​Fa Teaching Given at the 2016 New York Fa Conference

Li Hongzhi

May 15, Brooklyn, New York

       Good morning, everyone! (All disciples enthusiastically applaud, and reply, “Good morning, Master!”)

       You’ve been working hard! (Disciples reply, “It’s Master who has been working hard!”)

       Dafa disciples are doing something that has never been done before—saving all beings—and so of course it’s going to take a lot of hard work. Normally there is a reference to draw upon for everything. And although people have spoken of “saving all beings” throughout history, has anyone ever really done so? They merely laid the groundwork for understanding divine beings and the culture of cultivation; no one in fact saved a multitude of beings. What they did only amounted to leaving behind a culture, establishing a religion, or creating a certain organizational format in society. The actual undertaking of saving all beings was awaiting today’s Dafa disciples. You are really doing something with nothing to reference, as it has never been done before. That is why the many problems that you encounter are, likewise, without precedent, and that includes this catastrophe; never has there been evil of this magnitude. The evil deeds that you are aware of have been exposed, but in fact there have been things far more cruel. All the same, Dafa disciples have come through this unprecedented persecution and come through in saving sentient beings, and the end now draws near. So in other words, whatever the case, this affair is approaching the end.

       Dafa has long existed and is not something anyone can harm. The persecution merely impacts cultivators, Dafa disciples, and the many beings who came to this world to gain the Fa. And although the latter don’t cultivate, they too are in fact being persecuted. Their purpose in coming here was to gain the Fa, to gain salvation, for their salvation would secure the future of the heavenly worlds that they once reigned over, as well as that of the beings that they originally had. When they believe the lies of the persecutors or contribute [to the persecution], they lose their chance to gain the Fa. Then isn’t this a persecution that can result in the destruction of lives—both of people’s own lives and of the lives of those whom they represent? All of humanity has been subjected to the persecution. Dafa disciples are the main target of the persecution, since they are disciples of Dafa and shoulder the responsibility of saving others. In the old forces’ words, China has a significant concentration of lives from high planes, with some that are lives of exceedingly great heights, and all went there to gain the Fa. And so that place is like a Daoist crucible, a place where the fire is necessarily intense and vigorous. Then if someone really can make it through the test of that raging fire—if you can persevere despite the brutal persecution—then you count as a cultivator, you will be recognized by the heavens above, and you will be able to reach consummation. But what about those who can’t make it? Well, that’s exactly the old forces’ purpose—to use the smelting process to get rid of the dregs and extract the true gold. So that’s the process that has taken place. It seems to lack order, but in fact is very much orderly. That which seems disorderly is actually a concrete reflection of the ferocious flames of that fire. In fact things have been very orderly, and have targeted different human attachments in different ways, while different human attachments have caused people to be how they are. But whatever the case, I would say that both the old forces’ involvement and trouble-making, as well as what Dafa disciples have been working on as a whole, are nearing the end.

       The state of affairs in the heavens is the same as that on earth. But as you have seen, don’t the harsh “tests” of Dafa disciples, and the tests of living beings, come down to achieving consummation? Then wouldn’t a test that is meant to determine if someone is worthy of consummation require a certain degree of evil? Or a fire that is sufficiently intense? The flame will soon die out. The bad people that have been used by the evil are being arrested, being cleared out. Once all of them have been seized, as you might figure, it will spell the end of the test of Dafa disciples, won’t it? Won’t it be clear by then who has passed the test and who hasn’t? This affair will be over, then. And so will the Fa’s rectification of the cosmos. That is what’s happening.

       The next phase will involve the Fa’s rectification of the human world. Yesterday a practitioner asked me a question about some other people who haven’t yet gained the Fa, and I responded by saying that that would be handled during the Fa’s rectification of the human world. What you are doing as Dafa disciples is only to be done during this period that is Fa-rectification, which makes your responsibility as Dafa disciples of this time just enormous. And which responsibility is that? As you know, I’ve spoken about the immensity of the cosmos. Then how immense is the number of lives in it? Simply boundless, countless. That which is seen when molecules are magnified and examined through fluorescence microscopy is similar to planets and stars scattered across the universe; the structure of molecules after being magnified looks similar to a scene of the sky. But molecules are not the smallest of particles. Below them there are atoms. And when those are magnified, the way in which the particles exist is again similar to how stars are in the sky, and they, too, form a plane of the sky. But nor are atoms the smallest of particles, for below them there are particles that are subatomic, more subatomic, still more subatomic, and even more subatomic. Each plane of particles constitutes one plane of sky, or heavens, and the smaller the particles, the greater their power. Physicists hold that the finer, or more minute, a particle is, the greater its radioactivity, power, and energy. Indeed. So if these particles look like planets, what’s to be found on them? Everyone on Earth knows that people exist here, but since their research on whether life exists on other planets is limited to the surface of the dimension that’s on the same plane as man, they assume that life may be present on some planets while not on others. But in reality, the majority of other life forms don’t exist in the surface dimension. Many life forms exist in dimensions that assume other forms, and so you can’t perceive them. Man’s science is quite limited. Life exists on every planet, complete with their own respective social orders, and many of these are vibrant and thriving worlds, even. Then how many lives are there? I have said that when a single particle is magnified it looks the same as a planet, so then how many living things might you imagine are on it? And if we’re to probe further, how gigantic would you say this cosmos is, given that each and every plane of particles is a plane of sky? And given that in between particles there are also dimensions made up of invisible, microscopic particles, and the planes of such dimensions constitute the “ground” there, then how big would you say those are? And how many of those planes are there? It’s extraordinarily complex. Yet plane after plane it’s like this. Even gods are unable to tally exactly how many lives there are, lives which humans would consider divine; that’s how great in number they are.

       Dafa disciples are divine beings who descended to this world with the responsibility of helping Master to save all beings. You are shouldering the responsibility of saving the lives that have descended here. You might think that it’s not a big issue if you haven’t done well in your own cultivation, as would be the case in past forms of cultivation. And so some people haven’t been very diligent, or devout about cultivation. But has it not occurred to you? When you came to this world you had signed a vow with me, pledging that you would save living beings. And it was on those grounds that you were able to become a Dafa disciple and partake in this. But you haven’t lived up to your word. Think about the consequences if you don’t fulfill your promise and manage to save those countless numbers of lives, that massive group of beings, behind you that were allotted to you! Is that simply a problem of not being diligent in your cultivation? That is an enormous, enormous sin! A tremendously massive sin! Do you think that at that point you will be able to just call out my name and say, “Master, I didn’t cultivate well,” and that will be the end of it? Who would let you off the hook like that? Would the old forces? And with something as huge as this?!

       But some people have really not been diligent and their human thinking is so strong. They look at whatever they come across with human thinking—to the extent that some of them never base their thoughts on the Fa or think of themselves as Dafa disciples or that they have a great responsibility—and don’t make a priority of saving all beings, and instead always look at things in human ways. How could it possibly work if you assess things based on whether you like something or not, on some feeling of indignation you have, or on what you personally want to do? Would a divine being be like that? How would it turn out if everyone went about saving all beings like you do? How could saving all beings be accomplished if you are only willing to save the ones you like?

       Never in the past was the world as dynamic, diverse, or thriving as it is today. One reason it is this way is to make it hard for living beings to gain the Fa in a setting like this, with all kinds of interesting and exciting things around you, driving your attachments. With everything provoking your attachments this way, they are watching to see whether you still manage to gain the Fa. And if you do, in spite of these circumstances, then they will recognize you. And if you don’t, it’s because you are not good enough. The second reason [the world] is this way is that the cosmos was supposed to be destroyed and its lives were supposed to be weeded out in the first place. That was how things were supposed to be. So, for the beings above to recognize you, you have to make your way out. But could anyone make his way out of here? Yes, for sure! Hasn’t the Great Law—the Great Law of the cosmos—been taught here? Others have learned and benefited from it, so why can’t you? Others have cultivated themselves well, so why can’t you? Isn’t it a problem with the individual, then? To the beings in the heavens it’s quite fair. The lives here were supposed to be destroyed, so if you want to save them, then this is how things have to be. Why would they deserve to be saved? And how could it be that easy? So this is necessarily something both serious and solemn. But who would want to cultivate in such a setting, in an eventful and exciting world like this, never mind one where persecution is being perpetrated [against us]? The greatest obstacle in cultivation is human thoughts. Human beings have so many ordinary thoughts and attachments, and even some Dafa disciples who haven’t been diligent have been drawn in. You have forgotten the oath you made, and the sense of excitement that you had when you first gained the Fa has vanished. But just pause to consider who is perpetrating the persecution. Aren’t those human beings? Haven’t many followers of divine figures experienced the same in the course of history? And what are you seeking to achieve? Isn’t it spiritual consummation by traveling a path to divinity? How could persecution shake someone who is on a path to divinity? Isn’t that the result of your human thoughts, or of your attachments to reputation, self-interest, and feelings getting hit upon?

       But think about it, could this persecution, be it in terms of the forms it takes or in its severity, have happened by chance? From antiquity to the present everything in the cosmos—not just with humankind, but with the entire cosmos—has progressed according to preset laws and patterns. And this is all the more so with humankind. Humankind comes to a fateful end every five thousand years, and the civilization of each five thousand years follows a play script. And I can tell you that it really is a play script. After each roughly five thousand years, human history would reach the end and mankind would be destroyed, since the cycle of creation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction is the universe’s pattern. And when it would get to the final point, that is, when nothing was good enough anymore—be it man’s morals or physical matter—it would be destroyed. Destruction is a must when moral values no longer meet the standard. Those people who were good would be allowed to remain, like seeds, and civilization would redevelop anew. The script would be reviewed and modified, with whatever parts of the five-thousand-year drama that hadn’t been satisfactory being modified again and again. And this is why many divine figures or saints and cultivators in the world have expressed that humankind, or man’s history, repeats itself. Words to this effect are often said or heard in the cultivation world, and that is why.

       This Earth’s history extends back 100 million years. Some people puzzle at how it could be 100 million years when scientists put the figure at 2 to 4 billion years. This Earth wasn’t created out of nothing. It was assembled with pieces gathered from throughout the universe, with all kinds of scraps and fragments pulled together from everywhere. Whatever would be useful, or that the Earth needed, was made use of. But those things existed prior to being assembled into this Earth. So how would you [determine Earth’s age by] analyzing them? When you try to analyze a piece of it, the data you get might pertain to its prior time in history. Human beings are just that, human, and are limited to their human modes of thinking. The true age of this Earth is 100 million years, and it cannot exceed that. If it were to exceed that, its natural resources wouldn’t suffice.

       But 100 million years is no small measure of time. Just consider how many cycles of five thousand years there have been within the 100 million years, and how many civilizations along with those, how many revisions to the script, and how many episodes of destruction for mankind? Yesterday at the Shen Yun meeting I told people, and I indicated that I wasn’t joking, to stop and consider whether there could have been a Shen Yun Performing Arts back then, like we have now? Well, there was classical Chinese dance, but it wasn’t necessarily Asians who were performing the role of China or the classical dance there. And that’s because it wasn’t always Chinese people playing the part of China. Different ethnic groups have assumed that role, the role of Chinese people in a certain period, the people of the Central Kingdom. ^[1] In the last cycle it was white people who played that role, while this time, the final round, it’s people of the yellow race.

