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A Battle Between Good and Evil?

July 08, 2003 |   By a Practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Many times recently I have seen phrases like "contest between the good and the evil" or "battle between the good and the evil" when I read Dafa practitioners' experience-sharing articles on Minghui. A practitioner once indicated in his article that the relationship between Dafa practitioners and the evil was not a contest, nor was the relationship between the good and the evil. I fully agreed with him. I think that we should take the Fa as our teacher when we evaluate this problem, because we are now at a critical time in the legal process of suing Jiang Zemin. Every single one of our thoughts greatly influences this issue. In order to steer this process in a positive direction that will enable us to validate Dafa and save sentient beings more effectively and efficiently, we still need to break through certain notions and improve our xinxing.

"One righteous thought itself subdues a hundred evil things." (from "Righteous Thoughts") We should realize that the relationship between good and evil is not a contest. The key is whether our minds are righteous or not. If our minds are righteous, we can subdue a hundred evil things. Dafa is the most upright, righteous Fa. Dafa's power is boundless and omnipotent. The evil is nothing. How can the evil compete with Dafa? In addition, Dafa practitioners' divine sides are all-powerful. It's only that our human sides have unrighteous thoughts, which interfere with our divine sides. Therefore, it is very important to break through certain notions, restrain our human thoughts, and rectify our minds.

How do we treat the evil? Let's review a paragraph of Teacher's in Zhuan Falun, and perhaps we'll be enlightened to something from it:

"But there are bad ones, too, and we've had to deal with them. I'll give you an example. The first time I went to Guizhou Province to transmit the practice, there was this guy who arrived right during the middle of one of my classes. He said that his grandmaster wanted to see me and that his grandmaster was so-and-so, who'd cultivated for a ton of years. I saw that the yin qi this guy had was awful, and his face looked a sickly yellow. So I said that I didn't have time and wouldn't go see him, I turned him down. This made his grandmaster really upset and he started giving me trouble. He messed with me all the time. I'm someone who doesn't like to fight with others, and he wasn't even worth a fight anyway. Whenever he fetched bad things and brought them over I would just clean them up, and after that I'd get back to teaching my Law."

Evaluating this from the Fa, we understand that we don't fight or compete with the evil. At the same time, Dafa is compassionate to sentient beings and is also solemn and dignified. Forbearance includes going beyond the limit of forbearance. As for those incorrigible evil forces that have persecuted Dafa and destroyed sentient beings, we should eliminate them with righteous thoughts.

According to the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition, if in our heads we still think of competing with the evil, that thought just might bring about the reality. It is the same as if we are scared, and then things that make us scared tend to happen. This is mutual-generation. Since mind and matter are one and the same, if we imagine contesting the evil, perhaps that contest with the evil will occur.

During a recent experience sharing with fellow practitioners, we discovered that the thoughts of competition and fighting have been reflected at different levels. When one practitioner said that we shouldn't send righteous thoughts with a resentful and hateful mind, another immediately realized that was what she had been doing. She said that she thought she should treat the evil with resentment and hatred and consequently sent righteous thoughts with a mind full of resentment and hate. Once her fellow practitioner reminded her, she immediately remembered that we should be neither resentful nor hateful. Another practitioner said that we should regard Jiang Zemin and his scoundrel political gang with contempt and form a field of justice. Yet another practitioner said that we didn't have to despise them, because when we clarified the truth we were exposing and eliminating them. In Zhuan Falun, Teacher says: "But we've said that as a practitioner, you shouldn't hit back when attacked, or talk back when insulted". We are listing the details of the heinous crimes committed by Jiang Zemin so that people can understand its evil nature. This is justice that resists and eliminates the evil. Referring to contests and battles during our discussions puts us in mind of struggles in nature.

Suing Jiang in the courts is not a contest with the old forces or the evil. If we think that we are competing with them, aren't we recognizing them? We don't even recognize the old forces. We are not involved in a contest with them; we are eliminating old forces' arrangements and eliminating the evil, including the degenerate and incorrigible old forces themselves. If we compete with them, we are placing ourselves at their level. One righteous thought subdues a hundred evil things. If we act righteously and if our minds are righteous, they are nothing at all. The evil cannot suppress the righteous. We don't compete or fight with any beings.

We cannot magnify their existence. Our divine sides are as tall as heaven and incomparably noble, and our divine sides' bodies are immense. According to the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition, when we inhibit our human sides, our divine sides become really strong and powerful, and the evil correspondingly becomes so small--this is mutual-inhibition.

"Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master" (from Zhuan Falun). In this drama, whether we elevate individually or as one whole body, whether we save sentient beings or validate Dafa, the key is our minds. Instead of focusing our attention on how to "compete" with the evil, we should pay close attention to our minds. It is when our minds are upright and our thoughts are righteous that validating Dafa and saving sentient beings can be achieved; it is when our minds are righteous that each individual one of us as well as we as a whole body can elevate to higher levels. As long as our xinxing reaches the level it is supposed to reach and we maintain a righteous mentality, everything will become simple. Even if we don't have enough capability, Teacher will give us wisdom when we need wisdom, Dafa will give us supernormal capability when we need supernormal capability, and we'll have time when we need time.

Teacher says:

"Sometimes when you folks consider an issue you've formed a type of habit--"I want to do such and such thing... here's how I'm going to do this thing... here's how I'm going to do that thing." You think it over to the point that you feel you've covered everything in a satisfactory way. But when it comes to actually doing it, the real, actual situations are always ever-changing and you will see that it turns out it doesn't work (laughs). And since it doesn't work, you start to think it over again. But that's not how you should do things. Have righteous thoughts. If you think that you should do things in such and such way, then go ahead and do that. When you encounter problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it's guaranteed you'll do well.

Why do I tell everyone to do things this way? It seems passive, right? But that's not true, because the side of you that's been successfully cultivated knows everything. No matter how you do it, it will work. No matter how you do those things you'll be able to do them well. So it's sufficient for you to just have this one idea. Once you know what to do, you should just go ahead and do it, and while you do it your wisdom will continually come forth. That's because at that time the side of you that's been successfully cultivated will fuse together with the you on this side, and you know, everything about it is God-like and omnipotent. That little thing you're doing will certainly be resolved in no time, your wisdom will come forth, and it'll be completely different. And if you get to a stuck point Master will give you wisdom." (from "Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference") To a God, it is so easy to do something. We need to discern if it is really the evil that has been blocking our divine sides or is it our human thoughts? Should we focus on our minds or should we focus on competing with the evil?

We understand that in order to harmonize and complete things according to Teacher's choices, we should follow Teacher's original words to understand his original intent. Teacher says: "One good can overcome a hundred evils." (from Zhuan Falun). When faced with the evil, we understand that we should examine our xinxing carefully, position our minds righteously, and break through human notions instead of competing with the evil. Currently we are eliminating the evil with righteous thoughts. If we use supernormal capability to eliminate the evil when our thoughts are not righteous, our supernormal capability won't fully display its maximum power. "...when it comes to the Fa-rectification and what I choose, all beings' harmonizing and completing things according to my choices and contributing their best ideas and approaches--not to change what I want, but to harmonize and complete things according to what I've said--is the best thought a being in the cosmos could have." (from "Fa Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")

The above is for your reference only. Please take the Fa as your teacher.

Note: As I remind myself, suing Jiang Zemin is a wonderful and important act in this immense drama. Nevertheless, instead of being overwhelmed by it, we should grasp the true nature behind it so that we can play this drama well. Let's not be distracted by the minor details of this drama. Maintaining a calm and clear head is very important. I hope we can encourage and inspire each other mutually. This is for your reference only.