Teachings From a Tour of North America

Hongzhi Li
March 2002

Hello everyone! (Applause)

I haven’t seen you for a long time. I’d like to talk to you about several things. When I’m finished, if you have any questions you can ask them, and I’ll take this opportunity to answer you.

I’ll mainly talk about three things. The first one is that everyone should make a priority of Fa-study. I’ve said this to you often. But what I’ll talk about today is different. I’m going to tell you the larger reasons. It is extremely important for every Dafa disciple to study the Fa well. This is because your way of practice is very different from any method in the past, and you are very different from the cultivators in the past, for your missions are great. The Fa of the cosmos is being taught here—who would come to listen to the Fa? And what would those beings who would listen to the Fa do? All these things have greater significance. I’ve said that Dafa disciples are magnificent. In fact, the responsibilities you shoulder are quite large. You only know that some students made agreements with me in the past. When the truth is, there are a lot of other students who came from other cosmic colossal firmaments that are extremely distant and extremely vast, and they came to form relationships for their future. And there are also some people who entered while Dafa was being spread this time, because the door has been wide open and a lot of people with fairly good inborn quality have entered, too. So, these are the three categories our Dafa disciples mainly belong to.

Think about it, why did beings from distant cosmic bodies come here? Because Fa-rectification was going to take place in the cosmos, and they are representatives of the extremely massive groups of beings in distant cosmic bodies and colossal firmaments; they came here to establish a karmic relationship with Master so as to ensure that in Fa-rectification they wouldn’t be left out amidst the reconstruction of the entire cosmos; their goal was to allow the sentient beings there to be saved. Massive, countless groups of beings are over there. Those people who were able to sign pledges with me don’t have simple backgrounds, either—they also came from huge cosmic bodies. If their levels were really high, think about it, don’t they, too, represent gigantic cosmic bodies? There are also some who are students that entered while the Fa was being spread this time, and most of them came from really high levels, too.

What I just talked about is who has come to listen to the Fa. If people like this have come to listen to the Fa, then think about it, doesn’t every Dafa disciple represent a different gigantic cosmic body? If that’s the case, doesn’t whether a Dafa disciple cultivates well or poorly determine whether those gigantic cosmic bodies’ beings get saved or not? I can tell you, this is definitely the case.

The reason is, that gigantic cosmic body is below you, it’s almost like your body, because that’s how gigantic you are. There are countless sentient beings and countless cosmic firmaments inside there. Your cultivation determines whether those gigantic groups of beings are good or bad, and whether they can be kept or not! Looked at from a microcosmic level, your human body that’s manifest in the human world is actually a gigantic system, too. As you cultivate, first this part of your body gets healed and stays healthy, and then it gradually transforms into high-energy matter. The changes at the surface might not be large. During the Fa-rectification, the cosmos is making breakthroughs from the microcosm toward the surface; and during their cultivation, Dafa disciples are changing from the microcosm toward the surface, too. As you cultivate, your bodies in the microcosm make rapid breakthroughs in levels. And in their cultivation the bodies of the vast majority of our students don’t have much left at the surface anymore. The higher your level, the more you’re responsible for. The higher your level, the more gigantic the cosmic body and the more the sentient beings you represent, and you will be responsible for that domain. In other words, as you go on cultivating, your human body keeps improving and becomes better and better, and at the same time it transforms into the body of a god. If you don’t cultivate well, as you’ve seen, the changes in the body at the surface are rather small. In other words, the gigantic cosmic body you represent is the same as your body—it corresponds to your body. Then perhaps many beings won’t be saved because you didn’t cultivate well—it’s because you haven’t cultivated well that they can’t become good. Your not getting rid of a lot of attachments interferes with them, and they, in turn, are also interfering with you.

I’ve often said that you need to study the Fa well. Whenever I’ve met with students at Fa conferences or in other settings, I’ve always said that you must make Fa-study a priority, and that no matter how busy you are you have to study the Fa. At that time I couldn’t tell you things at a level this profound, and I couldn’t reveal this. But after this tribulation you’re now able to understand the Fa more deeply, and you’ve become more mature in your cultivation and in validating the Fa. Today I can tell you this: your cultivation is absolutely not a personal, simple matter of reaching Consummation—your cultivation is saving the countless sentient beings in the cosmic body that corresponds to you and who’ve put infinite hope in you. The cultivation of you all is saving the sentient beings in every single gigantic cosmic colossal firmament.

Why do I say that Dafa disciples are different from the cultivators of the past? I say that Dafa disciples are magnificent, but only if you’ve cultivated really well is your Consummation truly magnificent. A Dafa disciple’s Consummation isn’t just about an ordinary being breaking out of the Three Realms. Think about it, when you cultivate well few beings in the gigantic cosmos turn bad and few of them get weeded out. And when you return, they will truly regard you as their Lord, their King, and have boundless reverence for you, because you saved them, you sacrificed for them, and you gave them everything they have. But if you don’t cultivate well, many beings will be weeded out since we can’t not weed out beings who are no longer salvageable. Why is that? During this persecution, beings in different dimensions are all playing a role, whether they’re good beings or bad beings. The bad beings are interfering with the Fa-rectification, persecuting our students, and at the same time they’re interfering with you. So you must eliminate them with utter seriousness. If you don’t cultivate well, many beings will be weeded out, and when you reach Consummation, when you return to your place, you’ll find that an extremely large number of beings who at one time put infinite hope in you have been weeded out. Then in this cosmic colossal firmament, it’s very possible that the cosmic bodies you represent will be in a broken and incomplete state, and countless sentient beings will have been weeded out.

You know, a lot of students haven’t understood things clearly during this persecution and have considered it an ordinary human persecution against human beings. In fact, this persecution is entirely an unprecedented evil test of Dafa disciples that was arranged by the old forces. And they don’t let the evil beings that are being used know the true situation—they are truly doing damage. Although I don’t acknowledge any of these arrangements, they have done these things, after all. I don’t acknowledge any of the things they’ve arranged in history, and during the Fa-rectification I’m completely opposing them. So amidst this persecution of sentient beings we need to clarify the truth to people, and at the same time cultivate ourselves well and eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts. Although we don’t acknowledge anything of theirs, their malicious slander during this persecution has poisoned the minds of countless sentient beings.

If the vast majority of the people in this world today have really come from high levels to obtain the Fa, think about it—they aren’t just some simple beings, then. Even a Tathagata represents a gigantic group of beings. But they aren’t limited to Tathagatas—those who’ve come to the human world all have great abilities. Many cosmic bodies’ Kings and Lords have come here, and they represent gigantic cosmic bodies. But after coming to the ordinary human society, they became deluded and have even participated in this persecution of Dafa. Then if someone like that is eliminated, think about it, not only is he eliminated—what’s eliminated is also a gigantic cosmic body.

I’ve said that Dafa disciples are remarkable. In the midst of such a severe persecution, you’re still clarifying the truth to the world’s people and saving sentient beings. The beings that you’re saving, think about it, are they just ordinary human beings? If they really correspond to gigantic cosmic bodies, then when you clarify the truth to one of them you’re rescuing a gigantic cosmic body, a gigantic group of beings, and you are rescuing a Lord, or a King. I’d say, aren’t Dafa disciples magnificent? The things Dafa disciples are met with are all really significant. People in the past talked about saving sentient beings; those who were being saved were only trivial human beings, ordinary human beings. They weren’t worthy of being saved by Dafa disciples—it didn’t need to be done by my Dafa disciples. The things you do are all pretty significant. During today’s persecution, if an ordinary, everyday person can say to another person, “Don’t persecute Falun Gong, Falun Gong is good,” and as a result that person doesn’t persecute Dafa disciples, and in the future he even has the opportunity to remain and obtain the Fa, if he came down from a high level to obtain the Fa, then his cultivation will be rapid. Then think about it, his Consummation will be the Consummation of an enormous group of beings, and the Consummation of a Lord, or a King. Yet his Consummation was made possible by an everyday person. That everyday person, an ordinary everyday person, will even become a great divine being. Then even more so, what about Dafa disciples doing something so magnificent—they aren’t just saving one person or several persons, and they’re constantly taking the initiative to clarify the truth to the world’s people, constantly doing these things, and saving even more beings—isn’t that magnificent?

I have said before that for a Dafa disciple, reaching Consummation through personal cultivation is not that significant. It is only a Dafa disciple’s laying a foundation for himself in the cultivation process to prepare him for bigger things. If someone considers his individual Consummation the most important thing, I would say he’s not worthy of being a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period. So who can be called a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple? I know that there are actually 7 billion people in the world. Our Dafa students altogether numbered only 100 million earlier on. What kind of a ratio is that? Can’t those other people obtain the Fa? In the next stage there will still be people who cultivate, and there will still be people who reach Consummation, yet that will be nothing but personal cultivation. The reason is, those who obtain the Fa during the first stage are called “Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples.” You coexist with the Fa-rectification period, and Dafa has bestowed upon you magnificent responsibilities and missions; whereas those people who will obtain the Fa later on will only do personal cultivation. They won’t have this honor, and they’re not fortunate enough to be part of such a magnificent thing. So isn’t our saving sentient beings something truly remarkable, something truly magnificent? And in fact, it’s also very urgent.

I said earlier that if we don’t cultivate well, for our Dafa disciples it won’t just be a matter of painful regret when they reach Consummation later on. Those who have cultivated well will truly have a grand Consummation when they return—all the sentient beings who put infinite hope in them will be saved by them. But when some of those who don’t cultivate well return, they’ll find their universes in a broken and incomplete state. As for those who’ve gone to the opposite side during this persecution or even done awful things, let me tell you that Master still doesn’t want to abandon them. (Applause) Nothing of theirs at the surface can be brought back anymore. Because they haven’t cultivated well and haven’t done well, those enormous and numerous beings are all beyond saving. Since I don’t acknowledge the old forces’ arrangements and I don’t acknowledge this persecution, and since the old forces have separated the surface and Dafa disciples’ original natures, there are a lot of things Dafa disciples can’t do anything about, and their surfaces are manipulated by evil beings and have been driven to do some bad things—which is because they have attachments that have been taken advantage of by the evil beings—so I will extract the original natures of those Dafa disciples. Meanwhile, both the old forces who arranged that Dafa disciples’ surfaces would be manipulated to do bad things, and those evil beings who’ve been used by the old forces to directly persecute Dafa, will be stripped of their Attainment Statuses and be stripped of all their abilities. They’ll be thrust into the parts of the human bodies of those Dafa disciples, who were persecuted by them, which are made up of karma and all kinds of postnatally-acquired notions, and that part of the human body will be eliminated in the metabolic process—that is, the part that was taken advantage of by them—and after they are thrust into it, they will go down to hell together. This is because the bad things are really done by the old forces using the evil beings and manipulating people’s karma and notions. They cause such disciples of mine to return the same way they came, but to not bring anything back; meanwhile, when they return, the gigantic cosmic bodies they represent will be empty and will no longer have all the beings that used to be there. Since they didn’t cultivate well, everything will have turned bad and been weeded out, and it can only be re-created. That’s why I say that in your personal cultivation it’s extremely important that you keep persevering with Fa-study. If you don’t study the Fa well, when you do Dafa work there will be a lot of things that are hard for you to handle correctly or do well. But if you do study the Fa well, you’ll find many things a lot easier to do, and at the same time, problems will be less apt to occur. That’s why I’ve said that no matter how busy you are, you must study the Fa.

