I Treat All Practitioners as My Disciples

Does everyone know what it is that I am doing? I treat every student of ours as my disciple, including those who can truly cultivate through studying on their own. In teaching cultivation toward high levels, it would not work if I did not guide you this way. Otherwise, it would equate to not being responsible and acting recklessly. We have given you so many things and have let you know so many principles that everyday people should not know. I have taught you this Dafa and will also give you many, many other things. Your bodies have been purified, and certain other issues are also involved, so for me to not treat you as disciples just wouldn’t do. To casually reveal so many heavenly secrets to everyday people would not be allowed. However, there is one point to be made: Nowadays, times have changed and we don’t practice those rituals of kowtowing or bowing anymore. Those kinds of formalities are of little use, and doing those things seems religious, so we don’t do them. What’s the use of your kowtowing and worshipping your master if once you step out the door you still conduct yourselves as usual and do whatever you want among everyday people, competing and fighting for your fame or personal interest? You could even damage the reputation of Dafa under my banner!

True cultivation depends fully upon the cultivation of your heart. As long as you can cultivate and can continue your cultivation solidly and steadfastly, we will treat you as disciples. It would not do to not treat you this way. Yet there are some people who may not be able to truly regard themselves as cultivators and continue cultivation. For some people it is impossible. But many people will truly go on cultivating. As long as you keep cultivating, we will guide you as disciples.

Can you be considered a Falun Dafa disciple if you just practice these few sets of exercises every day? Not necessarily. This is because true cultivation must follow the requirements of the xinxing standard that we have mentioned, and you have to truly improve your xinxing—then, it is true cultivation. If you only practice the exercises without improving xinxing and without the powerful energy that strengthens everything, it cannot be called cultivation; neither can we treat you as Falun Dafa disciples. If you go on like that without following the requirements of our Falun Dafa and behave yourself as usual among everyday people without improving your xinxing, you may still run into some other troubles though you practice the exercises. You may even claim that it is the practice of Falun Dafa that makes you go astray. This is all possible. Therefore, you must truly follow our xinxing requirements—only then are you a genuine cultivator. I have made it clear to everyone. Accordingly, please do not come to me to go through the formalities of worshipping a master. As long as you truly cultivate, I will treat you this way. My fashen are already so numerous that they are uncountable. Besides these students, no matter how many more people there are, I will still be able to take care of them.

The Buddha School Qigong and Buddhism

The Buddha School qigong is not the Buddhist religion. I must make this point clear to everyone. In fact, the Tao School qigong is not the Taoist religion, either. Some of our people tend to have trouble understanding these things. Some people are monks from temples, while some are lay Buddhists. They think that they know a little more about the Buddhist religion, so they enthusiastically promote Buddhism among our students. Let me tell you that you should not do such a thing because it is something from a different cultivation school. Religion has religious forms. Here we are teaching the cultivation part of our school. Except for those monks and nuns who are Falun Dafa disciples, no one else should observe religious forms. Therefore, our school is not Buddhism in the Dharma-Ending Age.

The Dharma in Buddhism is only a tiny part of the Buddha Fa. There are still many kinds of great high-level Fa. Different levels also have different Fa. Shakyamuni said that there were eighty-four thousand cultivation ways. There are only a few cultivation ways in the Buddhist religion. It only has a few schools, such as Tiantai, Huayan, Zen Buddhism, Pure Land, and Tantrism—barely even a fraction of all of them! Therefore, Buddhism cannot represent the entire Buddha Fa, and it is only a tiny part of the Buddha Fa. Our Falun Dafa is also one of the eighty-four thousand cultivation ways in the Buddha School. It has nothing to do with the original Buddhism or Buddhism in the Dharma-Ending Age; neither is it related to the religions of the present day.

Buddhism was founded by Shakyamuni in ancient India twenty-five hundred years ago. When Shakyamuni reached the state of Unlocking Gong and became enlightened, he recalled what he had cultivated previously and made it public to save people. No matter how many thousands of volumes of scriptures have come out of that school, it actually consists of only three words. The characteristics of his school are “precept, samadhi, wisdom.” Precepts are for giving up all everyday people’s desires and forcing you to abandon the pursuit of self-interest, cutting off everything that is secular, and so on. In this way, one’s mind will become empty and not think about anything, and it can thus become tranquil. They complement each other. Upon being able to achieve tranquility, one can sit in meditation for actual cultivation and rely on trance to make progress in cultivation. This is the part of genuine cultivation in that school. It does not care for exercises, and neither does it change one’s benti. A person only cultivates that gong which determines the height of his level. Therefore, he only cultivates his xinxing. He does not cultivate his body, so he does not care for the transformation of gong. Meanwhile, through meditation he strengthens his ability to stay in trance and sits in meditation to suffer and eliminate karma. “Wisdom” means that one becomes enlightened with great insight and wisdom, and one can see the truth of the universe as well as the truth of different dimensions in the universe. All divine powers emerge. The awakening to wisdom and enlightenment is also called the Unlocking of Gong.

When Shakyamuni founded this cultivation way, there were eight religions prevailing in India at the same time. There was a deeply-rooted religion called Brahmanism. Throughout his lifetime, Shakyamuni battled ideologically with other religions. Because what Shakyamuni taught was a righteous way, the Buddhist Dharma that he taught became more and more popular in the course of teaching while other religions increasingly weakened. Even the deeply-rooted Brahmanism was on the brink of extinction. After Shakyamuni’s nirvana, however, other religions, especially Brahmanism, regained popularity. Yet what situation emerged in Buddhism? Some monks reached the state of Unlocking Gong and became enlightened at different levels, but their levels of enlightenment were quite low. Shakyamuni reached the level of Tathagata, but a lot of monks did not reach this level.

The Buddha Fa has different manifestations at different levels. However, the higher the level, the closer it is to the truth, and the lower the level, the further away from the truth. Those monks reached the state of Unlocking Gong and became enlightened at low levels. To interpret what Shakyamuni said, they used the manifestation of the universe that they saw at their levels and the situations and principles that they understood. That is, some monks interpreted Shakyamuni’s Dharma this way or they interpreted it that way. Instead of using Shakyamuni’s original words, some monks preached what they enlightened to as the words of Shakyamuni; this made the Buddhist Dharma distorted beyond recognition, and it was no longer the Dharma taught by Shakyamuni. In the end, this caused the Buddhist Dharma to disappear in India. This is a serious lesson in history. So later on, India no longer had Buddhism. Prior to its disappearance, Buddhism went through many reforms. It eventually incorporated something from Brahmanism and became the present-day Indian religion called Hinduism. It no longer worships any Buddha. It worships some other things and does not believe in Shakyamuni. This is the situation.

In the course of its development, Buddhism underwent several relatively major reforms. One was that shortly after Shakyamuni passed away, some people founded Mahayana based on the high-level principles Shakyamuni taught. They believed that the Dharma Shakyamuni taught publicly was intended for everyday people’s self-salvation and the attainment of Arhatship, with no intention of offering salvation to all beings—it was therefore called Hinayana. Monks in Southeast Asian countries have preserved the original cultivation method of Shakyamuni’s time. In China, we call it the “Small Vehicle” Buddhism. Of course, they themselves do not think so. They believe that they have inherited Shakyamuni’s original things. Indeed, it is this way—they have basically inherited the cultivation method of Shakyamuni’s time.

After this reformed Mahayana was introduced to China, it took root in our country and became the present-day Buddhism taught in China. Actually, it has assumed a completely different look from Buddhism in Shakyamuni’s time. Everything has changed, from the attire to the entire enlightening state and the entire course of cultivation. In the original Buddhism, only Shakyamuni was worshipped as its founder. Now, however, Buddhism has many Buddhas and great Bodhisattvas and has become a multi-Buddha faith. Many Tathagatas are worshipped, and Buddhism has become a religion that worships many Buddhas, including Buddha Amitabha, Medicine Buddha, the Great Sun Tathagata, and so on. There are many great Bodhisattvas as well. In this way, all of Buddhism has become totally different from what Shakyamuni founded in his time.

During this time period, another reform took place when Bodhisattva Nagarjuna taught a secret cultivation practice. It came from India and was introduced to China through Afghanistan and, later, Xinjiang. It happened in the Tang Dynasty, so it was called Tang Tantrism. Due to the influence of Confucianism, China’s moral values were different from those of most other nationalities. This secret practice contained dual cultivation of a man and a woman, and society could not accept it at the time. It was therefore wiped out when Buddhism was suppressed during Huichang’s time during the Tang Dynasty, and so Tang Tantrism disappeared from China. Nowadays there is an Eastern Tantrism in Japan that came from China during that time; however, it did not undergo guanding. According to Tantrism, if one studies Tantrism without guanding, one is considered to be doing the same as stealing the Dharma, and one cannot be recognized as having been taught in person. Another branch, introduced to Tibet from India and Nepal, was called “Tibetan Tantrism,” and it has been passed down to this day. Basically, this is the situation in Buddhism. I have just summarized very briefly the course of its development and evolution. Over the course of Buddhism’s entire development, some practices surfaced such as Zen Buddhism founded by Bodhidharma, as well as Pure Land Buddhism, Huayan Buddhism, and so on. They were all founded upon some understanding of what Shakyamuni said at that time. All of these belong to the reformed Buddhism. There are over ten such cultivation ways in Buddhism, and all have taken on religious forms. Therefore, they all belong to the religion of Buddhism.

