you without conditions? It is simply because you
want to be a cultivator. This heart can never be bought with money. It
means that you have developed your Buddha-nature. Therefore, we can do
such a thing for you.
You cling to your attachment of pursuit. Have you come here just for
getting a Falun? My Law body in another space knows everything you are
thinking about. As there is a different concept of spacetime in the
two spaces. Seen from another space, the formation of your thinking is
an extremely slow process. My Law body even knows your thought before
you have it. So you must give up all of your incorrect thoughts. The
Buddha School believes in affinity. It is your predestined luck that
has brought you here. Maybe it is predestined for you to get it.
Therefore, when you have got it, you should treasure it. Do not hold
on to any pursuit.
In the religious cultivation of the past, the Buddha School taught
Emptiness. They thought about nothing and entered the Door of
Emptiness. The Tao School taught Nothingness. They had nothing, wanted
nothing and sought after nothing. A practitioner stresses
unintentional acquisition of the energy through intentional
cultivation. If you cultivate in a state of active no action and care
about nothing but cultivating your Xinxing, you are going through one
level after another and will certainly acquire what you ought to
possess. If you cling to your pursuits, doesn't it mean that you have
an attachment? We have taught such a high Law to you all at once, so
the demands on your Xinxing should also be high. So you should not
come to learn the Law with pursuit in mind.
We are leading you to the right way. To hold myself responsible to you
all, I have to give a thorough exposition of the Law. When one seeks
after the Celestial Eye, his Celestial Eye will be blocked by itself
and he himself will be sealed by something. What's more, I tell you
that in the cultivation of Shi Jian Fa (the In-Triple-World-Law) all
the supernormal capabilities one has developed are the primordial
instincts one carries in his physical body, which are now called
supernatural powers. They can only work and control an ordinary person
in this space, that is, in our physical world. What do you seek after
these minor powers and petty magic arts for? Even if you have acquired
them after a desperate pursuit, they have no use in another space
after you have entered into the cultivation of Chu Shi Jian Fa (
the Beyond-Triple-World-Law). When you have gone beyond the
cultivation of the In-Triple-World-Law, all these capabilities have to
be thrown away and pressed into a profound space to be stored up
there, which can only be used as a record of your cultivation process
for you to look up in the future.
One has to re-cultivate himself when he has gone beyond the
cultivation of the In-Triple-World-Law. His body is the one which has
transcended the Five Elements as I mentioned above; that is, a Buddha
body. Isn't it right to call such a body a Buddha body? A Buddha body
has to go through a fresh cultivation and develop new powers, which
are no longer called supernormal capabilities, but the divine powers
of Buddha Law. With an invincible force, the divine power is something
that can really work effectively in different spaces. So what is the
use of your pursuing supernormal capabilities? If you pursue them, do
you want to use them or display them among ordinary people? Otherwise,
what do you want them for? They are invisible and intangible. To
choose an article merely for show you should pick up something pretty.
I am sure that you have a desire to use them for some purpose in your
subconsciousness. They cannot be acquired as skills of ordinary
people. They are entirely supernormal things which are not allowed to
be displayed among ordinary people. The display itself implies a very
strong attachment, a very bad heart, a heart that a cultivator should
get rid of. It would be even worse if you want to use them to earn
money, to make a fortune, or to reach a goal among ordinary people
through personal struggle, because you are trying to use something of
a high order to disturb and disrupt the society of ordinary people.
This is an even worse idea. So you are not allowed to use your
abilities freely.
Generally speaking, children and old people are likely to develop
their powers, especially old women, as more often than not they have
good control of their Xinxing and have not the attachments of ordinary
people. When they have developed their supernormal capabilities, they
can easily control them because they have no desire to show off. Why
is it difficult for young people to develop their powers? Because
young people, especially young men, still want to struggle in the
society of ordinary people to attain their goals. Once they have
developed their supernormal capabilities, they will use them to reach
their goals, taking them as abilities to achieve their goals. This can
never be allowed to happen. Therefore, they will not develop their
capabilities.
Cultivation is not a trifling matter, nor a skill of ordinary people.
But it is a very serious matter. It all depends on how to improve your
Xinxing whether you want or are able to cultivate yourself. It would
be a bad thing if someone had really got supernormal capabilities by
means of pursuit. He would never think about the matter of cultivation
from then on. As his Xinxing would be no higher than that of ordinary
people and his powers were acquired through pursuit, he might do all
kinds of evil deeds. There is much money in the bank. He might use the
magic of removal and take some money from it. There are plenty of
lotteries run in the street. He might go and pick out the first prize
ticket. Why have such things never happened? Some qigong masters say
that one is prone to do evil deeds when he has developed his powers if
he pays no attention to the improvement of his virtues. I say this is
an erroneous statement. It is not the case at all. If you pay no
attention to the improvement of your virtues and do not cultivate your
Xinxing, you will never develop your supernormal capabilities. Of
course, there is also another case: A person of good Xinxing who has
developed his powers on his own level will do what he should not do
later when he cannot restrain himself. But once he does evil, his
powers will be weakened or lost. If he has lost them, he will never
regain them. What's more, the worst thing is that they can arouse
one's attachments.
Some qigong masters say, as if advertising, that one will be able to
cure diseases three to five days after he has learned their qigong.
Such qigong masters should be called qigong dealers. Just imagine, as
an ordinary person, how can you cure others' diseases by just
releasing some of your qi? Ordinary people also possess qi in their
bodies just as you do. You have just begun to practise and only have
opened your acupoints of Laogong, through which you can take in or
release the qi. When you tried to treat diseases in others, the qi in
their bodies may have cured your own disease. How could one's own qi
dictate to the qi of another? Qi does not cure at all. Moreover, when
you are treating a patient, you and the patient form a field, and all
of his pathogenic qi will come into your body. As a result, you will
have as much pathogenic qi as the patient. Though the root of the
illness grows in the patient's body, you will also fall ill if you
have taken in much of his pathogenic qi. Once you believe that you are
able to cure diseases, you will begin the practice to treat patients
and refuse nobody's request. Thus, your attachment will be aroused.
How happy you are when you have cured someone of his disease! Why is
it that you can cure diseases? Why not think about it? As all pseudo
qigong masters are possessed by evil spirits. In order to make you
believe them, they will give you some message. When you have treated
three, five, eight or ten patients, the message will disappear. As it
is a kind of consumption of energy, you will no longer have such
energy from then on. You yourself possess no energy. Where can you get
it? We qigong masters have gone through dozens of years of
cultivation. It was very difficult to cultivate the Tao in the past.
It is quite hard for one to cultivate through a side gate or in an
unorthodox school instead of taking hold of an Orthodox School.
You see that some great qigong masters have earned wide fame. But only
through dozens of years' cultivation have they developed such a little
energy. You have not cultivated yourself. How is it possible that you
could have acquired energy by just attending a training class? Then,
your attachment will be aroused from that point on. With this
attachment, you will get worried if you cannot cure a disease. In
order to maintain his fame, someone even has such a thought when
treating a patient: "Let me suffer from this disease so that the
patient will be free from his illness." It is not out of compassion
that he has such a thought. He has not got rid of the desire for fame
and gain at all. How can he have developed the heart of compassion? He
is afraid of losing his fame. So he wishes he could suffer from the
disease lest he should lose his fame. What an intense desire for fame!
Well, when he has such a wish, the disease can really be transferred
from the patient to him at once. He goes home to suffer from the
disease. The patient is well, but he feels ill at home after treating
the disease. When you believe that you have cured someone of his
disease and hear him calling you qigong master, you will get
complacent and be extremely pleased with yourself. Isn't it an
attachment? When you fail to cure it, you will be crestfallen. Isn't
it caused by your desire for fame and gain? Moreover, the pathogenic
qi of your patient will all come to your body. The pseudo qigong
master teaches you how to dispel it from your body. I tell you that
you are unable to dispel it at all, even a bit of it, because you
yourself have no ability to distinguish the bad qi from the good qi.
In the long run, your body will be all black inside. That is the
karma.
When you really want to cultivate yourself, there will be quite an
ordeal for you. What shall you do? How much suffering will you have to
undergo to transform it into a white substance? It is a hard job. A
person of good inborn qualities is usually more likely to have this
problem. Some people keep seeking the powers to cure diseases. Seeing
such a desire in your mind, the animal will come to possess your body,
which is called spirit possession. Do you want to cure diseases? It
will give you a hand. But it will not help you for nothing. No loss,
no gain. It is really a danger to you. How can you cultivate yourself
when you have invited it to your body? You have been completely
ruined.
Some people who have good inborn qualities are in fact exchanging
their inborn qualities for other people's karma. A sick man usually
has a heavy karma. If you treat a serious case, you will feel very ill
when you go home after the treatment. Many people who treated diseases
in the past had such an experience that their patients became well but
they themselves suffered from serious diseases at home. With the
passage of time, much karma will be transferred to you. You give your
De (virtues) to other people to take the karma, as you will gain
nothing if you have lost nothing. Though what you want is disease, you
also have to exchange your De (virtues) for karma. There is a
principle in this universe: Nobody will stop you from taking
something, nor will they say that you are good. There is also a
specific tenet in the universe: He who has much karma is a bad person.
You have exchanged your inborn qualities for karma. With much karma,
how could you cultivate yourself? Your entire inborn qualities are
ruined. How dreadful it is! The patient is well and feels comfortable,
but you go home to suffer. If you cured two cancer patients, you would
take their place to die. Isn't it a dangerous thing? It certainly is.
But many people do not know the truth of the matter.
Some pseudo qigong masters enjoy a high reputation. But reputation
itself does not necessarily mean being wise. What on earth do ordinary
people know? They just echo the views of others and believe in
something blindly. What the pseudo qigong masters are doing now does
harm not only to others but also to themselves. A couple of years
later you will see what will become of them. Cultivation is not to be
disrupted in this way. One can cure diseases through cultivation, but
to cure diseases is not the aim of cultivation. Cultivation is
something supernormal, not a skill of ordinary people. You are
absolutely not allowed to disrupt it at will like that. Now some
pseudo qigong masters have created a foul atmosphere, using qigong as
a means to seek fame and make a fortune. They are trying to form an
evil clique to expand their forces. Now the pseudo qigong masters
outnumber the true ones by many times. Ordinary people all say so and
do such things. Is it the reason for you believing them? You think
that qigong is just something like that. No, it is not. What I tell
you is the true principle.
To gain personal interests, an ordinary person will do evil in his
contact with other people in various social relationships, and he has
to pay what he owes to others by enduring some sufferings. Suppose you
could really cure disease and do it as you like, could you be allowed
to do so? There are so many Buddhas that they are present everywhere.
Why don't they do such a thing? How wonderful if they could make all
the human beings live comfortably! Why haven't they done so? One's
karmic debt has to be repaid by oneself. Nobody dares to break this
principle. In the course of cultivation, out of compassion one may
occasionally give aid to others, but he can do nothing but postpone
their illness. So they may feel well at the moment but will still have
to suffer afterwards. He may also transform your illness so that you
would lose money or suffer some misfortune instead of suffering from
an illness. To really cure one of his disease means to eliminate that
karma all at once. However, we can only do such a thing for a
cultivator, not for an ordinary person. Here I am not talking about
the principle of our school. I am talking about the truth of the whole
universe. I am talking about the actual situation in the world of
cultivation.
We do not teach you how to cure diseases here. We are leading you to
the great way and the right way, taking you upward. So I say in every
lecturing session that a cultivator of Falun Dafa shall not treat
diseases. If you treat diseases, you are not a follower of Falun Dafa.
As we are leading you to the right way, we are purifying your body
again and again until it is completely transformed by the high-energy
matter when you are in the course of the cultivation of Shi Jian Fa
(the In-Triple-World-Law). But you yourself are trying to take those
black things into your body. How could you cultivate? That is karma!
You can never cultivate. With much karma, you are not able to bear it.
If you suffer too much, you will find it impossible to cultivate. This
is where the reason lies. I have spread the Great Law to the public.
Maybe you still do not know what I have taught to you. Since I am able
to teach the Great Law to the public, I have ways to protect it. If
you treat diseases, my Law body will take back everything for
cultivation planted in your body. We cannot allow you to so casually
ruin such valuable things to gain fame and wealth. If you do not act
on the requirements of the Law, you are not a follower of Falun Dafa.
Your body will be reduced to the level of an ordinary person and the
bad things will be returned to you, because you want to be an ordinary
person.
After attending my lecture yesterday, many of you began to feel the
whole body light. However, a very small number of you who are
seriously ill have gone ahead of the rest and have begun to feel
unwell since yesterday. Yesterday after I removed the bad things from
your bodies, most of you felt the whole body light and very
comfortable. However, there is a principle in this universe: no loss,
no gain. We cannot remove all of your bad things. It absolutely won't
do for you to bear nothing. That is to say, we have removed the root
cause of your illness and of your poor health. But you still have a
disease field. When your Celestial Eye is open on a very low plane,
you can see in your body balls of black qi, the turbid pathogenic qi
which are concentrated masses of black qi with great density. When
these balls become scattered, the black qi will fill your whole body.
From today on, some of you will feel cold all over the body as if
having got a heavy cold, perhaps feeling pain even in the bones. Most
of you will feel unwell in parts of the body, such as feeling pain in
the leg or feeling dizzy. You may have felt your affected part healed
through practice of qigong or cured by a qigong master, but now you
will suffer from it again. That is because he only postponed your
illness instead of curing it, as a result, with the disease still in
the original place, you will have a relapse later. We have to turn it
all out and drive it away so that it will be all removed by the root.
In this way, you may feel that you have a relapse. In fact, it is a
fundamental dissolution of your karma. Therefore, you will have some
reaction. Some people will have reaction in parts of the body. They
will feel unwell this way or that way and bear all kinds of
sufferings. All this is normal. I tell you that no matter how ill you
feel, you must come to attend my lecture. As long as you come to the
session, all your symptoms will disappear and you will be in no danger
at all. I should make it clear to you that no matter how difficult it
is for you to endure the "illness", you are expected to come to the
session, because it is hard to obtain the Law. When you feel very ill,
it means that the thing has reached the extreme and will turn into its
opposite, that is, your whole body will be purified and has to be
completely purified. The root of your illness has been removed. Only
this black qi is left rising outward for itself so that you will
undergo a bit of tribulation and bear some suffering. It would never
do for you to endure nothing.
In the society of ordinary people, owing to the desire for fame and
gain and the competition with others, you do not have a good sleep or
enjoy a good meal. You are quite ruined in health. Seen from another
space, the bones of your body are all black. To purify such a body in
such a short while, it is impossible for you to have no reaction. So
you will have some reaction. Some of you may vomit and have loose
bowels. In the past many students from different areas told me about
this in their experience reports that after class they had been
looking for toilets all the way until they got home, because their
internal organs all needed to be purified. A few of you may sleep in
class and will wake up when I finish my lecture. Why? Because they
have brain trouble which needs to be put right. But they could never
stand such an adjustment of their brains. So they must be put into a
state of anesthesia so that they will feel nothing. However, some of
them have no problem in the sense of hearing. Though they are sleeping
soundly, they do not miss a single word. Afterwards, they will find
themselves full of vigour and will not feel sleepy even if they have
not got any sleep for two days. All these are different states which
need to be adjusted, as your whole body must be completely purified.
If you are a true cultivator of Falun Dafa and can let go of your
attachments, from now on you will have some reaction. Some people are
unable to let go of their attachments. Though they say they have let
go of them, in fact they can never do so. Therefore, it would be very
hard to purify their bodies. Some people let go of their attachments
when they begin to understand what I talk about at the end of the
session, and their bodies are now purified. The others have found
their bodies light from head to foot, but they have just begun to get
rid of their diseases and are beginning to feel unwell. In each
session there are such people who do not have good awakening quality
and lag behind the others. So whatever has happened to you is normal.
Such a case also occurred in the sessions I held in other areas. There
was someone who felt so ill that he lay prone on the chair waiting for
me to walk down from the platform to give him some treatment. I won't
do such a thing. In the course of your cultivation, you will meet with
a lot of great ordeals. If you are even unable to pass this ordeal,
how can you cultivate later on? Can't you abide such a small
tribulation? You certainly can. So do not ask me for treatment again.
I do not treat diseases. When you mention the word "illness" to me,
I'm not willing to listen.
Man is very hard to save. There are always about five or ten percent
of the students in each session who cannot keep up with the others. It
is impossible for everyone to attain the Tao. Even if you can
persevere in cultivation, it is still hard to say whether you can make
it in cultivation or have inflexible determination to cultivate. It is
impossible for everyone to attain Buddhahood. A true cultivator of the
Great Law, however, will experience the same state and get all he
should have by just reading this book.
Lecture Three
I Regard All the Students as My Disciples
Do you know what I have been doing? I regard all the students,
including those who can really cultivate through self-study, as my
disciples, and thus give them guidance. To lead you to high dimensions
by teaching you the cultivation system, I have no alternative but to
guide you this way. Otherwise, I am in reality acting in a wholly
irresponsible way, making confusion. We have given you so many things
and allowed you to know so many Laws that ordinary people are not
allowed to know. I teach the Great Law to you, and I also give you a
lot of things. I have purified your bodies and dealt with some other
problems. Therefore, it would never do if I do not take you as my
disciples. It is not allowed to reveal so many secrets of heaven
freely to an ordinary person. But the point is that times have
changed. Now we do not need to perform the ceremony of kowtowing or
making a bow with hands folded in front. That kind of ceremony is of
no use. The performance of such a ceremony may look like practising a
religion. We do not do that. What is the good of your kowtowing to
become my formal disciple if you stick to your old way of doing things
when you go out, and still behave as before among ordinary people,
competing and scrambling for fame and gain? You may ruin the
reputation of the Great Law under my banner!
Real cultivation all depends on your heart. As long as you can
cultivate and are able to keep cultivating firmly and steadily, I will
take you as my disciple. It won't do if I do not treat you this way.
However, there are some people who will not necessarily be able to
take themselves really as cultivators and continue with their
cultivation. It is impossible for some people to do so. But many
people will. As long as you persevere in your cultivation, I will
regard you as my disciple, and thus give you guidance.
Can one be counted as a student of Falun Dafa if he only practises
these sets of exercise every day? Not necessarily so. Because true
cultivation requires you to act upon that Xinxing
criterion we have referred to and heighten your Xinxing in earnest.
This is exactly true cultivation. If you only practise those movements
without improving your Xinxing, there will be no powerful energy to
reinforce everything you have cultivated. It cannot be called
cultivation, and we cannot regard you as a student of Falun Dafa,
either. If you go on like this, you practise the exercise, but you do
not act upon the requirements of Falun Dafa or improve your Xinxing,
and stick to the old way of doing things as before among ordinary
people, then you could possibly run into some other troubles.
Unfortunately, you would even say that the practice of our Falun Dafa
has led you astray. All this is likely to happen. Therefore, you must
act upon the requirements by our Xinxing criterion, and in this way
you will become a genuine cultivator. I have made this clear to you.
So do not ask me any more to perform those ceremonies to become my
formal disciple. As long as you cultivate yourself in earnest, I'll
treat you like this. I have so many Law bodies that they are
countless. No matter how many students there will be, I am able to
take care of them, not to mention these students of mine.
Qigong of the Buddha School and Buddhism
Qigong of the Buddha School is not Buddhism. I would like to make this
clear to you. In fact, qigong of the Tao School is not Taoism, either.
Some of us are always confused about these things. Some monks from the
temple and some lay Buddhists think that they know quite a lot about
Buddhism, so they indulge in unbridled propaganda for Buddhism among
practitioners of our cultivation system. I tell you that you should
not do such a thing, because they are not of the same school. A
religion has the form of religion, but here I am teaching a part of
our cultivation school to you, and the practitioners of Falun Dafa
shall not take the form of religion except professional cultivators.
Therefore, our cultivation system is not Buddhism in the Period of
Decline.
The Dharma of Buddhism is only a small portion of the Buddha Law.
There are many other profound Great Laws and there are different Laws
guiding different dimensions. Sakyamuni said that there were 84000
schools to cultivation. There are only some few of them in Buddhism,
such as the Tian Tai Sect, the Hua Yan Sect, Zen Buddhism, the Pure
Land School and the Esoteric Sect, which even are not enough for the
remaining few beyond the round figure. Therefore, Buddhism cannot
represent the entire Buddha Law. It is only a tiny portion of the
Buddha Law. Our Falun Dafa is also one of the 84000 schools. It has
nothing to do with primitive Buddhism or Buddhism in the Period of
Decline or other religions of the present day.
Buddhism was founded by Sakyamuni in ancient India 2500 years ago.
When Sakyamuni opened his cultivation energy and attained
enlightenment, he recalled what he himself had cultivated in his
previous incarnations and then made it public to save human beings.
Though thousands upon thousands of scrolls of scriptures have been
produced in his school, its characteristics can be summarised in three
words: morality, meditation and wisdom. By morality, Buddhism means:
to abstain from all desires of an ordinary person. This compels one to
give up his desires for personal interests and cut himself off from
all worldly things and so on. Thus, his mind will become empty,
thinking about nothing, and in this way will be able to enter into
concentration. So the two complement each other. When he has entered
into concentration, he has to sit in meditation for genuine
cultivation so that he can rely on his power of concentration to
ascend in cultivation, which is exactly the part of real cultivation
in that school. It does not teach how to do the exercise or does not
change Benti (the True Being). It only cultivates the energy which
determines the level of attainment. So one cultivates nothing but his
Xinxing. As he does not cultivate his life, he pays no attention to
the evolution of cultivation energy. Meanwhile, he strengthens his
power of concentration through concentration and lessens his karma by
enduring the suffering of sitting cross-legged in meditation. Wisdom
means that one has become enlightened, attained great wisdom, seen the
truth of the universe and the true picture of different spaces of the
universe and is able to manifest his vast psychic powers. The opening
of wisdom or enlightenment is also called opening of cultivation
energy.
When Sakyamuni founded his school in his life there were eight
religions in circulation in India, among which was a deep-rooted
religion called Brahmanism. During the rest of his life Sakyamuni
never stopped struggling against the other religions in the realm of
ideology. As what Sakyamuni preached was Orthodox Law, the Buddha
Dharma he taught became more and more overwhelming during the whole
course of his teaching, while the other religions went more and more
into decline and even the deep-rooted Brahmanism was on the verge of
extinction. However, after Sakyamuni entered Nirvana, the other
religions, especially Brahmanism, became popular again. What happened
in Buddhism then? Some monks opened their cultivation energy and
attained enlightenment at different levels. But they did so at
relatively low levels. Sakyamuni reached the status of Tathagata, but
a lot of monks didn't.
Buddha Law varies from dimension to dimension in its manifestations.
However, the higher the dimension is, the closer its Law is to the
truth. The lower it is, the farther it is from the truth. When those
monks opened their cultivation energy and attained enlightenment at
the low level, they tried to expound what Sakyamuni had said based on
the manifestations of the universe they themselves had perceived, what
they had learned about and the truth they had awakened to at their own
respective levels. That is to say, some monks explained the Dharma
Sakyamuni had preached in this way or that way. Still some other monks
preached what they had realised themselves as the words Sakyamuni had
said and did not follow Sakyamuni's original words. As a result, the
Buddha Dharma was distorted beyond recognition. It became entirely
different from the Dharma Sakyamuni had preached. In the end, the
Buddha Dharma of Buddhism disappeared in India. This is a grave
historical lesson. Later, there was no Buddhism in India. Before its
disappearance Buddhism went through reformation many times. At length,
it combined itself with something from Brahmanism and formed the
present-day religion called Hinduism in India, in which no Buddha but
something else is worshipped and they do not believe in Sakyamuni.
This is what the situation is like.
In the course of its development, Buddhism underwent several
relatively great reforms. One of them took place not long after the
demise of Sakyamuni. Someone founded Mahayana or the Great Vehicle
according to the truth of the high dimensions Sakyamuni had preached.
They believed that the Dharma Sakyamuni had publicly preached was
intended for ordinary listeners and would lead to self-liberation and
the attainment of the Arhatship. It does not offer salvation to all
sentient beings, and is called Hinayana or the Small Vehicle. The
monks in Southeast Asia still observe the primitive cultivation way
practised in Sakyamuni's days. In the Han region we call it the Small
Vehicle. Of course, they themselves do not think so. They believe that
they have carried on Sakyamuni's original practices. It is true that
they have basically carried on the cultivation way practised in
Sakyamuni's days.
After the reformed Mahayana was introduced into China, it took root in
the country and formed the present-day Buddhism in our country. In
fact, it is completely different from the Buddhism in Sakyamuni's
days. Everything has changed from the attire to the whole awakening
state and cultivation process. In primitive Buddhism only Sakyamuni
was enshrined and worshipped as its honourable founder. However, in
present-day Buddhism a multitude of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have
appeared and a multi-Buddha belief is practised. Buddhism has become a
multi-Buddha religion, and there has appeared faith in a great many
Tathagata Buddhas, such as the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of Master
Physician and the Great Sun Tathagata etc.... Many great Bodhisattvas
also have been worshipped. In this way, the whole of Buddhism is
entirely different from the Buddhism which Sakyamuni founded at the
beginning.
During this period there occurred another reformation. The Bodhisattva
Nagarjuna made public an Esoteric cultivation way, which was later
introduced from India into our Xinjiang and then the Han region of
China via Afghanistan. As it happened to be in the Tang Dynasty, it
was called Tang Tantrism. Being greatly influenced by Confucianism, we
Chinese are different from other nations in moral concepts. In this
Esoteric cultivation way there was the double cultivation of a man and
a woman, which could not be accepted by the society of that time.
Therefore, the Tang Tantrism was eradicated in the suppression of
Buddhism in Hui Chang period of the Tang Dynasty, and thus disappeared
from the Han region of China. Now in Japan there is a school called
East Tantrism, which, in fact, derives its origin from the China of
that time. However, the one who introduced it was not granted Guanding
(filling energy into the top of the head). According to the Esoteric
Sect, he who has learned something from the Esoteric Sect without
going through Guanding is a Law robber and will not be regarded as a
disciple taught by the master himself. Another branch was introduced
from India into Tibet via Nepal and formed Tibetan Tantrism, which has
been handed down up to the present day. This is the basic situation of
Buddhism. I have just given a very brief description of its
development and evolution. In the whole course of the development of
Buddhism, some other schools, such as Zen Buddhism founded by
Bodhidharmer, the Pure Land School, Huayan Sect, etc. also appeared.
All these schools resulted from the awakening to what Sakyamuni had
preached and formed parts of reformed Buddhism. There are more than
ten such schools in Buddhism. And they all take the form of religion,
so they belong to Buddhism.
Most of the religions which came into being in this century are false,
in fact, not only in this century, but also in some previous
centuries, as there was the emergence of many new religions in all
parts of the world. All the great enlightened beings have their own
paradises for the people they want to save. The Tathagata Buddhas,
such as Sakyamuni, Amitabha, the Great Sun Tathagata, etc., all have
their own paradises over which they preside for the human beings to be
saved. In our Milky Way galaxy, there are more than a hundred such
paradises. Our Falun Dafa also has the Falun Paradise.
Where can those false schools take their followers for the sake of
salvation? They are unable to save other people. What they preach is
not the Law. Of course, some people founded a religion and did not
intend to act as a demon to undermine the orthodox religions at the
beginning. When they opened their cultivation energy and attained
enlightenment in different dimensions, they saw a bit of truth, but
they were rather low, very far from an enlightened being who is able
to save other people. They discovered some truth and found that some
of what happens among ordinary people is wrong. They also told others
to do good deeds, and did not oppose other religions at the beginning.
At length, people began to believe in them, thinking what they said
was reasonable. Then, people trusted them more and more and
consequently began to worship them instead of religions. When their
desire for fame and gain was up, they would like to have the public
grant them some titles. From then on they became founders of a new
religion. I tell you that such religions are all evil. Even if they do
no harm to people, they are still evil religions, because they stop
people from believing in orthodox religions. The orthodox religions
can save people, but they cannot. With development as time passes by,
they will do evil on the sly. Recently, many such practices have
spread to China. The so-called Guanyin School is one of them. So, do
be on your guard against them. It is said that there are more than two
thousand such practices in a certain country in East Asia. In
Southeast Asia and some Western countries, there is nothing that
people do not believe in. In a certain country, there are simply witch
religions. All these things are the demons that have come out in the
Period of Decline. The Period of Decline not only refers to that of
Buddhism, but that of a great many spaces down from a very high
dimension, which have become corrupt. The Period of Decline not only
means the Period of Decline in Buddhism, but means there is no Law in
the hearts of people to maintain morality in human society.
Be Constant in a Single Cultivation System
We teach how to be constant in a single cultivation system. No matter
how you cultivate yourself, you should not cultivate blindly by mixing
other things into what you practise. Some lay Buddhists cultivate what
is taught in Buddhism, and they also cultivate what belongs to our
Falun Dafa. I tell you that if you cultivate this way you will get
nothing in the end, for nobody will give you anything. Though both of
us belong to the Buddha School, there is the matter of Xinxing, and
single-minded cultivation. You have only one body. Which school's
cultivation energy will you develop in your body? How should it be
evolved for you? Where do you want to go? The school you have
cultivated will take you to the place belonging to it. If you
cultivate in accordance with the Pure Land School, you will go to the
Paradise of Ultimate Bliss presided over by the Buddha Amitabha. If
you cultivate in accordance with the Buddha of the Master Physician,
you will go to the Glazed Paradise. This is the view held in the
religion and is called the one and only way.
The practice of the exercise we teach here, which, in fact, refers to
the whole process of the evolution of cultivation energy, goes the way
one's cultivation school has arranged for his cultivation all the
time. Where would you say you should go? If you straddle two boats,
you will get nothing. Just as the practice of qigong and the
cultivation of Buddhahood in the temple cannot be mixed up, neither
can different cultivation ways, neither can different qigong forms,
and neither can different religions. Even the different schools in the
same religion cannot be mixed up in cultivation, but only one of them
can be chosen for cultivation. When you cultivate the Pure Land
School, you practise nothing else but the Pure Land School. When you
cultivate the Esoteric School, you practise nothing else but the
Esoteric Sect. When you cultivate Zen Buddhism, you practise nothing
else but Zen Buddhism. If you straddle two boats and cultivate this
one, and that one, you will get nothing. That is to say, even in
Buddhism the one and only way is taught, and you are not allowed to
cultivate different schools at the same time. A Buddhist also
practises, and also cultivates himself. The development process of his
cultivation energy follows the cultivating and evolving course
arranged in the school he himself cultivates. In another space, there
is also an evolution process of cultivation energy, which is also
extremely complex and mystical. Therefore, it can not be practised
together with other things at will either.
Some lay Buddhists try to take our practitioners to the temple for
conversion to Buddhism when they hear that we practise qigong
belonging to the Buddha School. I tell you, all of our students here,
do not do such a thing in any way. By doing so, you are disrupting
both our Great Law and the commandments of Buddhism. Meanwhile, you
are hindering our students, and as a result they will achieve nothing.
It will never do. Cultivation is a serious matter, which must be done
single-mindedly. Though what we teach to ordinary people is not a
religion, the goal of cultivation is the same, that is, to reach the
opening of cultivation energy and attain enlightenment, and reach
consummation in cultivation.
Sakyamuni said that in the Period of Decline even the monks in the
temple would find it difficult to save themselves, not to mention lay
Buddhists, whom nobody is actually taking care of. Though you have
formally become a disciple to a master, the so-called master is also a
cultivator. If he does not get down to genuine cultivation, he will
also achieve nothing. Nobody can ascend if he does not cultivate his
heart. Conversion is a ceremony for an ordinary person. Will your
conversion to Buddhism make you a person belonging to the Buddha
School? And then, the Buddha will take care of you? There is no such
thing. Even if you kowtow every day with your forehead grazed and burn
incense bundle after bundle, it is still of no use. You have to
cultivate your heart in a real and earnest way. Up till to the Period
of Decline, a great change has already taken place in the universe.
Even the places where people practise their religious beliefs have
gone bad. Those who possess supernormal capabilities (including monks)
have also found such a situation. At present only I myself in the
whole world am teaching the Orthodox Law in public. I have done
something never done by anyone before, and opened such a large door
during the Period of Decline. This, in fact, is a chance that does not
occur once in a thousand years or even in ten thousand years. However,
it still depends on you yourself whether you can be saved or, to put
it another way, whether you are able to cultivate. What I say is a
great cosmic Law.
I am not saying that you must learn nothing else but my Falun Dafa.
What I teach is a truth. If you want to cultivate, you must stick to
only one cultivation way. Otherwise, you will never succeed in
cultivation. Of course, if you do not want to continue with your
cultivation any longer, we will leave you alone, as the Law is taught
to true cultivators. So, you must cultivate single-mindedly and never
take in any thinking about other cultivation systems. I am not talking
about mental activities here. No mental activities are required in our
Falun Dafa. Therefore, do not add any thinking to your cultivation.
You must keep this in mind: There are basically no mental activities
in our system, as the Buddha School teaches the Emptiness and the Tao
School the Nothingness.
Once I had my mind connected with those of four or five great
enlightened beings and great Taoists of the extremely high dimensions.
In the eyes of an ordinary person they were devastatingly high. They
wanted to know what I was thinking about. I have cultivated for so
many years and it is absolutely impossible for others to read my mind
because supernormal capabilities cannot enter me at all. Nobody is
able to understand me or know what I am thinking about. In order to
know what I was thinking about, they connected their minds with mine
for a certain period of time with my consent. With this connection, I
felt this a bit unbearable. No matter how high or how low my
attainment was, I was still among ordinary people doing something,
that is, saving people, my mind is saving people. But how tranquil
were their minds? Their tranquillity reached a dreadful extent. If
there had been only one who had reached such a tranquil state, that
would have been all right. But there were four or five people sitting
there with their tranquillity all reaching such an extent -- just like
stagnant water, that you would find nothing moving there. I tried in
vain to feel their thoughts. During those few days I really felt bad,
and just had that kind of feeling. Their minds were in such a state of
complete inaction and emptiness that it is beyond the imagination and
sensation of ordinary people.
There are no mental activities at all for the very high dimensional
cultivation because your foundation has been built up when you are on
the foundation building stage of an ordinary person. Reaching the very
high dimensional cultivation, especially our cultivation system, is
entirely automatic. As long as you heighten your Xinxing, your
cultivation energy keeps on growing. You even do not have to do any
hand movements any more. The exercises in our cultivation system are
meant to strengthen the automatic mechanism. Why does one always keep
still when sitting in meditation? He is entirely in the state of
inaction. You may find that the Tao School teaches this technique or
that one, something like mental activities and conducting intention. I
tell you that the Tao School will have nothing left and pay no
attention at all to this intention or that one when they have come
slightly out of the stage of qi. However, some practitioners who have
practised some other qigong can never give up such things as how to
conduct qi, how to do intention, etc.. I teach them something from a
college level, but they always ask me things on the level of primary
school pupils, such as how to conduct or how to use mental activities,
because they have already fallen into such a habit. They think this is
the way qigong is, but it is not.
Supernormal Capabilities and Energy Potency
Many people are not clear about qigong terms, and some people are
always confusing them. They take supernormal capabilities for energy
potency, and energy potency for supernormal capabilities. The
cultivation energy which is developed through the cultivation of one's
Xinxing evolves from one's virtues when a person has assimilated
himself into the fundamental qualities of the universe. This
cultivation energy is crucial because it determines the height of
one's level of attainment, the strength of one's energy potency and
the height of one's achievement status. What will one develop in the
course of his cultivation? He will develop supernatural powers which
are called supernormal capabilities for short. The above-mentioned
cultivation energy which determines one's attainment level is called
energy potency. The higher one's attainment level is, the more
powerful his energy potency will be and the stronger his supernormal
capabilities will be.
Supernormal capabilities are nothing but by-products of one's
cultivation. It does not stand for the level, the height of one's
attainment level or the strength of one's energy potency. Some may
develop more while others may develop less. Besides, supernormal
capabilities are not to be acquired as a major goal of cultivation.
Only when a practitioner is determined to get down to true
cultivation, can he develop them. However, he cannot cultivate them as
his major goal. What do you cultivate these things for? Do you want to
use them among ordinary people? You are absolutely not allowed to use
them among ordinary people at will. Therefore, the more you desire to
have them, the less you will get. You are desiring, and desiring
itself is an attachment. What you have to get rid of through
cultivation is simply attachment.
Many people do not have supernormal capabilities though they have
entered into a high and profound realm of awareness in cultivation.
Their masters have locked up their powers for fear that they can not
restrain themselves and do something bad. Therefore, they have not
been allowed all the way to show their supernatural powers. There are
quite a lot of such people. Supernormal capabilities are controlled by
one's consciousness. A practitioner may fail to control himself in his
sleep, and a dream he had could possibly make the heaven and the earth
overturned the next morning. This will never be allowed to happen.
When cultivating among ordinary people, those with great supernatural
powers are usually not allowed to use them. Most of them have had
their powers locked up. But exceptions also occur. Quite a lot of
people who have cultivated well and can restrain themselves are free
to use some of their powers. If you ask such people to make a casual
display of their powers, they will never do so, because they can
restrain themselves.
Reverse Cultivation and Energy Borrowing
There are some people who have never practised qigong or have learned
just a few movements in a qigong training class. However, what they
have learned is not cultivation, but belongs to something used to
eliminate diseases and keep fit. That is to say, these people have
never received true teachings. But they suddenly find themselves
possessed of energy overnight. Now I am going to tell you how they
have got gong (energy), and there are several ways of doing so.
One of them refers to reverse cultivation. What is reverse
cultivation? There are some people who are quite old but still want to
cultivate. It is too late for them to cultivate from the very
beginning. In the high tide of qigong, they also wanted to cultivate.
They knew that by practising qigong they could do good for others, and
at the same time they could improve themselves. They had such a wish
to improve and cultivate themselves. But in the high tide of qigong in
the previous years, what those qigong masters did was to popularize
qigong, and there was nobody who really taught things of a high order.
Even up till today nobody but I really teaches the Gong of a high
order in public. All the reverse cultivators are above fifty. They are
quite old but have very good inborn qualities, and what they carry in
their bodies is very good. Such people are almost good enough to be
selected as disciples or successors. However, since they are getting
old, it is by no means easy for them to cultivate. Where can they find
a master? But when they just think of cultivating themselves, such a
heart will glitter like gold and shake the Ten Directions. People
often mention the word Buddha-nature. And this is what they mean by
Buddha-nature, which has come out.
Seen from the high dimension, human life is not meant for being a
human being. As human life is born in the cosmic space, it is in
conformity with Zhen Shan Ren, the fundamental qualities of the
universe, and originally has a kind and good nature. However, when
there are more living beings, they fall into a social relationship, in
which some of them have become selfish or bad and can no longer stay
in the very high dimension, so they drop into a lower one. When they
become bad again in this dimension, they have to drop down and down
until they have dropped into this realm of ordinary people. They are
to be annihilated when they have dropped into this realm. However, out
of compassion those great enlightened beings have decided to give
human beings another chance by putting them in the hardest of
circumstances, so they have created such a space.
People in the other spaces do not possess such bodies. They can float
in the air. They can become bigger or smaller. However, in this space
human beings are provided with bodies, such as our physical bodies.
With such a body, you will find cold, heat, fatigue or hunger all
unbearable. Anyway, these are all sufferings for you. When you are
ill, you feel pain. You have to go through birth, old age, diseases
and death. You are left in the sufferings to pay your karmic debts.
You are given another chance to see whether you can return or not.
Therefore, you have dropped into a maze in which you are provided with
two eyes so that you are not able to see the other spaces, or the
truth of matter. If you can return, the greatest suffering will be the
most valuable. In such a maze, you have to suffer a lot when you
cultivate yourself to return in dependence on your awakening ability,
and thus, you will go back quickly. If you still let yourself go bad,
your life will be annihilated. Therefore, in the eyes of the
enlightened beings, human life is not to be lived as a human being. A
person is expected to return to the origin and go back to the truth.
An ordinary person cannot awake to this. An ordinary person in
ordinary human society is no more than an ordinary person. What he
thinks about is how to develop himself and how to live a good life.
The better he lives, the more selfish and greedy he will become and
the more he will run counter to the fundamental qualities of the
universe. Thus, he will head for his doom.
Seen from the high dimension, you are actually going backward when you
think you are moving forward. Human beings think that they are
developing science and are progressing, but they are simply following
the Law of the universe. Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Immortals,
rode a donkey backwards. Few people know why he rode a donkey that
way. He found that one was actually moving backward when he was going
forward, so he rode a donkey with his back facing ahead. Therefore,
when some people want to cultivate, the enlightened beings regard such
hearts as extremely valuable and help them without condition. Just as
our students sitting here today, if you want to cultivate, I can help
you without condition. But as an ordinary person, if you want to have
your disease cured, want to have this or have that, I will not help
you. Why? Because you want to be an ordinary person, and an ordinary
person must go through birth, old age, diseases and death. He has to
live that way. Everything has its causational relationship which
cannot be disrupted. There was originally no cultivation arranged for
you in your life. Now that you want to cultivate, your future life
will be rearranged and your physical body can be put right.
Now a person wants to cultivate. When this intention was born, the
enlightened beings saw it and highly appreciated it. But how to help
this person? Where can he find a master in this world? Besides, he is
already over fifty. The great enlightened beings themselves cannot
teach him. If they revealed themselves to teach him, preaching the Law
and imparting the practice exercise to him, they would reveal the
secrets of heaven, and thus would fall down. Human beings have dropped
into the maze as a result of their evil doings and they have to
cultivate in the maze in dependence on their own awakening. Therefore,
the enlightened beings cannot teach them. Seeing a real Buddha
preaching the Law and teaching the practice exercise, even a person
who is guilty of unpardonable evil will come to learn, and everyone
will believe. Then, what is there for him to awake to? The question of
awakening would not exist. It is human beings themselves who have
dropped into the maze. So they should have been annihilated. Now in
this maze you are given a chance to return. You return if you can. If
you fail to return, you will continue to live in the rebirth cycle and
finally meet annihilation.
One walks with his own legs. What would he do if he wanted to
cultivate? The enlightened found a way. At that time, there occurred a
high qigong tide, which resulted from a change of the celestial
phenomena. In order to work with the change in the celestial
phenomena, the enlightened beings supplied him with energy on the
merits of his Xinxing through a soft pipeline connected with his body,
which worked like a water tap. The moment he turned it on, the energy
came out. When he wanted to release the energy, the energy came to
him. When he did not release it, he possessed no energy. He was in
such a state. This is called reverse cultivation in which he
cultivates to reach consummation by cultivating from the high to the
low.
We generally cultivate from the low to the high until we have opened
our cultivation energy and reached consummation. A reverse
cultivation, however, is meant for one who is quite old and cannot
afford to cultivate from the low to the high, for it would be quicker
for him to cultivate from the high to the low, which was also a
phenomenon of the time. Such a person must have very high Xinxing. He
is provided with corresponding energy on the merits of his Xinxing.
What for? One of the purposes is to work with the then celestial
phenomena. He may bear hardships when doing good, as all kinds of
worldly desires will disturb him when he is confronted with ordinary
people. Some people will show no understanding for him though he has
cured them of their diseases. While giving them treatment he has
removed a lot of bad things from their bodies and given them such a
cure that may not necessarily cause a marked change in them then. So
they will feel unhappy and show him no gratitude. Maybe they will even
call him a trickster. With these problems his heart will be tempered
in such circumstances. One is expected to cultivate and improve
himself when he is supplied with energy. He can develop his powers and
increase his cultivation energy while he is doing good. But there are
some people who do not realize this. Didn't I tell you that the Law
cannot be preached to them? It is a matter of awakening. If a person
cannot awake to it for himself, there is no way out.
When some people received the energy, they would suddenly feel
themselves burning one night in their sleep and could hardly bear the
cover of their quilts. They got up the next morning and would get an
electric shock from whatever they touched. They knew that they had got
the energy. Seeing someone suffering a pain in the body, their hands
would move over the affected part casually, and found this quite good.
From then on they knew that they were possessed of energy. So they
acted like qigong masters and hung up their signboards. They
proclaimed themselves qigong masters and established a practice. At
the beginning, as good people, they would turn down the money or the
gifts offered to them when they cured other people of their diseases.
But in the big dye vat of ordinary people, they could not escape being
contaminated, because such reverse cultivators had never gone through
the real cultivation of their Xinxing and it was very hard for them to
keep up a good Xinxing. Gradually they would begin to accept small
keepsakes. Then they would accept big things. In the end they would
feel offended when not enough was given to them. Then they would say:
"Why give me so many things? Give me money!" And they would become
very unhappy when they were not given enough money. What's more, they
refused to admit their inferiority to qigong masters of Orthodox
schools. Their ears were filled with others' compliments about their
abilities. They would be unhappy when someone said something bad about
them. Their desire for fame and gain was up. They thought they were
smarter than others and were really extraordinary. They thought that
they were given the energy so that they could act as qigong masters
and make a great fortune without realizing the fact that the energy
was meant for their cultivation. When their desire for fame and gain
was up, their Xinxing had actually fallen down.
I have said, the height of one's Xinxing determines that of one's
cultivation energy. When one's Xinxing has been lowered, he can no
longer be supplied with so much energy. The energy is to be given with
the change of one's Xinxing, as the height of one's Xinxing determines
that of one's cultivation energy. The stronger one's desire for fame
and gain, the more heavily he will fall among ordinary people, and his
cultivation energy will also become diminished. In the end when he has
fallen down to the bottom, the energy will not be given to him and he
will possess no energy at all. Quite a lot of such people were found
years ago, and most of them were women over fifty. You see the old
woman practitioner had never received true teachings except that she
may have learned some movements in a qigong training class to get rid
of her diseases and keep fit. One day, all of a sudden she gained the
energy. However, when her Xinxing turned bad and her desire for fame
and gain was up, she fell down. Now she is nobody and she has no
energy found in her. A great number of reverse cultivators have fallen
down and very few remain now. Why? Because she did not know that this
was for her to cultivate herself. She thought this was for her to make
a fortune, to win fame and to act as a qigong master among ordinary
people. But in fact this was for her to cultivate herself.
What is energy borrowing? This has no age limit. But there is one
requirement that this should happen to a person who has extremely good
Xinxing. He knows that one can cultivate himself through practice of
qigong and he also wants to cultivate. He has the intention of
cultivating himself, but where can he find a master? It is true that
some years ago there were indeed some true qigong masters who were
teaching some cultivation systems. However, what they taught was only
something to eliminate one's diseases and keep fit. But nobody taught
qigong of a high order. Nobody would teach that.
Speaking of energy borrowing, I have one more thing to talk about.
Besides Zhu Yuanshen ( the chief spirit), a person also has
Fu Yuanshen ( assistant spirit). Some people have one, two,
three, four, or five Assistant Spirits. The Assistant Spirit and the
person are not necessarily of the same sex. It may be a male or a
female, different from individual to individual. As a matter of fact,
the Chief Spirit and its physical body are also not necessarily of the
same sex, as we have found that now there are a great number of men
who have female Spirits and a great number of women who have male
Spirits, which is just in conformity with the cosmic climate of Yin
and Yang being reversed with Yin in prosperity and Yang in decline as
held by the Tao School.
One's Assistant Spirit often ranks higher than the Chief Spirit.
Especially some people's Assistant Spirits come from a very high
dimension. An Assistant Spirit is not at all spirit possession. Born
together with you from your mother's womb, it shares the name and the
body with you. Usually it is the Chief Spirit that has the final say
in deciding what one should think about or what one will do. The main
task of an Assistant Spirit is to prevent one's Chief Spirit from
doing evil. But when the Chief Spirit is headstrong, the Assistant
Spirit can do nothing to help. The Assistant Spirit will not be misled
by the society of ordinary people, but the Chief Spirit is likely to.
Some Assistant Spirits come from very high dimensions. Maybe they are
on the verge of completing the right achievement. The Assistant Spirit
wants to cultivate, but it cannot help it when the Chief Spirit does
not want to. One day, in the high tide of qigong, the Chief Spirit
also wanted to learn an exercise system to reach a higher level of
cultivation. Of course, this idea was quite simple, without any
desires for such things as fame and gain. The Assistant Spirit was
delighted by this: "I want to cultivate, but I don't have the say. You
want to cultivate, it is just what I want." But where could it find a
master? The Assistant Spirit was quite capable, and it left the body
to see the great enlightened being it had come to know in its previous
life. Some Assistant Spirits rank very high and they are able to leave
the body. When it came to the enlightened being and expressed its wish
to cultivate and borrow some energy, the latter was glad to help it
with its cultivation when seeing the man was quite good. Thus, the
Assistant Spirit got the energy, which was usually composed of some
scattering energy and was transported through a pipeline. Some may get
something in a finished form, which is usually possessed of
supernormal capabilities.
In this way the energy in finished form is possessed of supernormal
capabilities as well. Just as I mentioned above, this person felt
himself burning in his sleep at night. When he woke up the next
morning, he found himself possessed of energy. He would get an
electric shock whatever he touched and was able to cure diseases. He
knew that he was possessed of energy. Where was it coming from? He was
not clear. He had only a general idea that it was coming from a cosmic
space, but he was not able to know exactly how it had come. He did not
know about all this, but the Assistant Spirit told him nothing, as it
was the Assistant Spirit itself who cultivated. Therefore, he knew
nothing but the coming of the energy.
There is no age limit for the people to borrow energy. However, most
of them are young people. Therefore, in previous years there were such
people at the age of over twenty or over thirty or over forty coming
out to the public. There were also old ones. A young man will find it
more difficult to control himself. You may find that he is quite good
in normal times. In the society of ordinary people he shows little
interest in fame and gain when he is not capable. However, once he has
risen above others, he is likely to be obsessed with fame and gain. He
thinks that there is still a long way for him to go in his life and he
still wants to make a rush and have a struggle so as to reach some
goal of ordinary people. Therefore, once he possesses the supernormal
capabilities and becomes capable, he is prone to use them as the means
to win his personal objectives in the society of ordinary people. It
won't do. One is not allowed to use his capabilities in this way. The
more he uses them, the less energy he will possess. In the end he will
possess nothing. Many such people fell down. I don't think there is
even one of them left now.
The two cases I talked about just now are about the energy gained by
those with good Xinxing. The energy of this kind is not developed
through one's own cultivation, but is borrowed from an enlightened
being. So, the energy itself is good.
Spirit Possession
Perhaps many of you have heard something about the possession by
animals, such as foxes, yellow weasels, ghosts and snakes, etc. in the
world of cultivation. What is it all about? Some people say that one
can develop supernormal capabilities through the practice of qigong.
As a matter of fact one is not to develop supernormal capabilities,
but they are none other than man's instinct. However, with the
development of human society, men are more and more attached to
tangible things in our physical space and are more and more dependent
on modernized means. Therefore our human instinct is deteriorating,
and in the end it is made to disappear completely.
To possess supernormal capabilities, one has to cultivate them through
cultivation when he is on the way to returning to the origin and going
back to the truth. The animal does not have such a complex mind, so it
can communicate with the fundamental qualities of the universe and is
possessed of the primordial instinct. Some say that animals know how
to cultivate. It is said that foxes are able to refine the elixir and
snakes or some other animals are able to cultivate themselves.
Actually, they are not able to cultivate. At the beginning they know
nothing about the refinement except that they possess those primordial
instincts. However, under particular conditions and circumstances and
after a long time it may take some effect, so they can acquire the
energy and even develop some supernormal capabilities.
Thus, these animals have some abilities. In the past people would say
that the animal got the supernatural energy and possessed some
abilities. In the eyes of ordinary people, the animal is so formidable
that it can easily control human beings. In fact, I say it is not
formidable. It is nothing to a true cultivator. Even if it has
cultivated for nearly a thousand years, a small finger would be more
than enough to crush it. We say that the animal possesses such a
primordial instinct, so it can have such abilities. However, there is
a principle in this universe: An animal is not allowed to complete its
achievement through cultivation. So you may find it written in an
ancient book that it shall be killed every hundreds of years through a
big or small calamity. The animal will have its energy increase when a
certain time is reached. Then, the animal will be wiped out by a
thunderbolt, etc., as it is not allowed to cultivate. Since the animal
does not possess human nature, it cannot cultivate itself like a human
being. As it has no human qualities, it is bound to be a demon when it
has achieved success through cultivation, so it is not allowed to do
so or it will be killed by heaven. The animal itself also knows this,
but as I said, human society now suffers a sharp moral decline, and
some people will stop at no evil. Isn't human society in danger when
it is in such a state?
However, things turn into their opposites when they reach the extreme!
We find that in prehistoric periods every time when human society met
destruction in different cycles, human beings were morally corrupted
to the extreme. Now the space where we human beings exist and many
other spaces are in impending danger. So are the other spaces in this
dimension. Therefore, the animal is eager to escape. It also wants to
ascend to a higher dimension, thinking that it can escape from the
danger by raising its dimension. But it is easier said than done. To
cultivate, it has to get a human body. How can a practitioner be
possessed by a spirit? This is one of the reasons.
Someone may wonder why none of so many great enlightened beings and
highly achieved masters is concerned about it. Here is another
principle of our universe: If you desire something or want something,
nobody would like to interfere. We teach you how to take the right way
here, and at the same time make a thorough exposition of the Law. But
you still need to awake to it for yourself. It's your own business
whether you want to learn it or not. It is the job of the master to
introduce you to the way of cultivation, but how to cultivate yourself
is entirely a business of your own. Nobody will compel or force you to
cultivate. It is your own business whether you want to cultivate or
not. That is to say, nobody will prevent you from taking whichever way
you have chosen or whatever you want or whatever you want to gain. You
can only be encouraged to do good.
Though some people practise some qigong, what they have achieved has
actually been obtained by the possessing spirits. How is it that they
have incurred spirit possession? How many qigong practitioners
throughout the country have got possessing spirits in their bodies? If
I told you the number, which is quite considerable, many people would
not dare to practise qigong. Why has such a state appeared? Those
things are disastrously disrupting the society of ordinary people. How
could possibly such a formidable phenomenon appear? It is human beings
themselves who have given rise to it, for mankind has been
degenerating, and demons are present everywhere. Especially those sham
qigong masters are all possessed by evil spirits, and they impart
nothing but such things when they teach qigong. In the history of
mankind an animal was not allowed to possess a human body. It would be
killed if it tried to. Nobody would allow it to do so. But in the
present-day society, there are some people who supplicate animals for
help, want them and enshrine them. Some may argue in the mind: but I
don't have a clear intention of supplicating them. Though you do not
supplicate them, you seek after supernormal capabilities. How can the
enlightened beings of the Orthodox Law cultivation provide you with
them? Seeking after them is an attachment of ordinary people, which
you should let go of. Then, who will give you these capabilities? Only
demons in other spaces and various animals will. Doesn't that mean
that you are seeking after them? So they have come to you.
