The Issue of Killing
The issue of killing is very sensitive. For practitioners, we
have set the strict requirement that they cannot kill lives. Whether it is of
the Buddha School, the Tao School, or the Qimen School, regardless of which
school or practice it is, as long as it is an upright cultivation practice, it
will consider this issue very absolute and prohibit killing—this is for sure.
Because the consequence of killing a life is so serious, we must address it in
detail. In the original Buddhism, killing mainly referred to taking a human
life, which was the most serious act. Later, killing large-sized lives, large
domestic animals, or relatively large animals were all considered very serious.
Why has the issue of killing been taken so seriously in the community of
cultivators? In the past, Buddhism held that lives that were not supposed to die
would, if killed, become lonesome spirits and homeless ghosts. Before, rituals
were performed to free these people’s souls from misery. Without such
services, these souls would suffer hunger and thirst, living in a very bitter
situation. This is what Buddhism said in the past.
We believe that when one does something wrong to another
person, one must give quite a lot of de as compensation. Here, we usually refer
to one’s having taken away things that belong to other people and so on. Yet
if a life is put to an end all of a sudden, whether it is an animal or another
creature, this will generate quite a lot of karma. In the past, killing mainly
referred to taking away a human life, which would cause a great amount of karma.
Yet killing other ordinary lives is no lesser sin, for it also directly causes
much karma. Particularly for a practitioner, in the course of cultivation
practice you are given some tribulations at each different level. They all come
from your own karma and are your own tribulations, which are placed at different
levels for you to upgrade yourself. As long as you improve your xinxing, you
will be able to overcome them. But if you suddenly obtain so much karma, how can
you overcome it? With your xinxing level, you will not be able to make it at
all. It may make you completely unable to practice cultivation.
We have found that when a person is born, there are many of
him born simultaneously within a certain scope of this cosmic space. They all
look alike with the same name, and they do similar things. Therefore, they can
also be called part of his whole entity. This involves such an issue, for if one
of them (as in the case of other large animals’ lives) is suddenly dead while
the rest of him in other different dimensions have yet to complete their
predestined life journeys and still have many years to live, this dead person
will be in a homeless situation and drift about in the space of the universe. It
was described in the past that lonesome spirits and homeless ghosts suffer from
hunger, thirst, and other hardships. This maybe true. But we have indeed
observed the terrible situation in which this person suffers because he must
wait for his final destiny when every one of him in each dimension completes his
life journey. The longer it is, the more he suffers. The more he suffers, the
more the karma created by his suffering will be added to the killer’s body.
Think about it: How much more karma might you accumulate? This is what we have
observed through supernormal abilities.
We have also observed this situation: When a person is born,
a profile of his whole life will exist in a specific dimension. In other words,
where he is in his life and what he should do are all included in it. Who has
arranged his life? It is obviously done by a higher life. For instance, in our
ordinary human society, after birth one belongs to a certain family, a certain
school, and upon growing up a certain workplace; various contacts in society are
made through a person’s job. That is, the layout of the entire society has
been planned this way. Yet if this life suddenly dies not according to the
original, specific arrangement, or if things have been changed, the higher life
will not forgive the meddler. Think about it, everyone: As practitioners, we
want to practice cultivation toward high levels. That high-level life will not
even forgive the killer. Do you think that this person can still practice
cultivation? The levels of some masters are not even as high as that of this
higher life who has made this arrangement. Therefore, the person’s master will
also be punished and sent down to the low level. Just think about it: Is this an
ordinary issue? So once a person does such a thing, it is very difficult for him
or her to practice cultivation.
Among Falun Dafa practitioners, there may be some who have
fought in times of war. Those wars were conditions brought about by greater
cosmic changes on the whole, and you were only an element in that circumstance.
Without human action happening under cosmic changes, such conditions would not
have been brought to ordinary human society, and neither would they be called
cosmic changes. Those events evolved according to greater changes and were not
entirely your fault. What we are discussing here is the karma resulting from one’s
insisting on doing bad things in seeking personal gain, satisfying
self-interest, or when one is somehow affected. As long as it involves changes
in the entire immense space and major changes in society, it is not your fault.
Killing can bring about enormous karma. One may wonder:
"We can’t kill a life, but I’m the cook at home. What will my family
eat if I can’t take a life?" This specific issue does not concern me, as
I am teaching the Fa to practitioners instead of casually telling everyday
people how to live. With regard to how one should deal with specific issues, you
should make a judgment according to Dafa. You should do things however you see
fit. Everyday people will do whatever they want to, and that is their business;
it is not possible for everyone to truly practice cultivation. As a
practitioner, however, one should follow a higher standard, so I am hereby
putting forward the requirements for practitioners.
In addition to human beings and animals, plants are also
lives. Any matter’s life can manifest in other dimensions. When your Celestial
Eye reaches the level of Fa Eyesight, you will find that rocks, walls, or
anything can talk to you and greet you. Perhaps one may wonder: "The grains
and vegetables that we eat are also lives. There are also flies and mosquitoes
at home. What should we do?" It would be quite uncomfortable to be stung by
a mosquito in the summer, and one would have to watch it sting without reacting
to it. If one saw a fly on one’s food, making it dirty, one would be unable to
kill it. Let me tell you that we should not casually take life without reason.
But neither should we become overly-cautious gentlemen, always focusing on
trifles, even jumping around when walking, worrying about stepping on ants. I
say that you would live a tiring life. Isn’t that also an attachment? Though
your jumping around might have not killed the ants, you might have nonetheless
killed many microorganisms. There are many even smaller lives at the microscopic
level, including germs and bacteria; perhaps you have also stepped on and killed
many of them. In that case, we might as well stop living. We do not want to
become such people, as it makes cultivation practice impossible. One should
focus on a broader perspective and practice cultivation in an upright and
dignified manner.
As human beings, we have the right to maintain human lives.
Therefore, our living environment should meet the needs of human lives. We
cannot harm or take lives intentionally, but we should not be overly concerned
with these trifles. For instance, the vegetables and grains that we grow are all
lives. We cannot stop eating or drinking something because it has life, for how
can we then practice cultivation? One should look beyond that. For example,
while you are walking, some ants or insects may run under your feet and get
killed. Perhaps they are supposed to die since you do not kill them
intentionally. In the world of organisms and microorganisms, there is also the
issue of ecological balance—too many of any species will be problematic. We
should thus practice cultivation in a dignified and upright manner. When flies
and mosquitoes are in the house, we can drive them out or install a window
screen to keep them out. Sometimes, they cannot be driven out, and then if they
are smashed, so be it. If they are going to sting and harm people in the space
where human beings live, one should certainly drive them out. If they cannot be
driven out, one cannot just watch them sting people there. As a practitioner,
you do not mind them and you are immune to them, but your family members do not
practice cultivation and are everyday people concerned with the problem of
contagious diseases. We cannot watch and do nothing when a mosquito stings a
child on the face.
