Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference (Questions & Answers – Part 2 of 2)
Li Hongzhi
Sept. 5, 2010 ~ Manhattan
Disciple: May I ask our revered Master, given the current political regime in Vietnam, should [those of us living there] still work on clarifying the truth to mainland China?
Master: When Dafa disciples live under exceptional political circumstances, it will suffice for them to do a good job with local things. When the right circumstances and conditions aren’t in place, don’t force things. Of course, I’ve said that many of the people in mainland China are quite remarkable, since the kings of the various nations from different eras of the past, along with lives from high planes that came to form predestined ties, have reincarnated there. Despite the fact that today’s Chinese people have been ruined beyond recognition by the evil Party—with their behavior, thinking, and way of doing things all being terribly indecent—their origins are by no means humble, and it’s quite possible the kings of each ethnicity among you are living there. And the Dafa disciples in the mainland are using all their strength to work on these things. If you believe that you have the conditions needed to work on them too, then that’s fine. If you do not, then don’t worry. All of the world’s Dafa disciples, including Dafa disciples in every region throughout mainland China, are working on them.
Disciple: Which project would be best suited for saving the sentient beings of Africa? Shen Yun? New Tang Dynasty TV? Or Epoch Times?
Master: (Laughing) Use whichever one has matured. If you feel that NTDTV has matured, then use that approach. But if you don’t have the right conditions, then it won’t work out. If it is the Epoch Times that has matured, then launch an Epoch Times there. It is not about which project fits better. Rather, you have to consider firstly whether or not there are the right conditions for it, and secondly, as Dafa disciples you need to think things through in practical terms for the sake of sentient beings.
Disciple: Dafa’s resources are precious. How should we get the whole body of Dafa disciples to cherish Dafa’s resources?
Master: Indeed. There are many students who are incapable of earning money, but who have no problem at all spending it. (Audience laughs) However much it may be, they won’t hesitate to spend it, and they burn through it quickly with no thought about the results this will have, about where it came from, or what our situation will be later on [after the money has been spent]. They have no sense of responsibility. The gods are all watching angrily those who act this way. Wasting Dafa disciples’ resources is equivalent to interfering with and damaging Dafa. You have wasted the limited resources that we have, leaving nothing for when it comes time to really save people.
Disciple: The Fa-rectification has already reached the end, but countries in Southeast Asia still haven’t managed to host a Shen Yun performance. We’re very anxious about this. I’d like to ask Master to please strengthen us so that we may stay hopeful.
Master: Actually, Shen Yun doesn’t necessarily have to go there. If our media such as the Epoch Times and NTDTV are run well [there], the impact of their truth clarification will be the same. And that of other projects can be great, too. All Dafa disciples should be able to play the role they are supposed to, for I think it has to do with you doing things well. It’s not as if you can only save sentient beings if Shen Yun comes. Shen Yun is just one initiative. It’s merely that I am handling it since the professional requirements are high and it wouldn’t work if an international performing arts company such as this failed to achieve a world-class artistic standard.
Disciple: In the mainland, people of both the lower and upper classes have a decent understanding of Falun Gong, yet the middle class often avoids it and turns a blind eye. How should we reach these people?
Master: What’s currently thought of as the “middle class” in mainland China is in no way society’s mainstream; rather, it’s merely a privileged class. Back before the persecution of Falun Gong began, over half of the true upper-middle class of mainstream Chinese society had taken up Falun Gong. The wicked Party then drove these people, the mainstream, to the other side, and has since created a corrupt class that serves as society’s nucleus. And it is thus that Chinese society has become corrupt beyond redemption. Of course, the individual people who comprise that class can still be saved. What’s critical is that they be willing to listen to the truth.
Disciple: Is the current state of affairs in Taiwan something that Dafa disciples’ attachments brought about, or is it an old force arrangement?
Master: Here’s how I’d put it. The old forces indeed have their arrangements at work there, but if Dafa disciples fail to do well, then it becomes an issue of cultivation for you as individuals. And if a region’s Dafa disciples fail to do well, then that region will experience problems that were brought about by human attachments—problems born from the attachments found among our students. So, if still more Taiwanese Dafa disciples haven’t done well in regards to a certain issue, then it will indeed impact the state of affairs in that place. Of course, I’m not saying that Taiwan’s Dafa disciples haven’t done well; some things are old force interference. For example, if our Dafa disciples didn’t previously have human attachments that caused them to think divisively along Blue-Green political party lines, the situation would be better today. I brought this up repeatedly, right from the start, since I saw what the consequences would be. But, some students give more weight to political affiliations than to cultivation. Human attachments are indeed hard to remove.
Disciple: I would like to ask Master to help enlighten us on the following: recently, many Dafa activities in Malaysia have met with all sorts of interference. Is it because there are omissions in our cultivation, because we haven’t cooperated well, or is it due to other issues?
