(Li Hongzhi, February 25, 2006)
Disciple asks: We have been clarifying the truth and exposing the evil from the angle of human rights by regularly sending emails to mainstream society, governments, and organizations in different countries, and have had great results. We now have a database that contains millions of addresses. Some people think that this precious resource of ours should be used primarily for our main tasks, which are clarifying the truth and exposing the evil, while others think we should maximally utilize this resource by using it to send out other things such as event notices, announcements, gala promotions, and communications on activities related to the advocacy of human rights in China, etc. This is a specific question, but it's very important, because if it's not handled well it could have a negative effect.
Teacher: You first have to be clear about what you are doing today. You are saving sentient beings, so things that are unrelated to saving sentient beings are not among the things you need to do. Once you have told people the facts about the persecution of Dafa disciples and about Dafa, the other things are less important.
Of course, these specific matters should be looked at case-by-case. Motivating them to join ordinary people's rights advocacy movements is not a responsibility Dafa disciples have. The media you run can focus somewhat on those activities, provide information on them to the public, and expose the vile CCP. There's one thing you must be clear on, though. The purpose of your existence is not for rights advocacy efforts; rather, the rights advocacy efforts have taken place to assist Dafa disciples in validating the Fa. (Applause)You need to keep your priorities straight! If you are promoting gala tickets, that of course is meant to help them learn about Dafa and Dafa disciples. (Teacher smiles)
Disciple asks: We have an idea. We are thinking about making documentaries on contemporary times in China and on China's recent history that could be popularized, and we would do so to correct the wrong ideas people have about history.
Teacher: Yes, I know about those things. You may go ahead and do them.
Disciple asks: How can we determine which are the right historical materials, and draw the right conclusions from them?
Teacher: When it comes to the historical facts, if there are documentaries [for you to refer to], that would be best, for they won't be false. If you learn about things by collecting documentation from a variety of sources, then I think you will arrive at the most correct conclusions. One thing you have to be mindful of is that the things put out by the vile CCP are all false, so you shouldn't believe them. All these years, that vile Party has been deceiving the Chinese people, deceiving the ordinary citizens.
Disciple asks: We have received a lot of positive feedback as we've gone about clarifying the facts and exposing the evil to grassroots organizations in mainstream Western society. Some people have asked us what specific actions they could take. For this reason, we established a conscience foundation so that people of conscience who are not practitioners but want to support us could get involved. We have a question: If someone wants to donate money to victimized Dafa disciples, how should we get such donations to those disciples and coordinate these things? And how should we handle donations and collection of funds in the future?
Teacher: I spoke to you about this very early on when I taught the Fa. I said that in Dafa cultivation you cannot collect funds or accumulate material things; doing that would only encourage attachments, which is not at all good for your cultivation. Besides, you are cultivating in ordinary society, so you don't need to be provided for by ordinary people. Of course, we do have some Dafa disciples who are monks or nuns, but their situation is unique. I am only talking about things in general here. So under these circumstances, I absolutely forbid any collection of funds--you cannot solicit or collect funds from the students, nor can you solicit funds from the public like other religions do. We don't do any of those things.
But the situation has changed since the start of the persecution on July 20, 1999. Dafa disciples need funds to clarify the truth and save sentient beings, but their personal incomes are limited and the persecution has lasted for a long time. A lot of money is needed to solve this problem and expose the persecution. At the very least, you need funds to print flyers. And the TV network, radio stations, and newspapers all require funds. Many other things, many projects, require funds, too. Given this situation, I said to Dafa disciples who are in charge of certain projects that we could ask for sponsorship only from the governments of various countries, different kinds of foundations, or big corporations. But in fact, the old forces have been vehemently obstructing things in this regard. Over the past few years there has been a great deal of interest in investing in China, and many countries have invested there, so they don't dare to give Falun Gong any financial support for fear that the CCP might give their companies a hard time. So it looks like they are betraying their consciences when economic interests are at stake. That being the case, it's very hard to get funds from them.
