Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference (Lecture Portion)

(Master enters the hall. All disciples stand and enthusiastically applaud.)

Good morning! Please be seated. Many people from different regions have come to this Fa conference, including some from mainland China. Many people came out of there earlier, a few years back, and over the last two years more Dafa disciples have gradually come out of China. Master hopes that you can, sooner rather than later, turn around your way of thinking and come to have the same way of thinking as do people in the rest of the world.

Over the last several decades, the gradual and at times imperceptible indoctrination and influence of the evil CCP’s Party culture has made the Chinese people’s disposition warped, including that of some Dafa disciples, making them think about things in extreme ways—to the point that their thinking is completely different from that of people abroad or of people in ancient, traditional China. Mainland China has well over a billion people, and through gradual indoctrination their minds have become deviant without their knowing it. They think that everyone is the same, that there’s nothing unusual [about their thinking], and that that’s just how people are. But that is not true! Sometimes when a media outlet utilizes you or when a project lets you participate, your ways of thinking, those extreme ways of doing things that come from Party culture, your lying, and your halfhearted way of working really exasperate [others]. If you interact with Americans or people from free countries around the world, they will find you odd. Master has experienced this personally. Some time ago Master came here from China as well, but at the time I immediately sensed this issue and saw the difference in people. Sometimes when practitioners outside China are hesitant to accept you, or are hesitant to include you in their projects, it’s not because you have problems, but rather, the issue is that it’s really just impossible to work with you.

After a person’s thinking has been shaped by Party-culture indoctrination, his actions, which include how he writes, are full of Party culture. Sometimes I think, well, the Epoch Times, Minghui.org, and other websites all need manpower, and we have people from mainland China who are in their prime and have advanced degrees. But if those media were to really bring you on board, they would become Chinese Party-culture media. That [deviant way of thinking] isn’t caused by their nationality or culture, but by the vile Party’s distorting of people’s thinking. So you need to interact more with people outside of China, get to know them more, and quickly turn around your thinking. Otherwise, even if you are young you won’t be able to contribute much. What’s more, your state of mind is also different. When you do things you are always guarding yourselves, and you talk in a very veiled and evasive manner, giving others the impression that you are shifty. You are evasive about everything, but love to inquire about everything. How could others communicate with you, then? And how could people interact with you and work with you? That’s why many Dafa disciples outside of China think that people like you are spies. That’s the impression they get.

Dafa disciples are supposed to be open and broadminded, so what is there to fear? You are in America now. Here the vile CCP is considered a terrible menace, something monstrous, and that’s what people everywhere think. This is not its turf. So what is there to fear, then? It is the wicked CCP that’s afraid. If you tell people you are a member of the wicked CCP, they won’t process a green card for you, right? That’s a well-known fact. No country welcomes and accepts the evil CCP. I wanted to briefly mention these things after seeing so many Dafa disciples who have come from China.

I’ve been saying all along that, yes, during the last ten-plus years, with all those trials and hardships, things have appearedquite chaotic. Dafa disciples have been persecuted by the wicked Party, with it arresting people everywhere, creating terror, and oppressing and attacking people, making quite a mess. But do you realize that there is an arrangement behind the chaos? And the thoughts and each and every move of every practitioner, of every person in the world, are being watched very closely and seen clearly. There is order to the “chaos,” and it was arranged.

You’ve learned about the structure of the universe. I have told you about the concept of dimensions going from particles to planets. But actually, there is more to it. There are vertical ones, horizontal ones… even in a space as little as the tip of one’s pinky finger there are countless billions of worlds, and they are [filled with] gods. There are so many beings and gods throughout the entire cosmos, and they are densely packed without any gaps, all staring at you and watching closely the thoughts of everyone on earth, for this affair on earth impacts the entire cosmic body. Dafa disciples’ every single thought, the direction of the overall situation, and the success or failure of the Fa-rectification are determining whether or not the cosmos can remain. That’s how enormous this affair is. Things appear to be disorderly, but they are, in fact, orderly; things play out in chaotic ways, but things are detailed for each person.

I do not recognize this persecution, of course. I wanted to resolve things with a completely benevolent approach. Neither the old forces nor any life in the old cosmos can do that, however, and nor do they know how to; they only know how to do things that one way. That is what they did to Jesus back in his time, and it’s what they did back in Shakyamuni’s day as well. And the same held true for the earlier holy figures—be it Socrates, Moses, or others—it was the same approach in all cases. They only know how to do things that one way. Those holy figures all came to lay the cultural groundwork for man to understand the divine. And I’ve just been referring to what has happened in the past five thousand years. How many five-thousand-year periods have there been in the history of these one hundred million years? Twenty thousand. In every period there were divine beings who came down and who played a part in establishing a culture for mankind. They continued to set right the civilizations that developed in their respective periods, and continued to establish how man should think and act. It is only now, when it has reached modern times, that mankind has ultimately become what it is.

