Mankind, do not consider Falun Gong insignificant just because it has a qigong⁷ name. In ancient times, all the various schools of thought, and all trades and professions in the human world were called "Dao." Lao Zi told people, however, that the Dao that he taught was different, saying that "You can call the Dao [I teach] a Dao, but it is not an ordinary Dao; you can give the concept I teach an ordinary name, but it is not an ordinary concept." When Buddha Sakyamuni taught his Fa twenty-five hundred years ago, there were eight religions being spread at the same time. The Buddha Fa, the true Dao, was amidst them.

Man always thinks that when a God or Buddha appears it will be earth-shaking, that when he saves people his Buddha-image will grandly manifest, and that with a wave of his hand he will destroy the evil ones who undermine the salvation of people. If that were the case, wouldn’t it be better if the Buddha took people up directly from the heavens? You should know that people who are to be saved need to pay off, through arduous cultivation, all the sins and karma that they generated in the past doing bad things, they need to get rid of their human attachments and all the other bad things that they carry, and at the same time they need to rectify their behavior and thinking. Only then can they be saved. If a Buddha were to grandly manifest, even the most evil persons would follow what the Buddha said. Would there still be a chance to cultivate, then? Even if a person did cultivate it wouldn’t count, because a cultivator has to eliminate his sins and karma during arduous cultivation, and, after being purified, move towards Consummation.

In fact, when all everyday people see a God’s or Buddha’s image grandly manifest, it is certain that something major is unfolding in the human world and it is very likely the time when humankind’s sins will meet with due retribution. Whether it be a Buddha, Dao, or God, when he saves the world’s people, he certainly must descend to the world and walk the earth with a human image, and use human language to make Fa-principles known. Moreover, when an Enlightened Being descends to the world, it is usually at a time when people’s morals are declining day by day, when people’s sins and karma are enormous, or when people’s morality is degenerate. Once the saved ones have attained the Fa and left, the dregs of humanity and the degenerate world that are left behind will be weeded out.

Li Hongzhi
May 13, 2001

7. The Chinese character for "gong" used in the bi-syllabic term "qi-gong" is the same character as the "Gong" in the name "Falun Gong." Qi-gong is regarded by many people in China as a fitness movement, and thus not considered very serious or important.