Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.

Hello, everybody.

It's been awhile. Since you are sharing your cultivation experiences at this Fa conference, since Dafa's overall progress is quite good at present, and since you are doing everything with steady steps during the Fa-rectification, I didn't plan on talking to you about anything in particular. Even less did I intend to teach Fa that's too far from what we're doing right now. The reason is, when there's something I have to talk to you about and I do talk to you about it, it amounts to my telling you what you should do. This time, since I haven't seen you for quite a while, I came to see you, for one, and I thought I'd also take this opportunity to stress the importance of the things we're doing right now and the overall situation. I don't want to say much about other things, as that could easily interfere with our overall progress right now in the Fa-rectification.

Judging by the current situation, our students are all able to understand the Fa from the Fa, and over these two-plus years you've been tempered, making you more and more rational, more and more clearheaded, and more and more able to know the Fa; and as Dafa disciples, everyone's sense of being responsible to himself, to Dafa, and to all sentient beings has become clearer and clearer. And with this, Dafa disciples have all been able to do the truth-clarifying work even better. In what has transpired, we've also seen the following. During the period of time after July 20, 1999, probably every student felt that the evil seemed to penetrate everything, being everywhere. The whole thing really seemed like what those prophets had said--the evil came as if eclipsing the sky and covering the earth, and it was really as if the heavens had collapsed. The evil was everywhere. No matter how good a person was or another being was, he was probably influenced by that evil. At that time even Dafa students each thought about what this meant for them: Should I cultivate this Dafa? Is Dafa really right, or is it wrong? What kind of person is Li Hongzhi, anyway? A lot of students made it through, steadfast, after reflecting. Truly remarkable. You were able to step forward in an environment that difficult and under that much pressure to clarify to people what we're about and to tell them that we're being persecuted, that all the means of attack being used are fabrications and slander and completely persecutory in nature, and that this is the most evil persecution. So when the people of the world learned the truth about the persecution, they were shocked.

Since the evil came as if eclipsing the sky and covering the earth, it made our task of clarifying the truth awfully hard, and it seemed that people turned a deaf ear. That was actually this evil drama restraining them. After people listened to and believed the evil's one-sided lies, which were the only thing they could hear, they had thoughts and doubts that resulted from believing the lies; that, combined with the evil's utilizing people's incorrect thoughts, made people less able to understand us correctly, and they also couldn't recognize the true situation--persecution. However, as the Fa-rectification's overall progress accelerates, it continually charges toward even broader dimensions, in other words, it charges toward more microcosmic levels; the most fundamental reason for the Fa-rectification of the cosmos is that the immense beings at the more microcosmic levels of the cosmos have become warped. Of course, many of them didn't necessarily obstruct it on purpose. Their existence was itself a problem that had to be addressed, and their existence was old elements, immense cosmic bodies that needed to be rectified, and immense beings that needed to be saved. They're dealt with through Fa-rectification by being eliminated in Fa-rectification, being repositioned, or being assimilated where they are. So all of this requires a process, and this process takes time. Speaking of time, you know, it's been two years since July 20^th. Back then every day felt like a year to you, and even every moment felt like a year. The pressure was huge. But you all held up under that huge pressure, and steadfastly and continually did different kinds of work to expose the evil's persecution. Meanwhile, as a result of more and more evil being eliminated in the Fa-rectification, the thoughts of the people of the world have become less severely restrained. So in this situation, you've found that when you explain the truth about the persecution to people again, they're not as indifferent as before and they're happy to accept it, as if they'd never heard about the persecution of Dafa disciples. And more and more, the people of the world want to know about the truth. Since the Fa-rectification is continually forging ahead, and since the disciples are continually sending forth righteous thoughts, the evil beings have become ever fewer. Actually, the evil is only doing bad things in this interim process before the Fa-rectification arrives and before everything that's new is created. All the evil is taking place and acting up here, and it's during this period of time that the evil can throw things into disorder. It can't throw the Fa into disorder, and it's impossible for it to throw the new cosmos into disorder. It's displaying--in this period of time before the Fa is rectified--everything of the old beings after their degeneration, and it looks terribly evil. Dafa disciples in the human world can feel a lot of pressure in this environment--they really feel a lot of pressure. But you know, time is different in different dimensions, so if you look at this from a very large time-field, you'll find that these two years are but an instant, they're very short. When we're in the midst of this, experiencing the persecution, we all feel that the days drag on like years. But now you've made it through, and if you take a look back you'll find that these two years were but an instant in the cosmos. Yet these two years have forged so many truly magnificent Enlightened Beings; through these two years, so many of our students have been tempered and become mature; and through these two years, you've been able to clearly see and let go of so many ordinary human thoughts that you couldn't let go of before, along with attachments that you couldn't recognize. Under normal circumstances this would have been hard to accomplish. Of course, I reject all of the arrangements they've made, I don't recognize them. But indeed, amidst this evil drama, Dafa disciples have been tempered and become more and more extraordinary. When we look back at these two years, aren't they just an instant? More than two years have passed, but that period of time allowed our Dafa and Dafa disciples to establish everything that's everlasting and the most magnificent, along with the most magnificent mighty virtue.