Many of our students have found in the process of their truth-clarification that there are indeed some very good people out there who, when they became aware of the evilness of this persecution, have offered to donate some money to the students. What should we do in these cases? I still tell you the same thing: Try your best not to solicit donations from the public, don't do that. If someone sincerely insists on offering the donation, then it's fine to accept it, and you can use it where it is most needed and where funds are lacking. That's about it. I don't advise you to do it, but if someone genuinely insists on offering a donation, then sometimes they might find it odd if you don't accept it. In that case, accept it. Sometimes you can save people only when the things you do are understandable to them. So if you really run into a situation like that, then just accept [the donation].
However, make sure the funds are not handled inappropriately. I know we have had problems with the management of funds for some projects and in some places. I don't want to get into that, though. If there is a problem with you in this regard, it seems to me that you don't want to cultivate anymore. All the gods are watching you. If a cultivator has this problem, it is terribly serious.
Disciple asks: How should we properly handle the relationship between people's rights advocacy efforts meant to end persecution, and encouraging people to carry out the "Three Withdrawals"?1
Teacher: [By encouraging] the "Three Withdrawals," you are saving people, saving sentient beings, and saving the people of mainland China. This is not an issue outside of mainland China. As I have said, when the entire wicked Eastern European Communist Bloc crumbled, the people there did what they should--they made it crumble. The people in mainland China have yet to take this action, so for them to wash themselves clean they must dissociate themselves from the evil CCP's wicked organizations.
As I said earlier, rights advocacy movements are ordinary people's affairs, and Falun Gong is absolutely not a political group. You must keep this clear in your minds: Whether it be those from mainland China who have come over to the good side, or those who have stepped forward and spoken out for Falun Gong, it's because gods have arranged for them to assist Dafa disciples, and it is definitely not that Dafa disciples are supposed to be assisting them. It's not a problem for our media to give them more coverage and show concern about them. But you shouldn't confuse your priorities, nor should you confuse what you are and aren't supposed to do. You must be clear on these things! We're not an ordinary people's political group, so you can't devote yourselves completely to those things. But you can use your media to report on them and expose the persecution. Of course, some people have been persecuted directly because they have stepped forward and spoken out for Falun Gong. In that case you can pay more attention to and give more coverage to those stories; in particular, you should keep tabs on their safety. There is no problem with doing any of those things. The key is that you must be clear--listen carefully, now--that it's fine for you to help them do certain things, but you have to be clear that those things have happened for the purpose of assisting you, and that cultivation and saving sentient beings are first and foremost for you. (Applause)
Disciple asks: Can the formulas for the five exercises be translated into other languages?
Teacher: When they were working on the English translation early on, I said that the Fa-rectification formulas were not to be translated. Why can't they be translated, then? The Fa-rectification formulas are linked to the sound in the cosmos, many factors in the cosmos, and messages in the cosmos. Only by articulating and activating them will the huge impact be generated that comes about from the concerted assistance of the cosmos. They won't have that effect if the sound is changed. Gods understand them. They know what you are articulating even when you don't make any sound and only think it. If you want to have a direct impact, it won't work, however, [unless you produce the right sound]. That is why I have told you not to translate them.
Actually, as I've been saying for quite some time, the Chinese culture is one that gods have passed down among human beings. It is a semi-divine culture. That's why a lot of the elements of that culture have profound content. The languages and scripts of other ethnic groups, by contrast, do not exist in the heavens. The Chinese characters, though, are very similar to those in the heavens. The way of writing them is the same as it is in the heavens, but the combinations of strokes are different. The written forms of the other ethnic groups' languages aren't present in the heavens. When people see heavenly gods show certain things to human beings by writing something for them in the languages of certain ethnic groups, it's actually a case of gods transforming things for human beings into words they are able to understand, that's all. Being a semi-divine culture, the Chinese culture isn't entirely divine nor entirely non-divine--it's that way.
Disciple asks: The occupations that Dafa disciples don't perform will not exist [in the future], right? (Audience laughs) Such as being secret agents, for example? (Audience laughs)
Teacher: Right, as I've said before, secret agents won't exist in the future--their future has been rescinded. (Applause) As to whether other occupations will exist, as far as I know it looks like Dafa disciples are actually in all occupations. I know that there are disciples at the presidential level, and there are disciples with very high social status; it's just that they do things differently. The Dafa disciples in mainland China are in all trades and professions; in every occupation there are people cultivating Dafa.