Master: There are external reasons, namely, interference from the CCP gang. You can be sure of it. In the case of North America, though, it can no longer interfere with Shen Yun’s performances, since the theaters keep one another abreast of things. When it tries to interfere, our students go to help them become clear on things. And the theater will itself place a call to the preceding theater [on the tour], and ask how the performances there were, and how the program was. The previous theater then tells them that these were terrific, and describes the program to them. They’ll ask how come an official from the Chinese consulate called them and tried to intervene. And they’ll want to know why they received emails faking this or that name and anonymous phone calls, along with letters, saying all sorts of negative things. They’ll then find out that the previous theater received the same stuff. In this manner, the previous theaters as well as the current one all come to know about the CCP’s secret agents and the deeds of the Chinese consulate.
As for other regions [apart from North America], then, I have to ask whether our Dafa disciples there who are hosting Shen Yun have really put a lot of effort into it? And this especially holds for Europe. Each year you have a hard time breaking even financially, and I’m now contemplating whether the company should keep going there. You can’t go on like that. You have to seriously deal with this situation. Huge amounts of human, material, and financial resources are being consumed, so why don’t you do this well? If you can’t do it well, perhaps you should stop and do other projects instead, which won’t be as demanding.
Disciple: After Shen Yun performs, the number of ordinary people who wish to learn Falun Gong swells. Should we be organizing more outdoor practice sessions and more activities to spread the Fa?
Master: If people are coming to learn it, then organize those activities. Isn’t what Dafa disciples are doing all to save people?
Disciple: In our locale, one time after a truth-clarification film was played, one of the coordinators passed around a collection box and prodded students one by one to offer financial support.
Master: Whoever that person was that you were referring to, whoever took up the collection and prodded people one by one for help, needs to return that money.
Disciple: Some students felt that this approach violated Master’s Fa teachings about collecting funds, and refused to donate. But, there were quite a few students who contributed, and allegedly they collected over four thousand dollars right on the spot. But even after this, students are still debating the matter at length and have a hard time drawing a conclusion about it. I sincerely ask Master to shed light on this.
Master: Here’s my answer for you: whoever collected it needs to return it.
Disciple: In order to promote Shen Yun, the Sydney Dafa Association, on one of its online group Fa study sessions that spans all of Australia, asked everyone to contribute money so as to help reimburse the travel expenses of Taiwan students who were coming to Australia to conduct training. Was that appropriate?
Master: If Master doesn’t do such things, you shouldn’t either. There are a lot of things you really need to pause to consider.
Disciple: Some judges outside of China ruled in favor of justice, but then were persecuted by the evil, which led to a negative outcome. Does this relate to certain attachments found among disciples? How can we do better?
Master: The Dafa disciples did what they were supposed to. The old forces saw the impact was becoming enormous, and the impact that this had on the evil was such that the scales were tipping in your favor, so they proceeded to make trouble. But, many things aren’t so simple. When Dafa disciples are filled with righteous thoughts, or we are doing something that we are truly called to do, then gods will be participating and giving support. Both scenarios exist.
Disciple: How have the divisions among fellow cultivators come about? And what can be done to dissolve them?
Master: When human attachments collide, and people refuse to look within, with each viewing things with human thinking and looking down on the other, divisions will form over the course of time. And just like ordinary people, they will cease to get along. Instead, look at things with righteous thoughts, and if both parties can manage to search for their own shortcomings, and truly each do better, then you will see the other party change and that person will be looking for his own shortcomings. If you can do that, there won’t be any divisions coming about. Dissolving the divisions is no different. You both cultivate the same Fa, and you both have the same predestination. So if there’s something you simply can’t get over, then have a heart-to-heart discussion with the other person and really be willing to acknowledge any shortcomings of yours that he may point out. Won’t the problem be resolved, then?
Disciple: I would like to ask Master: between promoting media entities such as NTDTV and the Epoch Times, and clarifying the truth about Falun Gong, how should we best balance the two?
Master: Promoting the Epoch Times and NTDTV itself serves as clarifying the truth, and those you encounter while promoting the media are precisely people to clarify the truth to. That is, you can clarify the truth to people in your interactions with them. As for how to handle these things in particular circumstances, you will gain experience in the course of your work. Just talk with the person and adjust your approach according to whatever you think suits that person.
Disciple: There are only two or three practitioners in our area. While discussing whether to host Shen Yun, we came to believe that we had far too little manpower, and therefore had concerns. I’d like to ask if this is a case of us not having enough righteous thoughts?
