Falundafa.org
 
Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference
 

Li Hongzhi
New York, March 27–28, 1999

This was intended to be a conference organized by U.S. Falun Dafa disciples on the East Coast for sharing understanding and insights from studying the Fa,[1] but now it seems that many people sitting here are actually from other countries or regions. Many of you may have thought that Master might show up. Let me tell you here in advance that in the future when an experience-sharing conference is held in whatever region, I might not attend. I’m telling you this so you won’t waste a trip [looking for me]. Dafa conferences are held just about every week around the globe, and I’m not able to attend every single one of them. I’d like to tell you this ahead of time.

Additionally, this particular conference has been organized fairly well. Many students have quietly put in a lot of effort and contributed greatly to this event. On behalf of all of you, I hereby thank these students for providing us with this environment. At the same time, we must make this conference a success. A Dafa[2] conference must not be only a formality. You must make it an event that truly enables you to improve and find your shortcomings, and that truly helps you progress toward Consummation. In that case, the efforts of the students who contributed to this conference will be worthwhile, and our conference will truly serve its purpose well. The same goes for conferences held in other regions—you must make conferences like this truly helpful for everyone’s cultivation and improvement, and not let them become a formality.

Cultivation should not be judged by the number of people practicing. I’ve said that it doesn’t matter to me how many or how few people practice. Even if only 1% of the people practiced cultivation, what I’ve done wouldn’t have been in vain, not to mention the fact that we have many cultivators. All of you are practicing cultivation, and you’re making substantial improvements—you’re all in the midst of improving rapidly, and I see that you’re very diligent as well. Now, more people from all over the world have come to understand Dafa better and better, and there will be more and more people learning Dafa. So, correspondingly, this will bring about some issues; that is, when you first started to study this Fa, you might’ve had a lot of questions or doubts, and many issues that you hadn’t gained enough understanding of surfaced. I think among all of the new students who are sitting here, no matter which nationality or ethnicity you are, in studying the Fa, you should keep reading the book. Only by doing so can the puzzling questions on your minds be answered. I talk about this at every conference: you should read the book repeatedly during cultivation. Why have I kept reiterating these words? Because every day there are newcomers joining in. Therefore, these words will have to be repeated again in the future. In other words, the purpose of my imparting this Fa is to enable people to cultivate and to enable people to improve—there’s no doubt about this, and reality has shown that this goal can be achieved.

Nevertheless, we all know that I only have this one flesh body in the human world. It would be really difficult for me to tell each individual student how to cultivate, because there are close to 100 million people learning this and there will be many, many more in the future. This Dafa has been made public and I can’t speak to and teach every one of you face-to-face in the human world, yet I also want you to improve—to truly have you improve, even reach Consummation. If I couldn’t achieve this, wouldn’t I be deceiving you? But, reality has shown that people have not only ascended through cultivation, they have also cultivated very well. So this proves that I can be responsible to everyone and that my words are not unfounded. What I’ve just been talking about is that given the large number of students, I’m unable to see every one of you or teach you personally, but as long as you read the book, Zhuan Falun, you’ll get everything you’re entitled to. (Applause) You all know that this is not an ordinary book. It is the Fa. Different laws, theories, and ideologies exist in our human society, but I’ll tell you, all of those are human things—they are human things at the level of ordinary human society. But what I’m teaching you today goes far beyond any theory in human society and any Fa at the ordinary human level. So, being what it is, it certainly has its majestic and unfathomable inner meanings. In other words, if you want to cultivate, this Fa can truly guide you to improve. On the surface, the book looks just like any other ordinary book, with black ink on white paper. But human eyes can only recognize things in the dimension of this ordinary human society, and anything that goes beyond this range is invisible to humans. At present, science hasn’t been able to develop to that level yet, and it can’t understand these things either. But in other dimensions, in higher and more profound realms that are still unknown to our humankind, there are different living environments and dimensions in which living beings exist. In other words, it appears to be a book in this human dimension, but it is not like this when viewed in a different dimension. It is the Law of Heaven. I’m not talking here about how great Li Hongzhi is. I often tell you that I’m just a human being and you don’t have to regard me as so great. This is because what I teach you is this Fa, which enables you to come together to practice cultivation, and enables you to improve and to gain understanding of this Fa.

Since many students aren’t able to see me, I have frequently said that you should “take the Fa as your teacher.” This Fa can provide guidance on everything in your cultivation. Behind the black ink that’s printed on white paper exist countless Buddhas, Daos,[3] and Gods. When you read the book and want to improve yourself or reach a certain realm, the gods behind each character will let you understand the true meaning behind that character at different levels, if that level is where your realm should be. That is why when you study the book repeatedly, no matter how many times you’ve read it, every time you will have a different understanding of the same sentence. Those of you in the audience who have read the book more than a hundred times are no longer a small number. And among the almost 100 million Dafa students, those who have read the book more than a hundred times are no longer a small number. And you still keep reading it. You can’t set this Fa down now, because the more you read, the more things you find in it; the more you read, the more you understand, and you have gone far beyond what humankind can understand at present, including what modern science can understand. You can thus improve and ascend. Of course, the Fa can guide you to high levels and guide you in your cultivation. The Fa can also help you with many, many things. But I say to all of you that your own cultivation is most important. If a person doesn’t have the heart for cultivation, anything else is out of the question. You must have a heart firmly committed to cultivation. Through studying the Fa, you’ll gradually understand these principles and subsequently become more determined. Don’t be afraid of having questions. I’m pleased that you can recognize the questions you have. A lot of the questions that you don’t have answers to and that you want to ask can actually be answered by continuously reading the book while cultivating. As many veteran students already know, you’ll have many questions when you read the book for the first time: “Why? Why?” Many of the thoughts will even be at an elementary level, such as, “Is this for real?” You might have these kinds of thoughts. But, when you read it for the second time, all those questions or ideas that you had in mind will be answered. At the same time, new questions will come up when you read the book for the second time. Yet when you read the book for the third time, those questions will be answered. So it’s a progressive process like this. It looks simple, but in fact, I can tell you: this is how cultivation goes, because every time you read it through you’re improving yourselves.

As you know, more than 100 million people have obtained the Fa. Throughout history there were never this many people when righteous Fa were taught. Of course, I want to save even more people. The veteran students among you know that I’ve taught a Fa this grand only because we’re in a special historical period right now. So you have to read the book a lot during your cultivation. This is crucial to your improvement—you must do that. Living in human society, everything people are in contact with are practical things of human society. If you don’t seize the time to read the book, your thoughts of and heart for cultivation might be weakened. You might become less diligent in your cultivation, even to the point of giving it up. That might happen. But I often contemplate: you have obtained the Fa, which wasn’t easy, so if you don’t cherish it, it will be such a pity because this has never been done in the thousands of years of history since the beginning of time. In the past, how could the true Fa of the cosmos have been revealed to human beings? It was absolutely impossible.

I’ve said that I am only teaching this because we are at a special time in history. The human society in the future will go through tremendous changes; many special phenomena will be displayed in the cosmos. Modern science has already discovered new celestial bodies continually forming and old ones exploding. Aren’t newspapers reporting that new galaxies are appearing where none were found before, and that many ancient celestial bodies are decomposing, with many new ones emerging? This is happening in very far and remote cosmic bodies. Slowly, it’s getting closer and closer to the dimension that’s visible to our human flesh eyes. These scenes will appear. Of course, the reason I mention these things is to tell you that I’m only teaching this Fa under these special historical circumstances. So you must cherish this Fa. If you don’t study the Fa, you certainly won’t be able to understand how precious the Fa is. If you can study the Fa, the more you study the more you’ll know how precious the Fa is.

The religions in human society have gone through a time period of about a thousand years plus, and over the course of time, they have lost what’s most fundamental and essential to a religion. In other words, they can no longer accomplish the goal of returning people to heaven by elevating them to meet the standard for Consummation. This is to say that in modern times they can no longer serve this purpose, and that people are only living in their own imaginations. That’s why I chose to teach Dafa now. You should know that when I taught the Fa, if the goal couldn’t have been reached, it would have resulted in a terrible problem. I’ve never mentioned this to you. Before I start talking about it, let me first touch on a social problem. As you know, in human society, particularly in the last one or two thousand years, all kinds of theories, be they good, evil, or neutral, have surfaced; so have various religious doctrines. In the beginning, the few major upright religions had the intention of turning human beings into good people. They effectively sustained the moral standards of human society, and at the same time, enabled those who had become better people to ascend, even to the point of returning back to their paradises. But over the extensive course of time, those doctrines have been diluted gradually by modern people’s thinking and notions. People are becoming more and more unable to accept those doctrines, and they believe less and less in them. They regard going to church on Sundays as a civil thing to do instead of genuinely trying to conduct themselves according to the teachings of Jesus, St. Mary, or Yahweh. You can’t go to heaven if you can’t do this. You can’t go to heaven without following a Buddha’s teachings. Some claim: “I am following his teachings.” In fact, you don’t even know how to follow his teachings. This is the fundamental reason why I say religions can no longer allow people to cultivate and return home.