Disciple asks: Since the evil specter of communism first appeared in the Paris Commune, does it still have its root there? Does it still exist in Paris and France in particular? And what influence does it have now?
Teacher: Its root is not there; it's root was in China, but it has already been uprooted. The entire evil specter of the vile Party, the entire red, evil dragon, has already been shattered. And the factors it has long established in the minds of the people and in every cultural sphere--all of those things are being cleaned out as well, they are in the process of being cleaned out. As far as [its influence on] other countries, well, it has no direct impact on countries that aren't [ruled by] the vile Party.
Disciple asks: Could you please tell us more about the role of the Minghui website, and particularly the role of its counterparts in multiple other languages?
Teacher: Minghui's main feature is that it reports primarily on the facts of the persecution of Dafa disciples in mainland China. Those reports are first-hand information that exposes the evil, and over 99 percent--or even up to 100 percent--of the reported information is accurate. It is distinct from the other, conventional media. You can translate the facts [it reports] into multiple languages and post them on the Internet. If you have the ability and the resources, you can do that, and you can create Minghui websites in multiple languages so that people all over the world can see the daily content on Minghui.
Disciple asks: Is it possible for the old forces to plant negative beings in the assistant souls (fu yuanshen) of Dafa disciples?
Teacher: Don't think so much about these things. (Audience laughs) It is true that the old forces have taken advantage of every chance they have gotten. They have done awful things even to the Dafa disciples whom I really guided and led in history. All the same, as long as Dafa disciples can follow the requirements for validating the Fa and the requirements of Dafa, there won't be any problems.
Disciple asks: If possible, is it all right for the Dafa disciples around that practitioner to send forth righteous thoughts together in order to completely negate and eliminate those things?
Teacher: This is something that's already included when you send forth righteous thoughts and cleanse yourselves of bad factors. You started doing this a long while ago.
Disciple asks: Would Master please talk about the effect the mechanisms put in place by the old forces' dial have on Dafa disciples' efforts to save sentient beings?
Teacher: There is a dial in every dimension, and the dials are in fact a manifestation of the past cosmos's Fa. They run through from the microcosm to the macrocosm; that is, these dials run through dimensions from those made up of microcosmic particles to those composed of the largest particles, which are at the surface level. And they have an axis. That is a manifestation of the Fa of the past cosmos. It won't be like this in the future. (Teacher smiles) That's why I could tell sentient beings about it. But they made a special dial for the Fa-rectification, and in every dimension they have done certain things surreptitiously. They have even involved the world's people, and planted this kind of dial in humans' bodies. That is why when [the dial] moves, shifts in the state of affairs for human beings on Earth take place. It's exactly because those things are at work. During the Fa-rectification those things are all in the process of being cleaned out, so they no longer play a decisive role.
Disciple asks: How is the maturity, achieved from a tempering process, of Dafa disciples as a whole related to the conclusion of Fa-rectification?
Teacher: The way things look now is that they seem to be basically progressing in parallel.
Disciple asks: If wicked secret agents break into our homes, can we defend ourselves? (Audience laughs)
Teacher: Yes, it's all right for you to defend yourselves. Actually, though, when you have very strong righteous thoughts, you can even immobilize them. (Applause) But if, being a cultivator, your mind is instead impure and lacks righteous thoughts, and you are fearful inside, then you won't be able to make that happen.
Disciple asks: How does the Divine Land Marching Band save sentient beings? Would you give us some explicit guidance on that? (Audience laughs)
Teacher: Since you're interested I will tell you about it. (Applause) You know, when the band took part in the parades in New York's Chinatown and Flushing areas, on both occasions I saw this scene: When the band was playing, the energy they emitted was tremendous. Be it the energy emitted, the sounds you made, or the music and notes themselves, they all had the effect of validating the Fa and sending out energy.