Let me give you an example. There was a story about Sakyamuni
in his early years. One day Sakyamuni was going to take a bath in a forest, and
he asked a disciple to clean the bathtub. His disciple went to the bathtub and
found it full of insects crawling everywhere. The insects would be killed if he
cleaned the bathtub. The disciple came back to Sakyamuni and said: "The
bathtub is full of insects." Sakyamuni did not look at him and replied:
"You should go and clean the bathtub." The disciple went back to the
bathtub and did not know how to clean it, as doing so would kill the insects. He
again came back to Sakyamuni and said: "Master, the bathtub is full of
insects. If I clean it, the insects will be killed." Sakyamuni looked at
him and said: "What I asked you to do was to clean the bathtub." The
disciple understood all of a sudden, and he went and cleaned the bathtub right
away. This story tells a principle: We should not have to stop taking baths
because there are insects, and neither should we have to find another place to
live because there are mosquitoes. We also should not have to tie up our necks
and stop eating or drinking because both grains and vegetables are lives. It
should not be this way. We should cope with this relationship properly and
practice cultivation in a dignified way. It will be fine as long as we do not
harm any life intentionally. Meanwhile, people also must have a human living
space and living conditions, and these should also be maintained. Human beings
still need to maintain their lives and live normally.
In the past, some phony qigong masters said: "One may
kill lives on the first or the fifteenth of each lunar month." Some of them
even claimed that it was fine to kill two-legged animals as though they were not
lives. Is killing on the first or the fifteenth not considered taking a life? So
that’s just digging the earth, is it? Some sham qigong masters can be
identified from their speeches and conduct, or by what they say and what they
are after. All those qigong masters making such statements usually have spirit
or animal possession. Just look at the way a qigong master possessed by a fox
eats a chicken. When this person gobbles it up, he is not even willing to spit
out the bones.
Killing does not only bring about a lot of karma, it also
involves the issue of compassion. Shouldn’t we have compassion as
practitioners? When our compassion emerges, we will probably find all living
beings and every person suffering. This will happen.
The Issue of Eating Meat
Eating meat is also a very sensitive issue, but eating meat
is not killing a life. Though all of you have studied the Fa for so long, we
have not required everyone to stop eating meat. Many qigong masters tell you to
stop eating meat as soon as you walk into their classes. You may think: "I’m
not yet mentally prepared to stop eating meat all of a sudden." The meal
served at home today may be roasted chicken or fried fish. Though they smell
quite good, you are not allowed to eat them. The same is true with religious
cultivation practices that force one not to eat meat. Conventional practices in
the Buddha School and some practices in the Tao School also say so and prohibit
one from eating meat. We are not asking you here to do so, but we are also
concerned with this issue. Then, what do we require? Because our practice is one
in which the Fa cultivates practitioners, this means that some situations will
arise from gong and the Fa. In the course of practice, different levels produce
different situations. Someday or after my lecture today, some people may enter
into this state: They cannot eat meat, and meat smells sickening. If they eat
it, they will want to throw up. You are not forced by anyone, and neither do you
force yourself to not eat the meat. Instead, this comes from your own mind.
After reaching this level, you will not be able to eat meat, as it is being
reflected from the gong. If you really swallow the meat, you will indeed throw
up.
Our veteran practitioners all know that this situation will
occur in Falun Dafa cultivation practice, as different levels present different
situations. Some practitioners have a strong desire for and a strong attachment
to eating meat—they usually eat a lot of meat. When others find meat very
sickening, they do not feel so and can still eat it. In order to remove this
attachment, what should be done? This person will have a stomachache upon eating
meat. With abstention from meat, he or she will not have pain. This situation
will happen, and it means that one should not eat meat. Does it mean that
thereafter our school of practice will have nothing to do with meat? It is not
so. How should we deal with this issue? Being unable to eat meat comes from one’s
own heart. What is the purpose? Cultivation practices in temples force one to
not eat meat. This, along with being unable to eat meat as reflected in our
practice, both intend to remove this human desire for or attachment to eating
meat.
If there is no meat in their bowls, some people simply will
not have their meals. That is an everyday person’s desire. One morning when I
was passing the rear entrance of Triumph Park in Changchun, three people came
out of the rear entrance, shouting loudly. One of them said: "What sort of
qigong is it that’s practiced in which one can’t even eat meat? I’d rather
give up ten years of my life to eat meat!" What a strong desire that is!
Think about it, everyone: Shouldn’t this desire be removed? It definitely
should. In the course of cultivation practice, one is to give up different
desires and attachments. To put it plainly, if the desire to eat meat is not
removed, isn’t it that the attachment hasn’t been abandoned? How could one
complete cultivation? Therefore, as long as it is an attachment, it has to be
removed. But this does not mean that one will never again eat meat. Giving up
eating meat itself is not the purpose. The purpose is to not let you have this
attachment. If you can give up the attachment during the time when you cannot
eat meat, you might be able to eat it again later. Meat will not smell sickening
or taste awful then. At that time, if you eat meat, it will not matter.
When you can eat meat again, both your attachment and desire
for meat will have already been given up. A big change will occur, however, as
meat will no longer be tasty to you. If it is cooked at home, you will eat it
with your family. If it is not cooked at home, you will not miss it. If you eat
it, it will not taste delicious. This scenario will occur. But practicing
cultivation among everyday people is quite complicated. If your family always
cooks meat, over a period of time you will find it very tasty again. Such
relapses will occur in the future, and they will repeat many times over the
entire course of cultivation practice. You may suddenly be unable to eat meat
again. You should not eat it when you cannot eat it. You will really be unable
to eat it, and upon eating it you will throw up. Wait until you can eat meat
again and follow the course of nature. Eating meat or not is not itself the
purpose—the key is to give up that attachment.
Our Falun Dafa school enables one to make quick progress. As
long as you upgrade your xinxing, you will make quick breakthroughs at each
level. Some people are not attached to meat in the first place and do not care
whether there is meat in their meal. It will take them a couple of weeks to wear
out this attachment. Some people may take one, two, or three months, or perhaps
half a year to do it. Except for in very unusual cases, it will not take more
than a year for one to be able to eat meat again. This is because meat has
already become a staple food for people. Nonetheless, professional practitioners
in temples should not eat meat.
Let us talk about how Buddhism regards eating meat. The
earliest original Buddhism did not prohibit eating meat. When Sakyamuni took his
disciples to the forest to practice cultivation through hardships, there was no
such rule prohibiting the meat diet. Why wasn’t there one? It was because when
Sakyamuni taught his Dharma twenty-five hundred years ago, human society was
very underdeveloped. Some regions had agriculture while others still did not.
Cultivated farmlands were very few, and forests were everywhere. Grains were in
short supply and extremely rare. Human beings had just emerged from primitive
society and were living mainly on hunting; many regions fed mainly on meat. In
order to abandon human attachments as much as possible, Sakyamuni forbade his
disciples from having access to any wealth, material things, etc. He took
disciples with him to beg for food. They would eat whatever was given to them,
for as practitioners they could not choose their given food, which might include
meat.
