(Minghui.org) The Fa-rectification is now coming to an end. I would like to share my understandings about the evil from four perspectives.
The evil will not disappear until Fa-rectification is done. This is determined by the old cosmos' principle of mutual generation and mutual inhibition. As long as the new universe has not started yet, the principles of the old universe are still in effect.
I read articles on the Minghui website about fellow practitioners being persecuted every day. They make my heart ache. I used to complain and wonder, “How stupid can those who are carrying out persecution be? Everyone can see that Dafa is good, that good is rewarded and evil is punished. Why don’t they get it?”
But now I understand it differently: Those people are being controlled by the evil. The old forces are gods, too, and have supernatural abilities. All sentient beings in other dimensions are able to manipulate human beings, so surely gods can, too. The old forces are predestined to do so even though they know full well that they are doomed.
It is easy for higher beings to control humans. Of course we should tell those carrying out the persecution the facts about Falun Dafa and hope that they will awaken, but we should also be clear that some beings are doomed to walk down an evil path until the end, which is their destiny. There are many such evil gods, which are actually demons disguised as gods, described in the book Investiture of the Gods.
These evil beings can't see the truth, so they will do bad things till the end.
It takes time to assist Master in Fa-rectification. During the process, we do what we should do, step by step. Both good and evil are revealing their true selves on the world stage. We should not view this from the point of view of human notions, nor should we count on Master to eliminate all evil instantly.
Take King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty in Investiture of the Gods as an example. Bewitched by his concubine Daji, who was a beautiful woman but possessed by a fox spirit, he oppressed his people and persecuted those who opposed him. Yunzhongzi, a deity, saw what was going on and gave King Zhou a sword, telling him to hang it up to eliminate the evil spirit. But King Zhou was deceived by the fox and destroyed the sword. Many bad things happened after that.
If we viewed the situation with human notions, we would wonder why Yunzongzi didn’t just get rid of the fox spirit himself since he was so compassionate. If he had, fewer people would have been killed. But this was fate. Yunzhongzi knew this principle, so he didn't kill the fox himself. It's not, in the end, an issue of compassion.
Although the evil has always been here, it is being steadily weakened. The evil that can manipulate people and the extent of that evil are gradually dwindling. The better we do the three things, the better our world becomes.
Guizhou's Donkey is a famous story about a tiger, a donkey, and fear. The tiger had never seen a donkey. When it saw one for the first time, it was scared to death. But as time went on, the tiger discovered that a donkey is nothing to be afraid of.
As long as we have ample righteous thoughts, the evil is nothing, just like that donkey.
We do what we should do. Every practitioner’s personal situation, xinxing level and abilities are different, but every practitioner is walking on a path that Master has arranged. The evil will try everything it can think of to undermine and interfere with us. But as long as we focus on doing the things that Master has arranged for us, we can overcome that interference.
At school, I read a story by a Qing Dynasty scholar about two monks, one rich, the other poor, who lived near the border of Sichuan Province.
One day, the poor monk told the rich monk, “I am traveling to the South China Sea. What do you think about that?”
The rich monk asked, “How will you manage it?”
The poor monk replied, “One water bottle and one rice bowl will be good enough.”
The rich monk broke into laughter and said, “For years I've been thinking of renting a boat and making a pilgrimage to the South China Sea, but I’ve never made it. You intend to rely on just a single bottle and a bowl? You’ll never make it!”
The following year, the poor monk came back from the South China Sea and told the rich monk about his experiences. The rich monk was ashamed.
The South China Sea is several thousand miles from Sichuan Province. The rich monk didn’t get there, but the poor monk did.
This story illustrates the difference between what is difficult and what is easy. As long as we are committed, difficult things become easy. If we do not want to work on it, an easy thing becomes difficult.
Ordinary people can make it if they follow this principle. As Dafa practitioners, protected by Master and guided by Dafa, what difficulties can stop us as long as our thoughts and actions are righteous?