What I just talked about was the first thing. The second thing is that we need to make a priority of clarifying the truth. You need to know that clarifying the truth is extremely important for Dafa disciples. You aren’t just doing personal cultivation—your own cultivation is saving the beings in the gigantic cosmic bodies that you represent. When you clarify the truth you are saving even more and even larger additional cosmic bodies and the beings in those cosmic bodies, because this is the responsibility Dafa and history have bestowed upon you. Earlier I said that if a lot of beings in the world came with extraordinary backgrounds—if they are Kings, Lords, and Gods of huge cosmic bodies—then what they represent are huge cosmic bodies and numerous groups of beings. When you save such a person, think about it, aren’t you saving a divine being? He’s probably an extremely high-level divinity, and he corresponds to even larger cosmic bodies and numerous sentient beings. What kind of mighty virtue are we talking about, then? Is this a simple thing? Only Dafa disciples can have such great missions bestowed upon them.

So for you, personal Consummation is minor. You have cultivated multiple times in history, and have gone through journeys like this in many time periods. The current test of your reaching the standard for personal Consummation isn’t a big deal at all. That’s the standard for measuring how much of Dafa you grasp. Your process of personal cultivation and Consummation was actually laying a foundation for your safeguarding the Fa and validating the Fa later on. This is because you have to have certain qualities, and you have to have a deep understanding and grasp of the Fa; at the same time, in your own cultivation process you have to fully meet the personal standard that you are able to reach. Only then can you truly validate the Fa and do what a Dafa disciple should do at critical moments. So a Dafa disciple’s responsibilities aren’t for the sake of personal Consummation, but to save sentient beings while validating the Fa—that is a Dafa disciple’s historic mission, and that is why Dafa disciples are truly magnificent.

I’d like to tell you, actually, that the people in this world… the primary soul of the person inside that human skin, back when divine beings first created man, has gradually been left in other dimensions during recent time periods, and they haven’t been allowed to reincarnate over. The vast majority of human skins are now occupied by high-level beings. In other words, they wanted to come and obtain the Fa, and they needed to use human skins; Dafa disciples are included among them. That’s why your clarifying the truth is extremely important.

Of course, many students have been quietly doing large amounts of truth-clarifying work—passing out flyers, making phone calls, using the Internet, going to the consulates, and using all different forms of media to tell the world’s people the truth about Dafa and to expose the evil’s persecution. The students inside China are even more extraordinary—under the enormous pressure from the evil, they are validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. All of this is extraordinary, it’s magnificent. What’s more, you’ve done this of your own initiative. Whether it’s the bitter cold of winter, the intense heat of summer, or when everything is covered by ice and snow, or in the pouring rain, and no matter what people’s attitudes are or how difficult it is, you haven’t let up. Master knows about all of this. I see it, and I’m happy. I know that you’re choosing on your own to do what you should. This is what the overall body of Dafa disciples is doing. Of course, there are a few people who aren’t diligent, there are a few people whose understanding isn’t adequate. But they can’t represent the larger group. The overall body is doing really well. And on top of this, those who hadn’t stepped forward are gradually stepping forward. I’ve affirmed all of what you’re doing many times. In other words, Dafa disciples are doing things pretty much according to the requirements of Fa-rectification. There are no problems in all of this, and it’s extremely good.

Just now I discussed two things. The third thing is your sending forth righteous thoughts. These are the three things that Dafa disciples need to do at present. Sending forth righteous thoughts is another really magnificent thing for our Dafa disciples. This overwhelming persecution of Dafa, of Dafa students, and of the world’s people that has happened since July 20th of 1999 is unprecedented. In history, the persecutions of Christianity, Buddhism, and other religions were never this evil. Back then there weren’t massive media apparatuses like these, transportation means weren’t advanced, either, and persecutions were limited to small regions. Today, China’s area is vast, and the number of sentient beings who’ve been victimized is very large—in China alone more than a billion people have been directly victimized. But this persecution isn’t limited to just China. This persecution is actually worldwide—the slander has poisoned people’s minds the world over. Meanwhile, the lies and propaganda that have blanketed the earth have put enormous pressure on Dafa disciples. And more seriously, such lies and slander have poisoned people’s minds all over the world. This is the Fa of the cosmos. It is the Fa that created all life. If any being’s head contains bad thoughts about Dafa—think about it, Fa-rectification is now taking place and a being’s attitude toward Fa-rectification determines whether he remains or is eliminated—could that being still be kept when the Fa rectifies the human world? He’ll be weeded out as soon as Fa-rectification of the human world begins. So isn’t this a persecution of the whole world, of the entire human race?

Dafa disciples are remarkable. When the persecution first started, you had never come across anything like this, you weren’t mentally prepared, and you didn’t really know what to do. Then you gradually collected yourselves, and gradually you stepped forward to validate the Fa. Now you are more rationally exposing the evil and saving sentient beings. At this point we’ve basically allowed all governments and the vast majority of people around the entire world to know that our Falun Dafa is good. They all know that we’re being wrongfully persecuted, they all know the ugly nature of the evil head scoundrel in China and the warped, disgusting face of that tyrant and they can see clearly the evilness of the gang of political scoundrels. What we’ve been up against is the enormous propaganda machine of a nation that’s manipulated by an extremely evil, political scoundrel ruler. We’ve managed to let people all over the world learn the truth about the persecution, and to save those people whose minds were poisoned by the slander and lies. It’s remarkable—truly remarkable. The disciples in Mainland China are doing this even more so in the face of severe pressure. They have awakened the Chinese people. And they have awakened people all over the world, who now know the evilness of this persecution. Nobody is going along with it, and everyone is resisting it. Could the evil still keep it up, then? In fact, the evil factors that control the persecution are extremely few now, and the old forces think that they don’t have enough to test Dafa. The evil, too, has seen that it’s done for, that Dafa will never be eradicated.

Remember back when you first started to send forth righteous thoughts? Those evil beings that were persecuting Dafa disciples came over immediately, lining up in formation and beating their drums. Through sending forth righteous thoughts for a period of time, you have cleaned out large quantities of those evil factors. Now when you send forth righteous thoughts, your gong has to search all over for those evil things. As soon as Dafa disciples hold their palms erect they flee. Dafa disciples are able to righteously look the evil people straight in the eyes, and the evil people immediately try to avoid eye contact. That’s because the righteous thoughts scare off the evil beings that manipulate the evil people, since they know that if they flee just a bit too slowly they’ll be instantly eliminated by Dafa disciples’ righteous thoughts. That’s why the evil is now constantly contracting itself around where the evil is concentrated in China. The evil factors that are controlling people’s minds in other parts of the world are in the final stage of being eliminated.

I remember that when this had just started on July 20th of 1999, in many parts of the world nobody knew what Dafa was about—“Such a large-scale suppression is suddenly happening in China, what’s it all about?” Media outlets all over the world repeated China’s slanderous propaganda. The pressure was enormous back then. Of course, that was only the pressure’s outward form. There was also a fundamental kind of pressure. But even the outward pressure had never been seen before in history. You have gone against that kind of pressure and have rectified everything to this extent. That’s truly remarkable.

At that time, when the evil factors in the cosmos that are slated for elimination pressed down from above, they were extremely huge. They packed the entire Three Realms and the dimensions made up of layers upon layers of particles. The evil of the entire cosmos was pressing down—something that enormous was pressing down toward mankind and toward the Three Realms. You saw that the photograph of Earth published back then by the media looked like the face of a demon. But that was only the manifestation at Earth’s surface-layer dimension. If it weren’t for the Fa-rectification, not a single being in the Three Realms would have survived, because that thing was powerful enough to destroy a considerably large cosmic body. When the force of Fa-rectification destroyed all the things that were pressed down, the factors that had restrained people’s thoughts were eliminated as a whole, and the situation changed a lot after that. When you tried to clarify the truth before, a lot of people wouldn’t listen at all, and their behavior was foul. When you tried to clarify the truth again after those things were destroyed, people became willing to accept it, and they were able to listen to you. But they still weren’t rational enough, because those evil beings that had made their way into the Three Realms were still manipulating people—they were still manipulating people who had bad thoughts about Dafa. As a result of the slanderous propaganda, there were quite a few people like that, and that’s why the pressure on us was still pretty big. Also, many evil beings were really base. It was under those circumstances that I told you to send forth righteous thoughts. After the evil factors that were manipulating human beings were eliminated in the course of our sending righteous thoughts, only then did the world’s people fundamentally become clearheaded.

Throughout the entire process of Fa-rectification, my gong has been coming from the microcosm toward the surface. The speed is in fact extremely fast. I’ll talk about the speed of Fa-rectification in a minute. Before the force of Fa-rectification arrives at the surface level of human beings, or in other words, as Fa-rectification keeps progressing towards this surface, during this small gap of time before the surface goes through Fa-rectification, the evil old forces are displaying everything of theirs, and using the most evil and lowest-level, horribly messed up, odd-shaped beings to persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples. Dafa disciples, by contrast, are validating the Fa and saving sentient beings during this time before Fa-rectification arrives. Everything is being displayed during this period of time.

The force of Fa-rectification will continue to dash through the remaining dimensions right up until Fa-rectification is completely finished. But, until the force of Fa-rectification reaches the surface dimensions, the old Fa, the degenerated Fa of the cosmos, will still exist in the surface dimensions. Therefore, this old Fa will continue to govern all the beings in the old dimensions until Fa-rectification arrives. If this old Fa were destroyed too early, that is, if the old Fa were destroyed before Fa-rectification arrives, think about it, serious problems would occur: from the top of the cosmos to its bottom, the horizontal dimensions, the vertical dimensions, all dimensions would be thrown into disorder, all times in the cosmos would cease to exist, it would become the largest dimension, the fastest time, all of the beings in the old dimensions would turn rotten at the fastest speed in the fastest time, all matter would immediately go bad, and everything that remains at the surface of the old cosmos and that hasn’t gone through Fa-rectification would be done for and instantly disintegrate. This small bit of the old cosmos’s surface that hasn’t gone through Fa-rectification is also made up of countless gigantic dimensions, countless sentient beings, and countless gods, so before it has gone through Fa-rectification it can’t yet be destroyed, or else the sentient beings there would disintegrate before the Fa-rectification arrives and they wouldn’t be saved. Master isn’t saving just you and the people of the world—I’m also saving those high-level beings. The old beings aren’t able to see what the new cosmos is like, and they aren’t allowed to see it, either. So they’re following the old Fa-principles and upholding everything of the old cosmos. That’s why when I hold them to the requirements of the new cosmos they aren’t willing to comply—they can’t see it. Then, during the Fa-rectification, the old Fa is actually playing the role of interfering with me and the Dafa disciples. I have the ability to destroy it. But as I just said, to save sentient beings I can’t destroy it. If it were destroyed, these beings couldn’t be saved, and all the sentient beings in those cosmic bodies would be completely done for. Besides, the main body of our Dafa disciples is still here, and it would be even more difficult to offer them salvation.

So, many things can’t be looked at simplistically. If this old Fa isn’t done away with, it will make Fa-rectification difficult; but if this Fa is done away with, it will seriously impact the saving of sentient beings. When Dafa disciples send forth righteous thoughts, pure and righteous thoughts, to clean out the evil’s persecution of them, that’s allowed—the old Fa-principles include principles like that as well. This is the same idea as approaching cultivation with righteous thoughts, or as saving sentient beings with righteous thoughts. That’s why you can do this. If Master were to do it for you, the old Fa-principles and the old gods wouldn’t stand for it. I’ve already done many things for you, so if I overdid it, doing too much, or if I completely took over everything and did it all, the old Fa-principles and the beings in the old cosmos would see this and they absolutely would not stand for it. They would think that I had taken over everything of yours, and that Dafa disciples hadn’t done their own cultivation. So they would rise up to block it.