There was a prohibition of hun1 in original
Buddhism. This prohibition of hun is from the original Buddhism, but now eating
meat is said to be hun. Actually, at that time hun did not refer to meat, but to
things such as onions, ginger, and garlic. Why were they considered hun? These
days, many monks also cannot explain it clearly. Because many of them do not
truly practice cultivation, they are not clear about a lot of things. What
Sakyamuni taught was called "precept, samadhi, wisdom." Precept refers
to abandoning all attachments of everyday people. Samadhi means that a
practitioner practices cultivation by being completely in trance and sitting in
meditation—one must be totally in trance. Anything that affected one’s
trance and cultivation would be regarded as serious interference. Whoever ate
onions, ginger, or garlic would have a strong odor. At that time, monks usually
stayed in a forest or in a cave. Seven or eight people sat in a circle, and they
formed many circles to meditate. If someone ate these things, this would produce
a very irritating odor that would affect others sitting in trance, seriously
interfering with their practice. Thus this rule was made; such food was
considered hun, and it was forbidden. Many of the beings cultivated from one’s
body are quite repulsed by such rich odors. Onions, ginger, and garlic can also
stimulate one’s craving. If one eats them too much, one can also become
addicted to them, and so they were considered hun.
In the past, after reaching very high levels in cultivation
and entering the state of Unlocking Gong or Semi-Unlocking Gong, many monks also
realized that those rules did not really matter in the course of cultivation
practice. If that attachment is relinquished, that material itself does not have
any effect. What really interferes with a person is the attachment. Therefore,
throughout history the accomplished monks have also found that the matter of
whether one eats meat is not a critical issue. The key question is whether the
attachment can be abandoned. If one does not have any attachment, it is fine to
eat just about anything to fill the stomach. Since cultivation practices in
temples have been a certain way, many people are already accustomed to it.
Additionally, it is no longer the simple matter of being a rule, but a chartered
regulation in temples that one cannot eat meat at all. So people have become
used to this way of cultivation. Let us talk about Monk Jigong2 who
was
made very famous by literary works. Monks should not eat meat, but he ate meat
and was thus made quite well known. In fact, since he was expelled from Lingyin
Temple, food supplies naturally became a major problem for him as his survival
was at stake. In order to fill his stomach, he ate whatever was available to
him; it would not matter, as long as he just wanted to fill up his stomach and
was without attachment to any particular food. At that level of cultivation, he
understood this principle. Actually, Jigong only had meat on one or two
occasions. Upon hearing of a monk eating meat, writers become excited. The more
shocking the subject, the more interested readers will be. Literary works are
based on life and then go beyond it; he was thus publicized. In fact, if the
attachment is indeed given up, it does not matter what one eats to fill one’s
stomach.
In Southeast Asia or in the southern regions of China such as
Guangdong and Guangxi,3 some lay Buddhists will not call themselves
Buddhists in
a conversation, as if it sounds too old-fashioned. They say that they eat the
Buddhist food or that they are vegetarians, which suggests that they are
vegetarian Buddhists. They take Buddha cultivation as something so simple. How
can being a vegetarian enable one to cultivate Buddhahood? Everyone knows that
eating meat is only one attachment and one desire—this is only one attachment.
Being a vegetarian only removes this one attachment. One still needs to
relinquish jealousy, the competitive mentality, the attachment of zealotry, the
mentality of showing off, and various other attachments; there are numerous
human attachments. Only by removing all attachments and desires can one complete
one’s cultivation practice. How can one cultivate Buddhahood by giving up only
this attachment of eating meat? That kind of statement is incorrect.
On the issue of food, besides eating meat one should not be
attached to any other food, either. The same is true with other things. Some
people say that they just like to eat a particular food—that is also a desire.
After reaching a certain level of cultivation, a practitioner will not have this
attachment. Of course, our Fa is taught at a very high level and is taught by
incorporating different levels. It is impossible for one to reach this step
right away. You claim that you just want to eat that particular food, but when
your cultivation has really reached the time to give up that attachment, you
will not be able to eat it. If you eat it, it will not taste right, and it could
taste like anything. When I used to go to work, the cafeteria in the workplace
always lost money and was later shut down. After it closed down, everyone
brought lunch to work. It was troublesome and a lot of hustle to make meals in
the morning. Sometimes, I would buy two steamed buns and a piece of tofu in soy
sauce. In theory, that should be quite a light meal, but eating that all the
time was still not good, as the attachment had to be removed. As soon as I saw
tofu again, it would make me feel sick. I could not eat it when I tried it
again, lest I develop the attachment. Of course, this will only happen when
someone has reached a certain level in cultivation practice. It will not be this
way at the beginning.
The Buddha School does not permit drinking alcohol. Have you
ever seen a Buddha carrying a wine container? No. I have said that one might not
be able to eat meat, but after one gives up the attachment during cultivation
practice among everyday people, it is not a problem for one to eat it again
later. After quitting drinking alcohol, however, one should not drink again.
Doesn’t a practitioner have gong in the body? Different forms of gong and some
supernormal abilities are shown on the surface of your body, and they are all
pure. As soon as you drink alcohol, they will all leave the body immediately. In
a split second, your body will have nothing left, as they all fear that odor. It
is quite loathsome if you become addicted to this habit, for drinking alcohol
can make one irrational. Why do some Great Taoist cultivation practices require
drinking alcohol? It is because they do not cultivate one’s Main Spirit, and
drinking can make one’s Main Spirit lose conscious.
Some people love alcohol as much as their own lives. Some
people enjoy drinking alcohol. Some people are already poisoned by drinking
alcohol, and they cannot even pick up their rice bowls without drinking—they
cannot do without a drink. As practitioners, we should not be this way. Drinking
alcohol is definitely addictive. It is a desire and stimulates one’s addictive
nerves. The more one drinks, the more one becomes addicted to it. Let us think
about it: As practitioners, shouldn’t we give up this attachment? This
attachment must also be removed. One may think: "It’s impossible because
I’m responsible for entertaining customers," or "I’m responsible
for making business contacts. It’s not easy to make a deal without drinking
alcohol." I would say that it is not necessarily so. Usually, in doing a
business deal, especially in doing business with or in dealing with foreigners,
you may ask for a soda, he or she may ask for mineral water, and another person
may ask for a beer. Nobody will force you to drink alcohol. You make your own
choice and drink as much as you want. Particularly among intellectuals, this
case seldom takes place. It is usually like that.
Smoking is also an attachment. Some people say that smoking
can refresh them, but I call it self-deception and deceiving others. When
feeling tired from work or from writing something, one may want to take a break
by smoking a cigarette. After puffing a cigarette, one feels refreshed.
