Everyone Stands and Applauds Warmly. Master Signals Several Times for Everyone to Be Seated.

20thAnniversary Fa Teaching

Li Hongzhi

May 13, 2012 ~ New York

(Everyone stands and applauds warmly. Master signals several times for everyone to be seated.)

Good morning! (Disciples say, “Good morning, Master!”) You’ve been working hard! (Disciples respond, “Master has been working hard!” Applause) I think I’d better stand so that you can see me better. (All applaud) We haven’t seen one another for quite some time and I know you’d like to have a good look at me, so I’ll just stand. (Disciples laugh and applaud. Master does the gesture of heshi in response.)

Many people come to the annual New York Fa conference. This venue has a limited seating capacity and can’t hold everyone. So, I told [the organizers] that next time we hold a conference we should find a stadium. (Disciples laugh and applaud)

I said that you’ve been working hard, and that really is the case. Never before has there been something as significant as Fa-rectification. In fact, throughout the past, anything culturally prominent or anything displayed by the cultivators or awakened ones of different periods was all meant for Dafa disciples’ reference and to lay a foundation for the vast spreading of Dafa. In other words, everything from ancient times up to this day was for this cause. To put it even more specifically, the five thousand years of Chinese civilization were in fact directly setting things up for this final event. Then with something this significant, think about it, it has bearing on whether the lives of the entire cosmos may be saved and with whether everything can be salvaged at a time when nothing is good enough anymore. Before the Fa-rectification of the cosmos had begun, nobody ventured to say whether this undertaking would succeed. Such was the thinking of many divine beings back when I first embarked on this. They would often say to me, “We wish you success.” Much was implied in what they said. And there were other divine beings who would tell me that never before had there been anything like this. They saw the enormous degree of difficulty.

As it turns out, the persecution that Dafa disciples have faced in their cultivation is a display in human society of the intense reactions that positive and negative beings have had amidst the cosmos’s re-formation; or in other words, the terror that the evil has visited upon Dafa disciples in its persecution, as with Dafa disciples’ persevering in their righteous belief as they counteract the persecution and save sentient beings, are merely a tiny, little reflection in the human world of happenings in the enormous cosmic Fa-rectification. This is in fact an incredibly enormous undertaking, and its magnificence is beyond the ability of words to describe. As the cosmos is being reformed, and each and every dimension worked on, each dimension will have manifestations of its own. The clash of new and old, the clash of good and evil, reflects the different attitudes of sentient beings, with the human world being but a display in one dimension. I have told you previously that whether or not a Dafa disciple cultivates well determines his power to save sentient beings as well as his ability to be successful in fully cooperating, here in the human world, with the Fa-rectification. In fact, amidst the Fa-rectification all dimensions are cooperating with the Fa-rectification, and things are being done there simultaneously—the pace of Fa-rectification is synchronized. People can only see what Dafa disciples display here in the human world. But what manifests in other dimensions is different, as it is the direct display of disintegration, or survival or death, of lives, as well as the process of the cosmos’s and the cosmic body’s renewal. That sight is something utterly soul-stirring. But because, after all, only a human being can do cultivation, and because however great may be the missions that Dafa disciples shoulder, they will still be human beings cultivating, and because it is human beings doing things here, the vast majority of people are not able to see those [magnificent] things and only very few are able to make out even a little portion of it. It can only be that under these circumstances, with this specified human condition and feeling pressure from the evil, undergoing ordeals, that you do what you are supposed to do.