As for the religions founded in this century, or not just this century but also the many new religions founded in different parts of the world in the last several centuries, most of these are sham. The great enlightened beings all have their own paradises to which they save human beings. For these Tathagata Buddhas such as Shakyamuni, Buddha Amitabha, and the Great Sun Tathagata, each has his own paradise for saving people. In our Milky Way, there are over one hundred such paradises. Our Falun Dafa also has a Falun Paradise.

In terms of salvation, where can those sham practices take their followers? They cannot save people, as what they preach is not Fa. Of course, some people, when they first founded religions, did not intend to become the demons who undermine orthodox religions. They reached the state of Unlocking Gong and became enlightened at different levels. They saw some principles, but they were far from the enlightened beings who can save people. They were at very low levels, and they discovered some principles. They realized that some things among everyday people were wrong, and they would also tell people how to do good deeds. At the beginning, they were not against other religions. But people would eventually believe in them, thinking what they said was sensible; in turn, people trusted them more and more. As a result, people would be devoted to them instead of to religions. Upon developing an attachment to fame and self-interest, they would ask the public to honor them with some titles. After that, they would found new religions. I am telling you that all of these are evil religions. Even if they do not harm people, they are still evil practices because they have interfered with people’s faith in orthodox religions; orthodox religions can save people, but they cannot. As time passes, they do bad deeds on the sly. Recently, many of these things have also been introduced to China; the so-called Guanyin sect is one of them. Therefore, be on your guard. It is said that there are over two thousand practices in a certain East Asian country. All kinds of beliefs exist in Southeast Asian countries and in some Western countries. One country openly has a devil-worshipping practice. All of these things are demons that have come forth in the Dharma-Ending Age. The Dharma-Ending Age does not only pertain to Buddhism, but also the corruption of many dimensions beneath a very high-level dimension. “Dharma-Ending” does not only refer to Buddhism; it also means that in human society there is no sense of spiritual obligation that maintains morality.

 

Practicing Only One Cultivation Way

We teach that cultivation practice requires dedication to only one cultivation way. No matter how you cultivate, you should not mess up your cultivation by adding other things. Some lay Buddhists practice both Buddhism and our Falun Dafa. I am telling you that in the end you will not obtain anything because no one will give you anything. Because we are all of the Buddha School, there is a xinxing issue and, at the same time, an issue of dedication to only one practice. You only have one body. Which school’s gong will your body develop? How can it be transformed? Where do you want to go? Whatever school you are cultivating in, that’s where you will go. If you cultivate according to Pure Land Buddhism, you are going to Buddha Amitabha’s Paradise of Ultimate Bliss. If you cultivate according to Medicine Buddha, you are going to the Glazed Paradise. This is what is said in religion, and it is called “no second cultivation way.”

The practice that we address here truly refers to the entire process of energy transformation, and this follows one’s own school of cultivation. So where would you say you will go? If you put your feet on two boats at the same time, you won’t get anything. Not only can qigong practices not be mixed with Buddhist practices in temples, but even things between cultivation practices, between different types of qigong, or between one religion and another religion cannot be mixed. Even when cultivating within the same religion, the various denominations cannot be intermingled. One must choose only one cultivation way. If you cultivate in Pure Land Buddhism, then it’s just Pure Land Buddhism. If you cultivate in Tantrism, it’s just Tantrism. If you cultivate in Zen Buddhism, it’s just Zen Buddhism. If you put your feet on two boats at the same time and cultivate both this and that, you won’t attain anything. That is to say, even in the Buddhist religion they talk about no second cultivation way and don’t allow you to mix cultivation practices. Buddhism, too, is practicing gong and it is also cultivation. Its process of generating gong all goes according to the process of cultivation and transformation within its own cultivation way. There is also in other dimensions a process of evolving gong, and this is an extremely complicated and intricate process that cannot be mixed casually with other things in cultivation.

Upon learning that we practice qigong from the Buddha School, some lay Buddhists try to drag our students to temples to convert them. Let me tell each of you students sitting here that no one should do such a thing. You would be undermining both our Dafa and the ordinances in Buddhism. At the same time, you would be interfering with our students, rendering them unable to attain anything. This is not allowed. Cultivation is a serious matter; one must be single-minded in one practice. Though this portion that we teach among everyday people is not a religion, its goal in cultivation is the same. Both try to achieve the state of Unlocking Gong, enlightenment, and completion in cultivation.

Shakyamuni stated that by the Dharma-Ending Age, even the monks in temples would have a difficult time saving themselves, let alone those lay Buddhists who are being looked after by no one. You may have found yourself a “master,” but that so-called master is also a cultivator. If the master does not truly cultivate, it is useless. Without cultivating the heart, no one can make it. Conversion is a formality of everyday people. So you become a member of the Buddha School after conversion? And Buddha will then take care of you? There is no such thing. Even if you kowtow every day until your head bleeds or even if you burn bundle after bundle of incense, it is still useless. You must truly and genuinely cultivate your heart for it to work. Now that we’ve reached the Dharma-Ending Age, the universe has undergone massive changes. Even religious places of worship are no longer good. Those with supernormal abilities (including monks) have also discovered this situation. At present, I am the only person in the entire world publicly teaching a righteous Fa. I have done something that no one else has ever done before, and moreover, I have opened up this door so widely in the Dharma-Ending Age. Actually, such an opportunity does not come along in one thousand years or even ten thousand years. But whether you can be saved—that is, whether or not you can cultivate—still depends upon you, yourself. What I am telling you is a principle of the immense universe.

I am not saying that you have to study my Falun Dafa. What I am talking about is a principle. If you want to cultivate, you must dedicate yourself to only one cultivation way. Otherwise, you won’t be able to cultivate at all. Of course, if you do not want to cultivate, we will leave you alone. The Fa is taught only to those who genuinely practice cultivation. Therefore, one must focus on only one practice, and even thoughts from other practices should not be mixed in. I do not teach mind activities here; there is no mind activity in our Falun Dafa. Thus, no one should add to it any thought. Be sure to keep this in mind: There is basically no mind activity. The Buddha School teaches emptiness, and the Tao School teaches nothingness.

On one occasion I had my mind connected with four or five great enlightened beings and great Taos from extremely high levels. Speaking of high levels, their levels were so high that everyday people would find it simply inconceivable. They wanted to know what was on my mind. I have practiced cultivation for so many years. It is absolutely impossible for other people to read my mind, and other people’s supernormal abilities cannot reach me at all. Nobody is able to understand me or know what I am thinking. But they wished to understand my thought activity, so with my consent, they linked my mind with theirs for a period of time. After the connection, it was a little unbearable for me because no matter how high or how low my level is, I am among everyday people and am still doing something purposeful—that is, saving people—and my heart is devoted to saving people. But how still were their minds? They were still to a frightening degree. To have one person be still to that extent is fine. But to have four or five people all sitting over there in tranquility to that extent, it was like a pond of still water with nothing in it at all. I tried in vain to experience them. For those few days, I really felt mentally very uncomfortable and experienced an indescribable sensation. Everyday people could have no way to imagine or feel it; it was completely free of intention and empty.

At very high levels, cultivation practice has no mind activity whatsoever. This is because while you were at the everyday people’s foundation-building level, that foundational system had already been laid. After reaching high-level cultivation, our cultivation system in particular works automatically, and cultivation practice is completely automatic. As long as you improve your xinxing, your gong grows, and you do not even have to do any exercises. Our movements are for reinforcing the automatic mechanism. Why is it that in Buddhist meditation they are always sitting still? It is completely in a state of wuwei. You may notice that the Tao School teaches this exercise or that exercise, and so-called mind activities or guidance by the mind. Let me tell you that as soon as the Tao School reaches even slightly beyond the level of qi, it will have nothing left and it won’t talk about this intent or that intent anymore. So some people who have practiced other qigong aren’t willing to give up various breathing methods, mind activities, and so on. I am teaching them things from college, but they keep asking me about an elementary school pupil’s things, such as how to guide and use mind activities. They are already accustomed to that approach. They think that’s what qigong is about when, in fact, it is not.