Master: If you only have two or three practitioners, then of course you don’t have enough manpower; although, people can make things happen. Thinking that you have too few people isn’t a problem of righteous thoughts. However, in some places there were as few as two practitioners, yet they held two performances in a theater that seats over two thousand, and filled all the seats. And there really have been a good number of stories like this these years. In some situations it all depends on how you go about things. If you really are going to do it, and want to do it, then do it with utmost sincerity. In some other cases, people felt that they didn’t have enough people, and so they sought out help from ordinary people or found an ordinary company to serve as an agent for them. That’s a problem. Those who did that experienced failure with that approach, and suffered financial losses. The reason is, validating the Fa and clarifying the truth are things that Dafa disciples are to do, and are not the tasks of ordinary people. They don’t have such mighty virtue, and it still won’t work no matter how big the company is. If you’re not sure how to do things, you can ask these companies to provide you with some professional advice, or to do some advertising. That’s fine. Things will only work out when you are the ones playing the lead role.
Disciple: When interacting with fellow cultivators who tend to send righteous thoughts less or who are going through ordeals, my body feels discomfort, and sometimes my state becomes not so good.
Master: Some sensations might not in fact be real. For instance, a Dafa disciple may have cultivated extremely well, but, no matter how well he cultivates, it is still a human being who cultivates, and as long as he has yet to achieve Consummation he will be composed of whatever makes up a human body at all levels, and karma will exist on his body. If you happen upon him when he is in the process of elevating or shedding karma, and shedding these things, you might think, “wow, his body is full of cold qi” or “black qi” and that “he’s really cultivated poorly.” But that’s not the case. When a cultivator sheds karma, it is being transformed, and all that an observer can sense is [the karma’s] field. It doesn’t have any adverse effect on others, however. The person who is shedding karma is in the process of elevating, and moreover, it is happening precisely because he has cultivated well.
At present, all of what some people can see are the things of extremely low levels. Nobody can see the true picture of things, or see how well a person may have cultivated. All that can be seen is the side that has not fully gone through Fa-rectification or completed cultivation. It’s similar to what I just discussed a moment ago. What Shakyamuni perceived to be the highest form of the cosmos was the Four Great Elements—namely, earth, water, fire, and wind. But what composes the Four Great Elements? And what is the ultimate basis of earth, water, fire, and wind? The universe was no longer good in any regard, and had begun to degenerate, and erode. What was seen was not in fact what is fundamental to the larger cosmos, but rather, only what was fundamental to a small, singular, cosmic system at a certain small level. Yet the cosmos is so enormous as to be incomparable, and there are countless systems like this. Who could know what would be the ultimate fate of the largest cosmos? Who could know what will be the outcome of all of what Dafa disciples are doing? Who could know the true, yet concealed, states of Dafa disciples who have cultivated well? Even when Master eliminates karma for sentient beings he suffers, and his body will be all out of sorts. Then are those people whose levels are severely limited, and who cannot see the true picture of things, also going to think that Master has problems? And at those times I am bearing sin-karma for sentient beings, among whom are those who cannot see the true picture of things, even though they have the ability to see.
Some people’s tianmu is open, but this has actually made their cultivation more difficult. The old forces arrange hardships and tests for them when their tianmu is in an open state. And that’s especially true for those who have allowed themselves to be interfered with by lesser paths, and think they’re something special. They are nothing of the sort, however. They get totally taken in and are mired in them, behaving irrationally and eccentrically. Yet the true state of things is something that cultivators are definitely forbidden from seeing. And in particular there’s the case of those who cultivate in an unlocked state. They are only allowed to see the things that they are supposed to and that were arranged on their behalf; they are not allowed to see things that aren’t meant for their eyes, since they are still cultivating. If the cultivator truly stops cultivating, then it is another scenario altogether.
Time and again I have explained that nobody can see the true state of things, for it does not resemble what manifests here in this old cosmos while it is still amidst the course of history. None of that exists anymore. As you know, in the past, any universe that had gone wrong—regardless of what plane it was on—as long as it wasn’t good enough anymore, would be weeded out, with major and minor catastrophes befalling it. But all such happenings were part of the old cosmos, for at the time of this cosmos’s creation, things were established from beginning to end at one and the same time, with it all being brought into existence simultaneously, leaving sentient beings to live it out within its scope. A life is to walk a path, which has already been created, from beginning to end. Just like the script of a play, it has it all, with people merely playing their parts from the beginning on through to the end. It’s only that in the massive cosmic body there are different times and different dimensions. When someone whose body is in a slow dimension is able to see the life, and lifetime, of a being in a fast dimension, all it takes is a split second—and even the entire course of that [fast dimension’s] universe’s existence might be seen, for it simultaneously exists over in that space. All of it exists at the same time. It is time that has divided it into different time-spaces and time-environs. At present, however, things are no longer the same. That is because the cosmos is going through Fa-rectification. Nothing whatsoever in the cosmos is up to par, all of it is done for. What was good in the past has been harmonized and restructured, while what was bad has been dismantled. As for the old cosmos and its lives, everything that is brand new has absolutely no linkage with them. The lives in the old cosmos that won’t become lives in the new cosmos will never know what the new cosmos is like. In other words, as long as you are in the old cosmos, you will never come to know what the new cosmos looks like. No matter how high the level of a god in today’s world is, as long as he has not been through Fa-rectification, he will not know [the new cosmos]. No one is worthy of knowing it, other than he who rectifies it, for even the highest gods in the cosmos are facing Fa-rectification and are being tested as to whether they can make it and stay on. Seen in this light, then, those who are cultivating at low levels but have their tianmu open are really nothing. Human attachments, once active, will lead people to behave irrationally and forget who they are.
