(Clearwisdom.net)
Predestined Relationships among Non-Cultivators
People can't live without predestined relationships, because predestined relationships are the outcome of karmic retribution among people [the universal law in which both good and bad deeds are eventually repaid in kind]. No matter whether one believes in predestined relationships or not, he cannot get rid of or break away from them.
A person's predestined relationships are his fate, something unavoidable. If one wants to break away from the cycle of karmic retribution within predestined relationships, one has to change his fate. There are only two options to changing one's fate: One is to perform uncontrolled evil deeds, which leads to extinction of body and soul, or complete destruction; the other option is to begin cultivation and completely get rid of karma.
People are governed by their predestined relationships, and their lives are pre-determined. People may feel that their lives are not stable, and any disturbance from the outside world could change their course at any time. The helplessness of an everyday person makes him sigh with emotion about the complexity of fate.
However, predestined relationships are the principle at the level of everyday people. People who conform to this principle at this level are good people at this level. It is a good thing to let people know that predestined relationships exist. It reduces the useless fighting and needless worries and pain; it enhances people's calmness and tranquility.
Predestined Relationships of Cultivators
It is appropriate to clarify the truth to people and let them know about and understand the existence of predestined relationships. This does not apply to cultivators, though.
A cultivator is no longer controlled by ordinary predestined relationships. His or her every step in the future is no longer governed by karmic relationships, and there are many variables to the path that Master arranged for him or her. The predestined relationships that a cultivator faces are what Master selects and arranges, in order to help the cultivator improve and succeed in cultivation. A cultivator is among predestined relationships but it doesn't mean that the cultivator is controlled by them. When a cultivator encounters a predestined issue because of predestined relationships, it is for him to untie the knot and close out this predestined relationship with a cultivator's compassion, kindness and forgiveness. At the same time, most importantly, he should let go of attachments, reduce karma and raise his level of cultivation. To cultivate is to change one's initial fate; it gives closure to a predestined relationship, and enables one to break away from the endless cycle of karmic retribution.
A cultivator needs to address predestined relationships, but not be attached to them, and not to treat them as ultimate truth or use them as guidance in everyday life. One also must not talk excessively of predestined relationships with other cultivators. It is meaningless and also an attachment to emotions, such as happiness and sadness. If a cultivator treats predestined relationships as some kind of guiding principle, it indicates that he doesn't want to leave this material world. To put it in plain words, he does not have the desire to truly cultivate.
The fundamental reasons for predestined relationships and cultivation are related to the Fa-rectification. It is meaningless to discuss anything if Fa-rectification is not included. Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period should not be limited by predestined relationships. Predestined relationships can be used to offer people salvation, otherwise they should not be emphasized.
From a broader perspective, the old universe and its principles would have been destroyed long ago were it not for Fa-rectification, and predestined relationships, positive or negative, would by now all be extinct. Even though the old universe still exists, what will those predestined relationships it had generated lead to? The old universe's principles are based on formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction-emptiness. If one followed this principle now, the old universe should right now be in the stage of destruction and entering the stage of emptiness. If conforming to this old principle, then everything should have been destroyed and the universe should be empty. Then, should we conform to this principle? Should we emphasize and believe in this predestined relationship? Is there any significance to emphasizing and believing in so-called predestined relationships?
From a historical perspective, the arrangements of the old forces permeated the entire history and filled our numerous lives in the past. There were hardships and happiness; there were successes and failures. We cannot distinguish clearly what are the arrangements our Master had arranged and what was arranged by the old forces or what is the result of our own degeneration. History is too long, and we ourselves do not know these things. The world in the Dharma-ending Period is too chaotic, the universe on the verge of destruction is hectic and disorderly, the old forces are vicious and evil, and their factors filled our lives. We have too many attachments. We are not wise enough and we sometimes understand Master's Fa in an extreme and one-sided way.
For a Dafa practitioner during the Fa-rectification period, it is dangerous to be trapped in predestined relationships. Which predestined relationships we should believe in? The old forces also have long-lasting and complex predestined relationships with us. Our long history and faraway past were once filled with factors of the old forces.
Gratitude and resentment co-exist among Dafa disciples, no matter if there is predestined relationship or not, and no matter whether or not it is a good or bad one. Should we let gratitude and resentment control us practitioners? Gratitude and resentment exist between Dafa disciples and everyday people. Should we let this impact our offering people salvation? Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period should not look at the so-called predestined relationship, no matter how far back it goes, no matter how beautiful or awful it looks, or even no matter if it exists or not. It is wrong to follow predestined relationships. If we do, it means we have forgotten that Master's Fa is the fundamental basis of our lives, have forgotten the purpose of our cultivation, and have forgotten that we are Dafa disciples during this Fa-rectification period.
Predestined relationships do exist, but Dafa disciples should not be controlled by them, nor should we treat them as principles of cultivation. Even from the perspective of individual cultivation, cultivators will eventually break away from everything in the world, including breaking away from predestined relationships.