But today I have imparted a Fa so grand that it can deeply stir everyone’s hearts. As long as you read the book, you’ll know that it’s good. As long as you read the book, you’ll understand the magnificence of the Fa. What I teach are the true principles of the cosmos, and everyone will be deeply stirred by this Fa. Those people who’ve become very corrupt and have completely gone against the nature of the cosmos will also be deeply stirred by this Fa. Why? Because they’ve become completely opposite to this Fa, they’ll be really scared, and will hate it. In other words, people like that are completely doomed! So, everyone will be stirred by this Fa—they will either agree with the Fa or oppose the Fa.

As I was saying, my imparting this Dafa could bring about a very serious problem. None of the doctrines from ancient times to this day can return people’s hearts to [the way they were in] the best time period anymore, yet reality has proven that this fundamental Fa of the cosmos that I’m teaching can enable people to reach Consummation. But if this Fa were not able to help you re-ascend, then there would be no other way—from humankind’s remote antiquity to modern times and even to the future—that would enable you to re-ascend, and humankind would have no more hope. That would be extremely dangerous! If this Fa couldn’t truly serve that purpose or if the Fa were damaged, there would be no other way to save humankind. (Applause) Because it is the most superior Fa of the cosmos, there’s no other Fa that could have the same power as the fundamental, Great Fa of the cosmos. But the truth is that I have guided you past that stage: I have truly enabled students to improve themselves and disciples to genuinely elevate in their cultivation, and I have enabled more people to understand this Fa. Although the morality of human society is quickly declining and it has become bad, I have found that even though people are committing bad deeds and wrong deeds out of ignorance, once people come to know this Fa they conduct themselves according to the Fa. This is to say, people still possess Buddha-nature and good thoughts, and their kind nature still exists—it’s just that they’ve done many wrong deeds out of ignorance.

I have brought you past that stage. This is something that has made me really pleased. (Applause) For our students and the human society, this is the thing most worth rejoicing over, because you have truly passed through and stepped out of the most perilous situation. (Applause) As you know, in our history there have been many prophets, qigong[4] masters, and people enlightened in religions who have made a lot of comments about different catastrophes that would take place in human society at the end of this century. They even mentioned that human beings would be destroyed. Of course, these aren’t my words—I’m just telling you what those prophets said.

I can give people a clear answer as to whether or not those things will happen. You know, it’s just like what I said, the illustration I used in Zhuan Falun. There is a rotten apple—in this enormous universe, Earth looks just like an apple—an apple which has become rotten inside and out. Just like every individual human being, every particle inside of this apple is rotten. Then shouldn’t this apple be destroyed, thrown away, or disposed of? If the morality of human society has degenerated to this level, in the eyes of gods, doesn’t it look like a rotten apple that should be destroyed? But being gods, as we all know—particularly those close to the level of humankind—they all have mercy on humans, so they want to save humans. But think about it, everyone: you want to save a rotten apple and don’t want to throw it away, so you leave it in the room, yet it becomes more and more rotten, with maggots crawling all over it. Now there’s a rotten apple with worms all over it in your spotless room—why would you leave it there? If you insisted on leaving it there, wouldn’t you be doing a bad thing? The same goes for this universe. The Earth has already become like that. Why not destroy it? If a god didn’t destroy it, wouldn’t he be doing a bad thing? Yet gods are different from people. They possess power that enables them to transform the apple into a fresh one, from its most original particles. They can turn the apple back into a fresh one; by changing its composition, the apple becomes good again. Then if anyone were to throw it away, wouldn’t he be committing a wrong deed? But that’s not something that average gods can do.

Today, there are 100 million people who are cultivating, changing their thinking, being good people and becoming more virtuous. They’re truly working toward being individuals who can measure up to the standards existing at different levels of the universe. So could the Earth be blown up? Could it be destroyed? Could the prophecies of those prophets be realized? They can no longer be realized. I’m saying that no prophecy is true anymore, because Dafa is being spread in human society today, and people’s hearts are elevating—elevating rapidly. Yesterday, a journalist asked me questions and mentioned that now 100 million people are learning this [practice]. Moreover, the trend is growing rapidly. There will be more people learning this. Right now, there are 100 million people improving their morality. If every one of these 100 million people tells one more person to come and learn, the number will become 200 million. The number will multiply very quickly into a large number. When everyone is returning to kindness, being a good human being and improving his own moral standards, human society will become what I just illustrated—an apple that has become fresh. Who could destroy it?

The development of human society and every situation in the universe have been arranged by gods. These things all follow certain patterns. Human society experiences bad situations, including wars, earthquakes, floods, epidemics, plagues etc., and there are many, many other natural disasters. In fact, all of these have a purpose. They eliminate karma for mankind. Human beings’ thoughts are directed by gods. Human beings never think about where their thoughts come from. When they want to do something in a particular way, when their thoughts emerge, when a so-called inspiration comes along, or when they suddenly remember something, they all think those are their own thoughts, when in fact many are not. Gods are keeping every aspect of human society under tight control. However, there is one thing. There’s a principle in this universe that says: when it comes to what a human being wants to do, what he wants to do as an individual entity, you still have to look at the person’s thoughts. If he wants to cultivate, great, I’ll help him cultivate; if he doesn’t want to be good, I’ll let him be, and he’ll become a very bad individual. But overall, human society is controlled by gods. So, when a person is good, he’ll have a bright future, and if he isn’t, he won’t, and he’ll have darkness and evil karma awaiting him.

What I talked about just now was brought about by the discussion of your cultivation and of my Fa. The purpose was to tell everyone to cherish it. Today, there are 100 million people studying the Fa. You have already rewritten history. Isn’t that worth celebrating? Isn’t that magnificent? (Applause) But, there are still a lot of bad people who are doing bad things. So even though mankind won’t have big catastrophes as the prophets had predicted, there will still be many adverse things happening in some regions, since they don’t have the Fa there.

Since today is the conference for sharing understandings and insights from studying the Fa, I don’t want to take up too much of your time. I just wanted to meet with you. The goal of our conference is that all of you make progress and gain further understanding from hearing other students’ speeches and sharing. Certainly you have a lot of questions. Every moment there are new students starting to learn this, and new students will have questions. Veteran students also have some questions. Let’s do this: I’ll answer your questions tomorrow afternoon. I just told you all that you need to cherish the Fa, and study it a lot. You have to read the book again and again, and by doing this you are improving. I have infused my abilities into this Dafa. As long as you study it, you will undergo changes. As long as you study it, you will be improving. As long as you practice it to the end, you will be able to reach Consummation. (Applause)

I’ll address a few minor things in passing. For one, from now on, veteran students, as long as you haven’t reached Consummation, you have to come out and practice. I am mentioning this once again. Why do I say this? It’s because our cultivation environment, our Fa-study environment, and what the students discuss and say when they are together are noble and form a rare and most pure environment. This is very hard to find in human society, and is the most benevolent and most wonderful piece of pure land, so you mustn’t lose this environment. That’s because human society is continuing to decline, and it’s getting worse and worse. You all have jobs in this ordinary human society, and you have social activities—all of you have contact with everyday people and ordinary human society. Consequently, what you see and hear, whether you intend it or not, all has to do with everyday people’s things, which will interfere with your cultivation. So it’s beneficial for you to often study the Fa together and use this basin of fresh water to cleanse yourselves.

Also, I recently wrote two articles, which you call scriptures. The issues raised are critical; they are also the more obvious issues at present. That is, there are people that have reached semi-enlightenment at low levels, who, because their levels are not high, don’t have much understanding of the Fa, and aren’t able to completely grasp a lot of the things I’ve taught. Since they’re in a state of semi-enlightenment at low levels, they see some high-level beings who have degenerated and fled to the Three Realms from high-level dimensions (since Fa-rectification is taking place up there, the old cosmos is disintegrating, and the new one is being created, so in order to escape this reality, these beings have fled to this dimension of human beings—they’ve come to the human dimension to evade the disaster), or some low-level gods that originally existed in the Three Realms. They can’t see the true picture of what is going on in this cosmos. Of course, they knew about it before they came here, but have no idea about what has happened since they arrived. This is to say, they’ve been sealed in here completely.