Disciple: May I ask, is the Divine Land Marching Band important in Europe?
Master: As long as it’s needed for saving people, then it’s important. When it’s not needed, it is not important. The Divine Land Marching Band is important when needed for playing a role in the process of saving people. Don’t go to extremes in your thinking, though. If you go and just practice trumpet all day every day now that you’ve heard Master say that the Band is important for saving people, then that’s no good. My Dafa disciples, when things are needed, go do them. When they’re not, and other projects are in need, then go work on those other projects. That’s how I would look at it.
Disciple: Could we have the Divine Land Marching Band travel to a city in advance of a Shen Yun performance, so that the people there will learn about Falun Gong?
Master: You needn’t do that in Western society. I am presenting Shen Yun as an independent, world-class performing arts company, so you absolutely must not go and turn it into some kind of cheap product that people would hawk at a marketplace. I don’t need you to advance to the front lines ahead of the show, as I will handle the things in other dimensions myself. (Applause)
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with your wanting to raise awareness about Falun Gong in that locale, but, you can’t do what you described. You needn’t insist on telling people that Shen Yun has ties to Falun Gong and make a big fanfare out of it. I don’t hide the connection, but I don’t intentionally delve into it either. You know, looking back three to five decades ago, some eighty percent or more of the world’s population held religious beliefs, with pretty much all of some performance companies’ members being persons of Catholic or Christian faith. Yet, you never heard them announcing prior to their performances, “we’re Christians who have come to perform” or “we’re Catholics who have come to perform.” Did anyone say such things? Even the performance troupes that operate on behalf of the demonic, wicked Party’s regime, which the entire world knows them to be doing, don’t disclose their party affiliation before performing. Then why must we feel so compelled to do so? Isn’t that imposing a double standard [on ourselves]? True, there is the problem of Falun Gong being persecuted. But while I don’t avoid the issue, at the same time I don’t actively talk about it either. Don’t let yourselves be swayed by people who the old forces control. The way I handle things is nothing like how you do, being so easily swayed.
Disciple: How exactly should we handle the relationship between our three main media and the Dafa Association? And how should we handle this appropriately as we go about our work?
Master: If you’re with one of the three main media, or on any other project, as long as you are a student in that Dafa Association’s locale, you need to have a good cooperative relationship with the Association. If the Association holds an event, a large group study, or whatever it may be, and asks you to be part of it, then you should go and take part as long as you’re not busy. If you believe that you really are too busy, then that’s understandable of course, and not an issue. But, as a student of Dafa, you are a student from that area after all. Our media were launched at our students’ own initiative, and even I can’t say that they must fall under the Association’s jurisdiction, for the Association only oversees cultivation. Now as for you on an individual basis, you are a cultivator, and so inevitably you are subject to the coordination of the Dafa Association in your locale. It’s analogous to my relationship with you: could it be said that since each Dafa disciple has a project that he’s tied to, that he belongs to that project, and that there’s no need for me, his master, to look after him anymore? No, that’s not how it is. You’re still cultivating, and so Master still has to look after you. That’s how these things are related.
Disciple: Dafa students in Taiwan refer to group Fa study as a “reading assembly.” Is that appropriate?
Master: No, it’s not very appropriate. You need to approach Dafa cultivation with all due seriousness. Don’t try to be different and come up with new terms like that. Don’t just mix into the Fa terms that were not used by me, especially things from past religions or other ordinary people. Neither should you wantonly bring into Dafa things drawn from other forms of cultivation. Some things still carry messages, and these can easily be exploited by bad things.
Disciple: After Master spoke about cooperating with the coordinator, some students took this to mean that they should only take action according to the coordinator’s plans, and think that all’s well if they just wait for the coordinator to organize things. And when nothing is organized for them to do, they don’t actively look for things they can do and are not proactive about saving sentient beings.
Master: Coordinators only arrange things as needed. They cannot plan things for you each and every day. Of course you should proactively, of your own accord, do the things Dafa disciples do to save sentient beings when there aren’t any group activities arranged. Those are not things you can wait for a coordinator to set up. I’m just speaking to the relationship between the coordinator and our students.
Disciple: I’m a student who clarifies the truth in Chicago’s Chinatown. I would like to ask our venerable Master, is it inappropriate to distribute the Epoch Times newspaper at sites where we clarify the truth and encourage people to quit the Party?
