PureInsight | January 26, 2004
[PureInsight.org] Throughout the long course of history, each person has undergone countless incarnations, and may have harmed or killed many living beings during each incarnation. If we recognize the fact that all matter is alive, then each of us must have harmed or killed countless beings throughout our long histories. Although we may be able to free ourselves from the infinite pain of reincarnation through cultivating in the righteous Dafa, we must face the fact that we still owe all the beings we have harmed or killed in the past. This is why we have been encountering all kinds of tribulations or life-threatening incidents during our cultivation. No loss, no gain. It is the law of the universe that one must pay one's debts.
However, the cultivation of Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners is different from that in any other period in history. Our cultivation is associated with the Fa-rectification of the universe, and we carry the most sacred mission of offering sentient beings salvation. Instead of paying for a life with a life, Teacher has given us a precious opportunity to repay those harmed lives with blessings, using the fruits of our cultivation. Teacher helps us to repay the lives we have harmed and killed and to settle all the malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions. During the process of settling malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions, every genuine Dafa practitioner can feel Teacher's infinite compassion towards Dafa practitioners and all other sentient beings in the universe.
On the other hand, those beings we have harmed came from the old universe and might not know the truth about the Fa-rectification in the universe. They probably do not understand the profound meaning of "resolving malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions" or even believe in Fa-rectification. Instead, they probably believe that one can only compensate a life one has killed with one's own life. It follows that they will act according to the old universe's Fa and seek revenge against us before they understand and accept the new universe's law that Teacher has been teaching all sentient beings in the universe. Let me provide a scenario to explain my point.
If you have harmed a being in the past and that being refuses to resolve the debt with a benevolent solution, it will try to claim your life according to the old universe's law. Of course it will not be able to claim your life because Teacher is watching over you, but this does not mean that you will no longer need to compensate that being for its pain and suffering. If it died a very painful or unjust death, it could carry a deep hatred towards you and demand a lot of compensation. It might cause you sudden physical pain or discomfort. If you do not realize it is caused by a being with which you should try to reach a benevolent solution, you might mistake it as an evil cohort of the old forces and try to eliminate it by sending forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes the old forces' behind-the-scene cohorts might cause you physical pain, but let's say this is not the case in this instance. When you send forth righteous thoughts, trying to eliminating the source of your physical pain, it will undoubtedly think that you have a low xinxing. "You refuse to pay for what you did to me and you are trying to eliminate me?" Thus it hates you even more. The more you try to eliminate the life you have harmed, the more opportunities you have given the old forces' cohorts to instigate it to additional hatred towards you. The old forces' cohorts might even goad it into interfering with your cultivation and Fa-rectification work, and further complicate the already malevolent relationship.
When Teacher first taught us about resolving malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions, I did not have a clear understanding of this Fa. In fact, I was completely oblivious to this issue. Each time I experienced physical pain, I sent forth righteous thought, trying to eliminate the cause of the pain, but it never worked. My only explanation was that my Gong potency was not enough to fight the evil old forces. Hence, I asked my fellow practitioners to help eliminate the cause of my physical pain. When that did not work either, I asked Teacher to help me, but that did not always help either. I was at my wits end. Now I have realized that it was because I did not understand or follow what Teacher said about settling malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions.
Then what must we do to settle malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions?
Teacher said:
Although I've said this, as long as you walk a righteous path I can actually give everything a benevolent resolution. I can make that extreme thinking become good for sure, and then I can make him not want his life back, since I can untie the knot in his mind with the Fa–I can do anything. But when you have attachments and can't let go, then it can't be untied and Master is put in a tough position.
(From "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
It is my understanding that, although Teacher will help us resolve malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions, it is important that we follow the Fa and let go of our attachments. When we follow the Fa, the malevolent predestined relationships will be promptly settled with benevolent solutions, and those lives that we have harmed or killed in the past will be able to enter the new universe. But when we fail to let go of our attachments, it becomes difficult for those lives to untie the knots in their minds. Hence, they will seek ways to torment us incessantly to get revenge. They will not only interfere with our helping Teacher rectify the Fa, but also lose their opportunity for salvation and be weeded out for their crimes against Fa-rectification. (Despite their pain and suffering, they have impeded and damaged Fa-rectification when they interfere with our Fa-rectification work by causing us physical pain.)
During exchanges of cultivation experiences, I have learned that several fellow practitioners have been experiencing tribulations for a long time without making any progress. It turned out that they also did not try to resolve malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions. First we studied the Fa together and exchanged cultivation notes on this issue. Then we promoted Dafa and clarified the truth to those lives that we had harmed in the past. If we could not resolve those malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions on the first try, we would continue our efforts until we had melted their hatred with our compassion. We truly felt that the Fa had untied the knots in their minds and dissolved their extremely stubborn hatred.
There are many cases where malevolent predestined relationships have been settled with benevolent solutions. I will share my own story here. Once I was sharing cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners while we were lying on a bed. In the middle of the conversation, I was suddenly stricken with a sharp pain in my midsection. It was as though my vertebrae were twisting out of their joints. The pain was so intense that it immediately disabled me. A similar pain had occurred before, but never this intense. The fellow practitioners immediately started to send forth righteous thoughts for me, but the pain did not subside at all.