 

Supernormal Abilities and Gong Potency

Many of you are not clear about the terminology in qigong, and some people are also routinely confused by it. They take supernormal abilities as gong potency, or vice versa. The gong that we obtain through cultivating xinxing is our own de transformed into gong as we assimilate to the characteristic of the universe. It determines the height of a person’s level, the strength of his gong potency, and the height of his Fruition Status—this is the most critical gong. In the course of cultivation, what kind of state will emerge for a person? One in which he can develop some unusual and supernatural capabilities that we call supernormal abilities for short. The gong that improves one’s level, as I just mentioned, is called gong potency. The higher one’s level, the greater the gong potency, and the more powerful the supernormal abilities.

Supernormal abilities are only by-products of one’s cultivation process and do not represent one’s level. They represent neither the height of one’s level nor the power of one’s gong potency. Some people develop more of them while others develop fewer. Furthermore, supernormal abilities are not something that can be obtained by pursuing them as the main objective of cultivation. Only when a person has decided for sure that he truly wants to cultivate can he develop supernormal abilities; they cannot be treated as the main objective of cultivation. What do you cultivate them for? Just to use them among everyday people? You are absolutely prohibited from casually using them among everyday people. Thus, the more you pursue them, the less you get. This is because you are pursuing something and pursuit itself is an attachment. In cultivation, attachments are precisely what need to be removed.

Many people have reached a very high realm of cultivation but have no supernormal abilities. The master has locked them up for such a person, fearing that he won’t be able to handle himself well and might do something bad—thus he is never allowed to display his supernormal abilities. There are quite a lot of people like that. Supernormal abilities are directed by a person’s consciousness. When a person is sleeping, he might not be able to conduct himself properly and with a single dream, by the next morning, he might have turned Heaven and Earth upside down. Now, that wouldn’t be allowed. Because cultivation takes place among everyday people, those with great supernormal abilities are usually not allowed to use them. Most are locked up, but it is not absolute. There are many people who cultivate quite well and can conduct themselves well, so they are allowed to have some supernormal abilities. With people of this type, even if you were to ask them to take out their supernormal abilities and casually show them off, they simply wouldn’t do it. They are able to control themselves.

 

Reverse Cultivation and Gong Borrowing

Some people have never practiced qigong, or they may have learned just a couple of movements in a qigong class, but those are all just for healing and fitness and are not cultivation practice. In other words, these people have never received genuine teachings. Nevertheless, they suddenly get gong overnight. We will talk about where this kind of gong comes from, as it takes several different forms.

There is one type that belongs to reverse cultivation. What is reverse cultivation? It is that we have some relatively older people who want to cultivate, and it is already too late for them to cultivate from scratch. When qigong was at its peak of popularity, they also wanted to cultivate, knowing that qigong practice could do good things for others, and that at the same time they themselves could also improve. They had this kind of wish, intending to improve, wanting to cultivate. However, during qigong’s upsurge a few years ago, those qigong masters were all promoting qigong, and nobody actually taught things at high levels. Even to this day, when it comes to truly teaching qigong publicly at high levels, I am the only person doing so; there is no second person. All of those in reverse cultivation were over fifty years old, people who were relatively advanced in years who had excellent inborn quality and carried very good things on their bodies. Almost all of them were the type that masters would want to take as disciples or to have become their successors. Yet these people were quite elderly, so if they wanted to cultivate, it would be easier said than done! Where would they find a master? But as soon as they wanted to cultivate, as soon as they had this thought in their hearts, it would shine like gold and shake the World of Ten Directions. People often speak of Buddha-nature—this would be Buddha-nature emerging.

Viewed from a high-level perspective, a person’s life is not meant for being human. Because one’s life is created in the space of the universe, it is assimilated to Zhen-Shan-Ren, the characteristic of the universe, and its nature is kind and benevolent. But as the number of beings increased, social relationships also developed, and in the midst of that, some people became selfish or bad and could no longer stay at very high levels. They had to drop to a lower level where they again became bad, and they had to drop further down to the next level. This went on until in the end they fell to this ordinary human level. Upon falling to this level, they should have been completely destroyed. Out of benevolence and compassion, however, those great enlightened beings decided to give humankind another opportunity in the most painful environment; they thus created such a dimension.

People in other dimensions do not have bodies like this; they can float up and can even expand or shrink in size. But this dimension provides people with this kind of body, our flesh body. Once they get this body, they cannot put up with it if it gets cold, hot, tired, or hungry. In any case, it is suffering. When you are ill, you suffer. The purpose of going through birth, old age, illness, and death is to allow you to repay karmic debts through suffering. You are given another opportunity to see whether you can return to the origin. Therefore, human beings have dropped into a maze. After you come down here, this pair of eyes is created for you so that you cannot see other dimensions and the truth of matter. If you want to be able to return to the origin, the bitterest suffering is also most precious. There are many hardships when trying to cultivate back to one’s origin by enlightening to things amidst the delusion, but this enables one to return quickly. If you degenerate further, your life will be eliminated. Therefore, in the eyes of other lives, one’s life is not for being human. It is meant to return to one’s original, true self. An everyday person cannot realize this. An everyday person is just an everyday person in ordinary human society, a person who thinks about how to advance himself and live well. The better off he is, the more selfish he becomes; the more he wants to possess, the further away he moves from the characteristic of the universe. He then heads for destruction.

Seen from a high level, while you may think you are advancing forward, you are actually moving backward. Humankind thinks that it is developing science and making progress; it is, in fact, only following the law of the universe. Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Deities, rode backward on his donkey. Few people know why he rode backward on his donkey. He discovered that going forward is moving backward, so he rode the donkey the other way around. Therefore, once people want to cultivate, the great enlightened beings will value this heart very much and will extend help unconditionally. It is just like the students sitting here today. If you want to cultivate, I can help you unconditionally. Yet it cannot be done if you want to cure illnesses and go after either this or that as an everyday person; I will be unable to help you. Why is that? It is because you want to be an everyday person, and everyday people should go through birth, old age, illness, and death—it should be like that. Everything has its karmic relationship, and it cannot be disrupted. Your life initially did not include cultivation, but now you want to cultivate. Accordingly, your future path must be rearranged, and so it is permitted to adjust your body for you.

Once a person wants to cultivate and this wish is developed, the great enlightened beings will see it and consider it very precious. But how can they help him? Where in the world can he find a master? In addition, he is over fifty years old. The great enlightened beings cannot teach this person. It is because if they were to manifest themselves and teach him Fa and teach exercises, it would be disclosing heavenly secrets; they themselves would have to drop down. People dropped into the maze because they committed wrongdoing, and so they must cultivate through enlightening in the maze. Therefore, the great enlightened beings cannot teach him. If a Buddha were to show up in real life before people’s eyes and teach them Fa and also exercises, even those who had committed unpardonable sins would come to learn. Everyone would believe it. Then, what would be there for people to enlighten to? There would not be an issue of enlightening. Because people have dropped into the maze on their own, they should be eliminated. You are given another opportunity to return from the maze to your origin. If you are able to return to the origin, then you return. If you cannot return, then you will continue the cycle of reincarnation and destruction.

One walks one’s own path. What happens if a person wants to cultivate? They have figured out a way. Qigong had reached its peak in popularity at that time, which was also a kind of change in the cosmic climate. So, in order to conform to this cosmic climate, the enlightened beings would supply gong to this person via a soft tube on the basis of her xinxing level. Like a water faucet, the energy would come once it was turned on. If the person wanted to send out gong, the gong would come. She herself could not emit gong, as she did not possess gong of her own. It was just like that. This state is called “reverse cultivation”—cultivating downward from high levels to low levels to complete cultivation.

We normally cultivate from what is lower to what is higher right up until the unlocking of gong or completion of cultivation. This reverse cultivation was for those elderly people who did not have enough time to cultivate upward from low to high. It would be faster for them to cultivate downward from high to low. This was a phenomenon created at that time. Such a person had to have very high-level xinxing, and he was given the energy on the basis of his xinxing level. What was the purpose? One purpose was to go along with the cosmic climate at the time. While this person was doing a good deed, he could endure hardship at the same time. This is because while facing everyday people, different ordinary human attachments are all interfering with you. You may have cured someone’s illness, but he may not have appreciated it. When you were treating him, even though you removed so many bad things from him and healed him to a certain extent, there might not have been obvious changes at the time. Yet he was not satisfied and was not grateful to you at all. Instead, he may even have berated you or accused you of cheating him! Dealing with these problems allows one’s heart to be tempered in this environment. The purpose of giving the person energy was to enable him to cultivate and improve himself. While he was doing good deeds, he could develop his own supernormal abilities and build up his own gong at the same time. However, some people aren’t aware of this principle. Didn’t I mention before that the Fa could not be taught to that person? If he could enlighten to it, then he could get it. It is an issue of enlightening. If a person cannot enlighten to something, nothing can be done.

