(Clearwisdom.net) The following are some of my understandings in the course of Fa-rectification cultivation and studying Master's lectures. I just wanted to share them with fellow practitioners.

During the period of degeneration and destruction, the old cosmos's beings still have Buddha nature. However, while the great firmament is in the period of disintegration, no being can escape it, and that fate is inevitable. So as for the old cosmos's beings' Buddha nature, it is impossible to bring them any hope of sustaining their existence. Master came, bringing with Him the most original, perfect and all-encompassing Fa, and entering into this period of the cosmos's history that is already close to the stage of disintegration. This forged the fate of all of the beings in the old cosmos, as well as the complete basis for the beings that are able to enter the all-new cosmos. It was Master who brought the hope for life to the old cosmos's beings, and it was Master who granted to the old cosmos's beings the possibility for them to enter a future that has no connection to their past.

However, coming because of the formation of one thought, Master appeared to be the grand wish of the old cosmos, and the all-new Fa of the cosmos that Master brought was interpreted by the old cosmos's beings as something of that old cosmos--understood as the essence of what was validated and enlightened to in that old cosmos--and they saw Master as a being of that old cosmos. So the old cosmos's beings and this force that was formed by the old cosmos have been evaluating Master and Dafa using their narrow-minded, warped intelligence and way of thinking, and they never could put the relationship among Master, Fa-rectification, Dafa, and cultivators of Dafa in the right perspective. They even go as far as trying to manipulate Master and severely impeding Fa-rectification, intending to impose what they want upon the all-new Dafa. In the face of Dafa's boundless solemn dignity and mighty virtue, this became a way for those beings to choose to lose their future and undergo self-elimination.

The old cosmos's force acted based on degenerated concepts and the principles of this cosmos's period of degeneration and destruction, and everything they imposed upon Master, Fa-rectification, Dafa and cultivators--and the enormous tribulations they created for the old cosmos's beings--formed a severe test for whether or not the sentient beings of this cosmos can go into the future, and how today's Dafa cultivators will go into the future. For today's Dafa cultivators, how they understand Master and Dafa, and how they truly steadfastly believe in Master and remain steadfast in Dafa--this is an extremely penetrating, complex and serious issue. This is because Master and the all-new cosmos's Fa have no connection to the old cosmos and the old cosmos's beings. Put another way, everything that the old cosmos's force does and everything that it imposes on Master and Dafa are within its own realm; on a practical level as well as on a fundamental level they are not legitimate and they are not acknowledged by Master. I think that this lack of acknowledgement is manifested in the pledges that Dafa disciples signed with Master over the course of history, and manifested in the historic mission of saving sentient beings that's being carried out by today's Dafa disciples. We cannot be lost in all of this that was imposed upon us and that will be soon over.

The old forces, in accordance with the old cosmos's principles and degenerated concepts, are imposing things upon and attempting to manipulate the manifestations of Master and Dafa disciples in this old cosmos. For example, like Master said in His lectures, they used Master's gong to form Master's image to disrupt cultivators, and they have gone as far as using Master's surface body to cause interference. For example, the old forces arranged for Sakyamuni and Master to have the same birthday. In this wicked persecution, this issue of "changing birthdays" has misled and poisoned the minds of so many people of the world and sentient beings. The old forces arranged for some practitioners to "reach Consummation" through sickness karma. Their belief is: such an enormous Fa is tied to the safety of the future cosmos, so cultivators must be strictly tested and weeded out--testing if today's cultivators, confronted with the harsh "reality," can still remain steadfast in cultivation and not have doubts or give up. They even arranged such an evil, enormous tribulation of the "self-immolation," using this way to weed out the cosmos's sentient beings that they want to weed out. This includes forcing practitioners and Dafa disciples to write "Break-away letters," "Repentance letters" and other things to cause the cultivators to fall, going as far as the evil ways of "Transformation classes" and other such things aimed at the cultivators' complete ruin. Those kinds of things within the old forces' arrangements are specific and intricate, yet the result is that within the Fa-rectification they are not just destroying sentient beings and weeding out practitioners, they are also carrying out their own destruction at the same time.