Many of them resist the Fa-rectification and resist Dafa, but many of them don’t know the true situation. Even the gods who were originally in this dimension haven’t come into contact with that reality, and as a result, they aren’t aware of the truth. So they too interfere with Dafa students. Some of them interfere intentionally, not knowing that they’re interfering with the Great Law of the cosmos and committing a serious crime—they can’t recognize this. Because the truth of the universe is concealed from them, they can only see the things within the Three Realms. Now Dafa has entered the Three Realms—the work in the Three Realms has started.

This creates relatively significant interference for people whose Third Eye (tianmu) has opened at low levels. Some students, through their open Third Eye, see a magnificent and remarkable god who utters some words that slander Dafa. Of course, they’re all things he made up. His aim is to confuse students and get them weeded out from Dafa. Some of them disguise themselves as my Law Bodies (fashen), and tell you what to do. Whoever tells a cultivating disciple explicitly what to do is definitely someone who has come to damage Dafa and students. Why are you being exploited? It’s only because you have strong attachments. You choose your own path, and your future position is where your being is supposed to be. Everyone, think about it: before my undertaking has arrived at this dimension, it, too, is under control.

Why are they allowed to do that? Because your cultivation can’t be smooth sailing all the way. In the future, when you will appear in the heavenly paradise as a magnificent god who has reached Consummation, all the gods will ask you: how did you cultivate up to this place? It’s critical whether you’ve undergone severe tests, whether you’ve experienced something in your cultivation where you really had to decide if you would continue to cultivate in this Fa, and whether you were steadfast during tribulations. Thus, we’ve used this interference to see your heart. Some people couldn’t pass these tests, and left the Fa. Some started wavering. But these cases have become more and more severe. As a result, I raised the issue, giving those people who left the Fa one last chance; otherwise, they would lose this opportunity. Think about it, everyone: during the Fa’s rectification of the cosmos, many high-level gods have become not so good and been knocked down. They’ve even lost the opportunity to be human beings. A lot of them have even been cast down to places lower than human beings, and some have even been annihilated. So what about humans? If you lose this opportunity there will never be another one. Of course, you decide what you want. I wrote the article to tell you not to miss this opportunity.

The other article was about some people who were with other religions or people who used to practice other things. They too have come to learn Dafa because the truth of the cosmos is becoming more and more evident. After all, high-level beings have certain capabilities. They too have realized that only this Dafa can truly enable people to return, and that no other cultivation way in human society is able to achieve that any longer. So they made their own people, or some who don’t have a complete understanding of this, come into our Dafa. Their goal is to use our Dafa to get back to the positions they desire. They in fact can’t let go of their own things, and are just using Dafa and me instead of truly wanting to cultivate in Dafa. They can’t detach from those so-called gods in their hearts, the things they’re attached to, or even things that have already been weeded out and no longer exist.

They’re here in the human dimension, and they don’t know about these things at all. They want to use this Dafa, and this intention by itself is a sin. I could very well ignore them and let them be, but I think that they have, after all, come to know this Fa. Even though their hearts and minds aren’t pure, they have read the book. So, I want to give them a chance by making this clear and pointing it out. If you still can’t turn around you will lose this chance forever. I can tell you, such an opportunity should not be missed, and the chance won’t come again. Dafa is solemn, and cultivation is a serious matter—it’s not child’s play. Do you think you could just obtain this whenever you want? Do you think you could just obtain it anytime at your convenience? It’s not up to you. If you lose it you will lose it forever.

I want to talk about one more thing. There are many young disciples among our practitioners. You should mind your personal lives. On the subject of intimacy, you mustn’t go along with the degenerated behavior of ordinary human society. You can have a wife or husband—that’s fine and proper. It isn’t a problem for you to cultivate while conforming to ordinary human society to the maximum extent. For you to live as husband and wife is fine, but if you aren’t husband and wife and have sexual relations, then you are doing the filthiest thing. That is something gods absolutely cannot accept—not a single god would accept it. So be very sure to pay attention to this. A person’s course of cultivation is that cultivator’s history. Innumerable, immeasurable, countless gods are watching Dafa disciples’ every thought and every act. As cultivators who are determined to reach Consummation, why can’t you pass this test? I’ll stop here for today. I hope this conference will be successful. Tomorrow afternoon I’ll answer questions for you. Now you can continue with the conference, and have students share their experiences and understanding.

 

 

Good afternoon!

Judging from the last two days, this conference has indeed been very successful. There can never be too many conferences like this one—they can benefit our students, enable everyone to improve, help people learn from each other where they fall short, and push people to continuously progress diligently. This is very good. This is exactly the goal of Fa conferences. They can assist you in your cultivation practice, which is the purpose of Dafa conferences. In addition, you may have already found that there is a notable characteristic of this conference: Western students’ understanding of the Fa is getting deeper. I think this time we’ve had the deepest discussion from them so far. (Applause) That is because they keep studying the Fa, they are more and more able to rationally understand this Fa, and they’re able to talk about themselves from the Fa. This is really excellent. This afternoon is primarily for answering your questions. Ok, I’ll start answering your questions now.

Question: The Dafa music, “Pudu” [5] can move people to tears. Where did this touching music come from?

Teacher: This music has been played during the conference since yesterday. All of you have heard it, and it’s very solemn and moving. This is our Dafa’s own music. I figured that, since there would be more and more Dafa students, our exercise music should be made available to the public via publishing houses. That involved the issue of copyrights. I therefore took two approaches at the same time: for one, we discussed the issue of copyrights with the composer; secondly, I asked a musician practitioner to compose a piece to meet our need for exercise music. I personally spoke to the practitioner and told him how to do it, and very quickly, he finished composing the music. He composed two pieces—“Jishi” [6] and “Pudu.” During the same period of time, the composer of the exercise music we were originally using was also studying the Fa, and he gave the music to Dafa unconditionally. (Applause) This is certainly something that brings boundless virtue. So I thought that was really wonderful. We should thus continue to use the original exercise music because all of us are already familiar with it.

We’ll stick with the original music when we do the exercises, since switching would affect everyone quite a bit. This way nothing needs to be altered, which is great. However, the new music was composed very well. Everyone felt the music was excellent after listening to it; the only thing is that it’s very solemn and moving. Being so solemn and moving, it easily moves people to tears and gets them stirred up and emotional inside, making it hard for them to enter into tranquility during the exercises. Therefore, I think these pieces of music can be played during conferences or other Dafa activities; in addition, they were composed by our Dafa student, so they’re music of our Dafa. Please note that we should still use the original music for doing the exercises, since this music has already had a very powerful effect on students.

Question: The meditation time varies significantly among practitioners. Will corresponding differences still exist after Consummation has been reached?

Teacher: No. No matter how high you cultivate, your body after Consummation is no longer one that’s constrained by this human dimension or time, or any elements of this dimension. So your body at that time won’t be affected at all when you meditate—it will be easy for you whether you’re sitting or lying down.

Question: The time for cultivation practice is limited. Many disciples are concerned that there may not be enough time.

Teacher: That thought is incorrect—that’s another kind of attachment. You can have a sense of urgency, which can serve as a driving force for your faster improvement and prompt Consummation, but if you’re attached to these things, it will certainly become an obstacle. It will, instead, delay your progress and affect your cultivation. So don’t think about anything, and just go ahead and cultivate yourself. As long as you cultivate yourself, it’s guaranteed that you are moving towards Consummation. As long as you can come through those critical moments, Consummation will be ahead of you. In your cultivation, every one of you may encounter things that strike you at the core, and sometimes the feeling may even be quite strong. Some of those things may not directly manifest around you, on your body, or in the things you encounter. They might manifest in the things that other people go through, or when others criticize you, or during some other conflicts. All these will make you choose between studying Dafa or not studying Dafa, or whether you want this Fa. What you choose will be looked at. Everyone will encounter these situations.