When some people received the energy, they would one night suddenly feel very warm during sleep and could hardly use their bedcovers. After they got up the next morning, they would get an electric shock wherever they put their hands. They knew that they had obtained energy. If someone had pain somewhere in the body, they could take care of the problem with their hands, and it worked quite well. From then on they knew that they had energy. They became qigong masters and hung up signs—they gave themselves the title of qigong master and established their practices. In the beginning, this person was very good. When he cured illnesses for other people, they would give him money or some gifts—all of which he might turn down or refuse to accept. Yet this person could not resist contamination from the big dye vat of everyday people. Because these reverse cultivation people had never gone through genuine xinxing cultivation, it was very difficult for them to conduct their xinxing well. Gradually, this person would accept small gifts. Later, he would also accept big gifts. In the end, he would even be offended when he was not given enough. Finally, he would say, “Why do you give me so many things? Give me money!” He would not be pleased if given too little money. Getting an earful of other people’s flattery about how capable he was, he would also not respect qigong masters from righteous schools. If someone said something bad about him, he would be upset. This person’s attachments to fame and self-interest were all developed. He considered himself better than others and extraordinary. He mistakenly thought that he was given the energy to become a qigong master and make a big fortune, when in fact it was for him to cultivate. As the attachments to fame and profit came up, this person’s xinxing level was actually falling.

I have stated that one’s gong level is as high as one’s xinxing level. When one’s xinxing level drops, then one will not be supplied with as much gong because it must be given according to one’s xinxing level. The gong level is as high as the xinxing level. The more one is attached to fame and self-interest, the lower the level one will drop to among everyday people. One’s gong will also consequently decrease. In the end, when one has completely dropped to the bottom, one will no longer be given any gong. This person will have no gong. A few years ago there were quite a few such people, and comparatively more were women over fifty years old. Though you might have seen an elderly woman practicing qigong, she had never received any real teachings. She might have learned in a qigong class a few movements for healing and fitness. One day, she suddenly had gong. With poor xinxing, her attachments to fame and profit arose and she dropped; as a result, now she is nobody, and her gong is gone as well. Nowadays there are a lot of these reverse cultivation people whose levels have dropped. Only a few of them are still around. Why? That woman did not know that it was provided for her to cultivate, and she mistakenly thought it was for her to make a fortune, earn fame, and become a qigong master. Actually, it was to allow her to practice cultivation.

What is gong borrowing? It has no age limit, but there is one requirement: One must have very good xinxing. This person knows that qigong can enable one to cultivate, and he also wants to cultivate. He has the heart for cultivation, but where can he find a master? A few years ago, there were indeed true qigong masters promoting qigong. What they were promoting, however, were all things for healing and fitness. Nobody was promoting anything toward high levels, and neither was anyone teaching it.

Speaking of gong borrowing, I will bring up another issue. In addition to the Main Soul (zhu yuanshen) (Main Consciousness), one also has an Assistant Soul ( fu yuanshen) (Assistant Consciousness). Some people have one, two, three, four, or five Assistant Souls. The gender of one’s Assistant Soul might not be the same as that of the person. Some are male and some are female. They are all different. In fact, the gender of the Main Soul also is not necessarily the same as that of the physical body because we have found that at present many men have a female Original Soul, while many women have a male Original Soul. This agrees exactly with the cosmic climate as the Tao School describes it, for the yin and the yang are reversed, with yin on the rise and yang in decline.

A person’s Assistant Soul normally comes from a higher level than the Main Soul. Especially for some people, their Assistant Soul comes from a very high level. The Assistant Soul is not a possessing spirit, as it was born with you simultaneously from your mother’s womb. It shares the same name as you, for it is part of your body. Normally, when people think about something or do something, it is up to the Main Soul to make the decision. The Assistant Soul mainly tries its best to prevent one’s Main Soul from doing bad things, but when the Main Soul is very stubborn, the Assistant Soul is helpless. The Assistant Soul is not fooled by ordinary human society while the Main Soul is easily deluded by ordinary human society.

Some Assistant Souls come from very high levels and may be on the brink of achieving the Righteous Fruition in cultivation. The Assistant Soul wants to practice cultivation, but it cannot do anything about it if the Main Soul does not want to cultivate. During the height of qigong’s popularity, one day the Main Soul also wanted to practice qigong and cultivate toward high levels. The thought was, of course, a very plain and simple one that did not include any wish to pursue things like fame or personal gain. The Assistant Soul was delighted: “I want to cultivate, but I don’t make the decisions. Now you want to cultivate, which is precisely what I want.” Yet where could the person find a master? The Assistant Soul was quite capable, and so it left the body to find the great enlightened being whom it knew in its previous life. Because some Assistant Souls came from very high levels, they can leave the body. After arriving up there, it expressed its wish to practice cultivation and to borrow gong. The great enlightened beings took a look and saw that this person was pretty good, so if he wanted to cultivate, they would certainly help. In this way, the Assistant Soul was able to borrow some gong. Normally, this gong is radiating energy and is delivered through a pipeline. Some borrowed gong also comes in a finished form. The things that are in a finished form normally come equipped with supernormal abilities.

In this way, this person might also be equipped with supernormal abilities. The person was also as I just described, feeling very warm one night during sleep. And when he woke up the next morning he had gong. He got an electric shock wherever he put his hand, and he was able to heal people’s illnesses. He also realized that he had obtained gong. Where had it come from? He wasn’t sure. He had only a rough idea that it came from the space of the universe. But as for how he had gotten it specifically, he didn’t know. The Assistant Soul would not tell him, because it was the Assistant Soul practicing cultivation. He only knew that he had obtained the gong.

There was usually no age limit for people who borrowed energy, and there were relatively more young people involved. So, a few years ago there were also some people in their twenties, thirties, and forties who came to the public. There were some elderly people as well. It is more difficult for a young person to conduct himself or herself well. This person usually seems pretty good, and when he doesn’t have many abilities in ordinary human society, he cares little for fame and self-interest. Once he becomes well-known, though, oftentimes he is easily interfered with by fame and profit. He will think that he still has a long way to go in life, and he still wants to make every effort to achieve some goals of everyday people. So, once he develops supernormal abilities and some abilities, oftentimes he will use them as a means to pursue his personal goals in ordinary human society. But that won’t do. It is not permitted for them to be used this way. The more he uses them, the less the gong. Finally, he will end up with nothing. There are even more people whose levels have dropped this way. As I see it, nowadays not a single one is left.

The two situations I just addressed both involve gong that was obtained by people with relatively good xinxing. This energy was not developed through their own practice. It came from the great enlightened beings, and thus the gong itself is good.

 

Spirit or Animal Possession

Many of you in the cultivation community may have heard about animal possession by things such as foxes, weasels, ghosts, and snakes. What’s it all about? Some people talk about developing supernormal abilities through practicing qigong. In fact, supernormal abilities are not developed; instead, they are human innate abilities. It’s just that with the progress of human society, people focus more on the tangible things of our physical world and thus become more dependent upon our modern tools. Consequently, our human innate abilities are degenerating more and more, finally causing these kinds of innate abilities to completely disappear.

In order to have supernormal abilities, one must develop them through cultivation and return to one’s original, true self. But an animal does not have such complex thoughts, so it connects with the characteristic of the universe and it has innate instincts. Some people claim that animals can cultivate, that foxes know how to refine dan, or that snakes and other things know how to practice cultivation. It is not that they know how to cultivate. At first, they don’t understand what practice means at all; it’s just that they have those kinds of innate instincts. Then, under special conditions and certain circumstances, it may have some effect over a period of time and they will be able to obtain gong and develop supernormal abilities.

In this way, an animal will have some abilities. In the past, we would say that this animal had obtained spiritual energy (lingqi) and now had abilities. In the eyes of everyday people, animals are powerful and can easily manipulate people. Actually, I say that they are not powerful and are nothing before a true cultivator. Even though it may have cultivated for nearly a thousand years, a little finger will be more than enough to crush it. We have said that animals have this innate instinct and they can have some abilities. However, there is a principle in our universe: Animals are not allowed to succeed in cultivation. Therefore, all of you can read in ancient books that once every several hundred years, animals are killed in a big calamity or a small disaster. After a period of time, animals will develop gong and then they must be eliminated, be struck by lightning, and so on, for they are forbidden to cultivate. Because they do not have the inborn nature of humans, they cannot practice cultivation like human beings can. They do not possess the qualities that humans have, so if they succeed in cultivation, they are bound to be demons. They are thus not allowed to succeed in cultivation or else they would be killed by the heavens; they, too, know this point. But as I have said, human society is now in great decline and some people commit all kinds of sins. Having reached such a stage, isn’t human society in danger?