Master: Some [of our] media give no thought to what they’re doing and always put Falun Gong out front, “the Falun Gong Epoch Times,” “the Falun Gong NTDTV,” the Falun Gong this, Falun Gong that. Some students just insist on doing that, when in fact they don’t need to. And actually, even if you didn’t say that, people would still know. Many people know that the Epoch Times is run by Falun Gong students. But do you realize, all that talk about people supposedly saying that if you don’t put Falun Gong out front you’ll have this and that issue, was in fact something that was spurred by secret agents of the wicked Party? Yet how come you’re always citing those words? Have you not yet thought it over? Looking back a few decades ago, many media organizations, from the person at the top on down to the staff, were composed entirely of Christians. Yet nobody was prompting them to always begin by disclosing that “we’re Christians” this and that, “we’re Catholics” and have such-and-such kind of newspaper. (Audience laughs) Would they ever do that? Wouldn’t that be strange? Why don’t you find it strange?
Of course, I’m not talking about the student who asked the question. What I am saying is, our manpower is limited right now, so when you want to give this person a newspaper along with another [set of materials], and at the same time encourage people to quit the Party, and clarify the truth, this presents a problem. I can’t say whether it is alright or not to do so, but I can encourage you to try to handle this well. It’s usually more appropriate if you leave the newspapers at a supermarket, and then only take truth-clarification materials with you when you go to promote withdrawal from the Party. The students who run these media need to think about how to better cement the position of our Dafa-disciple-run media as part of society and become regular media in ordinary society. If the media that our Dafa disciples run become very credible in people’s eyes, these will have much more power in clarifying the truth. If you always use unsuitable approaches, however, it’s possible you will give people the impression that you’re unprofessional. By its very nature the newspaper assumes a different approach to clarifying the truth, and it’s not the same as directly clarifying the truth. So, you need to handle this well.
Disciple: Ordinary friends have told me that, since coming to the U.S., they’ve run into Dafa disciples who they encounter on the street, who try to clarify the truth to them and launch right into saying “Heaven is going to eliminate the CCP” and the like. It’s not only hard for them to accept, but also evokes negative feelings in them. Afterwards, when the truth is presented to them, this serves as an obstacle. I’m wondering whether our people could change their approach, and do things incrementally, rather than doing things without thinking them through?
Master: You’re right. Dafa disciples need to pay attention to the approach they take when clarifying the truth, since the people out there have all sorts of different frames of mind. And this is especially important with Chinese people, who have had their heads infused with the wicked-Party-culture’s mode of thought, vocabulary, and conduct, and who are trapped within the confines of the wicked Party’s culture. Even when some Chinese people curse the wicked Party, they do so in its own context, without ever having truly understood the wicked Party for what it is. So, I would say that you need to rationally go about things, and not just do things superficially. If you want to save people, then you have to put more into it and not just do things superficially.
The saying, “Heaven is going to eliminate the CCP,” is the final outcome that cultivators have come to see. Don’t make it your opening line when you clarify the truth. If you have really explained things to people, however, and then you get into how evil the Party is and that Heaven is going to eliminate it, then that’s okay. But when you have yet to clarify the truth to that person and you launch into “Heaven is going to eliminate the CCP,” and the person really hasn’t come to understand things, then they will think that you’re “getting political.”
Disciple: Fei Tian Academy of the Arts is establishing a branch in Taiwan. Some students believe that the children of Dafa disciples should be who we target with our recruiting. I would like to ask our revered Master what is the goal of establishing a branch of Fei Tian Academy of the Arts in Taiwan?
Master: Having one school in the U.S. that’s meant for Dafa disciples is plenty; there’s no need to have more schools meant for Dafa disciples. Actually, you don’t need to use the name “Fei Tian.” Since it is entirely disciples doing it, why not target ordinary society, admit the sons and daughters of ordinary people and clarify the truth to them, and save them, opening up more channels [for people to receive the truth]. That way, it won’t consume Dafa’s resources. So, my hope is that whichever area opens a school will establish it squarely in ordinary society, thus making for more interaction with ordinary society and allowing us to save more people. Let’s not start up schools for Dafa disciples.
Disciple: In our area, there are endless disagreements among the cultivators about how to balance the need to promote Shen Yun more professionally with the need to have righteous thoughts. May I ask Master to again clarify how these two should be regarded in light of one another?
Master: There’s no conflict between the two. It’s about cultivators needing to become more professional, and not about having ordinary people do the work of Dafa disciples for them. What’s key is the attitude you have when you do things—what leads you to do them. Whoever is always nitpicking about this and that when you discuss things is delaying your work, and has problems. And I’m not just referring to Shen Yun promotions. The same holds true with other things. What’s there to be nitpicking about? Just go and do it—really, truly get down to doing things. As a Dafa disciple, if you spot something that hasn’t been done well, then be proactive about making things go better. When you’re discussing things in meetings, whoever is always locking horns with others, questioning the soundness of people’s ideas, or not looking at the whole picture, which then causes the whole project to end up fruitless—that person has a problem. Not everything needs to be discussed to the point of perfection. Sometimes you just need to take action, and just do things well in the process. Even if you think your idea is great, and can save a hundred people, if you don’t carry it out it is useless. Meanwhile, if something can save just one person, then whoever carries it out gains that much mighty virtue for it.