How many people practise qigong with right thoughts? A practitioner
should pay great attention to virtues, do good deeds and be kind
towards others. Wherever he is or whatever he does, he should set such
demands on himself. How many practitioners, whether they practise in
the parks or at home, think this way? I did not know what qigong some
people were practising, but I heard them saying when they were doing
some movements and swaying their bodies: Ah, my daughter-in-law has
never paid her filial devotion to me; my mother-in-law, how can she be
so bad? Some were chattering about everything from their work units to
state affairs, and there was nothing that they would not talk about.
When talking about the things that didn't suit their modes of
thinking, they were filled with rage. Can you call it cultivation?
There was someone who was practising keeping a pile-stance. He became
so exhausted that his legs began to tremble. But his mind was busy:
Now things are all very expensive and prices have gone up. Our
organization cannot even pay out wages. Why am I not able to develop
some supernormal capabilities? If I possess some of them, I'll be a
qigong master and can make a fortune. I can make money by treating
diseases in others. When he saw others having developed their
supernormal capabilities, he felt more anxious. So he persisted in
pursuing the supernormal capabilities, the opening of the Celestial
Eye and the ability to cure diseases. Let's think about it, how far
away it was from Zhen Shan Ren, the fundamental qualities of our
universe! It is all counter to them. To put it strongly, he was
practising an evil way! But he was practising it unconsciously. The
more he thought this way, the worse the intention he would give out.
As the man had not found the right way, he did not know anything about
the importance of virtues. He thought he could develop cultivation
energy by just performing some movements and believed that he could
gain what he wanted through his pursuit.
It is just because of one's own wrong intention that he has brought on
something evil. The animal can see it clearly: This chap wants to make
a fortune by practising qigong; that chap wants to gain fame and
supernormal capabilities. Good lord, his body is not bad and what he
possesses is quite good. But his thoughts are really bad. He is
seeking after supernormal capabilities! Maybe he has a master, but I
don't fear him even if he has one. It knows that a master of the
Orthodox Law cultivation will never give him supernormal capabilities
when he sees that the man has such a desire for them. The more he
seeks after them, the more definitely his master will not give them to
him, because this is just an attachment that he should get rid of. The
more often he has such a thought, the more definitely he will not be
given these capabilities and the more he is unable to awake to it. The
more he desires, the worse the intention he will possess. In the end,
seeing that the man is finished, the master heaves a sigh and leaves
him alone. A practitioner may have no master, but a master who happens
to pass by takes some care of him, since there are many enlightened
beings in different spaces. Catching sight of the man, the enlightened
being takes a look at him and follows him for a day. Finding him not
worthy of help, the enlightened being goes away. Another enlightened
being may come to him the next day and will also go away when finding
him not worthy of help.
The animal knows that, whether the man has a master or a passing-by
master, he will not be given what he pursues. Being unable to see the
spaces where the enlightened beings stay, the animal does not fear. It
has availed itself of a loophole. There is a principle in our
universe: What he himself seeks after, or what he wants, other people
usually do not interfere in. The animal has exploited such an
advantage: Since he wants supernormal capabilities, I'll give them to
him. Isn't it wrong for me to help him? So it gives him the
capabilities. At the beginning, it dares not get on his body, so it
first gives him some energy to have a try. One day the man suddenly
finds himself possessed of the energy he seeks after and is able to
cure diseases. Finding that it really works, the animal uses it as a
prelude to a piece of music: Since he is willing to take it, I'll get
on his body. Then, I can give him more and directly. Don't you want
the Celestial Eye? Now I'll give you everything. So it comes to
possess him.
His intention is seeking after these things when his Celestial Eye
opens. He can also deliver some energy and use some minor
capabilities. He is overjoyed with himself, thinking that he has at
last gained what he pursued through practice. In fact, he has achieved
nothing from his practice. He feels that he can see through into a
human body and find out the disorder in one's body. As a matter of
fact, his Celestial Eye is not open at all. It is the animal that
controls his brain. The animal conveys what it sees with its own eyes
to his brain, which makes him believe that his Celestial Eye is open.
He can deliver the energy at will. The moment he stretches out his
hand to deliver the energy, the animal also stretches out its paw from
behind his body. When he releases the energy, the small snake head
will put out its forked tongue and lick the affected part or the place
where one has a swelling. Such a case happens to a lot of people. It
is these guys themselves who have invited the possessing spirits.
With such a desire, the man wants to get rich and become famous. Well,
now he possesses supernormal capabilities and is able to cure
diseases. He can also see with his Celestial Eye. He is quite happy
about it. Seeing this, the animal would think to itself, "You want to
get rich? Well, I'll let you get rich." It's really an easy task to
control an ordinary person's mind. It can make a lot of people come to
him for treatment, having them come in great numbers. Good lord, he is
treating the disease here, while it incites the journalists to give
publicity to him in the newspapers there. It controls ordinary people
and makes them do these things. If a person who has come to the man
for treatment does not pay enough money, it will make his head ache so
that he will pay more money. Thus, the man has gained both fame and
wealth. As he has made a fortune and attained fame, he acts as a
qigong master now. Such a man usually pays no attention to Xinxing and
dares to say anything. Heaven is number one and he is number two. He
has the audacity to say that he is the Lady Queen Mother or the Jade
Emperor who has descended into the world. He is even bold enough to
say that he is the Buddha himself. As he has not gone through the real
cultivation of Xinxing, he pursues the supernormal capabilities during
practice. As a result, he has brought on animal spirit possession.
Some think: What's so bad about it? Anyway, it's all right if I can
earn money and make a fortune. Besides, I can also become famous.
Quite a lot of people think this way. I tell you that the animal
actually harbours an intention. It won't give you anything without
cause or reason. There is a principle in this universe: He who loses
nothing will gain nothing. What does it gain? Didn't I talk about the
issue just now? It wants to get that little bit of essence of your
body so that it can cultivate into a human figure. So it tries to take
the human essence from the human body. But there's only this one
fraction of essence in the human body and one has to rely on it to
cultivate himself. If you let the animal get it, there's no hope for
you to cultivate. How can you cultivate in this way? With nothing
left, you can never cultivate yourself. Some may say: "I don't want to
cultivate. I just want to make a fortune. It's all right if I can get
money. Why bother with other things?" I'd like to tell you, you want
to make a fortune, but I'm sure that you will not think so when I tell
you the reason. Why? If it leaves your body early, you'll feel weak in
your limbs. From then on, you'll always be in such a state during the
rest of your life, because too much of your essence has been taken
away by it. If it leaves your body late, you'll be a vegetable, lying
in bed with only a breath left in you for the rest of your life.
Though you are rich, are you able to spend your money? Though you are
famous, can you enjoy your fame? Isn't it a terrible thing?
Such a case happens especially to the practitioners of today and it
occurs very frequently. The animal not only possesses the body of a
person but also kills his Yuanshen ( the True Spirit). It
gets into the person's Niwan Palace and squats there. The person
appears to be a human, but in fact he is not. Such cases occur even
now. Because of the change in the moral standards of mankind, one will
not be convinced that he is doing evil when you tell him so. He thinks
it is only right and reasonable to earn money, to seek money, and to
make a fortune. Therefore, he will hurt others and do harm to others.
In order to earn money, he will stop at no evil and dares to do
anything. If the animal does not lose, it will not gain. How can it
give you something for nothing? It wants to take something out of your
body. Of course, as we said, it is because of their wrong mentality
and wrong intention that people have brought on such trouble.
Now let's come to Falun Dafa. If you cultivate our cultivation way,
you won't go wrong on the condition that you have good control of your
Xinxing, as one righteousness subdues all evils. If you cannot control
your Xinxing, you are bound to incur trouble for yourself when you
pursue this or that. Some people can never give up what they practised
in the past. We teach being constant in a single cultivation system.
True cultivation is to be constant in only one way. Some Qigong
masters have written some books, but I tell you that there are such
things as snakes, foxes, and yellow weasels in their books, which are
the same as what they have practised. When you read those books, these
things will jump out of the words. I have said that sham qigong
masters outnumber true ones many times over. You are not able to
distinguish them. Therefore, you must keep good control of yourself. I
don't mean here that you must cultivate Falun Dafa. You can cultivate
whatever system you like. But there was a saying in the past: One
should not practise heterodoxy even for a day even if he is unable to
obtain the Orthodox Law in a thousand years. Therefore, you must keep
good control of yourself and really cultivate the Orthodox Law. Don't
mix anything else into what you cultivate. You even cannot add your
intention to it. Some practitioners' Falun have become deformed. Why
have they become deformed? They will say that they haven't practised
any other systems. But when they begin to practise, they add what they
practised in the past to their cultivation through their intentions.
Thus, they have brought other things into what they cultivate. So much
for the problem of spirit possession.
Cosmic Language
What is cosmic language? One may suddenly mumble an inexplicable
language, but he himself doesn't understand what he is talking about.
A person who possesses the capability of telepathy can catch a general
idea, but is unable to understand the exact meaning. Some people can
even speak several such languages. Some take it as an ability or
supernormal capability, and swell with pride. Actually, it is not a
power or an ability, nor can it represent one's attainment level. What
is it, then? The fact is that your mind is dominated by a subtle being
from another space. But you think it quite good. You are delighted to
get it. You are pleased with yourself. The more you are pleased, the
more firmly it will control you. As a true cultivator, how can you let
it dominate you? Besides, it comes from a very low dimension.
Therefore, as true cultivators, we should never try to incur such
trouble.
Man is the most precious and the supreme intelligence of all things.
How can you permit those things to dominate you? You even do not want
your body. How sad it is! Some of those things possess a human body.
Some do not enter into a human body. They just keep their distance
from a person, but they can control and dominate him. If you want to
speak that language, they will make you mumble it. It can be
transmitted to another person. If that person wants to learn it and is
bold enough to open his mouth, he can also speak it. In fact, those
things present themselves in packs. If you want to speak, one of them
will come to you and make you speak it.
Why can such a case occur? As I said, the subtle being wants to raise
its level, but as there is no suffering for it to endure in its own
place, it cannot cultivate or improve itself. So it tries to improve
itself by doing good deeds for human beings. But it doesn't know how
to do it. However, it knows that energy it has released will have a
soothing effect on the sick and relieve him from suffering for the
moment though it is unable to cure him, and it also knows that it can
achieve such an effect by releasing the energy through a human mouth.
This is how the case is. Some people also call it celestial language.
Still others call it Buddha's language. This slanders Buddha. I say
that's sheer nonsense!
As is known, Buddha seldom opens his mouth. Should he open his mouth
to speak in our world, he may bring an earthquake to mankind. How
terrible such a booming would be! Some people say, "I see with my
Celestial Eye that he is talking to me." He does not talk to them.
Some see my Law body talking to them. In fact, he does not talk to
them. He gives out his intention which has a stereophonic sound. When
it reaches your ears, you will feel as if he were talking. He usually
speaks in his own space. But when his words are transmitted to our
world, you can not tell what he says, because there is a difference in
the concept of spacetime between the two spaces. One Shichen, that is,
a period of two hours, in our world is equal to a year in that large
space. That is to say, the time of our world goes slower than that of
his space.
There was a saying in the past which goes, "One day in Heaven above is
equal to a thousand years on Earth." It refers to an individual
paradise in which there is no concept of space and time, that is, the
paradise where the great enlightened beings stay. It refers to such
places as the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, the Glazed Paradise, the
Falun Paradise and the Lotus Paradise, etc.. However, in that large
space time goes faster than that in ours. Some people have got their
ears opened and possess the capability of clairaudience. If you can
receive or hear one speaking, you will find that you cannot tell what
he says. Whatever you hear sounds the same, just like the twitter of a
bird or the high speed turning of a record player. You simply cannot
catch a single word. Of course, some can hear the music or the
talking. But only through a supernormal capability which can be used
as a carrier to eliminate the time difference can you clearly hear the
words which have been transmitted to your ears. This is how the case
is. Some say it is Buddhas' language. It is not at all.
When the enlightened beings meet, a smile is enough for them to fully
understand each other, because they use the soundless telepathy which
has a stereophonic sound to the ears of the one who has received it.
The moment they smile, they have exchanged their views. This is not
the only way they use. Sometimes they also use another way. As you
know, the lamas of Tibet in the Esoteric Sect are good at making
hand-signs. But when you ask a lama what the hand-sign is, he will
tell you that it is the Supreme Yoga. What is it exactly? He does not
know, either. In fact, it is just the language of the enlightened
being. When there are a lot of people, he will make a large hand-sign
which is very beautiful, and there are various large hand-signs. When
there are a few people, he will make a small hand-sign, which is also
very beautiful. The small hand-sign is composed of different hand
signs, which are very complex and rich in variety, since it is a
language. In the past all this was regarded as a secret of heaven, but
now we have revealed it. What is adopted in Tibet are only some
movements which are used exclusively for the practice of their
exercise. Though the movements have been classified and systematized,
they are no more than a language exclusively for the practice of their
exercise, the several forms of the practice of their qigong exercise.
The real hand-sign is quite complex.
What the Teacher Has Given to His Students
Some people caught hold of my hand and would not let it go when they
saw me. Seeing them shaking hands with me, some others also shook
hands with me. I knew what was in their minds. Some felt very happy to
shake hands with the teacher. Some wanted to get some message and
would not let go their hold. We tell you that real cultivation is your
own business. We are here not to eliminate your diseases or to build
up your health or to give you some message to heal your diseases. We
do not do these things. Your diseases will be eliminated directly by
me. Those who practise in the practising spot will be cured by my Law
bodies. Those who learn Falun Dafa through self-study by reading the
book will also be cured by my Law bodies. Do you think that you can
increase your cultivation energy just by touching my hands? Isn't that
ridiculous?
Cultivation energy depends on the cultivation of one's own Xinxing. If
you do not get down to genuine cultivation, your cultivation energy
will not grow, because there is a criterion of Xinxing to measure it.
When your cultivation energy has grown, a person of a high attainment,
can see that your attachment, that matter, has been eliminated and a
yardstick has grown on the top of your head. Such a yardstick exists
like the energy column. The higher the yardstick, the higher the
energy column. It represents the energy that you have cultivated
yourself. It also represents the height of your Xinxing. Other people
can never add any energy to it. Even if they have put a wee bit on it,
it will drop down. I can make you reach the state of "three flowers
gathering on the top " instantly, but that energy will
fall down the moment you go out. That energy is not yours. It does not
come from your cultivation. So it cannot stay there. As your criterion
of Xinxing is not there, nobody is able to put the energy there. This
entirely depends on the cultivation of yourself, the cultivation of
that heart of yours. Only when you improve yourself constantly and
assimilate yourself to the cosmic qualities with a steady increase of
your cultivation energy, can you ascend. When some people ask me to
sign my autograph for them, I am reluctant to do so. They will tell
others that the teacher has signed his autograph for them. They want
to show off. They want to receive the protection of the teacher's
message. Isn't this an attachment again? One's cultivation depends on
oneself. Why talk about the message? Could you look for this in your
high dimensional cultivation? What can that be? That is no more than
what is taught to cure diseases and keep fit.
In the microscopic state, every particle of the energy you have
refined is exactly the image of you. When you go beyond Shi Jian Fa
(the In-Triple-World-Law), you will have entered into the cultivation
of a Buddha body. Every particle of the cultivation energy is the
image of a Buddha body, which is very beautiful and sits on the lotus
flower. But the animal's energy is composed of small foxes or small
snakes. Even the particles in the microscopic state are the images of
those things. There is also something like a message. You would like
to drink tea water after it is given a few stirs as it is supposed to
be an energy. An ordinary person just wants to be relieved from pain
for the time being or postpone and check his illness. Anyway, an
ordinary person is an ordinary person. No matter how he does damage to
his body, we do not care. But you are practitioners, so I tell you
these things. Do not do such things again from now on. Do not look for
those things, such as the message and the like. Some qigong masters
say, "I will give the message to you. You can receive it in all parts
of the country." Receive what? I tell you that such things will not be
able to have a great effect on you. Even if it may do you some good,
it can do nothing but help you get rid of your diseases or improve
your health. But as practitioners, we must depend on ourselves to
cultivate the energy. The energy of a message released from others
cannot be used to raise one's attainment level. It can only be used to
heal the illness of an ordinary person. You must put your heart right.
Nobody can cultivate for you. Only when you really cultivate yourself
can you raise your attainment level.
Well, what have I given you? You know that many of us have never
practised any qigong and suffer from diseases. There are also quite a
lot of people who have practised qigong for many years but still
linger in the state of qi and possess no cultivation energy. Of
course, there are some people who treat others' diseases. You do not
know how you treated diseases. When I talked about the issue of spirit
possession, I took down their possessing spirits, all such bad things,
no matter what they are, from the inside to the outside of the bodies
of those who can really cultivate the Great Law. When a person who can
really cultivate himself through self-study reads this Great Law, his
body will also be cleaned up. So will the environment of his home.
Throw away the spirit tablet of the fox or yellow weasel you enshrined
in the past. It has been cleaned up and it is no longer there. Since
you want to cultivate, we can open the most convenient door for you
and do such things for you, but it is confined to true cultivators. Of
course, there are some people who have no intention of cultivating
themselves. Even until now they have not realized what I talk about.
We have no way to take care of them. We only take care of true
cultivators.
There is also a case of a person who was told in the past that he was
possessed by an evil spirit. He himself also felt so. But he still
worries about it although the possessing spirit has been removed. He
always feels the existence of that state, believing that he is still
possessed by it. This is a kind of attachment, which is called a
suspicious mind. If he goes on like this, he may bring it to himself
again in the long run. He himself has to let go of the obsession as
there is no possessing spirit at all in his body now. Some people were
cleared of those things in my previous sessions. I have done these
things and taken all the possessing spirits away.
In the Tao School the elementary stage of cultivation requires the
laying down of some foundation, to form the Heavenly Circuit, the
field of the Dan Tian (Elixir Field), and things of some other
aspects. Now here we are going to plant Falun, Qiji ( energy
mechanism) for you and a great many other mechanisms for cultivation.
There are more than ten thousand of them, which will all be planted in
your body like seeds. Only after I have removed your diseases, done
all that should be done and provided you with all that I shall give
you, can you really succeed in the cultivation in our faith. Otherwise
if I do not give you anything, you can no more than remove your
diseases and build up health. To be frank, if some people do not value
Xinxing, it would be better for them to do physical exercise.
We are responsible to true cultivators. Those who cultivate through
self-study can also get those things. But they must be true
cultivators. We give all those things to true cultivators. I have told
you that I need to take you as my disciples and guide you in earnest.
Besides, you must have a thorough grasp of the Law of the high order
and come to know how to cultivate yourself. The five sets of practice
exercises will be given to you at once and all will be taught to you
at once. In the future you will reach a considerably high level, which
is so high that it is beyond your expectation. There will be no
problem for you to complete the true achievement. I am preaching the
Law combining it with different dimensions. As long as you cultivate,
you will find that it will always be able to give you guidance in your
cultivation of different dimensions.
As a cultivator, your life course will be changed from now on. My Law
body will rearrange it for you. How will it be arranged? How many
years will there be before some people end their life course? They do
not know themselves. Some may contract a serious illness in a year or
half a year which may last for several years. Some may suffer from
cerebral thrombosis or other diseases and can never move at all. How
can you cultivate during the rest of your life? We are going to clear
your body of those things to prevent such things from happening.
However, we must make it clear beforehand that we can only do such a
thing for true cultivators. I am as good as doing a bad deed if I do
this freely for ordinary people. It will not be allowed for such a
thing to be done for ordinary people at will, because there is the
causational relationship for such things as an ordinary person's
birth, old age, disease and death, which should not be disrupted at
will.
We regard cultivators as most precious. Therefore, we can only do this
for a cultivator. How to do this? If the master possesses high and
mighty virtues, that is, if he has very great energy potency, he can
dissolve your karma. The master can remove a great amount of your
karma if he has high cultivation energy. If he has low cultivation
energy, he can only remove a bit of your karma. To illustrate this
with an example, we shall collect all kinds of your karma existing in
your future course of life and dissolve part of it; say, half of it.
The half left is still higher than a mountain and you are unable to
get over it. What shall be done? When you attain the Tao in the
future, a lot of people may benefit from your attainment. Thus, they
will bear a share for you, which, of course, does not matter to them.
You yourself have many living entities you have evolved and you have a
lot of you besides your Zhu Yuanshen ( Chief Spirit) and Fu
Yuanshen ( Assistant Spirit), all of whom will have to bear a
share for you. So, there will be little left for you to go through an
ordeal with. Though we say "little left", it is still considerably
big. You are still unable to get through it. What shall be done, then?
It will be divided into a great number of shares, which will be placed
on different stages of your cultivation, and used to improve your
Xinxing, to transform your karma and to increase your cultivation
energy.
Besides, it is not at all an easy job for one to cultivate himself. I
have said that cultivation is a very serious matter; it is beyond
ordinary people and is more difficult to do than anything of ordinary
people. Isn't that supernormal? Therefore, it makes a higher demand on
you than anything concerning ordinary people. We human beings have
Yuanshen (the True Spirit), and the True Spirit is immortal. Since the
True Spirit is immortal, let's think about it. Isn't it likely that
your True Spirit did some bad deeds in your social activities before
your birth? Most likely. You may have killed, owed something to
someone, bullied someone, or done harm to someone. You may have done
those things. If this is true, he can see you very clearly there when
you cultivate here. If you try to get rid of your disease and improve
your health, he does not care. He knows that you are postponing your
paying back. If you do not pay back now, you will have to pay back in
the future, and then you will have to pay more heavily. Therefore, he
does not care if you do not pay back for the time being.
When you decide to cultivate, he will not allow you to do so: "You
want to cultivate. You want to go. When you have increased your
cultivation energy, I will not be able to reach you. And I will not be
able to touch you. " So he will not allow it to happen. He will try
every possible means to stop you from cultivation. He will use various
ways to disturb you, or even come to kill you. Of course, it is
impossible that your head would be chopped off when you are practising
cross-legged sitting here, because it should fit the state of ordinary
human society. You may be knocked down by a car when you go out, or
fall down from upstairs, or meet with other dangers. Things which are
quite dangerous may occur. True cultivation is not as easy as you
imagine. Do you think you can go up through cultivation once you are
determined to cultivate? If you really want to cultivate, your life
will be endangered soon. You will meet this problem immediately. There
are a great number of qigong masters who dare not guide people up to
the high dimensional cultivation by teaching them their cultivation
systems. Why? Because they are unable to do such a thing. They are
unable to protect you.
In the past there were many Taoist teachers who could only teach one
disciple. They had no more than enough ability to protect one
disciple. But to protect so many disciples on such a large scale,
ordinary qigong masters would find themselves incapable of doing it.
Yet, we tell you here that I can do this, because I have countless Law
bodies who possess very great divine powers and my Law potency and who
can display great supernatural powers and great Law potency. Besides,
what we do today is not so simple as it seems to be and I did not come
out to do it on impulse. I can tell you that many great enlightened
beings are paying close attention to this event. This is the last time
for us to teach the Orthodox Law in the Period of Decline. When doing
such a thing, we are not allowed to go astray. If you can really
cultivate in the right way, nobody dares to touch you rashly. What's
more, you are under the protection of my Law bodies, so you will never
be in any danger.
A debt must be paid. So some perilous things may happen to you in the
course of your cultivation. However, when such things happen, you will
not be scared and you will not be exposed to real dangers. I can give
you some examples. When I held a session in Beijing, one of my
students crossed a road by bike. When reaching a sharp turn on the
road, this student, a woman of over 50 years old, was knocked down by
a high-quality car. She was hit very hard by the car. With a bang she
bumped her head against the awning of the car. At that moment she
still straddled her bike. Though she was hit on the head, she felt no
pain. She not only felt no pain, but did not bleed, even had no
swelling. The driver was terribly frightened. He got out of the car
and asked her hastily if she was injured and suggested they should go
to the hospital. She said that she was all right. Of course, this
student had a very high Xinxing and she would not put the driver to
any trouble. She said she was all right, but a big dent was made in
the car.
Such an event is to take one's life. But he will not be endangered.
When we held the session in Jilin University last time, one of our
students was walking his bike out of the front gate of the University.
When he had just reached the middle of the street, he got sandwiched
in between two cars all of a sudden. The cars nearly hit him, but he
did not feel the slightest fear. We usually feel no fear when such a
thing happens to us. The cars stopped at that moment and no danger
occurred.
The following event also took place in Beijing. The dark came quite
early in winter and people went to bed also quite early. There was
nobody in the street. It was very quiet. There was a student of ours
who was hurrying home by bike. In front of him there was only a jeep
running. All of a sudden, the jeep stopped. Without noticing it, the
student was still riding ahead with his head hanging down. But the
jeep suddenly backed up very quickly. It backed so fast that with the
two forces joining together it also was meant to take his life. At the
moment when they were about to have a bump, there suddenly came a
power which pulled his bike back more than half a metre, and the jeep
came to a sudden halt with its bumper touching the wheel of the bike -
the driver might have found him behind the jeep. At that moment, the
student felt no fear. When encountering such a case, nobody will feel
fear, but after this he may become scared. What first came to his mind
was: My goodness! Who has pulled me back? I must thank him. He turned
his head and was about to say thanks, but he found there was nobody to
be seen on the road. All was quiet. It dawned on him instantly: It was
the teacher who protected me.
Another event took place in Changchun. A building was being
constructed near a student's house. These days people tend to
construct tall buildings and the scaffold is built up from iron poles
which are two inches in diameter and four meters long. When the
student came out not far from his house, an iron pole happened to fall
down vertically from that tall building and went straight to the top
of his head. The people in the street were stupefied. He said, "Who
patted me?" He thought someone had patted him on the head. The moment
he turned his head, he saw a big Falun turning over his head, and the
iron pole slid down from his head and was stuck into the ground
without falling. If it had been stuck into the human body, let's think
about it, such a heavy pole would have penetrated through the whole
body as if putting a bamboo stick through the sugar-coated haws. This
was really dangerous!
There have been innumerable such happenings, but nobody has ever been
endangered. Not all the practitioners will encounter such things. Only
very few of us will. Whether you encounter them or not, I assure you
that you will be in no danger. I can assure you of this. There are
some students who do not act on Xinxing requirements. They only
practise the movements without cultivating their Xinxing. They cannot
be counted as practitioners.
Speaking of what the teacher gives, I have given you these things. My
Law body will protect you until you are able to protect yourself. At
that time you will have gone beyond the cultivation of Shi Jian Fa
(the In-Triple-World-Law) and already attained the Tao. But you must
act as a true cultivator. Otherwise, you cannot achieve this. There
was someone who shouted at the top of his voice as he was walking in
the street with my book in his hand: "I have Master Li for my
protection, and I am not afraid of being hit by a car." He was
damaging the Great Law. People of this sort will not be protected. A
true cultivator will never do such a thing.
Energy Field
When we are practising, there will be a field around us. What kind of
field is this? Some say it is a qi field, or a magnetic field, or an
electric field. In fact, whatever field you call it is improper,
because this kind of field contains extremely abundant substances. The
substances which compose all the spaces of our universe can be found
in this cultivation energy. Therefore, it is relatively proper to call
it an energy field. This is why we usually call it energy field.
Well, what effect will this field produce? As you know, our
cultivators of the Orthodox Law have such a feeling: A person who has
gone through the cultivation of the Orthodox Law is compassionate with
his presence and is assimilated into the cosmic qualities Zhen Shan
Ren ( Truth Compassion Forbearance). Therefore, all of our
students who are sitting in this field will feel it and have no bad
thoughts in their minds. When sitting here many of our students even
cannot think of smoking. They feel a serene atmosphere which is very
comfortable. This is the effect produced by the energy carried by the
cultivators of the Orthodox Law within this field. After the session,
the vast majority of you will possess the energy. You will really have
developed your energy, because what I teach to you is something for
the cultivation of the Orthodox Law, and you yourself also try to act
upon the Xinxing requirements in cultivation. With your incessant
practice and cultivation according to our Xinxing requirements, your
energy will gradually become more and more powerful.
We teach the salvation for both self and others and for all sentient
beings. So Falun can save oneself by turning inwards and save others
by turning outwards. When turning outwards, it releases energy to
benefit others. Thus, those who are within the cover of your energy
field will benefit from it and may feel very comfortable. No matter
whether you walk in the street or work in your work unit or stay at
home, you may have such an effect on others. You may accidentally
adjust the body of a person who is within the area of your field, as
this kind of field can put right all abnormal states. A human body
should be free from diseases. When it suffers from diseases, it is in
an abnormal state, and your field can put right such an abnormal
state. An evil-minded person who is thinking about something wrong may
change his mind or will not think about the bad things when he is
strongly affected by your field. Those who feel like swearing at
others may suddenly change their minds and do not want to do so. Only
the energy field of Orthodox Law cultivation can produce such an
effect. Therefore, in the past there was such a saying in Buddhism,
"The Buddhas' lights illuminate all things and bring propriety and
righteousness to brightness and perfection." This saying exactly
expresses this.
How the Students of Falun Dafa Should Spread the Cultivation System
After the session, many students feel the cultivation system is very
good and want to teach it to their relatives and good friends. You can
do that. You can spread it and teach it to anyone. However, there is
one point I want to emphasize. We have given you so many things which
cannot be measured in value. Why do I give you these things? They are
meant for your cultivation. Only when you cultivate, can you be given
these things. That is to say, when you spread the cultivation system
in the future, you should not make use of them to seek after fame and
gain. Therefore, you are not allowed to hold sessions and collect fees
as I do. As we need to print books and materials and go around
spreading the cultivation system, we need money. Our charge is the
lowest in the whole country, but we have given the most for it. You
have realized that we are to guide people up to the high dimensions.
As a student of Falun Dafa, you are required to keep two points in
mind when you go out to spread the cultivation system in the future.
First, you are required not to charge a fee. We have given you so many
things not for you to make a fortune or seek fame but to save you and
help you cultivate. If you charge a fee, my Law body will take back
all that has been given to you. Then, you are no longer a cultivator
of Falun Dafa and what you teach is not our Falun Dafa. When spreading
the cultivation system, you do voluntary service for others without
seeking fame or gain. Practitioners all over the country all spread it
this way and the instructors from all parts of the country also set a
good example with their own conduct. If you want to learn our
cultivation system, just come to learn it. We shall be responsible to
you, and take no charge.
Second, you are required not to add any personal things to the Great
Law. That is to say, no matter whether you have opened your Celestial
Eye or what you have seen or what supernormal capabilities you have
developed, you should not explain our Falun Dafa according to what you
have seen when spreading the cultivation system. What you have seen on
your level of attainment is nothing, too far away from the true
meaning of the Law we have preached. Therefore, when you spread the
cultivation system in the future, you must be very careful about this.
Thus, the original things of our Falun Dafa can remain unchanged.
You are also not allowed to spread the cultivation system in the way
I do. You must not preach the Law in the form of large-scale lectures
as I have adopted. You are unable to preach the Law. What I speak
about is of a very profound significance, because there are things
belonging to the high dimensions in my lectures. Now you cultivate at
different levels of attainment. When you have improved yourselves in
the future, and you go back and listen to the recording of my
lectures, you will improve yourselves continuously. If you listen to
them constantly, you will always have a new understanding and gain.
You can achieve a much better result by reading this book. I am giving
lectures which contain things very high and profound. So you are
unable to preach the Law. You are not allowed to take my original
words as your own. If you do, you are a Law robber. You can only say
my original words and tell the listener that they are said by the
teacher or are written in the book. You can only talk this way. Why?
Because such talking will carry the power of the Great Law. You must
not spread what you know as Falun Dafa. Otherwise, what you spread is
not Falun Dafa. You are equally disrupting our Falun Dafa. If you talk
according to your ideas or your thoughts, what you say is not the Law.
It is unable to save or have any effect on others. Therefore, nobody
else is able to preach this Law.
To spread the cultivation system, you can play the recording or play
the video tapes in the place of practising the Gong or in the place of
teaching the Gong. Then let the instructor teach them how to practise
the exercise. You can adopt the form of a forum where you can learn
from each other through discussions and interpretations and by
exchanging experiences and views. You are required to spread Falun
Dafa in this way. Besides, you must not address the student (disciple)
who spreads Falun Dafa as teacher or master. There is only one master
of the Great Law. All are disciples no matter when they are initiated
into the school.
When spreading the cultivation system, some may have such a thought:
The teacher can plant Falun and adjust one's body, but we are unable
to do these things. It does not matter. I have already told you that
every student is followed by more than one of my Law bodies. My Law
bodies will do these things. When you teach someone, he may get Falun
on the spot if he has the predestined luck. If he is not so lucky, he
will gradually get it after cultivation and through adjustment of the
body. My Law body will help him adjust his body. What's more, I tell
you that if you can really regard yourself as a practitioner, you will
just the same get all that you ought to have by reading my books,
watching my video tapes or listening to my recording to learn the Law
and the practice exercise.
We do not allow the students to treat diseases in others. Students
of Falun Dafa are strictly forbidden to treat diseases in others. We
teach you how to ascend through cultivation and do not let you develop
any attachment or ruin your health. Our place of practising the Gong
is better than that of any other cultivation systems. If you go to our
place to practise, you will achieve a much better result than your
treatment of diseases. My Law bodies sit in a circle. Above the place
of practice is a cover on which there is a large Falun. A gigantic Law
body guards the place on the cover. The place is not a common one. It
is not a common place for the practice of qigong. It is a place of
cultivation. Many of us who possess the supernormal capability have
found that the site of our Falun Dafa is covered with a vast sheet of
red light.
My Law body can plant Falun directly, but we do not encourage one's
attachment. When you teach someone to perform the movements, he says,
"Oh, I have got Falun." You think it is you who have planted it, but
you are wrong. I tell you this so that you will not develop this
attachment. It is all done by my Law bodies. The students of our Falun
Dafa should spread the cultivation system this way.
He who alters the practice exercise of Falun Dafa is disrupting the
Great Law and is doing harm to our school. Someone changed the
instructions for the practice exercise into rhymes. We can never allow
such a thing to happen. A true cultivation way has been handed down
from the prehistoric period which dates back to the remote past, and
has brought up countless enlightened beings. Nobody has ever dared to
alter it. Such a thing can only happen in this Period of Decline. It
has never occurred in history. You must be very careful about this.
Lecture Four
Loss and Gain
The relationship between loss and gain is often talked about in the
world of cultivation as well as among ordinary people. What attitude
should we cultivators adopt towards loss and gain? It is different
from that of ordinary people. What ordinary people want is personal
interests, how to lead a good and comfortable life. But we cultivators
are different. On the contrary, we would not seek what ordinary people
want. Moreover, what we achieve is something desired but unachievable
by ordinary people, unless they should cultivate.
As for the loss we generally refer to, it is not loss in a rather
limited sense. When somebody speaks of loss, he considers it to be
giving some money, helping others who are in trouble and offering a
bit of food to beggars. It is also a kind of giving up and a kind of
loss. But it is only, on this question that he cares little about
money or material benefits. Caring little about money, of course, is
an aspect, and a comparatively principal aspect. However, the loss we
are talking about is not in such a limited sense. When we are in the
course of cultivation, there are too many attachments one should give
up as a cultivator, such as show-off, jealousy, competition and
complacency. A great number of attachments have to be given up. The
loss we are talking about is in a broad sense, that is, in the course
of cultivation one should give up all his attachments and various
desires belonging to ordinary people.
Perhaps somebody is considering: Now that we are practising among
ordinary people, won't we be like Buddhist monks or nuns when we give
up everything? It seems impossible to give up everything. Our
cultivation way, as far as the portion cultivating among ordinary
people is concerned, requires one to cultivate in ordinary society and
keep himself the same as ordinary people to the maximum. It by no
means requires you to lose material interests indeed. No matter what a
high ranking official you are and how much wealth you have, the key to
the question is whether you can give up the attachment.
Our school is directly aimed at human nature. Whether personal
interests and person to person conflicts can be cared little about and
treated lightly or not is the crux of the matter. To cultivate in the
temple and in deep mountain forests is to completely cut you off from
ordinary human society and force you to give up the hearts of ordinary
people. It keeps you away from material interests, and therefore makes
you give them up. A cultivator among ordinary people does not go that
way but he is required to care little about them just in the
life-style of ordinary people. It is certainly very difficult but it
is the crux of our school. That is why the loss we are talking about
is in a broad sense other than in a rather limited one. People talk
about doing something good and giving alms. Then just look at those
beggars in the street nowadays: Some of them are professional, who may
have more money than you do. We must focus on something big instead of
taking care of something smaller. Cultivation is aboveboard and should
concentrate on something large in mind. In the course of loss, what we
really have lost is something not good.
One usually regards all that he pursues as good things. But in fact,
looking from the high level, all of them are to satisfy his vested
interests in being an ordinary person. As stated in Buddhism, it is
merely a couple of decades whether you have more money or a higher
official position. At birth we bring nothing, at death we take away
nothing. Why is cultivation energy so precious? Only because it
directly grows on your Yuanshen (True Spirit), so it can be brought at
birth and taken away at death. Besides, it determines your attainment
status, therefore it is hard to cultivate. That is to say, what you
have given up are bad things so that you may return to the origin and
go back to the truth. What would you achieve? That is the rise of your
attainment level and at last you will complete the true achievement
and reach the consummation. It solves the essential problem. Of
course, we want to give up various desires belonging to ordinary
people and reach the standard of being a real cultivator, which is not
easy to achieve and should be carried out gradually. Now you hear I
said doing it gradually and you say the teacher has told me to do it
gradually and then I will do it gradually. That is not allowed! You
should set strict demands on yourself though we allow you to improve
yourself gradually. If you achieved all at once today, you would be a
Buddha today. So it is unrealistic. You will be able to do this
gradually.
What we lose in essence is something bad. What is it? It is karma,
which goes along with various attachments of humans. For instance,
ordinary people have various bad thoughts and will incur this black
substance, karma, by doing something bad for his personal interests.
This is directly related to our minds. In order to remove this bad
substance you should first turn your minds around.
Transformation of Karma
There is a transforming process between the white and the black
substances. After a person to person conflict has taken place, there
is a transforming process. One will get white substance, De (
Virtues), when doing something good, and will incur black substance,
karma, when doing something bad. Both substances can be carried
forward. Somebody may be wondering whether it is because one has done
something bad in the first half of his life. It is not all necessarily
so because a human has accumulated the karma not during one lifetime.
It is held in the world of cultivation that one's Yuanshen (True
Spirit) is immortal. If so, he might have had social activities in his
previous lives. One might have owed somebody, bullied somebody or done
some other bad things such as killing, etc., which would incur such
karma. Those substances can be accumulated in other spaces and are
always attached, and so can the white substance. They come not only
from this source. Another source is to be carried over from one's
family and ancestors. Old people in the past often talked about
accumulating virtues, and accumulating virtues from ancestors; this
person is losing his virtues and decreasing virtues. Those words are
quite right. Nowadays ordinary people would no longer listen to these
words. The young will not keep them in their minds when you talk about
losing virtues or being short of virtues. Actually, these words have
profound implications. They are not only a modern spiritual and mental
standard but also have a real material existence. Both substances can
be found in the human body.
Someone asks whether one can not cultivate towards a high level when
he has too much black substance. That is somewhat true. Too much black
substance will influence one's awakening quality, because it has
become a field surrounding your body and has just enveloped you inside
it and cut you off from the cosmic qualities, Zhen Shan Ren. Such
people may have a poor capability of understanding. When a person
talks of cultivation or qigong, he regards all those as superstition,
considers them ridiculous and does not believe in them at all. This
happens frequently but not absolutely. Does that mean it is very
difficult for such a person to cultivate and to increase his high
energy? It does not. We say the Great Law is boundless and it all
depends on your will to cultivate. The master teaches the trade but
the perfection of the apprentice's skill depends on his own efforts.
It all depends on your will to cultivate. Whether you can cultivate or
not all depends on whether you can endure, give and suffer. If you can
make up your mind to overcome all kinds of difficulties, I say it will
not be a problem.
A person who has a lot of black substance often pays more than those
who have a lot of white substance. Because the white substance
directly assimilates itself to the cosmic qualities, Zhen Shan Ren. He
may increase his cultivation energy simply and directly as soon as he
improves his Xinxing and improves himself in his own contradictions. A
person with a lot of De has a good capability of comprehension and can
endure hardships as well. He can endure hardships, tire his bones and
muscles with toil, and temper his heart and mind. He can increase his
cultivation energy even if he suffers more from physical pains than
mental ones. However, it would not be possible for a person who has a
lot of black substance, who has to pass through a process: first
transform the black substance to the white substance. Even such a
process is also extremely agonizing. Therefore, a person of poor
quality of enlightenment normally needs to suffer more pains, and it
is even harder for him to cultivate because of his huge karma and bad
quality of enlightenment.
Take a specific case, for example, let us see how such a person is
cultivating. When keeping still and sitting in deep Ding, one has to
cross his legs for a long time. After a long time the legs become
painful and numb, which makes one mentally quite uneasy. Suffering
from physical and mental pains makes the physical body as well as the
mind quite uncomfortable. Some people are afraid of pain while sitting
with their legs crossed, and wish to give up by taking the legs off.
Some people cannot stand the pain any more even after sitting for a
little bit longer. Once the legs are taken off, the practice is in
vain. We consider it useless if one quits sitting with his legs
crossed once they begin to feel pain, and resume doing so after some
warm-ups. Because while his legs are suffering pain, we can see that
the black substance is moving to his legs. The black substance is
karma and can be eliminated and transformed into De through suffering
pain. Once the pain is felt, karma will begin to be eliminated. The
more karma comes the more pain his legs will feel. Therefore, his pain
in the legs does not come without a reason. Normally, a person sitting
cross-legged often suffers labour pain one moment and another of
relatively ease, and then, a moment of pain again. Oftentimes, it goes
this way.
Because karma is removed piece by piece, the legs will feel better
after a piece is eliminated, and will feel pain again when another
piece comes up. After the black substance is removed, it does not
disappear as this substance does not become extinct. Upon being
removed, it is transformed into the white substance which is De. How
come it is transformed this way? This is because he has suffered,
given, and endured pain. We have said that De is attained through
enduring, suffering pain, and doing good deeds. Therefore, this
situation will occur while one is sitting in the state of Ding. Some
people put their legs down when their legs begin to feel pain, and do
some warm-ups before resuming the practice of sitting. That will not
work at all. While doing standing practice with their arms up, some
people feel pain in the arms and cannot endure it, and then put down
their arms. This does not work at all. What does this little pain
account for? I would say that it would be simply too easy for one to
succeed in cultivation by just raising the arms up. This is the
situation which occurs when people sit in the state of Ding.
Our school does not mainly proceed in this way though there is a
portion in this aspect which also plays a role. Most of us transform
karma through person to person Xinxing conflicts. It is oftentimes
manifested this way. While we are in trouble, the conflict between one
and another even surpasses the pain. I would say that physical pain is
the easiest thing to endure and can be overcome by biting one's teeth
tightly. The mind is the most difficult to control when a conflict
occurs between one and another.
For instance, a person might become extremely mad if he overhears two
people speaking ill of him in terrible language when he comes to work.
However, we have mentioned that a practitioner should set high demands
on himself, and should not return the same when being hit or abused.
He remembers that: the teacher has said that as practitioners we do
not behave like others and should conduct ourselves in a better
manner. He does not quarrel with those two people. Yet, when the
conflict arises, it oftentimes would not matter, or become useful in
improving oneself if it does not irritate one's mind. Thus, his mind
will not give up and is still bothered by it. He will always wish to
turn around to look at those two persons. Looking back over his
shoulders, he will see the two evil-looking faces in a heated
conversation. He will not be able to put up with it any more, and
become very angry. He will probably start a row with them. The mind is
very difficult to control during a conflict between one person and
another. I would say that it would be easy if everything is
experienced by sitting in the state of Ding. However, it would not be
always so.
As a result, you will run into all kinds of tribulations in your
future cultivation. How can you cultivate yourself without these
tribulations? How can you upgrade your Xinxing by just sitting there
when everyone is good to each other without conflicts of interests and
the interference of the human mind? That is impossible. One needs to
genuinely cultivate oneself through experiencing reality in order to
steel oneself. Some people have said: how come we always meet with
problems while we cultivate, and there are almost as many problems as
a non-practitioner would have? Because you cultivate among ordinary
people, you will not be suddenly turned upside down in the air and
suffer in the sky. It will not happen like that. It will all come from
ordinary people's situations such as whoever may irritate you today,
or whoever may upset you and treat you badly with ill language, which
are used to see how you react to these problems.
Why do you run into these problems? They are all tribulations caused
by your own karma. We have already removed many pieces, except for
that tiny bit which is left and arranged as obstacles placed on
different levels for you to upgrade your Xinxing, test your mind and
discard your various attachments with. All these are your own
tribulations which you should overcome, and we make use of them to
improve your Xinxing. As long as you upgrade your Xinxing, you will be
able to overcome them unless you do not wish to do so. You will be
able to make it if you want to do so. Therefore, from now on do not
regard it as accidental when running into a conflict. Because when a
conflict occurs, it will happen suddenly. Yet, it is not a
coincidence. It aims to improve your Xinxing. As long as you conduct
yourself as a practitioner, you will be able to deal with it properly.
Of course, you will not be informed of the conflict or the tribulation
ahead of time. How could you cultivate if you are told of everything
in advance? That would not be of any use. A conflict will oftentimes
occur suddenly so that it can test one's Xinxing and make one's
Xinxing genuinely improve. It is the only way to judge whether one can
maintain his Xinxing. Therefore, a conflict arises not by accident.
During the whole process of cultivation this issue of karma
transformation will occur, and it will be much more difficult than
suffering from physical pain. How can you increase your cultivation
energy simply by practising a little bit more exercise with sore arms
and tired legs as well as long hours of practice? Those only function
to transform one's Benti ( True Being ). However, they still
need energy to reinforce them. They do not help one to raise one's
attainment level. Tempering one's heart and mind is the key to
genuinely heightening one's levels. Speaking of tiring one's bones and
muscles with toil to make progress, I would say that Chinese farmers
suffer the most. Should they all be qigong masters? No matter how much
physical pain you suffer from, you do not suffer as much as a farmer
would, who works hard and wearily in the field under the burning sun.
It is not such a simple matter. Therefore, we have mentioned, to
genuinely improve oneself, one should genuinely upgrade his mind. That
will be a genuine improvement.
During the process of karma transformation, to keep yourself in
control unlike an ordinary person who would make things worse, we
should normally maintain a benevolent and serene state of mind. When
suddenly running into any problems, you will be able to deal with them
properly. When you often maintain a benevolent mind, you will have
time and room to slow down and think when suddenly meeting with a
problem. If you always think about competing for something with
others, I would say that I am sure you would start a row with others
once there is a problem. Therefore, I have said that when you run into
a conflict, what I mean is to transform your black substance into the
white one and into De.
When our mankind has developed to today's stage, almost everyone was
born rolling in karma. Everyone has a considerably huge amount of
karma. Therefore, in karma transformation a situation often occurs
that your karma is being removed and transformed and in the meantime
your cultivation energy and Xinxing can make progress. When running
into a conflict, it might be displayed in Xinxing friction between one
person and another. If you can endure it, your karma will be removed
and your Xinxing will also be improved, and your cultivation energy
will increase, too. They are so integrated. In the past, people could
increase their cultivation energy because they had a lot of De and
their Xinxing was already high. But people today are not so. Once they
suffer a little, they do not want to cultivate any more. In addition,
they are getting more and more unable to become enlightened, and it
has become more difficult for them to cultivate.
During cultivation there may be two cases in terms of dealing with
specific conflicts and when someone ill-treats you: one is that you
might have ill-treated this person in a previous life. You are not
balanced and wonder why he treats you this way. Then, why did you
treat him that way before? You may argue that you did not know at that
time and this life has nothing to do with the one in the past. This is
not allowed. The other case is related to karma transformation during
a conflict. Therefore, in dealing with specific conflicts we should
conduct ourselves more forgivingly instead of acting like an ordinary
person. This is true in the office, other work environments, and in
private enterprises as well, where there are also human interactions.
It is impossible for you not to interact with society. At least there
are relations between neighbours.
All kinds of contradictions can be encountered in social intercourse.
In our school, as far as the portion of cultivating among ordinary
people is concerned, it does not matter how much money you have, how
high ranking an official you are, whether you are self-employed or
operating a company; it does not matter what business you are dealing
with, but you should be honest and fair in buying and selling. Every
trade in society ought to exist. What counts is one's heart rather
than his career. There was a popular saying that nine out of ten
merchants are dishonest. Ordinary people say so. I would say it is a
question of one's heart. Everybody ought to straighten out his
intentions and do business fairly. It is natural and right that one
earns more when giving more. No pains, no gains. People of different
strata can be good people. There exist different contradictions for
different strata. Contradictions in the high stratum have their own
form and people of a high stratum can also correctly handle them.
People of all strata can care little about their desires, and their
attachments, and therefore become good people. Good people can be
found in different strata. So they may cultivate in the strata they
belong to.
Human conflicts have become very unique nowadays whether in the
nationalized companies or other enterprises in the country. This
phenomenon has not occurred in other countries nor historically
happened here. As a result, the conflicts over interests are shown to
be particularly tense. People use tricks, and compete for a tiny
profit. The thoughts they have and the tricks they play are very
vicious. It is difficult to be a good person. For instance, a person
may feel the atmosphere at the office is abnormal upon reaching the
office. Later someone tells the person that so and so has spoken badly
of you and reported on you to the boss to put you in an awful
situation. Others look at you with a strange look. How could an
ordinary person tolerate that? How could he put up with such an
injustice? If one makes trouble for me, I will return the same to him.
If he knows someone, I do, too. Let us have a competition. If you do
so among ordinary people, they will say that you are powerful.
However, as a practitioner, that would be terrible. If you compete and
contend like an ordinary person, you will be an ordinary person. If
you have done more than an ordinary person would in that regard, you
are worse than that ordinary person.
How should we deal with this issue? We should first of all keep our
heads cool upon running into such a conflict, and we should not behave
the same as he does. Of course, it does not matter if we explain the
matter kindly and state the issue clearly to him. Yet, we should not
become too obsessed with it. If we run into such problems, do not
compete and contend like others. Would you not be an ordinary person
if you do the same as he does? Not only you should not compete and
contend like him, but you should not hate him in your mind, and
genuinely not hate him. Would you not become angry if you hate him? In
this way you have not exercised forbearance. We believe in Zhen Shan
Ren. You are not in a position to practise compassion. Therefore, you
should not do the same as he does or become really angry with him
though he puts you in such an awful situation that you cannot even
look up to face people. Instead of being angry with him, you should
thank him in your mind, and thank him genuinely. An ordinary person
may think that: Is that not Ah Q? I am telling you that it is not so.
Please think about it. Shouldn't we make a high demand of you because
you are a practitioner? You should not conduct yourself with the
standard of ordinary people. Is not what you achieve something
belonging to the high dimension as a practitioner? Then, we must make
the high demand on you by the principles guiding high dimensions.
Wouldn't you be like him if you do the same as he does? Why, then,
should you thank him? Think about it. What will you attain? In the
universe, there is a principle which says: to gain one needs to lose,
and one must lose to gain. He puts you in an awful situation among
ordinary people. He is considered to have gained advantages. The worse
situation he puts you in, the greater the impact it will have, and the
more you will have endured. And the more he will lose his De. Such De
will all be given to you. At the same time when you endure all that,
you probably will care little about it, and not take it seriously.
There is another principle in this universe: You have endured a lot of
pain; thus, your own karma will be transformed. Because you have paid
for it, how much you have endured will be all transformed into the
same amount of De. Does a practitioner not want such De? You will gain
in two ways when your karma is also removed. How can you upgrade your
Xinxing if another person does not create such an environment? How is
it possible if you and I are both nice to each other, and sit there
practising in peace? It is just because he has created such a conflict
and an opportunity which you can make use of to upgrade your Xinxing.
Will your Xinxing be improved this way? You have gained in three ways.
As a practitioner, will cultivation energy increase with the
improvement of your Xinxing? You will have gained in four ways at
once. How can you not thank the person? You should genuinely thank him
from the bottom of your heart. It is indeed so.
Of course, the thought he has had is not decent. Otherwise he would
not have given you De. Yet, he has indeed produced an opportunity to
upgrade your Xinxing. It means that we must pay attention to the
cultivation of Xinxing. At the same time of Xinxing cultivation, karma
will be removed and transformed into De so that you can move up to a
high dimension. They agree with one another. From the perspective of
the high dimension, reasoning has changed completely. Yet, an ordinary
person can not understand it. If you see this principle from the high
dimension, everything will be different. Among ordinary people, you
may believe that a principle is correct. But it is not really correct.
It is correct only if it is seen to be so in the higher dimensions. It
often happens this way.
I have expounded this principle thoroughly, and I hope that in your
future cultivation everyone will treat himself as a practitioner, and
genuinely cultivate himself as the principle has been clearly stated
here. Perhaps, some people still feel that the concrete material
interests are practical because they live among ordinary people. Such
a person still can not conduct himself according to the high standard
in the current of ordinary people. In fact, if you want to become a
good ordinary person, there are heroes and model workers for you to
follow because they are examples for ordinary people to follow. If you
want to be a practitioner, it all depends upon your mind and your
awakening quality because there are no model workers. Fortunately,
today we have made Dafa public. If you had wished to cultivate in the
past, nobody would have taught you. In this way you can act upon the
Great Law, and can probably do well. It all depends upon you whether
you can cultivate yourself, whether it is possible for you to make it
and which level you will be able to break through.
Of course, the transformation of karma does not always take place just
as I have described. It can be manifested in other aspects. It could
happen in a social environment or at home. One may run into some
troubles while walking on the street or in some other social
surroundings. You will be made to give up all those attachments that
can not be discarded by ordinary people. All the attachments which as
long as you have will have to be worn out in different environments.
