What Will Be the Consequences of Not Fulfilling One’s Vow?

(Minghui.org) After Master’s new article “Wake Up” was published, I read it numerous times. I was deeply touched and I would like to share my thoughts with fellow practitioners.　

Master said:

“The Fa’s rectification of the Cosmos has finished, and now a transition to the Fa’s rectification of the human world is taking place. Most of our Dafa disciples will join me as the Fa rectifies the human world.”

“However, during the course of it numerous lives with enormous karma as well as members of the wicked Communist Party will be weeded out and annihilated. And along with this, there are those among Dafa practitioners who have not made good on the vows they signed with their lives at the time of coming to this world—such as, for example, by not having done well what Dafa disciples are supposed to do or not having worked on saving people—and who as a result have strong human thinking and have long had a negative effect on the environment for spiritual development among practitioners. And still others have followed certain individuals who have gone awry in their understanding of the Fa, or have followed undercover agents of the CCP who pose as practitioners, and have been seriously disruptive to others. For all of them there will be consequences in keeping with the vows that they made.” (“Wake Up”)

When Master mentioned “there will be consequences,” I was wondering, what kind of consequences?

This reminded me of the seriousness and urgency of Dafa cultivation. Because of the need for Fa-rectification, Master has repeatedly extended the end time for the Fa-rectification, while bearing everything on His shoulders. However, many of our fellow practitioners are sitting around waiting for the end of the Fa-rectification and no longer doing what it takes to save people.

Some practitioners are afraid and unable to let go of the attachment of life and death. Whenever they sense some tension, they would stop stepping out to save people. Instead of doing the three things required of Dafa disciples, they are only doing two (Fa-study and exercise, as well as sending forth righteous thoughts).

Some have enlightened on a deviated path. They were never genuine cultivators to begin with and hardly did things to save people. Under the pressure of the persecution, they developed doubts about Dafa and gave up their belief altogether. Some even turned in Dafa books to the police. There were a few such people in my local area and we tried to get them back on track, but to no avail.

There are also people who think they have done enough to save people and that they have reached the standard or are even better than an average practitioner. For them, they believe that they have cultivated to certain levels already. They feel satisfied and just wait for the final moment of consummation.

After the regime launched a massive “Zero Out” campaign last year aimed at forcing every practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith, a large number of practitioners just wanted to protect themselves and were no longer willing to do anything to save people. In my local area, especially in rural areas, there are many fellow practitioners who are thinking this way. In fact, this kind of thinking is very dangerous and has deviated from the state of a cultivator.

Let me give an analogy: suppose we were soldiers during the war, and in all the battles we did make a great effort, won many battles, got some credit, and were promoted to a certain position. We felt that we have gone above and beyond our duty and wanted to preserve ourselves. But the war was not over. In the next battle, we went missing or did not put in enough effort, which resulted in a huge loss. When the war is finally over, can we bear the consequences? Will our previous credits be able to offset the loss we caused?

We learned from The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Su, the general and strategist of the state of Shu Han, made a vow to guard Jieting, a crucial region for securing food supplies. For using the wrong strategy, he lost the battle and many of his troops were killed by the enemy.

Ma didn’t flee the battlefield and tried his best to turn the tide, but he didn’t succeed. In the end, Shu’s chancellor-regent Zhuge Liang had to behead Ma in accordance with his own vow.

We know from the story that even a vow in the human world is so serious, let alone vows we made when we left our heavenly kingdoms, in order to get the opportunity to assist Master in Fa-rectification.

Although most of us did not know the specifics of the vows, Master has pointed it out to us already.

Master said:

“Dafa disciples have a duty and must, no matter what, fulfill the vows that brought them to this world. For it was on that account that you once pledged your life as a god and were thus allowed to become today the most magnificent kind of being in the cosmos—a disciple of Dafa.” (“To the European Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)

Master is compassionate and kept giving us opportunities. However, how many of us just take Master’s compassion as a protective umbrella and how many of us have seriously thought about the consequences of not fulfilling our vows? Our vows are by no means a simple formality and they must be honored in the end.

Master also taught us:

“Have you heard about the Great Judgment? At one time the god(s) of a very high plane arranged for there to be a major judgment at the end of Fa-rectification. The plan was to include all who had passed away as well as all who had gone to hell, as they would be brought back to life for judgment; the living would undergo judgment too; as would all gods of the entire universe. All would be judged one by one. The idea of the Great Judgment has been passed down in the West, in fact. It would not just be those who had done wrongful things who would be judged, but also those people and gods who had played a good role, including Dafa disciples—they too would be subjected to judgment. Each life would be made to bear responsibility for each and every one of its actions in history. And this would be especially true for during the time of the universe’s Fa-rectification, where one would be held accountable for everything—be it one’s motives, what one did, or even the little things; and it was set that gods, those who had played both a negative and positive part in the Fa-rectification, as well as demons and even tiny life forms, would all be subjected to judgment. Even those who had a positive effect would be judged just the same, in which case it would be asked how many sentient beings could not be saved on account of your failing to do well in the course of what you were doing? And in the case of a Dafa disciple, it would be asked how many of your vows went unfulfilled? Failing to make good on them would be just one aspect of it, for when you do not do something, or do it well, there are consequences of varying sizes, and you would be held accountable for all of these. Would it work if you weren’t held accountable for the shame that your actions might have caused Dafa or for your having deceived the Lord? I haven’t talked about any of this before. I didn’t want to mention these things. But you really, truly should sober up. Don’t you know what time it is yet?” (“Fa Teaching Given at the NTDTV Meeting,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)

Master made it very clear in answering a practitioner’s question:

“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.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)

Master also pointed it out seriously:

“Any Dafa disciples who have not been diligent, or who are prone to acting in extreme ways, should immediately straighten themselves out, and sincerely study the Fa and work on themselves, for you are at great risk.” (“Stay Rational”)

We have all seen that the number of people quitting the Chinese Communist Party has stayed around 40,000 to 50,000 every day, which indicates to me that a considerable number of Dafa practitioners have not come forward in carrying out our responsibilities.

Fellow practitioners, let us seize the final moment, work together and fulfill our vows! Do not let our compassionate Master down.

This is my understanding at my level, and please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)