Actually, it is not true. It is because one has taken a break. The human mind
can create a false impression and illusion that later can indeed become a
concept or false impression that smoking does refresh oneself. It cannot do that
at all, and neither can it have this effect. Smoking does not do the human body
any good. If a person smokes for a long period of time, at the time of autopsy a
doctor will find that his or her trachea and lungs are all black.
Don’t we practitioners want to purify our bodies? We should
constantly purify our bodies and constantly progress toward high levels. Yet you
still put that in your body, so aren’t you going the opposite way from us?
Furthermore, it is also a strong desire. Some people also know that it is not
good, but they just cannot quit. In fact, let me tell you that they do not have
correct thoughts to guide themselves, and it will not be easy for them to quit
that way. As a practitioner, why don’t you take it as an attachment to be
abandoned, and see if you can quit. I advise everyone that if you truly want to
practice cultivation you should quit smoking from now on, and it is guaranteed
that you can quit. In the field of this class, no one thinks of smoking a
cigarette. If you want to quit, it is guaranteed that you can do it. When you
smoke a cigarette again, it will not taste right. If you read this lecture in
the book, it will also have this effect. Of course, if you do not want to
practice cultivation, we will not take care of it. I think that as a
practitioner, you should quit it. I once used this example: Have you ever seen a
Buddha or a Tao sitting there with a cigarette in his mouth? How can that be
possible? As a practitioner, what’s your goal? Shouldn’t you quit it?
Therefore, I have said that if you want to practice cultivation, you should quit
smoking. It harms your body and is a desire as well. That is just the opposite
of the requirements for our practitioners.
Jealousy
When I teach the Fa, I often bring up the issue of jealousy.
Why is this? It is because jealousy is displayed very strongly in China. It is
so strong that it has become natural and one does not even feel it. Why do
Chinese people have this strong jealousy? It has its roots. Chinese people in
the past were heavily influenced by Confucianism, and they have developed an
introverted character. When they are angry or happy, they do not express it.
They believe in self-restraint and tolerance. Because they are accustomed to
this way, our nationality as a whole has developed a very introverted character.
Certainly, it has its advantages, such as not showing off one’s inner
strengths. But it also has its disadvantages, and it can bring about negative
side effects. Particularly in this Dharma-ending Period, its negative aspects
have become more notable and can encourage the deepening of one’s jealousy. If
someone’s good news is made public, others will right away become very
jealous. Some people are afraid of mentioning their awards or some benefits from
their workplaces or elsewhere, lest others feel uneasy upon learning the news.
Westerners call it "Oriental jealousy" or "Asian jealousy."
The entire Asian region is more or less this way, owing to the influence of
Chinese Confucianism. Particularly in China, it is displayed very strongly.
This jealousy is somehow related to the absolute
egalitarianism that was once practiced: After all, if the sky falls, everyone
should die together; everyone should have an equal share if there is something
good; everyone should have an equal wage increase, regardless of the percentage
of the raise. This mentality appears to be fair, with everyone being treated
equally. In actuality, how can people be the same? The jobs they do are
different, and so is the extent to which they carry out their responsibilities.
There is a principle in this universe called, "no loss, no gain." To
gain, one must lose. It is held among everyday people that one does not gain if
one does not work for it. More work means more gained, less work means less
gained. The more efforts one makes, the more returns one deserves. The absolute
egalitarianism practiced in the past claimed that everyone is born equal, and
that it is a person’s post-natal life that changes him or her. I find this
statement too absolute. When anything is made absolute, it becomes incorrect.
Why should some people be born male and others female? Why don’t they look
alike? People are not born the same, as some are born ill or disfigured. From
high levels, we can see that one’s entire life lies there in another
dimension. How can they be the same? People all wish to be equal. If something
is not a part of someone’s life, how can they be equally made? People are not
the same.
The personalities of people in Western countries are
comparatively outgoing. One can tell when they are happy or angry. This has its
advantages, but it also has its disadvantages and can result in lack of
restraint. Because the two temperaments are different in mindset, they bring
about different consequences when doing things. If a Chinese person is praised
by his supervisor or given some good things, others’ minds will be uneasy. If
he gets a larger bonus, he may as well put it in his pocket secretly without
letting others know. Nowadays, it is difficult to be a model worker. "You’re
a model worker. You can do it. You should come to work early in the morning and
go home late at night. You can do all this work since you’re good at it. We
aren’t good enough." People will be sarcastic and cynical, and so it is
not easy even to be a good person.
If this happens in other countries, it will be totally
different. If a boss finds out that this worker does a good job today, the boss
may give him more of a bonus. He will cheerfully count the bills before others:
"Wow, the boss gave me so much money today." He can joyfully tell
others about it without consequence. If it happens in China that someone earns
an extra bonus, the boss will even tell that person to hide it and not let
others see it. In other countries, if a child scores a hundred on a test, he
will run home cheerfully and shout: "I scored a hundred today! I’ve
scored a hundred!" The child will run home all the way from school. A
neighbor will open her door and say: "Hey, Tom, good kid." Another
neighbor may open his window: "Hey, Jack, well done. Good boy." If
this happens in China, it will be a disaster. "I’ve scored a hundred, I’ve
scored a hundred." The child runs home from school. Even before opening his
door, a neighbor already begins to curse in his house: "What’s so great
about getting a hundred? Show off! Who hasn’t scored a hundred?" The two
mentalities will produce different results. It can evoke one’s jealousy, for
if someone is doing well, instead of feeling happy for him or her, people’s
minds will feel uneasy. It can lead to this problem.
A few years ago, absolute egalitarianism was practiced, and
it has disordered people’s thinking and values. Let me give you a specific
example. In the workplace, a person may feel that others are not as capable as
he. Whatever he does, he does it well. He finds himself indeed remarkable. He
thinks to himself: "I’m qualified to be a factory director or manager, or
even a higher position. I think that I could even be Prime Minister." The
boss may also say that this person is really capable and can accomplish
anything. Coworkers may also express that he is really capable and talented.
Nevertheless, there may be another person in the same working group or sharing
the same office with him who is quite incapable of doing anything or is good for
nothing. Yet one day this incompetent person gets a promotion instead of him and
even becomes his supervisor. He will feel in his heart that it is unfair and
complain to his boss and coworkers, feeling very upset and quite jealous.
I am telling you this principle that everyday people are
unable to realize. You may think that you are good at everything, but your life
does not have it. That person is good at nothing, but his life has it, and he
will become a boss. No matter what everyday people think, that is only the
viewpoint of everyday people. From the perspective of a higher life, the
development of human society progresses according to the specific law of
development. Therefore, what one does in life is not arranged based on one’s
abilities. Buddhism believes in the principle of karmic retribution. One’s
life is arranged according to one’s karma. No matter how capable you are, if
you do not have de, perhaps you will have nothing in this life. You think that
another person is good at nothing, but he has a lot of de. He could become a
high-ranking official or make a big fortune. An ordinary person cannot see this
point and always believes that he should do exactly what he is able to.