Things have been arranged for such a long time and this is such a major event, so things are really well-ordered! If I told you that even every step you take as you walk, and that even how big your stride is, were arranged, you might not believe it. But even the number of times you would scream while being persecuted and how many blows you would be dealt were arranged by them. Of course, the presence or absence of strong righteous thoughts in a cultivator can change these things, but not by much. They know your state of mind very well and even how much you can bear. So how could things be disorderly? [This affair] determines whether countless beings, beings throughout the cosmos, can be saved in the Fa-rectification. So think about it: could there be things that aren’t well-ordered? If you could see things for what they are, you would discover that, in your cultivation, whatever setting you are in, whatever social class you’re a part of, whatever status you have, whatever “coincidental” things you have done, or whatever your “luck” may be—all of this which is part of your path—was brought about by your vow, and nothing is by chance.

For a Dafa disciple, cultivation is first and foremost, and only when you have cultivated well can it be said that the path you’ve journeyed has been righteous. In this persecution, you might have hatred toward the wicked CCP, and some of you might even be willing to risk everything to fight with the CCP. But it’s not worth it. You don’t realize that the wicked Party is just a rod that was arranged by the old forces. You were once magnificent gods, and the old forces are using that rod to beat your attachments out of you. They want to do things that way, to beat out of you the thoughts that you shouldn’t have and beat away your sins and karma. Although Master doesn’t recognize their approach, they have done what they’ve done, after all. As I just mentioned, these beings of the cosmos don’t know how to handle things and only know this approach, and this is what caused the persecution.

Nothing is by chance. Don’t be misled by how chaotic things seem, as they are not chaotic in the least. Things manifest in a variety of ways, targeting a variety of attachments, and as things add up, on the whole they give the impression that things are chaotic. Though they seem chaotic, they are not at all. The evil has been making one ruckus after another and has used all sorts of evil means, with different happenings being aimed at different cultivators. And seen together, those ferocious, wicked police officers seem just vile, but things are not chaotic in the least—controlling them from behind are those gods, which I call the old forces. Unfortunately, this is the route things have ultimately taken. As long as a Dafa disciple has sufficient righteous thoughts—I’ll put it this way—if a Dafa disciple’s righteous thoughts are sufficient, you can break through the situation.

Some people might understand things in this way: my righteous thoughts were very strong at the time, so why was I persecuted so severely? Indeed, [what each person experiences] certainly won’t be like a manufactured product, where each item comes out of the mold the same. That’s because in the long course of everyone’s existences, different people have developed different attachments; over the course of history people have unknowingly incurred various debts; and the level of each person’s xinxing and his attachments are different; so, as a result, people’s paths differ and what they have to endure as well as how they are doing are different as well. Even the wicked police officers’ attitudes toward people during this persecution have differed.

Don’t think that, with the persecution, things have changed. You might think that back at the beginning we had our hearts set only on cultivation, but then the wicked Party forbade us from cultivating and persecuted Dafa, so we started fighting with them. That’s not the case. I have never said anything about fighting with the wicked CCP. It’s not worthy. It’s merely that I don’t recognize the things that the old forces arranged. In the future I will certainly turn these things around, but for the time being, this is how the general situation is.

Just think about what a long, drawn-out process each cultivator has gone through over the course of his or her history on Earth. And the principles in the human world are reversed: what seems good to you is bad when viewed from the other side. What smells good to you is considered foul over there. Everything is reversed. In this situation, cultivation is indeed hard, and it’s even harder to maintain righteous thoughts. But it is precisely because things are this way that your human attachments can show themselves. Those who do well will progress in a positive direction, while those who do poorly, or who don’t look within, will go in the opposite direction. I’m not just talking about cultivators—the same applies for everyday people.

It has been this way throughout the course of human history. If you are unable to look at things properly, if you are unable to regard yourself as a cultivator and look inside, you will really have no way to cultivate. And that’s all the more so during this persecution, yet instead of developing righteous thoughts, you have allowed a great deal of hatred to build up. The wicked CCP is indeed villainous, and in the near future it will surely be eliminated. But do you know what a bad person is and what a good person is? If your mind is filled with hatred and malice, think about it, everyone: what kind of a being would one be? And it will show in your conduct and even in your looks, and people will see evil in you. I’m not saying that some Dafa disciples have cultivated poorly. The part of them that has been fully cultivated is separated away. For as long as you have human things left here on this human side, you will have bad things and bad thoughts, and the closer things are to the surface level, the worse they appear to be. The reason Master teaches the Fa to you is to tell you about these things and help you understand.