Things are bound to turn around after reaching the limit! We have found that whenever human societies in prehistoric times experienced periodic destruction, it always occurred at a time when humankind was morally corrupt to the extreme. Now, the dimension inhabited by human beings as well as many other dimensions are all in a very dangerous situation. The same is true with other dimensions at this level; possessing spirits or animals also want to hurry to escape and want to move up to higher levels. They think that by climbing to higher levels they can escape. Yet how could it be that easy? In order to cultivate, one must have a human body. So, that is one reason why some qigong practitioners have been possessed by spirits or animals.

Some people wonder, “Since there are so many great enlightened beings or high-level masters, why don’t they take care of this?” There is another principle in our universe: With the things that you pursue or whatever it is you want, others are not willing to interfere. Here, we teach everyone to follow the righteous way, and at the same time we explain the Fa to you thoroughly to let you enlighten on your own. Whether or not you actually learn it is still your own business. The master takes you through the entrance, but cultivation is up to each individual. Nobody will force you or make you cultivate. Whether or not you cultivate is a personal issue. In other words, in terms of which path you take, what you want, or what you wish to get, no one will interfere with you. We can only advise people to be good.

Though you see some people practicing qigong, their energy is actually all obtained by the possessing spirits or animals. Why did they attract spirit or animal possession? How many qigong practitioners throughout the country have possessing spirits or animals behind their bodies? If I reveal the number, many people will be too scared to practice qigong. The number is frighteningly large! So, why is there this situation? These things are causing trouble for ordinary human society. Why is it becoming such a serious phenomenon? It is also induced by people themselves since humankind is degenerating and demons are everywhere. In particular, all those sham qigong masters carry possessing spirits or animals on their bodies, and this is what they transmit in their teachings. Throughout human history, animals have been forbidden to possess people. When they did, they were killed; whoever saw it would not allow it. In our society today, however, some people pray to them for help, want them, and worship them. Some people may think, “I wasn’t asking for it specifically!” You did not ask for it, but you sought supernormal abilities. Will a great enlightened being from a righteous cultivation practice give them to you? Pursuit is an attachment of everyday people, and this attachment must be given up. So who gives them to you? Only demons from other dimensions and different animals can give them to you. Isn’t it the same as your asking for spirit or animal possession? It will come, then.

How many people practice qigong with a right mind? Qigong practice requires one to value virtues, do good deeds, and be kind. One should conduct oneself this way in everything and under all circumstances. Whether practicing qigong in a park or at home, how many people think this way? No one knows what kind of qigong some people practice. While practicing and swaying the body, one mutters, “Oh, my daughter-in-law doesn’t respect me. My mother-in-law is so terrible!” Some people even comment on everything—from their workplace to state affairs. There is nothing that they will not talk about, and they will be quite upset if something does not agree with their personal notions. Would you call that qigong practice? Furthermore, someone is practicing a standing exercise there with legs shaking from fatigue. Yet his mind is not at rest, “Nowadays things are so expensive and prices are rising. The workplace can’t pay my salary. Why can’t I develop some supernormal abilities from practicing qigong? If I develop supernormal abilities, I, too, will become a qigong master and make a fortune. I could see patients and make money.” Once he sees that other people have developed supernormal abilities, he becomes even more anxious. He will go after supernormal abilities, pursuing the celestial eye and the ability to heal illness. Think about it, everyone: How far this is from Zhen-Shan-Ren, the characteristic of our universe! It goes entirely the opposite way. To put it seriously, this person is doing an evil practice! However, he does it unknowingly. The more he thinks this way, the worse his mind becomes. This person has not obtained the Fa and does not know to value virtue. Then he thinks that he can develop energy simply by doing the exercises and that he can get whatever he wants by pursuing it. That is what this person thinks.

It is precisely because one’s thoughts aren’t righteous that one brings to oneself bad things. An animal, however, can see it: “This person wants to make a fortune through qigong practice. That person wants to become famous and wants to get supernormal abilities. My goodness, his body isn’t bad and also carries very good things, but his mind is really bad and he’s pursuing supernormal abilities! He may have a master, but even if he does have a master, I’m not afraid.” The animal knows that a master from a righteous cultivation practice will not give him supernormal abilities upon seeing him pursuing them in such a way. The more he pursues, the less he will be given, as it is precisely the attachment that should be discarded. The more he thinks this way, the less likely he will be given supernormal abilities, and the less likely he will be enlightened to it. The more he pursues them, the worse his thinking becomes. In the end, after seeing that this person is hopeless, the master will leave him with a sigh and no longer take care of him. Some people do not have a master but may be looked after by a passing-by master, since there are a lot of enlightened beings in different dimensions. A great enlightened being may notice this person, take a look at him, follow him for a day, then leave him after seeing that he is not good enough. The next day another one may come by, see that this person is no good and also leave him.

An animal knows that whether or not he has a master or a passing-by master, his master cannot give him the things that he is pursuing. Because animals are unable to see the dimensions where the great enlightened beings stay, they are not afraid and take advantage of the loophole. There is a principle in our universe that normally other people cannot interfere with whatever one pursues and wants for oneself. The animal takes advantage of this loophole. “If he wants something, I’ll give it to him. It isn’t wrong for me to help him, is it?” The animal will give it to him. Initially, the animal does not dare to possess him, and it will first give him some gong to try out. One day, the person will suddenly find himself with the gong that he has been seeking, and he can even heal illnesses. Upon seeing that it’s pretty good, the animal will use it like a prelude to a piece of music. “Since he wants it, I’ll attach to his body. That way I can give him more things and do it more easily. Didn’t you want the celestial eye? Now you’ll be given everything.” And so it comes and takes possession.

While this person’s pursuing thoughts are seeking these things, his celestial eye opens and he is even able to emit gong. He also gets some petty supernormal abilities. He gets very excited and thinks that he has finally got what he sought through pursuit and through practice. Actually, he has achieved nothing through his practice. He thinks he can see through the human body and detect where there is illness in one’s body. In fact, his celestial eye has not opened at all; it is that animal controlling his brain. That animal is using its own eyes to see and is reflecting what it sees onto his brain, and so he thinks that his own celestial eye has opened. “Send out the gong? Go ahead.” When he holds out his hand to send out energy, that animal’s little claws also extend from behind his body. As soon as he sends out the gong, the forked tongue from that snake’s head will come out and lick at the afflicted part or the part where there is a growth. There are many cases like this, and these people all got spirit or animal possession through their own pursuits.

Because this person is pursuing—he wants to make a fortune or wants to become famous—well then, he now has supernormal abilities, he can now heal illnesses, and his celestial eye can now even see things. With all this, he is delighted. The animal sees it, “Didn’t you want to make a fortune? Okay, I’ll let you make a fortune.” It is a very easy thing to control an everyday person’s mind. The animal can make many people come to him for treatment and have them come in droves. My goodness, while he is treating an illness here, the animal directs newspaper reporters to promote him in newspapers over there. It manipulates everyday people to do these things. If someone comes to have his illnesses cured but does not pay him enough money, that won’t do; the animal will cause the patient to have a headache and the patient must pay him a lot of money no matter what. He gets both fame and fortune, as he makes a lot of money and gains some reputation, and he also becomes a qigong master. Normally, these people do not value xinxing and dare to say anything. He will consider himself second only to heaven. He dares to claim that he is the reincarnated Lady Queen Mother or the Great Jade Emperor. He will even dare to call himself a Buddha. Because he has not truly undergone xinxing cultivation, he pursues supernormal abilities in his practice. Consequently, he brings animal possession to himself.

Some people may think, “What’s wrong with that? It’s fine as long as there is money or a fortune to be made, and one can even achieve fame.” Quite a number of people think this way. Let me tell everyone that the animal actually has its own agenda; it doesn’t just give you something for no reason. In this universe, there is a principle called “no loss, no gain.” What does it obtain? Didn’t I just mention this issue? It wants to acquire the essence in your body so as to cultivate a human form, so it collects the human essence from a person’s body. A human body only has this one portion of essence. If one wants to cultivate, there is only this one portion. If you let the animal get it, you can forget about practicing cultivation. What would there be left for you to cultivate? You will have nothing left and won’t be able to cultivate at all. Some people may claim: “I don’t want to cultivate anyway, I just want to make a fortune. As long as I have money, it’s fine. Who cares!” Let me tell you that you may want to make a fortune, but after I tell you the principle, you won’t think this way anymore. Why? If it leaves your body early, your limbs will be very weak. From that moment on, you will be this way for the rest of your life because too much of your essence has been taken away. If it leaves your body late, you will be a vegetable and you will lie in bed for the rest of your life with barely a breath left. Though you have money, are you able to spend it? Though you have fame, are you able to enjoy it? Isn’t this frightening?