Of course, if they block things I can eliminate them. But would that work? A lot of things aren’t that simple. For example, I’ll give you an illustration. Some students in China haven’t conducted themselves too well at times. When they were arrested and persecuted, when those vicious policemen beat them, they beat them horribly. But at that moment, some students’ righteous thoughts weren’t adequate, and so the persecution that they suffered became even more severe. When the evil was beating them they forgot that they were Dafa disciples, and they didn’t think, “I’ll ask Master to help me.” Or, when some people did ask Master for help, they had a strong attachment of fear. When they were beaten and in a lot of pain, many of them cried out, “Oww! Mom!”1 They completely treated this persecution as a persecution of ordinary human beings against other human beings. Then if I tried to protect them at that time, those old forces wouldn’t stand for it, because they’re upholding the principles of the old cosmos; they think those are the only principles of the cosmos, and they can’t see the new cosmos. They would say: “This is your disciple? Do you think he sees you as his Master? Has he regarded himself as a cultivator? Does he have righteous thoughts? Has he put aside the thought of life and death? Has he remained solid and unshakable, like diamond?” At those moments, Master really couldn’t respond to them in the face of their criticism. Of course, you can’t say he isn’t my disciple just because of his behavior in one or two instances or during one lifetime. They know this, too, so they say: “The reason we beat him is to bring out his righteous thoughts. See, he doesn’t even acknowledge you as his Master. And he doesn’t regard himself as a Dafa disciple, either.”

That’s why sometimes Master was really left with nothing to say. But, since the cosmos is going through Fa-rectification, I don’t acknowledge this persecution one bit. I can completely clean out the gods who manipulate and utilize the evil beings, as well as the evil beings themselves. No matter how high their levels are, no matter who did the beating, who did the manipulating, who used others, or who arranged it, I can grab them with one swipe of my hand and destroy them. As I sit here, Master is just an ordinary person—just regard me as an ordinary person. But Master’s bodies in all other dimensions are immense beyond compare, with each one larger than the next; no matter how large the cosmos is, it’s still not as large as I am. (Applause) But think about it, everyone, if I were to destroy those beings, the old principles and the beings in the gigantic surface dimensions of the cosmos that haven’t gone through Fa-rectification would all see it and say, “What are you doing?” So they would gang up and attack, and form a force that opposes me. Even so, I would still be able to destroy them—no matter how many of them came, I could clean them out, strip them of their Attainment Statuses, and cast them down into hell. But think about it everyone, I came to save all beings. Aren’t those gods beings, too? They are beings of even higher levels, beings who are even more worthy of being saved. This Dafa disciple, on the other hand, doesn’t act like a Dafa disciple, yet for him I destroy countless, countless gods—think about it, is that right? No, it’s not. That’s why I’m telling you that it’s awfully hard for Master to take care of certain things. It’s not that Master doesn’t have the ability; it’s to allow all sentient beings to be saved. When you conduct yourselves righteously Master can do anything for you. If your righteous thoughts are truly strong, if you’re able to put aside the thought of life and death, and if you’re solid and unshakable like diamond, then those evil beings won’t dare to touch you, because they know that other than killing you any type of persecution will be useless. The evil will have no choice but to leave you alone. If in this scenario the evil still persecutes you, then Master will show no leniency. Master has countless Law Bodies, and on top of this, there are countless righteous gods helping me do things, and they will directly eliminate the evil, too. Didn’t I tell you before that each of you Dafa disciples has eight types of Heavenly Law-Guardians protecting you? It’s all because you haven’t done well enough that all these gods are being restrained by the old cosmos’s Fa-principles and can’t do anything, despite their really wanting to help.

What exactly, then, is the relationship between me and the old forces? Let me talk about this. The fact is, these old forces, strictly speaking, aren’t trying to destroy this Fa-rectification, and they don’t dare to destroy it. Their purpose, although it’s impure, is also to have this Fa-rectification succeed, it’s just that they want all of this to follow their requirements—they want Fa-rectification to follow their requirements—which is absolutely prohibited. That’s because all beings in the cosmos have degenerated, and even the original elements that make up their beings are no longer pure—even the elements of the elements are no longer pure. They can’t detect this themselves, and no matter what they do, they won’t be able to make themselves truly pure again. They can’t even meet the requirements of Fa-rectification and of the new cosmos—how could they rectify the Fa? How could the Fa-rectification follow their requirements? If after the Fa-rectification the new cosmos were created according to the standards and requirements of the old cosmos’s beings, then wouldn’t it still be the old cosmos? Wouldn’t that be changing the form of things without addressing the underlying issue? None of the sentient beings in the old cosmos have any idea what the cosmos was like in its original, purest, and most righteous state, so how could this be done their way? That’s why I can’t acknowledge them. But they don’t want to be disintegrated amidst the old Fa-principles of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, so, out of instinct they want to save themselves. The beings from the highest level to the lowest level of the cosmos have taken part in this, in this complete system that runs all the way down; at each level twenty percent of the beings have taken part, and each level is arranging specifically how to help me do Fa-rectification. But the layers upon layers of beings have become impure, and even the last being has become impure. When they’re helping me, at the same time they hide their selfish intention of protecting themselves. They all want to change others but not themselves—no one wants to change himself—and they even try to preserve as much as possible the things they’re attached to and won’t let go of. They’ve done a lot of things very poorly throughout the process; they did some of the things intentionally, while with some other things, they couldn’t even realize that those were bad things. So none of what they’ve done can meet the standard of the new cosmos, and it couldn’t even meet the standard of the initial stage of the old cosmos, so it’s far from the requirements of the new cosmos—it’s totally different. These beings have no way of knowing what the new cosmos is like. At this critical moment, the behavior of sentient beings toward Fa-rectification is determining their future. In other words, amidst the Fa-rectification, all beings are being tested and repositioned, including being weeded out. That’s why they’re not at all allowed to know what the new cosmos is like. Everything that’s gone through Fa-rectification is completely different from everything they arranged.

While we’re on this subject, let me first talk a little about time. Actually, the Fa-rectification is moving very fast. Outside the cosmic body, everything of the new cosmos can be created as quickly as the wave of a hand. Although that’s just an analogy, it’s really as if it’s just done with a wave of the hand—it’s that fast. Then why has it taken me more than ten years to carry this out? The fact is, there are different dimensions in the cosmos, and each dimension has a different time. In the cosmos, from the largest to the smallest, from the infinitely microcosmic to the infinitely macrocosmic, there are countless particles, on each particle there’s an independent time, and each time has a different length. Then inside the different-sized worlds that are composed of particles, there are times; inside the even more gigantic cosmic bodies that are composed of countless particles, there are times as well; and then the gigantic groups of particles that are at the same levels, existing as a whole, also have even more gigantic times. In the cosmos there are so many different times that they’re as countless as the beings in the cosmos. And the cosmos as a whole has another time, which contains countless, countless times that have their specific effects in all the different dimensions; all these times were created for the ways of existence of the sentient beings in the different dimensions. So some dimensions’ times are very fast, while some dimensions’ times are very slow. The sentence that I just uttered about the different speeds in different dimensions, for example, from the beginning of it up to now, some dimensions’ times have proceeded at the same speed as mine here, while in some dimensions several days have already passed, in some dimensions ten of thousands of years have already passed, and in some dimensions hundreds of millions of years, or thousands of billions of years have already passed, that fast. This is because the cosmos is incredibly gigantic, the particles inside it are infinitely microcosmic and infinitely macrocosmic, and they all have their own times. Think about it, no matter how large the entire cosmos is, if Fa-rectification is done beyond all concepts of time that are in the cosmos, beyond everything, if it’s done outside of the cosmos’s time and not restricted by any certain time, then no matter how large the cosmos is and how many different times there are, outside the cosmic body it’s completed with a wave of the hand. And that speed is faster than even the fastest time in the cosmos. But, have you thought about something? In some places hundreds of millions of years have already passed while this wave takes place.

It’s not too bad in this human dimension—it’s only been ten-plus years since Fa-rectification began, and it’s only been two-plus years since July 20th of 1999, spanning four calendar years, and my Fa-rectification has only been ten-plus years. Think about it, isn’t that fast? It’s actually very fast—all of this is done in the time it takes for a wave of the hand, and the difference in time manifest in the human dimension is more than ten years. What’s more, the overall time of the cosmos has been pushed faster since Fa-rectification began. Before July of 1999, what used to be one second was one whole day. Even now it’s still speeding up. What used to be about one second is one whole year now—and this is only an average figure, and it’s still accelerating.

Think about it, everyone, when time is this fast, [what you are going through] amounts to nothing in light of the entire history of your existence, or the eternity of your existence. In the future, when you look back on this period of time [you’ll find that] it was only an instant, that it was nothing. At the beginning of this persecution, each day felt like a year to you all. Even during this recent period of time, many students have been wondering, “When will it end? When is this persecution going to end?” Some people are thus thinking about Master having written in his poems that spring is coming, (everyone laughs) and think, “Oh, so it’ll end in the spring?” I also mentioned autumn in my poems, (everyone laughs) so some students said, “It must mean it’s going to end in autumn.” Then when autumn was over and it didn’t end, they seemed to be somewhat disappointed. Think about it, isn’t that using ordinary human thinking to look at these things?

If one person thinks this way, or two people think this way, or maybe three people think this way, it’s not a big deal. But if Dafa disciples as a whole or if more people are thinking this way, then isn’t that a strong attachment, a strong obstacle? Instead of truly using this period of time well, you’re hoping that it will end soon. Think about it, if we ended it today, how many people in China would die? A lot of people correspond to numerous beings in even larger cosmic bodies, so if this ended immediately, how many beings would be weeded out? If due to our inability to clear out the evil thoughts in their heads that are hostile to the Great Fa of the cosmos, and yet many of them represent gigantic cosmic bodies, then how many beings in the universes that correspond to them would die as a result of these people being weeded out? Do you realize how many beings would be weeded out? Have you thought about this? You are Dafa disciples; history has bestowed upon you magnificent responsibilities. We should make good use of this time. Since this hasn’t ended it’s a chance to save sentient beings. There’s only a short while left; once the Fa-rectification of the human world begins, the positioning of people will be set. Although we don’t acknowledge the arrangements of the old forces, during this period of time you have tempered yourselves and have established Dafa disciples’ mighty virtue. When Dafa is persecuted, the first thing Dafa disciples should think of is saving sentient beings and how to validate Dafa. Isn’t that magnificent? We don’t acknowledge this arrangement by the evil one bit, but after all, the persecution has taken place, and after all, the evil has persecuted so many sentient beings. Shouldn’t our first thought be how to make good use of time to save them? To treat it as an ordinary human persecution against other human beings, to think with an ordinary human mind, “When will they restore our name? When will it end?”—think about it, are these the thoughts a Dafa disciple should have?

Don’t worry that it will take a long time. I can tell you that Christianity rose after three hundred years of persecution. Is a Dafa disciple, with his important mission, not as good as an ordinary cultivator? What’s crucial is how we understand things. Let me ask you, if it would take another ten years to save all sentient beings, would you still do it? (The students reply together, “Yes!”) (Applause) That’s how a Dafa disciple should be. (Applause) Of course, there won’t be another ten years. It’s not allowed to take that long, and they don’t have that much time left in their lives.

