(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, because of my job, I started studying the Teachings of Confucius. I read The Great Learning (Da Xue), The Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and Mencius. Previously, I never knew anything about the teachings of Confucius, nor did I have a good knowledge of the ancient Chinese language or literature. However, since Falun Dafa, which I am cultivating, is the Fa of the cosmos, all righteous teachings in the world are included in Dafa. Master said:
"Let me tell you that after its cultivation reaches a very high level, Confucianism belongs to the Tao School."(Zhuan Falun)
I started to study the teachings of Confucius from a higher level. Therefore, the ideological essence in the human world seems to be so easy to understand suddenly. I easily grasped its core and within half of a year, I was able to have a complete understanding of the teaching of Confucius.
Later on, I gave a two-hour lecture in my work place. The content included: 1. The origin of the teachings of Confucius. 2. The core of the traditional culture is its moral connotation. 3. Regarding superstition. 4. History is going downhill. 5. The damage to the traditional culture. 6. The human culture after the moral degeneration of the whole world. 7. The misunderstanding of the ancient people's lives. 8. The education of scriptures, language and literature. 9. The influence of the teachings of Confucius to the world.
Prior to my cultivation, it would have been impossible for me to give this kind of lecture. I was very narrow-minded and never considered anyone else other than myself. I was attached to satisfying my own benefits.
Now, everything is different. During my cultivation and from studying the Fa, I gradually started to have a clear understanding of human culture and history. Master said:
"The entire Three Realms, including all beings in human society, were constructed, formed, came about, were born, and were created so that sentient beings could be rescued and saved amidst the Fa-rectification at the cosmos's final time." "So everything that has taken place in each of the periods in history, including recent human history, has been for the purpose of creating a culture for man, for today's mankind, so that it may understand the Fa. This was by no means intended for mankind just to live, and even less was it for mankind to develop or to make some kind of good life for itself in human society."("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York")
After I studied the teachings of Confucius and Chinese history, I started to have a deeper understanding of the Fa.
While I was reading the teachings of Confucius, another side of my mind seemed to be very open, because I always have Dafa on my mind. Nothing seemed to be difficult to understand. I often was moved by something that is hard to explain with words. I felt that Dafa is so good and great and it contains everything.
My coworkers are all more educated than I am. But during their educational process, what they learned was only things in the human culture. When they said I have "profound knowledge" or thought that I am "very sharp", I told them that it was because I read Zhuan Falun. Everything is in that book. My boss also read Zhuan Falun. Once he told me that in fact the foundation of every teaching in the world is based on "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance". Before he obtained the Fa, he was interested in the ideologies of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. But after he read Zhuan Falun, he finally found what he was looking for.
Through learning Dafa, I gradually understood how a lord or king in heaven is responsible for the righteous factors in the cosmos, and how a lord or king in the human world rules the whole nation well. Through studying the Fa, I also understand how the human world is assimilating to the principles of the cosmos. That kind of society is very harmonious and wonderful and everything is going forward righteously.
Therefore, I can accept the different aspects in the teachings of Confucius, which talks of being selfless, loving, and focusing on rational education, etc. I think the Thoughts of Confucius are Thoughts with principles. If everyone would follow the thoughts of Confucius in order to rule a nation, society would also reach a decent state. In fact, the ancient politics were not as dictatorial and inhuman as the CCP culture viciously propagandizes.
Everybody can be measured by the moral standards which the thoughts of Confucius provide. "From the emperor to ordinary citizens, everyone must start to cultivate oneself. There is no exception" (The Great Learning). No matter where one stands in society, one should always follow the ethics of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, honesty or trust and follow the principles of loyalty. If everybody followed the thoughts of Confucius, there would be harmonious relationships between father and son, brothers, friends and couples. This harmony would spread throughout the entire society. People would live together peacefully. The entire society would have a very healthy growth.
"The Doctrine of the Mean" was understood as doing things without principle. In fact, this is an incorrect understanding. "The Doctrine of the Mean" contains very strict principles, including standards for measuring righteousness and evilness, the restraints of selfish desires and benefits, the positive attitude to strive for higher education, and establishing oneself in society.
The moral standards that Confucius provided the ancient emperors with are righteous. In "The Doctrine of the Mean", it says an emperor who is governing the entire nation should respect the people. In "Analects of Confucius", it states that the focus should be on moral education when governing a nation. In "The Great Learning," it states that an emperor should pay attention to his own cultivation and behavior. It also states that virtue is the root, and wealth is like branches. Without a good root, the branches or leaves would not flourish.