That day during the Chinatown parade, countless gods in every dimension of the heavens--gods filling the sky--were beating military drums. And many, many heavenly soldiers and generals were charging forward. And the energy emitted as Dafa disciples played the wind instruments was very powerful. You've seen in the movies how the blast waves produced by the explosion of an atomic bomb are huge, right? Well, [the energy emitted] was even more powerful than that. (Applause) That's because the components of the energy emitted by the Dafa disciples were bigger than atoms, and the particles at every level of it were all very powerful. In other words, at the time, whenever the sound came forth a large area was covered in bright light. It takes some time for the blast of an atomic bomb to end, and then the blast waves generate a huge dust storm, right? And the area becomes clean only after the dust storm dies down. [In our case,] the area became clean instantly. And then far away from the bright lights there was a huge amount of smoke and dust from the blast, and as the music continued to be played the bright lights rapidly intensified. Quickly the area became clean again, and smoke and dust continually rose up in the distance. Wherever the bright lights reached, it became clean.
That's why when the band proceeded down the streets in the parade, the many people who were watching--and I was watching those ordinary people's minds--they were basically numb. (Audience laughs) And the Chinese people were just watching, expressionless. Their minds were blank. "What's going on," [they wondered]. Their bad thoughts were all cleaned out, and afterward they started to think again (applause) and said, "Wow, Falun Gong is so amazing!" (Audience laughs) Some people said, "Wow, how did Falun Gong suddenly put together such a big band in the U.S.?" (Audience laughs) It's considered a big band even for the U.S. [The people felt that,] out of the blue so many people appeared, playing all these wind instruments! And particularly notable was that the band was made up of mostly Chinese faces. There were a small number of Western Dafa disciples, so most of the faces were Chinese. So the Chinese people in Chinatown were all thinking about it after they saw it, and they actually felt that [the band] had made Chinese people look good. (Audience laughs) That is, the antagonistic things in their minds were gone. The thoughts that played a negative role were gone. [The band] was truly having this impact. This is about the Chinese [spectators]. It was quite an unusual sight for Westerners as well--they had never seen anything like that before. [They felt,] out of the blue a big band showed up, with so many Chinese faces! A lot of people were applauding and shouting, "Encore!" So the effect has been great.
Of course, the band has Dafa disciples of other ethnic groups as well, and they, too, are remarkable, for Dafa disciples are one body. When the students who are part of the band were playing, they themselves were actually moved. They felt it was truly sacred.
Disciple asks: Can next year's gala tour internationally?
Teacher: Next year's things will have to depend on the situation. If our financial resources aren't so large, it won't be achievable. You know, it's very expensive for a hundred or several dozen people to travel.
Disciple asks: Having been influenced by the CCP, some officials in Western society have acted poorly. When we clarify the facts to them, can we tell them that they act more like a CCP official than an official from a democratic country?
Teacher: Sure, that's fine. It's hard to say who the vile CCP's evil specter might control. It could be a Western official or a Chinese one. When a person's thinking is in line with it, it will control him or her.
Disciple asks: Should we believe that the Fa will give us wisdom? Is taking ordinary classes worth it? Recently I have run into some problems with my writing project. I'm wondering whether I need to improve my writing skills or if there are other reasons.
Teacher: If what you are creating is on the right path, there will be less difficulties; if it's not on the right path, it will be more difficult. Or, when there's a problem with your understanding of something, there will be more difficulties; and when your understanding is free of problems, it will be less difficult. That's for sure. Dafa disciples have brought about many miracles. You can go and learn certain things. That is not a problem, of course. But if you plan to spend a lot of time--say, months or years--to learn something and then come back to validate the Fa, then I would say things would be over by then. (Audience laughs) And you would have learned it in vain. That's why I think that when it comes to certain matters you should think things over and gauge things yourself. As a Dafa disciple, you should think about these things as would a cultivator.
Disciple asks: Are the Nine Commentaries important for Vietnamese people? Do Vietnamese need to withdraw from the Communist Party?