You will be made to fall down, and to understand why from it. This is
the way we should make it in our cultivation.
There is another relatively typical case in the course of cultivation
for many cultivators. It often happens that when you practise qigong
your spouse becomes extremely unhappy. As soon as you start the
practice, she will start a row with you. She will not mind, though, if
you do any other things. She might not be happy at the time you waste
on playing Mahjong, but not as unhappy as if you practise qigong. Your
practice will not bother her. What a good thing it is since you
practise to keep fit. Yet, once you start the practice she will throw
things around and start quarreling. Some couples almost get divorced
because one of them wants to practise qigong. Many people have not
thought about the reason for the occurrence of such a situation. If
you ask her later: Why did you get so upset when I practised qigong?
She can not explain it, and really can not: Indeed, how come I became
so angry, and so upset at that time? What is in fact the reason? At
the time of the practice one's karma will be transformed. To gain one
has to lose, and what you lose are still the bad things. You have to
give.
Probably your wife will throw a fit right in your face as soon as you
walk in the door. If you endure it, your practice today is not in
vain. Some people know that one should treasure De while practising
qigong. Therefore, such a person normally gets along with his married
partner pretty well. If he thinks: I normally issue orders and she
listens to me, and yet, today she is overriding me, he would not be
able to control his temper and start a row. The practice for that day
might end up in vain. Because the karma is there, and she is helping
you to remove it, but you do not accept it and start a row with her.
It is still there without being eliminated. There are a lot of such
cases which many of our practitioners have experienced. They have not
thought about why it is this way. She will not care if you do
something else. She will always find fault with you though this
practice is actually a good thing. In fact, she is helping you to
remove karma, and yet you have not realized it yourself. She is not
quarreling with you just superficially while she is kind to you from
her heart. It is not so. It is a genuine anger from the bottom of her
heart because whoever receives karma will feel uncomfortable. That is
for sure.
Upgrading Xinxing
Many people of the past ran into a lot of problems after they
cultivated to a certain stage and could not go up any more because
they could not observe their Xinxing. Some people naturally have
relatively high Xinxing. Their Celestial Eyes are at once opened
during practice, and they have reached a certain realm of awareness.
Because such a person has relatively good inborn qualities and
Xinxing, his cultivation energy grows rapidly. By the time his
cultivation energy has reached the level of his Xinxing, he needs to
continue to upgrade his Xinxing in order to increase his cultivation
energy. Then, the problems will also become outstanding. Particularly
for a person of good inborn qualities, he feels that his cultivation
energy has grown well and he is getting on well with his practice as
well. How come there are suddenly a lot of troubles? Everything now is
abnormal. People are mistreating him, and the boss starts to dislike
him. Even the situation at home is very tense. Why are there suddenly
so many problems? He does not understand it. Such a state has occurred
because of his good inborn qualities, and because he has reached a
certain level. However, how could that be the standard of the final
consummation for a practitioner? It is far from the end of the
cultivation! He must continue to upgrade himself. He has reached that
state because of his little inborn qualities. In order to upgrade
himself, the standard has also to be raised.
One may say: I shall earn some more money to take care of my family. I
shall have no more worry about it, and then, I will cultivate the Tao.
I would say that you are dreaming. You are not able to interfere in
the lives of others, nor can you control the fate of others, including
your wife, sons, daughters, parents, and brothers. Are those things to
be determined by you? In addition, what will you cultivate if you do
not have worries nor troubles? How can you practise the Gong in a
comfortable and relaxed manner? Where is there such a thing? That is
what you think from the perspective of an ordinary person.
Cultivation should take place in the midst of tribulations to see
whether you can give up and care little about the seven emotions and
six desires. If you are attached to these things, your cultivation
will not be successful. Everything has its causational relationship.
Why can human beings be human? It is because of the existence of
emotions in human beings. They just live for such emotions, such as an
affection for kinsfolk, love between a man and a woman, an affection
for parents, feelings, friendship, doing things in consideration of
mutual emotions, which embody in all respects. Whether a person wants
to do one thing or not, is happy or unhappy, loves or hates something,
everything in the whole human society derives from these emotions. You
cannot cultivate until you give up these emotions. If you have jumped
out of them, nobody can affect you any more. The mind of an ordinary
person will not be able to sway you. What takes over in their place
will be benevolence which is something of a high order. Of course, it
is not easy to abandon such things all at once. Cultivation is a long
term process, in which one's attachments are slowly given up. However,
you should maintain a strict standard for yourselves.
As practitioners, contradictions may arise all of a sudden. What shall
we do? You should always maintain a mind of compassion and serenity.
When running into a problem, you can do well because it gives you room
to relax the tension. You should always carry compassion and kindness
towards others, and think of others before doing anything. If you
first consider, whenever a problem comes up, whether others can put up
with it and whether it will hurt others, you will not do wrong. So you
must make a high or even higher demand on yourself in your
cultivation.
It happens frequently that some people cannot realize that. Somebody's
Celestial Eye has opened and he sees Buddha. He comes back home and
worships Buddha while at the same time talking repeatedly to Buddha in
his mind, asking: Why don't you help me? Please help me solve the
problem. Of course the Buddha will not help him. The tribulation was
set up by the Buddha to improve the person's Xinxing so that he may go
up in his contradictions. Can he help you solve the problem? He will
not, at all. He will never help you solve it. How can you increase
your cultivation energy, improve your Xinxing and get promoted when
all problems have been solved? The key is to let you increase your
cultivation energy. From the viewpoint of the great enlightened
beings, to be a human being is not the purpose. The purpose of having
a human life is not to be a human, but to return to the origin. Buddha
considers it better that one bears more hardships because he may speed
up paying his debts. That is Buddha's opinion. Some people do not
realize that. When someone got nothing by asking Buddha for help, he
begins to complain to Buddha: Why don't you help me? I burned incense
and kowtowed to you every day. Hence, he breaks the image of Buddha
and from then on starts to abuse Buddha. Because of such abuse, his
Xinxing comes down and his cultivation energy disappears. He knows he
has lost everything and then he hates Buddha more and more. He thinks
Buddha was harming him. How can he judge Buddha's Xinxing by using
ordinary people's standards? How can it work when he treats things of
a high order with an ordinary person's criteria? So it happens
frequently that people consider such hardships to be mistreatments,
and therefore many people have dropped down.
In the past few years, many well-known big qigong masters have also
dropped down. Of course real qigong masters have returned after
accomplishing their own missions. Only those, who have lost among
ordinary people and whose Xinxing has come down, are still active.
They no longer have cultivation energy. Some qigong masters, who used
to have a great reputation, are still active in society. Noticing that
he has dropped into the level of ordinary people and is unable to
extricate himself from the pursuit of fame and gain, his teacher takes
his Assistant Spirit away where his cultivation energy
grew. There are quite a lot of such typical examples.
Such examples are rather few in our school and those in our school are
not striking examples. However in the aspect of Xinxing improvement
there are quite a few striking examples. There was a student from a
textile factory in Shandong Province. Having learnt Falun Dafa, he
taught others to practise it. As a result, the factory has taken on a
new look. The employees of the factory used to take leftover towel
cloth home. After he had learnt Falun Dafa, instead of taking it home,
he would bring back to the factory what he had taken home before. When
they saw what he did, other staff would also not take any. Some of
them even returned to the factory what they had taken home. Such a
situation occurred throughout the whole factory.
A Falun Dafa assistant center director in a certain city went to a
factory to see how the practitioners there were doing with their
practice. The factory director came out to meet him in person and
said: since studying your Dafa these workers come to work early and go
home late. They work very diligently and accomplish whatever
assignments they are given by the boss. Also, they do not compete for
personal interests. Since they have started to act this way, the whole
factory has taken on a new look, and the economic benefits of the
factory have also been improved. Your Gong is so powerful that I would
like to attend the lectures when your teacher comes. The principal
purpose of our cultivating Falun Dafa is to bring people up towards
the high dimensions, without trying to do so. Yet, it could also play
the role of promoting the spiritual awareness of society. If everyone
goes searching inside himself, and thinks about how to conduct himself
well, I would say that society will be stabilized, and the moral
standard of mankind will go up again.
During my lecturing session in Taiyuan, there was a student who was
over 50 years old. She and her husband were crossing the road on their
way to the auditorium to attend my lecture when a car running fast
passed by them. The old woman was caught by the wing mirror of the
car. She was pushed along more than 10 meters before being thrown onto
the ground. The car did not stop until it had gone more than 20
meters. The driver got out of the car and was cross with the lady:
"Why weren't you walking carefully?" Nowadays many people tend to
shirk responsibility when they meet with problems no matter whose
fault it is.
The people in the car asked the woman how she felt and if she needed
to go to the hospital. At this, the driver changed his manner. He
asked the woman if she was all right, and offered to take her to the
hospital. The woman, who was a practitioner, rose from the ground and
said, "There's nothing wrong with me, you may go". Then she whisked
away the dust on her and left with her husband.
When they came to attend my lecture and told me what had happened, I
felt happy because our students' Xinxing had indeed improved. The
woman told me that she would have dealt with the occurrence
differently if she had not learnt Falun Dafa. Let us think about the
event. The woman was in her 50's. The car pushed her along so far and
threw her heavily into the street. Besides, she had retired enjoying
no benefits. If such a thing had happened to an ordinary person, she
might have said that she was seriously injured, and she might not have
got up. If she had been sent to the hospital, she might have caught
this opportunity and stayed there as long as she liked. But as a
cultivator, the old lady didn't behave that way. We believe that one
mindfulness of a person determines the consequence of an affair. Is it
possible that an ordinary person at the age of 50 would not get hurt
at all in such a situation? But the old lady did not even scratch her
skin! This is because she was right minded at that moment. If she had
said, "Oh, I feel terrible. Something is wrong with this part or that
part of my body...", then she might have really broken her bones or
got paralysed. She might have had to spend the rest of her life in the
hospital. In that case, would she feel better by being paid a lot of
money? The people watching the accident wondered why the old woman did
not take advantage of the mishap to squeeze some money from the
driver. We know that moral standards have been distorted today. The
driver was wrong for speeding. But did he knock the woman down
intentionally? Certainly not. However, even the bystanders think it
unfair that she did not ask the driver for money as compensation. Many
people do not know what is right and what is wrong. If you tell
someone that he is doing bad, he will not believe you. Because changes
have taken place in the moral standard of mankind. Some people put
profit-making first. There is nothing that they dare not do for the
sake of money. And it has even been taken as the motto by some people
that "Heaven destroys those who do not look out for themselves."
One practitioner in Beijing once took his child for a stroll at
Qianmen after supper. They saw many people buying lottery tickets at a
broadcasting van. The child wanted to join in the fun, so the father
bought a one-yuan ticket for him. Luckily they won the second prize: a
high-quality bicycle especially made for children. The child felt
overjoyed. But it suddenly occurred to the father that a practitioner
should not pursue this kind of thing. How much De would it cost him to
accept a prize which he was not entitled to? With this idea, he said
to the child, "Don't take the bike, I will buy you one if you want".
The child became unhappy, "You didn't agree to buy one for me before;
now that I've got one free and you won't even let me take it!" The
child began to cry; the father had to take the bicycle home. At home,
the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt about
himself. He thought about sending money to the lottery people. Then he
thought that the lottery tickets were gone, and figured they would
divide the money among themselves if he sent it to them. Finally, he
decided to donate the money to his work unit.
The father is lucky that many of his colleagues are practitioners of
our Falun Dafa, too. They can understand him, so can his boss. If such
a thing occurred in an ordinary environment, an ordinary work unit,
where you say you do not want the lottery bike and donate the money to
your work unit because you are a practitioner, your boss would think
that there is something wrong with your mind. Others would talk behind
your back: "Has this person gone wrong with his practice of qigong,
and gone mad because he is too obsessed with it?" I have told you that
the moral standard of the people has been distorted. In 1950's and
1960's, what was such a behaviour? It was quite common and nobody
would have felt strange.
We believe that no matter what changes have occurred in human moral
standard, the cosmic qualities - Zhen Shan Ren will never change. If
someone says that you are good, you are not necessarily really good.
If someone says that you are bad, you are not necessarily really bad
because the measuring criterion for good and bad has been distorted.
Only by conforming to the cosmic qualities can one be a good person.
That is the sole measuring criterion for good and bad, which is
recognized by the universe. Although a great change has taken place in
human society, human moral standard has declined, the moral
degeneration of the world is getting worse day by day, and profits
making has become the only motivation, the universe does not change
with the changes in mankind. As a practitioner you cannot act
according to the ordinary people's standards. It is not all right if
you do something because an ordinary person says it is right to do so.
What an ordinary person says is good may not be necessarily good. What
an ordinary person says is bad may also not be necessarily bad. In an
era when moral standard is distorted, if you tell someone that he is
doing something wrong, he will not even believe it! As a practitioner,
you can determine what is genuinely good and what is genuinely bad by
using the measurement of the cosmic qualities.
Filling Energy into the Top of the Head
In the world of cultivation, there exists a formality, which is called
"filling energy into the top of the head". It is a religious formality
of the cultivation way of Tantrism which belongs to the Buddha School.
Its purpose is to forbid the person who has performed this ritual to
enter other schools. In this way he is accepted formally as a disciple
of this school. Today, the curious thing about it is that such a
religious ritual can be found in the practice of qigong, such as in
cultivation systems of the Tao School, which also practise filling
energy into the top of the head. As I have told you, all cultivation
ways under the cover of Tantrism which are taught in public are false.
Why do I say so? Because Tang-Tantrism disappeared in China over one
thousand years ago and it no longer exists at all, an integrated
system of Tibetan Tantrism has never spread into the Han region of
China due to the language limitation. What is more, practitioners of
Tantrism are required to cultivate secretly in temples, and receive
teachings from their masters in secret, and their masters guide them
in cultivation, for it is an esoteric religion. It will never be
passed on if the proper condition cannot be met.
Many people have gone to Tibet to seek a master in order to learn
Tibetan Tantrism qigong for the purpose of becoming a qigong master
someday and becoming famous and rich. Let us think about this matter.
The living Buddha or lama who has received true teachings possesses
powerful supernormal capabilities which enable him to read a student's
mind. With one look at the student, he is able to tell what he has
come for and what he is up to. He wants to become a qigong master and
make money and seek fame, and to ruin our way of Buddha cultivation.
How could this serious Buddha cultivation way be casually damaged by
his desire to become a qigong master for fame and gain? What on earth
is his motivation? In this case, he would never receive any teachings
at all, not to mention any true teachings. However, it is possible
that he has learned something superficial because there are many
temples there. When one is not right minded, and only wants to become
a qigong master to do bad, he is likely to incur spirit possession.
The possessing animal also has energy, but not Tibetan Tantrism. Those
who have gone to Tibet really in search of the Law might possibly
settle down there and would not make their appearance once they have
got there. These are genuine cultivators.
It is strange that "filling energy into the top of the head" is also
practised by many Taoist cultivation systems. The Tao School features
the exercise of energy channels. Why is "filling energy into the top
of the head" involved? When I taught the Gong in the south, as far as
I could see, such things happen very often in Guangdong Province,
where there were more then 10 heterodox cultivation systems which
taught "filling energy into the top of the head". What does that mean?
It means you have become their disciple after the master has filled
energy into the top of your head; and you are not allowed to learn
from any other qigong systems. Otherwise, you will be punished. That
is what they do. Is this not an evil practice? What they teach is
something to cure diseases and keep fit. What people want is only to
have a healthy body upon learning their qigong. Why should they do
such a thing? Someone says that whoever practises their qigong cannot
practise other qigong systems. Could they save people towards
consummation? They are leading people astray. But a good many people
are doing so.
"Filling energy into the top of the head" is not taught in the Tao
School, but it appears in it. I found the energy column of the qigong
master who ran wild practising "filling energy into the top of the
head" is only as tall as a two-or-three-storey building. He is quite a
famous qigong master. I think it a pity that he lost so much
cultivation energy. Hundreds of people queued up waiting to be filled
with energy by the master. But the cultivation energy that he had was
limited -- only that high -- it went down quickly and was consumed at
last. Then what could he use to fill other people with energy? Wasn't
he cheating them? Viewed from another space, filling energy into the
top of one's head can make one's bones look like white jade from head
to foot, which is the result of purifying the body all through with
energy and the high energy matter.
Could that master make it? No, he could not. Then why was he doing
that? Practising religion was not necessarily his purpose. As far as
he was concerned, people who have learned his qigong should belong to
him, and they should attend his classes to study his way. Making money
is his real purpose. He can hardly make money if nobody learns his
qigong.
Like disciples of other cultivation ways of the Buddha School,
disciples of Falun Dafa will go through "filling energy into the top
of the head" many times by their superior space masters while they
themselves are not aware of it. Those who possess supernormal
capabilities or who are sensitive may know or feel it in sleep or some
other time when they suddenly feel a hot current penetrating all
through their bodies coming down from the head. The purpose of filling
energy this way is not to add high cultivation energy to you, because
cultivation energy can only be acquired through personal cultivation.
Filling energy into the top of the head is a reinforcing method to
purify and to further clean up your bodies. There are many times where
filling energy into the top of the head will occur on every level to
clean up your bodies. We do not practise the formality of filling
energy into the top of the head because cultivation is one's own
business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is done by one's
master.
Some people still practise something like formally acknowledging
somebody as their master. Speaking of it, I would like to mention, by
the way, that many people want to take me as their master. This
historical time of ours is different from the feudal society of China.
Would knee down and kowtowing stand for worshipping your master? We do
not practise such a formality. Many of our practitioners think: if I
kowtow, burn incense, and worship the Buddha with a sincere heart, my
cultivation energy will grow. I would say that is ridiculous. Genuine
cultivation depends upon oneself. It does not help at all to seek
anything else. You do not have to worship the Buddha, nor burn
incense. As long as you cultivate genuinely according to the standard
of a practitioner, the Buddha will be very pleased when he sees you.
If you always do wrong deeds away from home, he will feel disgusted to
look at you although you worship and kowtow to him. Is this not the
truth? Genuine cultivation depends upon the person himself. What is
the use of your kowtowing to and worshipping the master today, if you
do whatever you want to do upon stepping out of the door? We do not
practise such a formality at all, or else you could possibly damage my
reputation.
We have given everyone so many things. I shall treat as my disciples
all those who cultivate themselves indeed and strictly follow the
Great Law. As long as you practise Falun Dafa, we shall treat you and
give you guidance as disciples. If you do not want to cultivate, we
will not be able to do anything for you. What will you carry that name
for if you do not want to cultivate? It does not matter whether you
are from the first session or the second session. How can you become
our practitioners by just practising the exercise? Only by genuinely
following our Xinxing standard to cultivate can you keep a healthy
body and genuinely make progress towards the high dimensions.
Therefore, we do not practise these formalities. As long as you
cultivate yourself, you will become practitioners of our school. My
Law body knows everything. He knows everything on your mind, and can
do anything. He will not take care of you if you do not cultivate
yourself, and he will help you all the way through if you do.
Practitioners of some cultivation systems who have never seen their
master have said that if they pay a few hundred yuan and kowtow to a
certain direction they will become his students. Isn't this cheating
oneself? In addition, such a student has become very devoted ever
since, and begun to defend or protect the system and the master, also
telling others not to learn other systems. In my opinion, it is quite
ridiculous. Still, there are people who practise Top-touching. We do
not know what effect it has after his touching.
Not only those who wave the flag of Tantrism to teach qigong are a
sham, but also all those who carry the banner of Buddhism to teach
qigong are a sham. Please think about it. For several thousand years,
the cultivation methods of Buddhism have remained unchanged. Would it
be Buddhism if someone changed it? Cultivation methods aim at
seriously cultivating Buddhas. In addition, they are extremely
mystical, and a tiny change would lead to a muddle. Because the
evolution process of cultivation energy is very complex and the human
senses are nothing, one cannot cultivate himself depending on his
senses. The religious formality for monks is a cultivation method,
which will not belong to that school once changed. There is a great
enlightened being in charge of each cultivation school, which has
turned out many great enlightened beings through cultivation. Nobody
dares to change the method of that school at will through cultivation.
And yet, what mighty virtues does a little qigong master have to cheat
the master and change the school of cultivating Buddhas? Will it still
belong to that school if it is really changed? The fake qigong methods
can be distinguished.
Xuanguan-Shewei (Placement of the Mysterious Pass)
Placement of the Mysterious Pass is also called Xuanguan-Yiqiao (the
One Aperture of the Mysterious Pass). Such terms can be found in the
books of Danjing, Daozang, and Xingming Guizhi (A Genuine Guide to
Cultivation of Nature and Life). Then, what is it all about? Many
qigong masters cannot explain it. This is because on the level of an
ordinary qigong master, he cannot see it at all and he is not allowed
to see it. If a practitioner wants to see it, he has to reach beyond
the plane of the Wisdom Eye Sight to see it. An ordinary qigong master
cannot reach this plane, and thus he cannot see it. Historically, the
world of cultivation has been exploring what the Mysterious Pass (
) is, where the One Aperture is and how to place it (
). From the books of Danjing, Daozang and Xingming Guizhi,
you can find that they all talk about the theories this way and that
way, but do not tell you the essence of it. They have talked you into
confusion, and you are at a loss, for an ordinary person is not
allowed to know the heart of the matter.
In addition, let me tell everyone that because you are my disciples of
Falun Dafa, I would say these words to you: Do not read those
heterodox qigong books. I do not refer to the above mentioned several
ancient books, but to those fake qigong books written by contemporary
people. Do not even open them at all. If the idea flashes in your
mind: Well, this sentence seems to be reasonable, as soon as this has
occurred to your mind, the evil spirit in the book will get into you.
Many books were written under the control of an evil spirit which
manipulated human desires for fame and gain. There are so many and
considerably a lot of fake qigong books. Many people have no sense of
responsibility, and some of the spirit possessed even write about
things evil. Do not even read the several ancient books mentioned
above as well as other related ancient books as it involves the issue
of specializing only in one cultivation way.
A head of the China Qigong Society once told me something that made me
laugh a lot. He said that there was a person in Beijing, who often
went to qigong lectures. After listening to many talks, after quite a
long time he felt that qigong was nothing more than what was said
there. Because they were on the same level, they all talked about the
same things. Like those sham qigong masters, he thought that the
connotation of qigong was nothing more than that. Then, he wanted to
write a qigong book. Please think about it. A non-qigong-practitioner
planned to write a qigong book. Nowadays, the qigong books are copied
from one to another. As his writing progressed, he got stuck on the
issue of the Mysterious Pass. Who could understand what the Mysterious
Pass is? Few genuine qigong masters understand it. He went to ask a
sham qigong master. But actually he did not know this qigong master
was a sham because he himself knew nothing about qigong. This sham
qigong master thought if he could not answer this question, people
would know he was a sham. Therefore, he dared to make up a story,
saying that the One Aperture of the Mysterious Pass was at the tip of
one's penis. It sounds very funny. Do not laugh. This book has already
been published in society. This is to say that qigong books today have
reached such a ridiculous point. Just say what is the use of reading
those books; there is no use; they can only harm people.
What is the Placement of the Mysterious Pass? While cultivating in Shi
Jian Fa (the In-Triple-World-Law), when a person has reached beyond
the middle stage, namely, on the high-level cultivation of the
In-Triple-World-Law, he starts to grow Yuanying (the Immortal Infant).
It is different from what we have mentioned about Yinghai (Subtle
Babies). Subtle Babies are tiny and playful, who run around. The
Immortal Infant cannot move. Yuanshen (the True Spirit) does not take
control of it. It does not move, but sits cross-legged on the lotus
with both hands conjoined. The Immortal Infant is born in the Dan Tian
(the area of the lower abdomen), and can be seen when it is even
smaller than the tip of a needle in the microcosmic state.
In addition, another issue should be clarified. There is only one real
Dan Tian at the lower abdomen area. It is located above the Huiyin
acupuncture point below the belly inside a human body. A lot of
cultivation energy, many supernormal capabilities, many magic
techniques, the Law bodies , the Immortal Infant, Subtle
Babies and a good many living entities are born here.
Some individual practitioners in the past talked about the upper Dan
Tian, the middle Dan Tian and the lower Dan Tian. I would say that
they were wrong. Some people also said that their masters had taught
this for generations, and it was in the books. Let me tell you that
there was dross even in the ancient times. Although it has been
inherited and passed on for years, it is not necessarily right. Some
worldly small cultivation ways have always been passed around among
ordinary people. Yet, they cannot cultivate, and they are nothing.
Such a person calls it the upper Dan Tian, the middle Dan Tian, and
the lower Dan Tian because he means to say that the place where Dan
(the elixir) can be born is Dan Tian. Is this not a joke? When a human
intention concentrates on one point, in the long run, it will be able
to develop an energy mass and the elixir will be born there. If you do
not believe it, always concentrate your intention on your arm, and
keep it that way, in the long run, the elixir will be born there.
Therefore, some people saw this happening, and declared that Dan Tian
exists everywhere. In fact, it is Dan (the elixir), but not Tian (the
field). It is all right if you say Dan is everywhere, or there are the
upper Dan, the middle Dan and the lower Dan. However, there is only
one genuine Tian (the field) which can give birth to numerous Laws,
and which is located in the field of the lower abdomen. Therefore, the
way of saying the upper Dan Tian, the middle Dan Tian and the lower
Dan Tian is wrong. Dan will be born wherever you concentrate your
intention for a long period of time.
The Yuanying (Immortal Infant) grows up slowly to become larger and
larger from this Dan Tian of the lower abdomen area. When it grows to
be as big as a ping-pong ball, the whole shape of the body can be seen
clearly with nose and eyes formed. At the same time when the Immortal
Infant is as big as a ping-pong ball, a round bubble will be born next
to it. Upon birth, the bubble will grow along with the Immortal
Infant. When the latter reaches 4 inches tall, a petal of a lotus
flower will appear. When it grows to be 5 or 6 inches, the petals of
the lotus flower are basically formed. A layer of lotus flower has
appeared. A shining golden Immortal Infant sits in the golden plate of
the lotus flower, looking very beautiful. This is the immortal body of
a Vajra, which is called the Buddha body in the Buddha School, or the
Immortal Infant in the Tao School.
Our cultivation school cultivates and requires both kinds of such
bodies, and Benti (the True Being) also will be transformed. As you
know, a Buddha body is not allowed to be seen among ordinary people.
With some good effort, it could reveal its shape which an ordinary
person's eyes can observe in the form of light. However, this body
upon transformation appears to be the same as an ordinary person's
body. An ordinary person can not find the changes but this body can
pass through spaces. When Yuanying (the Immortal Infant) has reached 4
to 5 inches, the air bubble has also grown to that height, which is
transparent just like the skin of an air balloon. The Immortal Infant
sits there without moving. When it is this big, the air bubble will
leave Dan Tian, as it has become mature. Therefore, it will ascend.
The process of ascension is a very slow one. But its motion can be
observed daily. It gradually moves up, rising higher and higher up. We
can sense its existence by meticulous observation.
When the air bubble rises to the acupuncture point of Shanzhong, it
will stay there for a while because there is a lot of essence of a
human body there (including the heart), a system of which will be
formed in the air bubble. This essence will be supplied into the air
bubble. After some time, it will again ascend. When it passes through
the throat, one will feel suffocated as if the blood vessels were all
blocked and swollen quite uncomfortably. This will last only for a
couple of days. Then the air bubble will rise to the top of the head,
which we call upper Niwan. It is said that it has reached Niwan. In
fact, it is as large as your entire brain. Your head will feel
swollen. Because Niwan is a very important place of a human life, the
essence of it will also need to be formed in the air bubble. Then, the
air bubble will try to squeeze its way out of the channel of the
Celestial Eye, which makes you feel quite uncomfortable. The Celestial
Eye will be squeezed to feel great pain, and the temples will also
feel swollen with the eyes feeling as if they are digging inward until
it squeezes out and hangs in front of the forehead all at once. It
hangs up there. This is what we mean by the Placement of the
Mysterious Pass.
By this time, the person whose Celestial Eye is open may not be able
to see anything. The door is shut because cultivation in both the
Buddha School and the Tao School is intended to speed up the formation
of things inside the Mysterious Pass as soon as possible. There are
two doors in the front as well as in the rear, both of which are
closed. Like the gate way of Tian An Men (Gate of Heavenly Peace in
Beijing), there are two big doors on both sides. In order to make it
substantial and form as soon as possible, the doors will not open
unless there are special circumstances. What one could see with his
Celestial Eye will not be able to be seen or allowed to be seen at
this point. What is the purpose of its hanging there? Because the
hundreds of energy channels in our bodies meet there, they will go
through the Mysterious Pass in a circle and go out. Their all going
through the Mysterious Pass is aimed at laying some foundation and
forming a system of certain things inside it. Because a human body is
a small universe, it will produce a small world with all of the human
essence built into it. However, it only produces a set of equipment
which cannot operate thoroughly yet.
For the Cultivation Way of the Rare School, the Mysterious Pass is
open. When it ejects out, it is a long tube which will become round
gradually. So the doors in the front and in the rear are open. Because
the cultivation system of the Rare School cultivates neither Buddhas
nor the Tao, and they will have to protect themselves. In the Buddha
School and the Tao School, there are a great many masters, who can
protect you, and you will not have to see to it, nor run into any
problems. But the cultivation system of the Rare School cannot go this
way. Their practitioners must protect themselves so they should be
able to see with their Celestial Eyes all the time. But at that time,
seeing with one's Celestial Eye is like seeing through a telescope.
After a system of material has been formed in a month or so, it will
begin to return inside. After it goes back inside, this will be called
Xuanguan Huanwei ( Shift of the Mysterious Pass).
When it returns inside, one will feel swollen and uncomfortable. Then,
it will squeeze out of the acupuncture point of Yuzhen. This
squeezing-out also makes one feel uncomfortable as if one's head had
been split open. When it comes out all at once, and then one will feel
relaxed immediately. Upon coming out, it will hang in very deep space,
and exist in the body formation of very deep space. Therefore, one
would not feel it during sleep. However, one thing that one could feel
is that there seems to be something in front of his eyes during the
first Xuanguan Shewei ( the Placement of the Mysterious
Pass). Though it is in another space, one will usually feel his eyes
are blurred as if something had covered them, and he does not feel
comfortable. Because the acupuncture point Yuzhen is a key point, a
system of material will also be formed in the rear, and then it will
start to go back again. This Xuanguan Yiqiao (the one aperture of the
Mysterious Pass) in fact is not only one aperture as it will change
positions many times. When it returns to Niwan, it will begin to
descend in the body until it arrives at the acupuncture point of
Mingmen. It will then be projected out of the Mingmen.
The Mingmen point of the human body is a major key qiao (aperture),
which is called qiao in the Tao School, and guan ( pass) by us. It is
a major principal pass which is like an iron door of many layers. We
all know that the human body is one layer upon another layer. Our
flesh cells comprise one layer, the molecules inside it another. Every
plane has a layer of gates, the atom, the proton, the electron, the
infinitely small, till the extremely small particle. Therefore, there
are numerous supernormal capabilities and many magic powers locked
inside the gate of each layer. Other cultivation ways cultivate Dan
(the elixir). When the elixir is going to explode, the Mingmen point
must be blasted open. If it is not opened, the supernormal
capabilities will not be able to be released. After the Mysterious
Pass forms a system at the Mingmen point, it will return inside the
body. Then, it will return to the lower abdomen area. This is called
Xuanguan Guiwei ( Return of the Mysterious Pass).
After its return, the Mysterious Pass does not go back to the original
place. By then, the Immortal Infant has grown to be quite large. The
air bubble will cover and wrap it up. As the Immortal Infant grows, it
also grows. Often in the Tao School, when the Immortal Infant grows to
be as big as a 6 to 7 year-old child, it will be allowed to leave the
human body, which is called Yuanying Chushi (The Immortal Infant is
born into the world). It will be controlled by the human Yuanshen (the
True Spirit). In this way it can move around outside the body. One's
body does not move, and his True Spirit will come out. Generally, an
Immortal Infant of the Buddha School will be out of danger when it has
been cultivated to be as big as the practitioner himself. At this
time, it will usually be allowed to leave one's body and come out. By
then, the Immortal Infant has grown to be as large as the practitioner
himself, and the cover is also large. The cover which is Xuanguan (the
Mysterious Pass) has already expanded to the outside of one's body.
Because the Immortal Infant has grown to be so large, it will
certainly expand to the outside of one's body.
Perhaps, you have seen the Buddha image in the temple in which the
former is always inside a circle. In particular, the portrait of a
Buddha image always has a circle in which the Buddha sits. The same is
true of a great many Buddha images; especially those portraits of the
Buddha images in an ancient temple are always like that. Nobody could
explain clearly why the Buddha sits inside the circle. Let me tell you
that this is Xuanguan (the Mysterious Pass). However, it is not called
Xuanguan by now. It is called a world, though not yet an actual world.
It only has this set of equipment. Just like a factory, there is only
a set of equipment but it has no capability of production. There must
be some power and raw materials before it can start production. A few
years ago many practitioners said that: my cultivation energy is
higher than a Bodhisattva, or my cultivation energy is higher than a
Buddha. Others would think it is too abstruse. In fact, what such a
person said is not at all abstruse as cultivation energy indeed must
be cultivated to be very high in this world.
Why, then, does there exist a situation where one has cultivated to
the point of being higher than a Buddha? It can not be understood
superficially. Such a person's cultivation energy is indeed very high.
Because when he has cultivated to reach a very high level, and reached
the time to open his cultivation energy and become enlightened, his
cultivation energy is indeed very high. Just at the moment prior to
his enlightenment, 80% of his cultivation energy will be taken down
together with his Xinxing standard as this energy is used to
substantiate this world of his, his own world. We all know that a
practitioner's cultivation energy especially plus his Xinxing standard
has been cultivated out through a great deal of lifelong sufferings,
hardships and tribulations in harsh environments. Therefore, it is
extremely valuable. Eighty percent of such a valuable material is used
to substantiate his world. As a result, when he succeeds in his
cultivation in the future, he will get what he wants when he holds his
hands out, and will have anything he wants. He will do anything he
wants as everything exists in his world. These are his mighty virtues
which are attained through his cultivation after suffering.
This energy of his can be transformed into anything. Therefore, if a
Buddha wants something, eats something, plays with something, he will
have it. This is from his own cultivation, which is Fowei (the Buddha
status). Without this he will not succeed in cultivation. By this time
it could be called his own world, and he will reach consummation and
attain the Tao only with the 20% of his cultivation energy left.
Though only 20% of the cultivation energy is left, his body is not
locked. He either will have his body or not have it. But his body has
already been transformed by the high energy matter. At this time he
will have supernatural powers and become extremely powerful. While
cultivating among ordinary people, such a person is often locked, and
does not have such capabilities. No matter how high his cultivation
energy is, it will be restricted. Now, it is different.
Lecture Five
Configuration of Falun
The sign of our Falun Dafa is Falun. Those with supernormal
capabilities can see Falun revolving. The same is true of our Falun
badge which is also rotating. We cultivate under the guidance of the
cosmic qualities, Zhen Shan Ren ( Truth Compassion
Forbearance), and according to the principles of the cosmic evolution.
Therefore, we cultivate something really enormous. In a sense, the
configuration of Falun is the miniature of the universe. The Buddha
School conceptualizes the universe as the Ten Directions with four
sides and eight directions. Perhaps, some people can see a vertical
energy pillar above and below Falun, which just makes up the Ten
Directions plus the above and the below, which constitute the universe
and stand for the Buddha School's summarization of the universe.
This universe, of course, consists of numerous galaxies including our
Milky Way galaxy. The whole universe is in motion, and so are all the
galaxies within it. Therefore, the Taiji and the small swastikas "
" in the configuration as well as the whole Falun are also
rotating, including the large swastika " " in the center. In
a way, the configuration symbolizes our Milky Way galaxy. Because we
belong to the Buddha School, the center retains the symbol of the
Buddha School. This is seen on the surface. All substances have their
own existing forms in other spaces in which they have an extremely
rich and complex process of evolution and form of existence. This
configuration of Falun is a miniature of the universe and has its own
form of existence and process of evolution in each of the other
spaces. Therefore, I call it a world.
When Falun rotates clockwise, it can automatically absorb energy from
the universe. While rotating counter clockwise, it can give off
energy. An internal clockwise rotation offers salvation to oneself
while an external rotation offers salvation to others. This is the
feature of our cultivation way. Some people have asked why there
should be a Taiji since we belong to the Buddha School. Doesn't the
Taiji belong to the Tao School? This is because we cultivate something
very immense, and as good as cultivate the whole universe. Then, think
about it. This universe consists of the two large schools, the Buddha
School and the Tao School. Excluding either of them would not make up
a complete universe and such a universe could not be said to be
complete. As a result, we have included what belongs to the Tao
School. Still some people say that in addition to just the Tao School,
there are other religions such as Christianity, Confucianism, etc..
Let me tell you that Confucianism belongs to the Tao School when its
cultivation reaches the extremely high dimension, while many Western
religions fall into the Buddha School and belong to the same system of
the Buddha School when they reach the very high dimension. There are
just two major schools.
Then, why are there two Taiji patterns with their upper halves red and
lower halves blue, and another two Taiji patterns with their upper
halves red and lower halves black? What we generally understand is
that Taiji is composed of the two substances of black and white, the
Yin and the Yang. That perception comes from a very low level as its
manifestation varies from space to space. These are its colours as
they are manifested at the supreme level. The Tao we generally refer
to has the colours red in its upper part and black for its lower part.
For instance, some of our cultivators have opened their Celestial
Eyes, and have discovered that the red colour they see with their eyes
is green when seen in the space next to ours. The golden colour is
seen to be purple in another space. Thus, there is a contrast, i.e.
its colours differ from space to space. The Taiji with its upper part
red and lower part blue belongs to the School of the Primordial Great
Tao, which includes the Rare Cultivation Way. The four small swastika
signs " " on the four sides belong to the Buddha School,
which are just the same as the one in the middle, all belonging to the
Buddha School. The colour of this Falun is relatively bright and we
use it as the emblem of Falun Dafa.
The Falun we see through our Celestial Eyes does not necessarily have
the same colours, because the background colour will change while its
pattern remains the same. When the Falun that I have planted in your
lower abdomen area is spinning, your celestial eye may see it as red,
or purple, or green, or perhaps colourless. Its background colour
keeps changing with the colours of red, orange, yellow, green, indigo,
blue, and purple. That's why what you see may be of different colours
while the swastika signs " " inside, and the colours and the
patterns of Taiji will remain the same. We feel that the background
colour of the pattern looks nice, and therefore we have fixed it.
Those with supernormal capabilities can transcend this space and see a
lot of things.
Some people have mentioned that this swastika sign " " looks
like that of Hitler's. Now I'd like to tell you that this sign itself
does not connote any class concepts. Some people say that if its
corner is tilted to this side, it would be Hitler's emblem. This does
not matter as both sides rotate. It was 2500 years ago in Sakyamuni's
time that our human society came to recognize this sign widely. It is
but a few decades from Hitler's time during the World War II up till
now. He usurped this sign. But his is black in colour, and different
from ours. Moreover, his sign stands upright with the points facing
up. That's all for this Falun. We have only mentioned the form of its
appearance.
What, then, does this swastika " " symbolize in our Buddha
School? Some people say that it resembles good fortune, but this is an
interpretation of ordinary people. Let me tell you that " "
is a sign of a Buddha's status of achievement. Only when one reaches
the Buddha's status can he have it. A Bodhisattva and an Arhat do not
have it. Yet, senior Bodhisattvas and the four senior Bodhisattvas all
have it. We can see that these senior Bodhisattvas are far above the
status of ordinary Buddhas, even above Tathagatas. There are numerous
Buddhas above the status of Tathagata who has only one swastika "
". Those who have reached beyond the status of Tathagata have
more and more swastikas " ". A Buddha whose status is twice
as high as a Tathagata will have two swastikas " ". Those who
are even higher will have three, or four, or five......etc.. They have
so many of it which can be found all over their bodies, on the head,
shoulders, knees. There are so many of it that it will even appear on
the palms, fingers, foot arches and toes, etc.. With the status rising
higher and higher, the swastikas " " will increase
continuously. Therefore, the sign " " represents the status
of a Buddha. The higher the status of a Buddha, the more signs "
" he will have.
Rare Cultivation Way
In addition to the Buddha School and the Tao School, there is a Rare
Cultivation Way which labels itself as the Rare Cultivation. There is
a conventional belief on the issue of cultivation methods: From
ancient China to this day, people have regarded the Buddha School and
the Tao School as orthodox cultivation ways, and also call them the
cultivation of the Orthodox School. This Rare Cultivation Way has
never been open to the public, and therefore very few people know of
its existence. People have learned about it only from literary works.
Does this Rare Cultivation Way exist? Yes. In the course of my
cultivation, especially in recent years, I ran into three highly
accomplished masters of the Rare School, who imparted to me the best
of their school which was extraordinarily unique and remarkable. It is
simply because what it cultivates is very unique, what it achieves in
cultivation is very strange and cannot be understood by ordinary
people. In addition, they claim that they belong to neither the Buddha
School nor the Tao School. They do not cultivate the Buddha or the
Tao. When people hear they cultivate neither the Buddha nor the Tao,
they label the school as Pangmen Zuodao (the Heterodox School). They
call themselves the Cultivation Way of the Rare School. The term of
Pangmen Zuodao has a pejorative connotation, but it does not carry a
negative meaning as it does not mean that the Rare School cultivates
an evil way. This is beyond doubt. It does not imply an evil Way in
its literal meaning, either. Through the ages the Buddha School and
the Tao School have been named orthodox cultivation ways. Before
people came to understand this cultivation way, it was said to be a
Pangmen, or a sidedoor, not the door to the Orthodox School. What
about Zuodao then? Zuo means clumsy, the clumsy way. As the word Zuo
in the ancient Chinese vocabulary was often used as "clumsy", Pangmen
Zuodao carries such an inference.
Why isn't it an evil way? Because it also has the strict requirement
of Xinxing. Its cultivation is also based upon the cosmic qualities.
It does not violate the cosmic qualities nor the cosmic Laws, nor does
it do anything wrong. Therefore, we cannot say it is an evil way. It
is not because the fundamental qualities of our universe conform to
the cultivation ways of the Buddha School and the Tao School, but it
is because both of their cultivation ways conform to the cosmic
qualities that they have become orthodox schools. Since the
cultivation of the Rare Cultivation Way conforms to the fundamental
qualities of the universe, it is not an evil way, but an orthodox way
all the same, because the criterion used to measure what is good or
what is bad, what is good or what is evil are the cosmic qualities.
Since it cultivates according to the cosmic qualities, it also follows
a correct course; however, the features of its requirements differ
from those of the Buddha School and the Tao School. Nor does it
believe in teaching many students; rather, it is taught to a limited
number of students. The Taoist Cultivation Way is handed down by
teaching a large number of students, but only one of them receives
true teachings. The Buddha School teaches the salvation of all living
beings. Whoever wants to cultivate himself can do so.
While handing down its cultivation way, the Rare Cultivation Way never
chooses two people, but only one person as its disciple in a
considerably long period of time in history. For this reason, what is
possessed has never been shown to ordinary people throughout history.
As a matter of fact, when qigong reached its height, I found that a
few people from this cultivation way also came out to teach qigong.
However, while they were teaching, they found that they were actually
doing the impossible, because there were some things that their
masters did not allow them to teach to the public by any means. If
they wanted to make it public, they could not select disciples, and
people who had come had different levels of Xinxing. They would not be
able to choose disciples because various kinds of people had come with
different mentalities. Therefore, it is impossible for the Rare
Cultivation Way to be popularized, and it is liable to invite danger,
for what it cultivates is extremely unique.
Some people think that the Buddha School cultivates Buddhas while the
Tao School cultivates immortals. Then what does the Rare Cultivation
Way cultivate becoming after all? They cultivate becoming wandering
immortals without a definite territory in a cosmic world. We all know
that the Tathagata, Sakyamuni, has his Saha Paradise, Buddha Amitabha
has his Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, and Buddha, Master Physician has
his Glazed Paradise. Each Tathagata or great Buddha has his own
paradise. Every great enlightened being has a paradise of his own
construction with many disciples of his living in it, while the Rare
Cultivation Way has no definite cosmic territory; rather, they are
simply like traveling gods or wandering immortals.
Cultivation of the Evil Way
What is the cultivation of the evil way? There are several such forms:
There is one kind of people who specialize in cultivating the evil
way, for it has been taught through the ages. Why do they teach this?
Because they are bent on fame and gain and making fortunes with
ordinary people. They are interested in this. Of course such people
will not gain cultivation energy because their Xinxing is not high.
What will they gain then? Karma. When one's karma accumulates to a
certain amount, it will also become a kind of energy. However, such a
person is not in possession of an attainment level. He has no
comparison with a cultivator, but in comparison with an ordinary
person he has the ability to regulate the latter. This is because this
matter is also the manifestation of a kind of energy which can play
the role of being able to strengthen the supernormal capabilities of
the human body when its density becomes great. This is why there have
been some people who teach such things throughout the ages. Such a
person says: I will increase my cultivation energy by doing wrong and
swearing. He does not increase his cultivation energy; in fact, he
increases the density of this black substance because doing wrong
could gain the black substance --- karma. So he can also enable those
bits of petty supernormal capabilities he carries along to be
reinforced by such karma, and can also produce bits of petty
supernormal capabilities, which cannot do anything significant. Such
people hold that committing wrongdoings can also increase cultivation
energy, and they have such a conviction.
Some people talk about the so-called "The Tao grew by one foot but the
demon grew by ten." This is but a fallacy among ordinary people.
Demons will never be above the Tao. There is a state of affairs that
the universe our mankind knows is only a small one among the numerous
universes, and we just call it the universe for short. Each time after
a long period of time in the remote past, this universe has always
experienced a cosmic catastrophe, which was able to destroy everything
in it, including the stars and all life in the universe. There is also
a law governing the motion of the universe. For our present cycle of
the universe, it is not just mankind that has become evil, as many
beings have already perceived an occurrence of the situation for the
time being, a big explosion has taken place in this cosmic space long
before. The reason why astronomers today cannot see this is that what
we see when we now use the most powerful telescope to observe it is a
scene which occurred 150000 light years ago. If you want to see what
changes have taken place in the celestial bodies, you will have to
wait for 150000 light years. This is indeed a very remote future.
By now the whole universe has already undergone a great change. Each
time such a change took place, all life in the whole universe was
annihilated and lay in ruins. Each time such an explosion occurred,
those previously existing qualities of the universe as well as the
substances inside were totally blown up. Ordinary lives were killed in
the explosion. Somehow each time the explosion did not wipe out
everything completely. When a new universe was reconstructed by the
extremely high dimensional enlightened beings, there in the new
universe would be some that had not been killed in the explosion.
These great enlightened beings would reconstruct the universe
according to their own characteristics and build the universe
according to their own criteria. Therefore, their cosmic qualities
were quite different from those of the last.
Those who survived the explosion held on to the previous
characteristics and principles and acted upon them in this new
universe. But the newly-constructed universe acted in accordance with
the new cosmic qualities, the Law. Thus, those who survived the
explosion became demons who interfered with the Law of the universe.
However, they are not that bad as they simply acted upon the cosmic
qualities of the previous cycle. They are what people refer to as the
Heavenly Demons. Nevertheless, they do not pose a threat to ordinary
people, nor do they harm people at all. They only stick to their own
law and act upon it. Ordinary people were not allowed to know this in
the past. I say that there are numerous Buddhas whose status is far
above that of Tathagata. What does that demon count? In comparison it
is very, very tiny. Old age, disease and death are also a kind of
demon. Yet they were born to maintain the cosmic qualities.
Buddhism teaches the logic of the Sixfold Path of Transmigration,
which speaks of the issue of the Path of Asura (malevolent spirits).
This actually refers to the living beings of a different space, who,
however, do not bear human nature. In the eye of a great enlightened
one, they are of extremely low levels and devastatingly impotent.
However, they are terrifying in the eyes of ordinary people. They have
a certain amount of energy. They regard ordinary people as a kind of
beast, and therefore enjoy eating human beings. Over the past few
years they also have come out to teach qigong. But what sort of things
do they belong to? How could they look like human beings? It is
frightening to learn what belongs to them because you will have to go
with them and become their species. When some people had wrong views
in mind, which became identical with theirs while practising qigong,
they would come to teach these people. One righteousness will
overwhelm a hundred evils. If you do not seek after anything, no one
will dare to bother you. If you harbour evil intentions, going after
something wrong, they will come to help you, and the problem will
arise that you will cultivate yourself in the world of demons.
Another situation is called the unconscious cultivation of the evil
way. What is meant by the unconscious cultivation of the evil way? It
refers to a person practising the evil way without realizing it. This
is a common occurrence, which is simply beyond number. Just as I told
you the other day, there are a good many people who practise qigong
with wrong ideas in mind though you can see them standing in a pile
stance there with their hands and legs shaking from fatigue. But such
a person maintains a busy mind, thinking: The prices are going up and
I need to go shopping upon completing my practice, in case of a price
rise. Another one may think: my work unit is now allotting houses. Is
there a share of the houses for me? Well, the person in charge of
housing allocation is all at odds with me. The more he thinks about
it, the angrier he becomes. He will not give me any share for sure,
and how should I argue with... All thoughts have cropped up this way.
Just as I said, they chat about things from their home issues all the
way to state affairs, getting angrier and angrier with those
unpleasant subjects.
Practising qigong requires one to value De ( virtues). While
practising the exercise, if you are not thinking about anything good,
you cannot think about anything bad either; and it is best for you not
to think about anything at all. Low-level qigong practice requires
laying a foundation, which will play a critical role as human
intention has a certain part to play. Think about it. If you add
something to our cultivation energy, can what you practise be good?
Can it be other than something black? How many people are there who
practise qigong without such ideas? Why do you always practise qigong
without eradicating your diseases? Though some people may not think
about those bad things at the practice ground, they always carry with
them a variety of attachments and strong desires for supernormal
capabilities, for this or for that, while doing the practice.
Actually, they have already practised the evil way unconsciously. If
you tell such a person that he is practising the evil way, he would
feel very unhappy: I was taught by a certain qigong master. But that
qigong master told you to value virtues. Did you listen to him? While
practising qigong you always pitch in with some bad intentions. How
could you, you tell me, come out with anything good from your
cultivation? This is the problem which belongs to practising the evil
way unconsciously, and it is very common.
Double Cultivation of a Man and a Woman
In the world of cultivation there is such a cultivation way called
double cultivation of a man and a woman. People may have seen in the
cultivation way of the Tibetan Tantrism or in the Buddha sculptures or
paintings a male body holding a female body engaged in cultivation.
Sometimes the male body takes on the look of a Buddha holding a naked
woman. Some may be transformations of Buddhas with the image of a
Vajra of the ox-head and horse-face, also holding an undressed female
body. Why do these exist? We shall first explain this to you. On earth
our mankind as a whole, including the ancient times of a few centuries
ago, has similar moral values, and it is not only China that has been
influenced by Confucianism. So, such a cultivation way as a matter of
fact did not come from this earth of ours. It came from another
planet, but such a method can indeed make cultivation possible. When
such a cultivation way was introduced into China then, it could not be
accepted by the Chinese people just because it had double cultivation
of a man and a woman as well as some aspects of Tantrism. So it was
abolished by the Chinese emperor during the Hui-Chang period of the
Tang Dynasty. It was then called Tang Tantrism and was forbidden to be
taught in the interior of China. However, it settled down in Tibet
with its special environment and unique region. Why do they cultivate
this way? The purpose of double cultivation of a man and a woman is to
reach a balance between Yin and Yang through collecting Yin to
compensate for Yang and vice versa, making a mutual compensation for
mutual cultivation.
Everybody knows that the theory of Yin and Yang by both schools,
whether the Buddha School or the Tao School, especially the latter,
says that the human body itself has Yin and Yang. Because the human
body has Yin and Yang, it can evolve a variety of supernormal
capabilities, intelligent entities like Yuanying (Immortal Infant),
Yinghai (Subtle Babies) and Law bodies through cultivation. Because of
the existence of Yin and Yang the human body can develop through
cultivation a great many intelligent entities. It will be the same
either for a male body or a female body and those can grow up in the
field of Dan Tian. This statement is quite true. The Tao School often
regards the upper part of the body as Yang and the lower part of the
body as Yin; some of them also regard the back of the body as Yang and
the front part as Yin; some others regard the left side of the body as
Yang and the right side as Yin. In China, we have a saying that the
left side of the body is male and the right side of it is female,
which also came from here, and which is quite true. Since the human
body itself has Yin and Yang and through the interaction of Yin and
Yang, the body itself can reach a balance between Yin and Yang, and
thus can evolve into a great many intelligent entities.
This can justify a matter of fact: Without adopting the method of
double cultivation of a male and a female we can also cultivate into a
very high dimension. If the way of double cultivation of a man and a
woman is used in practice, if it is out of control, the practitioners
will incur demonic interference, and it will thus become the evil way.
If the very high level Tantrism wants to resort to the double
cultivation of a man and a woman, then the monk or the lama is
required to have cultivated into a very high dimension. By then his
master will take care of him in this way of cultivation. Because his
Xinxing is very high, he can conduct himself well, and will not drift
into the practice of the evil way. While the people of very low
Xinxing should never resort to such a cultivation way, otherwise they
are sure to enter into the evil way. Such a cultivation way is certain
to become evil if used, because one's Xinxing is limited, he does not
let go of his attachments and desires up to the standard of the
ordinary people's mentality, and he does not give up his lust, either.
This is a yardstick to measure his Xinxing. So we say that teaching
this cultivation way at a low level whenever you like means teaching
the evil way.
These years have seen quite a number of qigong masters teaching the
double cultivation of a male and a female. What is so odd then? The
way of double cultivation of a man and a woman has also made its
appearance in the Tao School. It is not at present that it has
appeared, rather it began in the Tang Dynasty. How could the Tao
School start to do the double cultivation of a man and a woman?