If viewed in historical terms this is indeed such a major thing, then consider what kind of preparation it would have called for. The arrangements that were made were, in fact, quite detailed, to the extent that how each Dafa disciple would walk his path; what situations each would meet with; how each would advance or fall back; and how things would be handled when inappropriate states eventually came about, was all meticulously arranged. But be that as it may, it has to be that whatever you, as a living entity, want, is what ultimately counts. Whether you want to cultivate, wish for something, want to do something, don’t want to do something, don’t wish for something—all of it is decided by the person himself, and therein lies the difficulty. The same holds true for whether a Dafa disciple cultivates well or poorly, and whether you can fulfill your vows from prehistory. And as for ordinary people, faced with this persecution of Dafa disciples, faced with a suppression that utilizes in full-force the entire state apparatus wherein all media are utilized to fabricate lies and slander Dafa and Dafa disciples, under these circumstances, ordinary people naturally think that they should believe the government. Especially when the wicked CCP has always used lies to cover up its hideousness and used deceit to glamorize the state of things and its false heroes as a part of its evil regime, and having long lied to and duped people as such, it really is hard for Chinese people to tell true from false. Then there’s another aspect to it, namely, that the old forces hold that the cosmos is no good anymore and neither are human beings, and that people such as these who have accrued such great sins must make it through the illusions and lies for them to be worthy; people have gone along with the sinister Party and made things worse, and thus they must be held accountable for and bear all of that. The idea being, if you make it through, you make it through; if you don’t, then you’re to be weeded out. But with all of this, however evil or terrifying things may be here in this world, or however significant people may take them to be, it’s all, in reality, merely the happenings of but one small dimension in the cosmos amidst Fa-rectification—just one small, little matter in the reformation of utterly massive cosmic bodies. This is “leaving one side of the net open” amidst the serious, solemn Fa-rectification: in the people-saving process, those who are up to par will pass, while those who aren’t will not be kept.

So, as Dafa disciples you’ve seen that the situation is changing rapidly, and this is a reflection here in the human world of the cosmos’s Fa-rectification. When the persecution of Dafa disciples started on July 20, 1999, evil things were pressed down from the dimensions of realms above, as were the things from different dimensions and from each universe that they wanted to have eliminated, and you were expected to eliminate them. That brought Dafa disciples tremendous pressure. It was really just so wicked and horrifying, but you made it through. Things have passed and you all know about this now. There’s no need for Master to describe it. When you add to that the evil factors of the evil CCP, which teamed up with those things, you had a kind of pressure that was truly unprecedented. But, the standard for cultivation during the Fa-rectification is strict, and so is the standard that post-renewal divine beings are to meet, for these are the standards and requirements of the new cosmos. Beings that have not been rectified by the Fa will, on the other hand, use the principles of the old cosmos to go about things, and use those to evaluate Dafa disciples. They will only feel okay with it when you meet the standards that they acknowledge; only then will they let you progress upwards free of interference; and only then will they think that you are qualified to save them. And actually, the Kings who preside over the universes of different planes are similarly using old standards to block Fa-rectification. They will only let you make it through after they feel satisfied in their minds that you have met the standards that they have set; some are aware that they are being subjected to Fa-rectification themselves; some believe that they are the highest sovereigns in existence; and some do not agree with the requirements of Fa-rectification. But whether they agree or not, none of them have any idea how things will be after Fa-rectification. Such is the state of the layers upon layers of the multitudes of gods, with each plane thinking in these ways. If they think that someone or something is “not good enough, below standard,” then they will proceed to use their power to directly destroy everything within their ability that doesn’t meet the standard, including things connected to Fa-rectification. Although they don’t have the ability to truly disrupt the Fa-rectification, they will be a hindrance. Regardless of whether they can actually do anything, they will attempt to destroy things. Such occurrences have transpired countless times. But they haven’t managed to destroy the Fa-rectification or Dafa disciples, and nor have they destroyed mankind, or blocked the Fa-rectification. But they have brought a great deal of trouble. The trouble manifests here in the human world, taking the form of interference. These things have been happening all along.

If Dafa disciples don’t do well, if they lower their standard for their cultivation and if those old, higher beings—those layers upon layers upon layers of simply countless Gods and those countless Kings—all do as I just described, then think about it, how much difficulty will that bring to Fa-rectification? At the same time that these Gods, or Kings, are dissolved during the cleaning out, all of the simply countless sentient beings in the domains that they have jurisdiction over will be unable to attain salvation as well. If that is the situation for an entire cosmic body, then none of them can attain salvation. That is exactly the difficulty that Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples have encountered, and it manifests itself here in the human world as all sorts of troubles. You may be thinking that your Master has limitless powers, that he should be able to handle things however he’d like in the Fa-rectification. But have you thought about the fact that if we are to rescue all of this, then those who are to be saved need to be willing [to receive salvation], or it doesn’t count. If it is done against their will, their fundamental nature will not change; forcing such change would equate to re-creating a being. Re-creating a being is easy to do. It is saving a being that’s hardest. Re-creating is very easy.