Therefore, when you’ve encountered these things, it’s testing you to see if you can continue to cultivate, and if you can steadfastly cultivate in Dafa. This is most critical. You must be clear that during your cultivation process, at any moment you can be presented with an opportunity in which you are tested on whether or not you can reach Consummation. You might not pass it because you can’t be firm in Dafa, or you might pass it because you have firm belief in Dafa—you’ll come through with determination. Whether you pass or fail, you might feel it was nothing afterwards, but when you’re in the middle of it you won’t think it’s nothing. All the same, that’s a test regarding whether or not you can move towards Consummation. This is most critical. Actually, certain attachments are very easy for us to get rid of for humans. Once it has been confirmed that this individual can reach Consummation, he can take his time to get rid of his remaining attachments. That’s why I tell all of you that on the path of cultivation, you might encounter these types of situations. Whether you can handle them well, whether you can pass them, all depends on you. No matter who it is that’s in the midst of different calamities, no matter who it is that’s being struck at the core, making him waver, so that he can’t deal with the matters at hand as calmly as usual—these are the moments that test people most.

Question: Is it all right to add simultaneous foreign language translation to the exercise music, while keeping Teacher’s voice?

Teacher: That’s fine. But it’s even better not to add simultaneous translation. It’s not wrong to add it, either, as it might be helpful to new students. However, my lecture tapes should have simultaneous translation added, and this is being done now. My voice has to be on there. As you all know, my voice is not simply a voice. That’s why my voice has to be there along with the interpreter’s. That way, your process of listening to and obtaining the Fa will be the same as Chinese students’ listening to me in Chinese.

Question: When someone cultivates to the point of the Placement of the Mysterious Pass, will his Third Eye remain open?

Teacher: Some people’s Third Eye will remain open, some won’t. It depends on the individual and his particular circumstances. You can’t be attached to this. You just heard what one Western student said in his speech: “I can see nothing, but I firmly believe in this Dafa.” Leaving aside how well this person has cultivated, those words of his were truly remarkable. (Applause) Reaching Consummation by way of enlightening—that’s truly remarkable. Of course, this isn’t to say that people who can see are not remarkable. Everyone has his own cultivation situation. You’ll definitely be allowed to see what you should see. It’s guaranteed that you won’t be allowed to see what you shouldn’t see. Some people want to see, and this is an attachment in itself. So, since you have this attachment, you won’t be allowed to see. Some people can only return to their places through enlightening in the Fa, yet they insist on seeing. In order for you to reach Consummation, for the sake of your future, we can’t let you see, and this is for your own benefit.

All the arrangements made for you as cultivators are for your benefit. They are absolutely not for me, your Master.[7] They are all arranged for your Consummation. (Applause) So I hope you get rid of all your attachments—don’t even keep a little bit of them. A person gains naturally without pursuit. When you have a desire, it’s an attachment. You can let go of everything that ordinary people pursue. What you want to attain are more wonderful things that everyday people cannot attain, and as you are all letting go of the things of everyday people, why do you still want to pursue those things? Aren’t you pursuing them to use them among everyday people? Put frankly, aren’t you still attached to these trivial things of everyday people? Of course, you may think, “How nice it would be if I could see things during my cultivation.” Behind “how nice it would be,” there may be an attachment. There are other reasons, and it’s not as simple as what appears on the surface. To be truly responsible to you I must get rid of the attachments that are deeply hidden inside of you.

Question: I came from Europe. There’s one tribulation that frequently makes walking very difficult for me. Am I doing something wrong?

Teacher: Many Westerners enjoy jogging or going to the gym. Some people also enjoy walking, thinking that doing so can make them healthy. Are these things effective? They can, on the surface body, play a role in defending against minor and not-so-serious ailments. To put it more plainly and accurately, this kind of defense function serves to keep karma from returning to the surface. It makes karma stay over there. It can temporarily fend off the illness-karma from the surface body. This is the type of defense function we’re talking about. For cultivators, on the other hand, we probably need to make all your accumulated illness karma surface—push all of it out—and truly make you fundamentally healthy, make you free of karma, and make you clean and pure. So this might conflict with [the defense function]. Perhaps it’s for this reason that we don’t tell you to do that. Cultivation practice is the only way that allows a being to achieve a truly healthy life. So if you want to achieve health through walking, frankly speaking, this says that you still don’t firmly believe in Dafa. You think that Dafa isn’t able to make you attain a healthy body like walking does. Or, you might think that you haven’t thought about it that deeply and that you just go for walks out of habit. Then perhaps this habit of yours has become an attachment without your realizing it, and you need to eliminate this attachment. You might have treated the elimination of this attachment of yours as a tribulation or an obstacle. Then why can’t you look at this from another perspective to see whether it’s to eliminate some of your attachments? Wouldn’t it be better to spend the time you use for jogging in the morning or evening doing the exercises instead? I think that when you encounter problems, if you can think about what’s wrong on your part, then you can improve the fastest. When you encounter difficulties, examine yourself, and you might find the problem.

Question: When we read, can the state in doing tranquil exercises also arise, such as the disappearance of the body, leaving only the mind reading the book?

Teacher: It might happen. Because it is the Fa, it can bring forth any state. Any state can appear.

Question: I have mental obstacles to participating in Fa-spreading activities. What should I do?

Teacher: So you’re saying that you don’t want to do Fa-spreading (hong-fa) things. Then try to find the root cause of what’s stopping you. Actually, I can tell you all: it’s not that each of you has to participate in Fa-spreading activities, or that you have to do this and that. We don’t have stipulations like that. I don’t have such requirements for you. However, as students, when you’ve benefited from [Dafa] and find it good and want to tell your relatives, your friends, and more people about this good thing, that’s an act of great compassion. It comes from your heart—you want to do it yourself. If you don’t want to do it, don’t force yourself. So I hope that when you have the wish to do this you will then go ahead and do it, since we talk about being compassionate, and we all want to share good things with others. In this world, nothing you give others will last very long. If you give them money they’ll spend it in no time, right? No matter how nice the things you give others are, there’s no way they can keep them forever. When a person comes to this world, he comes with nothing, and when he leaves, he’s buried under the ground and everything of his decays. You won’t be able to take anything with you, so when you leave, you leave with nothing as well. What can last? Only Fa, which you give to others, lasts forever, and that’s why this is the most precious thing. So going back to what we were discussing, doing things to spread the Fa is most sacred. Of course, I’m not saying everyone has to do this—I’m saying you shouldn’t force yourself. If you want to do it, then do it; if you don’t want to do it, I won’t say you’re wrong.

Question: Is it better to tell Westerners to read Falun Gong or Zhuan Falun to help them obtain the Fa?

Teacher: This depends on your local situation. There’s no uniform arrangement, nor is there any rule. If you think that having them read Falun Gong first can allow them to understand, go ahead and do that. If you feel that the students have fairly good inborn quality and have a deeper understanding, then it’s all right for you to have them read Zhuan Falun directly. That is, do things according to your own individual situation and circumstance. It’s very simple, there’s no rule.

Question: Venerable Teacher, how is the “nature” you mentioned in “Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature” related to the “inborn compassionate nature” mentioned in “Buddha Nature”?[8]

Teacher: The two are related, but in a way, they’re also unrelated. That is because your nature is a manifestation of the realm determined by your level. In other words, it’s a manifestation of the realm at your level, or, a manifestation or embodiment of Dafa’s standards at the realm and level you were originally born at. It can display itself during cultivation; or, as you constantly improve in your cultivation, the states that continuously display as a result of your increasingly deeper understanding at different levels—that’s your nature. But the selfish characteristic is what you’ve been contaminated with gradually over the extremely long history of the universe. If the entire universe and cosmic bodies have deviated from the Fa, then similar phenomena will emerge everywhere, without anyone being aware of it among themselves. It’s just like being amidst the current of ordinary people: even though human society has degenerated to such a terrifying degree, the beings here can’t feel it, and they still think that everything here is wonderful. It’s the same idea. So, in your cultivation, you not only need to reach levels in different realms and return to your nature, but you should also get rid of the things you’ve been contaminated with at different times, at different levels, and in different realms—you have to eliminate all of those things. What I want to give you is the ability to reach the purest realm since the creation of Heaven and Earth. (Applause)

Question: When doing the fifth exercise, we spend twenty minutes on each of the three strengthening gestures, so it differs from Master’s verbal instruction… [is this all right]?

Teacher: If you can do it for longer than the exercise music, in other words, if you’re able to continue the exercises after the exercise music is finished, you can go ahead and continue with the exercise. It’s the same whether you use the music or not. We listen to the music to have it replace your chaotic thoughts; otherwise you’d have all kinds of thoughts. You would be thinking about this, thinking about that… Besides, this music is our Dafa’s music. There’s inner meaning as well as the magnificent Buddha Fa behind the music. So, when you listen to the music, it’s as if you’re listening to Buddha music or a Buddha’s voice—it serves that sort of function. If you say that you can achieve tranquility and you don’t have stray thoughts, it will then be the same if you don’t listen to the music. If you can do the exercises for a longer time, it’s also fine to do so without listening to the music.