Teacher: Be it Vietnam, Cuba, or North Korea--when China's communist regime falls, they will fall too. Their existence was arranged to inflate the CCP's morale a bit. If the CCP were really left all by itself, those [CCP] people wouldn't be able to so much as lift their heads before the world. The fact is, this is the old forces' arrangement. What disciples of Dafa care about is cultivating themselves; it's because the vile CCP started to persecute Falun Gong that Dafa disciples have been, in response to the vile CCP's persecution, exposing it and dismantling its persecution. The root is in China. When the CCP's factors disintegrate, all those others will disintegrate. There is no need to do anything about them specifically. Although those are all societies under the vile Party's rule, no persecution of Dafa disciples has taken place there. So you don't need to make a priority of them. In the future, when the CCP collapses, all of them will collapse and be done with. So right now we won't touch them.
Disciple asks: Many Dafa disciples have created a lot of excellent artistic things like music, poems, and songs. Can we introduce them to the general public after some artistic touch-up and polishing?
Teacher: That's a good idea, of course. If all people started singing our songs or music, wouldn't that be great? If a lot of people around the world, including the people in mainland China, all wore T-shirts with "Falun Dafa is Great" on them, I'd say the vile CCP would really be at a loss for what to do. (Audience laughs) Some people have suggested writing "Falun Dafa is Great" or "Withdraw from the Party" on Renminbi.2 (Audience laughs) I think that's a terrific idea. (Applause) You can't throw away money, and you can't destroy it. (Audience laughs)
Disciple asks: All Dafa disciples from the Haidian district of Beijing send their greetings to Master. Master, we miss you very much! (Teacher: Thank you!) (Applause) Please be assured, Master, that we will definitely do the three things well and live up to our esteemed Master's expectations! (Teacher: I believe you.) (Applause)
Teacher: If that had been said a few years back, I would have felt that the students were trying to cheer me up. (Teacher smiles) Now I feel that it is true, and I believe it.
Disciple asks: How can we save homosexuals more effectively?
Teacher: They are sentient beings, so save them just like the other ordinary sentient beings. Save them if you can, and treat them just like anyone else. The more you regard them as a special group, the less you will be able to save them. Just save them as you would any other persons. Save them if you can. If you can't, then you can't.
Disciple asks: In an exercise instruction video recorded before, there is footage of Master teaching the Fa at the [Chinese People's] Public Security University with the flag of the evil Party hanging in the back of the auditorium. Should we remove it somehow? Or should we keep it as a historic record?
Teacher: It's all right to remove it. [It was there] because at the time [I] really didn't want to regard the CCP as the most wicked thing and destroy it, as all beings are given a chance. It is because the vile CCP has persecuted Falun Gong that it became, in relation to all beings in the cosmos, a wicked demon. And that is why it needs to be destroyed and cleaned out--that is their own choice.
Disciple asks: Should disciples in other regions offer support to the San Francisco Chinatown as they have done with New York City?
Teacher: I think those who have the ability and the right conditions should go help. I discussed this with the practitioners in charge in San Francisco.
Disciple asks: Someone obtained the Fa and withdrew from the Party, but out of fear he was disrespectful of Dafa and has now passed away. Do people like this still have a future?
Teacher: That depends on the specifics of the situation. For a Dafa disciple, withdrawing from the Party isn't the most important thing; rather, saving sentient beings and having sentient beings withdraw from Party is. As far as whether someone like this still has a future, well, the fact that he obtained the Fa but didn't validate the Fa is regarded as the most important.
Disciple asks: Everyone who saw the gala this year said it was good. Can we ask the disciples in mainland China to circulate it widely, and to touch the hearts and souls of a large number of sentient beings this way?
Teacher: Yes, you can do that.
Disciple asks: Master, you have said that eighty percent of the things that were decided in a pre-historical time have been sabotaged by the old forces. Will this affect how supremely wonderful, in-harmony, and forever-indestructible the future cosmos will be--as originally intended?
