(Clearwisdom.net) Master says in "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference", "... During Fa-rectification I also traversed every final part of what's relevant to the old forces, yet I discovered that the enormous being who had the one thought that led to gigantic disruptions of the true Fa-rectification is not the final being, and there are lots and lots of elements that are higher than it. There, all of the old forces' arrangements were suddenly gone--all of their arrangements were without foundation, nothing was going to be resolved, and they disappeared without a conclusion. ..."
I realize that beyond the highest being of the old forces who had the thought to arrange the supposed Fa-rectification, there was no god arranging and manipulating the Fa-rectification. The higher beings can see through everything below them. Therefore, they know that whatever the beings below them do is useless.
In other words, those who arranged for and participated in the Fa-rectification are beings below the highest level of the old forces, including Dafa disciples. Before Master started to introduce Dafa, none of the sentient beings in the cosmos knew the Fa in the cosmos. Therefore when Dafa disciples descended to attain the Fa, it was the Fa of the old cosmos that they intended to attain and rectify. Master is benevolent to all sentient beings and would not let the cosmos reach the state of destruction. He exhausts all he has to save us. However, Master came to this human world in a human body, introducing Dafa in human language and in the form of Qi Gong. He made use of the old forces' arrangement and thus all the sentient beings are kept in the maze. Although Dafa disciples meant to attain the old Fa and establish karmic relationship with gods in the old cosmos, they unexpectedly attained the true Fa of the cosmos and established karmic relationship with Master. How fortunate! Master says, "But since you've encountered this amidst today's Fa-rectification--not because you have such a great predestined relationship, nor because it's accidental--you truly can return through cultivation!" (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
Those who attained Dafa this time had participated in the old forces' arrangement before coming to the human world and arranged what would happen in their lifetime. They watched the arrangement of every step, including signing pacts with the old forces to be persecuted. "...because forced persecution that's not acknowledged is a crime, and the cosmos's old laws don't allow it either. Irrational persecution absolutely is not allowed, and the old forces don't dare to do it."(Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference) Viewed from the old Fa then, the purpose of Dafa disciples was good and gracious.
It's just like a play. Dafa disciples are like the performers on the stage, while the audience is the 80% sentient beings who do not participate. Among the 20% participants on the stage, there are also evil beings carrying out the persecution. When the play starts, Master comes onto the stage as one of the performers. Yet no one knows who Master really is. Once Dafa disciples have attained the true Fa and the truth of the cosmos, how the performance will go on is all up to them. No matter how well and how thoroughly the story was thought out before, if the performers changed it on the stage, the director off the stage could do nothing about it. If each and every performer changed the original arrangement, they would present a complete new show. No matter what went on during the rehearsals, only the actual performance counts. What the performers bring to the audience might be an unprecedented shock. What is the ending like? It all depends on the performance on the stage.
How can we understand negating the old forces' arrangement from this perspective? It is to measure everything against Master's Fa and follow the guidance of the Fa no matter how the story develops. It doesn't matter whether I agreed to take up a role of someone being persecuted, or someone carrying out the persecution. As long as I measure everything against the Fa, I will find a lot of mistakes in the original story of the play that need to be rectified. Master will make the final decisions for us. Master says, "...But all the same, Master doesn't acknowledge them. And you shouldn't acknowledge them either. Do things well in an open and dignified way, negate them, and strengthen your righteous thoughts some. 'I'm Li Hongzhi's disciple, I don't want other arrangements or acknowledge them'--then they won't dare to do that. So it can all be resolved. You really can do that, not just saying it, but putting it into action, and Master will definitely make the final decision for you...." (Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Therefore, we have to negate the old forces' arrangements. Even though some of us had signed a pact with the old forces in the past, we cannot acknowledge it any more. We cannot just have a thought about negating the old arrangement, but have to guide our righteous thoughts and behavior with the Fa.
The above is my own understanding. Please kindly point out anything that is incorrect.
April 7, 2003