Master said:
"Becoming a king, an official, wealthy, or nobility all come from virtue. No virtue, no gain; the loss of virtue means the loss of everything. Thus, those who seek power and wealth must first accumulate virtue. By suffering hardships and doing good deeds one can accumulate virtue among the masses. To achieve this, one must understand the principle of cause and effect. Knowing this can enable officials and the populace to exercise self-restraint, and prosperity and peace will thereby prevail under heaven."(Wealth with Virtue, January 27, 1995 in Essentials for Further Advancement)
I think the teachings of Confucius assimilate to the principles of the cosmos and follow heaven's will. Therefore, with the Dafa of the cosmos as our guide, even if you are a king, you can still cultivate. Because the more power a person has, the more responsibilities he or she would have to the nation or the society. That means he or she has to have very high virtue and tolerance, think about the nation and its people all the time and give up their own desires or benefits. Hence they would be cultivating.
Later, when I studied Master's "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005", Master said:
"Let me in fact go a step further. What's meant by "getting involved with politics," and what's meant by "cultivation form"? This is where a lot of people err. Suppose that I, Li Hongzhi, had chosen in this life to be an emperor and to lead a group of subjects to cultivate. Would that work? (Applause) Yes! It definitely would! As long as the Fa was upright and could truly ensure that lives elevated, and as long as the path was walked righteously, then it definitely would work!" "...You all know that along with painting there is music and sculpture. Those things and also modern science and technology are all different skills for various facets of human life. It seems as though human beings created those things themselves and did so to enrich human society, but that's actually not the case at all. What's the real reason, then? Let me tell you that those are in fact [parts of] cultivation and unique characteristics of the realms of lives from distant systems."
When I read this, suddenly my thoughts expanded. I seemed to have realized more things. My understanding of the cosmos and cultivation seemed to be clearer. But yet I couldn't explain it in words.
The thoughts of Confucius require that people have very strong self-restraint. Human beings live in the maze of ordinary human society and have qing. Often, this means that they have to suffer by giving up selfish desires. When human beings cannot exercise self-discipline and follow moral standards, they will have deviated from the teachings of Confucius. Of course the teachings of Confucius have limits as well. Let us look at Chinese history, which was arranged by the old forces. It was a history of walking downhill along with the degeneration of the old cosmos. Even the good things were not very righteous. The bad things were even worse. However, today's Chinese people are used to the negative things of history. Therefore, history seems to be more of an obstacle keeping today's people from understanding and obtaining the Fa.
After reading the teaching of Confucius, I understood that the charge of "getting political" seems to be something good to the public. For example, in 1948, an officer from the Nationalist Party, Yan Xishan gave a speech to the personnel in the Department of Education. Politics includes two issues. One is loving people, and the other one is fairness, to ensure that the elderly, the young and the lonely have a reliable source of income to live from. Therefore, the so-called "getting political" should in fact mean to do things "selflessly and for others". It should not be for satisfying one's selfish desire for power and fighting for ruling the nation. So today, people's understanding of "politics" is distorted and its meaning is deviated from the principles of the cosmos. Today's distorted political notions are an outcome of human beings' demoralization and it is also a factor that needs to be corrected soon.
Due to the CCP culture and its high political pressure, many Chinese people try to avoid "getting political" or talking about politics. People also think that the ancient Chinese emperors were complete dictators. In fact, this is due to the CCP's deceiving and enslaving the Chinese people. They purposefully defamed and falsified ancient Chinese history.
As a result of the CCP's destroying the Chinese traditional culture, today's Chinese people do not really know their own history anymore and are unclear about their own future too.
Because of my job, I had to study "politics". But as a practitioner, I don't have any interest in "politics". Whether it is an individual, a group or a nation, as long as they assimilate to the principles of the cosmos and follow heaven's will, they will last long and have a good future. Their existence is not realized by "political means". During the five thousand years of China's history, the most prosperous dynasty only lasted for a short period. So the most important thing the CCP should think about is not whether they can have the right to rule China forever, it should reflect on what it brought to this nation and the people. This evil party has been against the universe since its birth. Although the old forces gave it life, they did not give it hope and a future. In the human world, it has been standing on Chinese soil and killing Chinese people's minds. In the persecution of Falun Gong, it ruined Chinese people's futures. It did not accept the chances Dafa gave it. Therefore, it has to be eliminated. The choice the CCP made in this critical moment in the cosmos's history is so shameful and truly a pity! It is like a speeding car with malfunctioning brakes, driving towards the edge of a cliff, honking its horn.