Disciple: I would like to ask Master, at present, when our media are in need of funds, could we solicit donations in small amounts from ordinary people to support our business activities?
Master: There’s no problem with soliciting contributions for a media company, since it is not Dafa disciples or the Dafa Association doing the soliciting, and neither is it being used for cultivation things. Cultivation, as you know, doesn’t entail any costs. But a media entity is a company that’s by nature planted in ordinary human society. The media companies that you run are not media set up by Dafa. That’s something I told you about long ago. They are media established by Dafa disciples, and meant to take root in ordinary society. Dafa has no media; Dafa is simply cultivation. Since these are media of ordinary society, and the form they take is the same as ordinary companies, then what problem is there [with soliciting donations]? There is none, and you can try your best with this. Just as ordinary businesses may need help, you can solicit support just the same. There’s nothing wrong with doing so. But you cannot solicit support among our students.
Disciple: Shen Yun performed in three cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, and only in San Francisco was the financial outcome quite poor. Next time when the tour comes to San Francisco, and the financial pressure becomes rather large, our understanding is that we should prioritize the success of the performances in San Francisco and temporarily set aside our work on the neighboring cities. I would like to ask our revered Master, is this understanding correct?
Master: Specific things such as these are for you to reflect on. Master isn’t opposed to having performances at any certain locale, as long as there is no financial loss. Some people say, “Since we now target higher-end society, let’s spend more on advertising.” When ticket prices go up, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your advertising expenses should rise in proportion. That’s not the idea. You shouldn’t spend extravagantly in order to match a certain percentage of the ticket value or total revenue. Just do as before and that should be fine. The percentage-based approach that ordinary people use doesn’t work for us. What we’re doing is saving people, and gods are participating, so the cultivation states of Dafa disciples are very important. Putting on [Shen Yun] performances is also cultivation, and you need to cooperate with one another well. You should clarify the truth to the people you interact with, as all sentient beings are waiting to be saved.
Disciple: Right now, the Divine Land Marching Band in New York is studying a lot of music theory, with people even having to take exams. Is this a waste of time?
Master: You’re saying there’s a lot of music theory that they are being required to study? Is that really the case? At present it’s not feasible to try to become professionals. There are many things that need to be done to validate the Fa. As long as you are clear [on how to play the music], that’s good enough; you don’t need to become a professional caliber member of the Divine Land Marching Band. Dafa disciples are shouldering so many duties at the same time. It’s understandable if you all want to do each of the things that you’re doing somewhat better, but you really need to weigh your priorities carefully.
Disciple: Fa conferences and small meetings aren’t to be recorded, yet students from Sydney who were working on Shen Yun still made recordings, and repeatedly gave them to other practitioners.
Master: Nobody was asked to do recording at the meeting sessions that I led. Whoever did such recording was doing something that undermines the Fa. How could you do something like that? Weren’t these things already addressed long ago? Whoever did that needs to hand their recording(s) over to the local Dafa Association.
Disciple: Dafa disciples in Indonesia haven’t cooperated with each other very well. I would like to ask Master to give us guidance.
Master: I think that many things have been done well, in fact. Although the cooperation might not have been good in some instances, I believe that in the course of cultivation you will gradually come to cooperate well.
Disciple: I would like to ask our revered Master, as we cover ordinary news and get polluted by it daily, is it necessary for us to try to expel that pollution each day using our thoughts? Will that minimize the pollution?
Master: No, you don’t need to do that. Whatever you lay your eyes upon is polluting. You just need to increase your Fa-study and it will be fine. And along with that, you should do the exercises with a normal length of time every day, and when studying the Fa, you need to make sure your mind is focused. Any problem can be resolved if you truly make good on your cultivation.
Disciple: When some people tell Dafa disciples that they agree to withdraw from the Party and its organizations, it’s just something said casually and without much thought, in order to avoid anyone looking bad, and it doesn’t come from their truly seeing the wicked Party for what it is. In such cases has the person indeed been saved?