But what’s crucial is how Dafa disciples look at things. If one or two people think this way it’s not a problem. But if all Dafa disciples think this way, then that’s a problem. Do you remember how before April 25th of 1999 that Premier of China said positive things about Dafa? When our students went to appeal on April 25th, he met with some Dafa disciples and said good things. After the persecution started, this caused some of our students to develop a lot of ordinary human thoughts, thinking: “I hope the chief of the evil in Mainland China dies soon. I hope he2 falls from power so the premier can take his place. And if the premier is in power, won’t our name be restored?” Didn’t it cross your mind: this is the Fa of the cosmos, so if humans want to attack it, you think they can just attack it? And if human beings want to restore our name, you think they can just restore our name? Humans aren’t worthy of that! How could you pin your hopes on an ordinary person? You are Dafa disciples! Each one of you Dafa disciples represents a large, gigantic dimension. What does mankind amount to? It’s only that the old forces are using it and have sealed off your greater abilities. How could you think that way about things? If all of you think that way, the old forces will see it and think: “How can they all have those thoughts? Those thoughts have to be removed, so let’s make that premier turn bad.” They would rather make him turn bad in order to get rid of your ordinary human thoughts. Isn’t that right? The old forces have no regard for human life—if they want to kill, they’ll just kill. Amidst the Fa-rectification they’re only attached to their own arrangements.

If the Fa-rectification really were damaged, the cosmos would truly cease to exist, and the old forces would be gone, too; not a single being would exist, and everything would disintegrate. Although the old forces want to renew the cosmos, in reality they can’t accomplish that. So their being attached to what they want to do and the role they play trying to control the Fa-rectification is one hundred percent bad. All the interference with Fa-rectification was arranged by them, so when things aren’t done according to their arrangements and wishes, they do bad things. In the Fa-rectification these beings are to be weeded out. While clarifying the truth, you’ve seen that some people are really hard to save now. Actually, I can tell you that a lot of people in the world are already completely beyond saving. Do you remember that line I wrote, “How many can be saved by mercy?” Dafa disciples, no matter how much you sacrifice when you clarify the truth, I’ve got to tell you, in the end there will still be many beings that can’t be saved—they’re doomed to be weeded out. I know how many people in Mainland China will be eliminated, and it’s terrifying—the number is just enormous.

Let me go back to where I was. I was talking about the relationship between the old forces and me. The old forces saw that according to the Fa-principles of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, the cosmos would head toward its final stage. In order to save themselves, they started to arrange this as early as a very remote age. No one knows who I am. I do not know who I am, either. No being has ever seen me, and no being has ever called me by any name. I have neither form nor name, and I am different from anything that composes any being in the cosmos. To the sentient beings in the cosmos, I have nothing. Perhaps when the cosmos is no more, only I am there. I have nothing. No being knows who I am. Yet without me, the cosmos wouldn’t exist. The reason I have come here is to save all sentient beings amidst the Fa-rectification at a time when the colossal firmament of the cosmos is disintegrating.

Actually, everything that the old forces have done is out of a natural instinct that the cosmos’s beings have to try to save themselves. But it’s useless. Every time before the colossal firmament was about to end, the beings in those times all did this too, but they actually accelerated the disintegration. In other words, during the Fa-rectification, all that the behavior of the sentient beings shows is their attitude towards the Fa-rectification, and this determines whether they are kept or not—how good their attitudes are toward Fa-rectification is evaluated and used to reposition them. In other words, these are nothing more than the sentient beings’ performances at the final stage of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction.

When I directly appeared at the lower-middle level of the colossal firmament, the high-level beings in the colossal firmament saw it. From having nothing, I amassed myself into something—but not a composition of particles, since I have no particles. You know, I couldn’t come here, to where humans are, in just one step; if the composition of someone’s body is very microcosmic it affects everything in the universe. In other words, regardless of a being’s level, if he enters a universe at a lower level that universe will be destroyed, because the more microcosmic the matter, the more energy it has, and the more its radiation. Although a god’s energy has intelligence and is merciful, it will still change everything. So he has to reincarnate level by level, and only when he has a surface of that level of particles can he stay at that level. But think about it, everyone, this takes an extremely long time, then. So that’s how I entered step by step.

I’m not the only one—a lot of gods in the colossal firmament have come down to the human world, and they, too, had to come down step by step like this. Many gods from different levels have come from the cosmos, and they came with the purpose of saving the colossal firmament. To humans, they are beings at extremely high levels. They vowed to save all this, and indeed a lot of them came down. Their original intention was good, but they were unable to carry it out. Not only couldn’t they do it, but they also couldn’t return anymore. Actually, it doesn’t matter who it is, once someone enters the Three Realms it’s impossible for him to ever return. But no matter how many came, the beings at the highest level of the colossal firmament saw that none of them could carry it out. They, too, were watching me all along, and they saw it very clearly from up there—“Ahh, this one can do it.” They thought that the composition of my being was different from that of all other beings in the cosmos, and that nothing could change my essential nature. So they decided to choose me. In fact, many gods have come to the Earth.

Although they chose me, they didn’t know who I really was. So why did I still go along with some of the arrangements they made in history? Because this involves an important issue. You know, I just talked about how there are three categories of people among Dafa disciples, and one of them came to establish a karmic relationship. The number of Dafa disciples in this group is quite large. They came from distant cosmic bodies to establish a karmic relationship, and they represent numerous sentient beings in very distant and gigantic cosmic bodies; as representatives sent by sentient beings, they came to Earth to establish a karmic relationship since Fa-rectification was going to be done here. If I hadn’t taken part in this, think about it, then those beings at the highest level of the cosmos would have chosen someone else to establish a karmic relationship with, and the numerous gods from distant cosmic bodies would have chosen someone else to establish a karmic relationship with. This is no minor thing. If the old forces had meticulously arranged for another being things at each level that were for renewing the colossal firmament, it would have led to a terrible situation. Wouldn’t they have established a karmic relationship with the wrong person? Of course, even if that had happened, they still wouldn’t have been able to block my Fa-rectification. But a serious problem would have occurred: when it reached the time when salvation would start, the person they had chosen would have started to do it, even though he wouldn’t have been able to do it; meanwhile I would have started to do true Fa-rectification; then they would have definitely thought that I was interfering with them, and they would have deployed all the beings in this entire old cosmos to annihilate me—they would have definitely thought that I was someone who was disrupting their affairs, and tried to annihilate me. But no one would have been able to annihilate me, and no one would have been able to block my Fa-rectification. So think about it, what would have happened? The speed of Fa-rectification absolutely cannot be affected, so if they had impeded it I would have eliminated them. They would have been destroyed instantly, and no matter how many of them took part, they would have all been destroyed. Then think for a moment—didn’t I come to save all sentient beings? If they were all destroyed, who would I have been saving? That’s why back in history when they chose me, I considered it from the perspective of saving them, and didn’t object to it, but I couldn’t let them know who I was, either. So that’s how they arranged everything in the colossal firmament, including everything that has taken place in the history of mankind. My thinking was that when the Fa-rectification began, it would be a test for them, as well. And since nothing they would do could meet the standard of the new cosmos, I would just regard everything they do as a game. “If you want to play, I’ll play along.” And that’s all. As for what the Fa-rectification is truly like, that’s a different matter. They are absolutely not allowed to know what the new cosmos is like. No being is to be left out of the Fa-rectification. They think that they chose me, that it’s equivalent to saving me, and that they’ve made great contributions. As for what the cosmos would be like and what they themselves would be like after Fa-rectification, they wanted to have what they wanted and to keep what they wanted to keep. Let’s think about this. Say that the new cosmos is one of pure gold: if one impure being got in, wouldn’t it become impure? How could that be allowed? No being can escape the Fa-rectification—no one can. Everything in the cosmic body, in the colossal firmament, is part of it. So in other words, no matter how the old forces went about arranging things, I let them arrange them, but in the end this undertaking absolutely can’t be done according to their requirements. So that’s why all of these impediments have come about today; they’re the result of the old forces insisting on having me follow their arrangements. No matter how big these impediments are, it actually hasn’t affected the essence of my Fa-rectification. And the speed is just as fast. It’s being done according to my requirements all the same—the new cosmos is establishing everything completely according to Dafa’s standards. In fact, the old forces are just acting up during this gap of time before the Fa-rectification arrives; and Dafa disciples are also upholding the Fa and saving sentient beings during this time; the evil, base beings that are being used by the old forces, meanwhile, are doing things here that persecute Dafa disciples and sentient beings; and the wicked people who are being manipulated by the base, evil beings are, also during this time, doing evil.

For how long have the old forces been arranging such things here where humans are? For two Earths’ time. I said before that Dafa was taught in the human world back in the past. A lot of students then asked me when it was taught. It was taught on the previous Earth. Why? The previous Earth was an experiment conducted for this Earth. The old forces experimented with the last Earth so as to make sure there wouldn’t be problems at the end with their arrangements for the renewal. It was to make sure that no problems would come up, and to prevent it from going awry. So why did they need to do such a long-term experiment? Because there had never before been any beings like man here at this Earth’s location. Why do I always talk about alien beings? It’s because no matter how many Earths were renewed in the past, the main beings here at this Earth’s location were like alien life-forms. There were differences in each time period, but none of them had the image of man.

Why did the gods in history create man in their own image? This has been a mystery to the cultivation world, too. I’ll tell you, it’s because the Fa was to be taught here, and sentient beings who listen to the Fa need to have an appearance that’s worthy of listening to the Fa. Bringing a bunch of animals here to listen to the Fa would be an insult to the Great Fa, and that’s just not allowed. If it weren’t for Dafa’s being taught, were a god to create beings here with man’s image, all the gods would eliminate him, since that would be the same as insulting gods. It was for Fa-rectification that gods created human beings on Earth in their own image. Asians were created by gods who resemble Asians, Westerners were created by gods who resemble Westerners, and gods who resemble black people created black people, and other races of people were created by other gods. At that time all humans called those gods who created them Lords. But now ninety percent of the human race are beings from high levels, and most of them are from very high levels. They are merely using the human skins that gods created back then; they don’t really have a direct relationship with the gods who created human beings. Back when I taught the Fa on the first Earth, I didn’t teach a Fa of this magnitude, because that was only for experimental purposes. The Fa that was taught only saved sentient beings to the Falun Paradise, so the sentient beings that were saved during that period are all in the Falun Paradise. That Earth was allowed to exist until the final stage. The technology at that time was quite advanced; that was when the moon was sent up there. Yet the highly-developed industrial sector made the air, the water, the soil, the plants, and the food of humans—everything at that time—become deformed. In the end, even humans became deformed, Earth’s energy was completely depleted, and the humans of that period came to an end.

So this period of Earth began 100 million years ago. Some of you present here might be thinking, “But what I learned from textbooks is that it’s been 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion years.” I can tell you that the period of each Earth has lasted 100 million years, and the previous Earth also lasted 100 million years. But in Zhuan Falun I also told you that the artifacts on Earth date back hundreds of millions of years, and that some of them go back more than 2 billion years. I was only trying to tell people that prehistoric civilizations existed. People are allowed to know only that much; that is, that within the history of this 100 million years mankind also created many cultures that predate history. The planets that were previously at Earth’s location also went through disintegration and re-creation many times. In the cosmos many planets disintegrate and their remnants float about, forming dust and small star-like objects. In the gigantic cosmic body, planets are continually disintegrating and continually re-forming, and they are disintegrated by explosions. Earth was also re-formed from previous Earths consecutively exploding and then re-forming into the next Earth—one explodes, the next one re-forms. There’s a lot of dust in space. Some of it is huge, some of it’s like large rocks, some of it is as large as several square kilometers, and some is even as large as 100 square kilometers. There have been civilizations on every planet, and previous Earths also had civilizations. So, on many big pieces of things that weren’t completely destroyed by the explosions, there are remnants of the previous creatures’ civilizations. When Earth was re-created it was done by putting together this cosmic dust, and this is why there are remnants of artifacts and of civilizations from previous Earths and other planets. So if I didn’t reveal this today, geologists and historians wouldn’t be able to figure out which periods the materials on this Earth are from, regardless of the methods they use. This Earth, as I just said, has a history of 100 million years; counting up to the present it’s exactly 100 million years, and it has reached the age of the previous Earth that was here. Of course, during these 100 million years mankind has gone through several civilizations, and been destroyed by gods many times for its moral decay. The so-called civilization mankind has right now was purposefully arranged by the old forces—it’s not a true human culture.