Of course, being able to do all these things well is inseparable from each of us, from each Dafa disciple's own cultivation and improvement. And that's why no matter how you've been persecuted, in difficult situations you've still been able to persevere in cultivating, persevere in studying the Fa, and keep a clear head. When a cultivator's mind departs from the Fa, the evil will find its way in. Seen with the human eye, people and everything else in the human world are three-dimensional. But in reality, all matter in humankind's entire dimension--be it flowers, grass, trees, human beings, the air, etc.--everything is made up of particles of that size (molecules). And in this layer of particles, everything, including the human body, is connected. When a person himself doesn't have righteous thoughts, all the bad things in the cosmos, or in the Three Realms, will flow around continually in the human body, and even when they stay there the person doesn't realize it. That's how people are manipulated; in other words, they manipulate people when these particles are able to connect with each other. So during the two years of persecution that you've been through, you have been able to persevere in your cultivation, make yourselves more and more clearheaded, and recognize ever more clearly the evilness of this persecution. So in other words, Fa-study truly is extremely important for a Dafa disciple, for a cultivator. No matter how difficult your environment is, no matter how busy you get, you cannot forget to study the Fa. You must study the Fa, because it is the absolute, most fundamental guarantee of your improvement. I can't meet with every student, especially with the current situation in Mainland China. And under these circumstances where our students aren't able to see me, they can't come find Master whenever there's an issue, so they can only take the Fa as the Master. And in order to enable you to do cultivation practice and improve, I've infused this Fa throughout with every element that can enable a person to improve and ascend through cultivation. As long as you study, any problem can be solved. As long as you cultivate and as long as you're able to understand the Fa from the Fa, there's nothing you can't achieve.

Of course, speaking of Fa-study, you have actually been persevering with it. But since you're now very busy with your truth-clarifying work--some of you write articles, some of you do things in the form of news media, some of you pass out flyers on the street, and there are also people doing all kinds of other work that's related to clarifying the truth, saving the world's people who've been poisoned by the lies--sometimes when you study the Fa you aren't able to calm your mind. This is a really, really serious problem.

You all know what state of mind a person must be in to see the Fa's principles. You know it without my having to say much. When your eyes read the Fa and yet your mind isn't on the Fa, think about it, aren't you reading in vain? Who are you reading for? You yourself aren't really studying the Fa, then. Haven't I told you to make sure that you yourself truly obtain gong? Then if your mind isn't on the Fa when you're studying the Fa, who are you studying it for? This isn't to criticize you--I'm just telling you that this is a really critical situation. So, no matter how busy you get, when you study the Fa you have to set aside all other thoughts--don't think about other things at all, just study the Fa. Maybe as you study the Fa the issues you've been thinking about will be resolved, since behind every word are Buddhas, Daos, and Gods. How could they not know exactly what you want to resolve and what you're anxious to get done at that time? Then how could they not tell you? But there's one thing: you must achieve the state of studying the Fa without any pursuit. You understood this a long time ago--you can't read the Fa with an attachment to solving your problems. Just read calmly, and the effect is sure to be excellent. So when you study the Fa, don't just go through the motions. You have to calm your mind when you read it, and truly study it. Don't let your mind sneak away from you. Once your mind wanders off, you'll be studying in vain. If we look at it from another angle, when you study the Fa and your mind isn't on the Fa, it's not only a problem of just going through the motions, but also that the person studying the Fa is actually not being very respectful of the Fa. How could the Fa reveal itself, then? So from this angle, I think that you have to calm your mind when you study the Fa, and remember to keep your mind steady during Fa-study when you're busy.