       I often say that humankind is as if acting out scenes in a play. But as for whether people will ultimately be saved, or whether all beings will be saved during the Fa-rectification, this isn’t known, for it’s not spelled out in the script. Man’s culture, thinking, conduct… all of these things were built up for the big question at the end: how many lives will actually remain in the end? That was not preordained. The groundwork for all of this took such a long time to lay—two Earths’ length of time, or 200 million years—and arrangements were made for this affair. Then as Dafa disciples there is really no reason for you not to fulfill your missions. As you sit here today, being called a Dafa disciple, you have that responsibility regardless of whether you’ve been diligent or not, or are a veteran or new student. If that wasn’t in your destiny you would by no means be sitting here today.

       Some people might remark that there are also a number of secret agents [from communist China] here. Indeed! And it’s perfectly clear to me that this is the means by which those agents are able to come and hear the Fa! And this, too, was divinely planned! A person’s occupation doesn’t matter. That isn’t something taken into consideration, and nor is what group someone is a part of, when Dafa is being widely taught. Only the heart matters! Regardless of what work a person does, his thoughts, or mind, are his own, and it is up to each individual to choose his own future. I am giving all beings a chance. What is meant by “compassion”? Or by “saving all beings”? Are you not going to save someone just because he’s a spy, when there are certainly going to be people of that profession during the Age of Law’s End? He may be a secret agent in this lifetime, but perhaps he was an extraordinary figure in his previous life, and perhaps he was once a magnificent god! If he doesn’t seem right to you and so you don’t want him to have access to certain details of a Dafa project, that’s fine, but he is still allowed to cultivate. You can have him clarify the facts to people face-to-face or work on other things. It’s fine to not get him involved in your projects or give him access to certain things.

       There are some things that you haven’t managed to consider in a rational manner. Even with the tasks you are faced with you use human thinking to contend over them with others, never remembering that you are a Dafa disciple! Or how great the responsibility that you shoulder is! You never consider things on the basis of saving beings, but instead, use human thinking! And as soon as anything concrete comes up to deal with, your human thoughts spring right up! Your human thinking arises anytime there’s something concrete to deal with. What makes you think Dafa is to be taken lightly? There are really going to be problems if you truly can’t manage to approach things correctly. And they won’t be small problems. Your life—and even the eternity of your existence—could be ended by the old forces.

       It’s not only Dafa disciples who signed a vow with Master when they came to this world: all of the people who’ve come to this world, all lives, all of the gods who came down from above, made a vow with me. The cosmos is simply massive and the number of lives just enormous, while the earth is tiny and not able to accommodate too many of them. Those who were selected all vowed to help me with Fa-rectification and saving all beings, and it was on these grounds that they were allowed to incarnate on this earth. It’s just that I had already, in the past, made arrangements for Dafa disciples to come and specifically do those things. But each of them does have a responsibility in helping to spread the Fa and passing it on to others. So that’s the situation with ordinary people.

       What’s critical is that Dafa disciples do well at what they are supposed to do. But [some of] you are not even diligent with your cultivation, don’t cultivate yourself much, or only cultivate sporadically, or halfheartedly. With your attachments driven by human thinking, you often feel indignant while working on Dafa projects for saving people, but what’s there to feel unfair about?! Do you not know what you’re here for?! Do you not know how great your responsibility is?! Do you not know that countless beings are waiting for you to save them?! That is your responsibility! That is your wish! To be able to work together on saving people is an opportunity for you, and it provides the means to save people. And yet you don’t make good use of it. If you don’t do what a Dafa disciple must do well, do you realize how great of a sin you’re committing?!

       Many Dafa disciples are hopeful, as they clarify the facts, that people will be able to gain the Fa and become practitioners. That wish is good. But while people are often receptive when you clarify the facts about the evil of the wicked CCP or explain how Dafa practitioners are good and upstanding people, it doesn’t work out when you encourage them to take up cultivation. So why is that? Of course, their excuse is usually that they are busy earning an income, raising a family, or doing something else. They just can’t become practitioners. While it might seem that they don’t want to cultivate, do you realize that it owes to gods not letting them? Gods make them use a variety of excuses and manipulate their various attachments so as to make them avoid cultivating, for they aren’t worthy of becoming Dafa disciples. That’s because this group of Dafa disciples was designated as such in the distant past. And regardless of whether they gained the Fa earlier or later, they are all Dafa disciples. Whereas some people just can’t become part of this, as they are not worthy of assuming this great mission.

       For example, when Shen Yun Performing Arts recruits a highly skilled artist, it might turn out that the person doesn’t cultivate. In that case, even if you force things through and bring him in, he will have to leave due to some excuse or other. And in cases where the person doesn’t cultivate but wants to stay with the company, gods will find a way to make him leave. And the old forces won’t allow him to remain, either, for they will think he isn’t worthy. Shen Yun is saving sentient beings, which is something to be done by Dafa disciples. But since Shen Yun is, after all, a performing arts company with high skill requirements, if someone who has the skills and is willing to cultivate does genuinely take up the practice and prove to be suitable, then he will be allowed to stay; whereas if he can’t do it, he won’t be allowed to be part of it. And even after someone has joined, if he doesn’t do the things that he, on his knowing side, agreed to do, he will have to leave. That’s because this is a place for cultivators, an organization that seeks to save people. There are more than just human beings in the orchestra pit or on the stage—divine beings are there, too. So how could an ordinary person, whose body is full of karma and who doesn’t cultivate, possibly stay with the company? So that’s what’s really going on. In other words, not just anyone can join that company of Dafa disciples. As you know, divine beings are helping with it, effecting miracles in the Shen Yun performers’ skills and technique both on and off the stage. The sound that comes from the orchestra and the visual impact of what people see is strengthened by divine beings, and it’s something simply unmatched. What people see and hear transcend the human plane. At the same time, the better equipped a performer is in terms of skill, the better the effect, for sure.

       The other projects that Dafa disciples are involved in are no different. You’ve often found that it’s nearly impossible to recruit a suitable non-practitioner when you’re short on people with certain skills or expertise, and end up having to make do with our own people. These things should be done by you, since you are Dafa disciples. Why would you rely on ordinary people? Why not figure out how to resolve it yourselves, and develop the talent that’s needed? You all want to find a quick fix, don’t you? You’re looking for instantaneous results. That kind of thinking is the product of the wicked CCP’s culture. Do a good job with whatever it is you do. And as you go about doing it, it will be your heart and mind, rather than your success, that count. And as you work on it, you are saving people! The process of doing those things is also a process of improving yourself in cultivation, and at the same time you are helping to save a multitude of beings! It’s not as if only when you’ve accomplished your task or initiative will you have helped to save beings.

       There’s another thing to mention. Some practitioners, and they are from all lines of work, have developed a habit of focusing on triflingly small details. Examples include: the particulars of how someone does one of the exercises’ movements, what speed they’re being done at, or how someone’s movements are slightly off. And they can’t get over it. Among those of you seated here, before coming here and becoming human, some were of the Buddhist system, some of the Daoist system, and many were various other types of divine beings. I can tell you that these exercises of mine are perfecting you so that you will be able to return to your original place and position. You used to have what you originally had. I’ve never emphasized in too much detail how precise [your movements] must be, such that you’re all as if cut from the same exact mold. I have not taught you that way. The exercises will work as long as they’re generally correct. Broaden your mind, don’t focus your thoughts on trivial things like these, and don’t view things with all sorts of human tendencies of thought. There are also people who are similarly insistent on minor things related to Fa study, like what people study, at what time, for how long, or how someone reads this and not that, and so on. What you should do is simply to study. As a Dafa disciple you should study the Fa when you have time, since you are a cultivator. What would you rather be doing instead of studying the Fa, anyway? And then with the time you have left it would be best to save more people!

       Group Fa study is a format that I’ve given you, and so is group practice. So everyone who’s not at risk of severe persecution, especially people living anywhere outside of China, should uphold these formats. You have no reason not to. This has bearing on how the people of the future will gain the Fa and cultivate, so you cannot forgo group practice or group Fa study. Make Zhuan Falun the primary text of your Fa study. It’s fine to study other Fa teachings if there’s time for it, but make Zhuan Falun your primary text. If your group’s time is really tight and you don’t have time to study other Fa teachings as well, then find time to read them on your own. It’s as simple as that, and I deliberately haven’t required that you do it in a certain way or set some rigid rules for it. And yet you somehow insist on imposing such rules on people!

       But there’s one thing, which is, even though we haven’t set particular rules for you, you have to regard yourself as a cultivator! Be proactive about Fa study! How could you do what we’re doing without studying the Fa? You might say that you can. But if you’re relying on cunning, human thinking, and quick wits, I guarantee that you won’t be able to. How so? While it might work out for you to do things that way when running your own business or doing your job in an ordinary setting, it won’t work with our task, for the words you say won’t have energy or be on the Fa. How can you save a person if your words don’t have the power to reduce his karma or remove his attachments? If you’re to save him then you must be a cultivator yourself. And your words will have energy and be able to eliminate his biases and attachments. They can have that impact, and can suppress the bad things in his mind that would otherwise foul things up at the time. Only this way will you be able to save the person. This holds true in all kinds of settings in which you clarify the facts, doesn’t it? There are also people who’ve been thinking that since they are veteran practitioners it’s not a problem for them to go awhile without Fa study. Well, it is a problem, no matter how veteran you may be. That’s because the part of you that has completed cultivation has been partitioned off, and also, the gong of yours that was previously pushed to where it should be won’t work without righteous thoughts that you’ve developed from the Fa; you won’t be able to command it if you don’t study the Fa or if you have strayed away from the Fa, for the power to do that comes from the Fa.

       How could you activate your gong with those human thoughts and fears of yours at work? When someone leaves Dafa his gong drops and is no more. I have always said that when you leave Dafa you are no longer cultivating. When you leave Dafa anything that you do will no longer be the doings of a Dafa disciple, but rather, merely the good deeds of an ordinary person. And you won’t reach consummation; you will only accumulate merit. And if you only accumulate merit and don’t increase your gong, then you will just stay at this human place. You are not, as a Dafa disciple, saving your beings. Countless numbers of beings are waiting for you to save them, but you are unable to do that, and sometimes you aren’t mindful of things, just like an ordinary person. You may think that something is no big deal at all, or that your thoughts and actions are just natural and there is not much to them. “What does it matter? What’s the big deal?” But what do you mean, “What does it matter”?! Your responsibilities are enormous! How could you think it doesn’t matter?! You are committing a tremendous sin if you just live out your life as a good ordinary person and don’t cultivate! That’s because you are not saving the beings you are to save!! And you are not fulfilling the vows you made in the remote past!! Isn’t that what this amounts to?! I have never spoken to you in this tone before when teaching the Fa. I am feeling anxious, as the end is drawing near. Yet some people aren’t anxious. What are we going to do?! There have been students who were driven away by you due to your human thinking (granted, they didn’t do well either), and they left with grievances. But if you don’t find them and bring them back, then it counts as your sin. You think it’s just like any other ordinary matter, and what’s over is over? You think it’s that simple?

       There are utterly countless lives in this cosmos, and each of them is extending an eye here, as if attached by a thread, with the eyeball out front. The lives in the boundless cosmos are each extending an eye here, watching each and every Dafa disciple! And [these eyes] are at each and every plane! And inside the planes of eyes are still additional eyes! The gods at even more micro of planes, the gods of lower planes, don’t know themselves that within the eyes of even more micro of planes there are yet more eyes that are being extended from even more micro of planes, such that they fill the earth, leaving not a gap of space around them, all attentively watching everything here in the human world. They are observing your every act and move, your every thought and idea, since you are deciding the fate of their beings! How could they not be anxious?! But you are thinking it’s no big deal, that whether you do well or poorly it’s all the same. But that’s not the case. Do you realize how great your responsibility is? What is a “Dafa disciple”? Is that a title that’s used lightly? It is the most magnificent and sacred of titles!