Therefore, he competes and fights all his life with a badly-wounded heart. He
might feel very bitter and tired, always finding things unfair. Being unable to
eat or sleep well, he feels sad and disappointed. When he gets older, he will
end up in poor health and all kinds of illnesses will surface.
Thus, our practitioners should be like this even less so, as
a practitioner should follow the course of nature. If something is yours, you
will not lose it. If something is not yours, you will not have it even if you
fight for it. Of course, that is not absolute. If it were as absolute as that,
there would not be the issue of committing wrongdoing. In other words, there are
some unstable factors. But as a practitioner, you are in principle protected by
Teacher’s fashen. Others cannot take away what is yours, even if they want to.
We therefore believe in following the course of nature. Sometimes, you think
that something should be yours, and others also tell you that it is yours.
Actually, it is not. You may believe that it is yours, but in the end it is not
yours. Through this, it can be seen whether you can give it up. If you cannot
let it go, it is an attachment. This method must be used to get rid of your
attachment to self-interest. This is the issue. Because everyday people are not
enlightened to this principle, they will all compete and fight before profits.
Among everyday people, jealousy has been displayed very
badly. It is also quite notable in the community of cultivators. There is no
respect among different qigong practices, such as "your practice is
good" or "his practice is good"—both positive and negative
comments are made. In my view, they all belong to the level of healing and
fitness. Among those mutually disputing practices, most of them belong to
chaotic, possessing spirits or animals-derived practices, and they disregard
xinxing. A person may have practiced qigong for over twenty years without
developing any supernormal abilities, while another person has obtained them
soon after beginning the practice. This person will then find it unfair: "I’ve
practiced for over twenty years without developing any supernormal abilities,
and he has developed them. What sort of supernormal abilities has he got?"
This person will be infuriated: "He’s got spirit or animal possession and
is experiencing cultivation insanity!" When a qigong master teaches a
class, someone may sit there with disrespect: "Oh, what sort of qigong
master is he? I’m not even interested in listening to what he says." The
qigong master may indeed be unable to talk as well as this person does.
Nevertheless, what the qigong master talks about is something only from his own
school of practice. This person studies everything and has attended every qigong
master’s class with a pile of graduation certificates. Indeed, this person
knows a lot more than that qigong master. But what’s the use? It is all about
healing and fitness. The more the person is filled with it, the more chaotic and
complex the messages will become, and the harder it will be to practice
cultivation—it is all messed up. Genuine cultivation practice teaches
following one path, and should not go astray. This also occurs among true
practitioners, for mutual disrespect and not eliminating the attachment to
competition can both easily lead to jealousy.
Let me tell a story. In the book Investiture of the Gods,4
Shen Gongbao5 found Jiang Ziya6 to be both old and
incompetent. But
the Primitive God of Heaven asked Jiang Ziya to confer titles on immortals. Shen
Gongbao felt in his heart that it was unfair: "Why is he asked to confer
titles on immortals? You see how capable I am. After my head is cut off, I can
put it back on my shoulders. Why wasn’t I asked to confer titles on
immortals?" He was so jealous that he always caused troubles for Jiang
Ziya.
The original Buddhism in Sakyamuni’s time talked about
supernormal abilities. Nowadays in Buddhism, nobody dares to mention supernormal
abilities anymore. If you mention supernatural capabilities, they will say that
you have cultivation insanity. "What supernormal abilities?" They will
not recognize them at all. Why is this? At present, even monks do not know what
they are all about. Sakyamuni had ten major disciples, of which
Mujianlian7 was said by him to be number one in supernatural
capabilities.
Sakyamuni also had female disciples, among whom Lianhuase8 was
number one
in supernatural capabilities. The same was also true when Buddhism was
introduced to China. Throughout history, there have been many accomplished
monks. When Boddhidarma came to China, he rode on a stalk of reed to cross a
river. As history has developed, however, supernatural capabilities have
increasingly been rejected. The main reason is that people such as senior monks,
supervisors, or abbots in temples are not necessarily of great inborn quality.
Though they are abbots or senior monks, these are only positions of everyday
people. They are also practitioners, except that they are professional ones. You
practice cultivation at home as amateurs. Whether one succeeds in cultivation
all depends on cultivating the heart. The same is true for everyone, and one
cannot fall short even a bit. But a junior monk who cooks meals might not be of
poor inborn quality. The more the junior monk suffers, the easier it is for him
to achieve the Unlocking of Gong. The more comfortable the senior monks’ lives
are, the harder it is for them to reach the state of Unlocking Gong since there
is the issue of karma’s transformation. The junior monk always works hard and
tirelessly. It is quicker for him to repay his karma and become enlightened.
Perhaps one day he achieves the Unlocking of Gong all of a sudden. With this
Unlocking of Gong, enlightenment, or semi-enlightenment, his supernatural
capabilities will all emerge. The monks in the temple will all come to ask him
questions, and everyone will respect him. But the abbot will be unable to put up
with it: "How can I still be the abbot? What enlightenment? He is
experiencing cultivation insanity. Get him out of here." The temple thus
expels the junior monk. As time passes, nobody in Chinese Buddhism dares to
mention supernormal abilities. You know how capable Jigong was. He could move
the tree trunks from Mt. Emei and throw those logs out from a well9
one
after another. Yet in the end he was still driven out of Lingyin Temple.
The issue of jealousy is very serious as it directly involves
the matter of whether you can complete cultivation practice. If jealousy is not
abolished, everything that you have cultivated will become fragile. There is
this rule: If in the course of cultivation practice jealousy is not given up,
one will not attain Right Fruit—absolutely not. Perhaps you have heard before
that Buddha Amitabha spoke of going to a paradise with karma. But that is not
going to happen without giving up jealousy. It may be possible that one falls
short in some other minor regards and goes to the paradise with karma for
further cultivation. But it is absolutely impossible if jealousy is not
abandoned. Today I am telling practitioners that you should not keep yourselves
in the dark without being enlightened to it. The goal that you intend to achieve
is to practice cultivation toward high levels. The attachment of jealousy must
be relinquished, so I have singled out the issue in this lecture.
The Issue of Treating Illness
In regards to treating illness, I am not teaching you to
treat illnesses. No genuine Falun Dafa disciples should treat illnesses for
others. Once you treat an illness, all things in your body from Falun Dafa will
be taken back by my fashen. Why is this issue taken so seriously? It is because
it is a phenomenon that undermines Dafa. You will harm more than your own
health. As soon as some people heal an illness, they will itch to do it again.
They will grab whoever they see to treat illnesses and show themselves off. Isn’t
this an attachment? It will seriously hinder one’s cultivation practice.