Question: What is the relationship between entering into ding[9] and reaching tranquility?

Teacher: Tranquility is achieved when you become serene and think of nothing when you do the exercises. Entering into ding means that you’re able to become ding—entering the state of “forgetting form and forgetting self.” But you must be aware that you’re doing the exercise. “Forgetting form” is when you feel that even your body has disappeared. “Forgetting self” is when you don’t think about anything except that you’re doing the exercise. That’s a good state, and it’s called becoming ding, or entering into ding.

Question: After a long while of conforming to the state of ordinary human society, it’s very easy to drift with the current, isn’t it?

Teacher: That’s true. That is why I’ve said all students should go to practice sites to exercise and attend group study regardless of whether you’re beginners or veterans. That environment will cleanse you, and constantly cleanse your language, conduct, and notions that have been contaminated by everyday people.

Question: When it’s very quiet during the exercises, if there’s a sudden noise, I always get startled.

Teacher: That’s all right. There are many sayings in other practices, such as that people might get really startled and their qi won’t come down from the head, and so forth. We don’t have those problems. But everyone—it doesn’t matter who practices—will run into situations where noises disturb you. Horns from distant cars, the hubbub of your neighbors, and even sounds that suddenly appear in your home will disturb you, and no one can escape that. It’s because people have karma, and where there is karma there is tribulation. But it won’t last long. This phenomenon often happens during the initial stages of practice. Some time into your cultivation these kinds of phenomena will cease to exist.

Question: Could Master please tell us the origin of cultivation practice?

Teacher: Wow, what you want to know about is a big topic. Even the cosmic bodies [that exist] during this epoch are not primordial. You have no idea how enormous the concept of cosmos I’m talking about is. The concept of the cosmos that you imagine, or that I tell you—no matter how enormous it is—is still within a very small range. So if you wanted to trace back to the origin of cultivation, it would be unthinkable and unimaginable. Therefore, it wouldn’t be meaningful to you, and it has nothing to do with your cultivation.

Question: What Teacher imparts is the Fa of the cosmos. Then why is the Falun Paradise not at a high level?

Teacher: Why does the Falun Paradise have to be at a high level? As I’ve said, and I need to repeat it: I am sitting here as a human being, so regard me as a human being. Just like you, I need to eat and sleep. Of course, every being has his origin. I also have my origin. The last stop I made before I came here to do this was the Falun Paradise. So, beyond the Falun Paradise, I might have stayed at or created other paradises at even higher levels. Don’t worry about this—don’t put your mind on this.

Question: Gods at very high levels aren’t in the image of a human body. Then does the difference between Buddhas and Daos still exist among gods there?

Teacher: I recall that I’ve written about this in one scripture: the cosmos is simply so vast. People’s concept of “Buddha” today, which is how you used to understand “Buddha,” is very limited. The concept of “Buddha” is in fact really broad. But even as broad as that is, it still doesn’t exceed a very big range in the cosmos. The concept of “Dao” can’t cover the vast cosmos either. So this is to say that they cease to exist beyond a certain level. Yet I chose to have the image of a Buddha; I didn’t have an image of a body before—this is telling you something at a very high level. I’ve mentioned to you before that I chose to have the image of a Buddha, and that I’m teaching the Fa of the cosmos from the standpoint of the Buddha School. In fact, I possess all images. I think that if you had read the book a lot, you would have known about this. I’ve talked about this before.

Question: We are your disciples. After we reach Consummation, will we be able to know that at the very, very highest level, there is our Master?

Teacher: Some will, but that will be all that they know. Some won’t, because things above you will not be revealed to you—you won’t know any of those things. So in your concept there won’t be anything above. When you look at the levels beneath you you’ll know everything at a glance; everything will be displayed right in front of your eyes, yet there won’t be anything above your level. The state manifest at that realm isn’t something that you can understand now. Even though Fa-principles exist up there and I’ve discussed things at very high levels, I’m still using human language. At that time, the Fa-principles that you will know and hear will absolutely not be in the language I’m teaching you with now. All of your concepts will change, and it will seem to you that nothing exists above you. You will think there might be things existing at higher levels and that perhaps at least Master is up there, but that’s about it. And even those thoughts will be weak. The reason is, those things will be determined by your Attainment Status, determined by your level. When you’ve cultivated to that level, you will have complete power over the levels below you. But as for the levels above you, you’ll have no power over them at all.

Question: Is it absolutely necessary to display the large Falun emblem at health expos?

Teacher: Students attend health expos out of their deep love of Dafa, as they want to allow more people to obtain the Fa. As to whether we should display the Falun emblem, don’t think about it using human notions. Nevertheless, I have always suggested that we take the specific circumstances into consideration when doing these things. We shouldn’t go to extremes with anything. Because in our cultivation we’re making use of the forms of ordinary human society, we should conform to everyday people to the maximum extent in our cultivation. Your understanding of these words should not merely come across in the way you cultivate, but also in your Fa-spreading activities, your practice, and all of your conduct. Only then will more people be able to understand you, and only then will you help more people to obtain the Fa. Don’t make people think you’re doing religious or superstitious things and make them unable to understand you. If this becomes a factor that prevents people from obtaining the Fa, that’s not good. So we should do everything just right—we need to be rational when it comes to this.

Question: After the ­disciples reach Consummation, will they be able to see Master?

Teacher: You haven’t reached Consummation and you’re already thinking about the things after Consummation. So you need to focus your attention on cultivation now. I’ve told you about this before: I can manifest in any realm or level. I have complete body images of all levels, from top to bottom—this is not something you can understand—including the human level. I’ll come whenever I want to. I remember that I wrote a poem: “Infinitely distant is Heaven’s vault, But with just one thought // ‘tis right before the eye…” Regardless of how vast it may be, it’s impossible for the beings at different levels to go above their own levels. To go through levels beneath them, there are partitions formed by time intervals—that is, there’s time involved, it takes time. But for me, your Master, no concept of time can block me. Of course, this isn’t something you’re able to understand right now.

Question: Venerable Teacher, why did you have to reincarnate a few times on earth in order to save us?

Teacher: Because not all of the people sitting here are human beings, and not all of them came to the earth in the same time period. If I had only reincarnated once, then what about those who came after that, who would have had no way of establishing a predestined relationship with me? Many, many complicated factors were involved in the preparation of this event. Also, I’ve reincarnated in different countries and as different ethnicities. Many lives ago, I could have been your country’s emperor, king, general, a monk, a scholar, or a warrior. (Applause) Take this in jest. What I’m talking about are predestined relationships.

Question: Seawater is a teardrop of a Buddha. Please tell us why a Buddha’s teardrop would manifest in our dimension?

Teacher: It’s just like how gods in the heavens can drop to the earth and become human beings. You should be able to understand this. The seawater was one drop of a Buddha’s tears. If you were to take this seawater to heaven, that Buddha would never accept it, because it’s too dirty.

In other words, it has become a substance of this realm.

Question: I’m still a child. My parents don’t allow me to practice cultivation. What should I do?

Teacher: If you’re already grown-up enough to understand things, you should make the decision for yourself. Whether or not to cultivate is up to you. If you truly want to cultivate, I don’t think your parents will create the obstacles for you as if you were an adult. The key is whether you are determined. Every person will encounter tribulations at the beginning of his cultivation, and everyone will have obstacles. Yesterday a student mentioned that he wanted to attend a Fa conference, but the school wouldn’t open the door for him so he couldn’t get the address left there. That was his obstacle. Everyone will encounter roadblocks in obtaining the Fa, yet the manifestation of these obstacles is quite insignificant [compared to what could have happened]. It would be a problem if you can’t even overcome these small obstacles. The Fa isn’t something you can just obtain. Even though you’re all sitting here, you don’t know how much you may have sacrificed for this Fa in order to establish this predestined relationship, including in different periods in history—you don’t know how many tribulations you’ve gone through to obtain it. Some of them you know about, some of them you don’t know about. That moment when you encountered the Fa seemed quite natural to you, when in fact a great deal of effort had been expended arranging the time and location of your obtaining the Fa. You don’t know about those things.

Question: A [Dafa] student in Beijing has written a Chinese-English reference manual for the translation of Dafa books. What should we do about this?