       Of course, many Dafa disciples have done quite well, even though they have stumbled along the way to greater or lesser extents. It’s nothing to fret over. I’ve seen how some of the ordeals were not humanly bearable, and those don’t count. What’s most outstanding is when you manage to get up from a fall and do well again! As long as you have continued to stay clearheaded throughout the journey, and have kept cultivating and doing what Dafa disciples should be doing all along, that is extraordinary, and Master recognizes you! I hope that you can all reinvigorate yourselves, seize the day, and do well. Please pass on what I just said to the Dafa disciples in China. Don’t get caught up in your human thinking, in trivial things, or in endless arguments. Our situation is progressively changing. You shouldn’t have so many human thoughts.

       I’ve heard that in some areas people are coming out to do the exercises now, and that some practitioners clarify the facts directly at the local police stations, public security bureaus, or government buildings, and some have even done really well. In some locales the evil really doesn’t dare to persecute Dafa disciples that severely anymore. The situation is changing, and the amount of evil is becoming less and less. In any case, people are waiting for you to save them—including even some of the perpetrators of the persecution. Of course, some of them have sinned so gravely that they might not be able to take in the truth that you tell them. But it’s not that they won’t take it in; rather, it’s that divine beings won’t let them listen anymore. But whatever the case, Dafa disciples are not to be selective—you have to save all of the beings before you.

       Many divine beings came down here with me when I was born. And it has been like that ever since, year after year, with divine ones coming down steadily. When I began teaching the Fa, there were so many that they looked like snowflakes falling from the sky. That many. I was thinking about these people’s ages, how long it’s been since I began teaching the Fa, and there are really many young people around twenty-five years old who have yet to be saved. They are divine beings who descended to this earth, and are spread throughout the world. Since there aren’t that many human bodies, some of them couldn’t become human beings and so they became animals or plants. So there’s a reason why in recent years regulations protecting animals and the environment have been quite stringent; it was arranged as such by divine beings, who have been driving those things. No one can see these things for what they are. They are not simple matters, though.

       The human world is one of delusion. As soon as someone comes down here, he is subjected to the delusion and forgets all that he once knew. Many people as well as many governments and scientists throughout the world are aware that humanity has reached its end and might be finished any day now. They know that quite well. The natural resources that man depends on are no longer adequate, and the earth is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Water will be the first thing to go. And yet some people are looking to live a leisurely and carefree life, a happy life. I’m referring to ordinary people. But whatever the case, human beings are human beings. Regardless of how high a level they come from, once they arrive at this human place, they enter the delusion, and are blocked from remembering what they once knew. So what’s to be done? It’s incumbent upon you to save them. You have to speak to them about upright principles, based on the Fa, and about why we are persecuted, and help them build up good thoughts, and only this way will divine beings recognize what you do as saving people. If you were to visibly show people miracles, it would only intensify people’s attachments to such powers, and they would come take up cultivation for those things instead of for the salvation of their souls. And so it wouldn’t be recognized. It wouldn’t count as salvation, because even the worst of lives would want to cultivate if those things could be seen. If that approach were to be taken, wouldn’t it make more sense to let the Creator, rather than you, show people those things?

       Some people have always imagined that when Jesus comes again, or, when a divine being comes, he will miraculously appear in the sky. And he would reveal himself in full glory, leaving people in awe. But I can assure you that it would be a demon in that case. Lives have sinned and were doomed to annihilation in the cycle of creation, stasis, degeneration, destruction, and it was thus that they came to this world of delusion, seeking deliverance. They must form and strengthen good thoughts amidst the delusion if they are to be saved. If a god were to show himself in full glory when he comes, then, as you can imagine, even the worst of people would come to cultivate. And what would be the point, then, of divine beings incarnating here in the human world? The Creator would just need to stand there in the heavens and declare, “All of you, turn good now,” and tell everyone the standard, and it would be all set, with just that one utterance. And He wouldn’t need to come to this human place. This makes sense, right? It is [this way] because nothing met the standard anymore, and because, since the lives of the cosmos had committed sins, they had to come to this world of delusion and suffer. And amidst the suffering and hardship here, if you can still recognize the value of cultivation, and can still form and strengthen good thoughts, then gods will consider you remarkable and allow you to cultivate and be saved. This makes sense, right?

       And some divine beings have indeed rushed here and made it into the Three Realms. When they were in the heavens, they saw that the King of their heavenly kingdom, the Lord of their cosmos, who had come to the earth was doing poorly in the human world, making them extremely anxious; even as Dafa was being taught in the world, their Lord still didn’t wake up to it and was doing bad things. They could see that he was no longer savable, and so some rushed straight here, wanting to wake him up. But it is prohibited to enter the Three Realms, and if someone does make his way in, he cannot leave; after entering one must become the same as a human being. Some of those who did in fact come here still had wings and would fly about, but gradually those stopped working, and they lost the ability to fly, and they eventually died here among men. There have been several who actually got in here like that. And there have been other cases that took different forms, but in each case the person couldn’t leave after coming here and had to become like humans, eventually dying here. The spell of delusion in this human world here mustn’t be broken during the Fa-rectification, for to allow people to see such things would amount to a sin, as it would be breaking the spell here. So it’s not allowed. But some of that was still seen by people, of course; quite a few people saw what was happening, although it’s still a relatively small number.

       But whatever the case, I am teaching you the Fa’s principles and cannot give you a glorious show of powers. Of course, some people have seen certain things, which is fine. In those cases they saw things beyond what’s at the human surface level. It resulted from the abilities you have, and since it wasn’t at the surface it doesn’t count as breaking the spell of delusion. Those were things that you were meant to see. When something is revealed in its entirety at the human surface level, the delusion is broken. But there’s something you know, which is, that what I am teaching has never been taught before, and is not something anyone else could tell people. What is held in my memory is not limited to everything involving the lives of the countless planes of the cosmos, but extends to the future of humanity as well as its past—everything is here with me, and known to me, only I can’t reveal it to you. Well, actually, I have revealed a bit of it. You might have heard that I’m teaching people how to sing. (Applause) And our dance professionals know that even dance experts are not as knowledgeable as I am. The reason is, the dance forms that existed before this history were something I myself developed. (Enthusiastic applause) And of course these are just a few examples. They are amazed by how I can be so well-versed in so many things so fast. Well, unfortunately, some people really didn’t live up to expectations and failed to come forward and do what they vowed, in the remote past, to do. Since nobody was there to do those things, I took them on myself.

       All the same, I wanted to tell you that as Dafa disciples you must realize how enormous your responsibility is. It’s not to be taken lightly. This affair has progressed to the end and I am extremely anxious, yet you’re not taking it seriously. In the end it will be too late for tears! Everything in this world was designed as such with a purpose, and it is designed to lead to attachments; there are so many things that try to keep you from being saved. And yet you are forgetting that you’re a cultivator, and are just going along with it?! You are the hope of a multitude of beings—the hope of your domain’s lives!

       The persecution has been far too evil; what the old forces arranged is truly far too evil. They have wrecked what I spent some 200 million years establishing, turning things into what they are today. I had originally intended for everything to be benevolently resolved, yet now it is what it is. What we can do, though, is to beat them at their own game. Yet why can’t you manage to do well when others can? That’s indeed something to consider as well. You should be able to do well when there aren’t any unusual issues at work.

       The Dafa disciples with assigned duties at the conference haven’t been able to verify who many of the people who’ve come from China are. They’re quite worried as each year there are many people from China, and so they’ve expressed concerns about possible issues. In the end, I told them that the practitioners from China have come so far, and it wasn’t easy for them to make the trip, so let’s let them in (applause), and not worry about others sneaking in. It’s a matter of destiny if someone gets to hear us here, and he or she came to this earth to gain the Fa, after all. If you can’t become a Dafa disciple you should still try to have good thoughts in your mind, and get ready to start doing well and be responsible to the beings you represent.

       All right, I’ll answer questions for you in the time that remains. (Enthusiastic applause) You can write your questions on slips of paper and pass them to the conference staff.

       Please bring up the question slips.

       Disciple: In recent years many practitioners have left China and gone overseas. The majority of them didn’t really step forward while in China, and even claim that Master arranged for them to validate the Fa in a more relaxed setting, outside of China. They’ve come here, but they don’t speak the language, nor do they understand this society, and they don’t realize how Western culture works. And on top of this, having long been influenced by the culture of the Party, they cause problems for projects here and even interfere with them. And what’s more, in some regions people have no principles when it comes to the kind of people they use, and…

       Master: The coordinators are thinking that veteran practitioners who have been here for some time aren’t cooperative, and that it’s easier to utilize practitioners from China since they’re more obedient. That means your ability to work [with people] is really poor!

       I don’t mean to be critical here, but the majority of the practitioners who have been coming here from China really didn’t do well back in China and haven’t done so great here either. And in some cases they developed a strong sense of fear while in China, and now, though they’re outside of China, are still afraid to get together with other practitioners, hiding away in remote states. Who knows what they’re doing. And another thing is, that long-term influence from the Party’s culture is indeed serious, and it leads these people’s thinking and conduct to be at odds with those of everyone else in the world.

       You [who are from China] might be thinking that what you are doing is quite normal. But that’s not the case. Why did the wicked CCP destroy Chinese culture? Because that culture, which was built up over so many years, was meant to enable people in the end to gain the Fa! The way the old forces saw it, it would be too easy for people to gain the Fa, and so they wreaked havoc, destroying the culture. All of those political movements in China seemed to have been targeting opponents of the wicked Party, but in reality, what those movements were eliminating was China’s cultural elite! This was then followed by the destruction of historical remnants in the Cultural Revolution. Five thousand years of glory had left pieces of that heritage everywhere. A brick picked up off the ground might well have dated back thousands of years. The homes that people lived in, with their bricks, tiles, and furniture, were vestiges of antiquity with easily hundreds of years of history or more. But these were ravaged across the board by the wicked Party. The Party established an ethic of “struggle,” pitting people against one another in contentious ways, and created the least civilized and most scoundrel-like ways of doing things. But with everyone in Chinese society living that way, they are used to it, and people there think that that’s how everyone is. And young people even think that that’s how people should be; the new generation that’s grown up under the Party’s culture thinks there is nothing wrong with how that society is.

       When they go abroad, it may seem to them that people look more or less the same, with a head and four limbs, but they are not the same. It used to be that people subscribed to the exact same universal values everywhere, China included, before the arrival of the wicked CCP. Even if people had different skin colors, appearances, or mannerisms and bearings, they were identical in their basic standards for civility and in what they considered good as opposed to bad. There wasn’t any difference, for they were overseen by the same God! Whereas now Chinese people annoy others wherever they go. I’ve heard that Chinese tourists in Switzerland were so vexing to the people there that they set up a designated train just for people from China to travel by.

       [Chinese] Dafa disciples need to be mindful of these things as well. I’ve heard that we’ve had practitioners who went to wealthy areas to distribute materials and then, when they spotted a nice grass lawn, sat right down and started meditating (everyone laughs)—sitting right there meditating. How could the people there stand it? The values that people have in this society are different, and they have never seen anything like this. I’ve heard that there have been other uncivilized behaviors as well. My advice to those who have come out of China is to quickly put in some effort and try to learn from the Westerners or consult with the ethnic Chinese who’ve lived in the U.S. for some time, and find out what’s the appropriate way to interact with people here. Ask them about the things you’re not clear on and quickly turn your mentality around, or else you won’t be able to accomplish anything here. Or you might even have a bad impact, which would essentially be doing harm. There weren’t many Dafa disciples around the world, outside of China, when the persecution began, and yet through their efforts those disciples managed to turn the situation around. And then you come along and have a negative impact. Quickly get yourself straightened out! It’s not befitting for a Dafa disciple to always be doing extreme things.