Let me talk about another issue. Namely, as you know, we are eliminating the evil at set times, that is, we're sending forth righteous thoughts. In the past it wasn't called "sending forth righteous thoughts," it was "divine powers"--using divine powers, Buddha Fa's divine powers. Everyday people have referred to it as "supernormal abilities." So why do I call it sending forth righteous thoughts? Since you're doing Dafa cultivation, everything should be the most magnificent and the purest. None of the things we do are just about your personal cultivation. We have to also consider the Fa, and we have to consider the new beings of the future, and, at the same time, we have to consider the form of beings in the future. Because you're laying a foundation for them, the path we take has to be righteous. Whatever you do today, the future people will remark, "That's how Dafa disciples did it back then," so we can see that many things are major. This is why we have to be pure when we send forth righteous thoughts. Currently, whether it's at the microcosmic level of human society or in different dimensions, Fa-rectification is being done throughout the entire cosmos, leaving out nothing--it's being done below the surface of human society as well.

In human society nowadays there are a lot of bad phenomena, bad people, and bad behavior, which completely depart from what is human, even to the point that some people not only have warped mentalities, but also enormous demon nature. So what should we do about this situation? I'll tell you: nothing. Why? Dafa disciples' magnificence is connected to the Fa-rectification of the cosmos, and your greatest mission is to safeguard the Fa. Let those that don't damage Dafa just be. If someone damages Dafa, you should clarify the truth to him, restrain the evil, eliminate the evil, and save people. So in other words, right now we don't do anything about the many bad phenomena in today's human society, because those are things to be handled when the Fa rectifies the human world. And the things to be done when the Fa rectifies the human world have nothing to do with Dafa disciples, because you are to reach Consummation. Dafa disciples' magnificence is connected to the Fa-rectification, and it's different from the form of personal cultivation mankind had in the past--it's definitely not the same thing. So in other words, our sending forth righteous thoughts is to eliminate the evil that persecutes and interferes with Dafa, and persecutes Dafa disciples, and is to eliminate all factors that persecute the Fa. So, our Dafa disciples' continually sending forth righteous thoughts really has had an enormous impact. During this time period when the massive, overwhelmingly powerful Fa-rectification-current of the Fa's rectification of the human world hasn't yet arrived in the human world, that is, during this time before Fa-rectification has reached here, Dafa disciples have truly eliminated many, many bad things when sending forth righteous thoughts. And all of those bad things were what damaged the Fa and persecuted Dafa disciples. The quantity that's been eliminated is huge. You might remember that it was different back when our students first sent forth righteous thoughts. Back then, whenever you held your hand up vertically in front of your chest, the evil would line up in formation as if it was about to do battle, and it would come in swarming hordes. Later on, after our students had continually sent forth righteous thoughts that eliminated those evil beings who damaged Dafa and those evil beings who manipulated people, a huge proportion of them were eliminated, and very few remained. Doing that isn't unmerciful. How could [we let] the Fa of the cosmos and Dafa disciples be persecuted by those evil beings? This is why I taught the Fa of "Beyond the Limits of Forbearance." Now, when you send forth righteous thoughts, whenever you hold your hand up vertically in front of your chest, the evil beings flee immediately. The gong you send forth even has to search for those evil beings, it searches for them everywhere above and below, and it eliminates them wherever they're found. Now the evil doesn't dare to just show up, and it no longer has the ability to organize evil beings to stage large-scale attacks on Dafa disciples. It is Dafa disciples who have the upper hand now; when they send forth righteous thoughts they eliminate them everywhere, until all are eliminated.

Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it. What you eliminate from your own mind are ones which have an effect within the expanse of your own body; at the same time, you need to eliminate the external ones, which are directly related to the dimensions you're in. If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples. As you know, the persecution that Dafa disciples in Mainland China suffer is quite severe, so each student has to truly, clearly realize what his responsibility is, and when he sends forth righteous thoughts he has to be able to truly calm his mind and truly produce the effect of righteous thoughts. So this is something extremely critical, extremely important. Then if every student is able to do that, I can tell you, with five minutes of sending forth righteous thoughts together, the evil in the Three Realms will never exist again--that's how important this is. But it's been a long time since you started sending forth righteous thoughts. The evil beings that have been eliminated are really many. From another perspective, since how well each person does in the process of his cultivation, his improvement, and his understanding, and how well he does in the Fa-rectification is directly related to his own cultivation, and also directly related to the level he has elevated to, Master cannot require too much of you. I'm only telling you its importance. How far a person wants to cultivate to and what realm a person wants to reach are his own business. Master can only tell you the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts.

There's another issue. During the time since July 20, 1999, when they started persecuting us, we've managed to help people all over the world clearly see what Falun Gong is. They all know that we're good. Whether it be the governments of different countries or their people, including those countries that have really good relations with the Chinese government, they all know very well what we're about and what the evil that's persecuting Dafa is about. In other words, our ability to do this is inseparable from the collective effort of every one of you disciples. That is, while clarifying the truth you've been able to truly be responsible to Dafa, and you've been able to steel your righteous thoughts in the face of pressure. Every Dafa disciple has a job and a family, so, given that your time is tight on every front, it's remarkable that you've made a priority of Dafa all along in your actions. The situation is different now, thanks to the collective efforts of Dafa disciples. The evil is isolated, and even inside China a trend has gradually formed: people are beginning to wake up. As you know, initially, during the period after July 20, 1999, the persecution inside China was terribly severe, and no one dared say even one fair word about us. But now Falun Gong students dare to go see the persons directly responsible for the persecution, and they dare to go directly see people of different ranks. "You're persecuting me, so I came to tell you about the truth." Dafa disciples have even rectified the Fa considerably in large areas, in many areas. In other words, the whole situation is changing, and people are learning the truth about this evil persecution. So in other words, clarifying the truth is extremely important, and every student must take this seriously. Let me tell you this: next to your own cultivation, currently the most important thing is clarifying the truth, because this is directly saving sentient beings, it's directly saving the people of the future, and it also demonstrates the magnificence of Dafa and Dafa disciples--in such a difficult environment you're still managing to save sentient beings.

It's hard to save today's people. Sometimes I jokingly say to you: when you tell them that Dafa is good, after you talk to them for quite a while, they say, "Yes, Dafa is good, I know. But the X Party gives me money, so I'm not against them, either." What they're implying is, "Even though you are good, I'm not against the CCP." This is caused by the evil's propaganda in its persecution of Dafa, and it is a means they've used often to deceive the people of the world. We've never said that we are against the CCP. It's the evil's chief wretch in the human world who spreads nonsense that its party has to "defeat Falun Gong." He's misleading people. We don't get involved in politics at all. So in other words, when we clarify the truth to save them, we need to tailor it to the mindsets modern people have. This is because the extent to which today's people believe in Gods is very limited, the minimal level of morality acceptable to them is also very low, and even when they know perfectly well that something is bad, they still do it. Of course, all the same, we'll save however many we can, and we'll do our best to clarify the truth. The reason is, in the future there still has to be Fa at this human level, and there still has to be beings at this level--it can't just end right here. Besides, since Dafa has spread widely in this world, the future humankind should be very blessed. The sins those poisoned people in China have committed against Dafa are a consequence of the evil forces' persecution, and this has made people's sins--especially Chinese people's--enormous; it has made them directly oppose the Fa of the cosmos, which created all life. So what these people face is elimination--they're in the greatest danger. So now, as long as the bad thoughts in their heads towards Dafa are eliminated, it's fine. If you aren't against the CCP, that's fine, if you aren't against so and so, that's fine, but I'll tell you this: don't be against Dafa. Why? I'll tell you the true situation... That's why for some people who don't oppose Dafa and yet aren't good people, either, it's very possible that they won't be weeded out immediately, at least, in the final elimination of the persecution of Dafa. And if they aren't weeded out, then there might be hope for them. It will depend on them later on--it'll depend on how they do when the Fa rectifies the human world. Through Dafa disciples' giving their all in clarifying the truth, many people have really come to see all of this, and they have a lot of righteous thoughts. I think, then, that for these people it's not just an ordinary matter of seeing what Dafa is--they might also come to say some fair things about Dafa, and then they will have in fact already laid for themselves an excellent foundation for their beings in the future.