Then why not directly create human skins at the time when the Fa is taught and have gods come down here to listen to the Fa? Why instead create man so much earlier in history? You need to know that when gods create humans, they can’t include in them gods’ thoughts and ways of thinking, since that would make them complete gods, not human beings. And that’s not allowed. Although humans have the appearance of gods, gods can’t regard humans as their kin, for humans behave completely differently from gods. So, what were humans like initially? The body structure of humans was created by gods, so it is the most perfect human body system in this dimension. All the alien beings sigh in admiration when they see it! Of course, it also includes humans’ three souls and seven spirits, and together this forms a complete human body. Without the three souls and seven spirits it would only be a human body’s surface, or a “human skin.” The concept of the “human skin” is different from the skin that human beings know. Gods consider everything of the human body at the outermost surface that’s made up of molecular particles, including its bones, blood, internal organs, and so on, the entire human body structure at the surface, or to put it another way, looking at it from the microcosm, the human that’s made up of molecular cells at the surface, everything that’s visible to the human eye when the body is dissected, gods refer to this whole structure at the surface as a “human skin.” They aren’t referring to the skin of human beings.

But a human who lacks the ability to understand the cosmos and all the things in the human world, or to understand how life manifests, and who lacks the ability to endure the changes in the kaleidoscopic world, who doesn’t have any formed ideas, and who can’t understand or adapt to the cosmos, the earth, or the natural world—how would he act? I’ll tell you, when happy things came about, he would run up a tree and roar with endless laughter, laughing so hysterically it’s scary. When something sad and painful happened to him he would burrow into the ground, and he wouldn’t be able to get over it for days. When he came across something that angered him, he would vent his anger without any thought of the consequences. And he would die of happiness, anger, sadness, or joy. Think about it, could this type of person listen to the Fa? Yet when humans were first created they were like that; they didn’t have any substance to them, they didn’t have any endurance, and their concept and understanding of the things in this dimension were incomplete. So people had to go through a long period of time to gradually enrich the human mind and give them substance and endurance. This wasn’t something that could be done in a short time, so these 100 million years were spent doing this. The way people act today is such that they don’t panic when something happens to them, they stay composed and calm, they think rationally, and they even have creativity. The fact that human beings have such minds and think normally as they do is a result of gods purposefully creating this for humans over an incredibly long period of time in history. And this process, I can tell you, continued until five thousand years ago.

When it arrived at this time period of the last five thousand years of China’s semi-divine culture, a systematic normalizing of the human mind began so that it would be able to accept the Fa. Although the principles in the human dimension are reversed, the Great Fa of the cosmos is upright. When I teach the Fa, the inner meanings of the Fa-principles, the words, and the ways it’s expressed are heard differently at different levels above the Three Realms, but the Fa-principles are still consistent throughout. The different realms that different beings have elevated to account for the differences—they aren’t misaligned. If I taught one way here among humans and another way in the heavens, think about it, this Fa wouldn’t be all-encompassing—and we can’t have that—because in the Fa-rectification the Fa taught here among humans has to correspond to the entire cosmos. When I teach the Fa, the me’s at level after level are teaching the Fa, too, and sentient beings at level after level are listening to the Fa.

Then how was man’s thinking to be shaped and normalized in a way that would allow him to understand the Fa when he hears It? However I was going to teach the Fa, that’s how mankind’s culture and the human mind would have to be shaped. People around the world all know what virtue is, what faith is, what goodness is, what evil is, and what good and bad are—these are the most basic. In China they manifest more concretely, and their inner meanings are deeper. Since the Fa was to be taught there and this undertaking was to be done there, a rich culture that could truly allow people to recognize and understand the Fa needed to be created there. I told you before that in history I was forming karmic relationships with many of my Dafa disciples all along. Establishing the karmic relationships was only the outer goal; after forging the karmic relationships, Dafa disciples and I also had to shoulder the responsibility of creating man’s civilization and the culture that Dafa would require. This is because in history, if an ordinary, everyday person wanted to leave behind in mankind’s history—which was created for teaching Dafa—a civilization, historical remnants, or a theory, that absolutely wouldn’t have been allowed. So all of the culture that’s been passed down from history was made by Dafa disciples; and of course there was also Master, who was leading you. Mankind’s history is like a play, and you played all the roles—from kings to common folk, from heroes to villains (laughter), from intellectuals, to famous people, to heroes. Now don’t laugh! If nobody played the role of villain, then when I taught the Fa today nobody would know what a villain is, what a villain’s actions are, how he thinks and feels, or what a villain looks like. There can’t be blank spots in the Fa.

You know about Romance of the Three Kingdoms,3 right? Romance of the Three Kingdoms demonstrated “yi.”4 Through a dynasty and a contest of strength among three powers, the inner meaning of yi was fully demonstrated. Also, it was over a period of time as long as a dynasty that the deep meaning of yi was demonstrated, and only after that does mankind, when the Fa is taught today, have a deep understanding of yi, and know what yi is, the extended relationship between its surface and its inner meaning, or how it manifests at deeper levels. People can’t just know this word’s surface meaning—they need to understand all of its inner meaning. Of course, Romance of the Three Kingdoms also demonstrated the resourcefulness of man and other qualities.

Yue Fei5 from the Southern Song dynasty demonstrated what “loyalty” is. What is “loyalty”? You can’t just say it and give an explanation. Only after an entire dynasty were people able to really know its true inner meaning, what it’s related to at deeper levels, and how it’s demonstrated in action.

In history, there were also different schools of thought, and there were also the concepts of benevolence, yi, propriety, learning, trustworthiness, and so on, that Confucius set forth with his teaching of the golden mean. Only after Shakyamuni, Lao Zi, and Jesus came could people today truly know about genuine and upstanding faiths, cultivation, Buddhas, Daoist divinities, divine beings, and so on—these kinds of things. Throughout history the thinking of today’s mankind was being enriched, and this has allowed people to recognize and understand the Fa, and to obtain the Fa. The entire course of mankind’s history was laying this foundation. In other words, it was for teaching Dafa that human beings and human culture were created—it’s not that the Fa is being taught in keeping with mankind’s culture, and even less is it the product of mankind’s culture. So this is what we’ve done in these five thousand years.

While we’re on this subject, let me put it most vividly: the human world is like a play, where again and again, it’s as if one dynasty begins to play out after the curtain opens, and then when it ends, the curtain closes; then it opens again and a different dynasty replaces the last one. Dynasty after dynasty, one after another, they paraded through in this way, formed karmic relationships, left behind history, and created the cultures needed by mankind, performing one scene after another. Why are these called “dynasties” in China, but elsewhere “countries”? Why are their leaders called “kings,” while in China they’re called “emperors”? Let me tell you, this isn’t a difference in terminology or cultures. Since mankind was created for Dafa, Dafa is this play’s main theme, and all sentient beings’ existences revolve around this main theme. It’s just that people have been engrossed with the conflicts and clashes that have been acted out in the details of the play, and have forgotten the play’s main theme and the purpose of life. The play’s stage is China.

Dynasty after dynasty, the people in each dynasty were a dynasty of people from the heavens. They are representatives from distant cosmic bodies, representing the countless sentient beings there and having come here to form a karmic relationship so that those sentient beings wouldn’t be left out during the Fa-rectification. While forming a karmic relationship during their dynasty, they left behind the culture that they brought with them. And after they formed their karmic relationship, in the next life they reincarnated in other regions and waited for the day when Dafa would be taught. Every dynasty was like this, and all ethnicities in the world incarnated in China—and this includes people in every country. Other than the large number of beings from higher realms that came after I began to teach the Fa in recent times, the people in each country incarnated in China at some point in history. No matter which country you’re in, you were first Chinese on this earth, because your first incarnation was there. Having said this much, I need to tell you that the form and the inner meaning of China as a country actually don’t exist. Are you shocked by what I just said? Actually, Chinese culture was left behind by all the world’s people in different dynasties; and these people reincarnated in other regions after they formed a karmic relationship. For example, today’s Americans were people of the Great Ming dynasty. Today’s Americans like Daoism a lot and still demonstrate the values of that time. Back when Daoism reached its height of popularity in the Ming dynasty, in some cities almost every family had a crucible set up in the home. England was the Great Tang, France was the Great Qing, Italy was the Yuan, Australia was the Xia, Russia was the Zhou, Sweden was the Northern Song, Taiwan was the Southern Song, and Japan was the Sui. In those times, people from each dynasty left China and reincarnated to places that didn’t have the countries that are there now—they were still rugged wilderness. So most people reincarnated all over the world in a scattered way, and only returned to their places in recent times. People from one dynasty went one place, while people from another dynasty went to another place—that’s how it went. So, strictly speaking, where is “China”? And who are “the Chinese people”? “China” in the truest sense doesn’t exist.

“But now it exists, right? Because it, too, is now called a country, and there are no longer dynasties.” Actually, it still doesn’t exist, because when the last scene was to be performed, when the Fa was to be taught, the sentient beings all over the world who had formed a karmic relationship with me, the people who were most likely to obtain the Fa and those who would play a negative role when Dafa spread widely, all reincarnated back in China. Whether it’s the ones who came to obtain the Fa or those who came to do damage, they all came for this Fa, were born for the Fa, and were formed for the Fa—everyone is in place. That’s why the people in China today are the most eclectic; it’s because the positive and negative beings from around the world who came for the Fa-rectification period have gathered there. But regardless of whether a being came to play a positive or negative role, since the Fa-rectification doesn’t acknowledge the old forces’ arrangements, as long as a being can look at and handle the Fa-rectification correctly, there’s still hope that he won’t be weeded out. And if he can obtain the Fa, I will save him. There’s something I’ve mentioned to you before. I asked, do you know why democracy appeared in the world? The fundamental reason is that the Kings of those ethnicities, who came from those cosmic bodies, have all reincarnated in China, so who in those other regions could declare himself a King? In the end, those high-level old force beings decided, “Let’s have those humans elect their leaders themselves.” When someone is elected he can’t be called a King. “So let’s call him a president.” Anyway, even after he becomes their leader he still can’t be treated like a King; when he becomes bad, people can say bad things about him, and if he becomes even worse he can be impeached, and someone else will be elected. This is the real reason why those beings up there arranged democracy. There are other factors, too. What manifests at this human place also includes principles of the human level. Humans have no idea what’s going on. So even though the people in China don’t look especially striking—which is due to the large amount of karma in recent times—although this skin is no longer that pretty, the substance inside is significant. Think about how scary it will be if the sentient beings there are destroyed. Whether it be those that they represent, or the dimensions and sentient beings that they correspond to themselves, they’re all major groups of beings.