       Everything done in that society of the wicked CCP is extreme! Whereas in this society people usually make allowances for circumstances when they go about things and they do things based on what the situation actually is. You might not be able to stand that, but you must, and that’s how you need to do things. It really is the case that in China everything is done in extreme ways. Even restaurants there are named “Top Emperor” or “Top King” or “Highest Heaven.” (Audience laughs) (Master laughs) What I’m saying is, if you want to succeed at saving people outside of China you need to quickly change your mentality.

       Disciple: Practitioners from many areas have been buying houses near the Mountain in the last year or two. Many of them haven’t registered to do so, per the guideline, and nor have they gone to help out at the Nine Commentaries table as they’re instructed to. Yet that area is far from New York City, there aren’t any projects they can join to clarify the facts, and there are limited transportation options, so those who can’t communicate in English and can’t drive can’t do anything there.

       Master: Indeed. You need to have obtained formal legal status in the U.S. to buy a house there. If you have lived in the U.S. for a while, and it won’t affect the other projects you’re involved in, and you can drive, then that’s fine. But if we’re talking about people from China, why would you plant yourself in that area? You’re not going to be allowed onto the Mountain anyway, and don’t go looking for me, either, as I don’t handle administrative matters like this; there are people specifically in charge of these things. You’re out of China now and still aren’t doing well with the things you should be doing.

       Disciple: The people in charge and project coordinators in some regions communicate little with practitioners, or even not at all. Some aren’t receptive to others’ opinions or suggestions. They just replace those who they feel aren’t willing to follow them.

       Master: I can tell you this: if you, as someone in a leadership role or as a project coordinator, haven’t worked well with someone, then there’s a shortcoming in your cultivation that you need to address. If you haven’t been able to address it, it’s a shortcoming, and it is an issue as you work to achieve consummation. Don’t believe it? I’ve always emphasized the importance of your working together well. How could you, someone in a leadership role, be so incompetent? You keep excluding people, as if it were really that difficult to patiently discuss things and get the other person to come around? Isn’t that in itself a cultivation process? How is it cultivation if you’re only choosing the easy way out? Is it really that hard to reason with people calmly and get along with your fellow practitioners? You aren’t all that competent and you haven’t been able to do many things well, and yet you feel a need to show off and demonstrate how good you are. What’s the point of doing that? Gods don’t look at you on the surface but at how much heart you put into things! Nor do they look at how capable you are, but rather, at whether you put enough heart into it, and whether your mind is on the Fa. If it is on the Fa, gods will help you to work together with others. And if it’s not on the Fa, but rather on merely getting things done, and you only utilize whoever does what they’re told, then you’ll discover later on that whoever simply does as they’re told now won’t later on, since you didn’t pass the test. And if you keep pushing away whoever doesn’t follow along and just do what they’re told, you will end up with nobody left to drive away, there will be nothing there that enables you to cultivate, and in the end you’ll be the only one left. How could you be so incompetent? I’ve said before that Dafa disciples were Kings before in the heavens. So what happened to all those abilities of yours? You are said to have come from high planes, so you should somehow carry in you those elements, and some of that wisdom, and yet where did those qualities go?

       Disciple: In regards to promoting Shen Yun, the Italian disciples’ cultivation is not up to par and they have yet to become one body.

       Master: It should be said that they haven’t done a bad job in Italy. But I think that the Dafa things that we do, be it Shen Yun or other efforts, aren’t things to be done by only a few people. Well, if there is only one person in a certain locale, then divine beings will help him succeed at his or her efforts. But if instead there are more people there and they’re simply not pitching in to help, then divine beings absolutely will not tolerate it. So it’s essential that you get the whole group involved in your efforts. The person in charge is someone who coordinates things, and he is to coordinate and mobilize people well, and get the whole group to take part—that is what someone in a leadership position does! You might be thinking that, “I’m the one in charge. I have to do it myself.” But that role doesn’t mean you are the one responsible for carrying out those concrete tasks. That’s not the right idea. What I’ve been teaching you all along is that the person in charge should do a good job of guiding and leading everyone in the area. Don’t worry that problems will arise with them. They may lack experience at the moment, but over time and through doing things they will come to gain experience. What’s key is to frequently lead them to study the Fa and help them to realize how great their responsibilities are, and gradually they will come to do well.

       Disciple: Some practitioners who passed away owing to sickness karma have had Dafa-related epitaphs put on their tombstones, and I’m wondering if that’s appropriate? This has been done both in China and overseas. And some have had Dafa books placed in their coffin with them.

       Master: Looking at it from a Dafa disciple’s standpoint, if something tarnishes Dafa it shouldn’t be done. In the hearts of Dafa disciples Dafa is something sacred. How could it be okay, then, to put the books in the coffin of the deceased, next to a decomposing corpse? What’s left in the coffin is merely the person’s physical body, while the True Body that was successfully cultivated has departed. If you tarnish Dafa like that, it equates to committing and leaving there an enormous sin on behalf of the deceased, and you too will be guilty. Only when you manage to consider things from Dafa’s standpoint are you in fact “helping Master.”

       Disciple: When we’re promoting the “three withdrawals” at tourist sites we might run into the following scenario, where we ask the person if he’s a member of the Party and he replies that he’s not. And then if we ask if he ever joined the Young Pioneers, he nods affirmatively. We choose a pseudonym for him and have him withdraw from the Pioneers, telling him to be sure to remember the name he used for withdrawing. He replies, “Mmm hmm,” or “Thanks,” or “Got it.” So my question is, does that count as having withdrawn?

       Master: As I see it, your work at the tourist sites isn’t about getting people to withdraw from the Party or the Pioneers, or about making the “three withdrawals” your goal. Remember: your goal is to clarify the facts and save people! (Enthusiastic applause) Only when you feel that the person has been saved have you done your job. If your sense, instead, is that the person is just insincerely going along with you, then it’s no better than his having duped you. Of course, if he agrees to withdraw in the first place, then that’s the first step. Clarify the facts further to him. If he is really able to understand things, then that should be good enough.

       Disciple: A media company that practitioners are running in Canada has for a long time borrowed funds from practitioners’ families for use on the project, involving large sums of money. Last year after the West Coast Fa Conference, where Master gave a Fa teaching, some practitioners started to question whether this practice amounted to “collecting funds.” The coordinator responded by saying that they were merely “borrowing” the money, and not “collecting” it, and regarded the dissenting voices as a tribulation.

       Master: Indeed. With Dafa disciples’ projects, or anything that Dafa disciples do, what’s done should be sacred at its foundation. At a minimum you should be taking an upstanding approach and be able to save people, and only then does it amount to a Dafa disciple’s project. But if what you are doing is deceptive at its foundation, then your starting point is wrong, even though your motive is to clarify the facts or carry out a Dafa project—which are good things—so how could it work out in that case? It means that, from the start, your approach was off.

       Do you know why the wicked CCP was built up as having begun from a group of scoundrels at the beginning? That happened in order to let people know that it was fundamentally wrong, fundamentally evil, and that it wouldn’t last long.

       You really need to give some good thought to some of the things [you are doing]. When you need to get something done you come to see me and give me a certain explanation, and then after you leave you try to get money from practitioners. When you ask them for money, you say government funding will kick in later. And, it would be ok if you paid them back later. But that doesn’t happen, and your story changes. What do you plan to do after that, then, in the end? Perhaps you’re going to come up with yet another story? It would be a different matter if those who are involved were to use their own funds when they wanted to get together to start a venture.

       Disciple: Tens of thousands of people have learned about the live organ harvesting crimes occurring in China, thanks to the award-winning documentary Davids and Goliath. It’s very costly for a media company to make high-quality productions. But out of the government funding we applied for [and were awarded], some of it is only paid out after production is finished. We borrowed money from a small number of practitioners who have the financial means as well as from everyday people who support us, at market rates and with clear terms and conditions for the loans, along with detailed terms and guarantees for the repayment of the loans. Yet some practitioners still think that we’re “collecting funds.”

       Master: So I just read the slip about this matter, and a moment ago I read another one. It would seem that the two questions represent opposing views on the matter. Now that I’ve spoken here in this setting about the responsibilities of Dafa disciples, I want you to think these matters over more. If you determine that what you’re doing is correct, then do it, and I won’t be opposed. But if it’s not, then you should correct your mistakes.

       Disciple: Master, may I ask a question? There are certain ways some things are handled at the Mountain. For example, broccoli isn’t consumed and milk is always boiled before consumption. Should we do the same?

       Master: Who said that? (Audience laughs) The way these kinds of rumors spread really reflects all kinds of attachments. There has never been any set rule about such things at the Mountain, and that has not been said.

       Disciple: Could I ask Master to say a little about the purpose behind writing the series about twenty-four figures from history [that’s being run in the Chinese edition of Epoch Times]?

       Master: I think things like this are meaningful. I say that because, as you know, what the CCP has sought to destroy is traditional Chinese culture. What we’re doing is recovering it and reviving it, and purging the Party’s culture. It’s serving to revive traditional culture, isn’t it? That’s in fact the role that it is playing, so I would say it’s a good thing.

       Disciple: When practitioners that are newly arrived from China go to Chinatown here [to clarify the facts], within days they are grabbed up by our media. Meanwhile, at our sites for clarifying the facts and encouraging the three withdrawals, there were only one or two practitioners left to man the sites, and those sites had to be shut down.

       Master: When your projects are short of manpower, people look everywhere for new recruits and grab people without regard for how the practitioner is or whether he can do it or knows much about this society; they just drag him over. And then eventually they realize that he’s full of Party culture and the bad tendencies that come from it, and prone to having all those bad interpersonal problems that typically go on in China, and that he’s full of that stuff. Isn’t that right? That’s always how it goes. And then in the end you come to me to complain.

       Disciple: We still haven’t managed to turn around the evil situation in Hong Kong, because from top to bottom we haven’t managed to form one body, and…

       Master: The situation in Hong Kong isn’t reflective of the practitioners there not doing well. Hong Kong’s practitioners have done an outstanding job, considering that you’re in the jaws of the beast! (Disciples applaud) But the situation there will change as the overall situation in China changes; things will change. The reforms that are happening haven’t reached there yet. Once they have, the change will occur. (Applause) It’s going to be very soon. (Enthusiastic applause)

       Disciple: Back in 2002 Master said that the persecution wouldn’t last more than ten years. There are two interpretations of this, which were shared on Minghui.org. One is that Master said this to keep hope alive among the disciples who were experiencing tremendous pressure. Another is that Master has extended the time.

       Master: The arrangement at that time was for ten years. Fa-rectification was to take ten years and the Fa-rectification of the human world was also to take ten years, for a total of twenty years. Master had arranged all of this systematically. But all of it was ruined when the old forces got involved. I could have ended it after ten years. If I had decided that it was to stop, it would have. But a problem would have come about. And what would that have been? The old forces saw it too, and so they made a large group of practitioners fall behind by persecuting them to the point that they couldn’t bear it anymore. And they also made a large number of lives that should have been saved unsavable. Those things were their doing. So would you say I should have ended it or not? If I had called it done, it would have ended, and the universe that had remained [to be rectified] would have been exploded, naturally. The goal of the old forces was to use their approach and not let up until the last of the lives of the cosmic body had gone through Fa-rectification, and they weren’t going to let me finish things up within that time. Then should I have ended it or not? I couldn’t, for so many Dafa disciples had fallen behind, so many lives would have been lost, so many sentient beings couldn’t have been saved, and the cosmos would have shrunken to something small and been incomplete and damaged. Should I have ended it, in that case? That’s why I always say that I’m taking the approach of beating them at their own game.