Right at that moment, one of the fellow practitioners whose Celestial Eye was open (referred to as "X" from now on) saw that in another dimension a child dressed in ancient Chinese costume was removing a piece of bone from my spine. X asked the child, "Why are you persecuting this Dafa practitioner?" The child answered matter-of-factly, "He owes me a life." X explained, "He is a Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner. You must not treat him like this. He will repay you with blessings using the fruits of his cultivation. Do you understand what Teacher Li Hongzhi said about settling malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions?" After a moment of silence, the child said, "But I still cannot get over my hatred towards him. He murdered me in a very brutal way in one of his previous lives, and now he is trying to eliminate me by sending forth righteous thoughts. How can he be so vicious?" X replied, "I apologize for him. He cannot see things with his Celestial Eye. That is why he mistook his physical pain as the evil's persecution. If he could see you, he would have responded differently."
After I learned what happened, I immediately began to explain Dafa to the child and clarified the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution (although I could not see the child.) I started by apologizing to the child, as well as to all the other lives that I have harmed or killed over the long course of history and through countless reincarnations. I acknowledged and sympathized with their pain and the corresponding pain that I had caused their families and friends in the past. Secondly, I let them know I would be willing to settle the malevolent relationships with benevolent solutions. If I were unable to settle the malevolent relationships, Teacher would settle them for me. I hoped that they would cherish this precious opportunity that came only once in human history. Third, I pointed out that to this child that his behavior was wrong and that he was likely to be manipulated by the old forces and their evil cohorts. He was interfering with the Dafa practitioners' mission to help Teacher rectify the Fa and offer sentient beings salvation, and was failing to be responsible for his own life. Fourth, I explained to the child and all sentient beings in other dimensions the reason for Fa-rectification. I told them that all lives in the universe must assimilate to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. I hoped that they would free themselves from the old universe's Fa.
While I was communicating with those lives in other dimensions that I was unable to see, the pain in my waist disappeared without a trace. I turned to X with a smile and asked, "Do you think I have settled this malevolent predestined relationship with a benevolent solution?" X smiled, "The child has left. He has not completely forgiven you for what you have done in the past. Every word you said was correct from the Fa's perspective, but it seemed to lack compassion." X's words reminded me of Teacher's words in "Clearheadedness" in Essentials for Further Advancement. It immediately became clear to me why had I failed to untie the knot in his mind. There was selfishness hidden in my mind. I talked like an old-fashioned schoolteacher giving an austere speech. I wasn't genuinely sympathizing with his pain or truly trying to understand where he was coming from; therefore, I failed to help him in a way that he could accept.
On the third day, the child came to me again. [Note: the author did not say how he knew it when the child visited him, so we inferred from the previous paragraph that X must be present when the child visited him on the 3rd day.] Everything repeated what happened on the first time he came to me, and I said almost the same thing. The only difference was that I was very peaceful this time. I was no longer anxious to say everything in my mind, trying to be on top of the conversation or trying to "persuade" him with my eloquent speech. I wasn't thinking carefully about how to resolve the malevolent predestined relationship. Instead, I felt the words naturally flow out of my heart. The child started to weep. He finally untied the knot in his mind and dissolved his hatred towards me, and agreed to a benevolent resolution.
The child was in my family in the past. In a part of history between the Shang and the Zhou Dynasty in China that the old forces had arranged, I murdered my own child. The child had carried the hatred towards me for over 3,000 years since then. Now the hatred has finally been resolved. After X told me that he saw the child bursting into tears and exclaiming, "Teacher Li Hongzhi, I have reached a benevolent solution with my father! I have reached a benevolent solution with my father!", I also started to cry joyfully. I was truly happy that my child had obtained eternal salvation.
I told the child that, if he was willing to, he could try to share our story with those lives that are still seeking revenge on Dafa practitioners for past wrongs. He happily agreed and sincerely thanked me for what I had done for him.
Since then, when I experienced physical discomfort and I knew it did not result from the old forces exploiting my loopholes, I would try to communicate with the lives in other dimensions that I might have harmed or killed in the past to reach a benevolent solution. It worked out very well. After a while, I started to actively seek a benevolent solution and actively promote the Fa to these lives, instead of passively waiting for them to give me physical pain before trying to reach a benevolent solution. I keep promoting the Fa to all beings in the universe, including animals, plants and matter that everyday people consider soulless or lifeless. I explain to them the reason why Teacher is rectifying the Fa, and ask them to position themselves correctly. Although I cannot see or hear them, I feel and experience the results of my efforts.
I feel that while it is important to clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution to the Chinese people who are subject to the most severe poisonous lies, as a Dafa practitioner with the mission of all offering sentient being salvation, it is also important to expand the scope beyond the human realm. All beings in the universe have been exposed to varying degrees of contamination or poisonous lies. We should clarify the truth to all beings in the universe, release them from the old universe's law, and persuade them to actively assimilate to Dafa. While doing this, we are also assimilating to Dafa and eliminating our attachments. It is a process where we offer sentient beings salvation with our compassion and assist Teacher in settling all malevolent predestined relationships with benevolent solutions.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/12/8/24815.html