Teacher: I have to put it this way: he wants to do a good thing for Dafa, but this book can absolutely not be published, because none of the terms in Dafa can be defined in ordinary human terms. As you know, all the books of Dafa are the Fa that I’ve taught—they are all my words. I personally edited all the books that have been published. Without my editing or consent, materials can’t be published, they aren’t my things, and they don’t belong to Dafa. No one can compile materials as they wish. I’ve talked about this before. Of course, this student’s intention was good. We need to take back those materials.

Question: The human body of this cycle is the best, and everyone wants it. Is this related to the arrangements for the Fa-Rectification?

Teacher: The human body of this cycle is not the best. You know, the human body of the middle ages of this cosmos was the best. I’m not referring to the Middle Ages of this human civilization. This isn’t something that can be held in your concepts, so don’t think too much about these things.

Question: My thoughts are controlled by very bad things, and reading the books and studying the Fa don’t seem to help. Will Master still save me?

Teacher: I have to talk about this from two angles. If you are one of those people I mentioned in my recent scripture, who didn’t regard me as your Master before, or if you’ve been controlled by those things all along, like how it’s described in the scripture—that is, you haven’t been practicing only one cultivation way—then you have to keep your Main Consciousness strong, and remain unmoved no matter what happens. Don’t worry about it if something is scurrying about, or if there’s pain somewhere, just go ahead and study and cultivate and be steadfast, and everything will change. As a cultivator, when you feel discomfort in your body, isn’t this in itself a good thing? If you didn’t cultivate, those bad things in your body wouldn’t be stirred. Writing and publishing the scripture was to give you another chance. If you still don’t want to change you will lose this chance. Why has your body changed to this extent? It’s because of you yourself. You’ll have to enlighten yourself out of this current state. You might think, “As soon as I start to regret it, Master will change everything for me right away.” That won’t do—it wouldn’t be cultivation.

Cultivation practice is serious. In your process of continuously strengthening your determination, continuously studying the Fa, and continuously deepening your understanding, you will gradually turn around. Before, you didn’t truly cultivate in Dafa. Although you were reading the book, the purpose of your reading was to have your body adjusted or to get rid of what you considered tribulations. I have imparted the Fa to save people, to enable them to reach Consummation through cultivation. It’s not for solving some crises for people, curing people’s illnesses, or getting rid of things that people consider bad. So only when you truly want to cultivate and have a steadfast faith in Dafa will everything of yours change. If you’re studying Dafa just for those things, you will gain nothing. Why? It’s not that we don’t have compassion for people. It’s because what I look after are students and their cultivation, whereas people ultimately have to pay off the karma that they’ve created. (Applause)

Question: Master, please enlighten us to the reason behind the different responses to Dafa by beings at different levels in the cosmos?

Teacher: This has nothing to do with your cultivation at all. Neither can I reveal these secrets of heaven to you. Let me tell you: the entire cosmos has deviated from the Great Law of the cosmos over a very long period of time, and since everything has deviated, no one knows that he himself has deviated. He can only find out after he has been rectified. This is just like human beings, like the cultivators who are sitting here today: when you look back at those everyday people, you’ll see how bad they have become. Before you started cultivation, though, you didn’t sense that at all. It’s the same idea. Different kinds of illusions exist in different realms.

Question: From this day on and for the billions of years to come, must all beings keep in mind to look within all the time?

Teacher: This is the state of a cultivating human being, it’s not the same with gods. Cultivation is not the purpose of a being’s existence, it’s only a method by which people elevate themselves. How could human thinking possibly be used to imagine things of gods? It’s absolutely not the same thing. Human beings… the reason why I’ve said that I cherish your human side is because you can cultivate—it’s not the human beings that I cherish. To gods, humans are filthy. Even to me, the human [realm] is no more than the lowest—though indispensable—level of the cosmos. That’s why [I say that] your thoughts are always confined to the human scope, thinking this and that about humans and using human thinking to think about gods, but you can’t imagine it at all; it’s the same idea as gods not having any human thoughts.

Question: Why are people who don’t have pure intentions when they come to learn the Fa still able to have their illnesses cured and health improved? Why do they still receive good fortune?

Teacher: It’s because this is the manifestation of Dafa at the lowest level. It’s because the Fa of the cosmos isn’t intended for humans’ cultivation—it creates different living environments for beings at different levels. You’ve come into contact with the manifestation of the Fa at this level, in the lowest, human state, and in the human living environment. Of course, humans don’t cultivate, humans are just humans. The best condition for humans is to be free of illness, healthy and with good fortune. Since you’ve come into contact with the Fa, these are all things you can get.

Question: Master, you’ve said, “When Dafa reveals itself to mankind, these are not the only things that you will lose.”

Teacher: That’s correct. How vast this cosmos is! Even the gods at different levels and of different realms will be cast down if they violate the rules of Heaven. Over the long course of time, when they’ve turned bad and aren’t able to stay in their realms, they fall to lower realms. Some have turned particularly bad and will be cast down to the human level. Some have become even worse than humans, so they won’t even have the chance to be humans, and may even be destroyed. Then it’s even worse for human beings. In other words, “these are not the only things that you will lose”—that’s what it means. The Fa has manifested this much in the human world—now you’re just cultivating—it has not yet arrived at the stage where it will reveal its power in the human world. When it truly manifests in the human world, that’s when it rectifies the Fa of the human world. At that time, there will be the issue of various degenerate people being weeded out. Where they will go will depend on where they position themselves.

Question: There’s a deadline for cultivation practice. If we haven’t completed cultivation by the deadline…

Teacher: What does thinking so much accomplish? Time and again I’ve stressed this point: thinking about that is an attachment. Let it go and don’t think about it. The time given to you to cultivate will definitely be enough, but it won’t do if you don’t make the most of your time. If you say, “Then let me take my time cultivating. Will I have enough time?” No, you won’t, because the Fa is solemn.

Question: The blood of a cultivator is very precious. How can it be allowed to be sucked away by mosquitoes?

Teacher: Do you know how dirty your blood is when that karma of yours is being expelled during your cultivation? Did you know that what mosquitoes suck out is something filthy? Of course, in our cultivation, when our bodies get healthier and healthier and become better and better than everyday people’s, it could still happen. Suppose that mosquito was a life that you once killed before this lifetime—wouldn’t you have to pay it back? Yet what’s sucked away will definitely not be something precious. Don’t always look at how you’ve been harmed. Why don’t you think about how to repay the karmic debts you owe? Some people have killed many, many people in their previous lives, and they’ve done a lot of bad things. Now they want to cultivate today and not even allow mosquitoes to bite them? You want to just leave here as if nothing happened? How could that work? If you have cultivated really well or have very little karma, you’ll see that the mosquitoes won’t be able to get near you—they will bite those around you, but not you. That is because when you don’t have black karma in your body, mosquitoes don’t dare to enter into this type of purely positive (yang) environment. Mosquitoes are able to come when there’s a negative (yin) environment, which suits them, and they like it. Only when your blood meets their standard do they like to suck it. If your blood is pure, mosquitoes actually won’t like it. Isn’t that how it works? (Applause)

Question: Since all matter in other dimensions has a real existence, why would there be an issue of transformation with mind-intent?

Teacher: That’s right, but don’t just dig into the details. I’ve said that even people’s thoughts are substances. What you think can materialize and your words, what you say, have a form. It’s just that you can’t see it. Everything is of material existence. Matter in humans’ eyes is different from that in gods’ eyes. The forms of matter’s existence observed by humans aren’t real, and they aren’t still. That’s the true manifestation of the existence of the universe. Human thoughts have become so degenerate—what they think about are all things that are wicked, evil, unkind, selfish, filled with pursuit and emotion (qing), and so on. That’s why what they think up are all false appearances. You all always think very narrowly. Why is it said that a Buddha’s wisdom is immense? He thinks differently from you, his capacity is huge, and he doesn’t think about things just from one perspective.

Question: I’m a Western student. I feel that “love” seems to have lost its place in Zhuan Falun.

Teacher: Let me tell you, the love that Jesus, St. Mary, and Yahweh talked about is not the “love” understood by human beings—it is cibei.[10] Because today’s humankind doesn’t have the word for cibei in the Western language, people of later generations used the word “love” in place of what gods said. This type of love, to gods, is filthy, while cibei is what’s sacred. Because of love, humans are immersed in sexual desire. Because of love, people are immersed in sinful, depraved sexual behavior. Because of love, humans do a lot of bad things and things that gods can’t tolerate. Love has a side that humankind considers good, which includes helping each other. At the same time, it has a bad, negative side. Cibei, on the other hand, is completely good. So the love Western Gods talked about in the past, I’ll tell you again explicitly, is called cibei, and not the love that people talk about in this human world. That’s because there was no concept of cibei in your culture. Your ancestors used the word “love” to record the words of gods, that’s all.