My main understanding is this: Master and Dafa, which cannot be referred to and praised with the old cosmos's language, fundamentally have no connection to the old cosmos, the beings within the cosmos, or the old forces' concepts and arrangements. The old cosmos's forces, within the realm of their power, created the manifestation of imposing their old, degenerated things upon Master and Dafa, and this manifestation looks "solid and concrete" to the sentient beings within this realm. However, this is absolutely not Master's original will and true manifestation, and it is not the true image of Dafa. Instead, they are false illusions that the old forces created for the cosmos's sentient beings within their realm in the course of choosing their self-destruction. In the human world, those illusions manifest as countless vicious lies, and even as some "solid and concrete" manifestations of cultivators' and practitioners' situations, and they even dare to do things towards Teacher. People in the world believe them to be true, many cultivators believe them to be true, but these sentient beings who have been deceived cannot truly know the real situation. All of these "solid, concrete facts and phenomena" are precisely the acts by the old forces in the process of their self-destruction, and they are also severe tests for sentient beings' and cultivators' futures. The manifestations of what has been imposed upon Master, Dafa and Dafa disciples will be over with the passing of the old cosmos. And it's precisely during this process that Dafa disciples can fulfill their vows and complete their magnificent, historic missions. When the all-new cosmos is completely displayed, the sentient beings within will completely be rid of the state of being deceived by the old forces, witnessing Master's grand wish and the Buddha's boundless grace. The beings, full of infinite admiration and inexpressible gratitude, will give the highest honor completely to the Revered Master, Lord Buddha and Master, who has granted all of this that is brand new, who we cannot define or sing the praises of even with our language of the all-new cosmos.

At this time when the last manifestations of the old cosmos are passing quickly, for the people of the world and especially the multitude of cultivators who have been deceived by all of the false illusions created by the old forces, they need to be ever more rational and clear-minded. "Breaking away" from Master and Dafa, being disrespectful to Master and Dafa, denying Fa-rectification and Fa-validation--no matter how people use fancy words or excuses to twist around and justify this behavior--it is wrong. Even when looking at it with the old cosmos's principles, it is totally wrong, and there are solid, concrete losses being suffered by the person's own life. The "solid, concrete" lies and "facts" concocted by the old cosmos's forces cannot become the reason for a truly magnificent cultivator to doubt Master and Dafa, and if someone uses it to give themselves an excuse for their own going astray, then the part that was given the excuse will undoubtedly go with the old cosmos's disintegration. But in the future forged by the most magnificent Fa, if some part of the lives of the people who enlightened along an evil path can still survive, the losses incurred by their not being responsible to themselves are irretrievable. I want to tell those people who have enlightened along an evil path: don't use the excuses that the old forces imposed upon you to defend and argue for yourselves, and don't think that just based on others in the same situation the new cosmos's standard would be lowered, and even worse, don't "pull down" the steadfast practitioners out of jealousy. A life's wonderful future does not lie within its own imagination nor is its future determined by its own designs. There is not much time left in the course of Fa-rectification, and the true result of the future is determined by one's own current conduct. Look back and recall if you indeed made a pledge in the past, and clearly recognize the current mission of Dafa disciples. Treasure the few remaining chances!

Comment from Master:

The ideas in this article are laid out well, and the author has a very clear understanding of Master's Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples' validation of the Fa. If all Dafa disciples can be as rational and clearheaded as this, and have righteous thoughts and righteous actions in validating the Fa, then there will be no persecution, and there will be no gaps for the evil to exploit. It is not important to me who wrote the article. As long as what is displayed [in a given article] is something effective for the students' validating of the Fa, I encourage it-even in the case of an article written by someone who opposes us. That is because we are in fact saving all beings, and as long as the persecution has not ended and Dafa students' cultivation journey has not been completed, it presents people with opportunities and gives them a hope.

Li Hongzhi
August 29, 2003
Revised on October 8, 2005