(Minghui.org) A new video game was recently released in mainland China. It is a battle game based on the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. It is trendy, and many young people are playing it.
I’ve roughly understood that one of the endings favored by many is that Wukong doesn’t accept the position of Buddhahood and once again becomes the Monkey King, leading all the major demon kings in preparation to fight the Heavenly Court. In the end, Wukong turns demonic.
Wukong decided to give up his Buddha status because he resented the perceived injustice of the Heavenly Court. When the Heavenly Court suppressed him, he became angry and defiant, and through a series of events, he turned into a demon.
There are many similar games and animated films. I’ve wondered how such things influence people’s thoughts as they are playing and watching them. It’s very frightening.
Concern for People’s Situation
“Black Myth: Wukong” gives the player the feeling that gods and Buddhas are heartless and cannot distinguish between right and wrong, so what’s the point of being one? You might as well break all the rules and fight to the end. Many youngsters like to play such games. When they see that Monkey King can turn into a demon, they might think: “Why walk with the divine? It’s more fun to dance with the demons.”
What consequences do such video games have for minors and adolescents? They will be enshrouded in the darkness of power, doing whatever it takes to gain power, fame, and wealth, even if the motives and means are sinful and even if they need to deal with the demonic.
In today’s society, people emphasize extreme individualism and disregard moral restraint. So when they see gods and Buddhas doing things according to the divine principles, in an orderly manner and without being influenced by personal emotions, the demon will say that these gods and Buddhas are trying to restrict their freedom and take away their joy. Believing in gods and Buddhas involves following rules and abiding by principles, so people become rebellious and turn their backs on the divine.
This is precisely what the demon wants. That is why many films and video games are now disrespectful of gods and Buddhas.
Such productions subconsciously make people doubt and deny gods, to the extent that they no longer have faith in or reverence for gods and Buddhas, thus losing the protection of those gods and Buddhas.
Demons take advantage of every opportunity to indulge human desires, including promoting promiscuity, drug abuse, extortion, theft, and lying. The demons can then take advantage of the situation to achieve their goals. In this era, few people care about true belief in gods and Buddhas, because the demons are in power and highly sought after.
Concern for the State of a Cultivator
In the video game, Wukong became demonic, in a sense resembling that cultivator who gave up halfway. They could not let go of their desires and attachments to profit, power, and sentimentality, and demonic thoughts bred in their minds. Thus, they embarked on the path to the dark side, a path heading for destruction.
Master said in his Fa teaching:
“Since human beings have qing, being upset is qing, so are happiness, love, hatred, enjoying doing one thing, resenting doing another thing, preferring one person to another, hobbies, and dislikes. Everything belongs to qing, and everyday people just live for it.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
Humans are human because of their emotions. People assume that gods and Buddhas are as sentimental as humans. In fact, the compassion that gods and Buddhas talk about is higher than human emotions. Human emotions include love and hate and are usually selfish, while compassion is all encompassing.
Demons also live at a higher level than humans and do not have human nature. They do not talk about compassion, however, and are pure evil.
Gods and Buddhas created the world and human beings, so they set moral standards to guide people to avoid detours and allow them to return to the right path. Mencius once said, “When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on man, it will first fill his heart with suffering and exhaust his muscles and bones,” so that he can return to his true nature as soon as possible.
But now it is trendy to be anti-god and anti-Buddha, which hinders people from returning to their true nature.
The divine wants to save all humankind. But they will not force people to accept salvation. Only when human beings truly change their hearts and abandon the demonic factor, can divine power be shown.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