Teacher: What they have destroyed were only things that had been planned. They can't see what the new cosmos is like, even if they want to. Besides, after a Dafa disciple Consummates his cultivation and becomes a God or Buddha, when he wants to create a world of his own, he can do it with just one thought, for his Fa is already established. So, none of [what you brought up] is a problem, and those are all trivial things. As for how much they have destroyed and how much has been lost, it all depends on whether something is wanted. Whatever is wanted can be formed, even to the extent such that it is completely restored without a tad bit of difference.
Disciple asks: About half a year ago some disciples started a project. But because the person(s) in charge would not get rid of his jealousy, interference came about and made it terribly hard for the other disciples involved to blaze our own path. Over the course of things, the approaches and tactics used have been pretty awful, and they're tainted with the Party culture. Also, most of [the team members] have always relied on the person(s) in charge and the Dafa Association, so that fact led to their having worse misunderstandings of the rest of us. I didn't explain a lot of things at the time, because as I understood then, it was not only for me to cultivate, but also for my fellow practitioners to cultivate. But I failed to realize that the evil was racing with us against time. All of this resulted in the predicament we now have, and I don't know what to do.
Teacher: You should look more into whether your own thinking is right. In a conflict, the more unfavorable the other person's behavior is toward you, the easier it is for you to think that he's wrong--"He's definitely wrong." Cultivation is a very involved thing, and getting rid of human attachments is the hardest. Try harder to look inside yourself, and just look for your own attachments. Everyone should examine himself and try to work well with one another. That's the most important thing.
It's all right to raise some reasonable suggestions on certain, specific issues. But you should also consider whether the point you would like to raise fits the larger situation. The person in charge has his challenges, too. When you're not in his shoes, you don't view things from his perspective. Many of our practitioners are fresh out of school, have never had a position with managerial duties, and lack such experience. So leading a project is a test for them. Moreover, I've read the letters some students have written to me. Although the letters spoke of other people's problems, between the lines what came across were the shortcomings in the writer's own cultivation. Some of them still had very strong attachments, some were even quite extreme, and some spoke to me with a human mindset, venting their indignation. Coordinators must listen to valid suggestions, and those who are not in charge must do a good job of cooperating on things. You are cultivating, not doing some job for the sake of doing that job.
Of course, you should still voice your opinions or call attention to any problems you see when that's the right thing to do. But you should act like a Dafa disciple in everything you do. Those of you coordinating a project should, like others, examine yourselves when you hear [criticism or different opinions], and you should cultivate yourselves well just as others do. Only then will the things you do be sacred.
Disciple asks: Dafa disciples from Ziyang city and Chengdu city of Sichuan province, Yili of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Harbin city, Nanjng city, Nanning city of Guangxi province, Yichang city and Huanggang city of Hubei province, Jiayuguan city of Gansu province, Liujia of Liaoning province, Kaian of Jilin province, Hangzhou city, Shanxi province, Shaoguan city, Fuzhou city, Ji'an city, Alabama, Houston, and Seattle in the United States, the Feitian School of Dance, Toronto of Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, and Chiba of Japan send their greetings to our great, compassionate Master!
Teacher: Thank you all! (Applause) Dafa disciples in mainland China and those elsewhere are basically progressing at the same pace now. There was a certain gap in the past--in particular, a few years ago the gap was quite big. Recently I've seen that the mainland China Dafa disciples have become more and more mature and composed. In this regard, then, Dafa disciples outside of mainland China--that is, the Dafa disciples in other regions of the world and of other ethnicities--let's make sure you don't get left behind by the mainland China Dafa disciples. (Applause) You have to work hard!
Disciple asks: Master, democracy activists inside and outside of China are supporting the hunger strikes initiated in mainland China that are calling for rights. Should the Dafa disciples in mainland China take part in those so as to support Dafa disciples' freedom of belief?
Teacher: As I said earlier, cultivation and saving of sentient beings are first and foremost for Dafa disciples--these are things that they have to do. As far as the things you mentioned coming about, they are in fact meant to assist Dafa disciples. Of course, when a lawyer who has petitioned on behalf of Dafa disciples is being persecuted by the vile Party, we should lend support. It is all right to assist them with certain things, but you should make sure you don't go overboard. You are not a political group. You are cultivators.