Master: When the person’s thought comes from within, then he can be saved. When people say something casually just to avoid looking bad, then it depends on the situation. By having the courage to say [they withdraw], at least it means they don’t harbor bad thoughts about Dafa, and by having the courage to withdraw, at least it means they don’t have good feelings about the wicked Party. Of course, it’s a whole other matter if they are saying one thing while having antagonistic thoughts inside. Gods can see such things. But as Dafa disciples, one thing is, you need to do things more solidly. Don’t just do things superficially. You shouldn’t try to get people to agree by making them feel embarrassed [not to withdraw]. But, I do know that in the vast majority of cases where people have withdrawn, it’s not that they did it just to save face. And moreover, looking at the state of Fa-rectification and the changes in mankind at present, [it can be said that] major transformations have occurred. The changes in the people in mainland China have been greater than the changes in the overseas Chinese outside the mainland, as those outside actually fear the Chinese consulate and have really been intimidated by those puny secret agents. People in the mainland make a big show of cursing the wicked CCP, and have no fear in doing so. It’s one thing to fear the wicked Party when it’s controlling you as you live in mainland China, but to still fear it when you’re living abroad, outside its control… Don’t you have any guts at all? Isn’t the mentality of these people a bit odd?
Disciple: Recently, Master has repeatedly asked everyone to learn from the management practices of ordinary people and draw on their experiences running companies. At present, the management is considering whether to implement certain management approaches, yet some of our fellow cultivators are still reluctant about this, and make remarks like, “To govern by doing nothing is the highest realm.” (Audience laughs)
Master: There’s no excuse some people won’t think up. (Audience laughs) What company “governs by doing nothing”? If you’re saying that the companies run by Dafa disciples are different, and can “govern by doing nothing,” then I don’t believe you. If you don’t have any human attachments, then you are a god. But aren’t you still human beings cultivating? Then, while it’s still humans cultivating, isn’t the human part of you that hasn’t completed cultivation the same as an ordinary human being? You still have attachments that have yet to be removed, only you, as a cultivator, are a good person and your plane is higher. If you didn’t have conflicts with the management, attachments that lead you to fight with them for the lead role, or instances of bad cooperation, and you truly all manage to look within, and search inside yourselves, then indeed you will have an approach to management better than that of ordinary media, and your productivity will be outstanding. However, you are not able to achieve that right now, and that is caused precisely by those human attachments of yours. Your productivity has proved to be low, instead.
Disciple: Dafa disciples in mainland China, Dafa disciples in each region outside China, and the Dafa disciples on each of the many truth-clarification projects outside China all wish to take the opportunity of this conference to give their regards to our compassionate, magnificent, and esteemed Master.
Master: Thank you all. (Applause) I didn’t read many of the slips that are sending regards to Master, and there were many more that were taken out by the conference organizers and didn’t make it to me. But in any case, Master knows what’s in your hearts, and Master misses greatly the Dafa disciples in mainland China as well as those in each region around the globe. (The disciples applaud) The Fa-rectification will definitely succeed. This is already an indisputable fact. (The disciples applaud) When I first began this undertaking, those gods said to me, “In the future, mankind will be able to see all of what you have been doing.” I asked how so. They replied that people would see the disintegration of the stars as well as the changes in the celestial bodies, and people would see that these things were connected to you. These changes will draw ever closer, bit by bit. The celestial bodies never displayed such dramatic changes before. Now, however, they are pressing forward toward this place, and even with an ordinary telescope one can make out the changes that the celestial bodies are undergoing. And mankind’s state is changing as well. People’s perception of Dafa is changing too, almost as if people’s minds are gradually clearing up. The change is like ice thawing. In the near future, people will really come to see Falun Gong and Dafa disciples in a whole new light, and the truth of affairs will be laid out right before man’s eyes. At that point people will realize that Dafa disciples are their sole hope of salvation. So, Dafa disciples simply must do well. You truly shoulder a mission, and you really do bear such a great historic responsibility. And that is why I say you must do well.
As you know, there is always the question of why there have been so few new Dafa disciples since the persecution started. It is precisely because the old forces locked up the entrance, and thus nobody could enter unless they had an exceptional circumstance or I specifically needed them. That is because, based on the old forces’ logic, the test has already reached its end, and the harshest period has passed; and, having arrived at the persecution’s final stages, the most sinister and treacherous environment posed by the test has already passed, and many of the evil people who were put in place have died. With that sort of evil environment being no more, those who recently entered [Dafa] will have a hard time establishing the mighty virtue that a Dafa disciple is supposed to have, and thus [the old forces] do their utmost to control [who enters]. You know, in the previous phase, when the persecution was severe, people couldn’t enter on account of being fearful or having misunderstandings about Dafa. So how come now, when the persecution has been exposed far and wide and the truth is well-known, and when the atmosphere is less tense, it’s still hard for people to enter? Now you know why.
