PureInsight | April 15, 2002
Teacher said, “Whether one succeeds in cultivation all depends on cultivating the heart.” [From Zhuan Falun] Recently I have come to a new and broader understanding of the “heart” that Teacher talks about. The “heart” in our cultivation obviously plays an important role. We work on improving and upgrading our heart nature or xinxing, and getting rid of weight of our attachments. In Zhuan Falun Teacher said, “This is the most convenient school of practice. In addition, it is practiced directly according to the nature of the universe. It is the quickest, most direct path, and it precisely targets one’s heart.”
Why is the heart so important? In Zhuan Falun Teacher said, “First of all, let us talk about the origin of one’s thoughts. In ancient China, there was the phrase ‘heart-thinking.’ Why was it called heart-thinking? Ancient Chinese science was very advanced since its research directly targeted things such as the human body, life, and the universe. Some people indeed feel that it is their hearts that think, while others feel that it is their brains that think. Why is there this situation? It is quite reasonable when some people talk about heart-thinking. This is because we have found that an everyday person’s Primordial Spirit is very small, and the actual messages from the human brain are not a function of the human brain itself—they are not generated by the brain, but by one’s Primordial Spirit. One’s Primordial Spirit does not stay only in the niwan palace. The niwan palace in the Tao School is the pineal body that our modern medicine has come to understand. If one’s Primordial Spirit is in the niwan palace, one will really feel that the brain is thinking about something or sending forth messages. If it is in one’s heart, one will really feel that the heart is thinking about something.”
How does all of this relate to our cultivation during Fa-rectification? In our Fa-rectification work, it is necessary that we have contact with people to clarify the truth and thereby save them. What is the best way to do that then? I believe it is to introduce the Fa into their hearts. Let them know the true greatness of Dafa and Dafa disciples. In Teacher’s poem “Mighty Virtue” He writes,
“Dafa never leaves the body,
Heart contains Zhen-Shan-Ren…”
If an everyday person has the chance to have the even a little of the Fa within his or her heart, then this person is extremely lucky. How would a person be who has the Fa in their heart? Whenever they encounter Falun Dafa, will have a good feeling and know deep down that Dafa is good. Even if they hear some of the evil propaganda that slanders Dafa, they will not be influenced by it. Those with only a superficially good impression of Dafa are in danger of being influenced by the propaganda of the evil forces.
How do we get the Fa into everyday people’s hearts? First, I think we have to look at the practitioner’s heart. How is the practitioner’s heart when doing Dafa work? If it is clear and this practitioner has a good understanding of the Fa from within the Fa and what it means to be a disciple during Fa-rectification, then their side that has cultivated well will be quite strong and they can easily affect the hearts of others. Perhaps with just one word or even a glance, an ordinary person will feel the magnificent strength of Dafa. If when introducing the Fa to someone, we don’t stress all the statistics and facts, but speak from our hearts, then I think that will have a much stronger effect and will truly touch their hearts. If we just treat our Fa-rectification work as a job of an ordinary person, then we will be using an ordinary person’s heart to do these things, and nothing will really be done well. Sometimes, I watch practitioners at Dafa activities, while they are handing out flyers. Some just want to get flyers in as many hands as possible. Of course, it is good to give people flyers. If they are just trying to force the flyers on people, then the flyers might just be thrown away. If they have a heart of compassion and are doing their best to fulfill their vows in Fa-rectification, then others may happily come over and take the flyers. Recently, our local practitioners handed out information to Chinese students at a nearby university. Every time I gave a handout to a student, I told him, “Be sure to read this, and when you’re done please pass it on to your friends.” At that time, my heart was just thinking about how to save these lives. Nearly everyone I gave a flyer to happily took it and said they would be sure to read it and pass it on to their friends.
The heart can also can be understood from larger point of view. For instance, every small town has a town center, often referred to as the heart of the town. In going out to small towns to let people know about Dafa and the persecution, I have found the best place to go is the center of the town. There are many stores and local governmental offices there. There is also often a Main Street that runs through the heart of the town. This Main Street could be likened to major veins and arteries in the body carrying the blood in and out of the heart and to the rest of the body. So, by spreading Dafa in the heart of the town, it will eventually reach the whole town. In Zhuan Falun Teacher said, “The qi from the heart may move to the intestines ... At the microscopic level we can see that what it carries is something very large.” This is also why it is important to let the leaders of towns, cities, counties, states, countries, and even the UN come to understand Dafa, since they represent the heart of the land they govern. If the leaders of an area know of Dafa and Its value, then they will be able to bring fortune to the land, because after all, Dafa is the Fa and the Creator of everything in the universe. If the leaders have a bad image of Dafa, then they will bring misfortune to the land they govern, just like all the disasters that are currently taking place in China.