According to the Taiji theory of the Tao School, the human body is a
small universe which itself has Yin and Yang. All genuine orthodox
great Laws have been passed down since the remote past. Any casual
alterations or any casual input will mess up what belongs to that
particular school, and therefore will make it impossible to reach the
goal of consummation in cultivation. So, if a cultivation way has no
such thing as the double cultivation of a man and a woman, never do it
in cultivation. Otherwise you will become deviant and get into
trouble. Especially in our school, Falun Dafa, there is no double
cultivation of a man and a woman, and we do not teach this either.
This is how we look at this issue.
Integrated Cultivation of Both Human Life and Nature
The issue of the integrated cultivation of both human nature and life
has already been expounded to you all. The integrated cultivation of
both human nature and life means the cultivation of life apart from
that of Xinxing, that is to say, the transformation of Benti (
the True Being). In the process of this transformation human
cells will be gradually replaced by the high energy matter, and aging
will be slowed down. The body will start returning towards the young,
gradually returning and being transformed until it has been completely
replaced by the high energy matter in the end. By then, this human
body has already been transformed into the body of another kind of
matter. Such a body, just as I said, has passed out of the Five
Elements. Since it is no longer confined to the Five Elements, the
body will really become immortal.
Cultivation in the temple only deals with the cultivation of nature,
and therefore it does not teach the practice of exercise nor the
cultivation of life. It teaches Nirvana. The method that Sakyamuni
taught just requires Nirvana. But the fact is that Sakyamuni himself
had his own profound and great Law, and his Benti (True Being) could
absolutely have been transformed into the high energy matter and taken
away with him. In order to leave such a cultivation method behind, he
entered into Nirvana. Why did he teach this way? He just aimed to get
people maximally to give up all attachments and everything, including
the bodies in the end, and to let go of all their desires. To get
people maximally to do this, he took the way of Nirvana. Therefore
monks through the ages all have taken the way of Nirvana. Nirvana
means the death of the monk, abandoning his physical body while his
Yuanshen ( Spirit) ascends with his cultivation energy.
The Tao School emphasizes the cultivation of life. Because it does not
teach the salvation of all sentient beings, but it selects disciples,
facing extremely good people. So it teaches things of magic skills,
and teaches how to cultivate life. But as regards the particular
cultivation system of the Buddha School, especially the cultivation
system of Buddhism, this is out of the question. Not all these systems
teach no cultivation of life, many of the high dimensional and
profound great Laws of the Buddha School also teach this, including
our school. The school of our Falun Dafa wants to have Benti (the True
Being), and Yuanying (the Immortal Infant) as well. These two are
different from each other. The Immortal Infant is also a body composed
of the high-energy matter. But it cannot reveal itself freely in this
space of ours. However, if we want to maintain the same images as
ordinary people's, we must have our Benti (True Being). Therefore,
after the transformation of this Benti, the order of its molecular
arrangement remains unchanged though its cells have been replaced by
the high energy matter. So the body looks similar to that of an
ordinary person. Yet there is still a difference, that is to say, this
body can enter other spaces.
One who practises the integrated cultivation of both human life and
nature looks very young in appearance. Such a person looks a great
deal younger than his actual age. One day somebody asked me: Teacher,
how old do you think I am? As a matter of fact, she is approaching 70
years old, but she looked just over 40 years old, her face smooth
without wrinkles, a fair complexion glowing with health. She did not
at all look like a person approaching 70 years old. This is likely to
happen to our people who cultivate our Falun Dafa. To tell a joke,
young girls are always keen on going to a beauty parlour, hoping to
change their complexion for the better, the fairer. Let me tell you
that if you genuinely do the cultivation way of the integrated
cultivation of both human life and nature, you will naturally reach
this goal. I assure you that you will not have to go to a beauty
parlour. We are not going to give more examples in this aspect.
Because there were relatively more senior comrades from all trades and
professions, they regarded me as a young man. Now things are getting
better, there are relatively more young people here from all walks of
life. In fact, I am not young either. I am already 43 years old and
getting on towards 50.
Law Body
Why is there a field over the image of Buddha? Many people cannot
explain it. Also some people say that there is a field over the image
of Buddha because the monks have chanted scriptures to it, that is to
say, the monks cultivate themselves in front of it, a field was
produced as a result. Whether a monk or anybody else is cultivating
himself, however, such energy is scattering and not directional. In
that case, there should be even and equal fields over the floor, the
ceilings and the walls of the whole temple's hall. Why, then, should
the field over the image of Buddha be so strong? There is often a
field existing especially over an engraved image of Buddha in deep
mountains or in a certain mountain cave or on certain rocks. Why
should this field have come about? Some people interpret it this way
or that way, but they can never make themselves understood. The fact
is that that field is over the image of Buddha because there is the
Law body of an enlightened being over it. Because that enlightened
being's Law body is there, it has energy.
Just think about it: Wasn't either Sakyamuni or Bodhisattva Guanyin a
practitioner when he or she was cultivating if they really existed in
history? When a person has reached in cultivation a certain dimension
considerably higher than Chu Shi Jian Fa ( the
Beyond-Triple-World-Law), the Law body will be born. The Law body is
born in the Dan Tian of the human body, and it is made up of the Law
and the cultivation energy, which presents itself in other spaces. The
Law body has great power of its own, but its consciousness and its
thinking are under the control of the person. However, the Law body
itself is a complete, independent and realistic individual life.
Therefore it can do anything independently on its own. What the Law
body does is the same as what the person's Main Consciousness wants to
do, exactly the same. The way the person himself does something is the
same as the way the Law body does it. This is what we refer to as the
Law body. What I want to do, for example, putting right the bodies of
my disciples who genuinely cultivate themselves will all be done by my
Law bodies. Because the Law body does not carry an ordinary person's
body, it performs in other spaces. This intelligent life does not
remain unchanged all the time, but can become large or small.
Sometimes it grows so huge that it is impossible to see the whole head
of the Law body. Sometimes it becomes very tiny, more tiny than a
cell.
Light-Opening
Images of Buddha made in factories are but works of art. Light-opening
means inviting a Buddha's Law body into the image of Buddha, which,
then, will be enshrined and worshipped as a visible Buddha body among
ordinary people. As the practitioner has a heart of reverence, the Law
body of the image of Buddha will guard the Law for him, look after him
and protect him during his practice. This is the real purpose of
light-opening. Only the right thinking given out at a formal
light-opening ceremony, or a great enlightened one in the very high
dimension or a person who is cultivating himself in the very high
dimension and has such power can perform such a task.
The temples teach that images of Buddha require light-opening and say
that the images will not make their powers felt without light-opening.
Nowadays, those genuine great masters among the monks in temples have
all passed away. After the "Great Cultural Revolution", some former
junior monks who had not received any true teachings have now taken
charge in temples, and much has not been handed down from past
generations. If you ask him what the purpose of light-opening is, he
will say that the image of Buddha will make its powers felt when it
has light-opened. He cannot tell the reason why it will make its
powers felt. In this way he merely holds a ceremony, at which time he
puts a small Buddhist sutra into the image of Buddha, seals it with
paper, and then chants scriptures towards it. He calls this
light-opening. But can this result in light-opening? That depends upon
how he is chanting the scriptures. Sakyamuni taught the right
mindfulness, chanting scriptures with full concentration in order to
really be able to shake the paradise one's cultivation school belongs
to, and invite the enlightened one. Only when one of the enlightened
one's Law bodies gets into the image of Buddha can the purpose of
light opening be reached.
While chanting scriptures some monks are thinking about: How much
money will they pay me after I have finished the light-opening? Or
while chanting scriptures, he is turning over in his mind: so and so
is so bad to me. There is also intrigue practised even in a temple.
Such a phenomenon has to be accepted as a fact as we are now in the
Period of Decline. We are not here criticizing Buddhism. However, in
the Period of Decline there is no peace and seclusion at all in some
temples. How can the enlightened one come when such things turn up in
the mind of the monk, and such evil ideas come into his mind? As a
result, light-opening is out of the question. But this is not always
the case. There are still exceptionally good temples and Taoist
temples.
I saw in x city a monk whose hands were pitch-black. He put a sutra
into the image of Buddha and managed to seal it. After murmuring a few
words, the light-opening was over. Then he picked up another image of
Buddha and murmured a few words again. He charged 40 yuan for the
light-opening of one image of Buddha. Monks nowadays have
commercialized the light-opening and they make a fortune out of it.
When I looked at it, I found it had not been light-opened yet because
he would not be able to do so at all. Monks now go so far as to do
such a thing! And what else did I see? There was a person who seemed
to be a lay Buddhist, in a temple, and it was said that he was going
to do the light-opening for the image of Buddha. He held a mirror in
the sun to reflect the sunlight up on the image of Buddha, and then he
said that he had light-opened it. It became so ridiculous. Today
Buddhism has gone to such a stage that this has become quite a common
phenomenon.
A huge bronze image of Buddha was made in Nanjing and it was put up on
Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It is indeed a huge image of Buddha. A great
many monks came from all parts of the world to do light-opening for
it. One of the monks held a mirror in the sun to reflect the sunlight
on the face of the image of Buddha, saying this was light-opening.
They went so far as to do such a thing at such a grand gathering and
on such a solemn occasion! I felt very sad about this. No wonder
Sakyamuni said the monks have great difficulty saving themselves, let
alone offering salvation to other sentient beings during the Period of
Decline. Moreover, quite a good many monks interpret Buddhist
scriptures from their own perspective, and even the scripture of the
Lady Queen Mother has found its way into the temples. What does not
belong to Buddhist classics has all gone to the temples, causing chaos
and confusion now. Of course there are still monks who are truly
cultivating themselves and credit-worthy. Actually, light-opening
means inviting an enlightened being's Law body to stay on the image of
Buddha. This is what we mean by light-opening.
For this reason, an image of Buddha can not be worshipped if it has
not been light-opened. Worshipping such an image will bring about
serious consequences. What consequences, then? People who study the
science of the human body now have discovered that our human intention
and the thinking of a human brain can generate a substance. And as we
look at it from a very high dimension, we can see it is indeed a
substance. Yet it does not seem to be the same form of brain wave we
have discovered in our studies. Instead, it exists in the form of a
complete human brain. Since the substance of a brain form produced
when an ordinary person is thinking has no energy, it scatters shortly
after it is given out. However, a practitioner's energy will remain
much longer. It does not mean that this image of Buddha has got its
mind the moment it is turned out from the factory. Not yet. Some of
the images of Buddha have not been light-opened, nor have they
attained the purpose of being light-opened when they are taken into
the temple. If light-opening is done by a sham qigong master or a
person of dishonest practices, there will be all the greater danger:
foxes and weasels will get into the image of Buddha.
Therefore it would be extremely dangerous for you to worship an image
of Buddha, which has not yet been light-opened. How dangerous could it
be? As I have pointed out, so far as mankind has developed up till
today, everything is deteriorating; the whole society, everything in
the whole universe is deteriorating in succession. Everything that
happens to ordinary people is caused by themselves. It is very
difficult to pursue the Orthodox Law and to follow the right course
because interference could come from many aspects. You wish to follow
Buddha, but who is Buddha? It is very difficult even to wish to do so.
If you don't believe, let me tell you: There would be serious
consequence if the first person prostrates himself to worship the
image of Buddha that has not been light-opened yet. How many of the
people who are worshipping Buddhas are thinking about asking the
Buddhas to help them complete the true achievement nowadays? There are
very few such people. What are the purposes of worshipping Buddhas for
most people? They seek to eliminate disasters, dispel misfortunes and
make fortunes. These are what they pursue. But can all this be found
in the classics of Buddhism? There are definitely no things of this
level at all.
If the Buddha-worshipper seeks after money and he prostrates himself
to the image of Buddha or the image of Bodhisattva Guanyin
(Avalokitesvara) or the image of Tathagata, asking: Could you help me
make some money, please? Well, a complete intention of the mind is
then formed. Since such an intention of his is given out directly to
the image of Buddha, it will immediately get into it. The formation of
the image in another space can become big or small. When the intention
of the mind rests upon the formation, the image of Buddha will then
have a brain, and thus can think, but it has no body. Others also come
to worship it, and more and more such worshipping will provide it with
a certain amount of energy. It is especially more dangerous for a
practitioner to worship it, for the worshipping will gradually give it
energy, which will form a tangible body. But such a tangible body is
formed in another space. It stays in another space after it comes into
being, and it is able to know a little truth of the universe,
therefore it can do something for people, and in this way it can also
increase energy a little. But it helps people with preconditions and
requirements. In another space it moves all freely and it can control
ordinary people easily and freely. This tangible body looks exactly
the same as the image of the Buddha. It is people's worshipping that
gives birth to the sham Bodhisattva Guangyin, the sham Tathagata,
which looks just like the image of Buddha and has the appearance of
the Buddha, but which results from people's worshipping. Yet the mind
of the phony Buddha or the phony Budhisattva is extremely bad. It is
after money. It was born in another space, and has a mind. As it knows
a little about the truth it dares not commit major wrongdoings, but it
dares to commit minor ones. Sometimes, it also helps people, otherwise
it will become out-and-out evil, and will be killed. How does it help
people? Someone says: I pray to the Buddha for help. Please help x in
my family. He is ill. Well, it will help you. It causes you to throw
money into the Donation Box as its mind is after money. The more money
you throw into the Donation Box, the sooner the illness will be gone.
It can manipulate an ordinary person in another space because it
possesses a certain amount of energy. It is especially more dangerous
for a practitioner to worship it. What is the practitioner seeking
after? Money. Let's think about it: What does a practitioner seek
money for? It is an attachment to affection and intimacy for a
practitioner even to seek to eliminate disasters or illnesses for his
family or friends, for everybody has his own fate! How could he
manipulate others' destiny? If you want to worship it, praying: Please
help me make some money. Well, it will help you. It wants you to seek
for more money very much indeed. The more money you seek for, the more
it can take from you. That is an equal exchange. Other worshippers
have thrown a lot of money into the Box, but it causes you to get the
money. How will this be done? You may pick up a wallet when you go
out, or your work unit will give you some bonus. Anyhow, it will help
you gain money in one way or another. But how could it help you
without any conditions? No loss, no gain. You will have to give it
some of your cultivation energy because it is in need of it, or it
will take away the elixir that you have refined in your cultivation.
This is what it wants.
These sham Buddhas are extremely dangerous sometimes. Many of our
practitioners who have opened their Celestial Eyes think that they
have seen Buddhas. One may say that a group of Buddhas have come to
the temple today, what name this Buddha is, and that he is leading a
group of other Buddhas to the temple. He may describe what the group
who came yesterday looked like, and what the group who came today
looked like. They left after a short while, and then another group
came. What are they? They just belong to such a category. They are not
genuine Buddhas. They are sham ones. And a considerable number of them
belong to such a category.
It will be more dangerous if such a thing occurs in a temple. If the
monks worship it, it will take charge of them: Aren't you worshipping
me? And you are fully aware of doing so. Well, don't you want to
cultivate? I shall keep you under my control, and tell you how to
cultivate. It will make arrangements for you. Where will you go then
when you have completed your cultivation? Now that it has arranged for
your cultivation, no school of cultivation of the high dimension will
accept you. You will listen to it in the future since it has arranged
for your cultivation. This being the case, don't you think your
cultivation will end up in vain? As I have said, it is rather
difficult today for people to complete the true achievement in
cultivation. This phenomenon is quite common. Many of us have seen in
famous mountains and at big rivers the Buddha light, most of which
belongs to this type. It has energy and therefore can manifest itself.
But a genuine great enlightened being will not readily reveal himself.
In the past there were relatively few of what was called Earth Buddhas
or Earth Tao. But nowadays there are a great number of them. When one
does evil, the high dimension will also want to kill it. When this
happens, it will get into the image of Buddha. The ordinary
enlightened being will not interfere in the principles of ordinary
people for no good reason. The higher the dimension the enlightened
being belongs to, the harder he will try to avoid interrupting the
principles of ordinary people. Not in the least. He will be unlikely
to do such a thing as smashes the image of Buddha into pieces by a
thunderbolt. So, it will be left alone when it gets into the image of
Buddha. It knows when it is in danger of being killed, and therefore
it will try to run away. So, is the Budhisattva Guanyin you have seen
Bodhisattva Guanyin? Is the Buddha you have seen the Buddha? It is
very hard to say.
Many of us associate ourselves with an issue: What shall we do about
the image of Buddha at home? Maybe many people have thought of me. In
order to help my students with their cultivation, I'd like to tell you
to do the following: Hold my book (because there are my photos in the
book) or my photo while holding with both hands the image of Buddha,
making the Big Lotus Hand gesture. Then you ask the teacher to do the
light-opening for the image of Buddha. And it will be done within half
a minute. However, let me tell everybody that this can only be done
for our cultivators. Such light-opening does not apply to your
relatives or friends because we only take care of the cultivators.
Some people say that they take the teacher's photo to the homes of
their relatives or friends to drive out evil. I am not meant to
exorcize evil for ordinary people. This is the worst disrespect to the
teacher.
Speaking of earth Buddha and earth Tao, there is one more situation to
relate. In ancient times in China there were a lot of people
cultivating in remote mountains and deep forests. How come they all
have disappeared now? Actually they have not disappeared, but they do
not want to be recognized by ordinary people. The number of these
people has not at all decreased. They all possess supernormal
capabilities. It is not true that these people have disappeared over
the years. They are all there. In the world today there are still
several thousand. There are relatively more such people here in our
country. They can be found especially in those famous mountains and at
big rivers and also in some high mountains. Since they have used their
cultivation energy to block their caves, you cannot see their
existence. Their cultivation is relatively slow in progress, and the
methods used are comparatively clumsy, because they cannot grasp the
essence of cultivation. On the other hand, we aim directly at human
nature, cultivating in accordance with the supreme characteristics of
our universe, with the way the universe is, and as a matter of course
our cultivation energy grows very rapidly, for the cultivation way
takes the shape of a pyramid with the middle as the thoroughfare.
Those sideways cultivate without necessarily high Xinxing. They may
possibly open their cultivation energy without attaining the high
dimensional cultivation, and thus remain too far from the thoroughfare
of genuine cultivation.
The master of such a sideway cultivation also takes on disciples. As
his cultivation way can only attain a level which corresponds to its
level of Xinxing, the disciples he teaches all cultivate toward this
level. The smaller the worldly sideways are, the more ways they have
of saying and the more complex the methods they use, because they are
incapable of grasping the essence of cultivation. One's cultivation
should mainly cultivate Xinxing but the master of the sideway
cultivation does not understand this and believes that they can
cultivate through suffering. So they increase their cultivation energy
a little after going through a long period of time and cultivating for
several hundred years, almost a thousand years. It is actually not by
suffering that they have developed cultivation energy, but by what?
Just like a person, they had lots of attachments when they were young.
As they are getting old, with the days and years passing, they have
lost hope for the future. Gradually, they have let go of their
attachments, which have been worn out. This method is also true of
such small cultivation ways. While such a person is going up in
cultivation by sitting in meditation, concentration and suffering, he
finds his cultivation energy can also grow this way. But he is not yet
aware that his mind of attachments like ordinary people's has been
slowly worn out over a long period of time of painstaking work, and
that his cultivation energy grows by giving up his attachments.
Ours has a purpose of genuinely pointing at the heart, giving it up,
and in this way we make rapid progress in cultivation. I have been to
some places and often met these people, who have been cultivating for
a good many years. They also say: Nobody can know we are here and we
don't want to interfere in your business; nor shall we make trouble
with it. They belong to those comparatively good people.
There are also some bad ones that we have to deal with. For example,
when I first went to Guizhou to teach the Gong, while I was holding a
Law lecturing session, a man came to see me, saying that his
grandmaster would like to see me. His grandmaster was x x who had been
cultivating himself for a good many years. I found that the man had a
waxen yellowish face, full of yin qi all over. He was very bad indeed.
I said I was not going to see him because I had no time, and refused.
As a result, his old master became annoyed and began to make trouble
against me. And he kept making trouble every day. So far as I am
concerned, I do not like opposing others, or rather I do not want to
bother to deal with them. Whenever he brought about anything evil
against me, I would just wipe it out. Having done this, I would
continue with my lecture.
Long ago in the Ming Dynasty there was a man who cultivated the Tao.
During his cultivation, he was possessed by a snake. Later, the
practitioner died without success in his cultivation. The snake then
took possession of the practitioner's body and has evolved into a
human shape in cultivation. That man's grandmaster was none other than
the snake in the human form that he had cultivated. As his nature had
not changed, he turned into a big snake to make trouble against me. I
thought that he had gone too far, I caught him in my hand and used a
very powerful energy, called dissolving energy, and dissolved his
lower body, reducing it to water. But his upper body ran back home.
One day, the head of our assistant center in Guizhou province was
asked to see his granddisciple, who said that his grandmaster wanted
to see her. The head went there. Entering the cave, she found it too
dark to be able to see anything at all, but a shadow sitting over
there with eyes beaming in green light. When he opened his eyes, the
cave became light; when he closed his eyes, it turned dark. He said in
a local dialect: Li Hongzhi is coming again. This time, none of us
will do that thing again. I was wrong. Li Hongzhi has come for the
salvation of people. His granddisciple asked him: Grandmaster, please
stand up. What's the matter with your legs? He said: I can't stand up
any more now. I have injured my legs. When asked how he had injured
his legs, he began to tell the story of his trouble-making. At the
Beijing '93 Oriental Health Expo, he resumed his trouble making
against me. Because he had never stopped doing bad and also because he
interfered with my teaching of the Great Law, I reduced him to
annihilation. After his annihilation, his senior fellow disciple
sisters and brothers as well as his junior fellow disciple sisters and
brothers all wanted to take action. I then said a few words which
shocked them all. They became so scared that none of them dared to
move. Meanwhile they also came to understand what had happened. Some
of them were still out-and-out ordinary people, who had been
cultivators for a long time. These are a few examples I have given
when presenting the topic of light-opening.
Zhu You Ke (Subject of Supplication)
What is meant by the Subject of Supplication? In the world of
cultivation, this is regarded as belonging to the category of
cultivation, which is taught by many people in the course of their
imparting qigong. In fact, however, it does not belong to the range of
cultivation. It is taught as a kind of knack, incantation or
technique. It takes such forms as drawing magic figures, burning
incense, burning paper, chanting incantations, etc.. It can cure
diseases, and the methods of treatment are rather unique. For example,
when someone has grown a boil in the face, the practitioner of this
subject will draw a circle on the ground with a writing brush dipped
in cinnabar and then he draws a cross within the circle. Next he asks
the person to stand in the centre of the circle while he begins
chanting incantations. He then dips the brush in the cinnabar and
draws circles on the person's face. While he is doing this, he is
chanting incantations. He keeps doing this until he finally makes a
dot on the boil with his brush. By then he has finished his chanting
and he says the person has got well. When the person feels it, it has
become smaller and it does not hurt any more. So it does work.
However, he can cure such minor diseases but not major ones. What will
he do if you have a pain in the arm? After he begins to chant
incantations, he asks you to stretch out your arm and gives a puff of
air at the Hegu Point (an acupuncture point) of the hand so that the
puff will get out of the Hegu Point of the other hand. You can feel a
current of wind. When you feel the affected part of the arm again, it
is not so painful as before. In addition, such methods as burning
paper, drawing magic figures, sticking magic figures, etc. are also
used. This is what it does.
The worldly small ways of the Tao School do not teach the cultivation
of life. They are entirely engaged in fortune telling, practising
geographical location, exorcizing evils and treating diseases. Most of
these worldly small ways adopt the Subject of Supplication. It can
treat diseases, but the methods it uses are by no means good. We do
not say what it utilizes to heal diseases, but our people who
cultivate the Great Law must not use it because it carries very low
and very bad messages. In ancient China, the methods of treatment were
classified into subjects, such as fracture-setting, acupuncture,
massage, acupuncture point stimulation, qigong treatment, treatment
with medicinal herbs, etc.. There were many different kinds of them.
Each method of treatment was called a subject. This Subject of
Supplication was classified as the thirteenth subject. Thus, its full
name was called Supplication --- the Thirteenth Subject. The Subject
of Supplication does not belong to anything within the range of our
cultivation as it is not the cultivation energy achieved in
cultivation but something like a kind of magic techniques.
Lecture Six
Cultivation Insanity
In the world of cultivation, there is a notion called cultivation
insanity. This view has a considerable influence on the public. In
particular, some people have advertised it so much that a number of
people have become afraid of practising qigong. When people are told
that practising qigong could lead to cultivation insanity, they become
too frightened to try it. In fact, I tell you that cultivation
insanity does not exist at all.
Quite a few people have invited spirit possession because they are not
right minded. Their Zhu Yishi ( Main Consciousness) cannot
control itself and they regard this as cultivation energy. Their
bodies are controlled by evil spirits which make them mentally
deranged, and they exhibit shouting and screaming behaviour. Seeing
such a form of qigong, people become too scared to practise it. Many
of us consider that to be cultivation energy. How could this be
practising qigong? This is merely the lowest state of healing disease
and keeping fit. But it is very dangerous. If you yourself become
accustomed to this way, your Main Consciousness can not always control
itself, your body will be likely to be dominated by Fu Yishi (
Paraconsciousness) or external messages, evil spirits, etc..
Then you may exhibit some dangerous behaviours, and this will have a
great destructive impact on the world of cultivation. This is caused
by a mind which is not upright and has a strong desire to show off.
This is not cultivation insanity. We do not know how some people have
become so-called qigong masters. They also talk about cultivation
insanity. In fact, practising qigong does not lead to cultivation
insanity. Most people hear the term, cultivation insanity, from
literary works and Gongfu fiction, etc.. If you do not believe it, you
may look into ancient classic books or cultivation documents in which
there is no such thing. How could there be cultivation insanity? Such
a thing will never occur at all.
It is generally believed that there are several forms of cultivation
insanity. What I have just mentioned is also a form. Because of their
immoral minds, some people have brought on themselves spirit
possession. They have a variety of mentalities such as seeking after
qigong status, and showing off. Some people simply seek after
supernormal capabilities directly or practise phony qigong. They are
accustomed to abandoning their Main Consciousness whenever they
practise qigong. They become unconscious and give up their bodies to
others. They are out of their minds, allow their bodies to be
dominated by the Paraconsciousness or external messages, and exhibit
some strange behaviour. Such a person will jump out of a building or
into the water if he is told to do so. He himself does not even want
to live, and he gives up his body to others. That does not belong to
cultivation insanity but to going astray while practising qigong. This
is caused by an intentional pursuit of such a state at the beginning.
Many people think that wobbling their bodies unconsciously is a
practice of qigong. In fact, such a state will lead to serious
consequences if really carried out. It is not the practice of qigong,
but it is caused by ordinary people's attachments and desires.
Another case is that a practitioner gets frightened when qi is blocked
somewhere in the body or when qi can not come down from the top of the
head. A human body is a small cosmos. It will run into such problems
especially in the Taoist cultivation system when qi cannot move
through the pass. If qi can not go through the pass, it will stay
there, not only at the top of the head but also in other parts of the
body. However, the most sensitive place is the head. Qi will move up
to the top of the head and come down. If qi can not go through the
pass, one would experience the phenomena that his head is heavy,
swollen as if wearing a thick qi cap, etc.. Yet, qi does not have any
restrictive function. It can neither bring about troubles nor diseases
at all. Some people do not know what qigong is really about, and have
made some incomprehensible statements which result in chaos. People
would then think that cultivation insanity or something wrong will
occur if qi cannot come down from the top of the head. As a result,
many people have become frightened.
It is only a state of affairs for a certain period of time if qi does
not come down from the top of the head. This phenomenon may last a
long time or half a year for some people. A genuine qigong master can
direct qi down through the pass if that happens. Those whose qi can
not rush through the pass nor can it come down in practising qigong
should examine their Xinxing, and find out if they have been stuck in
that level for too long a time, and should upgrade their Xinxing. Once
you have truly upgraded Xinxing, you will find that qi will be able to
come down. You cannot just go after the change of cultivation energy
in the physical body rather than the improvement of Xinxing. You will
not make an overall improvement until your Xinxing makes progress. One
will not run into any problems if qi is indeed blocked. One becomes
frightened oftentimes due to his own psychological factors, or to the
fake qigong master's notion that when qi moves to the top of the head,
there will be something wrong. Such a fear may indeed bring him some
troubles. Because once you are frightened, it will be fear. Isn't it
an attachment? Shouldn't your attachment be discarded once it comes
out? The more you fear it, the more ill you will look. This attachment
of yours must be relinquished to teach you a lesson so that your fear
will be removed, and you can upgrade yourself.
Practitioners will not feel physically comfortable in their future
cultivation as their bodies develop many types of cultivation energy,
all of which are very powerful things moving around inside their
bodies. You will feel uncomfortable here and there. The reason why you
feel uncomfortable is principally that you are always afraid of
catching a certain disease. In fact, your bodies have developed such
powerful materials which are all cultivation energy, supernormal
capabilities, and many living entities. If they move, you will feel
your body itchy, painful, and uncomfortable, etc.. The ends of the
nerve system are particularly sensitive. There will be different kinds
of presentations. As long as your body is not completely transformed
by the high energy matter, you will feel this way, and it is actually
a good thing. As a practitioner, how can you cultivate yourself if you
always treat yourself as an ordinary person and think that you have
illnesses? I would say that at that time your Xinxing has dropped to
the level of an ordinary person when you treat yourself as an ordinary
person in the face of tribulations in practising qigong. At least, on
this particular issue, you have dropped down to the level of an
ordinary person.
As genuine practitioners, we should look at things from a very high
level instead of the viewpoint of an ordinary person. If you believe
that you are ill, your belief will probably lead to illness. Because
once you think that you are ill, your Xinxing will be on the same
level as that of an ordinary person. Qigong practice and true
cultivation will not lead to disease especially under such conditions.
We all know that true patients are 30% physically ill and 70%
psychologically ill. Oftentimes, one is first of all psychologically
down and burdened and has collapsed, which will rapidly worsen the
state of an illness. It is usually this way. For instance, there once
was a person who was tied up in a bed. One of his arms was lifted up,
and he was told that it would be cut to bleed. Then, his eyes were
covered, and his arm was scratched once. (His arm was not cut at all.)
The water faucet was turned on so that he could hear the dripping
sound of water. Then, he thought that it was his blood dripping. The
man died a short while later. In fact, he was not bleeding at all.
What was dripping was running water. He died because of this
psychological factor. If you always believe that you are ill, you will
probably lead yourself to illness. Because your Xinxing has dropped to
the basis of an ordinary person, an ordinary person would, of course,
fall ill.
As a practitioner, if you always believe that you have an illness, you
are in fact asking for it. If you ask for it, the illness is able to
squeeze in. As a practitioner, your Xinxing must be high. You should
not always feel afraid that you are ill as such a fear is an
attachment as well, which could bring you trouble, too. During
cultivation one needs to eradicate karma, which is painful. How is it
possible to comfortably increase your cultivation energy? Otherwise,
how can you let go of your attachments? Let me tell you a story from
Buddhism. There once was a person who made a great effort to become an
Arhat. This person was going to complete the right achievement and
become an Arhat, shouldn't he feel happy? He was going to go beyond
the Three Realms! Such a joy is an attachment of complacency. An Arhat
should be engaged in active non-action and his mind should not be
affected. But he dropped down and his cultivation was in vain. He had
to start all over again from the beginning. After a painstaking effort
he cultivated to this status again. This time he became scared and
spoke to himself: I should not get excited this time. Otherwise I
shall drop again. As he grew worried, he dropped again. Fear is also
an attachment.
There is another case that a person may be labelled as having
cultivation insanity after becoming mentally disordered. Also there
are some people who are even waiting for me to treat their mental
disease. I hold that mental disorder is not an illness, and I do not
have time to deal with such things, either. Why? Because a mentally
disordered patient does not have any virus. His body has neither
pathological changes, nor ulceration. In my opinion, it is not a
disease. Mental disorder arises when a person's Main Consciousness
becomes too weak. How weak is it? It is like one who cannot be his own
boss. The Zhu Yuanshen ( Chief Spirit) of the patient is in
such a state that it does not want to be in charge of his body. He
always remains in a trance, and cannot lift up his spirit. By then the
Paraconsciousness and external messages will step in to interfere with
him. Since there are so many dimensions of spaces, all sorts of
messages can come in to disturb him. In addition, one's Chief Spirit
probably committed some wrongdoing in his previous lives, and the
creditors may want to harm him. There are all sorts of possibilities.
This is how we describe mental disorder. How could I treat you? I say
this is how the real mental disorder is caused. What should be done
about it? Educate him, and help him lift up his spirit, which,
however, will be very difficult. You know that the doctor at the
psychiatric hospital can scare the patient into becoming speechless by
just waving the electric shock stick in his hand. Why? Because his
Chief Spirit will become alert then, and he is afraid of being
electrically shocked.
People usually enjoy continuing the practice when they enter the door
of cultivation. Everyone has Buddha nature as well as the mind for
cultivation. Therefore, many people will stay with it for the rest of
their lives once they learn qigong. No matter whether he could go up
in cultivation or not, could attain the Law or not, he has the mind to
seek the Tao any way, and he always wants to practise. His colleagues
in the office, people living in the neighbourhood and his neighbours
all know that he practises qigong. But, please think about it. Who did
real cultivation in the past few years? Nobody. Only real cultivation
can change his life course. But as an ordinary person, he only
practises qigong to heal disease and keep fit. Who can change his path
of life? As an ordinary person, it is natural that he may fall ill
some day, or run into trouble, or become mentally disordered, or pass
away. His whole life will go this way. You may see him practising
qigong in a park; actually he is not genuinely cultivating. Though he
wishes to cultivate towards a higher level, he cannot make it because
he does not know the Orthodox Law. He only has the wish to cultivate
towards a higher level. He still remains a practitioner who heals
disease and keeps fit on a low level. No one will change his path of
life. Then he will fall ill. His illness can not be healed if he does
not pay attention to his virtues. Practising qigong does not mean that
one will not fall ill at all.
He must truly cultivate and pay more attention to his Xinxing. Only
genuine cultivation can cure illnesses. Because qigong practice are
not gymnastic exercises, but something beyond ordinary people, there
must be a higher principle and standard which are required of the
practitioner. He must act in accordance with them and thus can fulfil
his goal. However, many people have not done so, and they still remain
ordinary people. Therefore, they will still fall ill when their time
is due. One day such a person may suddenly come down with cerebral
thrombosis, or catch one or another disease all of a sudden, or become
mentally disordered one day. Everybody knows that he practises qigong.
Once this person becomes mentally disordered, he would be thought of
as having gone into cultivation insanity and be labelled this way.
Just imagine, is this reasonable? The laymen do not know the truth.
Our professionals including many practitioners can hardly know the
truth of the matter, either. If the person becomes mentally ill at
home, there might be less trouble from public opinion, though others
would say he gets it from practising qigong. If he becomes mentally
disordered at the group exercise site, it would be a disaster as this
label will be imposed. It would be impossible to remove such a label.
Even the newspapers would advertise that practising qigong has led to
cultivation insanity. Some people oppose qigong with their eyes
closed: you saw him moments ago practising qigong quite well there,
and now he has turned into such a state. As an ordinary person, he
would run into whatever he is destined to. He may catch some other
diseases or run into other troubles. Would it be reasonable to
conclude all these are due to practising qigong? Like doctors in a
hospital, because he becomes a doctor, he should not fall ill all his
life. How could it be understood this way?
It can be said, therefore, that many people make irrational statements
without understanding the truth of qigong, and its principles. Once
there is a problem, all kinds of labels will be imposed on qigong.
Because qigong has been popular in society for a very short time, many
people hold such stubborn views. They do not recognize it, but accuse
it and reject it all the time. We do not know what kind of mentality
such people have; they are so sick of qigong as if it had something to
do with them. They would say it is idealism if the word of qigong is
mentioned. Qigong is a science, a more advanced science. It is only
because such people are too obstinate in their beliefs, and their
knowledge is too limited.
There is another situation called qigong status in the world of
cultivation. Such a person has mental illusions but has not gone into
cultivation insanity. He is quite rational. Let me first explain what
qigong status is. We know that practising qigong involves the issue of
one's inborn qualities. In every country of the world, there are
people who believe in religions. There are people in China who have
had faith in Buddhism and Taoism for several thousand years. They
believe in the principle of "Good will be rewarded with good and evil
with evil". But some people do not think so. Such things were labelled
as superstitions, and were criticized particularly during the period
of the Cultural Revolution. Some people would consider to be
superstitious all that they can not understand, all that they have not
learned from textbooks, all that modern science is not advanced enough
to recognize, or all that they have not discovered. There were quite a
few of such people years ago, but now there are fewer. Though one may
not recognize some phenomena, they have reflected into our space down
on earth. One does not dare to face them, but now people have the
courage to talk about them. People also have got some information
about practising qigong by what is heard and seen.
Some people are stubborn to the extent that they will laugh at you
from their inner hearts if you mention the word qigong. They think you
are going in for superstitions, and you are quite ridiculous. They
will consider you to be too ignorant whenever you discuss the
phenomenon of qigong practice. Though such a person is obstinate, his
inborn qualities are not necessarily bad. If his inborn qualities are
good and he wanted to practise qigong, his Celestial Eye might be
opened to a very high plane and he would develop some supernormal
capabilities. He does not believe in qigong, but he cannot guarantee
that he will never fall ill. If he falls ill, he will go to the
hospital. If a doctor of Western medicine can not cure him, he will go
to see a doctor of Chinese medicine. If the doctor of Chinese medicine
can not cure him either, nor can any special prescriptions work. At
this point, he will think of qigong, pondering: I will go there and
try my luck and see if qigong can heal my illness or not. He will come
with much reluctance. Because of his good inborn qualities, he will
practise very well as soon as he starts to do so. Perhaps, a master
will become interested in him, and that intelligent being of another
space will give him a hand. His Celestial Eye is opened at once, or he
has entered the state of semi-enlightenment. His Celestial Eye is open
on a very high plane and he can see some truth of the universe. In
addition, he has developed some supernatural capabilities. How can his
mind possibly, in your opinion, sustain all these phenomena when he
witnesses them? What kind of mentality will he have? Through the ages,
what has been considered superstitious and absolutely impossible, and
laughable when other people mention it, now truly presents itself in
front of his eyes and he is really in touch with it. Then, his mind
will not be able to sustain it. His mental pressure is enormous. What
he says is not accepted by others though it is still logical. He just
can not balance the relationship between both sides. He discovers that
what mankind does wrongly here is oftentimes right over there. If he
does something in the way that it is done over there, people will say
he is wrong here. People cannot understand him, and thus will say that
this person has gone into cultivation insanity.
In fact, he has not gone into cultivation insanity. Most of us who
practise qigong will not become this way at all. Only those very
stubborn people might enter this kind of qigong status. Many people
here have opened their Celestial Eye. Quite a lot. They have indeed
witnessed objects in other spaces. They are not surprised, but feel
very good without any mental shocks nor the occurrence of this qigong
status. After entering the qigong status, one is very sensible, and
what he says is very philosophical and logical. It is just that
ordinary people do not believe what he says. He may at one moment tell
you that he has seen someone who has passed away and that person told
him to do something. How could an ordinary person believe that? Later,
he has come to understand that he should keep these thoughts to
himself and cannot tell others. It would be all right after he deals
with the relationship properly between the two sides. Usually, such
people also have some supernormal capabilities. This is not
cultivation insanity, either.
There is another phenomenon called "true insanity" which is rarely
seen. What we call "true insanity" does not mean going really insane.
It does not mean this. Instead, it means the cultivation of truth.
What is true insanity? In my opinion, such a person is rarely seen,
perhaps one out of a hundred thousand cultivators. As a result, it is
not universal, nor has it made any impact on society.
There must be a prerequisite for "true insanity", which is that this
person must possess very good inborn qualities and must be quite old
as well. Because of old age, it will be late for cultivation. Those
who have very good inborn qualities are usually here on a mission, and
come from the high dimensions. Whoever comes to this society of
ordinary people is afraid of it. After his memories are washed off, he
will not be able to recognize anyone. When he comes to this social
environment of ordinary people, the human interference will make him
go after fame and gain. As a result, he will drop downward and there
will never be any hope for him to get out of here. Therefore, everyone
is dreadful of coming here and everyone will be scared. There are such
people who have come. After their arrival, they indeed were not all
right among ordinary people, and really started to drop downward. They
have committed a lot of wrongdoing in their lifetime. If one lives to
compete for his personal interests he will commit a lot of wrong deeds
and owe a great deal to others. His master realizes that such a person
is about to drop downward, but this person has already achieved his
fruit status, and he will not be allowed to drop down casually. What
should be done about it? The master becomes worried and has no way to
make him pursue cultivation. Where can such a person find a master at
that time? He must return to the origin and cultivate so as to go back
again. Is it easy to talk about? He is old and too late for
cultivation. Where can he find qigong with the integrated cultivation
of both human life and nature?
Only under a very special circumstance if this person has very good
inborn qualities, can the method of insanity be applied to him. On the
condition that this person has absolutely no hope and can not return
to the origin on his own, such a method might be adopted in order to
make him really go insane. A certain portion of his brain will be made
disfunctional. For instance, our human beings are afraid of cold and
filth. The portions of his brain that fear cold and filth will be made
disfunctional. After some brain functions have been disabled, this
person will become mentally disordered and appear to be insane. Yet,
such a person often does not commit any wrongdoing, neither does he
swear at people nor beat people. He often does good deeds. However, he
is very cruel to himself. Because he is unaware of being cold, he
would run around with bare feet in the snow and wear thin clothes in
the winter time. His feet may be frozen and bleed. Because he is
unaware of filth, he dares to eat human excrement and drink human
urine. I once knew such a person who ate horse excrement with relish
though it was frozen hard. He could suffer the hardships that an
ordinary person would not be able to suffer when he is conscious. Just
imagine how much his insanity made him suffer. Of course, such a
person often has supernormal capabilities. Most of them are old
ladies. Old ladies in the past had their feet bound up to make them
smaller but one such an old lady could still jump over a wall of two
meters or higher easily. When her family members found out she was
insane and always ran out of the house, they locked her up in the
house. After her family members left the house, she would unlock the
lock by pointing at it with her fingers and get out of the house.
Then, she was tied up with iron chains. She could shake them off
easily when the others had left home. It was impossible to restrain
her. She suffered a lot in this way. Because she suffered great
hardship, which came rather violently, she repaid the debts of her
wrongdoing very quickly. At most it would take three years, normally
one or two years. The misery that she suffered from was tremendous.
After that, she understood at once what had happened because she
completed her cultivation in this way. As a result, her cultivation
energy was instantly developed and a variety of magic powers came out.
Such cases are extremely rare, but they have existed in history.
People of ordinary inborn qualities are not allowed to experience
this. It is known that there were insane Buddhist monks and insane
Taoists documented in history, such as the stories of the insane
Buddhist monk who drove Qin Hui out of the Temple with a broom and the
stories of crazy Taoists. There are many such literary quotations.
We can definitely say that cultivation insanity (releasing a fire and
going mad) does not exist at all. I would say that anyone who could
really deliver a fire would be great. I would call it a supernormal
capability if he could spit out fire by opening his mouth or could
make a fire by stretching his hand, or light a cigarette with a finger
which could release fire.
Demonic Interference during Practice
What is demonic interference in practice? It refers to some
interference that we often easily run into while practising qigong.
How can qigong practice possibly invite demonic interference? Since it
is indeed very difficult for a person to cultivate, he will not be
able to succeed in true cultivation without the protection of my Law
body. As soon as you step out of the door, you could possibly involve
yourself in a matter of life and death. Human True Spirit is immortal.
Then from your social activities in the previous lives, you may have
owed somebody, done harm to somebody or committed some wrongdoing. The
creditors will come to collect their debts. It is said in Buddhism:
humans live just according to the causational principles of rewards
and retributions. If you owe someone something, he will come for his
payment. If he gets more than he should, he will return that to you
next time. If a son disrespects his parents, it will be the other way
round in the next life. This is the way it turns round. Yet, we have
indeed observed demonic interference which prevents you from
practising qigong. All this has a causational relationship, and it
does not occur without a reason. It will not be allowed to exist
without a reason.
The most common form of demonic interference is that your surrounding
environment is relatively peaceful when you are not practising qigong.
Because you have learned the Gong, you will always enjoy practising
it. However, as soon as you sit in practice, you would suddenly find
it noisy outside. There are sounds of a car horn, walking in the
hallway, talking, slamming of doors or a radio being played the
outside instantly. It will not be quiet any more. The environment will
be calm when you do not practise qigong. As soon as you begin to
practise, it becomes noisy. Many of us have never thought further
about why this happens, except for feeling odd about it and being
dejected about being unable to practise qigong. You just feel it is
"strange". This is demonic interference. It manipulates people to
disturb you. This is the most simple form of interference which is
aimed at stopping you from cultivation. If you practise qigong, and
attain the Tao, won't you pay for so many things you have owed? The
demons will not agree, and will not let you practise. However, this is
also a phenomenon reflected at a certain level of cultivation, which
will no longer be allowed to exist after a period of time. Namely,
after the debt has been removed, it will no longer be allowed to come
to interfere with you again. This is because cultivating our Falun
Dafa enables you to make rapid progress, and it is also comparatively
faster to break through your level of cultivation.
There is another form of demonic interference. It is known that we can
have our Celestial Eyes opened by practising qigong. After the
Celestial Eyes open, some people will see some scary scenes or
frightening faces when practising at home. Some of these people have
messy long hair, some want to fight you or even make various
movements, which are quite frightening. Sometimes when practising, one
will see them all clinging to the windows from the outside, which is
quite frightful. Why does such a situation exist? All of these are
forms of demonic interference. However, it is very rare in our school
of Falun Dafa, about one per cent. The majority will not encounter
such a situation. Because it does not benefit our cultivation, it is,
therefore, not allowed to interfere with you in this way. This kind of
interference is the most common phenomenon in other conventional
cultivation ways, and it will also last quite a long time. Some people
can not practise qigong, and become frightened simply because of this.
One normally chooses to practise qigong in a quiet environment at
night. Seeing a person standing in front of him who looks half demon
and half human, one would be too scared to continue the practice.
Generally, there is not such a phenomenon in our Falun Dafa. However,
there are still a few exceptions. Some people have extremely special
situations.
There is another kind of people who practise a cultivation way which
cultivates both the interior and the exterior. They practise both
Wushu (Martial Arts) and cultivate the interior. Such cultivation ways
are commonly seen in the Tao School. Once a person learns such a
cultivation way, he will often run into such a demon, which other
cultivation ways would not normally encounter except for the
cultivation ways that include interior and exterior cultivation, as
well as Martial Arts. The practitioner will be challenged to a fight
since there are many Taoist practitioners in the world, many of whom
practise Martial Arts and the interior and exterior cultivation ways.
A person practising Martial Arts could also increase his cultivation
energy. Why? After getting rid of the desires for fame and gain and
other attachments, he will also increase his cultivation energy.
However, his desire to contend and compete with others will take time
to be abandoned, and will be discarded relatively late. Therefore, he
is likely to do something like this, which will also occur at a
certain level. While sitting in a trance, he knows who is practising.
Then his Yuanshen (True Spirit) will leave his physical body to
challenge that person to a fight to determine whose Gongfu is better,
and a fight will then break out. Such a case will also occur in other
spaces where someone may look for him for a fight. If he refuses, that
person will indeed kill him. Therefore, a fight will take place
between the two. As soon as this practitioner falls asleep, someone
will come to challenge him to a fight, and therefore he cannot go to
sleep for the whole night. In fact, this is the time for him to let go
of his desire to contend with others. If he cannot abandon this
attachment of his, he will always be this way. If it lasts for long,
he will still remain at the same level of cultivation for several
years. This person will become unable to continue the practice. His
physical body can not bear it as well and he could be disabled with so
much energy consumed. Thus, such a situation will be seen frequently
in the cultivation ways that include both the interior and the
exterior cultivation, and it is quite common. Our interior cultivation
way does not have such an experience as it is not allowed to take
place. These several forms I have just talked about commonly exist.
There is another form of demonic interference which every
practitioner, including each member of our cultivation way, will
encounter. It is the demon of sex, which is very serious. Because of
sex between husband and wife in the society of ordinary people, human
society can multiply. That is how mankind develops. There is the
affection in human society. So it is in line with the principle of
heaven and earth for ordinary people to do this. Since human beings
have emotions, ordinary people live for them. Being angry is an
emotion, and so are happiness, love or hatred, enjoying doing one
thing or disliking doing another, judging who is good or bad, having
hobbies or dislikes. They are all emotions. Then, as a practitioner
and a supernormal person, you should not use such a principle to judge
yourself, but should break through this. Therefore, there are many
attachments which come from human emotions. We should care less about
them and give them up in the end. Desires and lust are such things
that belong to human attachments which should be all abandoned.
In our cultivation way, the period of time when we cultivate among
ordinary people should not be used to live as monks or nuns. The young
practitioners should still establish families. How should we treat
this issue, then? I have said that our cultivation way aims directly
at one's heart and does not make you really lose any material
interests. On the contrary, it tempers your Xinxing in the face of the
material interests of ordinary people, and what will be really
upgraded is your Xinxing. If you can give up your attachments, you
will be able to abandon everything. When required to give up material
interests, you can certainly do so. If you cannot give up your
attachments, you will not be able to let go of anything. Therefore,
the real purpose of cultivation is to cultivate your heart. The
cultivation in the temple forces you to lose these interests. In order
to enable you to get rid of these attachments, they force you to put
an end to them and not to think about them. They use this method. But
we do not require you to go that way, instead, we require you to care
less about the material interests right in front of you. Therefore,
the cultivation of our school is the most solid one. We do not want
you all to be monks or nuns. We cultivate among ordinary people, and
our cultivation way is becoming more and more popular in the future.
Suppose everyone became a monk who is not a monk; if every
practitioner of our Falun Dafa wanted to act this way, it would not be
allowed to happen. While you are practising qigong, we require you not
to divorce because you practise qigong. You practise it, but your
spouse may not. This means we should care less about sex, and should
not treat it as so important as ordinary people. Especially nowadays
in contemporary society, such things as the so-called sex liberation
and these pornographic materials are interfering with people. Some
people regard them as being very important. As practitioners, we must
care little about them.
Judging from the high dimensions, it is said that ordinary people in
society are simply playing with mud on the ground without realizing
that it is dirty. We have said that you should not cause any family
problems because of this matter. Therefore, it would be all right that
you care less about it and keep a normal harmonic married life at the
present stage. When you reach a certain level in the future, there
will be another situation at that level. At present you should do this
way, and it is all right for you to do so at our request. Of course,
you can not follow what is going on in contemporary society. How could
that be allowed!
There is still another issue concerning this matter. As we know, we
practitioners carry energy in our bodies. Now about 80% to 90% of the
people here from this class will not only recover from their illnesses
but also grow some cultivation energy. Thus, your body is carrying
very powerful energy. The energy you carry in your body and your
current Xinxing are not proportional. Your cultivation energy is
temporarily high because it has been promoted instantly. Your Xinxing
is being upgraded at the moment. Gradually, you will catch up with
your cultivation energy. You are certain to catch up within this
period of time. As a result, we have promoted your cultivation energy
in advance. In other words, you have got a certain amount of energy
now. Because energy cultivated from the Orthodox Law is upright and
compassionate, everyone sitting here all feels an atmosphere of
serenity and compassion. I have cultivated myself this way, and carry
such a thing with me. Everyone sitting here can feel the harmony and
has no evil thoughts in mind, and would even forget to smoke a
cigarette. In the future, you also should follow the requirement of
our Great Law, and the cultivation energy you have cultivated will
also be this way. With the increase of your energy potency, the
scattered energy of your cultivation energy which your body carries
will be also quite powerful. Even though it is not that powerful, an
ordinary person within your energy field, or staying at your home,
could also be restrained by your presense. Your family members at home
may be all restrained by you as well. Why? You do not have to think
about it because this field is upright, serene and compassionate, a
field of right mindfulness. So, people around do not want to have
wrong thoughts or do bad things. This field plays such a role.
The other day I mentioned that the Buddhas' lights illuminate all
things and bring propriety and righteousness to brightness and
perfection . It means that the energy radiated from our
bodies can rectify all the surrounding abnormal conditions. Under the
impact of this field when you are not thinking about such things, your
spouse will feel restrained without realizing it. If you do not think
about it, you do not feel like thinking about such a thing, your
spouse could not possibly think of it. But it is not absolute. In the
current environment, if a TV is turned on, everything is there which
could easily stimulate one's desires. However, under normal
circumstances, you could play such a restraining role. When you reach
the cultivation of the high level in the future, you will know
yourself what to do without my telling you how. There will be another
state which ensures you keep a harmonic life. So you do not have to
pay too much attention to this issue, and it would also be an
attachment to worry too much. Between a couple there is no such
problem as sex, but there is the problem of lust. It would be all
right if you can care little about it and feel mentally balanced.
What kind of sex demon, then, will one encounter? If you are not good
enough to resist temptations, it will occur in your dreams, while you
are sleeping or sitting in practice. Suddenly such a scene will
appear: If you are a male, a beauty will appear; if you are a female,
a man of your mind's eye will show up. Yet, they will be naked. If the
idea of sex flashes through your mind, you may ejaculate, and this has
become a fact. Please think about it. In our cultivation, the essence
of a flesh body is used to cultivate our lives. You should not
ejaculate all the time. In the meantime, you have not passed the test
of sexual desire. How could that be allowed? Therefore, I tell you all
about this matter as everybody will certainly encounter such an
experience. While expounding the Law, I am delivering the message to
your minds with very powerful energy. You may not remember what I said
specifically right after stepping out of the door, but you will
remember what I said when you really come across a problem. As long as
you regard yourself as a practitioner, you will instantly remember
what I said and refrain yourself, and thus you will be able to pass
this ordeal. If you fail the first time, it will be very difficult for
you to refrain yourself the next time. However, there was such a
person who regretted deeply his failure to pass the test the first
time after he woke up. Such a mentality and state of mind will
probably reinforce your mental impression. When running into the
problem again, you will be able to control yourself, and therefore
pass the test. If a person who has not passed the test does not care
about it, it is certain to be more difficult to pass the test
afterwards. I am sure.