Many phony qigong masters have taken advantage of everyday
people’s desire to treat patients after learning qigong. They will teach you
these things and claim that by emitting qi one can cure illnesses. Isn’t this
a joke? You have qi, and the other person has qi as well. How can you treat him
with your qi? Perhaps his qi will overpower yours! There is no constraint
between this qi and that qi. When one develops gong in high-level cultivation,
what one generates is the high-energy matter, which can indeed heal, repress,
and control an illness, but it cannot remove the root cause. Therefore, to
really heal an illness and completely cure it requires supernormal abilities.
There is a specific supernormal ability for curing every illness. With regard to
the supernormal abilities for curing illnesses, I would say that there are over
one thousand kinds, and that there are as many supernormal abilities as
illnesses. Without these supernormal abilities it is useless, no matter how
crafty your treatment may be.
In recent years, some people have made the community of
cultivators quite chaotic. Among those genuine qigong masters who came to the
public for healing and fitness or those who paved the road at the very
beginning, who has taught people to treat patients? They always treated your
illness or showed you how to practice cultivation and how to keep fit. They
taught you a set of exercises, and then you could heal your illness through your
own practice. Later, phony qigong masters came to the public and made quite a
mess. Whoever wants to treat patients with qigong will attract spirit or animal
possession—it is definitely this way. Under the circumstances at that time,
some qigong masters did treat patients. That was to cooperate with the cosmic
climate at that time. Yet qigong is not a skill of everyday persons, and that
phenomenon cannot last forever. It resulted from changes of the cosmic climate
at that time; it was only a product of that period of time. Later, some people
specialized themselves in teaching others to treat illness, thereby creating a
mess. How can an everyday person learn to treat an illness in three or five
days? Someone claims: "I can cure this illness or that illness." Let
me tell you that these people all carry possessing spirits or animals. Do they
know what’s attached to their backs? They have spirit or animal possession,
but they neither feel it nor know it. Still, they may feel very good and think
that they are capable.
Genuine qigong masters must go through many years of hard
work in their cultivation in order to achieve this goal. When you treat a
patient, have you ever thought about whether you have these powerful supernormal
abilities to eliminate this person’s karma? Have you ever received any genuine
teaching? How can you learn to treat illnesses in three or five days? How can
you cure an illness with an ordinary person’s hands? Nevertheless, such a
phony qigong master has taken advantage of your weaknesses and people’s
attachments. Don’t you seek to cure illnesses? Well, this person will organize
a treatment class that specifically teaches you some healing methods, such as
the qi needle, the light illuminating method, qi discharging, qi compensation,
the so-called acupressure, and the so-called hand-grabbing method. There are a
variety of methods aimed at taking your money.
Let us talk about the hand-grabbing method. What we have seen
is the following situation. Why do people get sick? The fundamental cause of one’s
being ill and all of one’s misfortune is karma and the black substance’s
karmic field. It is something negative and bad. Those evil beings are also
something negative, and they are all black. Thus, they can come because this
environment suits them. This is the fundamental cause of one’s being ill; it
is the most principal source of illnesses. Of course, there are two other forms.
One is a very microscopic being in high density that is like a cluster of karma.
Another is as if delivered through a pipeline, but this is rarely seen; it is
all accumulated from one’s ancestors. There are also these cases.
Let us talk about the most common illnesses. Somewhere in the
body one may have a tumor, infection, osteophytosis, etc. It is because in
another dimension there lies a being in that place. That being is in a very deep
dimension. An ordinary qigong master or an ordinary supernatural capability is
unable to detect it; they can only see the black qi in one’s body. It is
correct to say that wherever there is black qi, there is an illness. Yet the
black qi is not the fundamental cause of an illness. It is because there is a
being in a deeper dimension who generates this field. So some people talk about
discharging and removing the black qi—go ahead and discharge it as you wish!
Shortly afterward, it will be generated again, as some beings are very powerful
and can retrieve the qi as soon as it is removed; they can retrieve it on their
own. Treatments just do not work no matter how they are applied.
According to one who sees with supernatural capabilities,
wherever there is black qi, that place is considered to have pathogenic qi. A
doctor of Chinese medicine will find the energy channels blocked in that place,
as the qi and blood are not circulating and the energy channels are congested.
To a doctor of Western medicine, that place may present the symptom of an ulcer,
tumor, osteophytosis, or inflammation, etc. When it manifests in this dimension,
it is in this form. After you remove that being, you will find that there is
nothing wrong with the body in this dimension. Whether it is protrusion of the
lumbar intervertebral discs or osteophytosis, after you remove that thing and
clear out that field, you will find it instantly healed. You can take another
x-ray and find that the osteophytosis has disappeared. The fundamental reason is
that this being was producing an effect.
Some people claim that by teaching you the hand-grabbing
method, in three or five days you can cure illnesses. Show me your grabbing
method! Human beings are the weakest while that being is quite formidable. It
can control your mind and easily manipulate you at will. It can even end your
life easily. You claim that you can grab it. How do you grab it? You cannot
reach it with your ordinary person’s hands. You may grab aimlessly there, and
it will ignore you and laugh at you behind your back—grabbing aimlessly is so
ridiculous. If you can really touch it, it will harm your hands at once. That
will be a real wound! I saw some people before whose two hands looked normal by
any examination. Both their bodies and their two hands were not ill, but they
could not raise their hands which kept hanging like this. I have come across
such a patient: His body in another dimension was injured—in that case he was
really paralyzed. If that body of yours is injured, aren’t you paralyzed? Some
people ask me: "Teacher, will I be able to practice qigong? I had a
sterilization operation," or "I’ve had something removed from my
body." I said to them, "It doesn’t matter since your body in another
dimension didn’t have an operation, and in qigong practice it’s that body
which is acted upon." Therefore, I just said that when you try to grab it,
it will ignore you if you cannot reach it. If you touch it, it might injure your
hand.
To support a major state-run qigong event, I took some
disciples to participate in the Oriental Health Expos in Beijing. At both of the
two Expos, we were the most outstanding practice. At the first Expo, our Falun
Dafa was honored as the "Star Qigong School." At the second Expo, our
place was so crowded that we simply could not handle it. There were not many
people at other exhibition booths, but our booth was crowded with people. There
were three waiting lines: The first line was for those who registered early in
the morning for the morning treatment, the second line was waiting to register
for the afternoon treatment, and the third line was waiting for my autograph. We
do not treat illnesses. Why did we do it? Because this was to support a major,
state-run qigong event and to contribute to this cause, we participated in it.
I distributed my gong to the disciples who were there with
me. Each one got one share that was an energy cluster composed of over a hundred
supernormal abilities. I sealed their hands with gong, but even so, some people’s
hands were bitten to the point of blistering or bleeding; this even happened
quite often. The beings were quite vicious. Do you think you dare to touch them
with an ordinary person’s hands? Besides, you cannot reach it. It will not
work without that kind of supernormal ability. This is because in another
dimension it will know whatever you want to do—as soon as you think about it.