Having talked about these things, I’ll talk about something else. I just mentioned that this Earth’s history has only been 100 million years long. Basically, the 100 million years on this Earth is divided into two major periods, with 50 million years in each period. The first 50 million years was the period in which giants, dwarves, and medium-sized people coexisted. The giants had an average height of five meters; the medium-sized people were the same as us modern people, with an average height of less than two meters; and dwarves were only a few inches tall. When gods created people, why did they simultaneously create these three types? It was to test out which of these three types of people would be suited to live on Earth until the final stage and be suited to obtain the Fa. During those 50 million years, man’s ability to understand the world was constantly being shaped, while at the same time it was being determined which type of person would be kept. At the end it was found that the giants weren’t suitable. Since they had large bodies, distances were shortened for them, in terms of their relation to the Earth. They also shortened time, relatively speaking, because giants’ consumption of material resources was not proportionate to the Earth. Later on it was found that dwarves also weren’t proportionate—forests were everywhere on the Earth, and it was hard for them to clear trees. At that time there was no cleared land, and it would have been hard for them to establish a civilization such as today’s. Meanwhile, time on Earth seemed to be too long for dwarves, and distances were too great; crossing oceans would have proved far too difficult for dwarves. So they weren’t suitable. The giants and dwarves were then weeded out. They weren’t weeded out right away—50 million years passed before they started to be gradually weeded out from history. It was two centuries ago that giants finally disappeared from our sight; in other words, it was just over two hundred years ago that giants finally vanished from sight. Dwarves, meanwhile, were still sighted just seventy or eighty years ago. Only in recent times did they become extinct, and it’s not that they’re completely gone—some went to other dimensions, and some went into the earth. They know that they are people who’ve been weeded out, so they don’t make contact with modern people.

Now that we’re on this topic, I’ll unveil two mysteries of the past. Mankind can’t explain how the pyramids were built. How did people transport such huge stones? For several human beings who are five meters tall, moving them is no different from today’s man moving a big rock. Constructing those pyramids, for the five-meter-tall people, was the same as us constructing a building today. Another mystery is, why were there large animals like dinosaurs? The truth is, they were prepared for the giants. There’s no difference between the way a five-meter-tall person looks at large animals like dinosaurs and the way our people today look at cows. Different species needed to be prepared for different humans. Everything on the Earth was created for man, formed for man. I can also tell you, while I’m at it, that animals absolutely cannot be equated with humans—you absolutely cannot think of them as the same. You can have mercy for them and you can care for them, but you absolutely cannot treat them like human beings. Man was created by gods; to compare animals to humans is the same as insulting man and blaspheming gods. The truth of history will soon be shown to people, and at that time mankind will have the true, right concepts of the cosmos, life, and matter. Today when some people do archaeological work they go and stick human bones onto dinosaurs, and with regard to the building of the pyramids, people also use the existing, narrow understandings to think about it and make deductions. The truth is, many understandings science has about this immediate physical world are wrong, and even their starting point is wrong. Even the theory of gravity is wrong. I’ll tell people about these things when there’s an opportunity.

I just lifted the veil covering man’s history. (Applause) It wasn’t to discuss history, because mankind was created and formed for Dafa. So I was teaching you the Fa while telling you this history, as all of this is related to the Fa. Many things are really important for Dafa disciples, especially since these things and everything that you’re now doing are all interwoven with your responsibilities to Dafa, and since they include Dafa disciples’ own profound and critical factors. I’m explaining this in hopes that from this point on you’ll do even better in the Fa-rectification. You’ve got to try hard, and you’ve got to do well, because what you want is to consummate everything, and you have responsibilities—you have come with the mission and responsibility of saving sentient beings. Throughout history people have declared that they would save sentient beings. But who knew the true meaning of saving sentient beings? You are truly saving sentient beings, and only you are worthy of doing something this magnificent. Make sure you don’t lose this opportunity!

I think I won’t say much more. Next, if any of you still have questions that you need to ask, that you think are important, you can ask them, and I’ll use the time we have to answer them for you. As for the specific things in your work, your life, or your cultivation, those are factors and conditions that allow you to improve in your personal cultivation, they are what you need to enlighten to and tests that you need to pass yourself. I think I should let you get the mighty virtue you’ll have from enlightening on your own. If I answer them for you it won’t be yours.

Student: When sending forth righteous thoughts, do the formulas and the hand positions correspond to one another in a specific way?

Master: No, it’s up to you which of the two hand positions you use with which of the two formulas.

Student: During the Fa-rectification [some people] listen to what’s said by the students whose Third Eyes are open, instead of using the Fa to evaluate everything.

Master: At all times, whether you are doing things as a group or are validating the Fa as an individual, everything has to be centered on Dafa, everything has to be evaluated using the Fa, and you absolutely cannot go by whatever someone can see with his Third Eye. This is because although most of what disciples see is true, it’s only one piece of the whole picture, and at the same time, it’s limited to their levels, and occasionally it’s a false vision that results from their attachments. Let me tell you that in this cosmos, no matter how high a god is, this cosmos is still a mystery to him, and he’s still a being that needs to be saved during the Fa-rectification of the cosmos. What he can see and know are only the things at the levels he is at, rather than the true situation of the entire cosmos, and even less is it the real, final and true picture of what Dafa disciples need to do in the Fa-rectification. Regardless of what you see those gods doing or what you hear them saying, don’t believe it. Just do things according to Dafa and Master’s requirements. You must do everything righteously—this is extremely important, and extremely magnificent! You can’t take what someone sees as your guide.

When you are doing things with other Dafa disciples, it’s inevitable that you have arguments, and it’s inevitable that you have differences of opinion. Why? Your attachments have to somehow be displayed so that you can get rid of them. But if you refuse to give ground after arguing for a long time, then it’s a problem, and it’s because you didn’t look within and you didn’t look at your own problem. You all want to be responsible to Dafa, and your intentions are good. But often you don’t mind yourselves, and it’s very possible you have some ordinary human attachments. Make sure you pay attention to these things.

Having reached this stage in Fa-rectification today, Dafa disciples, Master affirms everything you’ve been doing during the Fa-rectification. By July 20th of 1999 I had already pushed all of the pre-July 20 students to their positions—I pushed you to your highest positions. I’ve told you before that your changes start from the utmost microcosm and original nature. Some students felt, “I’m cultivating so rapidly.” You all felt like that back then. The process of your Consummation and your final elevation in cultivation were both for the purpose of your validating the Fa later on. So if you are someone who studied the Fa well in the period of personal cultivation, you will be doing well validating the Fa and saving sentient beings amidst the persecution; and your body at the surface will be continually assimilating to high levels in the Fa-rectification, and what’s left at your human surface will become less and less. But as for those who haven’t done well, who have gone to the opposite side, or who don’t step forward, we can see that their bodies on their godly-side are dissolving down layer by layer. Of course, this undertaking hasn’t been completed yet, Fa-rectification hasn’t been concluded, so there’s still a chance for you to do well again. Indeed, as long as there’s still one day when the persecution hasn’t ended, that day is an opportunity. Use it well, do better, come back sooner, and don’t miss any more opportunities. Don’t dwell on your past mistakes—if you’ve made mistakes, then do well from now on. Don’t think about the things that have happened. Think about how to do well from now on, and become truly responsible to yourself and to sentient beings.

I’d like to mention another thing. When some of our students have differences of opinion in their work, they like to call my family members and ask their opinions. Let me tell you that my family members are cultivators, too, and they, too, can’t necessarily judge things correctly all the time. They, too, might do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing—what they say isn’t Fa. Don’t do that kind of thing anymore. Don’t push away your opportunities to establish your own mighty virtue and to improve yourselves in cultivation. During the Fa-rectification each person is walking his own path, and this is the history each Dafa disciple creates.

That’s all I’ll say. Next, if you have more questions, you can ask them.

Student: Why does Master often have little disciples do things in the heavens?

Master: It’s because they don’t have the postnatally formed notions that adults have, their nature is purer, and the energy they send out isn’t affected by everyday people’s thoughts. From another perspective, the extent of a person’s abilities isn’t restricted by his age as an everyday person.

Student: How can we help people obtain Dafa in the environment of Hong Kong, where people are obsessed with money and material wealth?

Master: You are Dafa disciples, and you are saving the sentient beings poisoned by the evil’s lies. As long as a person isn’t against Dafa, he can make it through the danger of being weeded out when the Fa rectifies the human world. As for those beings who haven’t tried to damage the Fa but that aren’t good, or not so good, right now we don’t do anything about them. The reason is, in the next stage there will still be people who do cultivation practice, and the sentient beings in the next stage will still need to position themselves while the Fa rectifies the human world. Right now the focus of our salvation is on those people whose minds have been poisoned by the evil’s lies. Those extremely evil beings that are eliminated as we save sentient beings are only targeted because they damage the Fa. There are many other beings who are at the same level as them but who haven’t tried to damage the Fa, and who haven’t taken part in this affair—do nothing about them. Why? The next stage of Fa-rectification is also going to be an opportunity for those who haven’t tried to damage the Fa. And at the same time, the people of the next stage will still need to cultivate themselves. These things are part of the next stage.

What Dafa disciples are to do today is be responsible to Dafa. Don’t touch the things in everyday people’s society. When you clarify the truth don’t say high-level things; the main thing isn’t to have people understand what the high-level, profound Fa is. Well, people who are particularly good are an exception, and you can tell them about it. But when you clarify the truth to an average person, just tell him that we’re being persecuted and that we’re only doing exercises and trying to be good people, and they’ll be able to understand. After they learn about the truth, people will see all the propaganda for what it is, lies, and they’ll naturally see how despicable and evil it is. After people become aware they will be indignant: “How can a government act like a bunch of hoodlums? You’ve been persecuted so badly, and you’re persecuted just for trying to be good people.” Just use the simplest ideas when you talk to people. Not only will they be able to accept it and understand it, but they’ll also be less apt to misunderstand. You’ve cultivated for such a long time now, and your understanding of the Fa is quite deep. If you talk about your high-level understanding of the Fa, it will be hard for everyday people to understand, and it’s likely they will misunderstand; you have come to the high-level understanding you have today only after a long process of cultivation. You want people to immediately understand things at a level that high, but they won’t be able to, so don’t talk to them at too high a level. Even when you clarify the truth to religious people you shouldn’t talk at a high level. Just talk about the persecution we’ve suffered. If they don’t want to hear about other spiritual beliefs, we don’t talk to them about spiritual beliefs; tell them that we’re just doing exercises. It’s hard to save people nowadays. You have to explain things to them by following the logic of their attachments. For the sake of saving them, don’t create any obstacles for them.

Student: I’m a disciple who only obtained the Fa several months ago. How am I different from those disciples who obtained the Fa before July 20th of 1999?

Master: The old forces also arranged it that some Dafa disciples would enter Dafa during the persecution. They think that if someone enters while the persecution is so severe, his mighty virtue shoots right up. But there are also some people who are part of the next group to reach Consummation and who aren’t included in this, so right now it’s hard to say exactly who is in which situation. No matter what, though, to have obtained Dafa is the most fortunate of the most fortunate things, so you have to make good use of this period of time, bring yourself to truly cultivate and truly obtain the Fa, and ascend in cultivation. Not everybody can obtain the Fa, and not everybody can enter, because this is the Great Fa of the cosmos. Back when I was teaching Dafa, why were the old forces dead set on limiting the number of people who would obtain the Fa during the first round to 100 million? Even these 100 million people are the result of my insistence. At the time, the number they limited it to was 70 million, while I wanted 200 million people. They knew that if 200 million people were to obtain the Fa during the first round they wouldn’t be able to make this evil so-called “test” happen, so they were dead set on limiting it to 100 million. A large group of these people had just obtained the Fa when they couldn’t wait anymore to begin the so-called tribulation. That was unfair to those people. Those of you who obtained the Fa recently, I haven’t told you which category you belong to. You shouldn’t think about this, either. Just do what you’re supposed to do.

Student: Hello, Master. I’d like to ask a question, namely, in one of your new articles you talk about “renewing the three domains.” Your disciple doesn’t understand it. Would Master please explain.