This form of interference comes from the demons or from the master who
transforms an object into another to test you. Both forms exist
because everyone should pass this ordeal. We begin cultivation as
ordinary people, and such an ordeal is the first step. Every
practitioner will experience it. Let me give you an instance. When I
was giving a lecturing session in Wuhan, there was a student who was a
young man of 30 years old. Right after attending my lecture, he went
home, sat down cross-legged and quickly entered the state of
tranquillity in Ding. After a while, he suddenly saw Buddha Amitabha
appear from one side and Lao Zi from another side. This is what the
practitioner said in his progress report. After showing up, neither
said a word. Then they disappeared. Later, Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
showed up with a vase in hand, from which white smoke came out. The
practitioner sat there and felt very pleased as he could watch
everything vividly. Suddenly the scene changed into a few beauties,
who were flying Apsaras and astonishingly beautiful. They danced for
him with graceful movements. He thought: Because I am practising here,
the Bodhisattva is rewarding me by transforming a few beauties to
dance for me. As he was delighted with this thought, these beauties
suddenly became naked, making various gestures, and came to hug and
caress him. As his Xinxing had improved very fast, at this time, this
young man became alert. The first thought that came to his mind was: I
am not an ordinary person. I am a practitioner. You should not treat
me this way. I am cultivating Falun Dafa. As soon as this thought
flashed in his mind, they all suddenly disappeared as they were all
transformed illusions anyway. Then, Buddha Amitabha and Lao Zi
appeared again. Pointing at the young man, Lao Zi smiled at Buddha
Amitabha and said: This kid is teachable. That means this young man is
good for cultivation and can be taught.
Judging from the high dimensional spaces or in history, the issue of
sex and desires is regarded as extremely important when a person is
judged to see if he is able to cultivate or not. Therefore, we must
really care little about these things. However, as we are cultivating
ourselves among ordinary people, we do not require you to put an end
to them completely, at least at the present stage, but you are
required to care less about them, and should not treat them as before.
As a practitioner, you should be this way. Whenever there is an
interference of one kind or another, you must look for the cause
yourself and find out what attachment has not been discarded.
Demonic Interference from one's Own Mind
What is demonic interference from one's own mind? There is a field of
matter around the human body in every dimensional space. Within a
special field, everything in the universe could be reflected, like
shadows, into your field of space. Though they are shadows, they are
of material existence. Everything within your field of space is
dictated by the consciousness of your brain. Namely, if you look with
your Celestial Eye peacefully without any mental activities, what you
see will be true. If you start to think slightly, what you see will
all be unreal. This is called the demonic interference from one's own
mind or mind transformation. It is because some practitioners do not
treat themselves as practitioners and can not control themselves. Such
a person seeks after supernormal capabilities and is obsessed by minor
skills and abilities or even by hearing something from other spaces.
He is obsessed with pursuing such abilities. This kind of person
easily develops demonic interference from themselves, and drops down.
No matter how high up such a person has cultivated, he will drop all
the way down to the bottom, and fail completely once this problem
arises. It is matter of extremely serious consequences. Unlike things
in the other aspects, if one fails to pass an examination of Xinxing
this time, he can still continue to cultivate himself after he stands
up after a fall. But the demonic interference from his own mind will
not allow him to go on to cultivate any more, and thus it will ruin
his whole life. In particular, this problem easily occurs to those who
have opened their Celestial Eyes on a certain plane. Still, there are
some people whose consciousness is always disturbed by foreign
messages. They believe whatever foreign messages tell them. This
problem easily arises this way. Therefore, some of our practitioners
whose Celestial Eyes are open could run into a variety of message
interference from many sources.
Let me give an example. It would be very difficult for one to keep
one's mind undisturbed at a low level of cultivation. You may not see
clearly what your master looks like. One day you may suddenly see a
giant immortal. He gives you a few compliments and teaches you
something that you accept, as well. Your cultivation energy will be
messed up. Once you become delighted and accept him as your master,
you will follow him. However, he has not completed the right
achievement either. In another space, his body could grow big or
small. With this in front of you, you will become really excited at
seeing such a giant immortal. Would you not follow him once your
attachment of complacency arises? It will be difficult for a
cultivator to be saved, and he will easily ruin himself if he cannot
control himself. Heavenly people are all deities, but they have not
completed the right achievement and therefore have to follow the
Sixfold Path of Transmigration. Where will he take you if you casually
adopt such a being as your master and follow him? He has not completed
the right achievement yet. Wouldn't your cultivation be in vain? Your
own cultivation energy will end up in a mess. It is extremely hard for
humans to stay undisturbed in their minds. I am telling everyone that
this is a very serious issue. Many of us could encounter such a
problem in the future. I have expounded the Law to you. It is up to
you whether you can control yourself. What I have talked about is one
of the situations. Do not allow yourself to be disturbed by an
enlightened being from another school when you have seen him, and stay
with only one cultivation way. Whatever Buddha, whatever Tao, whatever
deity or whatever demon will not be able to bother my mind. In this
way, you are bound to succeed in your cultivation.
Demonic interference from one's own mind also has other forms:
interference from dead relatives who cry to beg you to do this or
that. All kinds of things could happen. Will your mind stay
unaffected? You are very fond of this child of yours, and love your
parents. Your parents, who have passed away, told you to do
something... All those are the things that you should not do,
otherwise they will ruin your cultivation. It is just so hard to be a
practitioner. It is said that Buddhism has been in chaos. It has
absorbed the Confucian doctrines, such as showing filial obedience to
parents, love for children, etc., which are not Buddhist principles.
What does it mean? Since Yuanshen (the True Spirit) is a human being's
real life, the mother who gave birth to your True Spirit is your real
mother. In the course of the Sixfold Path of Transmigration, the
number of your mothers who are human or non-human beings is countless.
The number of your sons and daughters is also numerous throughout your
lifetimes. Who is your mother? Who are your children? You will not
know one another after you pass away. You still have to pay the karmic
debts you owe. Human beings live in darkness and cannot abandon these
things. Some people cannot let go of their child's death, and keep
saying how good the child was; or how good his mother was who has also
passed away. They are so sorrowful that they simply wish to follow the
dead for the rest of their lives. Why do you think that they have come
to bother you? They use such a form to make you unable to lead a
normal life.
Ordinary people perhaps can not understand that you can not cultivate
at all if you are attached to such a thing. Therefore, Buddhism does
not include such implications. If you want to cultivate, human
affections should be discarded. Of course, during the cultivation in
the society of ordinary people, we should respect parents, guide our
children, try to be good and kind towards others under all
circumstances, let alone our relatives. We should treat everyone the
same, be nice to both parents and children, and be considerate towards
others in everything we do. Such a heart will be unselfish, kind and
benevolent. Affections belong to ordinary people who live for them.
Many people can not discipline themselves, which causes difficulties
in cultivation. Some people say that a Buddha has told them something.
Except those who tell you to avoid fatal dangers, all those who tell
you to get benefits in the society of ordinary people are demons. You
are told how to avoid some problem that will occur today or you are
told the lottery number and asked to try. If you get benefits among
ordinary people and avoid the ordeal, you will not ascend in
cultivation. How can you cultivate if you lead a comfortable life
among ordinary people? How can your karma be transformed? Where can
you find an environment for you to improve your Xinxing and transform
your karma? Please be sure to remember this point. The demon may also
praise you and say how great you are, what a senior Buddha or what a
great Taoist you are, and may consider you great, which is all false.
As a genuine practitioner cultivating towards high dimensions, you
must give up all attachments. Whenever you encounter such things,
please be sure to be alert!
Our Celestial Eyes will be open during practice. There is difficulty
for one whose Celestial Eye is open. There is also difficulty for one
whose Celestial Eye is not open. Neither case is easy for cultivation.
With the Celestial Eye open, it will be difficult for you to
discipline yourself when a variety of messages interfere with you.
Everything in other spaces is a dazzling array of beautiful exhibits
which are very impressive and very good. Anything may touch your
heart. You may be interfered with once you are affected in your mind.
And your cultivation energy will be messed up. This often occurs.
Thus, a person with demonic interference from his own mind could also
run into such a situation when he is unable to control himself. For
instance, it would be very dangerous for this person to have immoral
thoughts. One day, his Celestial Eye is open and he can see quite
clearly. He thinks: my Celestial Eye is best opened at this practice
site, perhaps I am not an ordinary person. And I am able to learn
master Li's Falun Dafa and I can learn it so well, and so I am better
than others, maybe I am not an ordinary person. Such a thought is
already wrong. He thinks: probably I am also a Buddha. Ah, let me look
at myself. When he looks at himself, he will really indeed find that
he is a Buddha. Why? Because all the substances within the range of
the space field around his body evolve with his intentions, which is
also called evolution with mind.
What is reflected from the universe evolves with his intentions.
Because everything within his space field is under his control
including shadows, which are also a substance. He thinks: maybe I am a
Buddha and probably wearing a Buddha's clothes. Then he will see what
he is wearing indeed are Buddha's clothes. Ah, I am indeed a Buddha.
He becomes very excited. I am probably not a small Buddha. He will
look at himself again, and find himself indeed a giant Buddha. Perhaps
I am greater than Li Hongzhi! Let me have a look. Wow, I am indeed
higher in status than Li Hongzhi. Someone will hear this sort of
thing. The demon will interfere with him, saying: You are indeed
higher in status than Li Hongzhi, and this or that much higher than Li
Hongzhi. He will believe it as well. Why don't you think about how you
will cultivate in the future? Have you ever cultivated? Who has taught
you cultivation? Even a genuine Buddha will have to cultivate from the
beginning when he comes down on a mission. His original cultivation
energy will not be given to him. He merely will cultivate faster this
time. Therefore, once this person has got such a problem, it will be
difficult for him to get out of this mental state, and he will
instantly develop such an attachment. After this attachment arises, he
dares to say anything: I am really a Buddha and you don't need to
learn from others; I am a Buddha, and I'll tell you what to do. He
will become this way.
Don't we have a person like that in Changchun? He was pretty good at
the beginning and became that way later on. He thought that he was a
Buddha, and that he had become higher than anybody else in the end. It
is because he could not control himself and had an attachment. Why is
there such a phenomenon? It is said in Buddhism: you should ignore
whatever you see as they are all demonic illusions, and that you
should just ascend in cultivation through meditation. Why doesn't it
allow you to look, nor to be attached? It worries about the occurrence
of such problems. In the Buddhist cultivation there is neither
intensive cultivation methods, nor is there any guidance for you to
get free from such an attachment in the sutras. Sakyamuni did not
preach the law at that time. In order to avoid demonic interference
from one's own mind and evolution with the mind, he called all visible
scenes during cultivation demonic illusions. Therefore, once an
attachment arises, it will give rise to such a demonic illusion, which
will be difficult for one to get rid of. If not properly dealt with,
this person may be ruined, and therefore he may go with the demons.
Because he calls himself a Buddha, he has already gone into the world
of demons. In the end, he could also incur spirit possession or any
other things, and will be ruined completely. He might also become
immoral and drop all the way down to the bottom. There are many such
people. Even in this class, there are people who think quite highly of
themselves at the moment, and talk with a different attitude. Even
Buddhism teaches abstaining from doing this. What I just said is
another situation which is called interference from one's own mind or
evolution with the mind. There are such students from Beijing and some
other regions, who have caused severe interference to the
practitioners.
Someone asked me: Teacher, how come you do not eliminate this problem?
Please think it over. How could you possibly cultivate if we clear
away all the obstacles on your way towards cultivation? It is just
under the circumstance of the demonic interference that you will be
tested to see if you can continue your cultivation or not, if you can
truly awake to Tao or not, if you can be interfered with or not, and
if you can become grounded firmly in this cultivation way or not.
Cultivation is like huge waves refining the sand. This is exactly the
way cultivation is. What is left in the end will be genuine gold.
Without such forms of interference, I would say it is too easy for you
to cultivate. Even I should think that your cultivation is easy. Those
great enlightened beings of high dimensions will become more than
likely to consider it unfair: What are you doing this for? Is this
what you mean by saving people? Is this cultivation if there are not
any obstacles on the way and you can make your cultivation all the way
to the end? How could it possibly be allowed for you to cultivate
without any interference and become more and more comfortable in your
cultivation? That is the issue. I am also thinking about it. At the
beginning, I eliminated many such demons. I also felt it was not right
to keep doing that all the time. They also told me: You are making
their cultivation too easy. People just have that little hardship of
their own, and that little trouble found among themselves. They still
have many attachments which they can not give up. It still remains a
question whether you can understand the Great Law itself amidst the
confusion and delusion. It involves such an issue. Therefore, there
will be interference and trials. What was just mentioned is a form of
demonic interference. It is very difficult to save a person but
extremely easy to ruin a person. Your cultivation will fail all at
once when your mind is not upright.
The Main Consciousness Should Play a Governing Role
Because one has committed, throughout his previous lives, a lot of
wrong doing, these have brought disasters to people and become
obstacles of karma for the practitioner. Therefore, there are birth,
old age, disease, and death. These are ordinary karma. Still, there is
another powerful karma called karma of thought which has
a great impact on practitioners. People should think while they are
alive. While lost amidst ordinary people, one will often develop a
kind of intention for fame, gain, sex, anger, etc.. This intention
will gradually become the powerful karma of thought in the long run.
Since everything in other spaces has its own life, the same is also
true of karma. When one begins to pursue the cultivation of the
Orthodox Law, he will need to eliminate his karma. Eliminating karma
means to have karma eradicated and transformed. Of course, karma
resists, and one will have tribulations and obstacles. However, the
karma of thought will directly interfere in one's mind. Therefore,
there are thoughts of condemning the teacher and the Great Law, or
some indecent thoughts and swear words. When this occurs, some
practitioners will be at a loss, and even believe that they themselves
think this way. Some people also think that it is caused by spirit
possession. However, it is not caused by spirit possession, but by the
reflection of karma of thought in the brain. Some people's Main
Consciousness cannot control themselves and follows the karma of
thought to commit wrongdoing. Such a person will end up in failure and
drop down. However, most practitioners can resist and eliminate karma
of thought with very strong subjective thinking (the powerful Main
Consciousness). In this way, this shows that this person can be saved,
and can distinguish good from bad. That means he has a good
enlightenment quality. My Law body will help him eliminate most of
such karma of the thought. This is a common occurrence. Once it
appears, one will be tested to see if he can overcome such evil
thoughts himself. If the practitioner is determined, such karma can be
removed.
Mind Must Be Upright
What does not having the right mind mean? It refers to one who always
cannot treat himself as a practitioner. A practitioner will run into
tribulations during cultivation. When tribulation comes, it may
manifest in the conflict between one and another. There will be
intriguing against each other, etc., which will directly affect your
Xinxing. There will be more in this aspect. What else will you
experience? Our physical bodies will suddenly feel uncomfortable.
Because of paying the debts of karma, it will be manifested in every
aspect. In a certain period of time, you may be made to feel that you
can not tell what is true or what is false, whether or not your
cultivation energy exists, whether or not you can cultivate and go up
in cultivation, whether or not there are Buddhas, and that they are
both true and false. Such situations will surface again in the future
to give you a false impression, make you feel as if they did not exist
and they were all false, and in this way you will be tested to see if
you are determined. You say that you must be determined. With such a
determination, you will be able to be firmly grounded by then, and
automatically do well because your Xinxing has already been upgraded.
However, you are not yet that steady at the moment, and you will not
be able to awake and pursue cultivation if you are provided with such
tribulations right away. Tribulations may appear in a variety of
forms.
One must cultivate himself this way towards high dimensions in the
course of cultivation. As a result, some of our practitioners will
think that they are ill once they do not feel well physically. Such a
person can not always regard himself as a practitioner, and will think
that he is ill if he encounters such a thing. Why will there be so
many troubles? Let me tell you that a lot of your troubles have
already been removed, and your troubles have already been made very
trivial. If they had not been removed for you, you might have died
already and perhaps you could never have got out of your bed when you
encountered such a trouble. When you meet with such little troubles,
you will, thus, feel uncomfortable. How could it possibly be that
comfortable? For instance, during my lecturing session in Changchun,
there was a person with very good inborn qualities, and he was quite
promising, too. I also became interested in him, and increased his
tribulation so that he could speed up paying back his karma debts, and
become enlightened. This was what I intended to do. However, one day
he suddenly seemed to suffer from a cerebral thrombosis, and fell down
to the ground. He felt that he could not move as if his four limbs
were out of order. He was sent to a hospital for emergency recovery.
Then, he could walk again. Please think about it. How could one walk
around and move his arms and legs again so quickly with a cerebral
thrombosis? Instead, he blamed Falun Dafa for making him go wrong. He
did not think it over. How could he have recovered so quickly from a
cerebral thrombosis? If he had not learned Falun Dafa today, he would
have really died there when he fell down. Perhaps, he would have
become handicapped for the rest of his life, and would have indeed got
a cerebral thrombosis.
It is just that difficult to save a person. So much has been done for
him. He would still not awake to it, and said something like this.
Some veteran students said: Teacher, why do I feel uncomfortable all
over? When I went to the hospital, it never helped to have injections
and medicine. He even shamelessly said that to me! Of course, it will
not help. How could these possibly help as it was not a disease? Go
ahead and have a physical exam. There are not any problems, and you
just feel uncomfortable. We had a student who had broken a few syringe
needles at the hospital. In the end, the liquid medicine was ejected
out, and the syringe needle also could not inject. He came to
understand: Oh, I am a practitioner, and I should not take an
injection. He just realized that he should not have had injections.
Therefore, whenever we run into tribulations, be sure to pay attention
to this issue. Some people think that I just do not allow them to go
to the hospital, and they think: I will go to see a qigong master if
you do not allow me to go to hospital. He still considers it to be a
disease, and goes to see a qigong master. Where can he find a genuine
qigong master? If he sees a fake one, he will be ruined at once.
We have said: how can you distinguish between genuine and fake qigong
masters? Many qigong masters are self-labelled. I have been verified,
and have the documentation of examinations in hand from the related
scientific research organizations. Many qigong masters are sham as
well as self-labelled, and there are many of them who cheat. Such a
fake qigong master can also treat illnesses. How can he do it? He is
possessed by an evil spirit, without which he cannot deceive people!
That evil spirit can also give off energy to cure a disease as it also
exists as a form of energy that can very easily restrain ordinary
people. Yet, I have said: What can the evil spirit give you when it
treats your disease? Under micro examination, they will all be the
images of that evil spirit. What will you do if they are given to you?
It is easier to invite a god than to send him away. We do not want to
say anything about ordinary people because they just want to live like
ordinary people and to find temporary comfort. However, you are a
practitioner. Don't you want to constantly purify your body? When will
you be able to get rid of it if it has gone into your body? In
addition, it also has a certain amount of energy. Some people might
think: How come the Falun allows it to come? Don't we have teacher's
Law bodies to protect us? There is a principle in this universe of
ours: Nobody will intervene if you want to seek after something
yourself. As long as it is what you want, nobody will intervene. My
Law body will stop you, and give you some hint. But, if it realizes
that you are like this all the time, it will not get involved any
more. How can one possibly be forced to cultivate? You cannot be made
and forced to pursue cultivation. It is up to you to truly progress
upward. No one can do anything about it if you do not want to progress
upward yourself. You have now been informed of the truth and Law. Whom
will you blame if you still do not want to make progress yourself? It
is certain that Falun and my Law bodies will not intervene in whatever
you want to pursue. Of course, some people felt very uncomfortable at
home after attending other qigong masters' lectures. Why did not my
Law body protect you? What did you go there for? Were you asking for
something when you went to their classes? If you did not listen with
your ears, how could it possibly come to your body? Some people have
deformed the Falun. Let me tell you that this Falun is worthy of much
more than your life. It is an intelligent life that should not be
casually ruined. There are many fake qigong masters nowadays, and some
of them are quite well-known. In my meeting with the leaders of the
China Research Society of Qigong Science, I said that the Chinese
royal court was once upon a time brought into disastrous disorder by
Da Ji. That fox went rampant, but not as bad as the fake qigong
masters today who have simply brought disasters to the whole country,
and so many people have been made to suffer! You see that they appear
to be quite nice. How many people are carrying that stuff in their
bodies? They are so rampant that if they give it off to you, you will
have it in your body. Therefore, it is difficult to tell from the
appearance of an ordinary person.
Some people may think: I have attended the qigong lecture today. After
I heard what Mr. Li Hongzhi said, I realized how great and profound
qigong is! Whenever there are other qigong lectures next time, I
should still attend them. I advise that you should definitely not go
there because if you listened, the bad things will enter your ears. It
is very difficult to save a person, to change his mind, and to purify
his body. There are just too many fake qigong masters. As for even a
genuine orthodox qigong master, is he really clean? Some animals are
very fierce and he can not drive them away though they may not be able
to come onto his body. He has no ability to offend such things on a
large scale. While the qigong master gives off cultivation energy,
there is a lot of bad stuff mixed up there especially among his
students. Though the qigong master may be quite decent himself, his
students are not so, as they are possessed of all kinds of evil
spirits, etc..
If you genuinely want to cultivate Falun Dafa, do not go to other
qigong lectures. Of course, if you do not want to cultivate Falun Dafa
but want to try everything, just go ahead. I will not stop you, and
you will not be a Falun Dafa disciple. Do not blame the practice of
Falun Dafa if something goes wrong with you. Only if you cultivate
according to the Great Law and behave according to the Xinxing
standard can you become a genuine cultivator of Falun Dafa. Some
people have asked: Can we meet with other qigong practitioners? Let me
tell you that they are only practising qigong while you are
cultivating the Great Law. After attending this lecture, there will be
a huge gap between you and these people. This Falun has been formed
through the cultivation of so many generations, and it has mighty
powers. Of course, if you want to be in touch, but you can protect
yourself from accepting and taking what belongs to them and can only
become ordinary friends, it will not matter much. However, if that
person indeed possesses something evil, it could be very bad, and you
had better not have any contacts with him. I do not think that it
matters much if a couple practise different kinds of qigong. But there
is one point to be made. Because you practise the orthodox cultivation
way, though you are the only person practising it, others will benefit
from it. If he practises something evil, he may have evil matter in
his body. He will be purified in order to ensure your safety.
Everything will be purified for you in the other spaces including your
home environment. How can you possibly practise the Gong if your
environment is not purified with all sorts of interference bothering
you?
However, there is one situation in which my Law body cannot do the
purification. I have one student who one day saw my Law body come for
a visit. He was very happy and excited: The teacher's Law body is
here. Teacher, please come in. My Law body said: This room is too
messy, and there are too many things. Then, my Law body walked away.
Generally speaking, there are too many intelligent entities in other
spaces, and my Law body will clean them out. However, his room was
full of various evil qigong books. He came to understand it, and
cleaned up his room by either burning up the books or selling them.
Then, my Law body returned. This is what a student told me.
Some people are interested in seeing a fortune teller. Someone asked
me: Teacher, I am a practitioner of Falun Dafa now. I am also
interested in Zhouyi (the Book of Changes)or such fortune-telling
stuff. Can I still use them? Let me put it this way. If you carry a
considerable amount of energy, whatever you say will have an effect.
If something is not that way, and you have made it by saying it is
that way, you will probably have committed a wrong deed. An ordinary
person is very weak. The messages he has is unstable, and he is likely
to have some changes. If you opened your mouth and said something,
that tribulation could exist. If he has a lot of karmic debts that he
has to pay, and you keep telling him that he has good fortune, would
it be all right if he is not able to pay back the debts? Aren't you
doing harm to this person? Some people just can not give up this
attachment as if they have some talents. Isn't this an attachment?
Even if you really know the truth, as a practitioner you should not
reveal a secret of Heaven to an ordinary person. This is a principle.
No matter how you use Zhouyi to predict, some of it is no longer true.
It has been used to predict back and forth with both truth and
falsehood. Such a thing as fortune telling is allowed to exist in the
society of ordinary people. As a true practitioner with genuine
cultivation energy, I think you should behave according to a high
standard. However, some practitioners try to find someone else to do
fortune-telling for him, saying: Would you tell my fortune to see how
things are going for me, how is my qigong getting on? Is there a
tribulation for me? Such a person will find people to predict such
things for him. How can you possibly make progress if that tribulation
of yours has been revealed to you? The whole life of a practitioner
has been rearranged. His palm reading, face reading, birth data, as
well as all the messages in his body have been changed. If you go to a
fortune teller, you will believe him. Otherwise, why did you do it?
What he can tell is some superficial stuff about your past. Yet, the
substance has already changed. Please think about it. Aren't you
listening to him and do you believe him if you go to a fortune teller?
Do you, then, invite some mental burden? Isn't it an attachment with
such a burden on your mind? How can such an attachment be abandoned?
Haven't you added a man-made tribulation to yourself? Don't you have
to suffer more to give up this rising attachment? Each pass and each
tribulation are related to the issue of either ascending in
cultivation or dropping down. Cultivation is already difficult. How
can you overcome it when you have increased this tribulation by
yourself? You probably will run into tribulations and troubles as a
result. Your changed path of life is not allowed to be seen by others.
How can you continue your cultivation after it has been seen by others
who can tell at which stage you will go through a tribulation?
Therefore, it is not allowed to be seen at all. Nobody in other
cultivation ways will be allowed to see it, including the fellow
practitioners from the same cultivation way. No one will be able to
tell it correctly because your life has been rearranged to you for the
cultivation.
Some people asked me if they could read books of other religions and
other qigong books. We have said that religious books, books on
Buddhism in particular, all aim at teaching people how to cultivate
their Xinxing. We also belong to the Buddha School, and there should
not be any problems. However, there is one point to make. Some parts
in many sutras have already gone wrong in the course of translation.
To make things still worse, many sutras have been interpreted from
different realms, and the definitions have been made casually. This in
fact has disrupted the Law. Those people who have casually interpreted
the sutras were too far away from the Buddha's realm of awareness, and
did not understand the real meaning of the sutras. Therefore, they
will also have a different understanding of the issues. It is not easy
for you to understand the sutras thoroughly, and you will not be able
to awake to their meaning on your own. But you say: we are just
interested in the sutras. If you always work on the sutras, that means
you are cultivating yourself in that school since the sutras also have
integrated the cultivation system and the Law of that school together.
Once you study them, you will be learning things belonging to their
school. There is this kind of issue. If you dig into them and behave
according to them, you may be following that cultivation school
instead of ours. Through the ages, cultivation has presented the one
and only way. If you really want to cultivate this cultivation school,
just read the book of this school.
As far as qigong books are concerned, you should not read them if you
want to cultivate. Particularly, do not read the recently published
qigong books. As for books such as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of
Internal Medicine, A Genuine Guide to Cultivation of Nature and Life,
or Tao Zang, they may not carry any bad messages; but they contain
messages of different dimensions. They are just cultivation methods
themselves. Reading them will add things and bring interference to
your cultivation. If you find one sentence is good, well, it will be
invited and added to your cultivation energy. Though it is not
something bad, how can you possibly cultivate yourself when something
else is suddenly added to your cultivation energy? Wouldn't problems
arise as well? In terms of the electronic parts inside a TV set, what
would happen to a TV set if it is installed with an additional part?
It would be out of order instantly. That is the bottom line. In
addition, some qigong books nowadays are fake, and carry a variety of
messages. As one of our practitioners was turning the pages of a
qigong book, a giant snake jumped out of it. Of course, I am not
willing to go into details. What I just said was that the
practitioners may bring on themselves some troubles because they can
not properly conduct themselves; that is to say, the troubles are
incurred by their evil intentions. We point these out to benefit
everybody and make everybody know what to do and how to be able to
distinguish them in order to avoid problems arising in the future.
Though I did not overemphasize what I just said, everyone must pay
great attention to it because problems oftentimes arise right here and
around these issues. Cultivation is extremely hard and extraordinarily
serious. If you become slightly careless, you could drop down and be
ruined just like this. Therefore, your mind must be right.
Wushu Qigong (Martial Arts)
In addition to interior cultivation ways, there is Wushu qigong. While
talking about Wushu qigong, I should also emphasize the issue that
nowadays there are many ways of talking about qigong in the world of
cultivation.
There have appeared the so-called Fine Arts qigong, Music qigong,
Calligraghy qigong, Dancing qigong. There are all sorts of them. Are
they all qigong? I have found it very odd. I would say that this is
disrupting qigong. It is not only disrupting qigong, but also simply
ruining qigong. What are their theoretical bases? Would it be qigong
to practise painting, singing, dancing and writing by entering the
state of a trance, the so-called qigong status? It should not be
understood this way. I would say, isn't it abusing qigong? Qigong has
both extensive and profound knowledge of the cultivation of the human
body. Oh, how could possibly a trance be qigong? What would it be
called then for us to go to the bathroom in a trance? Isn't it abusing
qigong? I would say that it is abusing qigong. At the Oriental Health
Expo two years ago, there was something like calligraphy qigong. What
was the calligraphy qigong? I went over there to take a look and found
a person over there was writing with a brush. After writing, he gave
off his qi to each word with his hands, and the qi released was all
black. His mind was fully occupied with money and fame. How could he
have energy? His qi could not be good, either. His writings were
hanging up there and sold for high prices. But they were all sold to
foreigners. I would say that whoever bought them will be in trouble.
How could the black qi be good? That person's face even looked black.
He had become obsessed with money, only thinking about money. How
could he have any energy? Still, this person's name card carried a
pile of titles, such as the International Calligraphy Qigong, etc.. I
would ask how could that be qigong?
Please think about it. Eighty percent to ninety percent of the people
from this class will not only be free from any disease, but also bring
forth cultivation energy, the genuine cultivation energy. What your
bodies are carrying will be quite supernormal. It will be impossible
for you to develop this through your life long cultivation on your
own. If young people should begin their cultivation right now, they
would not be able to develop all these things I have given them in
their lifetime, and at the same time they would still need the
guidance of a genuine good master. It has taken us so many generations
to develop this Falun and these mechanisms which we have planted into
your bodies all at once. Therefore, I am telling you that you mustn't
lose them easily because you have got them easily. They are extremely
valuable and cannot be valued at any price. After this class, what you
will carry with you is the genuine cultivation energy, the high energy
matter. When you go home and write a few words, they will carry energy
whether the handwriting is good or not. As a result, should everyone
from this class be entitled the word "master", and all become
calligraphy qigong masters? I do not think that it should be
understood this way. Because you do not have to deliver energy
intentionally, whatever you have touched will retain your energy,
which is shining bright, as you are really possessed of cultivation
energy.
I once found a magazine which carried a piece of news saying that a
calligraphy qigong class was going to be held. I read a few pages to
see how it would be taught. Inside was written: one should first of
all tune up his breath, as well as inhale and exhale. Then he should
sit in meditation for 15 to 30 minutes while thinking of the Dantian
qi. Imagine lifting the Dantian qi to his arm. Ink his brush-pen with
the ink, and then direct the qi to the brush-pen point. When his
intention is focused on the brush-pen, he will start to write. Wasn't
that cheating? Ah, is it qigong to lift the qi to a certain place? In
that case, as we eat, we will sit for a while, then pick up the
chopsticks, move qi to the tips of the chopsticks and eat. It could be
called the dining qigong, couldn't it? What we eat will also be all
energy. We just talk about such a matter. I would say this is really
ruining qigong as he has taken qigong so superficially. So qigong can
not be understood this way.
However, Wushu qigong can be considered an independent qigong. Why?
Because it has gone through a process of several thousand years with a
complete system of cultivation theories as well as that of cultivation
methods, it can be regarded as an integrated system. Nevertheless,
Wushu qigong also remains something belonging to the lowest level of
interior cultivation ways. The Hard Qigong is a form of energy mass of
matter which is aimed solely at striking. Let me give you an example.
A practitioner in Beijing could not press anything with his hands
after attending our Falun Dafa lectures. When he was shopping for a
bassinet, he was surprised to find that the bassinet collapsed at the
sound "pa" when he checked its sturdiness with hands. When he went
home and sat in a chair, he could not press it with hands. If he did
that, the chair would break into pieces. He asked me what was going
on. I did not tell him why because I did not want him to develop an
attachment. I just said that it is a natural phenomenon, let it go
naturally, and don't bother with it as it is all good. If that
supernormal capability is used well, a stone could be smashed to
powder with hands. Isn't this the Hard Qigong? However, he has never
practised the Hard Qigong. Usually, such supernormal capabilities can
all be brought forth in interior cultivation ways. Because human
Xinxing is difficult to handle well, you will not be usually allowed
to use such supernormal capabilities when they have been developed.
Especially at the low level of the cultivation when one's Xinxing has
not yet been upgraded, the supernormal capabilities developed at the
low level will not be allowed to be seen at all. As time goes by, and
your level goes up, such matter will be no more use and will not be
brought out.
How is Wushu qigong practised specifically? Practising Wushu qigong
requires the exercise of qi. However, it is not easy to do that at the
beginning. Though you want to exercise qi, you can not do it as you
wish. What will you do then? You will have to exercise your hands,
your two sides of the body, feet, legs, arms, and head. How should you
exercise qi? Some people strike a tree with their hands or palms. Some
people strike a rock with their hands. How painful it is for the bones
as they bleed with just a little effort. Still, the qi can not be
directed. What should be done then? One will start to swing his arms
until his hands and arms become swollen by making the blood circulate
in the opposite direction. In fact, they have become swollen. After
that, his bones will be padded when he hits a rock. Since his bones
cannot directly contact the rock, they will not feel pain. As he
continues to practise, his master will teach him. As time passes by,
he will learn how to direct qi. However, the ability to direct qi
alone is not good enough as the opponent will not wait for you in real
combat. Of course, when one is able to direct qi, he will be able to
resist blows, and probably not feel pain when hit with a thick stick.
After he has directed qi to a certain part of the body, it swells up.
Yet, this is the most primitive matter at the beginning, and can be
transformed into the high energy matter as he continues his practice.
When this transformation is completed, this qi will gradually form a
huge energy mass of high density, and such energy masses carry
intelligence. Therefore, it is also a supernormal capability mass,
which means a supernormal capability. Nevertheless, such a supernormal
capability is specialized for striking and the protection from
striking. It will not work if used to treat disease. Because this high
energy matter exists in another space and does not travel in our
space, it moves faster there than here in our space. When you hit
another person, you do not need to direct qi, nor to think of it
because your energy has reached there already. When you try to ward
off someone's blow, the energy also has reached there already. No
matter how quickly you throw a blow, the energy will move faster than
you as the concepts of time are different on both sides. Through
practising Wushu qigong, one may develop something like Iron-sand
Palm, Cinnabar Palm, Vajra Leg, Arhat Foot, which are the skills of
ordinary people. An ordinary person will be able to attain such skills
through exercises.
The major difference between Wushu qigong and the interior cultivation
way is that: Wushu qigong requires practice in motion. Therefore, qi
travels under the skin. Because it requires practice in motion, one
can not reach the state of tranquillity, nor can his qi enter Dantian
(the elixir field). His qi moves under the skin and through the
muscles. Therefore, he can not cultivate his life, nor can he
cultivate the high attainment of Gongfu. Our interior cultivation way
requires the practice to be in the state of tranquillity. Conventional
cultivation ways require qi to enter Dantian and the abdomen area.
They require practice in the state of tranquillity as well as the
transformation of Benti ( the True Being), which enables one
to cultivate life and to reach high level cultivation.
You have probably heard of such Gongfu in the novels which describe
something like Gold Bell Shield, Iron Cloth Shirt, shooting through a
willow ring from one hundred paces away. Light Gongfu enables one to
travel high up from place to place. Some even can enter another space.
Is there such Gongfu? Yes, that is for sure. However, it does not
exist among ordinary people. Those who have indeed cultivated such
high attainment Gongfu will not be able to show it off in public.
Because such a person does not practise martial arts alone and he has
completely gone beyond the ordinary people's attainment level, he must
cultivate himself according to the interior cultivation way. He is
required to preserve and upgrade his Xinxing, and care little about
such things as material interests. Though he can cultivate such
Gongfu, he will not be able to casually use it any more among ordinary
people from now on. It would be all right for him to utilize it when
no one is around to see it. When reading those novels, you will find
that the characters fight and kill with superb Gongfu, appearing and
disappearing like gods. The book says such a person does this for
something like a sword map, or treasure, or a woman. Please think
about it. Haven't those people who genuinely have such Gongfu attained
it through the interior cultivation? They have cultivated it only
through improving Xinxing, and have long before cared little about
fame and gain as well as various desires. How could they go to kill
others? How could they care that much about money and wealth? It is
out of the question. They are only artistic exaggerations. People just
seek after psychological stimulation and will do anything for that
thirst. The authors have cashed in on such a weakness, and will write
whatever satisfies your desire and pleases you. The more absurd the
books become, the more you like to read. But they are only artistic
exaggerations. Those who indeed have such Gongfu will not use it this
way. In particular, they will not show it off in public.
Desire to Show Off
Because of cultivating themselves among ordinary people, many of our
practitioners can not dispose of many attachments. Many of these
attachments have already become natural, and they can not realize
their existence. Such a psychology to show off can be seen in every
situation, even in doing a good deed. In order to gain fame and gain
and a little benefit, some people often advertise and show themselves
off: I have the capability and I am a winner. We also have such cases.
Some practitioners who have practised a little better than others,
have Celestial Eye visions or better exercise movements also like to
show off.
Some people say: I have heard something from Master Li, and people
surround them to listen. Such a person passes the hearsay with his own
interpretations and embroiders it. What is the purpose? It is to show
off. Still, some people pass hearsay from one to another with a great
deal of pleasure as if they know more than others, and as if so many
of our practitioners do not understand or know as much as they do. It
has become natural for a person like this to do so, and perhaps he is
not aware of it. He has the mentality to show off subconsciously.
Otherwise, what is the purpose of passing the hearsay around? Some
people gossip about when I shall return to the mountains. I am not
from the mountains. Why should I return to the mountains? Others
gossip that I have told someone something and treated him specially.
What good does it do to pass such news around? It does not do any
good. However, we have seen his attachment, a psychology to show off.
There are also some people who would ask for my signature. What is the
purpose? It is the ordinary people's custom to keep someone's
signature as a souvenir. If you do not cultivate, my signature will
not help you at all. Every word of my books is my image and Falun, and
every sentence is spoken by me. What do you want a signature for? Some
people presume: With a signature, the teacher's message will be able
to protect me. They still believe in messages. We do not give
messages, either. This book can not be measured by any value. What
else do you still seek after? All these are reflections of those
attachments. Still, after seeing the manner and the conduct of the
students who travel with me, some people try to learn from them
without knowing whether they are good or bad. In fact, it does not
matter what the person is like, there is only one Law. Only by
behaving according to this Great Law can you follow the genuine
guideline. Like everyone else, the people who work with me have not
received any special treatment. They are just staff members of the
Research Society. Do not develop this attachment. Oftentimes, once you
have such an attachment, you will play the role of disrupting the
Great Law unintentionally. The sensational hearsay that you have
invented may even give rise to conflicts, and arouse the students'
attachment by trying to get closer to the teacher with the expectation
of hearing some more things, etc.. Do they all belong to this issue?
What else could such a psychology to show off lead to? I have been
teaching the Gong for two years. A number of the veteran students of
Falun Dafa may soon open their cultivation energy. Some students will
enter the status of gradual enlightenment. Why didn't they bring forth
these supernormal abilities at that time? Because I pushed you so high
all at once, it is not allowed for you to still stick to the
attachments of ordinary people. Of course, your Xinxing has already
been improved remarkably, but you still have many attachments which
have not been abandoned. Therefore, you can not be allowed to bring
forth these supernormal capabilities. After this stage is over and you
have become steady, you will be at once delivered into the state of
the gradual enlightenment, in which your Celestial Eye will be opened
to a very high plane and you still have many supernormal capabilities.
In fact, let me tell you that as soon as you really begin cultivation,
you will develop many supernormal capabilities because you have
already reached such a high level. So, there are a lot of supernormal
capabilities. Lately, many of our practitioners will probably find
themselves in such a state. Still, some other people cannot reach high
in cultivation. What this person physically carries himself combined
with his endurance ability is fixed. As a result, some people will
open their cultivation energy and become enlightened, thoroughly
enlightened, at a very low level. There will be such people.
I have pointed out this issue to tell you that once such a person
appears, do not regard him as a great enlightened being. This is a
very serious matter for the cultivation. It can be the right way only
by acting according to this Great Law. Do not follow and listen to him
because he has supernormal capabilities, or supernatural powers, or he
has seen something. You will do harm to him as he would develop the
attachment of complacency, and end up losing everything and having
everything shut up. In the end, he will drop all the way to the
bottom. With supernormal capabilities opened, a person could also drop
down. If he cannot conduct himself properly after he is enlightened,
he could also drop down. Even a Buddha could drop down if he cannot
conduct himself properly, not to mention a practitioner like you among
ordinary people! Therefore, you must conduct yourself well no matter
how many supernormal capabilities you have or how mighty your
supernormal capabilities or supernatural powers are. Recently, there
was someone sitting here, who disappeared for a moment and reappeared
the next. It is just like this. There will come into being even
greater supernatural powers. How will you conduct yourself in the
future? As students and practitioners of ours, you should not worship
or seek after these whether such things happen to you or to others in
the future. Once your mind has changed, you will be finished at once
and will drop down. It is likely that you are even higher than him but
you have not yet brought forth supernatural powers. At least, you have
dropped down on this particular issue. Accordingly, be sure to pay
particular attention to this matter. We have put this issue in a very
important place because such a matter will soon arise. Once it arises,
it will not do if you cannot conduct yourself well.
A cultivator who has developed his cultivation energy, and opened it
or become truly enlightened, should also not treat himself as someone
special. What he has seen is limited to his own level. His cultivation
has reached this stage, which simply means that his enlightenment
quality, his Xinxing criterion, and his wisdom can only reach this
stage. Therefore, he probably will not believe what is in the high
dimensions. It is just because he cannot believe it that he is made to
think what he has seen is absolute and believes it is all of it. There
is actually still a long way to go because his level stays just there.
Some people are going to open their cultivation energy at this level
since they can not go any further up in cultivation. As a result, they
can open their cultivation energy and become enlightened only at this
level. Among those who will complete their cultivation in the future,
some will become enlightened on the small worldly paths, some will
become enlightened in different dimensions, some will become
enlightened when they have completed the right achievement. Only those
who have become enlightened when they have completed the right
achievement will be the highest, and can see and make an appearance in
different dimensions. Even those who have opened their cultivation
energy and become enlightened on the lowest level of the small worldly
paths can also see some spaces and enlightened beings, and communicate
with them. By that time, you should not become complacent. You can not
complete the right achievement by the opening of cultivation energy on
the small worldly paths at the low levels. This is for sure. What can
be done about it, then? They can only stay on this level. It would be
a matter of sometime later if they wish to continue their cultivation
towards higher dimensions. What will be done if they did not open
their cultivation energy as they can only cultivate this far? If they
keep cultivating themselves like this, they cannot make any further
progress. So, they have opened their cultivation energy because they
have cultivated to the end. There will be many such people. No matter
what happens, you must maintain good Xinxing. Only acting according to
the Great Law is truly the right way. It is through the cultivation in
the Great Law that you have attained supernormal capabilities and
opened your cultivation energy. If you put the Great Law in second
place and put your supernatural powers in an important place, if you
have become enlightened and believe your own this understanding or
that one is correct or if you even regard yourself as being great and
better than the Great Law, I would say that you have already started
to drop downward and you are in danger, getting worse and worse. By
then, you will really run into troubles, and your cultivation will end
up in vain. You will drop down if you cannot do well, and your
cultivation will be in vain.
I also tell you: The content of this book comes from the combination
of the Law I have expounded in several lecturing sessions. I did all
this, including every sentence, which was taken out of the tape
recordings and was copied down word by word. The book was all copied
down from the tape recordings with the assistance of my disciples and
students, and then, I have proof-read them again and again. They are
all my Law. What I have expounded is simply this Law.
Lecture Seven
On the Issue of Killing
The issue of killing is a very sensitive one. We have set strict
requirements for practitioners that they should not kill. Killing is
absolutely prohibited in all orthodox cultivation ways, whether they
belong to the Buddha School, the Tao School, the Rare School, or any
other schools. This is for sure. Because killing gives rise to serious
consequences, which we shall talk about in detail. Killing, as defined
in primitive Buddhism, primarily referred to killing humans, which was
considered most serious. Later, killing large-sized mammals, big
cattle or slightly big animals was regarded as something very grave,
as well. Why is the issue of killing considered so serious in the
cultivation world? It was stated in Buddhism in the past that the
lives taken should not have died and would become lost souls and
homeless ghosts. Redeeming services in the past were performed for
their sake. It was also mentioned in Buddhism in the past that without
such services, these lost souls would suffer from hunger and thirst
and live in terrible hardship.
We believe that one will pay back with a considerable amount of De (
) if he does something bad to someone. Here, we usually refer
to cases of taking away what belongs to others. However, once a person
has taken a life, whether it is an animal or another living thing, he
will incur considerable karma. Killing once mainly referred to taking
a human life, which causes relatively serious karmic debts. Yet,
taking other lives is also no minor sin, and also directly incurs huge
karma. As a practitioner in particular, there are some tribulations
arranged at each level of your process of cultivation. They are all
your own karma, your own tribulations placed at different levels for
you to improve yourself with. They will not be overcome until you
raise your Xinxing. But, if all of your karma comes on at the same
time, how will you overcome it? With your Xinxing, you can not go
through the tribulation at all. This may prevent you from going on
with your cultivation.
We find that once a person was born, there are many of him born
simultaneously in a certain scope of this cosmic space. They all look
like him, have the same name as his and do similar things, and so they
can be called parts of his whole. Such a matter involved here is that,
if one living being of his (as in the case of the life of a large
animal ) died suddenly while the rest of him in different spaces have
not finished their pre-arranged path of life and have many years to
live on, this person who has died will fall into a homeless situation,
wandering around in the space of the universe. That may be the case
with the lost souls and homeless ghosts who suffer hunger, thirst and
hardships as described in the old days. But we have indeed perceived
the terrible conditions in which he suffers. He has to wait for a home
to return to until everyone of him in each space has completed his
journey of life. The longer he waits, the more he suffers. The more he
suffers, the more karma which he has suffered from is added
incessantly to the killer. Just imagine how much your karma will
increase as a result? We have observed this through supernormal
capabilities.
We have also observed a case such as this: when a person was born,
there was an existing form of his whole life in a specific space; that
is to say, what he will do at different stages of his life all exists
in that space. Who pre-arranges his journey of life? Obviously, it is
done by an intelligent being in the high dimension. For instance, at
birth one belongs to a certain family, a certain school, and a certain
work place when he grows up in ordinary human society. He makes his
contacts in different respects with society through his work. In other
words, the layout of the whole society has been arranged in this way.
However, because this life suddenly died, a change has taken place
which is not in accordance with the original arrangement. Then the
intelligent being will not forgive whoever has disrupted this
arrangement. Let us think about it. As practitioners we hope to
cultivate towards higher levels. The intelligent being will not
forgive such a violation. How can the killer cultivate? Some masters
are below the level of the intelligent being. So his master will be
punished with him, and sent down as a punishment. Just think about it.
Is this an ordinary minor problem? So, it is very difficult for one to
cultivate with a record of killing.
Some practitioners of Falun Dafa may have fought battles in times of
war. Those wars were conditions resulting from the large changes of
the whole cosmos, and you were only an element of the conditions.
Without the human activities under the influence of cosmic changes,
such conditions could not have been brought to human society, nor
would there have been the so-called cosmic changes. Such events change
with great cosmic changes, and therefore they are not totally your
responsibilities. The karma we talk about here refers to what one has
accumulated because of wrong doing committed out of selfish
motivations, personal interests, or what is related to oneself. It is
no fault of yours as long as it is related to large-scale changes of
the social situation, big changes of the whole space.
Killing brings about enormous karma. Some people may think like this:
as the cook at home, what will my family eat if I cannot kill animals?
This specific issue is not my concern. I am teaching the Law to
practitioners, not casually telling ordinary people how to lead their
lives. You should act according to the requirements of the Great Law
to deal with those specific issues. Do what you feel is appropriate.
Ordinary people will do whatever they want to do, which is the
business concerning ordinary people. It is not possible that everyone
can genuinely cultivate himself. But as a practitioner, one should
measure up to a high standard. Therefore, it is only for practitioners
that I am putting forward these requirements.
Not only human beings, but animals and plants are all alive. Any
substance may manifest its form of life in other spaces. When your
Celestial Eye reaches the plane of the Law Eye Sight, you will find
that everything, including rocks, walls or whatever you see, will
greet and talk to you. Perhaps, some people may wonder: What should we
do because grain and vegetables are alive and there may be flies and
mosquitoes at home? We suffer a lot when bitten by mosquitoes in
summer. We should not kill mosquitoes, but watch them bite us without
making a move. We should not kill flies, but watch them make the food
dirty. Let me tell you that we should not kill casually without good
reason. However, we should not become overcautious gentlemen, who
always focus on such trifle things, and watch each step and skip their
way while walking for the fear of stepping over an ant. I would say
that it is a burden to live. Isn't that another attachment? Though you
may not kill an ant by cautiously jumping around, you may have killed
a lot of microorganisms all the same. There are many smaller lives in
the microcosmic state, including germs and bacteria that you may have
stepped over and killed. Then we will not be able to live any more. We
do not want to become such people, and this will make the cultivation
impossible. We should focus on something big, and cultivate in an open
and above-board manner.
As we human beings live, we should maintain the right of living.
Therefore, the living environment should also meet the needs of a
human life. We cannot hurt or kill intentionally, but we must not
confine ourselves to such trifles. For instance, vegetables and grain
have life. Yet we cannot stop eating and drinking only for this
reason. Otherwise, how can we practise? We should be above-board and
broad-minded. For example, while you walk, some ants or insects may
happen to run under your feet, and be killed. They may deserve death
since you did not do so intentionally. In the world of biology and
microbiology there also is the issue of the ecological balance. Too
many insects would become rampant as well. Thus, we should practise in
a broad-minded way. When flies and mosquitoes are in the house, we may
drive them out, and install a screen window to keep them out. But,
sometimes we cannot drive them out, so it is no problem to kill them.
They bite and harm people in their homes, so they should be driven out
as they are not allowed to bite people. If you can not drive them out,
you should not ignore them when they are biting people. Although as
practitioners you are not affected and are immune to them, other
family members who are ordinary non-practitioners may catch contagious
illnesses. We should not allow a mosquito to bite a child's face.
Let me give you an example. There is a story about Sakyamuni in his
early years. One day Sakyamuni was going to take a bath in a forest,
and asked a disciple to clean the bathtub. His disciple went to the
bathtub and found it full of worms crawling everywhere. To wipe it out
would kill these worms. The disciple returned and told Sakyamuni that
the bathtub was full of worms. Sakyamuni did not look at him and
replied: "You go and clean the bathtub." The disciple went back to the
bathtub and did not know how to clean it because he could not do it
without killing the worms. He came back again to Sakyamuni and said:
"Master, the bathtub is full of worms. If I clean it, the worms will
be killed." Sakyamuni looked at him, and said: "What I asked you to do
is to clean the bathtub." The disciple suddenly understood him and
went back to clean up the bathtub. This story relates a principle. We
should not skip taking a bath because there are worms; nor should we
find another place to live because there are mosquitoes; nor should we
tie up our throats and stop eating and drinking because grain and
vegetables are alive. We should not do so. We should balance the
relationship between the two, and be open and above-board with
cultivation as long as we do not intentionally harm lives. At the same
time, human beings should have living space and existing conditions so
as to maintain their lives and their normal way of life.
Some sham qigong masters in the past said: You are allowed to kill on
January 1 and 15 on the Chinese lunar calendar. Some of them even
claimed: You are allowed to kill two-legged animals, as if they were
not alive. Isn't killing on January 1 and 15 regarded as a matter of
killing, but earth digging? Some sham qigong masters can be identified
by what they say and what they do, by what they are talking about and
what they are after. Those qigong masters who speak these words are
often possessed by evil spirits. Just look at the way the qigong
master possessed by a fox spirit is eating the chicken, gobbling it
up, as if he would be reluctant to even spit out the bones.
Killing not only results in incurring huge karma, but involves the
issue of compassion as well. Should not we have compassion as
practitioners? When we have compassion, we can see all living beings
suffering and feel that everyone is suffering. Such feelings will come
out.
On the Issue of Eating Meat
Meat eating is also a sensitive issue; but it is not killing. We have
not required our practitioners to stop eating meat though you have
been learning the Law for such a long time. Many qigong masters tell
you to stop eating meat from now on as soon as you walk into their
classes. You may think: I am not yet mentally prepared to stop eating
meat all of a sudden. Maybe chicken is being cooked at home, fish are
being braised. They smell delicious, but I am not allowed to eat them.
The same is true of cultivation in religions, which forces the
practitioners to stop eating meat. Qigong of the Buddha School in
general and some Taoist qigong practise the prohibition against eating
meat in the same way. Here, we do not require you to do so; but we
also share the same position. What is our opinion, then? Since our
cultivation way is that the Law refines the practitioner, which means
some conditions will be manifested in cultivation energy and the Law.
During the process of cultivation, different states occur at different
levels. One day or perhaps after my lecture today some people may
enter such a state: they can no longer eat meat, which may also smell
stinky to them, and make them vomit after eating it. You are not
forced, nor do you have to control yourself to give up eating meat.
Instead, if you do not feel like eating meat yourself, what is
reflected from cultivation energy is that you cannot eat meat, when
you have arrived at this level. You will really vomit should you eat
meat.
Practitioners from the previous sessions all know that such a state
will occur in the cultivation of Falun Dafa, and different states will
be manifested at different levels. Some practitioners have a
relatively stronger desire for meat, obsessed with eating meat, and
eat a lot of meat on a regular basis. When others feel allergic to
meat, they still can eat it. What should be done in order to let go of
this attachment? Such a person will have a stomachache if he eats
meat. Otherwise, he will not. Such a state will occur, and it means
that he should not eat meat any more. Does that mean that meat will be
kept out of our school from today on? No, not so. How should we deal
with this issue then? Being unable to eat meat comes from one's inner
world. What is the purpose? The forceful prohibition against eating
meat in the cultivation in the temple as well as this being unable to
eat meat reflected in our school all aim at eliminating such a human
desire and attachment.