When you try to grab it, it will have already run away. Right when the patient
goes out the door, it will go back there immediately, and the illness will
recur. Dealing with it requires such a supernormal ability in which one extends
one’s hand and "Bam!" nails it there. Upon nailing it there, we have
another supernormal ability that was once called the "Great Soul-Catching
Method," and that supernormal ability is even more powerful. It can take
out one’s Primordial Spirit, and instantly the person will be unable to move.
This supernormal ability has its specific purpose, and we just target this thing
to grab. Everyone knows that though you find Sun Wukong10 very big, the
Tathagata can use the bowl in his hand to turn Sun Wukong into a very tiny
thing by covering him up with it. This supernormal ability can have this effect.
No matter how large or tiny this being is, it will be grabbed in the hand
instantly and become very tiny.
Additionally, it is not permissible for one’s hand to dig
into the physical body of a patient and take something out. That would bring
disorder to people’s mind in ordinary human society, and that is absolutely
prohibited. Even if it were possible, it could not be done this way. The hand
one digs with is the hand in another dimension. Suppose that someone has a heart
disease. When this hand moves toward the heart to grab that being, the hand in
another dimension moves inside the body, and it will be caught instantly. As
your outside hand grabs it, both hands close in and will grab it. It is very
vicious, sometimes moving in your hands and attempting to drill into them, and
sometimes biting and screaming. Though it appears to be very small in your
hands, it will become very large if you release it from your hands. This is not
something that just anyone can touch. Without that supernormal ability, one
cannot touch it at all. It is completely unlike how simple people would imagine
it.
Of course, this form of qigong treatment might be allowed to
exist in the future, as in the past it always existed. But there must be a
condition: This person must be a practitioner. In the course of cultivation
practice, out of compassion this person is allowed to do this thing for a few
good people. But he cannot completely eliminate their karma since he does not
have enough great virtue. Therefore, tribulations will still exist, but the
specific diseases will be healed. An ordinary qigong master is not a person who
has attained the Tao in cultivation practice. He can only put off illnesses or
perhaps transform them. He might transform them into other misfortune, yet he,
himself may not even know of this deferral process. If his practice cultivates
the Assistant Consciousness, it is done by his Assistant Consciousness.
Practitioners in some practices appear to be very famous. Many well-known qigong
masters do not have gong because their gong grows in the bodies of his Assistant
Consciousness. That is, some people are permitted to do such things in the
course of cultivation practice because they continue to stay at this level. They
have been practicing over a decade or for several decades and still cannot go
beyond this level. So throughout their lives they always see patients. Because
they stay at this level, they are allowed to do that. Falun Dafa disciples are
absolutely forbidden to treat patients. You can read this book to a patient. If
the patient can accept it, it can heal illness. But the results will differ
according to each person’s amount of karma.
Hospital Treatment and Qigong Treatment
Let us talk about the relationship between hospital treatment
and qigong healing. Some doctors in Western medicine do not recognize qigong,
and you can say that the majority of them are this way. Their opinion is that if
qigong can heal illness, what do we need hospitals for? "You should replace
our hospitals! Since your qigong can heal illness with a hand and without
resorting to injections, medication, or hospitalization, wouldn’t it be nice
if you could replace our hospitals?" This statement is neither rational nor
reasonable; some people do not know qigong. In fact, qigong healing cannot
resemble the treatments of ordinary people, for it is not a skill of ordinary
people—it is something supernatural. So how can something as supernatural as
that be allowed to interfere with ordinary human society on a large scale? A
Buddha is mighty capable, and he could wipe out all of humankind’s illnesses
with a wave of his hand. Why doesn’t he do it? Besides, there are so many
Buddhas. Why don’t they show their mercy by curing your illness? It is because
ordinary human society is supposed to be this way. Birth, old age, illness, and
death are just such conditions. They all have karmic reasons and are of karmic
retribution. You must repay the debt if you have it.
If you cure one’s illness, it will be the same as violating
that principle, as one would be able to do wrong deeds without repaying them.
How can it be possible? As a person in cultivation practice, when you do not
have this great ability to thoroughly solve this problem, you are allowed to
treat a patient out of compassion. Because your compassion has emerged, you are
allowed to do so. But if you can truly solve this type of problem, it will not
be allowed to be done on a large scale. In that case, you would seriously
undermine the state of ordinary human society—that is not allowed. Therefore,
replacing everyday people’s hospitals with qigong will not work at all, as
qigong is a supernatural Fa.
If qigong hospitals are allowed to be set up in China and
many great qigong masters come out to give treatments, what do you think this
will be like? That will not be permitted, because they all maintain the state of
ordinary human society. If qigong hospitals, qigong clinics, qigong health
centers, and treatment resorts are established, the healing efficacy of qigong
masters will drop significantly, and the results of the treatments will at once
not be good. Why is it? Since they do this thing among everyday people, their Fa
must be as high as that of everyday people. They have to stay at the same level
as the state of everyday people. Their healing efficacy must be the same as that
of a hospital. So their treatments do not work well, and they also need several
so-called "therapy sessions" to heal an illness. It is usually this
way.
With or without qigong hospitals, nobody can deny that qigong
can heal illnesses. Qigong has been popular in public for so long. Many people
have indeed achieved the goal of healing illnesses and keeping fit through the
practice. Whether the illness was put off by a qigong master or however it was
treated, the illness has now disappeared after all. In other words, nobody can
deny that qigong can heal illnesses. Most people who have seen qigong masters
are those with difficult and complicated illnesses that cannot be treated at a
hospital. They go to qigong masters to try their luck, and the illnesses are
eventually healed. Those who can have their illnesses healed at hospitals will
not see qigong masters. Particularly at the beginning, people all thought this
way. Qigong can therefore heal illnesses, except that it cannot be applied like
other things that are done in ordinary human society. While large-scale
interference is absolutely not allowed, doing it on a small-scale or its being
an uninfluential and quiet practice is permissible. But it will not completely
heal the illness—this is also certain. The best way to heal one’s illness is
to practice qigong oneself.
There are also some qigong masters who claim that hospitals
cannot cure illnesses, and that the efficacy of hospital treatments is just like
such and such. How should we speak of this? Of course, it involves reasons from
many areas. In my view, the principal one is that human moral values have hit a
low point, leading to a variety of odd diseases that hospitals cannot cure.
Taking medicine is not effective, either. There are a lot of phony drugs as
well. It is all because of the extent to which human society has become corrupt.
Nobody should blame others for it, as everyone has added fuel to the flame.
Consequently, everyone will come across tribulations in cultivation practice.
Some illnesses cannot be detected at a hospital, even though
people are actually ill. Some people are diagnosed with illnesses that do not
have names, since they have never been seen before. Hospitals call all of them
"modern diseases." Can hospitals heal illnesses? Of course they can.