       But that said, judging by things at present, or by the progress on my part, based on the current state of affairs, it would seem that the old forces’ arrangements have just about run out, wouldn’t it? Everyone is calling for Despot Jiang to be arrested, but this whole affair will end once that happens; it will be that quick. (Applause) It’s quickly approaching now, truly quickly now, but there will be many regrets.

       Dafa disciples shouldn’t always be attached to time and neglect to complete what they should be doing. I am extending the time for you, to give you a chance to quickly do those things!

       Disciple: Dafa disciples from Nanjing city would like to ask whether Minghui Weekly can be distributed as truth-clarification material, or whether it should just remain something read by practitioners?

       Master: Minghui Weekly? That’s not something I’ve been particularly attentive to. If it consists of articles sharing experiences that are meant for Dafa disciples, then that’s for internal reading. If the content is meant for clarifying the facts and saving people, then you can go ahead and distribute it. Yesterday someone asked me whether it was okay to post Dafa disciples’ experience sharing articles on ordinary websites. I said that it’s not, since non-practitioners wouldn’t be receptive to that and it would have an adverse effect. Those are meant for practitioners themselves and aren’t understandable to ordinary people, who would think that they’re far-fetched. And why is that? As I’ve always said, after a Dafa disciple cultivates for even just a short period of time there will be a difference between him and non-practitioners, and how he understands things is different from them—absolutely different! You don’t sense the difference since your elevation took place bit by bit. But when a non-practitioner hears you speak he will sense that you are different from him. That’s the truth! Why is it that once you’ve started practicing, when you go back home and have a conversation with your family members, they will sense that you’ve changed? And isn’t this a common experience? It’s because you are different now! Then how are you going to get people to understand what you’re saying when you post articles about your cultivation experiences online? Non-practitioners are going to interpret it negatively if they can’t understand it. Isn’t that the case? But as for truth-clarification materials, those can be given to non-practitioners.

       Disciple: Some talented people who were once at the television station, and particularly those who were really technically skilled, were elbowed out. Master has indicated that they should be brought back. We really hope that we can contribute at this final hour.

       Master: If you want to go back to the TV station, you can work on that yourself. What I said was that we should bring back the Dafa disciples who fell behind and dropped out. [If you want to return to the station, then] whatever it is that caused you to leave, you should get over it and return. I’m sure the station will be delighted to have you if you can do well.

       Disciple: Some human rights lawyers in China are somewhat skeptical about the reporting being done by our practitioner-run media, as they believe that the persecution of Dafa disciples has only gotten worse since the current leadership took office in China. Yet our media reports have said that…

       Master: I’ll stop there. You’ve got the general idea. When it comes to the current regime, the principle to follow is, “Don’t praise. Don’t criticize.” That’s because they haven’t persecuted Falun Gong, and it’s not their wish to do so. All lives are whom we intend to save, so why would we have to treat them in a certain way? So that’s why we, “Don’t praise. Don’t criticize.” And, just the opposite [of persecuting us], they’re in fact jailing the corrupt officials who have persecuted Dafa disciples. So there are no grounds for running negative reports about them. What Dafa disciples are doing is saving people, not playing politics.

       Another thing is, what kind of tone are you going to use when they are arresting the head of the 610 Office and those bad people? You would definitely praise them for it, right? That’s fine to do. In reality, as you should know, before the current leadership has gained full control of power, there are certain things that won’t be possible to do right this instant. Those who are involved in persecuting Falun Gong are all that devil Jiang’s men, and, of course, they’re still at it. People outside of China can see this clearly.

       You have to stay clearheaded at this time, keep rational, and not get confused by the evil or let it capitalize on the muddied waters at present and create a mess. This is the approach for our Dafa-disciple-run media to take. And even when you are reporting on bad things that have happened in China, what I’ve told our media is, you have to make it clear that those problems are due to the factors of the wicked CCP, and are the result of what the evil people in the previous regime did—seeds of trouble that they planted. You have to add something like that or to that effect in your media’s reporting on these things, and not attack the current regime. Although it is still a wicked CCP regime, what we seek to save are individuals.

       We absolutely don’t recognize the wicked CCP or accept it. (Disciples applaud) It was made just for persecuting Falun Gong, so obviously we don’t recognize it! Exposing the wicked CCP is something that needs to continue for a while into the future, not only now. Even after the persecution is over it won’t be let off the hook. The damage it has done to people’s values goes deep, and not removing those things is not an option.

       Disciple: Korean Dafa disciples send their regards to revered Master. Some Dafa disciples who’ve come from China to Korea have met with difficulty with their asylum applications, and haven’t had legal status for a number of years. One after another—more than ten already—they have been getting repatriated to China. Some have been taken to holding facilities and face imminent deportation to China. Is this because there are problems in our practitioners’ cultivation, or is it that the old forces are ratcheting up the persecution because of Korea’s geographical proximity to the wicked CCP?

       Master: The designation “Dafa disciple” is a magnificent title, and the gods as well as all of the beings in the heavens envy you. Humans might not see you for what you are, but gods do. Divine beings are governing all that humans do here, are they not? So whenever any of our Dafa disciples encounters problems like you described, they need to consider why others haven’t been deported. There must be shortcomings on the person’s part, and for sure he didn’t do well, for the old forces to have had something to seize upon and have him deported. Definitely.

       Of course, there could be other reasons at work too, for an isolated few, such as the person having unfinished or unfulfilled tasks in China, or having people who he is supposed to save but has not yet saved. There are cases like this. But for the majority of those who have come out of China and been repatriated, you should look for the reason within yourself. You didn’t do well and the whole Dafa Association had to get involved, and everyone is worried about you.

       Disciple: A practitioner at one of our media companies is asking whether it’s all right to just study the Fa the whole time at the weekly group Fa study if there’s nothing to share about. Nowadays it’s often the case that as soon as Fa study is over, a large group of people promptly leave, and some of the things that happen when people go up to share afterwards are really…

       Master: I figure you should work out the details of these arrangements on your own and not ask me about them. Each place has its own circumstances. If time permits then you can share experiences. And if time doesn’t permit, and some people are quite busy and have to promptly leave [after studying], and they didn’t have time to begin with but managed to find time to ensure Fa study, then they might leave after studying the Fa. There are all kinds of scenarios, and so I can’t generalize. You have to work these specific things out for yourselves. And of course, there are also some people who study the Fa just for the sake of doing it, and who leave after it’s over, not taking it to heart. There are also people like that.

       Disciple: This year there have again been disciples who passed away due to sickness karma, including a veteran disciple who had cultivated for over twenty years.

       Master: Let me explain it this way. I’ve mentioned in my Fa teachings that when Dafa disciples achieve consummation they will be able to “ascend in broad daylight,” haven’t I? Yet the old forces have said, “We won’t accept your wish to have your disciples ascend in broad daylight at this time, even if you destroy us all.” So even if I were to destroy all of them, they wouldn’t accept it. And why not? They said that even if just one of my Dafa disciples were to ascend in broad daylight, the spell of delusion would be broken here in this world. “Wow, it’s true after all!” all of humanity would exclaim, and all would come to learn Falun Gong.

       Do you know what happens when someone “ascends in broad daylight”? Heavenly music rings out, glorious light illuminates the universe, and gods send a divine chariot to descend, along with a procession from heaven to receive the person. (Disciples applaud) But the old forces won’t go for it. Yet I had initially planned for it to happen when humankind had reached the end and Dafa disciples were to achieve consummation. And [at that point] there wouldn’t be any problem of undoing the delusion, for I had intended to benevolently resolve everything, and so it would be fine to do it that way. And what would it mean to “benevolently resolve everything”? Well, the cosmos had gone bad, because everyone in it had gone bad, which calls for its destruction, right? Everyone has built up an array of old scores and debts with one another. So I had decided to have everyone just forget about those things and stop wanting to settle scores with anyone, and if there were really debts that people had incurred to one another that couldn’t be settled, I would repay them for them. If everyone, across the board, had stopped seeking repayment from everyone else, and no one had owed anything to anyone anymore, that would have been the best, wouldn’t it? But the old forces ruined my designs, saying, “We don’t know how to do what you described. This is the only way we know.” But if they didn’t know how to do it, they shouldn’t have gotten involved. Yet they did. They did so, claiming that their goal was to help me and ensure the success of Fa-rectification, since it had bearing on the beings of their universes. And what they have done turned out to be their way of helping me. I won’t get into the details.

       If no Dafa disciples were to ever die, it would be miraculous, wouldn’t it? Just imagine what would happen if no Dafa disciples ever died. Everyone would come to learn Dafa, and the spell of delusion would be broken—“No one who practices Falun Gong dies!” It would be like the ultimate protective shield for humankind, and everyone would come learn it. That’s why the old forces wouldn’t go for it. They make it so that we’re like regular, ordinary people; they make you age and experience sickness karma.

       Non-practitioners won’t believe what I’m saying, but the quality of my mind and all of the systems inside me are extraordinarily youthful. (Disciples applaud) But the old forces have gravely compromised my surface body so that I wouldn’t undo the delusion. That was possible for them to do because the old forces separated my True Body from my human surface. As I’ve said before, they managed to partition me. But you may be wondering how they have the power to do that. I have explained the idea before. As the Fa-rectification of the cosmos charges forward, it takes time, and with the differences in time, the entire cosmos has been pressed down into here, where human beings are, since Earth is the center of it all. The beings of the entire cosmos all managed to squeeze part of themselves in here, separating what’s at the surface from the divine body. When I finish handling all of these things, the Fa-rectification will end, won’t it? [Some may be thinking,] “But haven’t you said that everything could be handled in the wave of a hand?” Well, that wave takes time. It does take time. When all the work is done, everything will be restored. However, the time when I finish handling all of these things is also the time when the cosmos’s Fa-rectification will be completed, since all of the cosmos had squeezed part of itself in here.

       Some people might not believe it, and think that there’s no way our space here could hold all of that. But it’s not like what you think. The particles of human beings and the human body are quite sizable. Many divine beings are composed of tiny particles, yet their might is tremendous. But they’re really quite tiny. Didn’t Shakyamuni teach, “Its smallness is such that nothing is inside”? Such beings can transform into something large just as they can transform into something tiny. The cosmos has countless beings in it, simply a limitless number, yet if they were to be compressed into something flat it might resemble a sheet of paper in thickness—with simply countless worlds inside. The concept is hard to grasp, isn’t it? People wonder about the distance between molecules and atoms. Well, the idea of it is similar to the distance people would travel if they were to go [from Earth] to another planet by spaceship. So while all of the material things and spaces-times of the compressed cosmic bodies shrank accordingly, their times and distances did not in fact change. So the cosmos’s Fa-rectification has been done at a speed exceeding all times—it’s an extremely fast speed—and been done according to something that lies beyond the largest time in the cosmos. This amounts to an exceptionally fast speed.

       The lifetime of a human being is very short. The speed required to complete the work on the entire cosmos in just a few decades of time here is simply inconceivable. I’ve previously told you, as Dafa disciples, that now one year passes in what was previously just one minute. Time overall has been accelerated. But, although the one-year time has been compressed, the objects within it—all of them—have been compressed accordingly, and that is why you don’t sense any of it. You might feel at times that your body can’t keep up physically or get much of anything done before the day’s quickly over. You might have that feeling.