Some people will not eat their meals without meat in their bowls. That
is an ordinary person's attachment. One morning when I was passing by
the rear entrance of the Park of Triumph in Changchun, three people
came out of the gate in the rear, talking loudly. One of them said:
What qigong practice forbids its practitioners to eat meat? I would
rather give up ten years of my life than stop eating meat! What a
strong desire! Let us think about it. Should such an attachment be
discarded or not? Definitely yes. It is right for a practitioner to
abandon his various desires and attachments in the process of
cultivation. In plain words, not giving up the desire to eat meat
means not abandoning an attachment. How can one reach consummation in
cultivation then? Therefore, as long as it is an attachment, it has to
be eliminated. Yet, it does not mean that one will forever stop eating
meat form now on. To stop eating meat is not the purpose. The purpose
is to discard this attachment of yours. You will find that you can eat
meat again once you let go of such an attachment during this period of
time when you do not eat meat. Perhaps, you will again be able to eat
meat which does not smell or taste awful. By then it does not matter
if you eat meat.
When you can eat meat again, both your attachment to and the desire
for meat have gone. A great change may occur that meat will no longer
taste inviting to you. There will be such a state: you will eat meat
with your family if it is prepared at home, and will not miss eating
it if it is not in the meal as it does not taste delicious. However,
cultivation among ordinary people is rather complicated. If your
family always cooks meat, you may, over some time, find meat very
tasteful again. Such a relapse will occur later on, and it may be
repeated many times during the process of one's cultivation. Suddenly,
you may not be able to eat meat again, and do not eat it when you can
not do so. You will vomit if you eat it. Wait until you can eat it and
follow the natural course. Eating meat or not eating meat itself is
not the purpose. The key point is letting go of that attachment.
This school of our Falun Dafa goes very fast. As long as you upgrade
your Xinxing, you will break through every level very quickly. Some
people by nature do not have a keen attachment to meat and do not care
about eating meat or not. It will take these people a couple of weeks
to get over this attachment. For some people, it will take one, two,
three months, or perhaps six months, unless it is a special case and
in no more than a year, they will be able to eat meat again. Because
meat has become a kind of staple food for mankind. However, those
professional practitioners in the temple cannot eat meat.
We are going to say something about the Buddhist view on eating meat.
The earliest primitive Buddhism did not prohibit eating meat. When
Sakyamuni led his disciples cultivating painstakingly in the forest,
there was not such a rule of prohibition against eating meat. Why not?
Because human society was very backward when Sakyamuni was preaching
the Dharma some 2500 years ago. Some regions had agriculture while
others did not. The cultivated farmland was very limited with forests
everywhere. Grain was in short supply and was extremely rare. Human
beings who had just emerged from primitive societies lived mainly on
hunting, and in many regions they ate principally meat. In order to
abandon their attachments to a maximum, Sakyamuni did not allow his
disciples to have access to any wealth and material possessions, and
took them with him begging for food, alms. They would eat whatever was
given to them. As practitioners, they could not choose the food given
to them which might include meat.
There was a way of saying the prohibition against Hun (food that a
practitioner should not eat) in the primitive Buddhism. This
prohibition comes from the primitive Buddhism and now refers to the
prohibition against eating meat. In fact, the prohibition at that time
did not refer to meat, but to vegetables such as onions, ginger,
garlic, etc.. Why should these be prohibited? Many monks today can not
even explain it clearly, for many of them do not go into true
cultivation, and there are many things they do not understand. What
Sakyamuni preached is called "Precept (morality), Samadhi (meditation)
and Wisdom". Precept refers to abandoning all ordinary people's
desires. Samadhi means that a practitioner cultivates himself entirely
in the state of deep meditation, sitting cross-legged in
contemplation. Anything that interferes with one's deep meditation and
cultivation was regarded as a serious obstruction. Whoever ate onions,
ginger or garlic would generate a strong odour. The monks at that time
usually sat cross-legged in a circle of seven or eight in the forest
or a cave. If a person ate such things he would produce a very strong
irritating odour, which affected others in meditation, and severely
interfered with their cultivation. Hence, there was a prohibition
against eating such food, and it was regarded as Hun. Many living
entities the human body has developed in cultivation are all sick of
such strong odours. Onions, ginger and garlic can also stimulate human
desires, and eating too much will form a habit. Thus, they were
considered Hun.
Many monks in the past after reaching the high level cultivation, in
full or half enlightenment state, also came to realize that those
restrictions during the cultivation process did not actually matter.
If the attachment can be abandoned, that matter itself will not be
able to function anymore. What really bothers a practitioner is his
heart. As a result, the accomplished monks in the past also understood
that the issue of eating meat was not crucial to a practitioner. The
key point is whether the attachment can be discarded. Without
attachment it is all right to eat anything to fill the stomach. Since
monks in the temple have cultivated themselves in this way, many of
them have become accustomed to such a way. In addition, the
prohibition against eating meat has become a standing rule and
regulation of the temple instead of an issue of mere prohibition.
Eating meat is not allowed definitely, and accordingly they are used
to this way of cultivation. Let us look at Monk Jigong who is made to
stand out in literary works. Monks are not supposed to eat meat. But
he ate meat, and was thus made an outstanding figure. In fact, since
he was expelled from Ling Yin Temple, obtaining food naturally became
his primary concern, and therefore his life was in crisis. In order to
feed his stomach, he ate whatever he could grab. As long as it could
satisfy his hunger, he did not have an attachment for any particular
food nor did he care about what he ate. On that level of cultivation,
he came to understand this truth. As a matter of fact, Ji Gong only
had meat on one or two occasions. Writers tend to become excited when
talking about a monk who ate meat. The more surprising the subject is,
the more interested readers will become. Life is the source of
literary works, which are higher than life, and in this way he has
been made popular by the writers. In fact, if that attachment is
removed, it does not matter what one eats.
In Southeast Asia and Southern China including Guangdong and Guangxi
provinces, some lay Buddhists do not say that they cultivate the
Buddha as if this term would sound old-fashioned. They would say that
they eat Buddhist meals or they are vegetarians, which suggests that
vegetarians are Buddhists. They take the cultivation of the Buddha as
something so simple. Could being vegetarians cultivate the Buddha? It
is known that eating meat is a human attachment, a desire, but only
one attachment to let go of. Only by giving up all the attachments,
all kinds of desires, such as jealousy, competition, complacency,
showing off, and so many other attachments, can one reach
consummation. Could only giving up the attachment to the meat diet
cultivate the Buddha? Such a statement is not right.
On the issue of food, in addition to eating meat, one should not have
an attachment to any food. This is also true of other things. A person
may say that he just likes to eat this. This is also an attachment.
Having reached a certain level of cultivation, a practitioner will not
have such an attachment. Obviously, the Law we are expounding is quite
high, and we are doing this on the basis of the combination of
different dimensions. It is impossible to reach this point all at
once. You say you do feel like eating something, but you simply cannot
eat it when it is high time that you removed your attachment in true
cultivation. If you eat it, it will not be tasteful or may taste
different. When I went to work for a work unit, the canteen always ran
out of money and went bankrupt later on. Then everyone brought his
lunch to work. It was troublesome and needed a lot of hustle to cook
food in the morning. Sometimes, I would buy two steamed buns and a
piece of beancurd dipped in soy sauce for a meal. That was quite
simple as a matter of fact. Yet, eating that all the time was not all
right, and this attachment also needed to be eliminated. As soon as I
saw beancurd again, I felt sick in my mouth. I could not eat it again.
Such a thing happened in order to prevent me from developing the
attachment. Of course, this situation occurs when one has reached a
certain level in his cultivation. A beginner in cultivation does not
feel this way.
The Buddha School does not allow their cultivators to drink alcohol.
Have you ever seen a Buddha carrying a wine container? No. When I say
you cannot eat meat, what I mean is that it does not matter for you to
eat meat again in the future after you have given up your attachment
through cultivation among ordinary people. However, after you have
stopped drinking alcohol, you cannot drink it again. Does a
practitioner have cultivation energy in his body? He has different
forms of cultivation energy in him. Some supernormal capabilities
appear on the surface of his body and they are all pure. As soon as he
drinks alcohol, all of them will instantly leave his body because they
fear that odour. It will be annoying if you have formed this habit as
drinking does harm to your nature. Why do some Great Law cultivation
ways encourage drinking? Because they do not cultivate their Chief
Spirit and drinking serves to make the Chief Spirit lose
consciousness.
Some people love drinking as much as their lives; some have a desire
for drinking; and others have become so addicted to it that they have
got poisoned by alcohol. They can not even hold up their rice bowls
without drinking, and they have to drink. As practitioners we should
not conduct ourselves this way. Drinking alcohol is definitely
addictive. It is a desire and it stimulates the human addictive
nerves. The more one drinks, the more addicted he will become. Let us
think about it. Should we not give up such an attachment as
practitioners? This attachment must be discarded. One may think like
this: I can not work and do my business well without drinking as I am
specially responsible for receiving clients and I am often on business
trips. It will be difficult to make deals without drinking alcohol. I
do not think so. In an ordinary business talk, especially doing
business or having dealings with foreigners, you may choose a soft
drink, he may ask for mineral water while the other would like a beer.
Nobody will force you to drink alcohol. You may choose what you like
and drink as much as you like. Especially among intellectuals, it is
often true that there does not occur such a thing as being forced to
drink.
Smoking is also an attachment. Some people claim that smoking freshens
them up. I call that self-cheating. Some people may feel tired from
work or writing an article, and they take a break to smoke a
cigarette. They feel that they are refreshed after smoking. In fact it
is because they have taken a break. The human mind may create an
illusion as well as a delusion, which will really become a belief
later, a delusion, that one feels as if smoking does give oneself a
lift. It can not do so, and it will not play such a role, either.
Smoking does not do any good to the human body. If one has smoked for
a long period of time, the doctor will discover that upon dissection
his bronchi and lungs have become black.
Don't we practitioners want our bodies purified? We shall constantly
purify our bodies so as to progress towards higher levels of
cultivation. Why then do you do the opposite by contaminating the
body? In addition, smoking is also a strong desire. Some people can
not give it up though they know it is harmful. As a matter of fact,
let me tell you, it is not easy for one to give it up without the
guidance of right thoughts. Being a practitioner, from this day on you
take it as an attachment to quit, and see if you can make it. I advise
everyone: those who want to cultivate genuinely should quit smoking
from this day on, and therefore you are guaranteed to make it. No one
thinks of smoking at this place during the lecturing sessions. If you
want to quit smoking, you are guaranteed to make it, and you will feel
sick if you try it again. It will be equally effective if you read
this chapter of the book. Of course, we will not bother with it if you
do not want to cultivate. I think that you should give it up as a
practitioner. I once used such an example: Has anyone ever seen a
Buddha or a Taoist sitting there with a cigarette in his mouth? How
could that be possible? What is your objective as a practitioner?
Should you not give up smoking? So I say that if you want to
cultivate, you should give it up. Smoking harms your body and is a
desire as well. It is just the opposite of what our practitioners
want.
Jealousy
I often talk about the issue of jealousy when I am expounding the Law.
Why? There has been an extremely intense display of jealousy in China.
It is so intense that it has become natural and people themselves are
not aware of it. Why do the Chinese people have such strong feelings
of jealousy? It has its own origin. The Chinese people have been
heavily influenced by Confucianism in the past, and so they are
introverted. They neither express their anger nor happiness. Instead
they believe in self restraint and forbearance. Being accustomed to
such a way, our nation as a whole has developed a very introverted
personality. Certainly such a personality has its own advantages which
include not showing off one's intelligence. But it also has its
disadvantages which may bring about negative side effects.
Particularly during this Period of Decline, the negative aspects have
become more conspicuous, thus making people develop jealousy. If
someone has good news made public, others will become very jealous.
Some people are afraid of mentioning awards gained in their work unit
or elsewhere for fear that others may feel psychologically unbalanced
when they learn about the news. Westerners called it Oriental Jealousy
or Asian Jealousy. The whole Asian region is more or less this way due
to the influence of the Chinese Confucianism, but there is a more
intense display of it in China.
This jealousy is somewhat related to the absolute equalitarianism that
we once went in for. Whatever happens, everyone will die together if
the sky falls; everyone should have an equal share if there is a
profit; and everyone should have a raise in salary together with
others regardless of the rule that only a certain per cent of the
employees can get a raise. Such a mentality seems to be fair, with
everyone being treated equally. How could it be the same in fact? The
jobs are different, and so are the positions each holds and the
responsibility put into the work. There is a principle in this
universe which is called "No loss, no gain". To gain, one has to lose.
Ordinary people believe in the fact that one does not gain if he does
not work; that the more one works the more he should gain or the less
one works the less he should gain; and that one should gain more if he
gives more. The absolute equalitarianism which once was rampant
claimed that everyone is born equal and that post-natal life changes a
person. I find that this is too absolute, and anything absolute is
incorrect. Why were some people born males and others females? And why
do they not look alike? People are not born the same, as some people
are born ill and handicapped. From the high dimension, we can see that
one's whole life exists there in another space. How could it be the
same? People all wish to be equal. But if certain things were not
pre-arranged in one's life, how could they be equal? People can not be
the same.
A Westerner's personality is comparatively extroverted. They show
their happiness or anger from their appearance. This personality has
its advantages and disadvantages, which includes intolerance. The
Western and Asian dispositions based upon different outlooks bring
about different consequences in practice. For the Chinese people, if
one is praised or treated favourably by the supervisor, others become
psychologically unbalanced. If one earns a bonus, he might as well put
it in his pocket and not mention a word to others. It is difficult to
be a model worker nowadays. If you are a model worker, you will be
expected to come to work early in the morning and go home late. Others
may say sarcastically: since you are good at the job while we are not,
why don't you do all of it? It is difficult to be a good person.
Such a case would be the opposite in other countries. The boss may
give the employee an extra bonus if he does a good job at work. The
latter would cheerfully count the bills in front of others, and say
that my boss gave me so much money. He could happily tell others about
it while counting the money without receiving negative consequences.
If it happened in China that someone earns an additional bonus, the
boss would tell the employee to hide the money and not to let others
see it. In Western countries, if a child got 100% on a test, he would
cheerfully run home all the way, shouting, "I have got 100% on the
test!" One neighbour would open the door and say, "Good job! Tom. Nice
kid." Another neighbour would open the window and say, "Hi, Jack, you
made it!" It would be a disaster if this happened in China. When a
child runs home, shouting, "I have got 100% on the test," the
neighbours will begin to cuss in their houses before the door opens,
"What is so great about getting 100%? Showing off. Who has not yet
scored 100% on a test?" The two different approaches produce different
results. It is likely to arouse jealousy. If someone is doing well,
some people will be uneasy instead of feeling happy for him. Problems
like this may occur.
Years ago China pushed the policy of absolute equalitarianism which
has messed up people's minds. For instance, one may feel that others
are not as capable as he is in the office, and that he is indeed great
because he can accomplish everything. He may say to himself: I am
qualified to be a factory director and manager, or for a high ranking
official, or even a prime minister. His colleagues may also share his
views and say that this person is talented and competent. However,
let's say there is another person in his work group or office, who is
very incapable of doing anything. One day this incompetent person is
promoted to the position of a cadre instead of the competent one, and
even becomes his boss. He becomes so unbalanced psychologically that
he runs around talking about it, feeling very upset and jealous.
I am telling you about a principle that ordinary people are unaware
of: you may think that you are capable of doing everything, but you
cannot get what you want because it has not been arranged for you in
your life. Another person may not be capable of doing anything, but he
can get what he wants because it has been arranged for him in his
life. In this way he gets promoted. No matter what ordinary people
think about it, it is only the viewpoint of ordinary people. From the
perspective of the intelligent beings, the development of human
society is only going on according to the specified laws of
development. Therefore, what one does in a lifetime is not
pre-arranged according to his capabilities. Buddhism believes in the
Karmic Principle of Rewards and Retributions. One's life is
pre-arranged based on one's karma. No matter how capable you are, you
may have nothing during your lifetime because you do not have De
(virtues). You see someone is good for nothing, but he has a lot of
De, so he becomes a high ranking official and very rich. An ordinary
person can not see this point, and always believes that he should
appropriately do what he should do. Therefore, he contends and
competes all his life, and has got his feelings hurt. He feels very
bitter, tired and unbalanced in his mind. He can not eat or sleep
well. He gets disappointed. By the time he gets old, he is in poor
health and comes down with all sorts of illnesses.
So we practitioners should not behave this way. We practitioners
follow the natural course. If something belongs to you, you will not
lose it. If it is not yours, you can not get it through competition
and contention. That is, of course, not absolute. If it is absolute,
there will not be the problem that man commits wrong doings. That is
to say, there may also be some unstable factors. However, as
practitioners, we are cared for by the Master's Law bodies, so
accordingly, others will not be able to take away what belongs to you.
So, we believe in following the natural course. Sometimes, you think
something should be yours, and you are told so as well, but it is in
fact not yours. You probably believe that it is yours. Eventually, it
does not belong to you. In this case you will be tested to see whether
you can let go of it. Being unable to give it up is an attachment.
This would be the way to get rid of your desire for self interests.
That is the bottom line. Because ordinary people can not realize this
truth, they will compete and contend for the sake of their interests.
Jealousy is extremely popular among ordinary people. It also has been
predominant in the world of cultivation. The different cultivation
ways do not respect each other. Your cultivation way is good or his
cultivation way is good. They indulge themselves in idle gossip. In my
opinion, they all belong to the level of healing illnesses and keeping
fit. Most of those competing with others belong to the dishonest
qigong of spirit possession which does not value Xinxing. Someone may
have practised qigong for over twenty years without developing any
supernormal capabilities while others have produced them in a short
time of practice. Then, this person will feel unbalanced mentally: I
have practised for over twenty years without developing supernormal
capabilities; but they have; what sort of supernormal capability have
they got? He is infuriated: What they have got is spirit possession
and they have stepped into the way of cultivation insanity. When a
qigong master gives a lecture, someone may sit there with disrespect,
thinking: Ah, what sort of qigong master is he? I am not interested in
listening to what he teaches. The qigong master may really not be able
to speak as well as he, but he talks about the things of his own
faith. However, this person studies everything and attends every
qigong master's lecture. He has got a pile of graduation certificates.
Indeed, he knows a lot, more than that qigong master. But, what is the
use? It is all about removing diseases and keeping fit. The more he
takes in, the more harmful and complicated the messages will become,
and the harder it becomes for him to practise. It is all in a mess.
Genuine cultivation should specialize in only one cultivation way and
there should be no deviation. Among those who really cultivate Tao,
there are also such manifestations as mutual disrespect, the desire to
compete and contend with others, which tends to incur jealousy.
Let us talk about a story. In the book "Investiture of the Gods", the
Honourable Divine of the Origin asked Jiang Ziya to grant titles to
Gods. In Shen Gongbao's eyes, Jiang Ziya was old and incompetent.
Therefore, he became jealous and thought, "Why should he be asked to
grant titles to Gods? I am so powerful that I can put my head back on
the shoulders after cutting it off. Why was I not asked?" He became so
jealous that he always made trouble for Jiang Ziya.
Primeval Buddhism in Sakyamuni's times valued supernormal
capabilities. However, nobody dares to discuss them any more in
Buddhism now. If you talk about them, you will be labelled with
cultivation insanity. What supernormal capabilities? They do not
acknowledge them at all. Why? Monks today do not know at all what
supernormal capabilities are all about. Sakyamuni had ten senior
disciples, of which Mujianlian came first in supernatural powers.
Sakyamuni also had female disciples, among whom Lianhuase was the
number one in supernatural powers. There have been many accomplished
monks through different dynasties in history since Buddhism entered
China. When Dharmer came to China, he rode on the stalk of a reed to
cross a river. Yet, supernatural powers have become rejected and have
been put aside more and more throughout the history. The main reason
is that senior monks, mentors and abbots in the temple do not
necessarily have great inborn qualities. Though they have become
abbots and senior monks, these are the positions of ordinary people.
They are also practitioners, and nothing more than professional
practitioners. You cultivate at home as amateurs. Whether one succeeds
in cultivation or not depends on the cultivation of the heart. All are
the same without a slight difference. However, the junior monk who
cooks and keeps the fireplace may not have poor inborn qualities. The
more hardship the junior monk endures, the easier it is for him to
open his cultivation energy. The more comfortable the senior monks
are, the harder it is for them to become enlightened due to the
principle of transformation of karma. The junior monk always suffers.
It will be faster for him to pay back his karma and become
enlightened. Perhaps, his supernormal capabilities will be opened one
day all of a sudden. After opening his supernormal capabilities,
becoming enlightened or half enlightened, his supernatural powers all
come out. The monks at the temple all come to consult him and show
their respect for him. But, the abbot cannot bear this: How could I be
the abbot! What enlightenment? He is insane. Get him out of the
temple. The junior monk will be expelled from the temple. As time
passes by, nobody in Buddhism in our Han region dares to talk about
supernormal capabilities. You know Ji Gong had great supernormal
capabilities. He could move tree trunks from the E'mei Mountains and
throw logs one after another from a well. He was finally driven out of
Ling Yin Temple.
The issue of jealousy is very serious as it directly concerns the
matter of our attainment of consummation. If the attachment of
jealousy is not eliminated, all the aspects of one's Xinxing
cultivation will become fragile. There is this rule: During
cultivation, one will not at all complete the right achievement if the
attachment of jealousy is not eliminated. Perhaps, you may have heard
in the past what Amitabha said about going to the Paradise with karma,
yet that one is not allowed to go there with an attachment of
jealousy. It will be all right to be a little weak in some other
aspects if you go to the Paradise with karma and continue your
cultivation there. However, it is absolutely impossible to do so with
the attachment of jealousy. Today, I am telling the practitioners
that, you should not adhere to your foolish ways without awakening.
The goal you want to reach is to cultivate up to the higher
dimensions, and the attachment to jealousy must be abandoned.
Therefore, I single out the issue to talk about.
On the Issue of Healing Illnesses
When talking about healing illnesses, I am not teaching you how to
cure diseases. All the genuine disciples of Falun Dafa should not
treat patients. As soon as you do it, all the materials of Falun Dafa
planted into your body will be taken back by my Law body. Why is this
issue taken so seriously? Because it is a phenomenon that does harm to
Dafa. Not only will it harm your health, but some people can not help
treating patients once they begin to do so. They will grab any one
they catch sight of and begin to cure diseases and show off. Isn't it
an attachment? This seriously hinders their cultivation.
Many phony qigong masters take advantage of ordinary people's desire
to treat patients after they have learned qigong. They teach such
stuff. They claim that giving off qi can heal illnesses. What a joke!
You have qi, and he has qi as well. How can you treat a patient by
giving off your qi? Perhaps, his qi cures your diseases! One's qi does
not restrict another one's. When one reaches a high level cultivation
and produces cultivation energy, what he releases is high energy
matter which indeed can treat, control and repress illnesses, but can
not eradicate it. Therefore, to be able to really heal illnesses
thoroughly, one needs to have supernormal capabilities. There is a
corresponding supernormal capability aimed at treating each illness. I
would say there are over a thousand kinds of supernormal capabilities
to treat diseases. The number of diseases is equal to that of
supernatural capabilities aimed at treating these diseases. Without
such a supernormal capability it will not work no matter how skillful
your treatment is.
Some people have jumbled the world of cultivation a lot in recent
years. For those true qigong masters who came out to teach people to
get rid of diseases and keep fit, and to open up the path in the
beginning, did any of them teach people to treat disease? He always
removed diseases for you or taught you how to cultivate yourself, how
to keep fit with a system of exercise; then, you can remove your
illness through your own practice. Later, phony qigong masters came
out and turned the qigong world into a turmoil. Whoever wants to heal
illness with qigong will incur spirit possession. It is definitely so.
Some qigong masters also treated patients at that time in order to
coordinate with the changes of Celestial Phenomena. But it is not a
skill of ordinary people, and could not last forever. It was brought
into practice by the changes of Celestial Phenomena, and was just a
product of that time. Later, it became chaotic when it developed into
specializing in teaching how to cure others of their diseases. How
could an ordinary person possibly treat illness in three or five days?
Somebody said that he could treat this or that illness. Let me tell
you, every such person is possessed by evil spirits. Does he know what
is lying on his back? He is possessed by an evil spirit, but he cannot
feel it. He does not know it. He may feel himself fine and very
competent.
Genuine qigong masters can reach such a goal through many years of
painstaking cultivation and practice. Did you ever think about whether
you had such a powerful supernormal capability to remove his karma
when you treated him? Have you ever received true teachings? How could
you treat illness after two or three days? How could you heal illness
with the hands of an ordinary person? However, those phony qigong
masters took advantage of your weaknesses and the attachments of human
beings. Don't you seek after ways for curing diseases? Well, they
organize a treatment class, specializing in teaching you some methods
of treatment, such as qi needle, light illuminating, qi discharging,
qi compensation, attacking a vital point, grabbing method, etc.. There
are a variety of methods aimed at emptying your purses.
Let us talk about the grabbing method. What we have seen is such a
situation. Why does a human being fall ill? The fundamental cause of
his falling ill and of all his misfortunes is karma, the karmic field
of black substance. It belongs to something Yin (negative) and
something bad. Those evil entities are also negative and black; thus,
they come up because this environment fits them. This is the
fundamental cause of one's falling ill, and it is principal source of
illness. Of course, there are the other two forms. One is the
extremely tiny evil intelligent entity of high density like a mass of
karma; the other is what is accumulated down from one's ancestors,
feeding like a pipeline, which is rare, but it does exist, as well.
Let us talk about the most common illnesses, like tumors, infections
or osteoproliferation etc., found in the human body. In another space,
a very deep space, there lies an evil intelligent entity. An ordinary
qigong master or a common supernatural capability is unable to see it
except for the black qi in one's body. It is correct to say wherever
there is black qi there is an illness. Yet, the black qi is not the
fundamental cause of a disease but rather the field that is released
by an evil intelligent entity from a deeper space. Some people talk
about discharging and expelling the black qi. Discharge as much as you
wish! It will be produced shortly. Some are very powerful. It will be
pulled back right after being expelled. They can draw back qi
themselves, which makes treatment impossible.
From the perspective of supernatural capability, the black qi in that
area is considered to be the qi of an illness. From the viewpoint of
the traditional Chinese medicine, the sick area is where the energy
channel is blocked, qi and blood are not passing through and the
energy channel is choked there. In the eyes of Western medicine, that
location presents the phenomena of an ulcer, tumor, hyperplasia,
inflammation, etc.. What is reflected in this space are these forms.
After removing that evil entity, you will find there is nothing wrong
in the body of this space. Whether it is a protrusion of the lumbar
intervertebral disci or osteoproliferation, you will find it get well
immediately after that entity is removed and that field is cleared
out. You may take another X-ray and find that the osteoproliferation
has disappeared. The fundamental cause is that entity which worked.
Some people said that they could teach you how to treat diseases and
you could do it in three or five days. They would teach you the
grabbing method. Show me that! Human beings are the weakest while that
evil intelligent entity is very ferocious. It controls your brain and
easily plays you. It can even easily end your life. If you say that
you can grab it, how? With your ordinary person's hand you cannot
reach it. You may grab here and there, which is ridiculous. It ignores
you and laughs at you. If you really touch it, it will hurt your hand
instantly. That is a real wound! I saw in the past some people whose
hands were all right. Any physical examination showed they were in
good health with no diseases and the two hands were all right. But
they could not raise their hands and kept them hanging down in the way
they did them. I have seen one such patient. His hand in another space
was injured, which means it was really disabled. If that hand of yours
is hurt, will you not be disabled? Some people asked me: Teacher,
could I practise qigong? I had a sterilization operation, or had some
organs removed. I replied that it does not matter because your body in
another space has not had an operation. And that body plays a role in
the practice of the exercise. So I have just said when you try to grab
that entity, if you can not reach it, it will ignore you. If you touch
it, it will probably hurt your hand.
To support the nation's large-scale qigong activities, I took some
disciples to participate in the Oriental Health Expo in Beijing. We
were the most outstanding participants at these two Expoes. At the
first Expo our Falun Dafa was honoured as the Star Qigong School. At
the second Expo so many people came that we did not know even what to
do. There were not so many people at the other exhibition stands,
while people were crowding around our stands. There were three waiting
queues. The first one registered for the morning treatment; the second
one waited for the afternoon treatment; the third one waited for my
signature. Why did we do so as we do not heal illnesses? Because we
did so to support the nation's large-scale qigong events, to
contribute to this cause. Therefore, we participated in it.
I shared my cultivation energy with my disciples, one piece for each.
It was an energy mass composed of a hundred supernormal capabilities.
I sealed their hands. Even so, some hands were bitten, with blisters
and blood, frequently. That entity was so ferocious. Do you think you
dare to touch it with an ordinary person's hand? Besides, you could
not reach it without that special supernormal capability. Because it
will know what you think and what you want to do instantly in another
space. It will run away before you grab it. As soon as a patient is
out of the door, it will go back to him and the illness will return.
One needs such a supernormal capability to deal with it, which can fix
it there as soon as you stretch out your hand. After it has been
fixed, we use another supernormal capability which is called the Great
Law of Soul Catching. It is more powerful. It can take one's Yuanshen
(True Spirit) out of the body and make the person unable to move. Such
a supernormal capability has its specific purpose, we aimed at this
entity when we used it. It is known that the bowl in Tathagata's hand
could turned Sun Wukong into a tiny dot though he had a huge body. The
supernormal capability could play such a role. No matter how big or
small the entity is, it would be grabbed instantly in hand and turned
into a tiny thing.
In addition, it is impossible to stretch one's hand into the flesh of
a patient and take something out. That will disturb the human minds of
ordinary society. It is not allowed at all to do so even if it is
possible. What one has stretched in is the hand in another space. If
one has heart trouble, when this hand stretches out towards the heart
location to catch, the hand in another space has got in. All at once,
after it is caught very quickly, the hand outside takes hold of it,
and the two hands join as one and catch it in them. The entity is very
ferocious. Sometimes it moves, makes its way into the hand, bites or
screams. It appears to be small in hand, but it will become large if
set free. Not everybody can make it. Without that supernormal
capability, it is impossible to do this at all. It is actually not as
simple as people imagine.
Of course, this form of qigong healing may be allowed to exist in the
future. It has existed in the past. However, there must be a
condition. The person must be a cultivator. Out of his compassion in
the course of his cultivation, he will be allowed to treat a few good
people. But he cannot completely eliminate the patient's karma because
he has not enough mighty virtues. Therefore, the tribulation still
exists but the specific illness has gone. An ordinary little qigong
master is not a cultivator who has achieved the Tao. He can only put
off the illness or may transform it into other forms of misfortune.
However, he himself may not know the putting-off process. If his
cultivation system cultivates the Paraconsciousness, the job is done
by his Paraconsciousness. The practitioners of some cultivation ways
appear to be very famous. Many well-known qigong masters do not have
cultivation energy because it grows on their Paraconsciousness. That
is to say, it is allowed to do this in the course of cultivation
because some people stay at this one level of cultivation for a dozen
years, or dozens of years without being able to go beyond this level
of cultivation. So, he will treat patients all the time in his life.
Because he stays at the level, he is allowed to do so. The students of
Falun Dafa are absolutely forbidden to cure illnesses. Reading this
book to the patient will heal his disease if he can accept it. But the
results will differ according to the karmic debts of each individual.
Hospital Treatment and Qigong Healing
Let us talk about the relationship between hospital treatment and
qigong healing. Most doctors of Western medicine do not recognize
qigong. Their view is, why would we need hospitals if qigong can heal
illnesses? You can substitute for our hospitals! Would it not be nice
if your qigong could replace hospitals and treat patients
single-handedly without resorting to injections, medicine,
hospitalization? Such an opinion is neither reasonable nor rational.
Some people do not know about qigong. In truth, qigong healing is not
like the conventional treatments of ordinary people. It is not an
ordinary person's skill, but something supernormal. How could it be
allowed to disturb ordinary human society on a great scale with
something supernormal? How powerful a Buddha is, and he could wipe out
all the human illnesses by waving his hand just once. Why does he not
do it? In addition, there are so many Buddhas. Why would they not show
mercy to cure your illnesses? It is because ordinary human society has
such a state of birth, old age, diseases and death. They all have
causational relationship and they are all karmic rewards and
tribulations. You have to repay the debts you owe.
If it is you who cure his illnesses, which is equal to violating this
principle, it means everyone can do wrong without paying back the
debts. Is that all right? Out of mercy and compassion, while you do
not have such a great ability to solve this problem completely in
cultivation, you are allowed to treat diseases. You are allowed to do
so because of your compassion and mercy. However, if you are really
capable of resolving such problems, you will not be allowed to do it
on a large scale because this would seriously disrupt the state of
ordinary human society. Therefore, qigong is not at all allowed to
replace the hospitals of ordinary people, because qigong is a
supernormal Law.
What would it be like if qigong hospitals were allowed to be set up in
China with a lot of great qigong masters treating diseases? This will
not be allowed because they all want to maintain the state of ordinary
human society. If qigong hospitals, qigong clinics, qigong health
centers and treatment resorts are established, the treatment of qigong
masters will go down immediately and its curative effect will drop
sharply once they begin to practise. What is the reason? Because they
are doing what belongs to ordinary people, they must have the Law as
high as that of ordinary people and stay on the same level as the
state of ordinary people. Its curative effect should be the same as
that of the hospital. As a result, qigong treatment of diseases does
not work well. They also usually require something like several
courses of treatment of the patients.
With or without qigong hospitals, it cannot be denied that qigong can
cure diseases. Qigong has been popularized in the public for such a
long time, and many people have indeed attained the goal of removing
their illnesses and improving their physical conditions through
practising qigong. Whether the illness was postponed by the qigong
master or however it was treated, that illness is not there now. In
other words, nobody can deny that qigong can heal illnesses. Most of
the people who have seen a qigong master are those with difficult and
complicated cases incurable at hospital. They went to a qigong master
to try their luck and had their diseases cured in the end. Those who
can be cured at hospital would not visit a qigong master. Especially
at the beginning, people usually don't think that way. Thus, qigong
can heal illnesses. The difference is that it cannot be applied like
other things done in ordinary society. A large-scale interference will
never be allowed though a small-scale or not very influential,
unnoticed practice can be allowed. But it is certain that the
treatment will not thoroughly cure diseases. The best way to heal
illnesses is to practise qigong exercise oneself.
Some qigong masters said that hospitals could not treat illnesses or
how bad their healing effects were. What do we say about it? Of
course, there are many reasons. The principal one in my opinion is the
current deteriorating human moral standard, which results in a variety
of odd diseases. Those are incurable at the hospital. Medicine cannot
treat them, either. There are also a lot of fake drugs. All this
results from human corruption of society, which has gone so far as
now. No one should blame others for it, because everyone has added
fuel to the flame. As a result, everyone will run into hardships in
cultivation.
Some illnesses cannot be diagnosed at the hospital though they do
exist. Some diseases are new and nameless after they are identified,
and so they are labelled by the hospital as "modern diseases". Can
hospitals treat illnesses? Of course they can. Otherwise, why do
people trust them and go there if hospitals cannot treat illnesses?
Hospitals can treat illnesses. But their treatment belongs to the
level of ordinary people while the disease is paranormal. Some
diseases are very serious; thus, hospitals believe in early treatment
because hospitals will be helpless if they grow serious. An overdose
of medicine could be poisonous. Today's level of medical treatment is
the same as that of science and technology. They are all on the level
of ordinary people. Hence such an effect of treatment. One issue that
should be clarified is that ordinary qigong healing and hospital
treatment put off the tribulation, which is the basic cause of an
illness, perhaps to the later half of life or afterwards. They do not
remove the karma at all.
Let us say something about Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is close
to qigong healing. In ancient China, Chinese doctors generally had
supernatural powers, such as Sun Simiao, Huatuo, Li Shizhen, Bian Que
and the others. These well-known medical scientists all had
supernatural powers, which were documented in the medical books.
However, oftentimes such cream is criticized today. What Chinese
medicine has inherited are only those prescriptions or the experience
from practice. Ancient Chinese medicine was very advanced, more
advanced than today's medical science. Some people may think how
advanced modern medical science is: There is a CT scanner to examine
the interior of the human body; and there are bright supersonic
scanners, photography and X-ray pictures. Though the modern equipment
is advanced, it is not as good as ancient Chinese medicine in my
opinion.
Huatuo detected a tumour in Caocao's brain, and wanted to operate on
it. Caocao thought Huatuo wanted to murder him so he imprisoned him.
Huatuo died in prison in the end. When Caocao became ill, he
remembered Huatuo and looked for him. But Huatuo had died. Later,
Caocao died of the brain tumour. How did Huatuo know about it? He had
seen it. This is our human supernatural power, which all the great
medical scientists in the past possessed. With the Celestial Eye open,
one sees four sides of a human body on one plane at the same time.
From the front he can see the rear, the left and the right. He may
also be able to see through different layers, or look at the basic
cause of the illness beyond this space. Can modern medical means reach
this standard? It is far from this standard, and that would take
another thousand years. CT scanners, bright supersonic scanners and
X-rays can also examine the interior human body. But the equipment is
huge, not portable and cannot be operated without electricity. How can
it be compared with the Celestial Eye which is carried around and
which does not need a power supply.
Some people talk about how marvelous modern medicine is. I say I do
not think so. Ancient Chinese herbs could really heal illnesses as
soon as they were applied. Many prescriptions have been lost, and many
have not been lost and are still in use among the people. When I was
in Qiqihar giving lectures, I saw a person on the street, pulling
teeth for others. He appeared to be from the South, and was dressed
unlike one from the Northeastern region. He would treat anyone who
came to him, and had pulled a pile of teeth there. His purpose was not
to pull teeth, but to sell his liquid drug. The liquid drug released a
strong yellow gas. While pulling the teeth, he would open the drug
bottle and direct it towards the location of the bad tooth outside the
patient's cheek. The patient would be asked to smell the yellow liquid
drug which was consumed very little. The drug bottle would be then
sealed and put aside. The man took out a match stick from his pocket.
While promoting his drug, he touched the bad tooth slightly and pulled
it out with the match stick. The tooth had a few blood stains, but was
neither bleeding nor painful for the patient. Let us think about it. A
match stick could be broken if used with too much force. But the man
used it to pull out a tooth by a slight touch.
I have said that some treatments are circulated among the people in
China, which the Western precision instruments cannot be compared
with. Let us see whose treatment is more effective. A man's match
stick could pull out a tooth. If a Western medical doctor wants to
pull a tooth, he first gives injections of anesthetics, which is quite
painful with the injections plunged in here and there, and wait until
the anesthetic is working; then, he will pull the tooth out with a
pair of pliers. If the doctor is not careful, the root may be broken
inside the tooth bed after a long effort. Then, the doctor will use a
big hammer and a big drill to dig for it, which indeed makes the
patient palpitate with anxiety and fear. Later, a precision instrument
will be utilized to drill the tooth, which is painful and bloody. Then
the patient will spit out the blood for a while. Some people will jump
up with the drill. Which kind of treatment would you say is better?
Which one is more advanced? We should not just look at the appearance
of the tools, but the effect of the treatment. Ancient Chinese
medicine was very advanced, and Western medicine cannot catch up with
it for many years to come.
Ancient Chinese science is different from our science today, which is
learned from the West. It took a different path which could bring
about a different situation in science. Therefore, we can not
understand ancient Chinese technology with the current way of
understandings because ancient Chinese science aimed at the human
body, life, and the universe. It focused itself directly on these
subjects and took a different approach. The students of that time paid
attention to sitting properly with legs crossed, and they also
attached weight to the way they sat. They gave attention to breathing
and the exercise of qi while writing with a pencil or brush. People
from all walks of life believed in emptying the mind, breathing
properly with the whole society in such a state of mind.
Some people have said: Would we have cars and trains if we had
followed the ancient Chinese science? Would we have today's
modernization? Let me tell you that you cannot understand another
state from the perspective of this environment. There should be a
revolution in your mind. Without a TV set, people would have had one
in their foreheads, and watched anything they wanted, and there also
would have been supernormal capabilities. Without trains and cars,
people would have been able to lift up from where they sit without
using an elevator. It would be a different state of social
development, which is not necessarily confined to this frame work. The
UFO's of the outer space lives travel at an unbelievable speed and can
expand and contract. They have taken a completely different way of
development, which is another scientific approach.
Lecture Eight
Bigu (Abstention from Food)
Some people have raised the issue of Bigu (abstention from food). The
phenomenon of abstention from food exists not only in the world of
cultivation, but also among a good number of people throughout our
human society. Some people do not eat or drink for several years or
over ten years, but they live very well. Some people speak of
abstention from food as a manifestation of a certain level while
others take it as a sign of the body's purification. It is also said
by some to be a cultivation process in the high dimension.
In fact, it is none of the above. What is it then? Abstention from
food in fact refers to a special cultivation method in a specific
environment. Under what specific circumstances will it be utilized? In
ancient China, particularly prior to the birth of religions, many
practitioners employed the forms of secret and solitary cultivation in
deep mountains or in mountain caves that were far away from human
settlements. Once they chose to do it this way, the source of food
supplies became an issue. A practitioner could not cultivate at all if
he did not use the method of abstention from food as he would die of
hunger and thirst in there. On my way to Wuhan from Chongqing to teach
the Law, I took a ship that went eastward down the Yangtze River, and
saw that there were some stone caves in the middle sections of the
mountains on both sides of the Three Gorges. Many well-known mountains
also have such caves. In the past, after climbing into a cave by means
of a rope, the practitioner would cut the rope off to cultivate in the
cave. If he did not succeed in cultivation, he would die inside it.
Without water or food, it was under this extremely special
circumstance that he resorted to this particular cultivation method.
Many cultivation ways include abstention from food as they have gone
through such a carrying-on process. A lot of cultivation systems do
not include abstention from food. Most of the cultivation systems that
have been made public today do not contain it. We teach that
practising qigong should be constant in only one cultivation system,
and that you should not do whatever you want to do as you please. You
may think abstention from food is good and you want to do it as well.
What do you want to do it for? Some people think it is good, and
become curious, or think that their Gongfu is high enough to show off.
There are people with all sorts of mentalities. Even if this method is
used to cultivate, one will consume his own energy to make up for the
loss to his body. Therefore, it is not worth the effort. It is known
that, particularly after the establishment of religions, you would be
supplied with tea and food while sitting in meditation and
self-confinement in the temple. Abstention from food was not an issue
with which to be concerned. In particular, we cultivate in ordinary
human society and we shall not have to employ this method at all. In
addition, since there is not such a thing in your school, you should
not do it at will. However, if you really want to practise abstention
from food, you may go ahead. As far as I know, normally when a master
teaches a cultivation system to genuinely guide people up to the high
dimension, and if there is abstention from food in his school, such a
phenomenon may take place. However, he cannot promote it in public,
and would oftentimes take his disciples away to do the practice in
secret and in isolation.
Nowadays there are also qigong masters teaching abstention from food.
Do they abstain from food? Not really in the end. Who has succeeded in
it? I have seen many such people hospitalized, and quite a few
people's lives were in danger. Then, why is there such a situation?
Does the phenomenon of abstention from food exist? Yes, it does.
However, there is one point that the state of our ordinary human
society is not allowed to be casually disrupted by anyone, and it will
not be allowed to be interrupted. Not to mention how many people in
the whole country would not need to eat and drink, I would say that it
would make things quite easier if the people in the Changchun region
did not eat and drink! We would not have to worry about making meals.
Farmers grow crops with such difficulty in the fields, and now nobody
needs to eat. That would really make things much easier. They would
only work without having to eat. How could that be allowed? Would that
be a human society? It is definitely not allowed. Such a large-scale
disruption of ordinary society will not be permitted.
Many people's lives were endangered when some qigong masters taught
abstention from food. Some people have simply become attached to
abstention from food. Yet, this attachment has not been removed, nor
have many ordinary people's desires. Such a person's mouth will be
watering upon seeing some delicious food. When his desire is up, he
cannot control it, and he will become anxious to eat the food. When he
desires to eat the food, he will have to eat, otherwise he will feel
hungry. However, he will throw up and spit it out if he eats. Since he
can not eat, he will become nervous and scared. Many people have been
hospitalized, and many people's lives are indeed in danger. There were
also people who found me, and asked me to deal with such messy cases.
I was not willing to do it. Some qigong masters simply fool around
with what they do. Nobody is willing to look at these messy problems.
Besides, if you have run into problems with abstention from food,
isn't that what you are after? We say such a phenomenon does exist,
but it is not something like the state arising from the high
dimension, nor a special reflection, but it is no more than a
practising method used in a special circumstance. However, it can not
be popularized. A number of people seek after abstention from food,
and classify it as so-called abstention from food and semi-abstention
from food, and rank it into certain levels. Some people claim that
they only need to drink water while others say that they only eat
fruit. All these are phony abstentions from food. It is certain that
they all will fail as time passes by. A genuine cultivator would stay
in a mountain cave without drinking and eating. That is called the
real abstention from food.
Stealing Qi
Speaking of stealing qi, some people's faces would turn pale as if
mentioning a tiger, and they will be too frightened to practise
qigong. Because of the gossips of cultivation insanity and stealing
qi, etc., in the world of cultivation, many people have become too
scared to practise or approach qigong. If there had not been such
remarks, there would probably have been more people practising qigong.
There are some qigong masters of bad Xinxing, who specialize in
teaching such nonsense, which foul up the world of cultivation. In
fact, it is not as dreadful as they have described. We say that qi is
just qi, though you may call it chaotic energy, this qi or that qi. As
long as a human body has qi, this person is at the level of healing
disease and keeping fit, and he is not yet a practitioner. As long as
a person still has qi, this means his body has not yet reached a high
degree purification, and he still has pathogenic qi. This is for sure.
The person who steals qi is also at the level of qi. Which
practitioner of ours would want that turbid qi? The qi of a
non-practitioner's body is rather turbid, and it could become clear
through practising qigong. The affected area would be able to show a
mass of black substance in high density. If he continues his practice,
and when he has indeed succeeded in healing the disease and keeping
fit, his qi will gradually turn slightly yellow. A further practice
will really remove his disease, and then there will be no qi in his
body. He will enter the state of Milk White Body.
That is to say, one is still not free from disease if he has qi. We
are practitioners. What does one want qi to do in practising qigong?
Our bodies need to be purified. How can we take turbid qi? Definitely
not. A person who wants qi is also at the level of qi where he has no
ability to tell good qi from bad qi as he is not capable of doing so
yet. As for that bit of true energy in the field of elixir in your
body, he is unable to have access to it. Only a highly achieved person
can remove it. As for turbid qi in your body, let him steal it. It is
nothing serious. If I want to fill up myself with qi during practice,
my belly will be full of it in a short while as long as I just think
about it.
The Tao School teaches keeping a Tianzi-stance while the Buddha School
requires filling qi into the top of the head with the hands. There is
a lot of qi in the universe for you to fill into your body daily. With
the Laogong and Baihui points open, you can fill qi into them with
your hands by concentrating your mind on the Elixir Field. You would
be full of qi in a while. What is the use of filling yourself with qi?
Some people who have practised a lot of qi may find their fingers and
bodies feeling swollen. When others walk up to such a person, they
will feel a field surrounding him. "Oh, you have really done well". I
would say that it is nothing. Where is your cultivation energy? It is
still a practice of qi which can not replace cultivation energy no
matter how much you possess it. The purpose of practising qi is to
substitute the qi in one's body with the good qi from the outside, and
to purify the body. What do you store up qi for? It is not yet
cultivation energy because you are at the level where no essential
changes have taken place. No matter how much qi you have stolen, you
are nothing but a big bag of qi. What is the use of it? It has not yet
been transformed into the high energy matter. Therefore, what are you
afraid of? Let him steal the qi if he really wants to.
Please think about it. As long as your body has qi, it is not free
from disease. Then, did he also take your pathogenic qi with him when
he stole qi from you? He could not tell such a difference at all as a
person who wants qi is also at the level of qi, and he has not any
capabilities. A person who has cultivation energy does not want qi,
and this is for sure. If you do not believe it, we could conduct an
experiment. Allow such a person who really wants to steal your qi to
stand over there to steal. While you are thinking about filling up
your body with qi from the universe here he is stealing your qi behind
you. You see what a good deal it is, as it will speed up your body
purification, and save you the trouble of moving your hands up and
down like that. As he has a bad intention and has stolen something
from others, although what he has stolen is something bad, he also has
done something that will make him lose his De (virtues), and so he
will give you De (virtues). In this way a convection is rising when he
is taking your qi here and he is giving you De over there. The person
who steals qi does not know this. He will not dare to do this at all
if he does.
All those people who steal qi become dark faced. They are all this
way. Many people who go to practise qigong in a park aim at removing
disease, but such a person suffers from diseases of all sorts. When
one is treating disease, he has to remove the pathogenic qi from his
body. However, the person who steals qi will not do that. Instead, he
would fill his whole body with all kinds of pathogenic qi which
darkens the inside of his body. As he always loses his De, it is all
dark around him. With a large field of karma and the loss of a lot of
De, he will become black both inside and outside his body. If the
person who steals qi knows that such a change has occurred in his
body, and that he has been doing such a foolish thing as to give away
his De to others, he will never do that again.
Some people make qi sound mystical by saying: If you are in America,
you can receive the qi I have released; you may wait on the other side
of the wall, and you can receive the qi I have released. Some people
are quite sensitive, and may receive it when it is released. However,
qi does not travel in this space but in another space where there is
not such a wall. Why don't you feel it when some qigong masters
release qi on a level ground? Because there is a separation in another
space there, qi does not have as much penetrative power as we have
described.
What can genuinely work is cultivation energy. When a practitioner is
able to deliver his cultivation energy, he no longer has any qi. What
he releases is high energy matter which is seen in the form of light
with the Celestial Eye. When it reaches others, it gives a sensation
of burning heat, and can restrain an ordinary person. However, it also
can not meet the purpose of thoroughly curing disease, and could only
play the role of inhibition. In order to genuinely cure disease, there
has to be supernormal capabilities as there are different supernormal
capabilities aimed at different diseases. In the extreme microcosms,
each tiny particle of the cultivation energy takes on your personal
image. It can recognize people, and has intelligence as a high energy
substance. When it is stolen by the others, how could it stay there?
It will not stay there, and cannot be placed there as it is not their
own property. After developing their cultivation energy, all those
genuine practitioners will be looked after by their masters. When his
master sees what he does, and when he is trying to take things from
others, his master will not allow this to happen.
Gathering Qi
Stealing qi and gathering qi are not the problems that we should solve
in teaching the Gong of the high order. Because I still have such a
goal: to rehabilitate the reputation of cultivation, and to do
something good by speaking out on these unhealthy phenomena which
nobody has talked about before. I want everyone of us to know it so
that some people will not always do bad things, and those who know
nothing about the truth of qigong will not turn pale at the mere
mention of it.
There is plenty of cosmic qi in the universe. Some people talk about
the qi of Celestial Yang and the qi of Earthly Yin. You are also an
element of the universe, and you may go ahead to gather as much qi as
you like. However, some people do not collect the qi of the universe,
but specialize in teaching people to collect qi from plants. They have
even summed up their experience: the qi of a poplar tree is white and
the qi of a pine tree is yellow, as well as how and when to collect
it. Someone also said: "There is a tree in front of our house, and it
has died because I have collected qi from it". What kind of capability
is that? Isn't that a wrong deed? It is known that when we genuinely
do the cultivation, we value positive messages and assimilation to the
cosmic qualities. Don't you want to look at the issue of compassion?
Assimilation to the cosmic qualities, Zhen Shan Ren (Truth Compassion
Forbearance), requires compassion. How can you increase your
cultivation energy if you always commit bad deeds? How can you remove
your diseases? Isn't it just opposite to what our practitioners should
do? That is also taking lives and committing sins! Perhaps, someone
may say: "You are getting more and more incredible by saying that
killing animals is killing lives, and killing plants also is killing
lives". In fact, it is this way. Buddhism teaches the Sixfold Paths of
Transmigration, and you may be turned into a plant during the Sixfold
Paths of Transmigration. This is what Buddhism says. We do not talk
about it this way here. However, we shall tell you that a tree also is
a life. Not only is it a life, but it has very advanced mental
activities as well.
For instance: there is an American who specializes in electronic
studies, and teaches others to use lie-detectors. One day he decided
on the spur of the moment to connect the two poles of the lie-detector
to an Adhatoda Vasica, and watered the roots of the flower. Then, he
found that the electronic pen of the lie-detector rapidly drew a
certain curve. Such a curve was the same as that which the human brain
produces in an extremely short period of time when it is happy and
excited. He was surprised at that time to find that a plant could have
feelings! He almost wanted to shout on the street: Plants have
feelings. Being enlightened from this incident, he carried out
research in this area, and has conducted a lot of experiments.
Once he took two plants together, and asked his student to crush a
plant to death with his feet in front of another plant. Then, he took
the other plant inside a room, and connected it to the lie-detector.
He asked five of his students to come in turns from the outside. There
were no reactions when the first four students walked into the room.
As soon as the fifth student who had trampled the plant had come in,
the electronic pen rapidly drew a curve. Such a curve can only occur
when a person becomes frightened. He was really surprised! This event
has thrown light on a very big issue: through the ages we have always
considered human beings to be high level living beings with the sense
organs that can make identifications, and with the brain that can make
analysis. How could plants distinguish things? Don't they have sense
organs as well? In the past, whoever said that plants had sense
organs, thinking, feelings, and the ability to recognize people would
be labelled as superstitions. In addition to these, it seems that
plants have surpassed our contemporary humans in certain aspects.
One day the researcher connected the lie-detector to a plant, and then
wondered: "What kind of experiment shall I do? I shall burn its leaves
with fire and see how it reacts." As soon as this came into his mind,
and before he did so, the electronic pen rapidly drew a curve which
could occur only when a person is crying for help. This power of
Telepathy which was called Mental Telepathy in the past is a human
potential ability and instinct. However, today's mankind is
degenerating. You will have to cultivate all over again, and return to
the origin and go back to the truth and your primordial instinct
before you can regain it. Yet, the plant has it, and it knows what you
are thinking about. It sounds quite incredible, but it was indeed a
scientific experiment. He has conducted a variety of experiments,
including the supernormal capability of long-distance remote controls.
After his paper was published, it caused a great sensation throughout
the world.
Botanists from different countries have already started studies in
this area, including those in our country. It is no longer something
superstitious. The other day I said that what our mankind has
experienced, invented, and discovered today would be quite enough to
change our current textbooks. However, owing to the influence of the
traditional mentality, people are reluctant to acknowledge them, and
there is also no one to sort them out systematically.