Disciple asks: Some Western Dafa disciples have fully devoted themselves to working on The Epoch Times in Western languages, to the point where they don't even have time to participate in the other activities organized by Dafa disciples or Fa conferences. Some Chinese fellow practitioners think the Western disciples are bogged down by being attached to doing things. Master, when we have a relatively large number of important Dafa events going on, can we be less particular about the newspaper's quality and get it done quickly (audience laughs), so that we may take part in other activities?
Teacher: Everyone laughed. If you don't ensure its quality, can it still play a good role in saving sentient beings? (Audience laughs) You can't do that. Then what should be done? Right now we do have challenges. The challenges might be temporary, though. We lack human and financial resources, so we're bound to have only a very small number of Dafa disciples busy working on it. Master is well aware of this. Actually, early on, the Chinese language Epoch Times was like this too. But it's not going to last. Certain things might be temporarily delayed for a period of time. Or, you can come up with a way to resolve [the challenges] by helping each other. When it comes to these specific things, I think you should resolve them by discussing them among yourselves.
Disciple asks: All Dafa disciples from Langfang, Hebei province send their greetings to Master! The disciples miss Master greatly!
Teacher: Thank you! I thank the Dafa disciples in the Langfang area! (Applause)
Disciple asks: In mainland China, some disciples have repeatedly been unlawfully jailed and persecuted with torture, but they remain steadfast and diligent; whereas some other disciples still haven't managed to step forward since they have either felt powerless about the persecution or sought ease. Master, are the disciples who have been repeatedly persecuted sacrificing and bearing for the disciples who can't step forward?
Teacher: No, that's not the case. Personal cultivation is the individual's own affair. Do what you can to see what the situation is with those who haven't stepped forward, and try to help them out.
Disciple asks: Perseverance and willpower are inherent and predestined. My willpower is weak. When I clench my teeth and make up my mind to try hard, I can do well for a few days, but not long. I'm very frustrated by this, and I don't know what my problem is. I tried hard to study the Fa and memorize the Fa, but saw no improvement. Is it because the thinking of improving my willpower through studying the Fa is a form of pursuit, or is it because I haven't studied the Fa enough? If the fundamental reason is that I don't treasure myself, is there still any hope for me?
Teacher: If it's a Dafa disciple who cultivates himself very well and who manages to rationally understand what Dafa is, he will surely work at it with considerable effort and not let up when it comes to this. On the other hand, those who are not diligent are likewise studying the Fa, and they know that the Fa is very good, but their thinking is not grounded in the Fa and they don't have ample righteous thoughts. So, naturally their understanding is not high; that is, they can't truly understand the preciousness of the Fa. That's why they're not all that motivated.
Disciple asks: Is eating raw fish killing?
Teacher: Eating fish that other persons have killed, including eating raw fish, does not count as killing. But in the past people all knew this saying, "You will pay for whatever you eat." For ordinary people it is definitely like that. Whatever a person does, he will have to pay for it. Thus a killer will be killed in his next life or will go to hell. This isn't an issue for Dafa disciples, though. Today in particular, when Dafa is being spread among ordinary people, things like this have to be taken care of. In other words, Dafa disciples' cultivating toward Consummation is first and foremost, whereas the wrong they have done others and the grievances they caused in the past are compensated for by turning those things into factors that help them improve in the course of cultivating toward Consummation, and/or they are settled with blessings [to the creditors].
Put another way, the debts and grievances that are owed need to be returned with blessings and/or [the affected beings] have to be saved during the course of one's cultivation toward Consummation--for sure. Master did this when he arranged a cultivation path for every Dafa disciple; I have arranged [the paying off of] the grievances and the like. In the future, when you cultivate to Consummation and become a god, some of them will be sentient beings in your paradise. A sentient being in a god's paradise is of course a divine being too. He--a being from a low realm--will have gone to heaven in one step. When a being is going through cycles of reincarnation in the human realm, he is reincarnating in the midst of hardship no matter how great his life is, and no matter how blessed he is, his realm is not elevating. Instantly becoming a being in a high-level realm--well, everyone would want that! Didn't I tell you a cultivation story before? I said that there was a Buddhist monk who was preaching from the scriptures in a temple, and he saw two birds perched on the windowsill, unwilling to leave. So he said to them, "If you two want to listen to the Buddhist scriptures, reincarnate as human beings and then come and listen." The two birds then suddenly took flight, hit a tree trunk outside the temple, and died. (Teacher smiles) Twenty years later, two young men came and wanted to become monks. (Teacher smiles) I am only making a point here. When a being knows he can go to a heavenly kingdom, nothing can compare to that, and he would rather die for it. When you are to get blessings that huge in exchange for your grievances, of course you'll be thrilled.