Nothing has changed. Master is still the same Master he was at the beginning, and the Fa of the universe will never change. (Enthusiastic applause) It’s just that during this persecution, during this so-called “test,” some people have gotten rid of their attachments while others have not, and some have actually increased their attachments. This is how they have acted during this so-called “test.” It is you who are changing; it is Dafa disciples who are changing. And if you are not changing in the positive direction, you are changing in the negative direction, for sure.

Looking at the current situation, things as a whole have changed a great deal. Historically, those who wishfully claimed that their rule would be everlasting never accomplished that, and nor did those who said theirs would be an ironclad, enduring nation. Dynasties and reigns have come and gone, one after another, and the tide of the Red Regime is about to recede as well. (Applause) No one can change the course of history, since it was arranged by gods. Whoever tries to go against the tides of history will make a fool of himself; there have been plenty of examples of this throughout the ages. No one can salvage the wicked CCP. Now meanwhile, for Dafa disciples, the easier your environment becomes, the more you should pay attention to your own cultivation. That’s because it will be easier for those attachments of yours that you cannot detect to act up, and you are more likely to let your attachments grow. You must be sure to keep up your guard. No matter what the situation, you must be mindful of cultivating yourself. If you can keep going with that same heart you had at the beginning all the way to the end, you will undoubtedly succeed. (Enthusiastic applause)

Think about it: isn’t it you yourselves who are changing? The trials and hardships that Dafa disciples have journeyed through are, from the human perspective, a heroic tale; and from the divine perspective, the journey is a process of true gold being tempered and forged in a furnace. Great waves sift the sands in cultivation. All of this will be passed down in history, and it might be passed down forever and ever. (Applause) Once this affair is over, however Dafa disciples did during this period of time [will be as it is], and there won’t be a second chance, for the evil will no longer exist. The evil beings have gradually been eliminated to the point that they are powerless, so there won’t be another opportunity for them to test you again or for you to go through that process all over again. However you did will probably be set. Fortunately, this affair hasn’t yet ended. As a Dafa disciple, no matter what setting you are in, you should do well, do even better, and quickly eliminate your shortcomings and the things you shouldn’t have.

It’s fine for you to be in any occupation, to have a high position, or to be in any social class—the entire human society is the setting for your cultivation! And I don’t mean this in a figurative sense. Do you realize that the arrangements have been in place for millions and millions of years? The lesser cultivation ways have only known about cultivating in the temples or mountains. They have no idea that all of humanity is a setting that was designed for Dafa disciples. You can cultivate anywhere; it’s just a matter of how you handle things.

The political instability and the changes that are now happening, or that may lie ahead, might really draw your attention. But I think that since you, as Dafa disciples, have come through the harsh tests of the last ten-plus years, you should be able to see things for what they are. The things that happen in the human world are natural changes that occur in the human world. And I know, of course, that all of those things are due to gods’ systematic arrangements. That is how it works. Don’t get involved in human political affairs, and don’t let yourself get stirred up by ordinary people. In recent years many democracy activists and political organizations have given us support, and [some of] you have in turn participated in their activities. But you need to stay aware that you are a cultivator and that we don’t get involved in political things. There are bigger, enormous things in store for you to do.

The recent events in Hong Kong have had a big impact, and many people are watching closely. The media can provide factual coverage of the events, run editorials, and expose the wicked Party that has persecuted Dafa disciples. The Epoch Times’ honest and accurate reporting on mainland China, on Hong Kong’s current affairs, and on other international events has earned the paper quite a reputation and an improved standing. It’s fine for a media company to report and comment on the news, but as individuals we cannot just do whatever we want to. You are cultivators, so you should pay attention to cultivating yourselves and not to political conflicts. That is absolute; it’s something that will never change. If we don’t stay on the right course, if we veer off course just ever so slightly, humankind will be done for, all hope for mankind will be lost, and the same will hold true for the cosmos. The beings throughout the cosmos, and even humankind, are closely watching to see whether Dafa disciples stay on the right course.

