Taking an Oath is Not a Trivial Matter

(Minghui.org) Taking an oath is not a trivial thing, and should be taken seriously. I would like to share two stories about incidents I witnessed in my childhood.

The first story is about my uncle. Before my grandmother passed away, she asked my uncle to take care of his youngest brother. He promised, “I am almost 30, but I have no children. Even if heaven gives me a child, I will still take care of my brother. If I break this oath, may heaven punish me.”

A year later, he had a son, but he never took care of his younger brother. He broke his oath, and he died very miserably.

The second story took place in the 1970's, when food was scarce in my village. One year, we grew some rice, and the village head asked three people to watch it. One of them stole half the rice. When the village head asked who took it, no one admitted it.

The entire village assembled. One villager suggested that the three people who had watched the rice publicly declare their guilt or innocence. Everyone agreed it was the best way to handle the situation.

At noon, the sunny skies suddenly clouded over. The wind blew and thunder shook the village. All three men solemnly said, “If I stole the rice, then may my favorite person die.”

After the ceremony ended, the sky became sunny again. Everyone waited to see what would happen.

The man who took the rice had a 5-year old son, his favorite child. The little boy suddenly died two days after the ceremony.

My point is that taking an oath is very serious. Practitioners try to convince people to quit the Chinese Communist Party, but some people simply don't believe that the oath they took when they became Party members will drag them to hell. Whenever I talk to someone who refuses to believe me, I tell them these two stories. Most people quit the Party when they realize that the oath they took, promising to sacrifice their lives for the Party, is very dangerous.

I would also like to remind fellow practitioners to take seriously the vows we made. We all made oaths to Master before we came down to the human world. Master has reminded us many times that we vowed to save sentient beings, but many practitioners have not taken these oaths seriously.

Some practitioners do not feel how urgent it is to save people, and are slacking off in cultivation, especially during the wave of filing lawsuits against Jiang Zemin.

Last July, local police started to investigate practitioners who have filed lawsuits, and many practitioners became fearful. They were passing out materials and convincing people to quit the Party, but due to fear, they stopped.

When some practitioners get together, they only talk about everyday people's affairs. They discuss how to prepare food, where to buy the ingredients, etc. They seldom talk about reading the Fa, cultivating diligently, or how to save more people. Occasionally, some mention clarifying the truth, but then others immediately change the topic, by saying something like, “It's difficult to clarify the truth now.”

Some practitioners are always afraid of the police. They forget that we are Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period, and forget that Master is always with us, watching over us. They don't dare stand up to the police. When police ask them questions, they don't maintain their righteous thoughts, and often do whatever they are asked to do. After signing the police documents, they are regretful, and publish “solemn statements” to rescind what they did.

Fellow practitioners, there isn't much time left. Let's read Master's teaching in “Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”:

“I am really anxious about this. The more time passes the more anxious I get. Back when the evil was rampant and at its maddest I was anxious too—anxious that you wouldn’t be able to hold up. But with time I saw that Dafa disciples could withstand any evil, and it was truly comforting to me. But now, when the end of the persecution is near, I’m feeling even more anxious than before. We have some people who just aren’t rational and are merely drifting along half-heartedly among Dafa disciples. So what are we going to do with you?”

[…]

“Disciple: If a large number of Dafa disciples haven’t achieved consummation and the Fa-rectification process ends, then what will happen to those Dafa disciples? Will they remain here and continue to cultivate?

"Master: I can’t tell you how it’s going to be. It will vary from case to case. Generally speaking it will be handled based on the vows each person made, and there won’t be a second chance—none at all.”