For you, as Dafa disciples, everything you owed in the past will be repaid and settled through the bestowal of blessings upon sentient beings. Now some people may think, "All right, then, I won't worry about what I do anymore. I'll even dare kill people." No, you can't be like that! You are cultivating compassion, and doing good works for sentient beings is part of the cultivating you do as Dafa disciples. If you really were to kill people, commit arson, and do bad things, then you would not be a cultivator, and even less could you possibly reach Consummation; bestowing blessings upon sentient beings wouldn't apply in the least. Also, the tribulations in your cultivation are meant to pay for the debts of mental pain that you owe, so the increased hardship might render you unable to cultivate, and then you wouldn't be able to cultivate further. I was only referring to the things you owed before you took up cultivation, and to that which results from your needing to maintain a normal life as you go about cultivating.
So as for eating raw flesh foods, that's the worst. I remember that Yahweh told the people he created, "You should eat cooked food." For human beings, meat has to be cooked before it can be eaten. Why is that? Cultivators in the past saw this, too: When a human being or an animal dies, the cells of his or its body have not died. And before those cells die, the spirit of each cell bears his or its image. Hasn't today's science discovered that, too? After a small white mouse is sectioned, the image [of its tissue cells]displayed on the screen via optical fiber bears the small white mouse's image. That means the raw meat you eat is a large batch of live animals.
Cooked meat, on the other hand, does not have those spirits in it. But if it's raw, what is it like when you down them into your stomach? It's as if you have put living animals into your stomach. Since they are very tiny, you don't sense anything different for the time being, but over time it will lead to serious illness, it will cause reactions. Since the human body is special and its structure is like that of a universe, it's called a small universe. When the things you eat can't reincarnate out of there, they will stay in your stomach, and over time the resultant resentment and karma will make it a breeding ground for illness. A great deal of karma will be amassed. You will then have stomach problems, with the serious cases amounting to diseases of the stomach, gastric ulcers, stomach cancer ... anything is possible. In mainland China I saw people drink fresh snake blood. But each particle of each cell of that blood was a snake, so could swallowing all those snakes into your stomach possibly do you any good? (Audience laughs) A material thing can be absorbed and transformed via the human body's capacities, but its spirit will remain in your stomach, won't it? That's why you should make sure you don't eat any kind of raw meat. Nowadays some people are into eating raw fish. That's awful, too. That's definitely not some cultural cuisine. It's terrible. So you can't eat raw [flesh foods]--be sure not to. As cultivators all the more so can you absolutely not eat any kind of raw meat.
By contrast, as I've said, when things are well cooked they are dead, right? The spirits are gone and what is at the surface is only a material substance. Cultivators can cultivate and live here only when they can sustain their lives. Human beings have a way they are supposed to live, and insofar as they follow their normal ways of living very little karma is generated; and even more so is that true of cultivators. For cultivators, it's not a problem to get rid of this kind of [normal-living-induced] karma, and it's not necessary for them to repay it in their next life. If you achieve Consummation and godhood in this life, your Master will help you resolve it, and you will work it off during your cultivation as well. Thus, this accounts for some of the trouble and distress you experience in the difficult process of cultivating yourself. So don't push these things away. Like I was saying just a bit ago, [some practitioners] can't take it when something negative is said about them, and they can't take any criticism. You should know that your karma is at play when those things come about.
Editor's Note: The next question and answer section will follow soon; the translation is in progress.