       Disciple: When we’re doing Shen Yun promotions or involved in clarifying the facts to government offices, I believe we should pay attention to our appearances. Yet some older practitioners appear slovenly and the image they present is less than desirable. Is that appropriate?

       Master: Right, as I’ve said, Shen Yun intends to reach the driving force of society.^[2] Do you know what’s meant by “driving force of society”? It’s the elite of society, members of the middle class and above. These are people who are cultured, educated and well-bred, and of higher caliber—the backbone of a society’s culture. Then when you interact with these people you can’t just do it casually, as if you were with a bunch of students or blue-collar folks, whom you could say pretty much anything to and get away with not acting in a refined manner with. But that doesn’t work with the driving force of society. With them you have to be more proper, speak appropriately, and be well mannered. Actually I’m saying this for our practitioners from China to hear. You need to learn more about these things.

       Disciple: A U.S. practitioner who’s involved in our media said Master stated that we need to study the Fa together in person, so for several months now we have been setting aside one whole day on the weekend to read nine chapters of Zhuan Falun.

       Master: Don’t go to extremes. I asked you to study the Fa together in person, but I didn’t say you have to spend a whole day doing it. When you have extra time you should spend it on projects to save people. With this format that I’ve left to you of group Fa study, you should manage the time well, and when you’re done studying you still need to do other things. It’s a problem if you only do Fa study.

       Disciple: Does it count as plagiarizing the Fa if people use Master’s words as their own when they’re clarifying the truth online?

       Master: If you’re quoting me you can’t just say those words and then leave it at that. When you are speaking with fellow practitioners you should indicate that it’s what Master said. When you are clarifying the truth to non-practitioners, you can draw upon the wisdom that the Fa has given you and paraphrase, using your own words. You should always distinguish these two, right?

       Disciple: Some Taiwanese people mistake what we’re doing at tourist sites for political activity.

       Master: The wicked CCP has a hand in it behind the scenes. So to be considered “apolitical,” a person is supposed to just lie there, like a carcass on the chopping block, and let people do whatever they want with him and say nothing? That’s evil CCP logic. If you stand up to the Party, you get branded “political.” You can explain to those everyday people what you’re doing; if they’re good people you can explain things a bit. But if they have ulterior motives, then you can ignore them.

       Disciple: This is a question from a Russian practitioner. Dear Master, publication of Zhuan Falun is banned in Russia, making it complicated now for us to save people there.

       Master: Yesterday someone brought up the topic of religion, and I said that we shouldn’t do anything that would provoke other religions. And why is that? Because those are things to be dealt with during the Fa’s rectification of the human world. Some religious adherents are radical and impassioned, and they can’t rationally listen to the facts, since their emotions have eclipsed their reason. Then what can be done? If you want to save them then you have to really display the truth to them, to show them, and only then will they accept it. That can’t be done right now, while the Fa’s rectification of the cosmos is taking place. But it will be doable during the Fa’s rectification of the human world. Since their practice doesn’t go that high, many of the things related to them aren’t cosmic matters.

       Disciple: Some fellow practitioners get remarried to other practitioners after getting divorced, while some get back together again while staying divorced. It’s not clear to me whether that’s appropriate for cultivators to do.

       Master: If a cultivator gets divorced and remarries because of changes in feelings, that disgraces the title you have of “Dafa disciple,” and do you think the old forces will let you off the hook? Marriage between a man and a woman is something ordained by the divine, and it encompasses how the human race is to live and its lifestyle. If an unmarried couple is living together, that of course doesn’t conform to morality; or, from a cultivator’s standpoint, it’s not befitting of the standards for a cultivator.

       Disciple: Revered Master, there are some crucial things that our project needs to complete. We believe that we have the skills and experience to do it ourselves, but our manager isn’t fond of our approach and is looking to find some other practitioners or ordinary people to handle it. No matter who is chosen to do it, I’m not attached, but I am concerned that the project has been stalled for years and isn’t keeping up with the Fa-rectification.

       Master: Right, with some concrete things like this you should have more discussions if you’re not getting through. And if that really doesn’t work out, you can ask the head of the Dafa Association what should be done. There are some project coordinators who are narrow-minded and not very competent, and who can’t manage to bring everyone together. Although it might appear as though everyone in the group is of a different mind, coordinators can learn something from Master, since Shen Yun is a large company and with many different viewpoints among its members, and I hear so many widely ranging views and ideas, and yet I’ve managed to lead them successfully, haven’t I? (Disciples applaud)

       Disciple: Is it a copyright violation to edit the exercise music?

       Master: If it’s for saving people, then it’s okay to do what you have to do. But if it’s not, or if it’s for something that won’t have much of an impact, then try your best to avoid doing it. To me, as far as Dafa disciples are concerned, there’s no issue of copyrights. However, you should think about things from the perspective of a cultivator and safeguard and uphold the Fa proactively. But as for ordinary people’s music, don’t go and casually use it. It has karma and is copyrighted, so it’s not suitable for saving people.

       Disciple: There are two matters that people are disagreeing over. One is about encouraging people to do the “three withdrawals.” Some practitioners say that it’s sufficient for the person to just withdraw and that there is no need to say more after that.

       Master: It’s as I just said—the three withdrawals aren’t the goal, but rather, it’s to save the person by clarifying the facts to him or her.

       Disciple: The second one is in regards to what we’re supposed to be thinking about before we recite the formula(s) at the start of sending righteous thoughts. People have different takes on it, with some saying that…

       Master: There are always people sowing confusion over things. It’s just baffling to me. That’s actually the product of human thinking and attachments, of the bad habits that some people have formed in their minds. Search inside yourself! Hasn’t the guidance on sending righteous thoughts been clearly stated?

       First, you clear out your own bad things, and this encompasses all of them. All of the bad things contained in your mind—and there are so many of them—are encompassed; a great number of bad beings make their way into the space within the domain of the human body. Many bad things squeeze their way in! A person’s body is very much open. If you were to examine it with a powerful microscope, you would find that the gaps between one particle and the next are like the ones between grains of sand; and if you were to increase the magnification, the distance between them would be like that between planets in our universe. Microscopic and even more microscopic substances can pass through the body; the beings at those levels can freely pass through. And in fact, the Daoist school has taught that the human body is a small universe. So it’s no minor thing when you send righteous thoughts toward your human body and clean out those bad things, right?

       Another thing is, there are vast amounts of bad things, so under normal circumstances you shouldn’t aim at a specific target, and only under special circumstances should your dissolving of bad things be targeting something specific. And that’s all. So why is that? It’s because Dafa has its standard, and the power that’s sent forth is composed of Zhen, Shan, Ren and knows what does or doesn’t meet the standard! So when it aims outwardly, it is clearing out the external environment. Clearing out the universe outside is the same as doing so with the one within.

       Disciple: The veteran practitioners who have fallen behind don’t realize that they have, and won’t take criticism from others. They don’t understand Fa-rectification cultivation either. What should we do?

       Master: If someone doesn’t cultivate, what can be done? Well, he needs to cultivate! Encourage him to find a way to really cultivate. You want Master to give you some kind of magic bullet, is that it? (Master laughs) The things that you encounter are precisely things for you to resolve through cultivation.

       Disciple: This year many practitioners from China came to Taiwan to see Shen Yun perform, and there were many cases of practitioners giving up their tickets for them. I’d like to ask whether that was appropriate to do.

       Master: You’d like me to commend the Taiwan practitioners a bit. Well, it was a good thing. (Disciples applaud)

       Disciple: Nearly ten thousand Dafa disciples from fifty-three countries and regions send their regards to our magnificent Master.

       Master: Thank you all. (Warm applause)

       Master: This slip was passed along from the Minghui.org group. It has questions from practitioners in China.

       Disciple: We’re coordinators in China. The question that a few of us have is that, after what you said about group Fa study in the new Fa teaching given in 2015, what had originally been our weekly coordinators’ group Fa study and sharing session has been changed into a Fa study of the teachings given around the world in the later years and…

       Master: In a nutshell, here is what to do with [group] Fa study: make Zhuan Falun your primary text. You can study more works if time allows; after studying Zhuan Falun you can study other things. If time permits you can study other Fa teachings. And if you don’t have time, keep Zhuan Falun as your primary text and then you can find time on your own to study the Fa teachings that I’ve given in different regions. There aren’t any special rules for this, so don’t allow human thinking on your part to lead you to twist what I said.

       Disciple: Many young Dafa disciples in China spend a lot of time playing with their cell phones, using WeChat, and watching videos, especially videos of cute animals, which they’re really fond of. When we remind them that it’s not a good idea, they don’t listen, and so we’re really worried.

       Master: As I was just saying, everything in this world is trying to entice you, to block you from gaining the Fa. And you’re not alone—most every parent in this world as well as government is aware of the problem, but everyone is powerless to do anything about it! And there’s not just the problem of blocking people from gaining the Fa: it leads people to do poorly at their jobs, to not learn well in their studies, and to waste vast amounts of time on the computer or with electronic devices. Those things are tempting you to watch and play with them. [People’s behavior is] not befitting of human beings anymore. Never in all of history have people been like this. Those things are alien technologies, and they are being used by demons to seduce people, making them give up all that they had going for them, and leading them to become obsessed with those things. You’re wasting your life with them, yet still unwilling to give them up! That isn’t befitting even an ordinary person, much less a cultivator.

       Disciple: From May of 2015 when we began suing the head despot up to this day, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate hasn’t taken any action on the complaints that Dafa disciples risked their lives to file. Would it be okay for us to publicize locally those complaints against Jiang filed by practitioners who have been severely persecuted?

       Master: You can take that approach if it will be helpful in terms of saving people. But don’t do it with an intention to retaliate or fight with anyone—by all means. If your righteous thoughts are strong, divine beings will assist you. But if your righteous thoughts are off, you won’t be able to accomplish much.

       Disciple: Since the persecution began, we practitioners in China have been quietly making and giving out DVDs and CDs as well as pamphlets and many other kinds of materials that help people learn the facts about Dafa, in order to save people. Some practitioners have recently been downloading from Minghui.org display boards related to suing Jiang and to how Dafa has spread throughout the world, or have been making their own banners that proclaim “Falun Dafa is Good” or that publicize the suits against Jiang, or doing other things to raise awareness. In some places they put up banners in public in addition to distributing the truth clarification materials they have been producing, thereby frightening the evil in those areas… Should disciples in China focus on this project more?

       Master: (Master laughs) Do whatever it is that Dafa disciples should be doing. If something can frighten the evil, clear out the evil, and enlighten people, then go ahead and do it; that’s fine. And the banners for raising awareness that they’ve been putting up have in fact had an impact.

       Disciple: At present some practitioners are very aware that time is pressing when it comes to validating the Fa, and they are proactive and diligent about saving people. But others are caught up in family, career, or their jobs, and some have fallen for things like reputation, status, material things, self-interest, and feelings, and can’t pull themselves out, with some even having forgotten cultivation.

       Master: I’ve just addressed this; it’s the same situation that I talked about. Our practitioners who are around them need to help them snap out of it.

       Disciple: Dafa disciples from Chifeng city have a question for Master. In our area there is a person whose third eye is open and who was able to foretell part of what Master was going to teach in his next public lecture. Some practitioners really look up to him, and have started to put him on a pedestal and revere him—even going as far as putting his picture beside Master’s.

       Master: Wherever there are people who are attached to these things, these kinds of Fa-disrupting things will come about. There have been so many things like this that have happened over the years. And these haven’t ever gone away, even when the persecution has been so severe over these years. Why is that? Isn’t it because among practitioners there are people with those attachments? People who are attached to and fond of that stuff? Precisely because of the existence of those attachments, the old forces stir up people like this in order to root out your attachments and expose them for everyone to see.