Question: For Westerners, “spirit possession” is very strange and hard to understand. How can we clearly explain “spirit possession” to Westerners?

Teacher: Reincarnation is something that exists in the West, too. It’s something that man can’t escape. It’s just that Jesus talked only about hell and didn’t touch on reincarnation. Jesus pointed out that people had sins, but he didn’t reveal that the reason people were sinful was because they had karma. This is due to the differences in human cultures. As for spirit possession, it’s not that it doesn’t exist in Western culture. Do you recall that the New Testament includes stories of Jesus casting out the spirits that were possessing people? They are recorded in the Bible. Those spirits said, “This has nothing to do with you Jesus, it’s none of your business.” Yet Jesus insisted on casting them out. Judging from this, you don’t fully understand your own culture.

Question: “Don’t hit back when hit; don’t curse back when cursed at.” Can we say this: “What you’re doing isn’t right?”

Teacher: For cultivators, the act of “Don’t hit back when hit; don’t curse back when cursed at” reflects the most appropriate way of handling it. The reason is, when a person hits you or curses at you, it’s always the result of disputes or conflicts. If you tell him, “You shouldn’t hit me,” he might hit you a few more times. If you reason with him then you’ll get yourself into a conflict with him. Things will be over only if you don’t pay any attention to him. Therefore, “Don’t hit back when hit; don’t curse back when cursed at” states the most appropriate way. (Applause) We have some people who are able to do this. I’d say they are cultivating really well, not bad at all. Some people do know: “When you hit me, I won’t hit you back; when you yell at me, I won’t yell back.” Yet deep down they still feel unsettled and they still want to add a few words: “You shouldn’t hit me.” That’s because you still can’t let it go deep down, and you still don’t want to pay him the debts you owe, or even when you paid it back you are still unwilling to leave it at that in your heart. So you still want to add one more sentence to comfort yourself. Of course, what I say sounds somewhat dialectical. I want to ask: my Caucasian and Black students, when I talk this way can you understand? (Applause) Good, thank you.

Question: My profession is teaching philosophy and literature. I think that philosophy and literature are valuable to human society.

Teacher: I’m telling everyone, in our cultivation we should conform to the way of human society to the maximum extent. You should continue doing whatever work you’re supposed to do, and you aren’t wrong, because your work is separate from your cultivation, and it’s only that your xinxing[11] will be reflected in how you do your job. Everyone will say that you’re good and that people who cultivate Dafa are so good, because you’ve acted well. As to how [philosophy and literature] will be positioned in the future, well, even the entire cosmos has deviated from the Fa, so where else does a piece of pure land exist besides the Dafa in human society? Where else is there a clean place? I don’t want to talk about things of the future. In any case, everything in human society has become degenerate. Perhaps those who can’t become good in the future will be eliminated, and this is not just limited to humans. For now you can just go ahead and continue to do your work, because the Fa-rectification hasn’t yet come to the stage of humankind. Now it’s just that the Fa is saving you.

Question: Things haven’t gone well in my family, which caused my parents to be disrespectful to Dafa. Am I creating karma?

Teacher: It shouldn’t be looked at this way. We should look at this from two angles. One possibility is that your own karma caused this. The other possibility is that you didn’t eliminate your attachments in your cultivation. Both reasons exist, but there are also different situations manifested by different people’s lack of understanding of Dafa.

Question: Some Christians don’t believe in the Sixfold Path of Reincarnation.

Teacher: Didn’t Jesus say that if people did bad things they would go to hell? I can only tell you the following. Some of you may have read the New Testament and the Old Testament. The New Testament, especially, was all written down by this person or that person, paragraph upon paragraph of recorded words—words that were recorded from memory. That is, those who listened to Jesus’ teachings wrote them down based on what they recalled. But could the words spoken by Jesus over the course of his life—think about it, everyone—be as few as what are contained in that book? That few? Jesus talked about many things. Many, many things were forgotten by people and not recorded as a result. So why didn’t they get recorded? Another reason was that human beings only deserved to know so much.

Since the Buddha Fa, even at the Tathagata[12] level, cannot be completely made known to human beings, what Shakyamuni[13] taught when he was in the human world was Arhat[14] level Fa, and human beings could only know that much. What Jesus said was sufficient to allow those who followed his words to reach heaven—that was enough. So Gods didn’t let too much of it remain here. In the East, even though there are many scriptures, all of them are fragmented and incomplete recordings from memory—that’s for sure. From a different perspective, some Caucasians reincarnated from Asians. So if you don’t have these things while in the West, could you have experienced them when you reincarnated as Asians? Moreover, many Asians and Westerners reincarnate in reciprocation, that is, they reincarnate into each other back and forth. Some people feel close to Asian culture, some to Western culture. It’s possible that this is caused by the traits left from their reincarnations in different periods of time. Yet even though you may be white, or you may be yellow or black, you could belong to any race.

Question: Due to poor eyesight, elderly people like listening to lectures on tape. Is this as effective as reading Dafa?

Teacher: It’s the same. If you study the Fa wholeheartedly, it’s possible that your eyes might undergo changes. Listening is the same as reading. Don’t talk about how old or young you are. That too could be your own attachment and obstacle. In Dafa age makes no difference, just go ahead and cultivate. I remember how, back in the years when I taught the Fa in Beijing, students liked calling me “great master.” Later, an older man in the audience, who was probably in his seventies or eighties, submitted a question to me, saying: “Why do you call yourself ‘a great master?’ As old as I am, I don’t even call myself ‘great master.’” (Laughter) So I told him, “I don’t call myself ‘great master.’ People call me that out of respect. They came up with the term ‘great master.’” Actually, you can call me anything. You can call me by my name, or you can call me “Teacher” or “Mister,” anything is fine. I don’t care about these things, and I don’t care about any formality. Actually, human ages don’t apply to cultivators because one’s Master Soul (yuanshen) could be any age, and that is your true self. Speaking in that sense, I’m the oldest in this universe. None of you are older than me. (Applause)

Question: “Lunyu” encompasses the entire content of Zhuan Falun. Please kindly tell us why it is called “Lunyu.”

Teacher: You know, it seems Confucius has a “Lunyu,”[15] too, but its concepts and content are completely different. I’m discussing (lun) this Buddha Fa using a human language (yu), so I call it Lunyu. (Applause) That’s the idea. The human language is to be used by the Fa, so however I use it is fine. As long as things can be explained clearly, as long as I can save you, and as long as the Fa can be taught clearly, I will use it that way. So the modern, standardized languages and vocabularies don’t restrict me.

Question: A Dafa disciple working at a cancer hospital plans to spread the Fa there. Is this appropriate?

Teacher: That depends on what the intention is. Suppose that you want to use Dafa to cure illnesses for people. Dafa can rectify any abnormal condition. It’s abnormal that people contract illnesses, yet Dafa is not meant for rectifying people’s abnormal conditions. The purpose of teaching the Fa to people is to save them. It’s this majestic Law of Heaven that has created different living environments for different beings in the universe. (Applause) If you want to use it to cure illnesses for human beings, if that is your intention, then it’s not correct, right? “Oh, Dafa can cure cancer. Let’s go to hospitals to treat people’s cancer.” That’s not saving people, but using Dafa to treat illness—that’s not right.

It’s not that we’re not compassionate. I’ve told you that, regardless of whether it’s Jesus, St. Mary, Yahweh (whose ability exceeds that of even the previous two), or the Buddhas in Eastern religions, with a wave of the hand there wouldn’t be one single sick person on this tiny Earth. Why aren’t they being compassionate and doing that for people? Because people themselves are doing bad things. If I did that for you today, you would still be doing bad things tomorrow. Of course, this isn’t to punish people—it’s the principle of the universe evaluating all beings. Since humans have done bad things, they have to pay for them themselves. Suppose you killed someone, and a Buddha eliminated the karma for you. Then, would it mean that you’re allowed to kill people as you please? How could it be acceptable for a Buddha to eliminate your diseases as soon as you had killed people and generated karma? When people do bad things they have to pay for it and bear the responsibility. But when people have done bad things, the most obvious manifestation of it in the human body is sickness, which is used to punish people. I’m not the only one saying this—Jesus also said that people have sins. Why do people have sins? It’s exactly because people have karma in their bodies. Western culture doesn’t have the word “karma”—there’s no such word in Western culture. So Jesus used the word “sin” to illustrate the general point. In fact, isn’t having karma the same as having sins? Without sins, how could there be karma? It’s the same idea.