In a park in the Northeast China, I noticed that a group of pine trees
had died. I did not know what sort of qigong some people were
practising there. They rolled all over the ground, and then they
gathered qi with their feet in one way and their hands in another.
Soon afterwards the pine trees over there turned yellow, and then all
died. Is what you have done a good deed or a wrong one? Judging from
the angle of our practitioners, that is killing lives. As a
practitioner, you must be a good person, and gradually assimilate
yourself with the cosmic qualities, as well as give up your bad
habits. Even from the angle of an ordinary person, it was also not a
good deed but it was damaging the public property, the afforestation
and the ecological balance. It was not a good deed looking at it from
any angle. There is plenty of qi in the universe, and you may collect
it as much as you can. Some people are carrying great energy. After
reaching a certain level, they can indeed collect the qi of the plants
in a large area by just a waving their arms once. That is nothing but
qi. What will be the use of qi even if you have collected more? Some
people do not do anything else when they go to a park, saying: "I do
not have to practise qigong. It will be good enough for me to collect
qi while walking around, and my practice will be over. It will be good
enough to just get qi". In their opinion, Qi is cultivation energy.
When people walk up close to such a person, they will feel his body is
quite chilly. Isn't the qi of plants of the Yin quality? A
practitioner should try to maintain the balance of Yin and Yang.
Though his body smells like a pine tree, he still feels good about his
practice.
He Attains Cultivation Energy Who Does the Cultivation
The question of "He attains cultivation energy who does the
cultivation" is an extremely important one. When other people ask me
what the advantages of Falun Dafa are, I say that the Great Law can
attain the purpose of cultivation energy cultivating the practitioner
and reducing the time for practice, which can solve the problem of
having no time to practise while the practitioner is cultivated all
the time. At the same time, ours is a genuine cultivation of both
human life and nature, and our physical bodies will go through
tremendous changes. Falun Dafa also has a most important advantage
which I have not mentioned before, only today are we going to expound
it. Because it involves a very important issue of historical origins,
and has a great impact on the world of cultivation. No one ever dared
to reveal this in history, nor has anyone been allowed to do so.
However, I have no alternative but to tell you about it.
Some students have said: every sentence that Master Li Hongzhi said is
a secret of Heaven and the disclosure of it. However, we are genuinely
guiding people up towards high dimensions, which is to save people. We
should be responsible to everyone, and we are able to take such a
responsibility. Thus, it is not a betrayal of the secrets of Heaven
while an irresponsible casual gossip is a betrayal of the secrets of
Heaven. Today, we shall make public the issue: he attains cultivation
energy who does the cultivation. In my opinion, all the cultivation
systems, including the Buddha School, the Tao School, and the Rare
Cultivation Way, have all been cultivating one's Assistant Spirit (
Paraconsciousness)in history, and it is the Assistant Spirit
that attains cultivation energy. The Zhu Yuanshen ( the Chief
Spirit) that we are talking about here refers to our own thinking. We
should understand what we are thinking about and what we are doing.
This is just the genuine you yourself. However, you do not know at all
what your Assistant Spirit does. Though he was born with you
simultaneously with the same name, he has the same appearance as you
and controls the same body with you, he is still not you in a strict
sense.
There is a principle in the universe that he gains who loses, and he
attains cultivation energy who does the cultivation. The cultivation
systems through the ages have been teaching the practitioners to enter
the state of a trance during the practice without thinking about
anything and then enter the state of deep meditation until they are
not aware of anything in the end. Some people have sat there in
meditation for three hours as if just for a brief moment. Others may
admire such a person's power of meditation. Did he, in fact, practise?
He does not know it himself. In particular, the Tao School teaches:
Shishen (the Conscious Spirit) dies while Yuanshen (Primal Spirit) is
born. The Shishen (Conscious Spirit) they refer to we call Zhu
Yuanshen (the Chief Spirit); and the Yuanshen (Primal Spirit) they
refer to we call Fu Yuanshen (Assistant Spirit). If your Shishen
(Conscious Spirit) really dies, you will be indeed dead, and your
Chief spirit will really die. Someone from another cultivation system
told me: "Teacher, when I practise, I cannot recognize anyone in my
home." Another person told me: "I do not have to practise like others
who do it early in the morning and late at night. After I go home and
lay down on a couch, myself goes out to practise. I watch him practise
while lying there". I feel very sorry for this, but not so sorry, as
well.
Why would they save the Assistant Spirit? Lu Dongbin once made a
statement: "I would rather save an animal than a human being". It is
indeed very difficult for humans to be enlightened, because ordinary
people are deranged in ordinary human society, and cannot give up
their desires in front of the immediate interests. If you do not
believe it, when some people walk out of this auditorium after the
lectures, they will become ordinary people again. If anyone irritates
them or bumps into them, they will not put up with it. After a period
of time, they will not regard themselves as practitioners at all. Many
accomplished cultivators in history have realized this point. It is
very difficult to save a person because his Chief Spirit is very much
deranged. Some people have good enlightenment quality, and will awake
to the truth instantly with a hint. Some people will not believe you
no matter what you say, and they will think that you are talking big.
We have asked them to cultivate their Xinxing, but they will still
stick to their old way of doing things soon after they go back among
ordinary people. They will think that this little bit of interest that
is realistic, tangible and attainable is indeed materially beneficial,
and they will prefer to go after this. The Law that the teacher has
expounded sounds also reasonable, but it cannot be followed. The human
Chief Spirit is the most difficult to be saved while the Assistant
Spirit can see the scenes in another space. Therefore, they are
considering: "Why should I save your Chief Spirit? Your Assistant
Spirit is also you. Wouldn't it be the same if I save him? Both of
them are you, and it does not matter who gains. It is you who gain
either way".
I am going to tell you about their specific cultivation methods. If
anyone has the capability of Remote Sight, he can see this kind of
scenario: when you sit in practice, as soon as you enter the state of
meditation, you can see you, having the same appearance as yourself,
get out of your body suddenly. But, where is your own self if you try
to distinguish it? You are sitting right here. After you watch him
leave your body, the master will take him to cultivate in a space
transformed by the master, which can be in the form of a bygone
society, or of contemporary society, or of a society in another space.
The master will teach him how to practise, and he will suffer a lot
for one or two hours a day. When he returns from his practice, you
will also come out of the state of meditation. This is what can be
observed.
It will be more miserable if one can not see. He knows nothing about
what has happened, and will come out of a two-hour mediation not
knowing what happened. Some people may sleep for two or three hours as
a way of practice, and completely give themselves up to others. Such
cultivation is completed intermittently with a certain amount of time
for a daily sitting practice. Another form of cultivation is completed
at one time. Everyone probably has heard of Dharmer who sat in front
of a wall for nine years. In the past there were many monks who would
sit for decades. The longest period of time recorded in history lasted
over ninety years. There were still people who spent even longer time
doing this with thick dust deposited on their eyelids and grass
growing up on their bodies, and they are still sitting there. Some
cultivation systems of the Tao School also teach this, especially some
Rare Cultivation ways teach their practitioners to practise sleeping,
and sleep for decades without coming out of the state of meditation or
waking up. But, who has practised? His Assistant Spirit has gone out
to practise. If he could see this, he would see the master teaching
his Assistant Spirit to practise. The Assistant Spirit might also owe
a lot of karma, and the master would be unable to eradicate all of his
karma. Therefore, the master told him: "You should practise hard here.
I will be away and be back after a while. You wait for me."
The master knew exactly what would happen, but he also had to do so.
As a result, the demon came to scare him, and turned into a beauty to
seduce him. There would be various happenings. Once the demon realized
that he was indeed not moved at all because the Assistant Spirit had a
relatively easier time cultivating, and could understand the truth.
The demon became irritated, and made an attempt on his life for
revenge. So, he was indeed killed, and his debt had all been paid.
After his death, the Assistant Spirit came out like a thread of smoke
drifting about. He went into another incarnation, and was born into a
very poor family. He suffered from an early age. By the time he became
sensible, his master came. Obviously, he could not recognize him. The
master unlocked the child's stored memory containing the supernormal
capability. The child suddenly recalled everything. "Isn't this my
master?" The master told him: "Now, it is time to start your
practice." After many years had passed, the master passed on to him
his teachings.
After completing his teachings, the master told him again: "You still
have many attachments to be abandoned. You should go out to wander
about". Wandering around would go through a lot of hardships. As he
went into society, he begged for food, and ran into different kinds of
people who scorned him, insulted him, and bullied him. He encountered
all kinds of things. He treated himself as a practitioner, and
balanced his relations with others well while maintaining and
upgrading his Xinxing constantly. He was not moved by the temptation
of various interests of ordinary people. After many years he returned
after his many years wandering around. The master said: "You have
already attained the Tao, and have reached consummation. If you do not
have anything to do, you may go back and pack up and get ready to
leave. You go ahead and put an end to ordinary human affairs". Many
years had passed before the Assistant Spirit returned. Upon his
return, his Chief Spirit also came out of the state of meditation, and
his Chief Spirit woke up from his sleep.
However, he has indeed not done the cultivation yet, but his Assistant
Spirit has practised, and thus it has attained cultivation energy.
Nevertheless, the Chief Spirit has also suffered. After all, he has
devoted all his youth to sitting there, and his lifetime as an
ordinary person is over. What should be done then? Upon coming out of
the state of meditation, this person feels that he has developed
cultivation energy through practice, and possesses supernormal
capabilities. If he wants to treat diseases, his Assistant Spirit will
satisfy him and will be capable of doing what he wants to do, because
he is the Chief Spirit after all. The Chief Spirit controls the body
and makes decisions. In addition, he has spent so many years sitting
here, and his lifetime elapsed. By the time this person is dead, the
Assistant Spirit will be gone, and each one will go his own way.
According to Buddhism, this person will still have to enter the
Sixfold Paths of Transmigration. Since a great enlightened being has
been successfully cultivated in his body, this person has also
accumulated a huge amount of De. What will happen then? He probably
will become a high-ranking official or make a big fortune in his next
lifetime. This could only be this way. Does his cultivation end up in
vain?
It took us a lot of trouble to have the permission to tell you about
this issue. I have disclosed a mystery of thousands of years, which
was the secret of the secrets that could never be revealed absolutely.
I have unveiled the root of all kinds of cultivation methods through
the ages. Haven't I mentioned that this is closely connected with
historical origins? These are the reasons. Just think about it. Which
cultivation way or school does not take this way in cultivation? You
keep cultivating and practising hard, but you still will not attain
cultivation energy. Aren't you sad? Who should be blamed for this,
then? Mankind is so deranged, and they would not take the hint no
matter how you enlighten them. If you tell them something higher, they
consider it incredible. If you say something lower, they do not
understand what you mean. Now that I am talking this way, some people
still want me to treat their diseases. I really do not know what to
say to such people. What we mean is cultivation, and we only take care
of those who do the cultivation towards the high dimensions.
In our school, it is Zhu Yishi ( Main Consciousness) that
attains cultivation energy. Then, will the Main Consciousness attain
cultivation energy if you say so? Who will give permission? It does
not work this way as there must be a prerequisite. It is known that
our cultivation way does not stay away from cultivation in ordinary
human society, nor does it avoid or evade contradictions. In this
complicated environment of ordinary people, you will be clear-minded,
and lose knowingly on the issue of interests. When others take away
your interests, you will not go to compete and contest like others,
and you suffer losses with all kinds of Xinxing interference. In such
a difficult environment, you can sharpen your will and upgrade your
Xinxing. Under the influence of various ill thoughts from ordinary
people, you will be able to reach above and beyond.
Please think about it. Is it you who suffer knowingly, and is it your
Chief Spirit that give so much? Do you knowingly lose what you lose
among ordinary people? Then, this cultivation energy should belong to
you as he who loses gains. Therefore, this is why our cultivation way
does not stay away from cultivating in the complicated environment of
ordinary people. Why do we cultivate among the conflicts of ordinary
people? It is because we want to attain cultivation energy ourselves.
Future professional practitioners who cultivate in the temple will
have to wander around among ordinary people.
Some people have said: "Don't other cultivation ways nowadays also
practise among ordinary people?" However, they are all aimed at
promoting the healing of diseases and physical fitness. Genuine
cultivation towards the high dimensions has never been made public
except for these schools which teach only one disciple for each
generation. Those who genuinely teach their disciples have already
taken them away to give them private teachings. Over the years, who
has talked about such things in public? Nobody has done it. Our
cultivation way has hereby stated this because ours is just such a
cultivation way, and we attain cultivation energy this way. In the
meantime, over ten thousand things from our cultivation school will
all be planted onto your Chief Spirit to enable you to indeed attain
cultivation energy. I have mentioned that I have done something nobody
has ever done before, and have opened the largest door. Some people
have understood these words of mine, and what I have said is really
not something incredible. I have a personal habit: When talking, I
would like to give you one foot if I have ten feet, and you may still
say that I am boasting. In fact, I have just told you only a tiny bit.
Because of the huge dimensional differences, I can not tell you a bit
more of the Great Law even higher and more profound.
Our cultivation school cultivates in such a way that you do indeed
attain cultivation energy yourselves, which is the first time since
the creation of heaven and the earth, and you can look into the
history about it. It is good because you will attain cultivation
energy yourself, but it is also very challenging. It will be most
challenging if you can ascend from the complicated environment of
ordinary people as well as from the Xinxing friction between one and
another. The difficulty is just that you know perfectly well that you
suffer losses among the interests of ordinary people, and whether you
will be moved or not in front of your personal vested interests in the
intrigue against each other and when you see your relatives and
friends suffering. How will you measure them? As a practitioner, it is
just so difficult. Someone told me: "Teacher, it will be good enough
just to be a good person among ordinary people. Who can ascend in the
cultivation?" Listening to him, I felt really disappointed! I did not
say a word to him. There are all kinds of Xinxing. He might try to
understand as much as he could. He gains who awakes to the truth.
Lao Zi said: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao." Tao
would not be so precious if we could pick it up everywhere on the
ground and succeed in cultivation this way. Our cultivation way
requires you to attain cultivation energy through contradictions.
Therefore, we should maximally conform to ordinary people, and you do
not have to really lose any material interests. However, you need to
upgrade your Xinxing in this material environment. It is convenient
right here. Our cultivation way is the most convenient one, and we can
cultivate ourselves amidst ordinary people instead of becoming monks
or nuns. Then this is also the most difficult thing to do here as we
cultivate in this most complicated environment of ordinary people.
Yet, it is the best because of this since it enables you yourself to
attain cultivation energy. This is the most crucial of our cultivation
way, which I have disclosed to you today. Of course, the Chief Spirit
attains cultivation energy, so does the Assistant Spirit. Why? When
all the messages, intelligent entities, and cells in your body
increase cultivation energy, of course he certainly also increases
cultivation energy. However, he will never grow higher than you at any
time. You will be the master while he will be the guardian of the Law.
Speaking of it here, I shall add another sentence. There are many such
people in the world of cultivation, who have always been attempting to
cultivate towards high dimensions. They have travelled everywhere and
spent a lot of money. They have not found the well-known masters after
visiting different places in the country. Being well-known does not
necessarily mean that these masters really understand anything. In the
end, they travelled back and forth, and spent a lot of money for
nothing. Today, we have made public to you such a good cultivation
way, and I have delivered it to you at your doorstep. It is up to you
whether or not you can do the cultivation, and make it. If you can do
it, you may keep up your cultivation. If you cannot do it or make the
cultivation, do not think about doing the cultivation at all from now
on. Except for the demons that will cheat you, nobody else would teach
you, and you will not be able to do the cultivation in the future. If
I cannot save you, nobody else can do it. As a matter of fact, it is
harder than climbing to heaven to find a genuine master of an orthodox
school to teach you. There is not anyone who takes care of this at
all. In the Period of Decline, even the very high dimensions are also
in the midst of the Last Havoc. They cannot mind the business of
ordinary people. This is the most convenient cultivation way,
cultivating directly according to the cosmic qualities. It is the
quickest short cut which is aimed directly at the human heart.
Heavenly Circuit
The Tao School teaches the great and small Heavenly Circuits, and we
are going to explain what a Heavenly Circuit is. The Heavenly Circuit
that we generally refer to is connecting the two energy channels of
Renmai and Dumai. Such a Heavenly Circuit is a superficial Heavenly
Circuit which does not account for anything but healing disease and
keeping fit. This is called the Small Heavenly Circuit. Another
Heavenly Circuit which is neither called the Small Heavenly Circuit
nor the Great Heavenly Circuit is a form of Heavenly Circuit practised
while sitting in meditation. It travels down in a circle inside one's
body from the Niwan Point to Dantian (the Elixir Field), and moves up
in a circle there as an interior circuit, which is the genuine
Heavenly Circuit in the cultivation while sitting in meditation. After
the formation of such a Heavenly Circuit, it will become a very
powerful energy current, bringing all the channels to motion with one
energy channel and opening up all other energy channels. The Tao
School teaches the Heavenly Circuit while Buddhism does not. What does
Buddhism teach then? When Sakyamuni taught his system of Dharma, he
did not teach the practice of the exercise; he did not do that.
However, his cultivation system also has its own form of cultivation
evolution. How does the energy channels in Buddhism move? It starts to
break through from the Baihui Point, and then it develops from the top
of one's head down to the body in a spiral. In the end, it will bring
all the channels to motion in this way.
The central channels in Tantrism is also aimed at this goal. Some
people have said that there is not a central channel. How then can
Tantrism manage to cultivate the central channel? In fact, when all
the channels of a human body are put together, they amount to no less
than ten thousand in number just like blood vessels crisscrossing, but
more than blood vessels in number. The space between the interior
organs does not have blood vessels, but there are channels. They are
connected from the top of one's head to every part of the body
crisscrossing. They may not be straight initially, and will be opened
up upon connecting with each other. Then, they will gradually be
expanded, and slowly form a straight channel. This channel will be
used as an axis that does self rotations to bring to motion several
wheels of one's intention in level rotations, which also is aimed at
opening up all the energy channels of the body.
The cultivation of our Falun Dafa avoids using this method of one
channel bringing all the channels to motion. We require that all the
channels should be opened up in motion simultaneously from the very
beginning. All at once, we cultivate on the very high level, avoiding
the low-level stuff. If you wish to open up all the channels with one
channel, your whole lifetime may not be enough to make it. Some people
will have to cultivate for decades, and it is very difficult. A lot of
cultivation systems believe that one lifetime will not be enough to
make the cultivation. There are many people who cultivate the profound
Great Laws and can extend their life span. Don't they believe in
cultivating life as well? They can extend their life span to do the
cultivation, and it will take quite a long period of time for them to
do so.
The Small Heavenly Circuit is basically aimed at healing disease and
keeping fit while the Great Heavenly Circuit is the practice of the
exercises, which means the real cultivation. The Great Heavenly
Circuit the Tao School refers to does not come as violently as ours
which opens up all the energy channels at once. The operation of the
Great Heavenly Circuit in the Tao School is that of several channels
which travel from the three Yin and three Yang of one's hands down to
the feet, and to both legs, and all the way to the hair. They go all
over the body once. This is considered to be the Great Heavenly
Circuit in circulation. When the Great Heavenly Circuit is in motion,
genuine cultivation will be brought into play. Therefore, some qigong
masters do not teach the Great Heavenly Circuit, and what they teach
is healing disease and keeping fit. Some people have also talked about
the Great Heavenly Circuit, but they have not planted anything into
your bodies. You can not open them up on your own. Not having been
planted anything into your body, you will not be able to open them up
with your intention. That is not as easy as talk! How could you open
them up just like doing gymnastic exercises? Cultivation is one's own
business, while the evolution of cultivation energy is done by one's
master. Only when it is all planted into your body, can the interior
"mechanism" play such a role.
The Tao School has regarded the human body as a small universe through
the ages. It believes that the exterior of the universe is as big as
the interior of it, and its exterior is the same as its interior. This
view does not seem credible or easily understood. This universe is so
big. How could it be compared with a human body? We will expound on
this principle. Our physics today studies the elements of matter from
molecules, atoms, electrons, protons, quarks all the way to neutrinos.
What size will they be further down? What will the extremely tiny
particle be further down the road when the microscope cannot see it at
that point? It is not known. In fact, such a point our physics has now
come to understand, is too far away from the tiniest particle of the
universe. When a person does not have his flesh body, his eyes will be
able to see with magnified vision, and can see the microcosmic. The
higher dimension one is in, the larger what he will be able to see in
the microcosm is.
In such a status of Sakyamuni, he taught the theory of Great
Chiliocosm. Namely, there are also people in this Milky Way galaxy
like our mankind with such sensory bodies. He also expounded the
theory that a grain of sand contains three thousand worlds, which
agrees with the understanding of our contemporary physics. What is the
difference between the rotation form of electrons around the nuclei
and that of the earth around the sun? Therefore, Sakyamuni said that
in the microcosm, a grain of sand contains three thousand worlds which
will be just like a universe with life and matter in it. If it is
true, please think about it. Is there sand in the world of that grain
of sand? And are there three thousand worlds in the sand of that grain
of sand? And then, is there sand in the three thousand worlds in the
sand of the sand? It will be endless if the search goes on and on.
Therefore, in the status of a Tathagata, Sakyamuni made such a
statement: "It is immense without the exterior, and it is tiny without
the interior". It is so immense that he could not see the perimeter of
the universe, and it is so tiny that he could not see what is the most
tiny particle of original matter.
Some qigong masters said: "There is a city in a sweat pore where the
trains and cars are running." It sounds quite incredible, but we have
found that this statement is not incredible when we really understand
and study it from the angle of science. When I was talking about
opening the Celestial Eye the other day, many people could see such a
scene when their Celestial Eye was being opened: They would find they
were running out along a tunnel in their foreheads as if they could
never reach the end. Everyday during the practice they would be
running out along this main road with mountains and rivers on both
sides. While running, they would pass through cities, and see quite a
lot of people. They would feel that this was an illusion. What is the
matter? What he saw was quite clear, and not an illusion. I have said
that if one's body is really that huge in the microcosm, it is not an
illusion. Because the Tao School has regarded the human body as a
universe through the ages, and if it is indeed a universe, the
distance from the forehead to the pineal body would be more than one
hundred and eighty thousand li. You may rush toward the outside, and
it will be quite a remote distance.
If the Great Heavenly Circuit is all opened up in the course of
cultivation, it will bring the practitioner supernormal capability.
What supernormal capability is it? It is known that the Great Heavenly
Circuit is also called the Meridian Heavenly Circuit, or the Cosmic
Rotation, or the Heche Rotation. At a very low level, the rotation of
the Great Heavenly Circuit will form an energy current which will
gradually increase its density to transform towards higher levels, and
which will become a large energy belt of high density. Such an energy
belt is in rotation, in the process of which we can see it with the
Celestial Eye on this very shallow plane and discover that it can make
qi change positions inside one's body: the qi from the heart moves to
the intestines; the qi from the liver moves to the stomach... In the
microcosm, we can see that what it carries is something very large. If
this energy belt is delivered outside of one's body, it will become
the power of psychokinesis (mind over matter). A person who has very
powerful cultivation energy can move a very big object, which is
called the great psychokinesis: A person who has very weak cultivation
energy can move a very small object, which is called small
psychokinesis. These are the types of the power of psychokinesis as
well as its formation.
The cultivation begins immediately with the Great Heavenly Circuit.
Thus, it will bring about different situations as well as forms of
cultivation energy, and it will also bring us a very special state.
What state is it? You may have read such a phrase called: "flying up
in broad daylight" in the ancient books such as Biographies of the
Immortals, Alchemical Text, Tao Tsang, or A Genuine Guide to
Cultivation of Nature and Life. It means that a person can fly up in
broad daylight. In fact, let me tell you that a person will be able to
take off in the air once the Great Heavenly Circuit is opened up, and
this is so simple. Some people think that there are quite a few people
whose Great Heavenly Circuits have been opened up after so many years
of practice. I would say that it is not incredible for many thousands
of people to be able to reach this level because the Great Heavenly
Circuit is, after all, the beginning step of cultivation.
Then, why can't we see these people flying up in the sky? Why can't we
see them take off? The state of ordinary human society cannot be
disturbed, nor can the social formation of ordinary human society be
casually disrupted or changed. How could people all be allowed to fly
in the sky? Would that be an ordinary human society? This is one
principal aspect. The other one is that the people from ordinary
people do not live in order just to be people, but to return to the
origin and go back to the truth. Therefore, there is also an issue of
awakening quality. If someone sees that many people indeed can fly, he
will also want to cultivate but there will not have been the issue of
awakening quality. Therefore, if you are capable of doing it because
of your cultivation, you should not casually show it to others or
demonstrate to others as they also need to go through cultivation. As
a result, once your Great Heavenly Circuit is opened up, you will not
be able to fly up if your finger tip, toe tip, or a certain part of
your body is locked.
When the Great Heavenly Circuit is about to be opened up, a phenomenon
will occur that some people will lean forward during the sitting
practice. Because the circuit in their backs is opened up well, their
backs will feel very light while the front of their bodies will feel
heavy. Some people will lean backward, and feel their backs are heavy
while the front of their bodies are light. If your body is all opened
up well, you will feel like you are being lifted up and down, and feel
like rising up from the ground. Once you can really take off, you will
not be allowed to leave the ground. But it is not absolute. Those who
develop supernormal capabilities are usually at both ends. Children do
not have attachments, nor do senior citizens, especially senior women.
They may easily develop and preserve supernormal capabilities. For
males, especially younger ones, once they have a capability, their
show-off mentality cannot be avoided. At the same time, they would
probably use it as a means of competition among ordinary people. Thus,
it can not be allowed to exist, and will be locked up as soon as it is
developed through cultivation. If one part of the body is locked, this
person will not be able to fly up. It is not that you will not be
allowed to have such a state at all. You may probably be allowed to
have a try, and some people may be able to keep it up.
Such situations also occur in different parts of the country where a
lecturing session is going on. When I gave lectures in Shandong, there
were practitioners from Beijing and Jinan. Some people said: "Teacher,
what has happened to me as I feel like taking off from the ground
while walking. I also feel like flying up while sleeping at home. Even
the quilt is always flying up like a balloon." When I gave lectures in
Guiyang, there was a senior practitioner from Guizhou who was an old
lady. She had two beds in a room with one bed next to one side of the
wall, and the other to the other side of the wall. When she was doing
the sitting practice in bed, she felt herself flying up in the air,
and found she had flown onto the other bed when she opened her eyes.
She thought: I should return to my bed, and then she flew back again.
There was a practitioner in Qingdao who did the sitting practice in
his office bed when no one was around during the noon break. As soon
as he sat there, he flew into the air, and was strongly lifted up and
down as high as a meter. He would drop down upon rising up, and
repeated the movement noisily. The quilt was even thrown onto the
floor. He was a little bit excited and a little bit scared. He spent
the whole noon repeating the up and down movements. Finally, the bell
rang for work. He thought to himself: I should not let others see what
I am doing. What on earth am I doing here? Stop it quickly. He stopped
the practice. This is why the senior people can put a handle on
themselves. If this had happened to a young person, he might have
thought: "The office bell has rung; you all come to see me flying into
the air." The show-off mentality which is difficult for one to control
would present itself here: "See how well I have practised, and I can
fly into the air." Once he shows it off, the capability will be gone
as it is not allowed to exist this way. There are many such cases
among practitioners in all parts of the country.
We require all the channels to be opened up from the very beginning.
Up till today eighty to ninety per cent of you have reached the state
that your bodies have become very light and free of diseases. At the
same time, we have mentioned that you are not only pushed to such a
state and that your bodies are fully purified, but that many things
will also be planted into your bodies to allow you to develop
cultivation energy here during my lectures. I am as good as lifting
you up and pushing you further ahead. I have been talking about the
Law to everyone during the lectures, and your Xinxing has also been
changing. Many of you, after walking out of this auditorium, will feel
as if you have become different people. It is certain your world
outlook will have changed. You will know how to conduct yourselves in
the future, and will no longer be deranged like that. I am sure you
will be this way. As a result, our Xinxing has already caught up with
this.
Speaking of the Great Heavenly Circuit, though you are not allowed to
take off, you will feel your body is light as if walking in the air.
In the past, you would feel tired if you did a little walking. Now,
you feel quite relaxed no matter how far you have walked. You feel as
if being pushed when riding a bike, and do not feel tired when going
upstairs no matter how high you have to climb. It is guaranteed to be
this way. Those who read this book and do the cultivation on their own
can also reach the state they should be in. I am a person who will not
say what I do not want to say. But what I said must be true.
Especially under such circumstances, if I do not tell the truth during
my lectures, and if I speak with exaggerations here and make casual
statements without a definite objective in view, I will be preaching
an evil way. It is also not easy for me to do this thing. The whole
universe is watching, and it can not be allowed for you to go wrong.
A person usually considers it all right for him to know there is such
a Heavenly Circuit. In fact, this is not enough. For the body to be
replaced and transformed completely by high energy matter as soon as
possible, there must be another circulation in the form of the
Heavenly Circuit, bringing along the circulation of all the channels
in your body. That is called the Maoyou (Borderline) Heavenly Circuit
which is probably known by only few people. The books sometimes
mention such a term. But nobody has explained it and nobody will tell
you about it. It is only discussed in theories as the most secret of
the secrets. We are going to disclose all this to you here: the Maoyou
(Borderline) Heavenly Circuit begins from the Baihui point (or also
from the Huiyin point). It comes out to move along the border between
the sides of Yin and Yang, moves from the ears down to the shoulder,
moves along each finger to the side of your body, goes from the bottom
of your foot up to the inner side of your thigh, from there moves to
the other thigh, then goes through the bottom of your other foot,
comes up from the other side of your body, goes along each finger, and
finally reaches the top of your head after a full circle. This is
called the Borderline Heavenly Circuit. Others could write a book
about it, and I disclosed it in just a few words. I do not think that
this should be considered a secret of Heaven. However, others feel
that such things are very precious and can not be told to others at
all, and the Borderline Heavenly Circuit should be expounded only when
they really teach this to their disciples. Although I have disclosed
it, you can not use the intention to guide it or control yourself to
practise it. If you do that, you are not practising our Falun Dafa.
Genuine cultivation towards high dimensions is active non-doing
without mental activities. All that is planted into your body is
ready-made. They are formed automatically, and such internal
mechanisms are evolving and cultivating you, and they can make self
rotations when the time is ripe. One day your head will swing from
side to side during practice. If your head swings to this side, it is
rotating this way. If your head swings to the other side, it is
rotating that way. Rotations will be made both ways.
When the Great and Small Heavenly Circuits have been opened up, you
will nod your head during the sitting practice, which is the
manifestation of energy passing through it. The same is also true of
the Falun Heavenly Circuit that we practise. We practise it this way.
In fact, it makes self rotations when you are not practising it. It
will rotate forever. When you practise, you are reinforcing the
mechanisms. Don't we believe in the Law cultivating the practitioner?
Normally you can find that your Heavenly Circuit is always
circulating. Though you are not practising it, this layer of energy
mechanisms planted outside your body, which is a layer of main
external energy channels, is bringing your body into practice. It is
all automatic. It will also make reverse rotations. Its rotations are
both ways, and they are constantly opening up your energy channels.
What is, then, the purpose of opening up the Heavenly Circuit? Opening
up the Heavenly Circuit itself is not the purpose of the practice.
Even if your Heavenly Circuit is opened up, I would say that it is
still nothing. If you continue your cultivation, you aim to open up a
hundred channels with one channel, and open up all the channels in
your body through such a form of the Heavenly Circuit. We have already
started to do it. With further practice, one will find in the
circulation of the Great Heavenly Circuit that the channels will
become very wide like a finger, and quite wide inside. Because the
energy has also become very powerful, the energy current will get very
broad and bright after its formation. This is still nothing. Then how
far will the cultivation go? All the channels will gradually become
broader, with the energy getting stronger and brighter. In the end,
ten thousand channels will be connected all together in order to reach
the state in which the body has no channels or points. The whole body
will be connected to become one piece, and this is the ultimate goal
of opening up the channels. It is aimed at transforming the human body
completely through high energy matter.
At this stage of the practice, one's body has been basically
transformed by high energy matter. That is to say, his cultivation has
reached the highest level of the In-Triple-World-Law cultivation. The
human physical body has already been cultivated to the ultimate point.
By then, he will be brought into another state. What state is it? The
cultivation energy he has developed is very rich. All the human
supernormal capabilities (potential capabilities), and everything will
have been brought forth in the cultivation of the body of an ordinary
person, that is to say, in the course of the cultivation of the
In-Triple-World-Law. However, most of them are locked up when we
cultivate among ordinary people. In addition, one's energy pillar will
have already grown to be quite tall. All forms of energy will have
been reinforced to be quite powerful by the mighty cultivation energy.
Yet, they can only function in this space of ours, and cannot restrain
anything in other spaces because they are supernormal capabilities
cultivated from our ordinary people's physical bodies. However, they
are already very substantial. Considerable changes have taken place in
each space and in various existing forms of the body in different
spaces. What this body carries in each dimensional space is quite
substantial, and looks very frightening. Some people have eyes all
over their bodies, and their sweat pores have all become eyes. There
will be eyes within the scope of his whole space field. Because it is
the cultivation system of the Buddha School, some people carry images
of Bodhisattvas and Buddhas all over their bodies. The formations of
various cultivation energy have already reached the extremely
substantial extent, and there will also be many living entities to
present themselves.
By this time, there will appear another state called "three flowers
gathering on the top of the head". That is a very obvious state which
is also eye-catching. One who has a low plane Celestial Eye will be
able to see it. There will be three flowers on the top of one's head,
and one is a lotus flower; but it is not the lotus from our physical
space. The other two flowers are also from the other spaces, which are
extraordinarily beautiful. These three flowers revolve in turns on the
top of one's head. They make clockwise and counter-clockwise
revolutions, and each flower can also make self rotations. Each flower
has a huge pillar as thick as the diameter of the flower. These three
huge pillars reach all the way to the zenith. But they are not energy
pillars. They are just such forms and are quite mystical. You would be
scared as well if you see them. At this stage of cultivation, one's
body will be white and clean, and the skin will be delicate. At this
point, one has reached the highest form of Shi Jian Fa ( the
In-Triple-World-Law) cultivation. Yet, this is not the end. One will
need to continue the cultivation, and go further ahead.
The next step forward will be entering the transitional phase between
Shi Jian Fa (the In-Triple-World-Law) and Chu Shi Jian Fa (
the Beyond-Triple-World-Law), which is called the state of the
Pure-White-Body (or Crystal-White-Body). Because when the cultivation
of the physical body has reached the highest form of the
In-Triple-World-Law, it is only the human physical body that has been
transformed into the highest form. When it genuinely goes into that
form, the whole body will be completely made up of high energy matter.
Why is it called the Pure-White-Body? It is because his body has
already reached the absolute purity of the highest degree. When it is
seen with the Celestial Eye, the whole body is transparent just like
the transparent glass, and there is nothing in it. It will appear in
such a state. In plain words, this body has already become a Buddha
body. This is because the body of high energy matter is already
different from our own bodies. At this stage, all the supernormal
capabilities and the magic skills which have come into being in the
body will be abandoned all at once. They will be delivered into a very
deep space as they are useless, and will be no longer of any use from
this time on. One day when you succeed in the cultivation in the
future, you may look back on the journey you have made in cultivation
by taking them out for a look. At this time, there are only two things
in existence: the energy pillar still remains, and the Yuanying
(Immortal Infant) that you have cultivated has already grown to be
quite large. However, both things exist in the same very deep space,
which cannot be seen by a person with an ordinary plane of the
Celestial Eye. All he can see is that this person's body is a
transparent one.
Because the state of the Pure-White-Body is only a transitional phase,
with further cultivation, he will truly go into the cultivation of Chu
Shi Jian Fa (the Beyond-Triple-World-Law), which is also called the
cultivation of the Buddha body. The whole body will consist of
cultivation energy. By now one's Xinxing has already become stable. He
will begin the cultivation anew, and start again to develop
supernormal capabilities which are not called supernormal capabilities
any more, but called "the Divine Powers of Buddha Law", which can
restrain all spaces with mighty powers. As you continue to do the
cultivation in the future, you will know yourself how to cultivate
what is in the high dimensions, and the existing forms of the
cultivation as well.
Attachment of Complacency
I am going to talk about such an issue which is also the attachment of
complacency. Many people have practised qigong for quite a long time.
There are also people who have never practised it, but have been
pursuing and pondering the truth and the true meaning of the human
life. Once such a person studies our Falun Dafa, he will suddenly
understand many questions which he wished to understand but could not
find answers to. Probably with the distillation of his mind, he will
become very excited. This is for sure. I know that a genuine
cultivator knows its weight, and knows how to value it. However, a
problem oftentimes arises that one will unnecessarily develop the
attachment of complacency because of his joy. This may make him behave
abnormally in form, in their social contacts in ordinary human
society, in the social environment of ordinary human society. I would
say that this should not be allowed.
Most of our cultivation way is cultivated in ordinary human society.
You should not separate yourself from ordinary human society, and
should cultivate knowingly. There is still a normal relationship
between one and another. Of course, your Xinxing is very high with the
right mentality. You upgrade your own Xinxing and raise your own
level, and do good deeds instead of wrong ones. This should be only
this way. Some people conduct themselves as if they were mentally
abnormal, as if they are disillusioned with the mortal world. They can
not make themselves understood by others. Other people say: How could
a person who studies Falun Dafa become this way? He seems to have gone
wrong with his mind." In fact, he has not. He has become just too
excited without sensibility and common sense. Please think about it.
Such conduct of his is also wrong, and he has gone to the other
extreme, which is again another attachment. He should give it up, and
cultivate and live a normal life like everyone else among ordinary
people. While living among ordinary people, if they think that you are
crazy, they will stay at a distance from you and do not want to reason
with you. Nobody will provide you with an opportunity to improve your
Xinxing, and treat you as a normal person. I would say that it is not
right! Therefore, please be sure to pay special attention to this
issue, and conduct yourselves properly.
Our cultivation system is unlike those general systems which make one
absent-minded, enter the state of a trance, or become crazy. Our
cultivation system requires you to cultivate yourselves consciously.
Some people are always saying: "Teacher, I always wobble as soon as my
eyes are closed". I would say that it should not be this way. You have
already fallen into the habit of abandoning your own Zhu Yi Shi (Main
Consciousness), and give up your own Main Consciousness and allow it
to disappear when you close your eyes. You have already formed this
habit. How can you not wobble while sitting here? If you keep the
state in which your eyes are open, will you wobble with your eyes
slightly closed? Not at all. You believe that qigong should be
practised this way, and you have formed such a concept. As soon as you
have closed your eyes, you will disappear, and you do not know where
you are. We hold that your Main Consciousness must be clear because
this cultivation system cultivates you yourself. You should make
progress knowingly. We also have a tranquil practice. How should our
tranquil practice be done? We require you all to be aware that you are
practising here no matter how deep you are concentrated, and not at
all to enter the state of a trance where you know nothing. Then, what
specific state should there be? You will have a very comfortable
sensation when you are sitting there, feeling so wonderful as if you
were sitting inside an egg shell, where you are aware that you are
practising qigong yourself but you cannot move your body. This is all
that should take place in practising our system. There is another
state in which one is sitting there when he feels as if his legs had
disappeared and he cannot tell where they are. He feels as if his body
had disappeared, and so had his arms, and his hands. And only his head
is there. With further practice, he will find that even his head has
disappeared, except for his thinking, a little intention that is aware
that he is practising qigong here himself. It will be enough for us to
reach such a state. Why? When you practise in such a state, your body
has been brought into a fully evolutionary state, which is the best
one. Thus, we require you to attain tranquillity in such a state.
However, you should not fall asleep or become muddle-headed, in which
case, the good things will probably be practised by someone else.
All of our practitioners should always remember never to behave
abnormally among ordinary people. If you do not play a good role among
ordinary people, they will ask how come the people who study Falun
Dafa all behave this way. That would be as good as damaging the
reputation of Falun Dafa. Be sure to pay special attention to this
issue. Besides, be sure not to give way to the attachment of
complacency in other aspects as well as in the course of the
cultivation. Such an attachment may be easily utilized by demons.
Self-Imposed Silence
Self-imposed silence was also taught in religions in the past.
However, the self-imposed silence which religions refer to applies to
those professional practitioners -- monks and Taoists who do not open
their mouths to talk. Because they are professional practitioners,
they aim at maximally abandoning human attachments. They believe that
one's thinking is karma. Religions have classified karma as good karma
and evil karma. Whether it is good karma or evil karma, the thing
should not be done according to the emptiness of the Buddha School nor
to the nothingness of the Tao School. Therefore, they believe in doing
nothing at all because they cannot see the causational relationship of
a matter and whether this matter is good or bad, as there exist those
causational relationships. An ordinary practitioner who has not yet
reached a high level cannot see such things, and will, accordingly,
worry that something may appear to be a good thing, but will probably
be a bad thing once it is done. Therefore, he will try to practise the
active non-doing. He does nothing so that he can avoid accumulating
karma. Because once he commits karma, he will have to eliminate it and
suffer for it. For instance, our practitioners have already been
determined when and at what stage they will become enlightened. If you
add something unnecessary half way, it will cause difficulties to your
whole cultivation. Thus, he practises the active non-action.
The self-imposed silence the Buddha School practises means that human
speech is all dictated by one's mental consciousness. Then, this
mental consciousness is intentional. If one's mental consciousness
itself wants to make a thought, say something, do something, direct
the human sensory organs and four limbs, it may become an attachment
among ordinary people. For example, there are such person-to-person
conflicts as you are good, he is not good, your cultivation is good,
and his is not. These are contradictions themselves. Let us say
something common that I want to do this and that, and this matter
should now be done this way or that way, which could possibly hurt
someone unintentionally. Because person-to-person conflicts are all
very complicated, one could possibly accumulate some karma without
realizing it. As a consequence, a practitioner should practise the
self-imposed silence. In the past, religions have been very serious
about this. This is what the religions teach.
Most of our practitioners of Falun Dafa cultivate among ordinary
people (except those professional practitioners). Then, they cannot
avoid leading a normal life in ordinary human society and establishing
social contacts. Everyone has a job, and should do it well. Some
people do their work by speaking. Is this a problem then? It is not a
problem. Why not? The self-imposed silence that we refer to is quite
different from that of theirs. Owing to the differences in cultivation
schools, the requirements, therefore, are also different. We open our
mouths to speak all according to the Xinxing of the practitioners, and
never to say anything improper, anything to sow discord. As
practitioners, we should measure ourselves with the standard of the
Law to determine whether or not we should say this. It is not a
problem to say something that accords with a practitioner's Xinxing
standard measured by the Law. In addition, we should expound the Law,
and promote it. Thus, it is impossible not to speak. The self-imposed
silence that we practise refers to the fame and gain that cannot be
discarded by ordinary people, to what has nothing to do with the
actual work of practitioners in society, to those meaningless gossips
among the practitioners of the same cultivation school, to the showing
oneself off because of attachments, to the hearsay spread from
gossips, or to the hot topics and comments on some other things in
society. I think that these are all the attachments of ordinary
people. I feel that we should watch what we say in these aspects, and
this is what we mean by the self-imposed silence. In the past, monks
took these matters very seriously because they would accumulate karma
once they started to think. Therefore, a monk practised "Body, Speech,
and Mind". The cultivation of the body that he practised means that he
would not commit wrong deeds. The cultivation of the speech refers to
the fact that he would not speak. The cultivation of the mind refers
to the fact that he would not even think at all. In the past,
professional cultivation in the temple had strict requirements about
these things. It would be all right if we have a good command of what
we should say and what we should not, and that we require ourselves to
behave up to the practitioner's Xinxing standard.
Lecture Nine
Qigong and Physical Culture
At an ordinary level, qigong is easily considered by people to be
directly related to physical exercise. Of course, from the elementary
level, qigong and physical exercise share a common goal in the aspect
of keeping fit. However, its specific practising methods and means
adopted differ greatly from physical exercise. In order to enable one
to keep fit through physical exercise, the amount of exercise needs to
be increased, and physical training needs to be intensified. However,
qigong practice should be just the opposite as it does not require
people to move. Although there are movements, they should be
unhurried, slow, and round, or even be motionless and still. This
differs greatly from physical exercise. To speak from the high
dimension, qigong is not simply limited to healing disease and to
keeping fit, but it also encompasses something of the high dimension
and deeper meaning. Qigong is not just the little bit at the ordinary
people's level. It is supernormal, and has different manifestations in
different dimensions. It is something far beyond what ordinary people
have.
In terms of the nature of physical training, they two also differ
tremendously. An athlete is required to increase the amount of
training especially for an athlete today in order to have his body
prepared for the contemporary competition level, and to reach that
standard. Therefore, he must keep his body in the best condition all
the time. To attain this goal, the athlete should increase the amount
of training to make the blood circulate fully in his body. Thus, his
metabolism capability will be enhanced, and his body conditions will
be kept in a state of constant improvement. Why should the metabolism
capability be enhanced? It is because an athlete's body will always
have to maintain the best improving and competing condition. A human
body is made of numerous cells which experience such a process: The
life of a newly divided cell is very energetic and appears to continue
its growth. When it grows to the extreme limit, it can not grow any
more, and can only age to the extreme point. Then, a new cell will
replace it. For instance, if we use twelve hours of the day to
describe it, a cell divides at 6:00 a.m., keeping on its upward
development, up to 8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. when it is
still a very good period of time. By the time it reaches 12:00
noontime, it can no longer move upward, but only go down. During this
period of time, the cell has only half of its life left, and this half
life does not suit the competing conditions of an athlete.
What then should be done about it? He will have to intensify his
training and to increase his blood circulation. Then, the newly
divided cells will replace the old ones. It takes such a course.
Namely, before the whole journey of a cell is over, and while it is at
the half of its life course, it is replaced. Therefore, his body
always maintains strong and keeps growing. However, human cells cannot
divide in this way indefinitely as the number of times a cell can
divide is limited. Let us suppose that the cells during one's lifetime
could only divide a hundred times while, in fact, they divide more
than a million times. Suppose that an ordinary person has one hundred
times of cell division and he can live to be one hundred years, now
his cell only lives half of its life and then he can only live for
fifty years. However, we have not seen any athlete have a major
problem yet because the athletes of today will be eliminated before
reaching the age of thirty. In particular, the competition levels
nowadays are very high, and the number of athletes replaced is also
large. As a result, an athlete soon resumes his normal life, and does
not look to be affected very much. Theoretically, the bottom line is
this way. Doing exercise enables him to maintain a healthy body; but
it shortens his life. From the appearance, an athlete in his teens may
look like being in his twenties, an athlete in his twenties looks like
he is in his thirties. Athletes oftentimes give an impression of early
maturity and early aging. If there is an advantage, there is a
disadvantage from the dialectical perspective. In fact, they have
taken such a path.
Qigong practice is just the opposite of physical training, and it does
not require violent movements. Its movements are unhurried, slow and
round. They are very slow to the extent that they become motionless
and come to a standstill. It is known that in such a cultivation way
as meditation one stays in the state of tranquillity, and one's heart
beating as well as blood circulation etc. all will be slowed down. In
India there are many Yoga masters who can sit in water or be buried
under the ground for many days. They make themselves completely
tranquilized, and can even control their heart beats. Suppose that
one's cells divide once a day. A practitioner may make the cells in
the human body divide once every two days, once every week, once every
half a month, or even once in a longer period of time. Thus, he has
already extended his life. This only refers to those cultivation
systems which cultivate nature without cultivating life. They can also
reach this step, and prolong their own lives. Some people may think:
Aren't one's life and lifetime pre-determined? How could one live much
longer without cultivating his life? Yes, because the life of the
practitioner will be extended by reaching the level beyond the Three
Realms though he will look quite old from his appearance.
A genuine life cultivating system keeps accumulating the collected
high energy matter in the cells of a human body, and increasing its
density to gradually restrict as well as slowly replace the cells of
an ordinary person. By that time there will be a qualitative change,
and this person will stay in his youth forever. Of course, the
cultivation process is a very slow and gradual one, and one has to
give quite a lot. It is not easy for one to suffer physically as well
as mentally. Would you not be bothered during a Xinxing conflict
between one and another? Would you not be moved when personal vested
interests are at stake? It is very difficult to do all these things.
Thus, it is not that you can reach such a goal as long as you have a
wish for it. Only when your Xinxing and De have ascended in
cultivation can the goal be attained.
Throughout the ages, many people have mixed up qigong with ordinary
physical training, but in fact the differences between them are so
great that they are fundamentally not of the same thing. Only at the
lowest level of practising qi is consideration given to
disease-treatment and keeping fit in order for one to have good
health. The goal of the lowest level of qigong has something in common
with physical training. But at the high level they are fundamentally
not of the same thing. Purifying the body in qigong also has its
purpose, and it uses the supernormal principle to direct the
practitioner, instead of the principle of ordinary people. However,
physical exercise is only the concern of ordinary people.
Intention
Speaking of intention, it just refers to our human mental activities.
How do people in the world of cultivation, look at the human intention
in the mental activities of the brain? How do they consider the
various forms of human thought (intention)? And how are they
expressed? It is very difficult to solve many problems about the human
brain in modern medical research, for it is not as easy as what the
surface of the human body is. In depth, there are different forms in
different spaces. But it is not like what some qigong masters have
said. Some qigong masters themselves do not know what it is all about,
and cannot explain it clearly. They think that they can do some things
if they use their brains and their intention. They would say that it
is their thoughts or their intention which did these things. In fact,
it is not at all their intention that did them.
Let us first talk about the origin of human thought. There was such a
saying in ancient China: "heart thinking". Why is there
heart-thinking? Science in ancient China was extraordinarily advanced,
because its research was directly aimed at such things as the human
body, life and the cosmos, etc.. Some people do feel that it is their
hearts that are thinking while others feel that it is their brains.
Why do such things happen? It is reasonable to talk about heart
thinking, for we see that Yuanshen ( the True Spirit) of
ordinary people is very tiny, and the actual message delivered by the
human brain is not a function of the human brain itself nor what the
brain itself releases, but comes from one's True Spirit. One's True
Spirit does not stay only in the Niwan palace, which, by the Tao
School, is the pineal body modern medicine has come to understand. If
the True Spirit seats itself in the Niwan palace, then we indeed feel
that the brain is thinking and delivering messages; if he seats
himself in the heart, then we truly feel the heart is thinking.
The human body is a small universe, and many living entities of the
practitioner may bring about a kind of position shifting role. If the
True Spirit shifts its position and runs to one's abdomen, then one
will feel his abdomen is thinking. If he runs to his calf or his heel,
then he will feel that his calf or his heel is thinking. It is
guaranteed to be this way but it sounds very incredible. When your
attainment level in cultivation is not so high, you may feel the
existence of such a phenomenon. Without the True Spirit, his temper,
his natural disposition and his personality, without these things, the
human body is nothing but a piece of meat. And he could not be an
integrated person of independent individuality. Then what kind of role
does his brain play? I should say that in the form of our physical
space, the human brain is only a processing plant. The real message is
delivered by Yuanshen (the True Spirit); but what he sends out is not
a language but a kind of cosmic message representing a certain
meaning. When our brain receives such a command, it processes it into
our present language in such a form of expression. We express it by
hand gestures, eye contacts and all body movements. Thus the brain
plays such a role. The actual command and thinking come from one's
True Spirit. People thus very often think that it is the brain that
directly plays an independent role, but in fact the True Spirit
sometimes is seated in the heart, and some people will truly feel the
heart is thinking.
Now those who are devoted to the study of the human body believe that
the human brain delivers something like an electric wave. We would
like to put aside the discussion of what is delivered in essence for
the time being. But the researchers admit that is a kind of material
existence and is not superstition. What role does this delivered
substance play? Some qigong masters say, "I use my intention to move
an object by just thinking about it, and use my intention to open your
Celestial Eye, and use my intention to treat your disease, etc.." In
fact, such a qigong master does not know at all what kind of
supernormal capabilities he possesses and nor is he clear about them.
He only knows he can do whatever he wants to do by just thinking about
it. As a matter of fact, it is his intention that is at work.
Supernormal capabilities controlled by the intention of the brain are
doing specific things under the command of it, but his intention
itself cannot do anything at all. When a practitioner is doing
something specific, it is his supernormal capabilities that are at
work.
Supernormal capabilities are the potential capabilities of the human
body, and with the development of our human society, the human brain
work is becoming more and more complicated, and focusing more and more
on the immediate realities and depending more and more on the
so-called modernized means. Thus the human natural capabilities are
more and more degenerating. The Tao School believes in returning to
the origin, and going back to the truth, and in the course of
cultivation you seek truth, and finally will return to the origin, and
go back to the truth. Only by returning to your original nature can
you then reveal these instinctive capabilities of yours. Now we call
them supernatural capabilities, which are actually the instinctive
capabilities of human beings. Human society seems to be progressing,
but in fact it is retrogressing, getting farther and farther away from
the cosmic qualities. The other day I said Zhang Guolao rode on a
donkey facing backward, and one may find it difficult to understand
what it means. Zhang Guolao discovered that moving forward is moving
backward and mankind is getting farther and farther away from the
cosmic qualities. In the course of the cosmic evolution, especially
now after moving into the big tide of commodity economy, the morality
of many people is getting from bad to worse and they are moving
farther and farther away from the cosmic qualities of Zhen Shan Ren (
Truth Compassion Forbearance). Those who are drifting along
with the current tide can not realize the extent of the human moral
degeneration. And some people still consider it a good thing. Only
when those whose Xinxing has ascended through cultivation look back
can they come to realize that the human morality has degenerated to
such a terrible level.
Some qigong masters say: I will help you develop your supernormal
capabilities. What supernormal capabilities could they develop? One's
supernormal capabilities will not work without energy. Could you bring
them into play when they have not come out yet? Could you develop them
when they have not yet been strengthened into shape by his energy? It
is totally impossible. What they mean by developing supernormal
capabilities is no more than an association of his already formed
supernormal capability with your brain, and under the command of the
intention in your brain it will function. That is what they mean by
developing supernormal capabilities. Actually they have not developed
one's supernormal capabilities, but they only did such a little bit.