If hospitals could not heal illnesses, why would people believe in them and go
there for treatments? Hospitals are still able to heal illnesses, but their
means of treatment belong to the level of everyday people while illnesses are
supernatural. Some illnesses are quite serious, and so hospitals require early
treatment if one has such an illness. If it becomes too serious, hospitals will
be helpless, as overdoses of medicine can poison a person. Present medical
treatments are at the same level as our science and technology—they are all at
the level of everyday people. Thus, they only have such healing efficacy. One
issue that should be clarified is that average qigong treatments and hospital
treatments only defer to the remaining half of life or later those tribulations
that are the fundamental cause of illnesses. The karma is not removed at all.
Let us talk about Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is very
close to qigong healing. In ancient China, supernatural capabilities were common
to virtually all Chinese medical doctors, such as those great medical
scientists: Sun Simiao, Huatuo, Li Shizhen, and Bian Que.11 They
all had
supernatural capabilities that were all documented in medical texts. Yet now
these excellent parts are often criticized. What Chinese medicine has inherited
are only those prescriptions or experiences from research. Ancient Chinese
medicine was very advanced, and the extent of its progress was beyond present
medical science. Some people may think that modern medicine is so advanced with
its CT scans to examine the inside of the human body and its ultrasound,
photography, and X-rays. Though modern equipment may be quite advanced, in my
view it is still inferior to ancient Chinese medicine.
Huatuo saw a tumor in Caocao’s12 brain and wanted to
operate on it. Caocao thought that Huatuo meant to murder him, and so he
imprisoned Huatuo. As a result, Huatuo died in prison. When Caocao’s illness
recurred, he remembered Huatuo and looked for him, but Huatuo was already dead.
Later, Caocao indeed died of this illness. Why did Huatuo know it? He had seen
it. This is our human supernatural capability which all great doctors in the
past had. After the Celestial Eye is open, one can see from one side,
simultaneously, four sides of a human body. One can see the rear, the left and
the right from the front. One can see one layer after another or see beyond this
dimension the fundamental cause of an illness. Are modern medical means able to
do that? Far from it. It will take another thousand years! CT scans, ultrasound,
and X-rays can also examine the inner human body, but the equipment is too
bulky, and such large things are not portable; neither will they work without
electricity. This Celestial Eye, however, can go wherever one goes, and it does
not need a power supply. How can they be compared?
Some people talk about how marvelous modern medicine is. I
would say that it might not be so, as ancient Chinese herbs could, upon
application, indeed heal illnesses. There are a lot of things that have not been
passed down, but many have not been lost and are still in use among people. When
I taught a class in Qiqihar,13 I saw a person who had a vendor
stand on
the street and was pulling teeth for people. One could easily tell that this
person came from the South, as he was not dressed like a Northeasterner. He
would not refuse anyone who came to him. He would pull a tooth for anybody who
came, and he had there a pile of pulled teeth. His purpose was not to pull
teeth, but to sell his liquid drug. The liquid drug emitted very thick yellow
fumes. While pulling a tooth, he would open the drug bottle and put it on the
patient’s cheek toward the area of the bad tooth. The patient would be asked
to inhale the fumes of the yellow liquid drug, which was barely consumed. The
drug bottle would be sealed and put aside. The man would take out a matchstick
from his pocket. While talking about his drug, he would push the bad tooth with
the matchstick and it would come out. It was not painful. The tooth would have
just a few bloodstains, but there would be no bleeding. Think about it,
everyone: A matchstick can be broken if it is used with much force, but he used
it to pull a tooth with only a little contact.
I have said that in China there are still some things being
passed down among people, which Western medicine’s precision instruments
cannot match. Let us see whose treatment is better. His matchstick can pull a
tooth. If a doctor in Western medicine wants to pull a tooth, the doctor will
first inject the patient with anesthetics here and there. Injections are quite
painful, and one must wait until the anesthetic works. Then the doctor will pull
the tooth with a pair of pliers. After a lot of time and effort, if the doctor
is not careful, the root may break inside the tooth bed. Then the doctor will
use a hammer and a drill to dig for it, which can make the patient palpitate
with fear and anxiety. Later, a precision instrument will be used for the
drilling. Some people are in so much pain from the drilling that they almost
jump. The tooth will ooze quite a bit of blood, and the patient will spit out
blood for a while. Whose treatment would you say is better? Whose is more
advanced? We should look not only at the tools’ appearance, but also at their
effectiveness. Ancient Chinese medicine was very advanced, and present-day
Western medicine will not be able to catch up with it for many years to come.
Ancient Chinese science is different from our present science
that we have learned from the West, as it took another path that could bring
about a different state. Therefore, we cannot understand ancient Chinese science
and technology through our current way of understanding things. Because ancient
Chinese science focused directly on the human body, life, and the universe, and
it studied these subjects directly, it took a different approach. At that time,
when students went to school, they practiced sitting in meditation and
emphasized good posture. When they picked up their brush-pens, they would
regulate their breathing and qi. All professions believed in emptying the mind
and regulating the breathing, as this was the state throughout society.
Someone has said: "Would we have cars and trains if we
followed ancient Chinese science? Would we have today’s modernization?" I
would say that you cannot understand another circumstance from the perspective
of this environment. There should be a revolution in your thinking. Without
television sets, people would have them in their foreheads, and they could watch
anything they want to see. They would also have supernormal abilities. Without
trains and planes, people would be able to levitate into the air from where they
sit, without using an elevator. It would bring about a different state of
societal development, and it would not necessarily be confined to this
framework. The flying saucers of extraterrestrials can travel back and forth at
an inconceivable speed and become large or small. They have taken another
alternative method of development, which is another scientific approach.
1 hun (huhn)—food that is forbidden in Buddhism.
2 Jigong (jee-gong)—well-known Buddhist monk in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127
A.D.-1279 A.D.).
3 Guangdong (gwang-dong) and Guangxi (gwang-shee)—two provinces in Southern China.
4 Investiture of the Gods—a classic work of Chinese fiction.
5 Shen Gongbao (shun gong-baow)—a jealous character in Investiture of the Gods.
6 Jiang Ziya (jyang dzz-yah)—a character in Investiture of the Gods.
7 Mujianlian (moo-j’yen-l’yen)—one of ten major male disciples of Buddha Sakyamuni.
8 Lianhuase (l’yen-hwa-szz)—one of ten major female disciples of Buddha Sakyamuni.
9 Mt. Emei (uh-may) is about one thousand miles away from Lingyin (ling-yeen) Temple
where the well was located.
10 Sun Wukong—also known as “Monkey King”, a character in the classic work of Chinese
fiction, Journey to the West.
11 Sun Simiao (sun szz-meow), Huatuo (hwa-twoah), Li Shizhen (lee shr-jhun), Bian Que
(b’yen chueh)—well-known doctors of Chinese medicine in history.
12 Caocao (tsaow-tsaow)—emperor of one of the three kingdoms (220 A.D.-265 A.D.).
13 Qiqihar (chee-chee-har)—a city in northeastern China.