In the past, people talked about "saving all sentient beings." You know, whether it be during Sakyamuni's time or Jesus' time, or even in the case of Lao Zi and some other Gods who came to save people, the "saving all sentient beings" they talked about was very different from what you're doing. In those times, the highest being in the world was man--the common, ordinary human of this world. True humans are a product of the Three Realms and are created by the matter in the Three Realms. Those beings are very different from Gods, and it's hard for them to understand higher beings. So they're even afraid of Gods, and it truly is difficult to save them. That's why Sakyamuni taught Arhat-Fa and why he could only save people to the Arhat Attainment Status. It's true that humans aren't able to cultivate very high. But today, what are the sentient beings that Dafa disciples are met with? This is why I've said that Dafa disciples are magnificent; you've been fortunate enough to come across this magnificent period of time, and what's been bestowed upon you is also magnificent. This is because now ninety percent of the human beings are ones that have come from high levels. In other words, what's inside this human skin is no longer the human of the past--this human skin has been acquired and occupied by beings who've come from very high levels. And it's not limited to humans. This Fa-rectification was arranged as early as the time of the previous Earth, and it was given a trial run once before. So in other words, this has been systematically arranged even since a time that remote. Then think about it: could the human society, and everything that we can see, exist by chance? Even each Dafa disciple's every move, every action, every word, and even the questions you ponder, none of it is that simple. In the future you'll see that everything was very carefully arranged. But it's not me who arranged this, it's the old forces who did. Actually, they wouldn't dare to, and don't want to, ruin all of this. The reason is, if they ruined all of this they would be finished--if this Fa-rectification was truly ruined, everything would be totally finished. They just want to do it their way, but that's not acceptable since it wouldn't meet the standard. How could beings that are to be weeded out control the future? How could they decide what the future will be? They are merely trying to throw things into disarray during this period of time before the Fa-rectification arrives--that's all. They consider themselves Gods, so they don't persecute humans directly, and they manipulate those low-level spirits to persecute people. That's how it's related.

What I meant, when I just said that Dafa disciples are magnificent, was that if humans have come from very high levels, think about it, is what you're doing ordinary salvation? No, it's not. Kings and Lords of many universes, and even beings that are massive, or from even higher levels, have come and incarnated as humans. But once they've incarnated as humans here, they no longer know anything and are the same as humans. Of course, the main thing that characterizes today's beings is that they're tougher than the humans of the past. Those humans would die easily when they got injured, but today's humans are tough; in other words, their beings are different now. But even so, once they've entered this maze, they don't know anything. In the midst of this onslaught of evil propaganda, they've been persecuted just the same, and some of them have even become the core, persecuting Dafa and Dafa disciples. But no matter who they are, and no matter what they are, whatever sin they've committed, it's still the same sin. Once you have persecuted Dafa, where you came from means nothing. But on the other hand, the mercy of Dafa disciples can give these beings the greatest chance of being rescued. Then are you just saving an ordinary human being? If who you've saved is a Lord or a King, think about how much mighty virtue that is. And if you've really saved a lot of people, think about how much mighty virtue that is. Suppose an ordinary, everyday person who isn't a Dafa disciple tells another everyday person, "Don't persecute Falun Gong," and tells him in what ways Falun Gong is good, and from that point on the other person really stops persecuting Falun Gong; after he makes up for what he did, it's quite possible he'll enter the future, and it's possible that he'll obtain the Fa when the Fa rectifies the human world; and since his being came from a high place he'll be able to cultivate quickly, so because his Consummation is directly related to the person who told him about the truth back then, even that ordinary, everyday person, I think, will reach Consummation. You see the idea, right? Then isn't it even more so for our Dafa disciples' saving people on a large scale like this as they clarify the truth? So this is something magnificent. No one knows who's behind that everyday person's human skin. So you have to take these things very seriously, and you have to do these things well. Clarifying the truth is what we need to do at this time. Do it on a large scale, do it with all the wisdom that you can, and as long as something can save the people, go do it. It doesn't matter if what you do is expose the evil, or if you use all sorts of approaches, be they direct, indirect or from different angles--as long as you can have people recognize this persecution, you are saving them, and you are extraordinary.