These kinds of cases are particularly notable among cultivators today, and they are quite numerous. An animal can not only possess a person, but also kill one’s Original Soul; it will then bore into one’s niwan palace and squat there. Though the person looks like a human being, he is not. Even these kinds of situations can take place nowadays. This is because human moral values have changed. When someone does something wrong, if you tell him he is doing something wrong, he won’t even believe it. He thinks that it is right and proper to make money, seek money, or make a fortune, and that it is correct. Therefore, he will harm and do damage to others; to make money, he will commit any sin and dare to do anything. Without losing something, the animal will not gain anything. Could it give you something for nothing? It wants to get the things on your body. Of course, we have said that one brings trouble to oneself because one’s personal values are not correct and one’s mind is not righteous.

We are teaching Falun Dafa. In our school’s cultivation, you will not have any problems as long as you can conduct your xinxing well, since one righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils. If you cannot maintain your xinxing well and go after this or that, you are bound to bring trouble upon yourself. Some people just cannot give up those things they once practiced. We require people to practice only one cultivation way since one should be single-minded in true cultivation. Though some qigong masters have written books, I am telling you that those books contain all kinds of things and are the same as what they practice: They are snakes, foxes, and weasels. When you read those books, these things will leap out from the words. I have said that the sham qigong masters outnumber the real ones by many times, and you are unable to distinguish them. Therefore, you must conduct yourselves well. I am not saying here that you must practice Falun Dafa; you may practice in any school you want. Yet there was a saying in the past, “One would rather not obtain a righteous way in one thousand years than cultivate a wild fox practice for one day.” Thus, one must conduct oneself well and truly cultivate in a righteous way. Do not mix it with anything else in cultivation, not even with any mind intent. Some people’s Falun are deformed. Why are they deformed? They claim that they have not practiced other qigong. Whenever they are practicing, however, in their minds they add things from their previous practices. Aren’t those things being brought into the practice? On the issue of spirit or animal possession, this is all we will say.

 

The Cosmic Language

What is “the cosmic language”? It refers to when a person can suddenly speak some incomprehensible words. He babbles on speaking gibberish, and even he doesn’t understand what he’s saying. A person with telepathy can catch its general idea but is unable to tell specifically what this person is talking about. Also, some people can speak many different languages. Some even consider it quite remarkable and regard it as a skill or a supernormal ability. It is neither a supernormal ability nor a cultivator’s ability, and it does not represent one’s level. Then, what’s it all about? It is that your mind is being controlled by a foreign spirit. Yet you may still find it quite good, you like having it, and you are happy about it. The more you are pleased, the more firmly it controls you. As a true cultivator, how can you let it control you? Moreover, it comes from a very low level. Thus, as genuine cultivators, we should not invite these troubles.

Being the soul of all matter, human beings are most precious. How could you be controlled by these things? How sad that you would disown your own body! Some of these things are attached to human bodies. Some are not, but stay at a distance from people. But they are directing and controlling you. When you want to talk, they will let you talk and babble on. The language can also be passed to another person if that person also wants to learn it. When that person is bold enough to try it, he or she can also speak it. In fact, those things also come in groups. If you want to speak it, one will come to you and let you speak it.

Why can this situation occur? As I have said, they want to upgrade their own levels. But there are no hardships over there, so they cannot cultivate and improve themselves. They have come up with an idea. They want to help people by doing good deeds, but they do not know how. Yet they know that the energy they give off can repress a patient’s illness and relieve a patient’s suffering for the moment, though it cannot cure the illness. Accordingly, they know that this can be achieved by using a person’s mouth to give off the energy. This is what happens. Some people call it a heavenly language, and there are others who call it the Buddha’s language. That is slandering Buddha. I call it sheer nonsense!

It is known that a Buddha does not casually open his mouth to talk. Should he open his mouth and talk in our dimension, he could cause an earthquake for humankind—how could that be allowed? Such a loud thundering sound. Some people say, “My celestial eye has seen a Buddha talking to me.” He was not talking to you. Some people also saw my fashen doing the same thing. He was not talking to you, either. The intention he sent out was in stereo sound. When you heard it, it sounded as though he was talking. He can usually talk in his dimension, but after it is transmitted here, you cannot hear clearly what he says because the concepts of time and space are different between the two dimensions. One shichen in our dimension is two hours. In that big dimension over there, one shichen of ours is one year of theirs, and ours is slower than the time over there.

There was a saying in the past, “It’s only one day in heaven, but one thousand years have passed on earth.” This refers to unitary paradises, which do not have the concepts of time and space. Namely, those are paradises where the great enlightened beings stay, such as the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss, the Glazed Paradise, the Falun Paradise, and the Lotus Paradise. It refers to those places. In that big dimension, however, time is instead faster than ours. If you are able to receive it, you can hear someone talking. Some people have the ability of clairaudience and have their ears open. They are able to hear someone talking, but not clearly. Whatever you hear will resemble the chirping of a bird or the high-speed playing of a record player; one cannot tell what it is. Of course, some people can hear music and talking. However, the time difference must be eliminated through a supernormal ability that serves as a carrier. Sound can then reach your ears, and so you can hear it clearly. It is just like that. Some people call it the Buddha’s language, but it is not at all.

When two enlightened beings meet each other, they can understand everything with a smile. This is due to soundless telepathy, and what is received is in stereo sound. When they smile, their ideas have already been communicated. This is not the only method they use, as they sometimes use another way. You know that in Tantrism, Tibetan lamas are very particular about using hand signs. But if you ask a lama what hand signs are, he will tell you that they are the supreme yoga. What, specifically, are they for? He does not know, either. Actually, they are the language of the great enlightened beings. When there are many people, one uses big hand signs; they are very beautiful and made of various big hand signs. When there are only a few people, one uses small hand signs; they are also very beautiful and made of various small hand signs. They are very sophisticated and rich, because they are a language. In the past, this was a heavenly secret, and now we have disclosed it. What is used in Tibet are only a few movements solely for the practice, and people have classified and systematized them. They only serve as a language in the practice and are just a few forms of the practice. The genuine hand signs are quite sophisticated.

 

What Has Teacher Given to Students?

After seeing me, some people will hold onto my hand and not let it go. When others see these people shaking my hand, they will also shake my hand. I know what is on their minds. Some people are very happy to shake hands with Teacher. Some people want to get some messages and will not release my hand. We have told you that true cultivation is your own business. We are not here for healing and fitness, or to give you some messages and heal your illnesses; neither are we concerned with those things. Your illnesses will be cured directly by me. Those who practice at exercise sites will have my fashen to cure their illnesses. Those who study Dafa by reading the book on their own will also have my fashen to cure their illnesses. Do you think that you will increase gong by touching my hand? Isn’t that a joke?

Gong comes from cultivating one’s own xinxing. If you are not truly cultivating, gong does not grow; this is because there is a xinxing standard. While your gong grows, one at high levels can see that when your attachment, a substance, is removed, a yardstick grows above your head. In addition, this yardstick exists in the form of a gong column. The yardstick is as high as your gong column. It represents the gong that you have cultivated. It also represents the height of your xinxing level. It will not work no matter how much of it other people add to you. Not even a tiny bit can be added, for it will not stay there and all of it will come off. I can make you immediately reach the state of “three flowers gathering above the head” (sanhua juding). Once you step out this door, however, the gong will come off because it is not yours, and it is not from your cultivation. Because your xinxing standard is not there yet, it cannot stay there. Whoever wishes to add it to you will be unable to do it, because it comes completely from one’s own cultivation and from cultivating one’s own mind. You can move up only by developing gong solidly, improving yourself constantly, and assimilating to the characteristic of the universe. Some people ask for my autograph, but I am not willing to give it. Some people brag that they have Teacher’s autograph. They want to show it off or want Teacher’s message to protect them. Isn’t this another attachment? Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, so why talk about messages? Should you ask for these things in high-level cultivation? What do they count for? They are only talked about for healing and fitness.

At a very microscopic level, the gong you develop, or every microscopic particle from that gong, looks exactly the same as you. After reaching Beyond-Triple-World-Fa, you will start the cultivation of a Buddha-body. That gong will assume the appearance of a Buddha. It is very beautiful, sitting on a lotus flower; every microscopic particle will be like that. An animal’s gong, however, is made up of things like small foxes or snakes, and at a very microscopic level, their fine particles are all these things. There are also so-called messages whereby some people stir up tea and have you drink it since it’s supposed to be gong, too. An everyday person only wants to temporarily relieve pain by postponing and repressing his illness. After all, an everyday person is an everyday person. We are not concerned with how he messes up his body. We are practitioners. That is why I tell you these things. From now on, you should not do these things. Never ask for those things such as so-called “messages,” this or that. One qigong master claims, “I give you messages, and you can receive them in all parts of the country.” What do you receive? I tell you that these things are not of much use. Even supposing that they are beneficial, they are still only for healing and fitness. As practitioners, however, our gong comes from our own cultivation. Whatever messages other people may emit, they cannot upgrade one’s level and can merely dispel illnesses for everyday people. One must maintain a righteous mind; no one can cultivate for another. Only when you truly cultivate on your own can you upgrade your level.

