PureInsight | March 7, 2005
[PureInsight.org] During the Cultural Revolution, the Communist Party eradicated almost all the plays based on ancient stories except for "The Story of the White Snake." In the story, White Snake is a thousand-year-old snake who has managed to attain human form. On a visit to China's famous West Lake, she managed to attract the attention of a young man and became his wife. A Buddhist abbot named Fahai discovers her true origin, and took her husband to Jinshan Temple in order to rescue him. The White Snake and her servant Green Snake were so powerful that they managed to flood the temple. Even, Fahai could not defeat them. Fahai eventually stopped the flood with the help of the heavenly Fa-guardian gods.
As a young child, this story left a strong impression on me and I learned that evil people were very powerful. In middle school, we studied the preface of Lu Xun's Call to Arms in which he wrote:
"Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know, since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now, if you cry aloud to wake a few of the lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn?"
He was referring to the Chinese society in the 1920s and 1930s. But he could be talking about what is going on in China today. At that time, our teacher explained that the society back then was just like an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, and it was very difficult to reform because the old force was too strong. I remembered one sentence the teacher said: "If the Dao is one foot high, the demon is four yards tall."
As I was growing up, I came to gradually understand the principle that evil will never win over the righteous, and that dark clouds can only cover up the sky temporarily. The metaphor should be, "If a demon is one foot high, the Dao is four yards tall." In The Lord of the Rings, a well-known western classic, the demon king was eventually destroyed. Stories like this strengthened my belief that the Dao is more powerful than the demon. I have gained a clear understanding of the importance of upholding justice, and I graduated from school enthusiastic about my beliefs.
However, reality has constantly struck out at my beliefs. Over the past several decades, the messages I have received have been negative ones. For example, there have been many cases reported in Mainland China that when evildoers rob or kill people openly in public, not one of several dozen onlookers comes forward to help because everyone is afraid of evil. Officials are all corrupt and it is difficult to stay clean, so flowing with the dirty current becomes the only way. Especially after the June 4th Massacre, many Chinese people would often say that the arm could not wrestle with the leg, and people were living under the eaves, so you just had to lower your head. Eventually, I became confused about who was more powerful—the Dao or the demon. Should I uphold justice or give in to the evil? Should I surrender or protest? Many of my countrymen have become similarly confused.
Upon reading Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, I finally discovered that I have been poisoned by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the White Snake spirit to Lu Xun, everything with which the CCP has been infusing in us is all geared to making us renounce the belief that good will triumph over evil. In that way, when the Party exercises its evil power, all the Chinese people will be afraid, believing that it is the way of the world and no one can escape.
In fact, the Dao is always higher than any demon and no demon can overcome the Dao because that's the arrangement of the universe. It is like a universal principle—it cannot be proven through reasoning but it manifests everywhere. Of course, for a short period of time the demon might appear stronger, but it is not something that will last.
Over the long course of human history, evil has never lasted very long. Take Hitler's fascist regime as an example. The Nazis swept across almost all of Europe overnight, but the regime came to an end very soon. The Communist Party in the Soviet Union during Stalin's time was so powerful and unconquerable, but its collapse was as easy as clouds dissolving. The state machine of the Chinese Communist Party may look strong, but it will be finished off with one blow because moths have already hollowed out its body.
It is just like it says in the Nine Commentaries. The Chinese Communist Party will definitely die off because the crimes it has committed have angered both humans and gods, and both humans and gods are condemning it. So, there is no reason we should not believe that, 'If a demon is one foot high, the Dao is four yards tall."
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/1/3/30544.html