       Even today attachments like that still exist. There are going to be cases like yours wherever there are people with these issues. And the truth is, it’s the practitioners with those types of attachments bringing it upon themselves! The troubles are self-wrought. If it weren’t for those attachments, those bad people would not come about and nor would the old forces arrange for those things to happen. It’s as clear as could be. Why would they arrange for those things if you didn’t have that attachment? They would have done something completely unnecessary in that case, and would have given me a reason to straighten them out.

       Disciple: Cultivation is nearing the end, yet I still haven’t cultivated to the realm of altruism, and I’m growing ever more aware that each of my thoughts is rooted in selfishness.

       Master: Merely having realized that is exceptional—your being aware of that is itself exceptional. A non-practitioner wouldn’t reflect upon such things, and some wouldn’t have any awareness of it. Only a cultivator can perceive such things. So, having seen it, try your best to do well. That’s the first step. Give it your best. Of course, it’s possible you have cultivated well in other regards and yet this [problematic] aspect has come to light. Then you just need to be more mindful of it and work harder in this regard, trying to cultivate it away.

       Disciple: I’ve finally realized after so many years that I have never held Master, or the Fa, in the proper regard, and nor have I regarded fellow practitioners correctly. I’m terribly ashamed of this, yet I don’t know how to make a breakthrough.

       Master: Actually, now that you’ve come to realize it, and have managed to see that you’ve been wrong, haven’t you improved? Just do your best to handle it right, study the Fa more, and naturally you will do well. Gradually it will become second nature for you, and you will be fine.

       Disciple: When I was collecting signatures in Japan in support of suing Jiang, due to language difficulties and time constraints I was often unable to get people to fully understand the facts. But sometimes as soon as I mentioned getting signatures, the other person would be willing to sign. And sometimes there were foreigners who didn’t speak English, but who wanted to sign the petition after I spoke with them.

       Master: Many people are good-hearted, unlike Chinese people who’ve become so calculating now, owing to the poisonous Party culture. You get a different response when you ask people from mainland China to do something. But people aren’t like that outside of China. Many good-hearted people feel that you are right, and so they’ll do it. But I would think that collecting signatures should really be about trying our best to get people to understand what we’re doing. Some people just trust their intuition and sign, in which case it’s actually their knowing side driving them to do so.

       Disciple: Many practitioners are asking Minghui.org for Dafa books in e-book format, and don’t understand why e-books aren’t being provided.

       Master: Computers won’t exist in the society of the future, and they never existed in past societies either. It’s a recent phenomenon and a product of these times. There won’t be any in the future, for they have ruined people’s behavior and thinking; everything has changed. You know, in the past, no matter how depraved one region might have been, regions that were far away from it wouldn’t have been affected. But with today’s computers and televisions people in every corner of the world read and see the same news. If someone puts something bad out there, it will be read or seen by people everywhere in the world. All of humanity has been corrupted by it. So, while people think that these technologies are so handy, they actually bring ruin. By contrast, in the traditional way of life, which was what divine beings had arranged, everything was part of a most virtuous cycle.

       Actually, the sense of satisfaction that people get from things like beauty, goodness, and comfort is the same, no matter what sort of society these things come out of. In ancient society, if a person had a good horse, he would mount it and, with a nice matching saddle, he’d feel like a million bucks, happy and content, and call others over to see his gorgeous, great steed! And when people saw it they’d exclaim, “My, what a fine horse.” People would compliment him on it and he would feel gratified. Nowadays if someone drives a BMW, ^[3] he’ll be thinking, “Wow, this BMW of mine is a bona fide sports car. And it’s a 5 Series—just gorgeous.” That feeling that’s experienced, that sense of satisfaction, is the same. And that sense of satisfaction is the same with all ways of life. Yet within a certain way of life there is no end to how people compete and strive for more, and no matter what point this pushes mankind to, people will never be satisfied, as they will always seek what they think is better. Yet if mankind departs from what divine beings arranged, it’s dangerous, for human desires are a bottomless pit! And these will lead people to become something unbefitting of human beings.

       The societies of ancient times were true human societies, and wonderful times indeed. You’ve seen Shen Yun’s performances, which showcase history and traditional culture. When today’s people see them they feel that it’s just wonderful. But people have been made to become what they are today. While their attachments and desires haven’t changed—those are still the same—mankind’s values have slid past the point of no return. And problems that are too massive to resolve have come about in the world; they’ve gotten simply out of hand. For gods and the universe, there are laws present; and for man there are guidelines. Yet if man goes outside of those guidelines, what he faces is elimination by gods, for they would destroy a degenerate human race, for sure. I spoke earlier about how human history unfolds according to the play script, and eliminations have taken place many times. Haven’t archaeologists found that tens of thousands of years ago there were motor vehicles as well as machines and aircraft—aircraft which were more or less identical to those today? Humankind has come and gone, batch after batch, and been wiped out each time its moral values weren’t adequate anymore and it had departed from the script. Man thinks that it’s great for people to be living the way they do, but gods do not.

       Disciple: Master has taught that the disciples from before July 20, 1999, were all pushed to their positions. Yet some of those disciples haven’t cherished the opportunity of self-cultivation, and think that they aren’t worthy of that special honor. And of those who have come through since then, some people have become lax.

       Master: In reality I did push every practitioner up to his or her position. That is true. People could sense it at the time, and some could see it. And why did I do that? If you hadn’t been pushed up to your positions, and if you didn’t have the energy needed to take on the things you would have to take on in helping Master, you wouldn’t have been able to hold up against the evil. The purpose of pushing you up to your positions was so that, with it being done for all of the world’s Dafa disciples alike, you would be able to save the people here who had come from very high planes. With sufficient righteous thoughts your words would have the power to overcome them, since your words would carry Truth of higher planes. At these higher planes, your gong at the plane of the position Master pushed you up to back then is able to take effect. And although what you say is in human language [when clarifying the facts to people], beyond the human plane your remarks become words at different planes, plane after plane. The words you speak wouldn’t have been able to save beings if you hadn’t been pushed up to your positions. But if your xinxing doesn’t reach there accordingly, you won’t be able to mobilize the associated gong despite my having pushed you up to that position.

       So as you face different situations, and as your gong, virtue, and xinxing progress toward consummation, for things to work out, you have to ensure that your xinxing is truly, actually improving. There are a great many attachments for you to remove as you cultivate, so as you fulfill your vows and confront the persecution, you have the chance to eliminate those bad things in you; and only when you manage to still clarify the facts and do what Dafa disciples are supposed to do, even in such trying circumstances, will your gong not drop and your gong, virtue, and xinxing instead rise. If you don’t work on those things, or don’t try to do them well, then your gong will start to drop. If you start to do well again, it will rise some; and when you don’t do well, it will drop some. Your cultivation is about cultivating xinxing.

       Don’t regard Dafa disciples who return after leaving the ranks as being similar to veteran practitioners—definitely do not! That’s because at the time of their return they will certainly be like everyday people, they won’t recall at all the Fa that they previously studied, and they won’t know at all what a Dafa disciple is supposed to be like. By all means don’t regard this kind of person as a veteran practitioner. You must treat him as a new practitioner, and that’s the only way he will be able to overcome his challenges. Otherwise, you will drive him away again if you treat him as a veteran practitioner, as he won’t be able to bear it or accept [the things you do or say]. He’s simply a new practitioner.

       Disciple: In Hong Yin III and Hong Yin IV Master published many song texts. May I use WeChat instant messaging to share them with family and friends?

       Master: It’s fine to share them with family and friends, but it’s best not to use those ordinary people’s social media apps for it.

       Since we’re on the topic, I want to mention that some people have secretly recorded videos of Shen Yun’s performances and of dance classes at Fei Tian College and posted them online. But do you know why I don’t allow Shen Yun DVDs to be distributed to the public or put online? Things are a mess now in today’s society, and the Internet is now a mishmash of all sorts of bad things—it’s really like the Devil, and those things are like a whirlpool, with whatever enters it getting mixed in and jumbled together with everything else. It is a menace to society as well as to people’s minds, morality, and traditions, altering how people live. It’s one big motley mix, with good and bad jumbled together. I don’t want to put our sacred things into that devil’s den. Whoever has done so needs to remove those things from the Web. Of course, this doesn’t apply to ads for Shen Yun or things that Shen Yun or Fei Tian College purposely posted online. What will be displayed in the future is going to be truly the best of all.

       Disciple: I’m a disciple from Germany. I have two questions. The first is, Shen Yun wasn’t able to perform in South Korea, so does that mean that the beings that should have been saved by Shen Yun couldn’t be saved?

       Master: Some things can be achieved by Dafa disciples, while some things can’t. That’s because people’s will counts most. You can only save them if they want to be saved. If they’re not aware, you can tell them about the truth and see what they want to do after that. That’s how it goes. But as you know, there have been many related lessons from the past.

       We needn’t go far back. Let’s just talk about some recent ones. Shen Yun Performing Arts ran into something like this in Greece: after Shen Yun arrived there they weren’t allowed to enter the theater or perform. Both the government and the theater made the same decision, and they flagrantly breached the contract. The following year, Greece’s entire economy collapsed. Didn’t it? Last year Shen Yun went to Ecuador to perform, but wasn’t permitted to. And they even created trouble for the transportation of our cargo on the way out, which almost affected our shows in the following city. It was terribly evil. Although it was the wicked CCP disrupting things behind the scenes, the decision was nevertheless made by the government. A year later, as you saw, there was a nationwide earthquake there that devastated the country, and so many people perished! And you know there have been other cases like these, right? So why is that?

       Do you realize, gods believe that humankind should have long since been destroyed for having gone bad. Humankind wasn’t supposed to make it past 1999 originally. It was because Dafa was going to save a multitude of lives that humanity’s time was extended. In other words, the purpose of sparing humankind was to see whether it could be saved—to allow those who should be saved to be saved. That’s how the old forces had wanted it, too, except that they wanted to use their approach. But they had the same purpose, even though it couldn’t have helped any additional people to be saved. I wouldn’t arrange for anyone to be destroyed, but the old forces’ arrangements are like this: if you don’t want to be saved, the blessings that you were to have will be taken away, and your region will no longer be one that’s saved. And with those taken away, anything could happen—any sort of disaster could befall you. And anything could happen after the economy goes. That’s how things have been set.

       I’m not making up sensational things here—why else do you think there are such coincidences? Misfortune has befallen all of the places that have blocked people from being saved. It was as if those places were saying they wouldn’t let us save them, and that’s no small matter. The reason people were allowed to live to this day was to be saved, but now you are not letting your people be saved, correct? If that’s the case, then your people won’t be included. Isn’t that what it amounts to? And there have been other incidents elsewhere, which I won’t get into. But in every case things like I just described have followed.

       Disciple: The persecution is still being brutally carried out, but more than eighty percent of the population of China hasn’t been saved so far. And yet many Dafa disciples have been becoming preoccupied with leading a comfortable life, and lost their sense of diligence.

       Master: That’s true. I was just discussing this problem, and it’s very serious now. If you really aren’t doing what a Dafa disciple should be, that’s simply unacceptable, for you are a Dafa disciple and your very existence was created by Dafa.

       Disciple: I’m a Dafa disciple from Germany. Some Western practitioners don’t understand some of the reporting being done by the Epoch Times, like for example, pieces that praise the current leadership for certain things they are doing.

       Master: There shouldn’t be any problem with it if the reporting is praising them for arresting corrupt officials and bad people. As for other things they have done, you shouldn’t praise them or delve into those ordinary things without good reason.