Question: After Consummation, when we arrive at our own levels, will our bodies carry the markings from our venerable Teacher?

Teacher: There’s no issue of markings on your body after you’ve reached Consummation. The markings are for people in the maze; you’re only marked after you’ve fallen down here. After Consummation you will be an independent entity, a magnificent God who can make decisions on his own. What I’m giving you aren’t restrictions, but [the chance to become] a magnificent God. (Applause)

Question: People who don’t practice Falun Dafa enjoy listening to the music, “Pudu” and “Jishi.” Master, please tell us, can we let them listen to it?

Teacher: Yes, it’s just music. Of course, when they hear our Dafa music, it’s definitely good for them.

Question: In today’s society, the concept of equality between men and women prevails. As female disciples, how can we be gentle and tender while progressing diligently in cultivation?

Teacher: People are saying nowadays that women are becoming more and more liberal and their personalities are getting stronger. In fact, you aren’t being driven by your kind (Shan) side. I don’t think strength is necessarily reflected in a person’s outward expression. If in your daily life you’re like a gentle, true woman, your competence will let you have everything you deserve all the same. You don’t necessarily have to express yourself in tough and manly ways to obtain those things. Do you understand what I’m getting at? (Applause) In other words, if you’re a woman, you must act like one, and be kind and gentle. Only then can you gain respect and love from men. If you aren’t kind and gentle, men will be afraid of you when they see you, (laughter) and you won’t be able to have the love or even the family affection that you’re supposed to have. Conversely, let’s not just talk about women—we men, likewise, should behave like men. But all societies on the earth have become bad nowadays, so I can only ask my disciples to behave this way—it is not achievable by the society. I remember that in the West before the fifties, men were very gentlemanly, and they treated women with respect. And because women acted like women, men loved to help them, respect them, and care for them. At the same time, in a womanly way, women cherished their husbands. That was human behavior. Yet today you have corrupted it all.

In Asian society, women have become overly strong, causing the men to become like women. I can tell you that in your bones you want your men to be strong, yet in your minds you want to overpower them. Isn’t this contradictory? If the way of the society becomes like this, will men still be able to walk around with confidence and self-respect? Will they have their manhood? Two people can’t be the head of one household, just as there can’t be two kings of the same mountain. So when two tigers fight, one has to get hurt, (laughter) and the family is bound to be disharmonious. How is it going to work if two big kings live under the same roof? There has to be one head of the household. That’s why there are divorces and discord in families. You always say something: men say that women aren’t like women at all, and women say that men aren’t like men at all.

It’s even more blatant in Western society where when they marry each other, they’ve already divided up their property: “When we divorce in the future, this belongs to me and that belongs to you.” It’s even more blatant. The sense of a woman relying on her man when they’re married is simply nonexistent. And men aren’t thinking that once women marry them, they have entrusted them with their whole life and so they need to be responsible to them—they no longer think that way at all. Self-interest and personal liberty have taken over everything. Where then do you find the warmth of a family? People vie with and try to overcome each other—no one is willing to concede. I’m telling you, that is not how human beings should be! (Applause) When even couples don’t dare to trust each other, and there’s no place that can give you a sense of security, warmth, and affection, aren’t you living a distressing life? In your mind you think to yourselves: “It shouldn’t be like this. We should have a warm and affectionate place.” But your outward behavior is destroying all this, and your selfish traits are making such a place impossible to have. When everyone behaves this way the wonderful relationships among humans are lost. Of course, I can only say these things to my disciples, to you, and tell you that these aren’t right. There’s no cure for mankind anymore and it would be impossible to turn everything around. Today the discussions in society and the tendency of the media are all about personal liberty and are indulging individuality. I can tell you, this indulged individuality might make you appear to be free, but actually, you’ll never be able to enjoy warmth and affection anymore! And you’ll never ever have someone you can trust! (Applause)

Question: Will there be Dafa disciples who cultivate to the worlds of Buddhas to become ordinary beings? (Laughter)

Teacher: Don’t laugh. This is a conceptual question. Cultivators have Attainment Status, so they definitely won’t be just ordinary folks. They all have Attainment Status after reaching Consummation.

Question: Dafa can change the surface me as well as the me at different levels in different dimensions. Is this understanding correct?

Teacher: This understanding is not wrong. I’ve said this before: Without a human body, it’s impossible to practice cultivation, and it’s impossible to improve oneself. Then how could your bodies in other dimensions possibly be changed? You can’t cultivate without this human body, so you have to cultivate here, at this human place, to change yourself. Sometimes, when you’re studying a Dafa book, you’re not concentrating, and your lips finish reading a passage yet your mind isn’t there. That’s because your subordinate consciousness (fu yishi) or other factors were at work. Your attention is present occasionally, only to disappear shortly after. If you have this problem often, then it’s the same as your giving up all these things and giving this Fa away to someone else. You can’t do that, and I don’t allow you to cultivate that way.

Question: How should we understand the difference between love and attachment?

Teacher: They’re two different concepts. Love can breed attachments, it can cause attachments during cultivation, but among everyday people and in society, it’s still something essential. Without love, human beings would be even more likely to do bad things, and their demon-nature would be even stronger. So humans can’t live without love or emotion. That’s because emotion is a human thing—it’s a necessary element of the living environment provided to human beings, but it’s not for Gods. As cultivators, you have to rise above it, and cultivate away the attachments that result from love and emotion. That’s the relationship among these things. If you want to be able to love without getting attached, that’s impossible. But in your process of cultivation, you can’t possibly take everything lightly, let go of everything, and not be so attached right away. So in your current phase, whatever state you’re in, you can just be in that state.

Don’t force yourself: “Deep inside I do love, I do love my family members, but I’ll force myself to stop loving them.” That would be wrong, because your realm hasn’t risen and you’re only trying to do it forcibly. If you do that, it will actually cause people to misunderstand Dafa, and damage the image of Dafa. As love is diminished in your cultivation, it will be replaced by the compassion (cibei) that emerges. You know, I’m sitting here and—using your words—loving and caring for every one of you. Actually, it’s a type of compassion (applause), but it’s totally different from the kind of personal feelings of yours. I’m sure you can differentiate the love among yourselves and that which I have. (Applause)

Question: During group practice, when someone makes a lot of noise in coming late and leaving early, which makes it difficult for others to enter tranquility, should we bring this to his attention?

Teacher: This question reminds me of another thought of mine. Let me tell you, prior to the Cultural Revolution, Chinese people were known around the world to be people of propriety, and they were very particular about being civilized, about hygiene, and about things displayed on the surface. The cultures of China’s neighboring countries were all brought by Chinese people—they learned from China. (Applause) But did you know that after the Cultural Revolution, those were discarded as “the four olds”? Instead, having dirt all over one’s body and having thick calluses on one’s hands were things to be proud of, and lice were even called “revolutionary bugs.” People regarded filth as something good. That kind of concept continued, and right now, even though people’s living conditions have improved and they’re more attentive to things, these concepts left over from the Cultural Revolution have yet to be shattered. Even though you’ve arrived in Western societies, people in Western societies feel that it’s really quite hard to tolerate you in this sense.

You don’t mind the details of etiquette, don’t groom yourselves, look sloppy, talk loudly without taking into consideration the circumstances or location, and don’t pay attention to hygiene. Of course, I’ve said that you need to conform to everyday people to the maximum extent while you cultivate. As cultivating disciples, you have to achieve that. This should be a non-issue, and it’s not something I wanted to discuss. But did you know that because of your behavior, some Western students have been afraid of joining in when you spread the Fa? You have to pay attention to this now! This isn’t just a behavioral issue. You really need to pay attention to things in this regard. I’m not asking you to be particular about dressing fashionably. You need to be aware of human civility on the very surface. I can tell you, the inner meaning of Dafa actually encompasses what’s at the lowest level, too. When you think of others in everything you do, I think you’ll be able to do everything well. (Applause)

Question: A student said he had asked and gotten Teacher’s approval on certain things. But others feel that his demeanor, words, and conduct are not like those of a cultivator.

Teacher: When two people debate and can’t reach an agreement, many of them quote me and say, “Teacher said this” to defend their own attachments and cover up the attachments they should get rid of. That’s awful. But conversely, you can’t say he’s not a student or he hasn’t cultivated well just because you see that some of his words and his behavior don’t conform to Dafa. In fact, he has eliminated many of his attachments already, and he’s so much better than everyday people. Only the attachments he hasn’t removed can man