I think these three things are all I'll talk about. One is your Fa-study, one is sending forth righteous thoughts, and the other is about how clarifying the truth is extremely important. Actually, you've already made it through and done all of these magnificent things, and you've already established this type of mighty virtue. But you should do things even better, and you should continue on until the evil is completely eliminated. When you have all the people of the world, and all the people of China, see this evil drama for what it is, could the evil still have any effect? It will collapse. We're not interested in political power, and we don't want to overthrow your CCP. It's the evil's chief wretch in the human world who brought down the CCP itself while using the CCP in this persecution. Looking back, isn't that true? It wasn't us who was attacking it, it brought itself down. He is using the CCP, using the country, and using the government to persecute Falun Gong. Gods don't allow this. You said that that party has to defeat Falun Gong. But how could Gods allow that? How could the CCP defeat the Law of the cosmos? If you fight with It, you will collapse. That's how it works, isn't it? It's just that right now the old evil forces think that Dafa disciples have not yet been completely tempered and become mature, and need to be tempered further, and they think that they still need to keep up the evil. Of course, the old evil forces want to do this, but I don't recognize these things one bit. It's only before my Fa-rectification arrives that they can act as they do. If it were otherwise, when the Fa rectifies the human world it would be peaceful--there wouldn't have been this evil drama, people would all be studying the Fa, humankind's morality would be rising, and when the force of Fa-rectification came it would still be peaceful.

That's all I'll say. You must have a lot of questions. I think that through studying the Fa you'll be able to resolve all of them. Many specific questions and problems can be resolved as long as you study the Fa. Also, you need to pay attention to one issue: you are Dafa disciples, so you should always look within whenever you run into problems--it's guaranteed that many of the problems are your problems, whether you want to look at yourself or not, or whether you think of them or not. In the future, when you see the truth, you'll realize that everything had a reason. Dafa disciples often have some arguments with each other over things related to spreading the Fa (hong-fa) and rectifying the Fa. I think this is normal. But if you argue endlessly, refusing to give ground, then there's a problem. Why is that? It's guaranteed that you haven't examined yourself. Having arguments is normal, but arguing endlessly and refusing to give ground, and thereby affecting Dafa work, is not normal. If you don't believe it, think about it and take a look. Every one of our persons in charge needs to put special emphasis on studying the Fa. No matter how great or how extraordinary the tasks are that a person in charge shoulders, he cannot forget to cultivate himself. No matter how much work you do, you should be a Dafa disciple doing the Dafa work and not an everyday person doing the Dafa work. So you must study the Fa. A person in charge is actually an ordinary disciple as well. Each person, no matter what he does, should see himself as one of the disciples--you have to see yourself as one of the disciples. Dafa has only one master, me, and Dafa Itself doesn't have any "persons in charge." You're just people in charge amidst this Fa-rectification form and counter-persecution form. Dafa doesn't have any people in charge. Everyone is a cultivating disciple. Make sure you keep these things in mind.

That's all I'll say. I've taken up some of your time.

Li Hongzhi
December 29, 2001

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