       Disciple: As a result, a few Western practitioners doubt the accuracy of the Epoch Times’ reporting.

       Master: It’s like what I just said: we’re here to save people, not here for a political fight. It doesn’t work if you attack people across the board, be it China’s leadership or other people. We’re here to save people. They haven’t persecuted Falun Gong and, to the contrary, they’ve abolished the labor camp system. And what kinds of places were the labor camps? They specialized in persecuting Dafa disciples. And they have arrested even the head of the 610 Office. Yes, it was certainly done on corruption charges, but whatever grounds they used, they did do a good thing, even if it wasn’t done for Falun Gong. As the old forces put it, if they had done it for Falun Gong in name, it would mean this affair was over, wouldn’t it? That it had ceased? And when it has ceased wouldn’t it be the end? It would. So by using this approach it can serve both to wake people up as well as to help them see it as retribution for persecuting Falun Gong, which is helpful to Dafa disciples for raising awareness. So they have done something that’s helpful to Dafa as well as to saving people. You mustn’t attack people who haven’t persecuted Dafa disciples. (Audience applauds)

       Disciple: For the past four years the Thai language website has been out of date; for example, the new Lunyu has yet to be posted there. Yet Thailand practitioners have been translating Master’s new teachings in a timely manner. Could those involved [in the website] take it more seriously and coordinate things better?

       Master: Indeed. Dafa disciples should put sufficient care into the things they do. If you are going to do something, you should do it adequately.

       Disciple: Recently a practitioner from Taiwan came to Thailand, and he suggested that the Thai practitioners talk about the Creator when they’re clarifying the facts.

       Master: They’re being rash again. There haven’t been any changes in how to clarify the facts!

       Disciple: I gained the Fa in Germany and have since moved to Turkey. The practitioners in Turkey don’t share their understandings after studying the Fa together, saying that people should “figure things out for themselves.” It feels to me like we haven’t become one body. In Germany everyone shared openly.

       Master: Indeed, if you see issues you should raise them in a timely manner. Dafa disciples should be as one body, no matter where they may be on this earth, and share and exchange understandings with one another. Just do things however I’ve set them forth, and do things however the Fa dictates—just like that. Don’t come up with some other, different approach of your own.

       Disciple: The number of Taiwan practitioners involved in clarifying the facts online has steadily decreased, even as the number of Internet users in China has increased to nearly 700 million. How can we make a breakthrough?

       Master: Right. The Taiwan practitioners are well endowed with resources for doing projects, so try to do a good job. You should do an even better job. I can tell you that the Taiwan Dafa disciples have played an excellent role during the persecution—excellent. (Enthusiastic applause) The contrast in situations for Chinese people on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait is itself very telling.

       Disciple: There’s a common phenomenon among Dafa disciples, namely, that they use the Fa that they study to evaluate others or society, rather than themselves.

       Master: Cultivation is about cultivating yourself. Yet some people always look outward, saying things like, “What you are doing is not conforming to the Fa” or “What that person is doing isn’t in line with the Fa.” When you see that someone is off, say to him with goodwill, “Perhaps this should be handled another way, where we… We are cultivators…” I think the person will be receptive. Don’t always tell people, “You can’t do it this way.” If you see something that’s not right, you should first look at yourself and ask why you’re seeing it, and whether it’s because you yourself have a problem. What you cultivate is yourself. When you see something not right, if you aren’t able to tell the other party, speak with a coordinator, tell a coordinator. But cultivating yourself is the first priority. If everyone else has cultivated well, and you’ve been helping them at it but not done a good job yourself of cultivating, then what good was that?

       Disciple: Many practitioners can’t sort out what the difference is, fundamentally, between Dafa disciples helping Master with Fa-rectification and the old forces’ getting involved in it.

       Master: I just mentioned earlier what the difference is: I wanted to benevolently resolve everything, while they wanted to use that same-old scheme of theirs. And this persecution was the old forces’ design. That’s the story behind it.

       Disciple: Recently while clarifying the truth in online communities in China, some people have expressed a hope that we could post Master’s exercise instruction video and provide Master’s writings free of charge for download.

       Master: That’s not okay to do. Nobody is to post my Fa teachings on the Internet. Whoever has done that needs to take them down! You have committed a sin—you have tarnished Dafa! You cannot post anything of Dafa’s online without permission. As I just said, it’s like a demon-wrought vortex there, meant to confuse people and cause chaos in the world. It wants to suck all of humanity in, to destroy humanity!

       Disciple: As the Fa-rectification progresses, more and more of the world’s people want to learn Falun Gong. Yet among us some practitioners don’t do the exercises accurately, and…

       Master: You need to be more attentive if the exercise movements you are teaching are way off. But as long as they are generally correct it’s good enough.

       Disciple: Could Master please talk more about the need for being more mindful of cell phone security?

       Master: There’s nothing to be said. You’re carrying around a listening device. Anyone can listen in on you at will—not just spies or the government. It’s very easy to do. It’s that bad, and it doesn’t make a difference if you turn it off—it’s all the same. As I’m speaking here the wicked CCP is listening in, you know.

       Disciple: I’ve noticed an issue during these years since I obtained the Fa and started clarifying the facts. Namely, I’m always seeing in the reporting online from the Epoch Times and NTD that they’re attacking and insulting tourists from China.

       Master: The reporting should be in the spirit of goodwill, and should point out why the outside world finds [the tourists’ behavior] disagreeable.

       When people from China, who have had their traditional culture destroyed by the wicked Party, go abroad, they have a bad impact, and it’s really awful. I saw online a photo of what happened outside a high-end Burberry store in London, on what was a clean and tidy street. There, a female tourist from China was holding her child as he defecated right outside the store. And wherever Chinese people go they talk loudly and make a ton of noise, since that’s what they are used to in China. But the rest of the world can’t stand it. This has got to change. But that is indeed the impression that people from China have given the world. It’s really embarrassing to overseas Chinese and a serious loss of “face.” But, you know, the wicked CCP doesn’t tell Chinese people these things; it doesn’t teach them what’s right. And there is a motive behind their having the world see Chinese people acting like that: they want to destroy your image, to ruin your dignity. Yet it’s hard for people to realize this themselves. But I think that people from China might have more opportunities to go abroad now, and gradually they will come to realize that the outside world is different. And as their awareness gradually increases, things should get better. Old habits die hard, indeed. The Party’s culture, with its teaching people to fight and “struggle” against one another, has altered people’s temperaments there. It’s really a problem if people don’t change that explosive personality and those things that the wicked CCP has taught them.

       Disciple: Quite a few Chinese disciples watch the programs on NTD every day, and, when they see each other, talk about what they watched. They say that it’s to “keep up with current affairs and developments.” My take is that Dafa disciples should spend more time reading Minghui.org if circumstances allow, and that NTD is primarily meant for ordinary viewers. Is my thinking right?

       Master: Yes. It’s okay to watch NTD to learn about current affairs, about what’s happening in the world. As for Dafa disciples’ sharings… I think it’s best that people read more of the websites that have cultivation sharings from Dafa disciples on them. It’s true that some people don’t value Minghui.org that much. Veteran practitioners may not have time for it, but I think newer practitioners will really find it extremely helpful to read Minghui regularly! It has experience sharing articles and Dafa-related matters for you to learn about. Go there and take a look. It’s the most comprehensive site.

       Disciple: Some practitioners have been involved in a so-called “mutual financial support network,” which offers a daily interest rate of one percent. In reality it’s a scam meant to cheat people. They’re constantly involved in…

       Master: All kinds of things are tempting people. This whole society is one big temptation! The goal of tempting people isn’t just to prevent them from gaining the Fa, but to destroy humanity. Nowadays people throughout society aren’t quite right, and nothing is operating normally. Computer gaming has become a huge headache for many big companies now, and the same holds true at many schools. What will become of people if they continue on like this? But nobody is able to do anything about it. As cultivators you have to be clearheaded, be self-aware, have self-discipline, and keep in mind that these are things you should be getting rid of. And, moreover, you are supposed to help and save non-practitioners. But if instead you are caught up in those things, then what? Those things really can control a person. There have been many instances of it.

       That’s all for today. The Dafa disciples who have helped to organize the conference have stopped passing slips up, since I’ve been talking at some length. (Audience laughs) I’ve answered all the questions that were brought up, so that’s all for today. (All in attendance stand and applaud continuously) Dafa disciples, although I spoke rather strongly today, it was meant to invigorate you, for you are the hope of humanity! The hope of the cosmos’s beings! And you are Master’s hope!

       Not only Dafa disciples but also the present human race, this current batch, will see the next stage unfold. Soon all will be set apart. No government can do anything to save humanity, given the point that it has come to. I think that something is weighing on their minds. And just what exactly? They are thinking that if they can help people get through the last days without chaos and disruption, then that will be good enough. I think that is what’s on their minds, since they don’t have the power to solve the problems.

       What science has now discovered and what it has come to realize about the universe is downright soul-stirring. But meanwhile, man today, driven by the modern thinking and behavior that he has, doesn’t see or care about those things. Humanity is now in grave danger. I’m not being an alarmist here. I haven’t talked about these things before. Dafa disciples must have a sense of urgency. You must live up to your title. You must keep in mind the vows that you signed. Everyone who has come to this earth—not just you who are Dafa disciples—signed a vow. As seen in other dimensions, colossal changes are unfolding. Yet here in the human realm it’s as if everyone were asleep.

       Awaken them—that is your responsibility. Save them—that is your responsibility. That is what Shen Yun is doing, and that is what our Dafa disciples’ projects are doing. Every Dafa disciple who isn’t involved in any project must work on these things—try your utmost to make time to immerse yourself in the work of saving people. Do well what you should do, and along with this find time to cultivate yourself well.

       You mustn’t stray from the Fa, for you become an ordinary person if you do. And then, even when you do Dafa work, you will be a human being doing so and it won’t be the work of a Dafa disciple. So you simply must cultivate. Only through cultivation will you have the ability and energy needed to meet the challenges you face. Clarifying the truth isn’t just about reasoning with people. Do you realize that when ordinary people reason with one another it’s often not that things get cleared up by one person’s having convinced the other through logic? Rather, it’s that while one of them is speaking, he sends something over to the other person, which overpowers the other person’s thinking. Consequently the other person listens and believes what he says. Many people are able to see that material. So when you share the truth with ordinary people, your energy can break down their biases and cause those bad things in their heads to dissolve. Then isn’t that in itself saving them? Yet if you don’t cultivate, how could you have the power to do that? When it comes to cultivation, some people may say something like, “He’s my friend. I’ll easily talk him into it.” But after he tries to talk with the person, it doesn’t work out at all. With small things, or human things, that might work. But this is something that has bearing on a person’s very existence, so using human means won’t work. That’s why you need to put in more effort on improving yourselves as Dafa disciples.

       You are the hope of humanity. You simply must do well. You simply must shoulder your responsibilities. You simply must try to save all lives. And only by doing that will you perfect yourselves and ensure that all of this was not in vain! That’s all for today. Thank you all! (Long applause from all in attendance; Master receives a bouquet of flowers, then returns to the podium)

       After each Fa conference, I look forward to seeing and hearing about the improvements you’ve made after the conference. (Enthusiastic applause from all in attendance)

^[1] A more literal translation of the Chinese word for “China” (zhongguo).

^[2] This Chinese term (zhuliu shehui) has also been translated as “mainstream society.”

^[3] The Chinese name for BMW, baoma, means “fine horse,” so there is a play on words here.

Note: Translated by Team Yellow. Subject to further improvement. Last updated June 14, 2016.