Master: Actually, people your age should know. Those who were educated by private tutoring in the past or who went to school before 1950 all studied the Three Character Classic6 in their schooling. In the Three Character Classic, and in Chinese culture, there has always been the concept of the three domains. It’s also mentioned in Daoist thought a lot. The “three domains” actually refers to the Heavens, Earth, and Man. “Renewing the three domains” refers to [ushering in] the New Heavens, the New Earth, and the New Man.

Student: Hello, Master. I’d like to ask a question. Confucian thinking runs through each of China’s dynasties. So I’d like to ask what the relationship is between Confucian thinking and the spreading of Dafa in China.

Master: Confucianism, as I just talked about, was merely laying a foundation for man’s thinking—that’s all. It has allowed people to know what the golden mean is and the specific things that human beings should believe in and follow, such as benevolence, yi, propriety, learning, and trustworthiness, and that’s pretty much the extent of it. The culture in each of mankind’s periods was laying a foundation for the thinking that humans should have when they obtain the Fa, allowing them, in the end, to comprehend the Fa and understand the Fa when they obtain the Fa.

Student: Nowadays we’re doing a lot of Dafa work and our time is very tight. I find it hard to guarantee two hours of exercise each day. I wonder if it’s alright to exercise less?

Master: Dafa disciples, Master has said that you’ve been working hard—you have truly been working hard. I don’t have the heart to specifically tell you anymore to do something. I know that many people are taking the initiative to shoulder a lot of things, are even sleeping little every day, and they also have to go to work—it really is hard. But no matter how hard it is, I think you should still find time to study the Fa and do the exercises. I think that a cultivator can’t go without doing the exercises. Although doing the exercises is only supplemental to your improvement, it, too, is part of the Fa, and it’s connected to all the changes in your body. Of course, if you have too many things to do and you’re too busy, and you exercise less, or you don’t exercise at all for a few days, it’s alright to make it up later on. If you’re truly very busy and you truly have very little time to do the exercises, Master has ways to do that for you, too. But I would think that your being a little busy and your enduring a little hardship is your Dafa disciple’s mighty virtue. In the future when you look back, you’ll find it remarkable!

Student: How were the highest beings in the cosmos created?

Master: In the future I’ll teach you the highest Fa. I’ll talk about how the cosmos came into being, and this question will then be discussed. It’s still a bit early now to talk about it.

Student: When I studied the Fa, I read about how the people in the heavens go through transmigration every five hundred years and those on Earth go through transmigration every one hundred years. What’s this about?

Master: The Three Realms is the lowest realm in the cosmos. The Three Realms is divided into three major levels, so it’s called the Three Realms. Within each level there are three levels of great heavens, so there are a total of nine levels of heavens. And these nine levels of heavens are divided into many smaller heavens, so some people call them the thirty-three levels of heavens, but actually there are more. All beings in this scope go through transmigration, whereas beings outside of the Three Realms don’t. The beings in the Three Realms have a relatively short lifespan in each life: the people on Earth only live for several decades; the beings at one level higher can live for one to two hundred years; the ones at one more level higher can live for two to three hundred years; the ones at another level higher can live for three to four hundred years; and those at the highest level can live for around a thousand years. But no matter how many years it is, they eventually have to drop down and go through transmigration again. Once a being goes beyond the Three Realms he no longer goes through transmigration.

Student: When there are revisions to Dafa books, which version should we go by?7

Master: When we find incorrect words it’s necessary to make revisions. With Master here, the Fa cannot be sabotaged. For the Chinese books, go by what was recently published in Taiwan.

Student: I think the current school system is deviating more and more from Zhen, Shan, Ren. It’s as if they’re teaching children to be robots, indulging them, not teaching them the principles and ideas of how to conduct oneself, not stressing virtue, and they don’t teach goodness (shan) or forbearance (ren). So I don’t want to send my child to school. I want to keep him at home and teach him myself. Am I being too extreme? I hope that in the future there will be Dafa schools.

Master: At present, when I teach the Fa I also incorporate today’s science, since mankind is already how it is. Although nowadays the education given in schools can’t teach children to be good and it indulges children’s thinking, the knowledge that’s available can still help them in understanding the Fa later on. Of course, it’s better to have schools run by Dafa disciples, but until we have them I think it’s better to let him acquire some knowledge. And then when he comes home you can read Zhuan Falun to him and teach him how to conduct himself. This is all you can do at present. The transition period will be short.

Student: Why is it that there have been many revisions to the words in the new articles?

Master: I informed them over the phone of the six articles that were recently published; I dictated and had the Minghui Website transcribe them, so there were errors. Usually, after I tell Minghui to publish an article I don’t check it again, and only when some people notice something and ask me about it do I then take a look. This mainly happened because I was busy and didn’t have time to check.

Student: I’m from Korea. My understanding is that everyone is equal under Dafa. But many new students have cultural differences. Would you please talk a little bit about this.

Master: Actually, when Zhuan Falun is translated into different languages it doesn’t affect your understanding of the Fa at the surface level. During the course of cultivation, in particular, the inner meaning of the Fa doesn’t manifest in the surface words. As you continually read the book you’ll find that you continually have new understandings of the Fa-principles, and you’ll see ever more Fa-principles. This is in fact the Fa bringing out your wisdom. So, your improvement isn’t affected. In Mainland China a lot of older people who were illiterate learned how to read through studying the Fa, and their improvement wasn’t affected, either.

Student: Some new students have cultural barriers and are unable to understand the Fa.

Master: New students can come to understand a little bit at a time. Don’t tell them things that are too high-level. Just talk about what’s on the surface, like how to improve your xinxing and how to get well and stay healthy. Over time they’ll come to their own realizations by reading the book more.

Student: Many Westerners have come to learn the exercises from us, including people of different age groups. Can we make a set of exercise music tapes that are similar to the Fa-lecture tapes, in that they keep Master’s instructions but add English translation?

Master: Yes, you may. But don’t translate the formulas.8 Formulas are what everyday people refer to as incantations. The sound and manifestation of each character has a corresponding effect in specific cosmic bodies. Once it’s translated the correct sounds and internal factors are lost.

Student: I want to ask about something. I think it’s a fairly common thing, namely, I think that many Dafa disciples feel quite good when they go out to spread the Fa and find it very easy to communicate with other people. But their tribulations at home seem to be pretty big. For example, some persons’ spouses don’t really understand them. Take my parents for example: they have a certain amount of social status in China, so they find themselves under a lot of pressure. I think that many Dafa disciples’ relatives in China think that Falun Gong is good, but they’re afraid that we might run into danger outside of China. But I think that these relatives of Dafa disciples have also endured some things. I’d like to know what will become of them when the Fa rectifies the human world?

Master: This attachment has to be let go of. The Fa is evaluating the actions of all sentient beings at this time. If someone hasn’t done damage to the Fa then there’s no problem. But if someone has bad thoughts about Dafa, then from the perspective of saving all sentient beings, you should first explain things to your family members; you should try your best to explain things to them and help them get rid of those thoughts.

Student: After this Fa conference there will be a performance and some everyday people will attend. Can we sing songs from the human society that are fairly righteous?

Master: Everyday people can come to listen to our performances—we’re saving all beings. They’re allowed to come listen to even our Fa conferences. The talks given by students during the Fa conferences are beneficial to them. So this isn’t a problem. As to whether everyday people’s songs can be sung in our Dafa’s grand halls, the answer is no. (Applause) Why not? If you’re participating in a performance in the ordinary society—that is, if it’s Dafa disciples participating in an everyday-people sort of performance—as long as the song isn’t in bad taste and it’s not at all political, then it doesn’t matter. But if it’s entirely our own Dafa concert, I think we should make it more pure and righteous. When it’s not organized by our Dafa it doesn’t matter. You must make a clear distinction. You asked if it’s okay when the song is righteous. Right now it’s hard for you to know whether the song’s composer has taken part in persecuting Dafa. How do you know he hasn’t written songs that persecute Dafa in China? You can’t judge this at present. If the composer is a Dafa disciple and the song itself isn’t in any way political, then it’s fine. But at present it’s hard to gauge these things.

Student: If students in Mainland China go out to spread the Fa, they’ll surely be arrested. But if they don’t spread the Fa, they’re afraid that it will affect their levels in the course of Fa-rectification. How should disciples in Mainland China handle this?

Master: Neither of these two kinds of thinking is right. If a person doesn’t go out to spread the Fa, he’s afraid that it will affect his level, he’s afraid that it will affect his improvement, and he’s afraid that it will affect his Consummation. He’s afraid of this, he’s afraid of that—instead of truly looking at things as a Dafa disciple. Dafa disciples absolutely should validate the Fa, and they should save sentient beings. It’s precisely because of these ordinary human attachments that problems are apt to occur—that’s why a lot of problems have occurred.

I’m fully aware of the situation in China—I’m perfectly aware. If a Dafa disciple doesn’t validate the Fa, I don’t think that’s right. I can’t put things too specifically. A lot of things are the old forces’ arrangements. What’s more, they arranged them in great detail, and the manifestations are extremely complex. The situation in Mainland China seems chaotic, when it’s actually very well-ordered.

There are two circumstances in which they can’t touch a Dafa disciple. One is that he is rock-solid. They don’t dare touch him, because they know at that time that if this disciple has taken a righteous path and conducted himself well and someone still dares to persecute him, it doesn’t matter that they’re the old forces or what the old principles are—I absolutely won’t spare them. There are countless righteous gods by my side, too! And I also have countless Law Bodies who do Fa-rectification. My only concern is that Dafa disciples themselves won’t be firm inside; when there’s some kind of attachment, some kind of fear, or what not, then the old forces see it and take advantage of the omissions and persecute them. And if a person’s righteous thoughts aren’t sufficient while he’s being persecuted, he will be persecuted even worse. This is always the case. Also, the vast majority of these students are ones who hadn’t directly established a karmic relationship with me in history. This time while the Fa is being spread the door is wide open, and the old forces weren’t able to stop them from entering. But the vast majority of these students have conducted themselves well. They don’t dare to persecute too badly those who established a karmic relationship in history, because those students have suffered like this before in history. If every Dafa disciple—regardless of which category he belongs to—had been able to do well, this persecution would have ended long ago. Speaking of being able to do well, it’s easier said than done—it’s not like I tell everybody that they have to do so and then they’re able to do so. It comes from having built a solid foundation in cultivation, and it’s built through studying the Fa for a long time. Actually, the vast majority of us have conducted ourselves really well. Those who haven’t done well are from the third group of students. And because they haven’t done well, the persecution has become even more severe, making Dafa’s situation seem as if it’s being persecuted extremely dangerously and viciously. Actually, no matter which group a person belongs to, Master treats everybody the same. When we talk about putting aside the thought of life and death outside of Mainland China, it’s absolutely different from when the students in that kind of environment, under that kind of pressure, and in that kind of situation talk about putting aside the thought of life and death. I don’t want to say too much more about these things. If in that environment they can truly put aside the thought of life and death, though, the situation will be different. For example, after some Dafa disciples are arrested, they are able to maintain an unshakable calm, and they have no fear. You’ll see that the old forces don’t dare to persecute them. It’s because they know that unless they beat them to death, any persecution of them won’t do a thing, so they don’t touch them. How many students can do this? Their being so steadfast in Dafa terrifies the evil. By contrast, those whose human attachments are too strong and who haven’t studied the Fa in depth have brought a lot of suffering to themselves that they shouldn’t have experienced. Some of them have written so-called “repentance statements” or have signed some things. Since I don’t acknowledge this persecution, I’ll give them more chances before this undertaking concludes. I have seen from most students’ actions that they have, after being persecuted, come to understand with greater composure and rationality the seriousness of Dafa and cultivation. At the same time, they see the seriousness of this persecution more clearly, and they no longer do things with so much human attachment, as they did before. They’ve gradually let go of these attachments, so the things they do are more and more pure and righteous, and better and better. They have become more and more steadfast, and more rational. Don’t just look at the persecution’s surface. When the Fa rectifies the human world all of the truth will unfold before people’s eyes. The Dafa disciples in Mainland China are indeed remarkable.