Let me talk about something specific. Dafa disciples have launched one Dafa project after another, and some disciples are doing business out in the ordinary world and want to make contributions to Dafa, yet I must remind you that your accounting books and records need to be clear and clean. The reason is, with whatever you do, it will be the human side of a Dafa disciple that’s seen doing it, and when human beings do things, human attachments act up. When you loosen standards for yourself and do things as you please, gods don’t look at the matter the way you do. If the financial activities of a Dafa project are not solidly managed, and if someone’s motives are really not right, then the sins will be enormous, because what you did is not just a personal stain, but is undermining the way of Dafa disciples.

There have been such lessons, and the gods now look at some people differently than the rest, but those people don’t realize it, are still not alert to it, and are still getting carried away. I have to tell you: in any project run by Dafa disciples where money is involved, you must establish a strong accounting system, and not violate any applicable laws. Handle it the same way ordinary companies do. You must! You absolutely must not take a crooked path! If it weren’t for this persecution, I absolutely would not allow you to go about launching those projects.

If you want to set up a company or start a project, even if you think of it as just a Dafa disciples’ project, you have to establish a strong accounting system before you start! Otherwise, don’t do it! You need to have a rigorous system for managing things! Once Master has brought up something, it has to be adhered to. It might just be a matter of time before the old forces hurt you. So I have to tell all of you that you must handle things well.

Another issue is, some Dafa disciples aren’t doing the appropriate things after leaving mainland China. Why am I always bringing this up? Because the number of practitioners who have left China has exceeded the number of practitioners originally living abroad. After leaving there, some people got themselves asylum as a Falun Gong practitioner, but then they went on to focus on enjoying their personal lives and now they don’t participate in any efforts to save people. Saving people is a Dafa disciple’s responsibility, and you absolutely cannot shirk it! When the old forces really find you unacceptable, you are in danger! That’s because your life, your being, came here for this. Some Dafa disciples did poorly while they were in China and didn’t cultivate well in the first place, and after going abroad they still have so many human attachments! When they’re together they cause conflicts and complicate things. They still have so many human attachments, and some haven’t stepped forward in the least to do what Dafa disciples are supposed to. Yet if you don’t work on saving people, you are not a Dafa disciple. That is a Dafa disciple’s responsibility.

Despite my saying all this, no one is going to force you to comply. Cultivation is a person’s own affair. If you decide to stop cultivating, that’s fine. And as for what the old forces will do with you, that’s up to them. Some people weren’t able to bear what they experienced in the persecution and wished for a more stable life, and now that they’re abroad, they have found themselves a quiet place and started to enjoy a life of comfort and ease. It’s okay to let your wounded heart heal, but you need to do the things that Dafa disciples are supposed to, as time waits for no one.

Looking at how the situation as a whole has been changing, we can see that before the wicked CCP disintegrates or announces an end to the persecution of Falun Gong, its machinery will continue to run; its gears of all sizes are still turning, and instances of persecution are still happening in different regions. Some people who were involved in the persecution have come to understand things and have stopped, and even seem to be quite positive now. This state of affairs is a reflection of larger changes overall. It is not because the wicked CCP has sent out an order to stop persecuting Falun Gong. It hasn’t done that, so its machinery is still operating. What is happening is reflected in people’s attitudes toward Dafa disciples, and this has occurred quite often, in many regions. In some cases police officers from the 6-10 Office who had viciously persecuted Dafa disciples even came to visit practitioners, and said, “We won’t get involved anymore,” and expressed how sorry they were. But I can tell you that this isn’t a policy, but rather, a personal act. Maybe it was prompted by their having righteous thoughts, or maybe it stemmed from cunning thinking—fearing that after this campaign [against Falun Gong] is over, people will seek revenge against them.

In any case, things overall are changing. But regardless of the changes, you are a cultivator. Didn’t I say at the beginning of the persecution that just by staying unmoved you would be able to handle all situations? Some people thought it meant that they should sit still at home and not come out. The situation overall is changing. The terrifying situation of the persecution can really hit upon human attachments, while a favorable situation can spur human attachments. If one’s heart and mind are easily affected by external changes, then, for a cultivator, the impact is serious!

Many students might still have questions, and they have come such a long way. Master can only discuss things in general terms. I’ll now set aside some time for you, and you can pass up question slips. (Enthusiastic applause) But I’d suggest that, since you’re Dafa disciples, let’s not write questions like, “My family is experiencing such-and-such difficulties,” or “Why is my body going through karma-elimination.” If you ask me, I will just tell you one thing: it is because you are a cultivator that you experienced that, and since you are a cultivator, those things—whether they seem positive or negative—are all good. (Enthusiastic applause) That’s because they were put in place for you so that you can improve yourself on your cultivation path.

Editor’s Note: A question and answer section will follow soon; the translation is in progress.