For a practitioner, his intention commands his supernormal
capabilities to do things; for an ordinary person, his intention
commands his arms and legs and organs of senses to work, just as the
production office in a factory or the factory director's office issues
instructions to all the specific departments of different functions,
who will carry them out. It is just like the headquarters of an army,
which give orders to direct the whole army to fulfil a mission. I
often discussed such an issue with the local leading members of the
qigong research society when I was away from home to give lectures
there. They found themselves very surprised: We have been studying all
the time how much potential energy and potential consciousness the
human thinking has. In fact it is not so, and they have gone deviating
from the very beginning. I say that a revolution should take place in
the human thinking in order to study the science of the human body.
The methods of reference and understanding used by ordinary people
should not be applied to understanding something supernormal.
Talking about intention, there are several forms of it. For example,
some people speak of subconsciousness, underconsciousness,
inspiration, dreams, etc.. Speaking of dreams, no qigong master would
like to explain them. When you were born, you were born into many
spaces of the cosmos simultaneously but all the you are integrated as
one and have mutually interconnected, and have tied together in
thinking. And you have your own Zhu Yuanshen (Chief Spirit), Fu
Yuanshen (Assistant Spirit) and such images of other various living
entities existing in your body. Every cell and the internal organs of
the body reflect your image messages which are all the existing forms
in other spaces, so they are very complex. While you are dreaming,
sometimes this happens and sometimes that happens, and where indeed do
they come from? It is said in medical science that our cerebral cortex
has changed. This manifests the reflection in the form of matter, and
it is actuated by the messages from other spaces. So you feel
muddleheaded when you are dreaming. This has nothing to do with you
and you need not worry about it. There is a kind of dreams that is
directly related to you, but we cannot say such dreams are dreams.
Your Main Consciousness, which is your Chief Spirit, saw your close
relatives coming to you in the dream; or you really experienced an
event; or you saw something or did it. So it is your Chief Spirit who
really did something or saw something, and did it in other spaces as
well. Your consciousness is clear and real; such a thing indeed exists
but only in another physical space, and you did it in another
timespace. Can you regard it as a dream? No. But your physical body
here is really sleeping and you can only say it is a dream. It is only
this kind of dreams that is directly related to you.
Talking about human inspiration, underconsciousness and
subconsciousness, etc., I should say that such terms are not used by
scientists, but invented by men of letters who make them based upon a
habitual condition of ordinary people. They are not scientific. What
does it mean by subconsciousness after all? It is difficult to make it
clear and is too general. Because all sorts of information received by
man are so complex that they are just like bits of vague memory. As
for underconsciousness he refers to, we find it easier to explain.
According to the given definition of such a state, underconsciousness
usually refers to a person who did something muddleheadedly. Then it
is often said that he did it underconsciously, or he did not do it
intentionally. Such underconsciousness is just like the
Paraconsciousness we have talked about. While one's Main Consciousness
is relaxed and does not control his brain, one seems to be sleeping
muddleheadedly or dreaming, and he is easily dominated by the
Paraconsciousness, which is the Assistant Spirit, in the unconscious
state. At that time, the Paraconsciousness can do some things, that is
to say, the person did it muddleheadedly. However, such things are not
done wrong easily, for the Paraconsciousness in other spaces can see
the heart of the matter, and will not be misled by the society of
ordinary people. So after he comes to himself, he will find out what
he did: Why was such a thing done so badly? If I had had clear
understanding, I would not have done it this way. You say it is not
good now, but after ten days or half a month when you look back: Well,
this thing was done so smartly! How was I able to do it at that time?
This usually occurs. Because the Paraconsciousness did not care about
the role it might play at that time, but it will play a good role for
the future. And also something may have no results, but it did play a
role at that time. And that shows the Paraconsciousness did something
at that time, and it possibly did it very well then.
There is another form which usually refers to those of us who have
very good inborn qualities. They are likely to do some things under
the control of intelligent beings. Of course, that is a different
issue which is not going to be discussed here. And I am in the main to
explain a kind of consciousness originated from our human beings
ourselves.
Concerning inspiration, the term is also invented by men of letters.
It is generally considered that inspiration is the accumulation of
knowledge in one's life which may burst out like a spark at the
fleeting moment. I say according to the materialist point of view, the
more knowledge one accumulates in his life, the more flexibly one's
brain uses it. Once used, the knowledge should come out continuously,
and there is nothing to say about the issue of inspiration. But all
that can be called inspiration or the coming of inspiration is not in
such a state. It usually happens that when one uses his brain on and
on till he feels the exhaustion of his knowledge at last and he seems
to be at his wits end; he finds it difficult to go on writing, has no
train of thinking in composing a song, and finds it hard to continue a
scientific research project. It is usually at this moment that he
feels himself extremely exhausted; with his brain bursting out, dozens
of cigarette ends scattering the floor, and a painful headache. He
still can not get any idea. Finally his inspiration comes. Under what
kind of condition does he get his inspiration? It goes like this:
Feeling tired, he thinks, "Well, have a rest." Because the Main
Consciousness controls his brain very much, other living beings can
not interrupt. With such a rest, his mind is relaxed and stops
thinking about it, and he gets something unconsciously during the
rest. It comes from his brain. So this is mostly how the inspiration
comes.
Why does the inspiration come out at this moment? Because the human
brain is controlled by the Main Consciousness, and when one is
thinking hard, the Main Consciousness controls the brain so tightly
that the Paraconsciousness can not get in. When he thinks hard and his
head aches terribly and feels so bitter that he cannot think of
anything, his Paraconsciousness shares the headache, also feeling
terribly bad and bitter. Being born together, the Paraconsciousness
was also part of the body and it controls part of the body. But when
his Main Consciousness is relaxed, his Paraconsciousness will reflect
what he knows about the matter to the brain, because he can see the
essence of the matter in other spaces, and thus he has made it,
written it and composed it.
Some people say: Why don't we use the Paraconsciousness to do things?
It is just like what someone asked in his note: How can the
Paraconsciousness be contacted? You cannot do it, for you have just
started your cultivation and have no capability by yourself. You'd
better not contact and if you do, you are bound to have an attachment.
Some people may think: Let us use the Paraconsciousness to do more
valuable things and to advance the social development of human
society, shan't we? No, you shall not. Why? Because what your
Paraconsciousness knows is also quite limited. The structure of this
universe is so complex, the spaces are so complex and there are so
many dimensions and planes that the paraconsciousness can only know
what exists in the space it stays in. It knows nothing beyond the
space it exists in. Besides, there are also many vertical spaces of
different dimensions and planes. The development of mankind can only
be controlled by the intelligent beings in the very high dimensions
and it is going on following the law of development.
Our society of ordinary people develops in accordance with the law of
history. You want it to develop in a certain way and to achieve a
certain aim. However, the intelligent beings do not think in the same
way. Didn't the people in ancient times think of aircraft, trains and
bicycles? I shall say it is unlikely that they did not think of that.
Because history did not develop to such a level, they could not invent
anything like that. Superficially speaking from the theories and the
understanding to which our ordinary people are accustomed and from the
angle of present human knowledge, mankind could not invent them
because history had not developed to such a level. In fact, the way
human science develops also follows the arrangements of history. You
want to achieve a goal with human efforts, but you cannot make it. Of
course there are people whose Paraconsciousness can easily play a
role. There is a writer who says: I can write more than ten thousand
words a day for a book and do not feel tired at all. If I want to
write, I can quickly do it and others may find it well-written after
reading. Why is it this way? It is the result of the joined efforts
made by both his Main Consciousness and Paraconsciousness, half and
half. His Paraconsciousness can also play half of the role. But this
is not always the case. Most Paraconsciousness does not get involved
at all. You want him to do something, but it is not good, and it may
run counter to your desire.
Clear and Clean Mind
Many people are unable to enter into the state of tranquillity in
practice and they go everywhere to look for qigong masters and ask:
Ah, teacher, why can I not enter into the state of tranquillity in
practice? Once being settled down, I am thinking about everything and
giving way to foolish fancies. That is something like a roaring sea in
which everything is turning up and I cannot be tranquil at all. Why
cannot you be tranquil? Some people do not understand this and think
there should be a secret of success to it. And so he is looking for
the well-known master and say to him: Please tell me something like a
secret of success so that I can enter the state of tranquillity. In my
opinion, you are looking for outside help. If you want to improve
yourself, you should search inside yourself and concentrate your
efforts on upgrading your mind. Only in this way can you truly improve
yourself and attain the state of tranquillity during the sitting
practice. Being able to enter the state of tranquillity means
cultivation energy. The depth of the power of Ding is the
manifestation of your attainment level.
Can an ordinary person enter into the state of tranquillity at will?
He can not do it at all unless he has very good inborn qualities. That
is to say, the fundamental cause that you can not enter into the state
of tranquillity is not an issue of what method you should use, and not
an issue of having a secret of success, but it is that your mind and
your heart are not clean. As you live in the society of ordinary
people and face person-to-person conflicts, you compete and contend
with others for personal interests as well as out of seven motions and
six desires and all kinds of attachments. You can not put down all
these things, nor can you care less about them. If you want to attain
the state of tranquillity, how can you do it easily? Someone says
while practising there: I just do not believe it, and I've got to
enter into the state of tranquillity and stop thinking nonsense. Right
after saying this, all turns out again. It is because your mind is not
clean that you cannot have a mind of tranquillity.
Some people may disagree with my point of view: Don't some qigong
masters teach others to adopt some methods? One may focus on only one
thing, visualize it, think about Dantian only, look at Dantian inside
the body, chant the name of Buddha, etc.. It is a method, but not
simply a method. It is a kind of manifestation of Gongfu, which thus
has direct relationship with Xinxing of our cultivation and the
ascension of our attainment level. Besides, this is not the only one
method one may use to be able to enter into the state of tranquillity.
You may have a try if you do not believe it. As your desires and
attachments of all kinds are too strong and you can not give them up,
you may try and see whether you can enter into the state of
tranquillity. Someone says it is useful to chant the name of Buddha.
Can you attain the state of tranquillity by chanting the name of
Buddha? Someone says it is easy to practise the school of Amitabha by
just chanting the name of Buddha. Would you try it? I shall say that
is Gongfu, and you say it is easy but I say it is not easy. None of
the cultivation ways is easy.
It is known that Sakyamuni taught "Ding". What did he say before
teaching "Ding"? He taught "morality": To get rid of all desires and
habits and with nothing in mind, you can come to Ding. Is that so?
"Ding" is also a kind of Gongfu. When you can not attain a total
morality, and as you slowly give up all the bad things, your power of
Ding will develop from the elementary to the profound. Chanting the
name of Buddha should be done with concentration and single-mindedly
in order to empty one's mind of all thoughts. And one chants so hard
until the other parts of his brain become numb and know nothing, with
one thought in mind replacing ten thousands of thoughts. And every
word of Amitabha will be able to display before one's eyes. Isn't this
Gongfu? Can one do this from the very beginning? No. If he is unable
to do so, he cannot enter into the state of tranquillity. If you do
not believe it, you may try it. While chanting the name of Amitabha
again and again, one keeps thinking about everything: How come our
work unit chief looks down upon me in every way? They gave me so
little bonus this month? The more he thinks, the angrier he becomes.
So he feels really infuriated while his mouth is still chanting the
name of Amitabha. Would you say he can practise qigong? Isn't it an
issue of Gongfu? Isn't it the problem that your mind is not clear?
Some people's Celestial Eyes are open and they can look at Dantian in
their bodies. The Dan (elixir) accumulated in the position of one's
lower abdomen is getting brighter with more pure energy matter. And it
is getting darker and more black when it is less pure. Can you enter
into the state of tranquillity by looking into your Dantian? Being
unable to enter into tranquillity is not due to the method itself and
the key point is that one's mind and intention are not in the state of
tranquillity. When you look into Dantian and see the elixir is very
good and very bright like a crystal, it changes in a short while and
turns into a house. "This room is for my son's marriage, that for my
daughter, and we, the old couple, live in here and the room in the
middle serves as a living room. That is wonderful. Can this house be
allocated to me and I must try to figure out some way to get it. What
shall I do?" When one is so attached to such things, could you say
that one is able to enter into the state of tranquillity? Some people
say: I have come down to the society of ordinary people just like
living in a hotel for a few days, and I will go away in a hurry. Some
people have simply become attached to this place here and have
forgotten their own homes.
Genuine cultivation requires cultivating one's mind, cultivating
inside oneself and searching inside oneself but not outside oneself. A
certain school says, Buddha is right in one's mind and it has some
truth in saying so. Someone misunderstood this. It seems to him that
"Buddha in one's mind" means that he himself seems the Buddha or a
Buddha seems to be in his mind. Isn't he wrong to understand it in
such a way? It can not be understood like that. Genuine cultivation
means that you can attain perfection only by cultivating your mind.
This is simply the truth. How can there be a Buddha in your body? Only
through your cultivation can you make it.
The reason why you are unable to enter into the state of tranquillity
is that your mind is not empty, and that your attainment level is not
so high. And tranquillity is achieved from the shallow to the deep in
accordance with the ascension of your attainment level. If you rid
yourself of the attachments, your level will be raised and your
capability of Ding will be strengthened. You want to use a certain way
or method to make yourself enter into the state of tranquillity, I
would say you are seeking help from the outside. It is just what is
meant by seeking help from the outside in cultivation, which causes
you to go astray and leads you to an evil way. Especially in Buddhism
they would say you are going into the world of demons if you try to
seek help from the outside. Genuine cultivation requires cultivating
that mind of yours, and only when you improve your Xinxing can you
attain tranquillity and active non-action in mind. Only
when you improve your Xinxing can you assimilate yourself to the
cosmic qualities and get rid of all human desires and attachments and
bad things, and can you empty your mind of all bad stuff of yours and
thus ascend. Without the constraint of the cosmic qualities, your De,
a kind of matter, can be transformed into cultivation energy. Don't
they complement each other? This is such a truth.
This is the subjective cause of preventing oneself from meeting the
requirements of a practitioner's standard, which makes one unable to
enter into the state of tranquillity. Objectively, now there exists a
situation which severely interferes with cultivation towards the high
dimension, and severely affects the practitioner. It is known that
with the policy of reform and opening up, economic development gets
more flexible and policies relax restrictions. Many new science and
technology have been introduced and the living standards of the people
have also improved. And those ordinary people regard these as good
things. However, it should be viewed dialectically from both sides.
Some unhealthy things of a wide variety have been brought in as well
with the reform and opening up. Literary works have to be written with
some pornography in them, otherwise the books seem to be difficult to
sell, because it involves the issue of sales volume. In films and TV
programs, it seems that no one would like to watch them if there are
no shots of on-bed love affairs for there is the viewer-rating issue.
Who could tell whether it is genuine art or whether it is something
else of some other intentions in works of art? There are no such
things in our ancient traditional Chinese arts. And the tradition of
our Chinese nation is not invented and created by anyone. In my
lecture on the pre-historical culture, I mentioned that everything has
its origin. Human moral standards have been distorted and have changed
as well. The criteria by which good and bad are judged have changed.
And that is a matter of ordinary people. The cosmic qualities of Zhen
Shan Ren are the sole criterion by which a good person and a bad
person are judged, and it will never change. As a practitioner, if you
want to jump out of ordinary people, you must use this criterion to
measure yourself, and you can not use the criterion of ordinary people
for measurement. So objectively there is also such an interference.
And now there is more than that. There crops up a mess of what is
known as homosexual, sexual liberation, drug-taking, etc..
Human society has developed to the current level as such. Just think
what would it be like if it developed further in this way? Can it be
allowed to go on like this forever? The Heaven will do something about
it if mankind does not. When a catastrophe strikes mankind, such a
situation prevails. I have given so many lessons but I have not
touched upon the issue of the great human catastrophes. It is a hot
topic much talked about by religions as well as by many people. I am
raising such a question to everyone. Just think about it. In our
society of ordinary people, human moral standard has taken such a
change! The tension of person-to-person relationship has gone to such
an extent! Don't you think it has come to such an extremely dangerous
situation? So now this existing objective environment is severely
interfering with our practitioners' cultivation to the high dimension.
The paintings of the nude are placed high right in the middle of the
road and you can see them as soon as you raise your head.
Lao Zi once made such a statement: When a person of good quality for
cultivation hears of Tao, he practises it diligently. This person of
good quality for cultivation hears of Tao thinks that it is not easy
to get the Orthodox Law. If he does not cultivate it today, when
should he? I think a complicated environment will turn out to be a
good thing. The more complicated the environment is, the more
accomplished cultivators there will be. Those who have cultivated here
and revealed themselves above the environment have indeed laid a solid
foundation for cultivation.
For a truly determined practitioner, I should say it will turn out to
be a good thing. If there is no contradiction cropping up for you,
there will be no chance for you to improve your Xinxing, and you can
not go up. If you are good and I am also good, how could you
cultivate? For an average practitioner, "a person of average quality
for cultivation hears of Tao", he may practise or he may not. Such a
person might not make it in his cultivation. Some people are now
attending my lectures here, feeling they are sound and reasonable,
but, after they go back to the society of ordinary people, they may
feel that practical and immediate interests are indeed more realistic.
They are indeed realistic. To say nothing of you, but there are many
millionaires and billionaires in the West, who find nothing left after
their death, as material wealth can not be brought with birth, nor can
be taken along with death. They feel lost. Why, however, is
cultivation energy so precious? Because it is directly carried by your
True Spirit, who comes with your birth and goes with your death. We
say that the True Spirit will never die, and this is not superstition.
Although the cells of our physical bodies have been removed, much
smaller molecular components existing in another physical space have
not been extinct. They have only taken off their shells.
What I have just said all belongs to the issue of one's Xinxing.
Sakyamuni once said the following words and so did Dharmer: China, the
East land, is a place where people of great virtues have emerged. So,
many monks through Chinese history as well as many Chinese people are
feeling very proud. They understand that they can attain high
cultivation energy. Thus many Chinese feel happy and oversatisfied: It
is only our Chinese who are great and it is China that is the place
where people well grounded in all virtues as well as people of great
virtues emerge. In fact, many people do not understand what its true
meaning is. Why can people of great virtues come out in China, and why
can they attain high cultivation energy? Many people neither know the
true meaning of what the people of the high hierarchy said, nor the
realm of awareness and the mentality that the people of the high
hierarchy and the high realm of awareness belong to. Of course, we
have said that we do not have to make it clear. Everyone, just think.
It means that it is only among the most complicated group of people
and in the most complicated environment that highly accomplished
cultivators can come into being.
Inborn Qualities
Inborn qualities are determined by the amount of De, the substance
one's body in another space carries. The less De, the more black
substance and the bigger the karma field is. And then this person is
of poor inborn qualities. The more De, the more white substance and
the smaller the karma field is. And then this person is of good inborn
qualities. These two kinds of substances, white and black, can be
converted to each other, and how can they be converted? Doing good
things brings forth white substance, and the white substance means
that one has taken hardships and suffered pain, and he has gained it
by doing good things. The black substance means that one has done bad
things and doing bad things brings forth the black substance, which is
karma. There is such a converting process, and at the same time also a
process of being taken along. As these two substances directly come
along with the Chief Spirit , they are not from one
lifetime but from an accumulation from the remote past. So, there has
been an accumulation of karma as well as a build up of De. Besides,
they can be accumulated from the ancestors. I sometimes remember what
the ancient Chinese or the old people have said: The ancestors have
accumulated De, or accumulating De and lacking De. Such expressions
are really true, and quite right indeed.
Good or bad inborn qualities can determine good or bad enlightenment
quality of a person. The person of poor inborn qualities can have his
enlightenment quality become very bad. Why? Because a person of good
inborn qualities has more white substance, and the white substance is
in harmony with our cosmos, and can be integrated with the qualities
of Zhen Shan Ren (Truth Compassion Forbearance) without gap in
between. The cosmic qualities can be directly reflected in his body
and they directly communicate with his body. But the black substance
is just the opposite as it is brought by doing bad things and goes
contrary to our cosmic qualities. So the black substance will bring
forth a separation from our cosmic qualities. If such black substance
is getting more, it will form a field around the human body to envelop
him. The larger the field is, the higher density the black substance
will have and thicker it will become. This will make his enlightenment
quality even worse. This is because he can not receive the cosmic
qualities, Zhen Shan Ren, and also because he has done bad things
which have produced the black substance. Usually all the less such a
person believes in cultivation, the worse his enlightenment quality
will become, and the more he will be blocked by his karma. The more he
suffers, the less he will believe in it, and the more difficult it is
for him to cultivate.
It is easier for a person who has a lot of white substance to
cultivate, because such De of his will be directly transformed into
cultivation energy as long as he becomes assimilated with the cosmic
qualities and his Xinxing can be improved. However, a person who has a
lot of black substance needs an extra procedure just like turning out
products in a factory. What others have brought with them are
ready-made materials, and what he brings with him are raw materials,
which need to be processed first, to go through such a process. So he
needs to suffer at first to reduce his karma and then turn it into
white substance. After transforming it into the substance De, he can
increase high cultivation energy. However, such a person himself
usually has a poor enlightenment quality. If you let him suffer more,
all the less he will believe in cultivation and all the more he will
find it unbearable. So it is difficult for a person who has a lot of
black substance to cultivate. In the past, the Tao School or a certain
Law Gate of teaching a cultivation way to a single disciple requires
that the master should search for the disciple instead of the other
way round. This is also determined by how much such matter a
disciple's body carries.
Inborn qualities determine one's enlightenment quality, but it is not
absolute. Someone's inborn qualities are not very good, but his family
environment is very good and many people around him do cultivation and
some of them are religious. They all believe in cultivation. In such
an environment he can be convinced to believe in cultivation and have
his awakening quality getting better. So it is not absolute. There is
also someone who has very good inborn qualities, but he has become
extremely narrow-minded because of such a little of knowledge he has
received from education in our realistic society, especially the
absolute way of ideological education during the last few years. He
does not believe anything at all beyond his knowledge. That can also
severely interferes with his enlightenment quality.
For example, when I expounded the issue of opening the Celestial Eye
on the second day during my lecturing session, there was a person who
had very good inborn qualities, whose Celestial Eye was opened to a
very high plane. He saw many scenes which the others could not see. He
told other people: Ah, I have seen Falun falling upon everyone in the
whole Law-preaching field just like flakes of snow. I have seen what
Teacher Li's true body looks like. I have seen Teacher Li's halo. I
have seen what Falun looks like and many Law bodies of Teacher Li's. I
have seen the Teacher lecturing in different dimensional spaces and
how Falun is purifying the students' bodies. While the Teacher was
lecturing, his Gong Shen ( Energy Bodies) were lecturing from
dimension to dimension and in different dimensions. I have also seen
fairies from the Heaven scattering flowers around, etc.. He saw all
those wonderful things, which show that his inborn qualities are quite
good. He talked on and on, but finally he said: I do not believe such
things. Some of these things have already been proved by the current
existing science, and many can find their explanations in it, and
still some other things we have expounded in my lectures. It is
certain that what qigong has come to understand is far beyond
contemporary science. Viewing from what has been mentioned above, we
can say that inborn qualities do not completely determine one's
enlightenment quality.
Enlightenment
What is "enlightenment"? The word "enlightenment" comes from the
religions. In Buddhism, it refers to a cultivator's understanding of
Buddha Dharma. The enlightenment of understanding and the final
enlightenment refer to wisdom enlightenment. However, the word
"enlightenment" nowadays has been applied to ordinary people and
interpreted as such that this person is very smart and keen to
understand what his boss is thinking about in his mind. He can read
his mind so quickly that he knows how to please his boss. People say
that this person has a good enlightenment quality, and they usually
understand it in this way. Once you jump out of the level of ordinary
people, you will discover from a little higher level that the truth at
the level where ordinary people have come to realize here is usually
wrong. The enlightenment we refer to is fundamentally different from
this enlightenment quality. So, the enlightenment quality of a shrewd
is not good, for such an oversmart guy is quite skilled at doing work
for show, thus winning praises and favours from his superiors. Then,
doesn't the hard work have to be done by others? In this way, he owes
others some debts; because of his shrewdness, he knows how to please
people so that he can gain more benefits than others. As a result,
others will have to suffer more. As he is shrewd, he can not either
suffer any losses. And it is not easy for him to suffer any loss, and
that means others will have to suffer more losses. Since he pays more
and more attention to his that bit of immediate interests and
advantages, he is getting more and more narrow-minded, and he feels
more that it is hard to give up the material interests of ordinary
people. So he believes that he himself pays attention to reality, and
will never suffer losses.
There are people who even admire such a person. I would like to tell
you: Do not admire him. You do not know how tired he feels in his
life, for he is unable to eat well, sleep well, and he is even afraid
to lose his interests in his dreams. To his personal interests, he
splits hairs. Don't you think he is living so tiring a life, for he is
devoting his whole life solely to this. We say that when you face a
conflict, take a step back and you will find the sea and sky
boundless, and surely there will be a different scene for you. But for
such a person it is not easy for him to give in and give up anything.
He is living a most tiring life. Do not learn from him. It is said in
the cultivation world: This person is most deeply lost, and completely
lost among ordinary people for his sake of material interests. How
difficult it is to ask him to preserve his virtues! When you tell him
to cultivate, he will not believe it: What for? You practitioners will
not fight back after you have been beaten, and will not talk back when
sworn at. People have made you suffer and put you in a tight corner
but you will not do anything about it in the same way. And instead you
will thank them. You are all Ah Qs! You are all being insane, everyone
of you! For such a person, he finds it very hard to understand
cultivation. He, on the other hand, would say that it is you that he
feels unbelievable about, and he regards you as a fool. Do you not
think he is difficult to save?
What we mean by "enlightenment" is not such, but it is just what he
says as being somewhat foolish for personal interests. This is what we
refer to by "enlightenment". Of course it does not really mean that we
are truly foolish. We only care little about the vital personal
interests while we are very keen and smart in other aspects. In doing
scientific research project and fulfilling the tasks assigned by the
leaders, we are quite clear about what to do and how to do it, and
have done it very well. But just when it comes to that little bit of
our personal interests and the person-to-person conflicts, we take
them lightly. Who would say you are foolish? No one would say you are
foolish. I can assure you of that.
Let's talk about the real fool. The truth in the high dimension is
totally the opposite. The fool cannot do too bad a thing among
ordinary people. And it is not likely that he will compete and fight
for his own personal interests and seek for fame. Therefore, he will
not lose his virtues. Other people, however, will give him their
virtues because they beat and swear at him. They always give him
virtues, and this substance is extremely precious. There is this Law
in our universe: There is no gain without loss and to gain means to
lose. When people see him, they might swear at him: You are a big
fool. With the swear words coming from your opening mouth, a piece of
De is being thrown upon him, for you have taken the advantage of him
and you are the gaining side, and then you have to lose. You go over
to kick him: You are a big fool. Well, another piece of De is being
heavily thrown on him. Whoever bullies him and kicks him, he will
always give a smile: Come on, it is your De that you give me. I will
not stop you from doing it at all! So, according to the truth in the
high dimension, just think, who is smart? Isn't he smart? He is the
most smart. He has not lost any De. If you throw out De upon him, he
will not push it back at all. He takes them all and with a smile takes
them over. He is foolish this life but he will not be foolish next
life, and his Yuanshen (True Spirit) is not foolish. From the
religious point of view, it is said that a person who has a lot of De
(virtues) will become a high ranking official and make a big fortune
in his next life, because all these will be exchanged with his
virtues.
We say that De may be directly evolved into cultivation energy. Isn't
it the evolution of your virtues that determines how high your
attainment level is? De (virtues) can be directly evolved into
cultivation energy. Isn't it the evolution of such a substance that
determines your attainment level and your energy potency? Would you
say it is very precious? It, after all, comes with your birth and goes
along with your death. It is said in Buddhism that how high you can
cultivate is where your attainment status is. How much you have given
determines how much you will take. This is true. It is said in the
religion that with De you will become a high ranking official and make
a big fortune in your next life. With little De you can get nothing
from begging, for you have no De to exchange for food. And this is no
gain, no loss! If someone has no De at all, then there will be the
perdition of both his body and soul, and he is indeed dead.
Once there was a qigong master. His attainment level was extremely
high when he just came out to society. But later he became obsessed
with fame and gain. His master took away his Assistant Spirit, for he
belonged to those who cultivate the Assistant Spirit. When his
Assistant Spirit was with him, he was controlled by it. For example,
one day his work-unit was allotting houses and the leader said: Those
who need the house come over, please tell us about your conditions and
why you need the house. Everyone gave his own reasons while this
person said nothing. And finally the leader came to realize that he
badly needed the house and he should get the house. But the others
said: No, the house should not be given to him and it should be given
to me. I need the house badly now. Hearing this, he said: In that
case, you may take it. From the ordinary people's point of view, this
person is a fool. However, some people knew that he was a practitioner
and asked him: As a practitioner you do not want anything, but what do
you want? He answered: Well, I want what others do not want. In fact
he is not foolish at all and in fact quite smart. It is just with the
personal vested interests that he deals in such a way and he follows a
natural course. The others asked him again: Nowadays, isn't there
anything that one does not want? He answered: No one wants the stones
on the ground which are kicked here and there, and I would like to
pick them up. This is unthinkable for ordinary people and they find it
hard to understand a practitioner, and indeed difficult to understand,
for their realm of awareness is far too different and their level is
far too apart. Of course, this person would not go and pick up a
stone. However, he did tell a truth that ordinary people are unable to
awake to: I do not seek after what ordinary people want. Speaking of
stones, it is known that in Buddha Scriptures, it is written that the
trees in the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss are gold; the ground is gold;
the birds are gold; the flowers are gold; the houses are gold and even
Buddha bodies are gold and shining. Not a single stone can be found
there, the money spent there is said to be the stone. It is unlikely
that he would carry a stone and go there, but he did tell such a
truth, which is difficult for ordinary people to understand. The
practitioner indeed would say: Ordinary people have their own
pursuits. We do not pursue anything like that. We are not interested
in what ordinary people possess, and we possess what ordinary people
want but can not get.
In fact, the enlightenment we have just talked about belongs to such
an enlightenment as that in the course of cultivation, and it is
contrary to the capability of comprehension of ordinary people. The
enlightenment we actually refer to is whether you can understand and
accept the master's lectures on the Law and the Tao that the Taoist
master preaches in the course of cultivation, during which whether you
can realize you are a cultivator while running into a tribulation, and
whether you can behave according to this Law. Someone simply will not
believe it no matter how hard you tell him about it and will still
believe it is more practical and advantageous to be an ordinary
person. He clings to his intrinsic mentality, which makes him unable
to believe at all. Some people just want to get his disease cured, and
when I give the lecture saying that qigong is not at all to be used
for treating diseases, they will feel resentful in their minds. Thus,
they will no longer believe other things I am lecturing about.
The enlightenment quality of some people cannot be brought out.
Someone reads my book and underlines it here and there casually. Those
who have their Celestial Eyes open all can see that this book is
shining golden and bright with all colours, and every word of the book
is the image of my Law body. I would cheat you if I did not tell you
the truth. The one mark you made in the book has caused it to have a
mass of blackness. How dare you do so? What are we doing here? Are we
trying to guide you up to the high dimension in cultivation? There are
certain things that you should think about. This book can guide you in
cultivation; do you think it is precious? Will your worshipping the
Buddha really enable you to cultivate yourself? You are very sincere
and dare not touch the image of Buddha at all, and you burn the
incense sticks every day for him. But you dare to ruin the Great Law
that can really guide you in cultivation.
Speaking of the human enlightenment quality, it refers to how deeply
you can understand the various levels which occur, a certain thing or
a certain Law that the master has talked about in the course of
cultivation. However, this is not yet the fundamental enlightenment we
refer to. The fundamental enlightenment that we refer to is such that
during the remaining years of one's life, one constantly improves
himself and makes progress towards high dimensions from the start of
his cultivation, continuously gives up his attachments and all kinds
of desires with his cultivation energy constantly growing until the
final step of his cultivation. When this substance of De has totally
evolved into cultivation energy and his cultivation course arranged by
the master has come to the end, "Bang!" the locks will be exploded
open all at once at this very moment. His Celestial Eye has reached
the highest point of the level he has attained. And he has seen the
truth of each space at his own level, the existing forms of various
living beings in each timespace, the existing forms of matter in each
timespace, and he has witnessed the truth of our universe. Displaying
his supernatural powers, he can communicate with various living
beings. When arriving at such a stage, isn't he a great enlightened
being or a person who has become enlightened through cultivation? When
translated into the ancient Indian language, it means Buddha.
The enlightenment we have expounded, this fundamental enlightenment,
still belongs to the form of immediate enlightenment. The immediate
enlightenment means that he is locked up in cultivation during the
remaining years of his life, and he does not know how high his
cultivation energy is and does not know what form the energy that he
has cultivated takes. There is no reaction at all, and even the cells
in his body are locked up, and the energy cultivated has been locked
up and is not opened until the final stage. Only a person well
grounded in all virtues can meet the requirements and make it, and it
is very hard to cultivate in this way. Beginning as a good person, he
keeps improving Xinxing all the way through, keeps on enduring
hardships all the way through, keeps on cultivating all the way up,
keeps on requiring himself to improve Xinxing all the way through, but
he can not see his cultivation energy. It is most difficult for such a
person to cultivate, and this person must be well grounded in all
virtues. Many years have passed in cultivation but he does not know
what has happened.
There is another kind of enlightenment called gradual enlightenment.
Many people feel Falun rotating at the very beginning, and at the same
time I have opened the Celestial Eye for everybody. For various
reasons, some can see nothing at first but can also see something in
the future, from seeing unclearly to being able to see clearly, and
from being unable to use it to being able to use it, and their level
is continuously rising. With the improvement of your Xinxing and the
abandonment of your attachments of all sorts, all kinds of supernormal
capabilities are coming out. You can see and feel the changes that go
with the evolution of the whole cultivation process and the process of
the transformation of the body. In this way you will cultivate to the
last stage where you completely understand the truth of the universe,
and come to the highest point of your attainment level that you should
reach in cultivation. The transformation of Benti ( the True
Being) and the reinforcement of your cultivation energy have all come
to a certain extent, and thus you gradually have reached such a goal.
This belongs to the gradual enlightenment. It is not easy to take the
way of gradual enlightenment, either. When some people, with
supernormal capabilities, can not give up their attachments, it is
quite easy for them to show off and do bad things. Thus, they will
lose their cultivation energy, will have cultivated in vain and will
have ruined themselves in the end. Some people can see with their
Celestial Eyes the manifestations of various living beings in
different dimensions. They may take you to do this or that, and may
take you to cultivate their stuff and accept you as their disciples.
However, they will not be able to have you complete the right
achievement, because they themselves have not completed the right
achievement yet.
Besides, beings in higher dimensions are all deities who can become
very big and display psychic powers. Will you follow such a deity if
you are not right minded? If you follow him you will cultivate in
vain. Even if he is a genuine Buddha and genuine Tao, you will also
have to cultivate from the very beginning. Are those all immortals in
so many Heavens? Only when you have cultivated to the extremely high
level and reached your goal can you jump out. But in the eyes of an
ordinary person, the deity will indeed appear tall and huge with very
great power, and yet he may not necessarily have completed the right
achievement. Can you keep your mind in peace when interfered with by
all kinds of messages and tempted by various scenes? So it is also
difficult to cultivate with your Celestial Eye open, and even more
difficult to control your Xinxing. However, some of you are fortunate
to belong to those who have your supernormal capabilities unlocked
half way through your cultivation and come into the state of gradual
enlightenment. Everyone's Celestial Eye will be opened, but the
supernormal capabilities of many people are not allowed to come out.
Only when your Xinxing has gradually improved and ascended to a
certain level, your mind has become stable and you can control
yourself will these capabilities then be exploded all at once. When
you have reached a certain level you will be put in the state of
gradual enlightenment. Then it will be easier for you to control
yourself. As various supernormal capabilities have emerged, you will
keep on ascending yourself in cultivation until you have opened all
your cultivation energy in the end. Many of us belong to such a kind
of people who will be allowed to come up with these supernormal
capabilities on the half way of their cultivation. So, do not be
anxious to see.
You may have heard that Zen Buddhism also talks about the division
between the immediate enlightenment and the gradual enlightenment. The
Sixth Patriarch, Hui-neng of Zen Buddhism taught the immediate
enlightenment, and Shen Xiu of the northern sect of Zen Buddhism
taught the gradual enlightenment. They both had a very long debate on
Buddha science in history with each arguing one way or the other. I
should say it did not make any sense. Why? Because what they debated
is no more than the understanding of a truth in the course of
cultivation. As for this truth, some people come to understand it all
at once while others come to understand and awake to it gradually. Is
it all right for one to awake to it either way? It would be better if
one can understand it all at once, and it would be all right as well
if one can awake to it gradually. Aren't they both enlightenment? Both
ways are enlightenment. So neither way is wrong.
A Person Well Grounded in All Virtues
What is a person well grounded in all virtues? There is a distinction
between a person well grounded in all virtues and a person with good
or bad inborn qualities. A person well grounded in all virtues is very
difficult to find, for it will take a considerable long period of
history for only such one person to come into the world. Of course,
first of all, a person well grounded in all virtues must have great De
(virtues), and such a field of white substance is enormous. There is
no doubt about it. At the same time, he can also suffer from the
hardship of hardships, he must have a mind of great forbearance, and
he must be able to give, preserve his De, and possess a good
enlightenment quality, etc..
What does it mean to endure the hardship of hardships? In Buddhism, to
be a human being is to suffer. If you are a human, you will have to
suffer. According to Buddhism, as living beings of all other spaces do
not have the bodies of our ordinary people, they do not fall ill, nor
do they have the problems of birth, old age, disease and death. Hence,
no such sufferings. Beings of other spaces can fly up, for they have
no weight. They are splendid. Because of this body, an ordinary person
has a problem: he finds it unbearable to be cold, to be hot, to be
thirsty, to be hungry or to be tired. And he also has the problems of
birth, old age, disease and death. Anyway he is not comfortable.
I have read a report in the newspaper saying, during the Tangshan
earthquake, many people died in it, but some were rescued. A special
social investigation was made of these people. They were asked how
they felt in the state of being dead. Contrary to everybody's
expectations, they all mentioned an extraordinary state under which
they experienced no sense of scare at the moment of death without
exception. On the contrary they suddenly felt a sense of relief and a
sense of potential excitement; some felt free from the bondage of the
body, flying up lightly and comfortably in the air, they even saw
their own bodies; some saw living beings in other spaces and others
had been to some places. They all talked about a sense of potential
excitement of relief without a feeling of suffering at the moment of
death. This means that our having the physical body is suffering.
However, since we all come out of mother's womb this way, we do not
realize it is suffering.
I should say that the human being has to endure the hardship of
hardships. The other day I mentioned that the concept of this human
timespace is also different from that of the other even larger
timespaces. One Shichen (two-hour period) in our space is two hours,
which equals one year in that space. A person is acclaimed as being
great because he practises under such hard conditions. He is acclaimed
as being extremely remarkable because he has a mind to seek the Tao
and intend to cultivate, he has not lost his true nature under such
foul conditions, and he still wants to return to the truth. Why should
we help cultivators unconditionally? This is why. When a person has
meditated throughout the night in the space of ordinary people,
looking at him, they say this person is really great, for he has
already sat here in meditation for six years, because one shichen in
our space is one year in another space. We, human beings, live in an
extremely special space.
How should one suffer from the hardship of hardships? For example,
somebody went to work one day. As his work unit was not doing well,
and this situation can no longer continue, it was going to be
reformed. It was going to undertake contracted work and redundant
staff had to be laid off. This person was one of them with the rice
bowl lost all of a sudden. How did he feel as he would not be paid?
How could he make a living? He had not been trained for other work. He
went home in low spirits. When he arrived at his home, his parent fell
ill, very seriously ill. As he was worried and anxious, he sent his
parent to the hospital in a big hurry. It was very difficult for the
patient to be hospitalized with some borrowed money. Then he returned
home to get some daily necessities for his parent. As soon as he got
home, a school teacher called upon him, saying: Your son has beaten up
a schoolmate so badly, and you should go and have a look at once.
Right after he had settled this matter, as he sat down at home, the
telephone rang informing him: Your wife is having an affair with
another man. Of course, you may not have such an experience. An
ordinary person will not be able to suffer this way, thinking: What on
earth am I living for? Why not find a rope to hang myself, and put an
end to all. I can not live any longer. I should say that a person
should be able to suffer the hardship of hardships, of course, not
necessarily in this way. But the intriguing against each other and
Xinxing frictions or scrambling for personal interests are no better
than this. There are so many people who live a life just out of spite,
and will hang themselves when they no longer tolerate. So we must
cultivate ourselves in such a complicated environment, and should be
able to suffer the hardship of hardships, and at the same time, we
must practise great forbearance.
What is great forbearance? As a practitioner, what you should do first
of all is not to raise your hand when you are beaten and not to talk
back when your name is called. You must be able to tolerate others.
Otherwise, what kind of practitioner are you? Somebody says: It is
very difficult for me to behave according to forbearance, for I am
hot-tempered. If so, why not improve yourself? A practitioner must
cultivate Ren (forbearance). Some people often lose their temper even
when they educate children. They would raise hell when flaring up. You
should not behave this way when disciplining children. You should not
get really angry yourselves. You should educate children with reason
so that the children can be really educated well. If you can not get
over such a trifle and lose temper easily, how can you increase your
cultivation energy? Someone says: I can bear being kicked once on the
street because nobody can recognize me. I should say this is still not
enough. You will be tested if you can restrain yourself and how you
should deal with it when you are slapped twice in the face and
disgraced in front of those people with whom you are terribly afraid
to lose face. If you just manage to control your temper, yet you are
not at ease in mind, that still is not enough. It is known that upon
attaining the status of Arhat, this person will not care about
anything he has come across and always be cheerful as he does not at
all care about anything belonging to ordinary people. No matter how
much he loses, he is still cheerful, and does not bear it in mind. If
you can really do this, you have already completed the elementary
achievement status of Arhat.
Someone says: If forbearance has been observed to such an extent,
ordinary people would say we are cowards and very easy to be taken
advantage of. I should not call this cowardness. Just think about it.
Even senior citizens of ordinary people as well as people with higher
education still exercise self-control, and do not bother arguing with
others. The same is more true of us practitioners. How can that be
taken as cowardness? I should say it is the manifestation of great
forbearance and an expression of strong will, and only practitioners
can have such forbearance. There is a saying: If humiliated, an
ordinary person will draw out his sword to fight. If you call my name,
I'll do the same to you; if you beat me, I'll beat you in return. This
is the usual practice of ordinary people. But can you regard this
person as a practitioner if he behaves like that? As a cultivator, if
you do not have a strong will and can not control yourself, you
certainly can not do this.
It is known that in ancient times there was a man called Han Xin, who
is said to have been very capable as he was a great general under Liu
Bang and a pillar of the state. Why was he able to make such great
achievements? Han Xin is said to have been unusual in his childhood.
There is such an allusion about Han Xin, who suffered the humiliation
of crawling through under a bully's crutch. In his childhood Han Xin
practised marshal arts, and those who practised marshal arts usually
wore swords. One day he was walking on the street, and a local bully
blocked his way, asking: What are you doing by carrying a sword? Dare
you kill people? If you do, cut off my head. While saying so, he
stretched out his head. Han Xin thought: Why should I cut off your
head? At that time anyone who killed people should be reported to the
authority and put to death. How could one kill people at will? Seeing
Han Xin's hesitation, the bully said: If you dare not kill me, then
crawl through under my crutch. Han Xin indeed crawled through under
his crutch. This tells Han Xin had great forbearance, and he was
different from ordinary people, and so he was able to do such a great
thing. An ordinary person lives for his dignity. But it is a view of
ordinary people living just for dignity. Let's think about it. Do you
feel tired by doing so? Do you suffer? Is it worthwhile? Han Xin was
an ordinary person after all, but we are practitioners. We should be
much better than him. Our goal is to attain a level beyond that of
ordinary people. We strive for still higher levels. We may not run
into such a thing but nevertheless the humiliation or disgrace a
practitioner suffers among ordinary people could not necessarily be
better than this. Person to person Xinxing conflicts, I should say,
would be no better than this and may exceed this. This is quite
difficult.
Meanwhile, the practitioner must be able to give, and to give up all
kinds of attachments and desires among ordinary people. If unable to
achieve this immediately, we may do so gradually. If you could make it
today, you would become a Buddha today. Cultivation should be carried
on slowly but you should not slack off yourself. You say: The teacher
has said that cultivation takes time, so we can do it slowly. That
won't do! You must be strict with yourself, and you must make a
resolute and valiant effort in the cultivation of Buddha Law.
You should also be able to preserve your De and maintain your Xinxing,
but should not take rash actions. You can not do whatever you like
casually, and you should be able to maintain your Xinxing. We often
hear ordinary people say this: accumulate De and do good. As
practitioners, we do not practise building up De but maintaining De.
Why do we practise maintaining De? It is because we have seen such a
scenario: Accumulating De only applies to ordinary people. If an
ordinary person has accumulated De and has done good to others, he
will be rewarded in his next life. And there is not such a problem in
our situation. If you have made it in cultivation and attained Tao,
you will have no problem next life. When we talk about preserving De
here, we also have another shade of meaning, that is to say, the two
kinds of substances we have brought with us in our bodies are not
accumulated during one lifetime, but they have been left over through
a very long period of time of the remote past. Even if you should
cycle along all over the town, you may not be sure to run into
something good for you to do. Even if you keep on doing this everyday,
you may not be lucky enough to meet one.
There is another shade of meaning in wanting you to accumulate De. You
consider something to be a good deed, however, when you do it, it may
turn out to be a bad thing; when you regard something as a bad thing,
and if you try to interfere, it may turn out to be a good thing. Why?
Because you can not see the causational relationship between them. The
laws take care of the ordinary people's business, and there is no
doubt about it. But a practitioner is supernormal. As a supernormal
person, you should be required to behave according to the supernormal
principles, but not according to the principles of ordinary people. If
you do not know the causational relationship of a matter, you are apt
to make a mistake in dealing with it. This is the reason why we
practise non-action . You cannot do whatever you want to.
Somebody says: I just want to discipline bad people. I should say you
had better enlist in the police. But we do not want you to stay away
when there is a murder or a fire going on. I am going to tell you when
a person-to-person conflict arises, one kicks the other or one hits
the other with a fist, it is likely that one owed something to the
other before, and now they have set their account. If you step in to
stop it, they can not settle the account and will have to wait till
next time to do it again. That is to say, you can not see the
causational relationship, and you are apt to do the wrong thing and so
lose your De.
It does not matter for ordinary people to deal with ordinary people's
business. They apply the principles of ordinary people as standards.
However, you must use supernormal principles to measure yourself. It
will be a matter of Xinxing if you do not help stop a murder or a fire
when you see it. How will you otherwise demonstrate that you are a
good person then? What else would you do if you do not help stop a
murder or a fire? However, there is one point to make that such things
are not really related to our cultivators. They will not necessarily
be arranged for you to run into. We practise preserving De to aim at
preventing you from doing bad things. Perhaps if you try to do a
little bit of that thing, you will be likely to do bad things. Then
you will lose De. If you lose De, how can you raise up your level? How
can you reach your final goal? There is such a question in it.
Besides, you must have good enlightenment quality, and good inborn
qualities can possibly make good enlightenment quality, and the
environmental impact also plays a role.
We have also mentioned, if everyone of us goes cultivating inside
ourselves, if everyone is examining his Xinxing to pinpoint where he
fails, and tries to perform it better next time, if before they do
something, they should consider others first, human society will
become better, morality will be brought to a rise again, spiritual
civilization will also change for the better, and public security will
get better, too. As a result there will probably be no need for
police. So no one needs to be governed, and everyone takes care of
himself, doing soul searching himself. Would you say this is
wonderful? It is known that now the laws are being improved and
perfected, why are there still people doing bad? And why don't they
comply with the laws? It is just because you can not control their
minds. Without supervision they still want to do bad things. If
everyone goes cultivating inside himself, things would be totally
different. There is no need for you to defend somebody against an
injustice.
The Law can only be expounded so far and what is higher should depend
on you yourself to gain through cultivation. Some of you raise
questions more and more specific. If you ask me to answer all your
questions from daily life, what is left for you to cultivate there?
You must cultivate yourself and try to become enlightened on your own.
If I tell you everything, nothing will be left for you to cultivate.
Fortunately, the Great Law has already been made public and you can
behave according to it.
* * * * * * * * *
I think my lecturing on the Law is basically drawing to an end.
Therefore I intend to leave everyone the authentic things so that you
will have the Law as your guide in your future cultivation. In the
whole course of my teaching the Law, I have been responsible to
everyone and to society at the same time. In fact, we have been
following such a principle to teach the Law. As for whether I have
done it well or not, I am not going to say anything about this as we
can leave it to the public opinion. My wish is to bring this Great Law
to the public in order to enable more people to benefit from it and
enable those who genuinely want to cultivate to make progress in their
cultivation according to the Law. At the same time, in the course of
teaching the Law, we also have expounded the truth of how to become a
good person. We also hope, after you have left this session, you
should at least try to become a good person if some of you can not
cultivate yourself according to the Great Law. This will benefit our
society. In fact, you will be able to become a good person after you
leave here as you know how to become a good person.
In the course of the sessions of my expounding the Law, there were
also things not going on smoothly and the interference from many
quarters were very serious as well. Owing to the full support by the
auspices organizations and leaders from various sections as well as
the effort by the working staff, our sessions have been a success.
In the course of these sessions, what I have expounded all aims at
guiding you up to the high level of cultivation. In the past preaching
on the Law, no one mentioned these things. We have made everything
quite clear by integrating contemporary science with the contemporary
science of the human body, and what we have expounded is at the very
high level. This is mainly intended for everyone to be able to attain
the Law in earnest and ascend in cultivation for the future. This is
my starting point. In the course of my teaching the Law and the Gong
(the exercises for practice), many people have realized the Law is
really very good but they find it pretty difficult to act according to
it. In fact, I think whether it is difficult or not depends on whom
you mean. For an ordinary person, as he does not want to cultivate, he
will find it simply too difficult to cultivate and inconceivable, and
so he does not think he can make it. As an ordinary person, he does
not want to cultivate, and therefore he thinks of it as something very
difficult. Lao Zi once said, "When a person of good quality for
cultivation hears of Tao, he will practise it diligently. When a
person of average quality for cultivation hears of it, he will
practise it off and on. When a person of poor quality for cultivation
hears of it, he will laugh at it loudly. If he did not laugh, it would
not be Tao." For a genuine cultivator, I should say cultivation is
very easy and is not something too high to reach. In fact, many old
students, whether present here or not, have already reached a
considerably high level in cultivation. I did not tell you this for
fear you might get conceited and develop attachments, which might
hinder the growth of your energy potency. As a genuine determined
cultivator, he is able to endure, to give up the attachments of all
kinds of interests, and to care little about them. As long as he can
make it, it is not difficult. Those who say it is difficult because
they can not let go of such things. Practising the exercise itself is
not difficult, and raising up the level itself is not difficult
either. What they say is difficult are just the attachments because it
is very difficult to let go of these immediate interests when they are
confronted with them. This interest is right here. How would you say
they could let go of this attachment? They think cultivation is
difficult, and in practice this is where the difficulty lies. If we
fail to restrain ourselves when a person-to-person conflict arises,
and we even cannot regard ourselves as practitioners, I should say
that this will not be allowed. When I cultivated in the past, there
were many super masters who told me such words, "One is able to endure
what seems hard to endure, and one is able to do what seems impossible
to do." As a matter of fact, it is true. You may have a try when you
return home. In the course of facing a great catastrophe or passing
through a tribulation, you may have a try. Try to endure what is
difficult to endure; when it seems impossible to make it and it is
said to be difficult to make it, then you may just as well try it to
see if you can make it after all. If you can really make it, you will
find yourself in dark willows and blooming flowers, indeed, another
village ahead!
As I have talked so much, you might find it difficult to remember so
many things I have talked about. I would mainly make some
requirements: I hope you will all treat yourselves as practitioners in
your future cultivation, continue your cultivation in earnest. I hope
all the students, new and old, will be able to cultivate yourselves in
the Great Law, and attain perfection and reach the consummation! Hope
you all will make the best use of your time to cultivate in earnest
after you return home.
Glossary
A
ability of fixity / concentration / power of meditation
( Dingli)
A Genuine Guide to Cultivation of Nature and Life
( Xingming Guizhi)
Abstention from Food
( Bigu)
Arhat
( Luohan)
Assistant Spirit
( Fu Yuanshen)
attainment status
( Guowei)
B
Benti
( the true being, one's physical body and his bodies existing
in the other spaces)
Bodhisattava
( Pusa)
Buddha body
( Foti)
Buddhahood
( Fowei)
Buddha Law
( Fofa)
Buddha nature
( Foxing)
C
Chu Shi Jian Fa
( the Beyond-Triple- Heaven-World-Law)
Clear and Clean Mind / Mind of Purity
( Qing Jing Xin)
cultivation / practice
( Xiulian)
cultivation energy
( Gong)
cultivation insanity
( Zou Huo Ru Mo)
D
De
( virtues)
Dharma (Buddhism)
( Fa; Fofa)
dimension / hierarchy / layer / level / plane
( Ceng Ci)
Ding
( in Falun Dafa. sitting with legs crossed and mind empty,
staying with mind empty and conscious; the cultivation of Main
Consciousness )
E
Elixir Field
( Dantian)
eight characters of one's birthday
( Shengchen Bazi)
emptiness (Buddhism)
( Kong)
energy
( Gong)
energy column / pillar
( Gongzhu)
energy potency
( Gongli)
enlightening quality
( Wuxing)
F
Falun (Falun Dafa)
Falun Dafa
Falun Gong
Falun Paradise
( Falun Shijie)
Falun Xiulian Dafa
Fashen
( Law body )
Five Elements
Fofa Shentong
( Divine Power of Buddha Law )
G
Genji
( inborn qualities)
Glazed Paradise
( Liuli Shijie)
gong (qigong)
Great Chiliocosmos (Buddhism) / Three Thousand Worlds
( Sanqian Daqian Shijie)
gradual enlightenment
( Jianwu)
great enlightened being
Great Way
( Da Dao)
H
hour of Chen
( Chen Shi, the period of the day from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.)
hour of Wu
( Wu Shi, the period of the day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
hour of Zi
( Zi Shi, the period of the day from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.)
I
Immortal Infant
( Yuanying)
inborn qualities
( Genji)
integrated cultivation of both human nature and life