What have I given you, then? Everyone knows that many of our cultivators have never practiced qigong and their bodies carry illnesses. Although a lot of people have practiced qigong for many years, they still linger at the level of qi without having obtained any gong. Of course, some people have treated patients without knowing how they did it. When I spoke about the issue of spirit or animal possession, I had already removed the possessing spirits or animals—no matter what they were—from the bodies of genuine Dafa cultivators, and I have removed all those things inside and outside their bodies. When those who truly cultivate on their own read this Dafa, I will clean out their bodies as well. In addition, your home environment must also be cleaned. As soon as possible, you should throw away the spirit tablet for the fox or the weasel that you previously enshrined. They have all been disposed of and no longer exist. Because you want to cultivate, we can open for you the most convenient door, and these things can therefore be done for you, but it’s limited only to true practitioners. Of course, some people do not want to cultivate and even now have not understood what it’s about. Accordingly, we cannot take care of them. The ones we take care of are true cultivators.

There is another type of person who was told in the past that he had spirit or animal possession. He felt that he had it, too. However, when it was removed for him, he wasn’t able to get rid of his anxiety about it, and he kept feeling that the condition still existed. He believed that it was there; this is already a kind of attachment called suspicion. As time passes, this person may eventually bring it back to himself again. You yourself must give up this attachment, as the spirit or animal possession no longer exists. Some people were already cleared of these things in our previous classes. I have already done those things for them and removed all spirit or animal possession.

The Tao School requires laying some foundations in low-level practice. The heavenly circuit, the dantian, and some other things must also be developed. Here we will provide you with Falun, energy mechanisms, and all the other kinds of mechanisms for cultivation and so on—more than ten thousand of them. They will all be given to you like seeds being planted in your body. After removing your illnesses, I will do everything that needs to be done and give you everything that should be given. Then, you will be able to truly continue your cultivation in our school until the end. Otherwise, without giving you anything, it is only for healing and fitness. Frankly, some people do not value xinxing, and they would be better off doing physical exercises.

If you are truly cultivating, we must be responsible to you. Those self-taught cultivators will also obtain the same things, but they must be genuine cultivators. We give all these things to true cultivators. I have said that I must truly treat you as my disciples. In addition, you must study the high-level Fa thoroughly and know how to cultivate. The five sets of exercises will be taught to you all at once, and you will learn them all. In the time to come, you will be able to reach a very high level—one that is so high that it is beyond your imagination. As long as you cultivate, it will not be a problem for you to achieve the Righteous Fruition in cultivation. In teaching this Fa, I have incorporated different levels. In your future cultivation at different levels, you will always find it assuming a guiding role for you.

As a cultivator, your path of life will be changed from now on. My fashen will rearrange it for you. How will it be rearranged? How many years does a person still have in life? One will not know it oneself. Some people may be due for a serious illness after a year or half a year, and once they fall ill, it could be for several years. Some people may suffer a stroke or other illnesses and won’t be able to move at all. How will you be able to cultivate in the remaining course of your life? We must clean all of them out for you and prevent these things from occurring. We must, however, make it clear ahead of time that we can only do these things for true cultivators. They cannot be done casually for an everyday person. Otherwise, it would be the same as doing a bad deed. For everyday people, things like birth, old age, illness, and death all have karmic relationships, and they cannot be casually undermined.

We regard cultivators as the most precious people, so we can only do things for cultivators. How do we do these things? If a master has great virtues—that is, if a master possesses great gong potency—this master can eliminate your karma. If a master’s energy level is high, he can eliminate a lot of your karma. If a master’s energy level is low, he can only eliminate a little of your karma. Let us use an example. We will gather together your various different kinds of karma from your future path of life and eliminate part of it or half of it. You still won’t be able to overcome the remaining half because it is higher than a mountain. What should be done? Perhaps when you achieve the Tao, many people in the future will benefit. In that case, there will be many people who can bear a share for you. Of course, for them it is nothing. Through practice you will also develop many beings in your body. In addition to your Main Soul and your Assistant Soul, many others of you will all take a share for you. There will be almost nothing left for you by the time you go through tribulations. Though there is almost nothing left, it is still quite a lot, and you are still unable to overcome it. Then, what happens? It will be divided into numerous portions and placed at the various different levels of your cultivation. They will be used to improve your xinxing, transform your karma, and increase your gong.

Moreover, it is not an easy thing if one wants to cultivate. I have said that this is a very serious matter. It is something beyond everyday people and more difficult than anything of everyday people. Isn’t it supernatural? Therefore, the requirement for you is higher than any matter of everyday people. As human beings, we have an Original Soul, and the Original Soul does not become extinct. If the Original Soul does not become extinct, think about it, everyone: Wouldn’t your Original Soul have committed wrongdoing in the social interactions of your previous life? It is very likely. You might have done things such as killing lives, owing something to someone, bullying someone, or harming someone. If this is true, when you cultivate here, over there they can see you very clearly. If you are healing illness and keeping fit, they won’t care as they know that you are then only postponing the debt. If you do not repay it now, you will repay it later, and you will pay more for it in the future. So even though for the time being you don’t repay it, they don’t care.

If you say you are going to cultivate, though, they won’t let you do it: “You want to cultivate, you want to leave. Once you’ve developed gong, we won’t be able to reach you or touch you.” They will not let it happen, and they will try everything to block you and stop you from cultivating. Accordingly, they will use all kinds of methods to interfere with you. They will even come to really kill you. Of course, your head will not be chopped off here while doing the sitting meditation. That would be impossible since it must comply with the state of ordinary human society. Maybe you will be hit by a car upon stepping out the door, or you might fall from a building or run into other dangers. These things might take place and will be quite perilous. Genuine cultivation is not as easy as you imagine. Do you think that just because you want to cultivate you’ll be able to make it? Once you want to truly cultivate, your life will be in danger right away, and this issue will concern you immediately. Many qigong masters dare not teach students toward high levels. Why? They just cannot take care of this matter, and they cannot protect you.

In the past there were many people teaching the Tao. They could only teach one disciple, and about all they could do was look after one disciple. However, as to doing it on such a large scale, an average person would not dare. But we have told you here that I can do it, because I have numerous fashen who possess my mighty divine powers. They can demonstrate great supernatural powers—very mighty powers of the Fa. In addition, what we are doing today is not as simple as what we see on the surface. I did not come out to do this on an impulse. I can tell you that there are many great enlightened beings watching this event. This is the last time we will teach a righteous way in the Dharma-Ending Age. In doing so, we also do not allow it to go astray. If you truly follow the righteous way in cultivation, nobody will dare to do something to you at will. Besides, you have the protection of my fashen, and you will not be in any danger.

If a debt is owed, it must be paid. Therefore, some dangerous things may occur in the course of cultivation. When these things take place, however, you will not be scared, and neither will real danger be allowed to happen to you. I can give you some examples. When I taught a class in Beijing, a practitioner was crossing the street on her bike. As she was rounding a corner, a luxury car was making a sharp turn and knocked down this practitioner of ours, a woman over fifty years old. It collided with her all at once and hit her very hard. With a loud “bang!” it hit her head, and her head slammed into the car roof squarely. At that point, this student’s feet were still on the bike pedals. Though her head was hit, she did not feel any pain. Not only did she not feel any pain, there was no bleeding or even swelling. The driver was scared to death and jumped out of the car. He hastily asked her if she was injured and suggested that they go to the hospital. She replied that she was all right. Of course, this student had a very high xinxing level and would not get the driver into trouble. She said that everything was fine, but the collision left a big dent in the car.

All of these kinds of things come to take away one’s life. But one will not be in real danger. The last time we held a class at Jilin University, a practitioner was pushing his bike as he was going through the main entrance of Jilin University. As soon as he walked into the middle of the road, all of a sudden two cars sandwiched him. The cars almost hit him, but he was not scared at all. Normally, we are not frightened at all upon encountering these things. At that very second, the cars stopped and nothing happened.

There was such an instance in Beijing. It gets dark quite early in winter, and people go to bed early. The streets were very quiet without a soul. A practitioner was hurrying home on a bike with only a jeep running ahead of him. Suddenly, that jeep put on its brakes. He was not aware of it and continued to ride his bike forward with his head down. But that jeep suddenly backed up, and it was moving back at a very high speed. If the two forces had met, it would have taken away his life. Just before they were to collide, a force suddenly pulled his bike back more than half a meter, and the jeep came to a screeching halt at the wheel of his bike—perhaps the jeep driver discovered that someone was behind him. This practitioner was not scared at that moment. All of those who have encountered these situations were not scared, although they might have been afterward. The first thing on his mind was, “Wow! Who pulled me back? I have to thank him.” When he turned around and was about to express his gratitude, he found the street very quiet with no one around. He understood at once, “It was Teacher who protected me!”