The task of saving sentient beings has to be carried out by you. And not only must it be done, but it must be done well. It is not done for Master, however. Though we call it “saving sentient beings,” it is not done entirely for them either. It’s also done for your sake. That is because the sentient beings that you save, which includes the people that you clarify the truth to, shall very likely one day be a portion of the sentient beings in your enormous cosmos. You are perfecting and completing yourself, through your successes you are achieving what you shall become, and without these, you could not serve as King there nor complete your mission and establish the magnificent mighty virtue that’s needed. That is how things work, and thus you absolutely must do a good job of it. Don’t allow yourselves to get stuck in a state where you constantly argue endlessly, but instead, be more like a Dafa disciple and earnestly, humbly, and solidly make efforts to carry out well what you are supposed to do. With any project or any task, if you decide not to do it, then don’t do it; and if you do decide to do it, then you definitely have to do it well and carry it through to the end. If you do otherwise, how shall the time you wasted go down in the annals of history? Whatever is not brought to completion amounts to a failure. That is not to say, however, that a certain task has to be carried out according to your own ideas and only if it succeeds will you build up mighty virtue. Rather, it is in the act of your cooperating and the thoughts that follow, and in how you go about things in the process of collaborating, that count as the cultivation process. If in your work your thoughts can be righteous and you can keep in mind that you are a cultivator, never forgetting your mission and responsibility, and bring to completion that portion of things that you are supposed to handle, then you are establishing mighty virtue, that is your process of cultivation, and that is your process of fulfilling your historic mission as a Dafa disciple. Many things have been brought to completion by Dafa disciples cooperating together, and many have been completed by Dafa disciples working independently. Nothing that you encounter is by chance, and quite possibly each and every thing was arranged as it is in history. So, don’t underestimate what you do or work on. Everything may seem completely ordinary, and not seem to have any special significance, but, in other dimensions, it is bringing about enormous transformations.
But, precisely because you are in this place of delusion, and cannot see the reality of things, nor the holiness of all that you have done, and since you each have a human side, it is hard to establish such righteous thoughts and you thus don’t experience a sense of excitement, and must manage to do well amidst hard times. Only by coming through under these conditions does it count as extraordinary. If people could know the magnificence, or extraordinariness of what they are doing, nobody would hesitate to do these things. If everyone could see a divine being right before them, in full, living color, then nothing else would matter and they would put everything on the line in order to follow whatever that divine being said. Everyone would do the same, and there would be no mighty virtue to be had, for it would not be cultivation. The spell of delusion would have been broken, and so nothing would count. But, precisely because one is amidst the setting of delusion, one cannot perceive the truth of things, and thus it can be seen whether you can manage to cultivate, whether you can manage to make it through to the finish, and whether you can succeed at cultivation. It is immensely difficult for a human being on this earth to become a god, and it is every bit as difficult for him to ascend to the heavens.
Although many people in history have done cultivation, none in fact succeeded in their practice. As I have explained before, it was always the subordinate soul [that succeeded], whereas the true master soul of the person continued on in the human realm, reincarnating. And this holds true for the human body of Shakyamuni, Lao Zi, and Jesus, all of whom are now among Dafa disciples. The mighty virtue that they accumulated would suffice for them to achieve Consummation, and the same is true for other Dafa disciples—it’s plenty enough for them to achieve Consummation—and it is thus that I’ve said your Consummation is not a question. What is a question is [your fulfilling] the enormous mission of saving sentient beings. It’s only this question, of your managing to fulfill this mission, that counts as critical. Your own completion is not the goal. You already established that mighty virtue in the past, and it is on those grounds that you are worthy of being a Dafa disciple.
Master doesn’t wish to say more. I realize that my tone was a bit strong while discussing some problems, but in such cases it’s always that I wish for you to recognize them. Though the tone was a bit heavy, I know that you haven’t just taken up Dafa after all and are on more solid footing than that, so, speaking a bit more strongly may help you with some of the specific challenges that you face. Of course, there may be many other questions that weren’t raised. With so many people, only a certain amount of question slips can be passed up. If the opportunity presents itself, I’ll talk more later on. That’s all for today. (All disciples applaud warmly)
I’ve covered so much ground today, I am not sure how well you’ve absorbed it. And there were many things I probably didn’t address so comprehensively. Many of those who’ve participated in this experience sharing conference have really cultivated quite well, and you all would do well to really hone in and look at how others have cultivated, where the gap between you and them lies, and how you can use this grand conference to spur yourself to improve, turning it into a motivational force. Our Fa conferences mustn’t be held in vain. As you may know, the cost of flights exceeds 10 million dollars when so many Dafa disciples gather here like this from around the world. We don’t have that kind of money to wantonly waste, so it is imperative that this Fa conference be fruitful for us. You need to really, truly put some effort into cultivation, and not lapse into just doing it superficially; you shouldn’t have so many human attachments. As Master sees it, your each and every thought, and your every single action, reveals to me what your heart is like. What I least like are those who are all talk and no action. Nor do I like those who are cunning. What I like are those who are honest and simple, sincere and down-to-earth. I also hope that you can all, after so many years of cultivating, positively grow in wisdom and not grow so much in terms of knowing how to deal with worldly matters or how to conduct yourself as a human being leading a worldly life.
Thank you all. That’s all for today. (All disciples applaud warmly)