As we know, didn’t Shakyamuni say that a Buddha could create a world at just the thought of it, with innumerable sentient beings within it? That is the case because they have power that great within their domain, possessing the energy of all the particles from the most minuscule to the largest within the level that they are at, with a density that great, and things are done with [particles spanning from] small to large acting as one. They have all of the abilities needed to create anything in their worlds, with living beings counted among what they can create at the mere thought of it. If things were to be done that way in Fa-rectification, it would amount to re-creating everything, and what was originally there would not exist anymore, nor would it be a case of Fa-rectification saving sentient beings. Then if you wish to rescue them, then for it to be rescuing, you have to get them to want to change in order for it to work. So if you want to save the cosmos and the world when these are no longer good, to rescue all of it, how hard that will be. Thus, sometimes when you meet with ordeals and wonder, “Why are the tribulations so huge? Why can’t Master just remove them for us?” I’ve had that thought too. When I have witnessed Dafa disciples being severely persecuted and their righteous thoughts aren’t strong enough, I’ve really thought about removing that tribulation for you. But, if I were to remove it, it would mean that you hadn’t passed the trial, hadn’t borne what you were supposed to bear, and hadn’t improved in cultivation. If I removed everything for you, then none of it would count for you and you would end up being nobody: you would not count as a cultivator, or as a Dafa disciple. Moreover, each person has brought with him over the course of his reincarnations, lifetime after lifetime, karma that permeates his body. Although Master has been looking after him through all those lifetimes, that person still has quite a lot of karma. If you made some vow in the course of history, or became somehow indebted, or got into certain trouble, then such things are hard to resolve but must be resolved, and must be dealt with. So, dealing with such things is exceedingly difficult, and a lot of the hardship that you encounter in cultivation owes to these reasons. Saving a being is nowhere near as simple as one might imagine.

But that said, however hard it may be, however much interference or difficulty may be introduced by a being prior to saving him, Dafa disciples do have ways forward. As I have always said, as Dafa disciples your historic missions are simply huge, with you shouldering the responsibility of saving sentient beings. So for sure there is a path that you will be able to walk through to completion. It is a path that has to meet the requirements, and only that way will the sentient beings of the cosmos admire you and not be able to interfere; will your path be free of problems; and will your journey go smoothly. Otherwise, if you are carrying all sorts of attachments and human thoughts, you will meet with a great deal of trouble, and that trouble will serve to block your path. When you fail to walk the correct path, one reason for it is karmic causes. Among them is the trouble that accompanies a being in the background; past favors done for others or scores to settle; old promises; all of the different connections one might have with a being, and so on. Another cause is the attachments that come from one’s human mindset. Especially notable are the notions that one forms, or habits of thought that one forms, which make it very hard for a person to recognize when human thinking is unconsciously at work. And if one can’t recognize it, how is one to get rid of it? This is particularly challenging in the setting of China, where the evil Party has destroyed traditional Chinese culture and rigged up its own evil Party stuff instead—what we refer to as “the culture of the Party.” It’s indeed going to be hard to recognize the Truth of the cosmos when one uses the habits of thought bred by that culture. And one won’t even be able to recognize that certain bad thinking and behavior are at odds with universal values. If one can’t recognize bad thinking for what it is, then what can be done? There is no other way but to act according to Dafa.

I have told you before that today’s Chinese people were once the Kings of the many ethnicities known to history, the Kings of each era; they are Kings of higher planes in the cosmos who have come down to earth, who’ve reincarnated in China. Their salvation will result in the salvation of the countless sentient beings behind them whom they represent. So it’s not so simple. When one such person gains salvation and it results in so many more being saved, who’s to eliminate all the karma involved? How is he to make it past that trial? What must he do for the old forces to have less of a loophole to exploit? What must be done in order to make the sentient beings and many gods at different levels of the cosmos who operate under the old Fa principles and old notions find him acceptable? What will it take for those beings who are being impacted to feel okay about it and to allow you to get through [the trial]? It is really hard. But Master has said that, “When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn the tide.” If your righteous thoughts are strong enough, who would dare to do something? So if you are in the right, Master can resolve anything. But if you don’t act righteously, what can Master do? Tell me, if you yourself haven’t done things right and yet Master clears away those [old force] beings, could that be acceptable? If you haven’t done well and whenever you have tribulations we eliminate those beings for you, then who would we be saving? That wouldn’t do.