Another case took place in Changchun. A building was under construction near a practitioner’s home. Nowadays, buildings are built very high, and the scaffolding is made of iron poles that are two inches in diameter and four meters long. After this practitioner walked a short distance from home, an iron pole fell vertically from the high-rise building all the way to his head. The people on the street were all stunned. He said, “Who patted me?” He thought someone had patted his head. At that very moment, he turned his head and saw a huge Falun rotating above his head as the iron pole slid down along his head and stuck into the ground without falling down. If it had indeed stuck into a person’s body—think about it, everyone— it would have gone straight through the body as if skewering candied hawthorn fruits, as it was so heavy. It was very dangerous!

There are so many of these cases that they cannot be counted, yet no one has experienced any real danger. Not everyone will encounter these kinds of things, but some individuals will run into them. Whether you come across them or not, I can assure you that you will not be in any danger—I can guarantee this. Some students do not follow the xinxing requirements, as they only practice the exercises without cultivating their xinxing. They cannot be regarded as practitioners.

As for what Teacher has given, these things are what I have given you. My fashen will protect you until you are able to protect yourself. At that time, you will cultivate in Beyond-Triple-World-Fa, and you will have already achieved the Tao. However, you must treat yourself as a true cultivator, and then you can make it. There was a person who was walking on the street with my book in his hand, yelling, “With Teacher Li’s protection, I’m not afraid of being hit by a car.” That was undermining Dafa. This type of person will not be protected. Actually, a true cultivator would not do such a thing.

 

Energy Field

When we practice gong, a field will appear around us. What field is it? Some people call it a qi field, a magnetic field, or an electric field. In fact, it would be incorrect no matter what field you called it since the matter contained in this field is extremely rich. Almost all the matter that constitutes every space of our universe can be found in this gong. It is more appropriate for us to call it an energy field, and so we normally call it an energy field.

So what can this field do? As you all know, our cultivators of this righteous way have this feeling: Because it comes from cultivation of a righteous way, it is benevolent and assimilated to Zhen-Shan-Ren, the characteristic of the universe. Therefore, all of our students can feel it while sitting here in this field, and their minds are free of bad thoughts. In addition, while sitting here many students do not even think of smoking. They feel an atmosphere of serenity and peace, which is very comfortable. This is the energy carried by a cultivator of a righteous way, and that is what it does within the scope of this field. Later, after this class, most of our cultivators will have gong—the truly developed energy. Because what I am teaching you is something from cultivation of a righteous way, you should also apply this xinxing standard to yourself. As you continually practice and follow our xinxing requirements in cultivation, your energy will gradually become more powerful.

We teach salvation of both ourselves and others, as well as of all beings. Thus, Falun can save oneself by rotating inward and save others by rotating outward. While rotating outward, it gives off energy and can benefit others. This way, others within the range of your field will benefit and they may feel very comfortable. Whether you are on the street walking, in the workplace, or at home, you can have this effect on others. People within your field may unintentionally have their illnesses healed since this field can rectify all abnormal conditions. A human body should not become ill; being ill is an abnormal state. It can rectify this abnormal state. When an evil-minded person is thinking of something bad, this person might change his mind due to the powerful effect of your field; he might then no longer want to commit the wrongdoing. Perhaps a person wants to swear at someone. Suddenly, he may change his mind and will not want to swear. Only the energy field from cultivation in a righteous way can produce this effect. Therefore, in the past there was this saying in Buddhism, “The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and harmonizes everything.” This is what it means.

 

How Should Falun Dafa Practitioners Spread the Practice?

After the class, many of our students think that this practice is very good, and they want to pass it on to their relatives or friends. Yes, all of you can spread it and pass it on to anyone. But there is one thing that we must declare to everyone. We have given everyone so many things that cannot be valued with money. Why do I give them to everyone? They are for your cultivation. Only if you cultivate can you be given these things. In other words, when you spread the practice in the future, you cannot use these things to seek fame and self-interest. Thus, you cannot hold a class and collect fees as I do. Because we need to print books and materials and travel around to teach the practice, we need to cover the costs. Our fees are already the lowest in the country, yet we give you the most. We are truly bringing people toward high levels; everyone can feel this for themselves. As a Falun Dafa student, when you go out and spread the practice in the future, we have two requirements for you.

The first one is that you cannot collect a fee. We have given you so many things, but they are not for you to make a fortune or seek fame. Rather, they are for saving you and enabling you to cultivate. If you collect a fee, my fashen will take back everything given to you, and you will no longer be a cultivator of our Falun Dafa. What you spread would no longer be our Falun Dafa. When you spread it, you should not pursue fame and personal gain, but should serve others voluntarily. All of our students nationwide are doing it this way, and assistants from different regions have also set this example themselves. If you want to learn our practice, you may come as long as you want to learn it. We can be responsible to you and will not charge you a penny.

The second requirement is that you should not add personal things to Dafa. In other words, during the course of teaching the exercises, regardless of whether your celestial eye is opened, whether or not you have seen something, or whether or not you have developed some supernormal abilities, you cannot use what you have seen to explain our Falun Dafa. That tiny bit that you have seen at your level is nothing and far from the actual meaning of the Fa that we teach. So when you spread the practice in the future, you ought to be very careful with this issue. Only by doing so can we ensure that the original things in our Falun Dafa remain unchanged.

In addition, nobody is permitted to teach the practice in the manner that I do, and neither is anyone allowed to teach the Fa, using this large-scale lecture format that I use. You are unable to teach the Fa. This is because what I am teaching has very profound implications, and it incorporates something of high levels. You are practicing cultivation at various levels. In the future after you have upgraded your level, if you go back and listen to this recording, you will continue to improve. If you continually listen to it, you will always have new understandings and gain something new. It is even more so with reading the book. What I am teaching incorporates very profound things at high levels. Therefore, you are unable to teach this Fa. You are not allowed to use my original words as yours, or else it is an act of plagiarizing the Fa. You can only use my original words to say it, adding that this is how Teacher says it or how it is written in the book. You can only talk about it this way. Why? Because when you say it this way, it will carry the power of Dafa. You cannot spread the things that you know as Falun Dafa. Otherwise, what you pass on is not Falun Dafa, and that equates to undermining our Falun Dafa. If you say something according to your ideas and your thinking, it is not the Fa and cannot save people and it will not be able to make any impact. So nobody else can teach this Fa.

The way you pass on this practice is by playing the audiotapes or the videotapes for students at the exercise sites or instructional sites, and assistants may then teach them the exercises. You can use the seminar format so that everyone can chat, discuss, and share things with one another. We require that you do it this way. At the same time, you cannot call a student (a disciple) who passes on Falun Dafa “Teacher” or “Master,” for there is only one master in Dafa. All who enter are disciples, no matter when they began the practice.

When you spread the practice, some people may think: “Teacher can install Falun and adjust people’s bodies, but we can’t do that.” It does not matter. I have already told all of you that behind every student there is my fashen, and not just one, so my fashen will take care of these things. When you teach someone the practice, if he has a predestined relationship, he will obtain Falun right there and then. If the predestined relationship is not as good, he can obtain it gradually after a period of practice and after his body is adjusted. My fashen will help him adjust his body. Besides these things, I am telling you that if a person learns the Fa and the practice by reading my book, watching my videotapes, or listening to my recordings, and if he truly treats himself as a practitioner, he will also get the things that he deserves.

We do not allow students to treat illnesses; Falun Dafa students are absolutely prohibited from treating illnesses for other people. We are teaching you to ascend in cultivation and do not let you develop any attachments or let you ruin your own body. Our exercise sites are better than any other qigong exercise sites. As long as you go to our exercise sites for practice, it is much better than your treating your own illness. My fashen sit in a circle, and above the exercise site is a shield on which there is a big Falun. A large fashen guards the site above the shield. This site is not an ordinary site, and neither is it a site for an ordinary qigong practice—it is a site for cultivation practice. Many of our people with supernormal abilities have seen that this Falun Dafa site is shielded by a red light so it is red all around.

My fashen can also directly install Falun for a cultivator, but we do not encourage one’s attachment. When you teach a person the exercises, he may say, “Oh, I have Falun now.” You think it was you who installed it, but that’s not the case. The reason I am telling you this is so you will not develop this attachment. It is all done by my fashen. This is how our Falun Dafa cultivators should spread the practice.

Anyone who tries to change the exercises of Falun Dafa is undermining Dafa, undermining this school of cultivation. Some people have turned the exercise instructions into rhymes, but this is absolutely not permitted. Genuine cultivation ways are all passed down from a prehistoric time, inherited from quite a remote age, and have successfully cultivated countless great enlightened beings. No one has ever dared to alter it—such a thing could only occur in this Dharma-Ending Age of ours. This kind of thing could never have appeared at any other time in history. Everyone must be very careful with this issue.

 

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