Student: I have two questions to ask. One is that the family and friends of some Dafa disciples outside of China used to practice, but after the persecution began they gradually gave it up. They want to know what they should do now. Another question is that some disciples who are very diligent sometimes still experience what appears to be fairly serious sickness karma. They’d like to know whether it’s their own karma or the evil doing damage. How should they handle this?

Master: As for the first question, what they want to do is up to them—it really depends on them. As for the second question, when you encounter something look at yourself first—this is the greatest trait that sets Dafa disciples apart from everyday people. If we truly don’t have any problems on our part, then it must be the evil’s persecution of Dafa disciples. During this Fa-rectification period, in particular, Dafa disciples’ karma is no longer an issue. You must consciously and clearly recognize the evil beings’ persecution. They’re truly doing bad things. It’s best that Dafa disciples walk their own paths righteously and not allow the evil to seize any excuse to persecute you.

Student: May I imagine a little bit what the new cosmos is like?

Master: Mankind will undergo changes, too. So the cosmos is undergoing changes, all the way down to mankind. The new cosmos is perfecting all kinds of elements where the old cosmos is imperfect. The new cosmos is more complete, and this is something that couldn’t be resolved at all in the past without using the form of Fa-rectification. In the past, whenever a cycle of the cosmos was no longer good enough, it would disintegrate, be re-created, and start to develop again; and when it became bad it would just be re-created. Fa-rectification is happening for the first time ever in the colossal firmament since the beginning of time. So I’ve used the opportunity of this Fa-rectification to change many things. I can’t talk about these things. But I can tell you that since mankind is a part of the cosmos and since Dafa has been spread here… In the past there was no human race here; no matter how many Earths have been re-constructed after disintegrating, the main beings here always had the appearance of alien beings. Their outward appearances were very different each time, but none of them had the outward appearance and the internal systems of human beings, let alone the human mind. But today’s human beings were created for the spreading of Dafa. So after those people who have sinned against Dafa are eliminated, the people who remain will have blessings. So in the future the people on Earth will really have the appearance of humans. In other words, the future human race will truly begin in the next stage. The life-form this time was created for spreading Dafa. In the future there will still be Buddhas, Daoist divinities, and Gods coming down to the earth to save people, sentient beings will still be able to listen to the Fa, and sentient beings will again be saved. But things like a god coming to save people and getting crucified will never happen again.

Student: I want to ask about this: sometimes when we clarify the truth some historical figures come up. Because we don’t know about the many karmic relationships, should we be more careful with certain things?

Master: During the Fa-rectification, you’re just validating the Fa with the human languages and with the points that can be commonly understood by mankind. Just do it according to what mankind can recognize these days as good and bad, or right and wrong. Whoever in history you mention isn’t a problem.

Student: I’d just like to give a few examples of what you just said about the situation of the Mainland students being quite good. From what I gather, almost all of my relatives and friends who I’ve come into contact with are really steadfast. Some of them went to Tiananmen in an open and dignified manner. They left in the morning and came back in the evening; they got on a plane in the morning and took a plane back in the evening. They not only shouted “Falun Dafa is good!” but also held up banners, and nothing happened to them. Also, there’s an elderly person who is ninety-some years old and goes out to spread the Fa every day, and nothing has happened to him. Anyway, they’re all very steadfast. Only one person I know has been arrested, but he’s conducted himself quite well. Through talking with them I can sense that the situation is excellent. They told me, “It’s good, we’re doing great.” After I heard that I felt good.

Master: That’s the situation now. It’s because there are no longer that many evil beings for the old forces to use. And the second they see Dafa disciples sending righteous thoughts they flee. When you go to the Chinese consulates to make appeals, the consulates seem really scared. It’s not actually the human beings who are afraid, but those evil ones that manipulate human beings. When it manifests over here in this human dimension, they appear to be really scared, when in fact it’s the evil factors that are afraid. If the evil is completely eliminated, and if at that time even the people in the consulates come out to learn Falun Gong from us, it would be just too terrifying for that chief political scoundrel in China. That’s why the evil beings are trying so hard to control those who work in the consulates, and to keep up everything that the evil has been doing. But despite this, they can’t keep it up anymore. In China, other than the city where the head of the evil resides, in other areas the evil no longer controls the whole area. The evil beings have been eliminated so much that not many are left, and the situations in large areas are becoming better. If you send forth righteous thoughts at the head of the evil from nearby it, the evil won’t keep replenishing and protecting it fast enough, and that creature will take his last breath. The reason is, it has none of its human things left, and its skin is entirely sustained by the evil beings—sending righteous thoughts eliminates them. If that replenishing can’t be kept up it will drop dead. Last time when the students sent forth righteous thoughts nearby it in Malta, it almost collapsed. That’s how it is. It no longer has anything human in it. Now it has lost its senses and doesn’t have normal human thoughts. It is alive for us. Its human reasoning is getting less and less rational. Actually, the staff members of the consulates in some regions have already started to come out and make contact with our students, some have already taken our materials quietly, and have said to us in private, “Good job!” (Applause) This wasn’t possible before. Why has this happened? After the evil that was controlling people was eliminated, people began to calmly think. They’re now reflecting on their own: “Just what exactly is Falun Gong about? Why have they been persecuting Falun Gong like that?” And they have recognized the evil’s persecution and all the lies that have been exposed. People are shocked, and now they’re actively trying to learn the truth.

Student: I have two questions. We work on the FGM television programs. A while back, we received feedback from some viewers saying that our news program seemed too stiff.

Master: Actually, I think that the tone of your program is quite good. (Applause) It doesn’t have the feel of class struggles,9 it’s fairly neutral. If the tone is too soft, though, that isn’t good either. In fact, I’ve told the TV and radio stations in many regions that the tone of the Los Angeles students in their broadcasts is quite appropriate—it’s not too stiff and it’s not too soft, it’s pretty moderate. Of course, that wasn’t to praise you—don’t get bigheaded. What I’m saying is that we should do our best to make it more moderate. That would be better. Everyday people say all kinds of things, and it’s hard to make something suit all tastes; some people like spicy things, some people like sour things, and some people like sweet things. We should just project a moderate image, just do it that way. Of course, you can be a little more natural and a little more relaxed. When you’re in front of the camera you are an actor, so you might consider improving your appearance a little.

Student: I have another question. In addition to making Dafa programs, we’re also making some everyday-people type programs that don’t have any Dafa content in them. How do we properly balance this? How much time should we use to produce Dafa programs? And how many non-Dafa programs should we air?

Master: It’s up to you how you arrange this, it’s up to you how you handle the specifics. Just do whatever you feel is appropriate after you discuss with each other. The truth is, in your validating the Fa today, in the process of Dafa disciples’ clarifying the truth, the forms you have adopted, the different methods you’ve used, and all the different things you’ve done have all been handled very well. Don’t underestimate your sending even one flyer or one booklet to China, making one phone call there, or sending one fax there or sending all sorts of information—the effect is quite significant, and its effect in frightening and eliminating the evil is huge, truly huge. It’s because of the evil’s slanderous propaganda that people have bad thoughts in their minds. When people become clearheaded, that’s when those evil things are eliminated and disintegrate. If a person really represents a gigantic cosmic body, his turning-around means that numerous sentient beings are saved—the impact is enormous! Truly, all of these things are being done really well. Don’t underestimate these things. Of course, as for how to do things specifically, you need to gauge for yourself what’s appropriate and how to make it acceptable to people. If a form of media is to be in the format of those in the ordinary human society, it has to be made acceptable to everyday people. If it has nothing but articles that expose the persecution, it actually won’t have the best results in exposing the evil and saving sentient beings, because the target audience is not cultivators, after all. So we should make these programs more diverse and more interesting to people so that they’ll want to watch them. And then also round things out with Dafa programs. Done this way it’ll have a greater impact on everyday people. It won’t work if it doesn’t have any everyday-people type of contents, since you are trying to make it like those in ordinary human society. Then as for how much of them to include, you need to use your own judgment; the amount has to be appropriate.

Student: Greetings to Master from the disciples in Master’s hometown, Changchun! When can you go back to see them?

Master: I don’t think it will be long now. Dynasty after dynasty in China, every dynasty’s emperor was called, “one who lives ten thousand years.” But none of them could live that long. Every dynasty wanted to make its state power unshakeable, but they were, after all, not unshakeable. We don’t have any desire to overthrow the regime in China, we don’t have that sort of political aspiration. We are being persecuted without justification. We just expose the evil gang of scoundrels that persecutes us. Many people in the Chinese government are actually against this persecution. It’s just that under this intense pressure they don’t dare say anything. But what people do is determining their future. Dafa is evaluating all people. I’ll say it one more time: the human society was created for Dafa, and throughout history, anything that had nothing to do with Dafa absolutely wouldn’t have taken place. It was the head of the evil that started that talk about “the Communist Party has to defeat Falun Gong.” Why does the Communist Party want to defeat Falun Gong? People all around the world find this strange—“The Communist Party controls China’s entire army, police force, and government. Why would it want to defeat a group of unarmed folks who are under its rule and who only want to be good people? How irrational!” In fact, as Dafa was spreading widely people’s hearts were becoming good, and social stability was improving. Who does that benefit? Whoever’s in power, right? Isn’t it totally irrational? We’re not interested in political power. Actually, before the persecution started, family members of all seven members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee were practicing Falun Gong, and all seven members of the Standing Committee had read the book. They knew full well what Falun Gong is about. Jealousy that developed in political struggles has bred those things whereby people attack each other, and it has made it lose its senses and be unable to tolerate anything. Its breadth of mind is incredibly small, while its desires are incredibly large; its courage is incredibly small, while its jealousy is incredibly large. It knows nothing about governing a country, and its ability to do real things is less than that of the head of a small division in a local business. When it gets irrational it’s no different than a demon. On top of all that, its Primordial Spirit is a toad. It’s hard to find someone like that! In this human world’s play, where can you find an actor like this? It took a long time of searching throughout history to find it! (Applause) The old forces don’t want to let it go down to hell immediately, and they say this is because they’ll never be able to find a character like it again.



Footnotes (from the translators):

1 The Chinese word for mother, ma, is commonly shouted when someone is in pain or frightened.

2 Note that the pronoun used here usually refers to animals or inanimate objects.

3 A classic Chinese novel about the battle for control of China among three warring states. The period spanned from 220 ad to 280 ad.

4 A sense of justice; loyalty; devotion; righteousness; chivalry; honor.

5 Yue Fei (yueh fay) is a national hero in China, thought to have lived from 1102 ad to 1141 ad. He is known for his bravery and loyalty.

6 Written in the 13th century, the Three Character Classic is a distillation of the essentials of Confucian thought expressed in a way suitable for teaching young children. Until the latter part of the 20th century, it served as a child’s first bit of formal education at home.

7 Note that this is in reference to the formal modifications made by Master to the Chinese versions.

8 This refers to the four-line formulas for each exercise. It is the same Chinese term that is used for the Fa-rectification “formulas.”

9 “Class struggle” is a term in modern Chinese that in this sense suggests a combative, politically-laced tone.