How does all of this relate to supernormal abilities and sending forth righteous thoughts? We all know that when Teacher lectures on the Fa, it is what is behind the words that really has the power. I understand Zhuan Falun is written in a way such that Teacher uses examples from the human world to explain the Fa of the universe. When we read Zhuan Falun we can’t just understand the surface, we need to enlighten to the Fa and principles behind the words. One example of this is that after reading the section “The Issue of Treating Illness” from Lecture Seven, I have come to understand that Teacher has explained very clearly supernormal abilities and how to them. I see that Teacher is using the examples of treating illnesses with supernormal abilities to have us come to understand the principles behind using supernormal abilities. Teacher said, “Let us talk about the most common illnesses. Somewhere in the body one may have a tumor, infection, osteophytosis, etc. It is because in another dimension there lies a being in that place.” In the article “Suffocate the Evil,” Teacher referred to those practitioners who have been so-called “reformed” as “hidden malignant tumors” that need to “be removed from among disciples.” I understand that these two passages are closely related. Within the body of practitioners there are still many different attachments and human notions. These notions and attachments are similar to diseases that need to be eradicated from not just an individual practitioner, but practitioners in general so that practitioners as a whole can be purified.
Teacher goes on to say, “According to one who sees with supernatural capabilities, wherever there is black qi, that place is considered to have pathogenic qi. A doctor of Chinese medicine will find the energy channels blocked in that place, as the qi and blood are not circulating and the energy channels are congested. To a doctor of Western medicine, that place may present the symptom of an ulcer, tumor, osteophytosis, or inflammation, etc. When it manifests in this dimension, it is in this form. After you remove that being, you will find that there is nothing wrong with the body in this dimension. Whether it is protrusion of the lumbar intervertebral discs or osteophytosis, after you remove that thing and clear out that field, you will find it instantly healed. You can take another x-ray and find that the osteophytosis has disappeared. The fundamental reason is that this being was producing an effect.” So, when we send forth righteous thoughts to use our supernormal capabilities, we are removing or “eliminating” the evil beings in other dimensions. After that, there will be no longer be anything wrong in this dimension. When we do Dafa work and things are not going well, we need to break through the evil’s arrangement by eliminating those beings that are obstructing us in other dimensions, and everything in this dimension will be made right.
Teacher then said, “Some people claim that by teaching you the hand-grabbing method, in three or five days you can cure illnesses. Show me your grabbing method! Human beings are the weakest while that being is quite formidable. It can control your mind and easily manipulate you at will. It can even end your life easily. You claim that you can grab it. How do you grab it? You cannot reach it with your ordinary person’s hands.” Therefore, an ordinary person in everyday people’s society is easily controlled by the evil. Everyone sees the problems that abound in the world today, but ordinary people can’t do anything about them. Fa-rectification disciples can. We are given even greater supernormal abilities than hand-grabbing. Teacher is helping us in other dimensions. Teacher said, “Dealing with it requires such a supernormal ability in which one extends one’s hand and ‘Bam!’ nails it there. Upon nailing it there, we have another supernormal ability that was once called the ‘Great Soul-Catching Method,’ and that supernormal ability is even more powerful. It can take out one’s Primordial Spirit, and instantly the person will be unable to move. This supernormal ability has its specific purpose, and we just target this thing to grab.” I understand that when grabbing and eliminating that evil thing in another dimension, we need to freeze it there and then remove it. Though our human side may not understand exactly how to use these abilities, our Godly side understands quite well. Perhaps it’s enough for our human side to understand that right when we raise our hand to send forth righteous thoughts, that our body in another dimension is freezing the evil, and then eliminating it.
Teacher said, “Suppose that someone has a heart disease. When this hand moves toward the heart to grab that being, the hand in another dimension moves inside the body, and it will be caught instantly. As your outside hand grabs it, both hands close in and will grab it.” A simple understanding I have about this is demonstrated when we are handing out flyers to people. When our hand with the flyer moves towards that person to give it to them, if our righteous thoughts are strong, our hand in another dimension will move into that person’s body and remove the evil within their heart. Thus, allowing this person to read about Falun Dafa and enable it to stay in their heart without any interference from the evil, because it was already removed and eliminated. However, we must be sure to maintain righteous thoughts. Teacher continues to say, “It is very vicious, sometimes moving in your hands and attempting to drill into them, and sometimes biting and screaming. Though it appears to be very small in your hands, it will become very large if you release it from your hands.” I understand this to mean that the evil does not want to be eliminated, so it will put up a fight. However, if we are able to maintain righteous thoughts, it will stay very small and unable to do much damage until it is eliminated. If, on the other hand our righteous thoughts are not very strong, the evil will become very large and it will be much more difficult to eliminate it, not to mention the damage it will do.
Teacher then said, “Of course, this form of qigong treatment might be allowed to exist in the future, as in the past it always existed. But there must be a condition: This person must be a practitioner. In the course of cultivation practice, out of compassion this person is allowed to do this thing for a few good people. But he cannot completely eliminate their karma since he does not have enough great virtue.” Teacher then says, “That is, some people are permitted to do such things in the course of cultivation practice because they continue to stay at this level. They have been practicing over a decade or for several decades and still cannot go beyond this level.” I understand that our sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil is a special method used at this period of time. Through our cultivation and amassing of great and mighty virtue, we will eventually break through this level and this time period. If we cannot break through this arrangement by the evil, then we will be stuck at this level of cultivation. In “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples” Teacher said, “If during this period you cannot do well with what you should do, this Consummation stage can only be a cultivation process, and it cannot fundamentally be Fa-rectification disciples’ true and final Consummation.”
After reading the article “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples” I understand that Teacher is telling us that now we are in the stage of Fa-rectification disciples’ Consummation. We have already reached the normal standard for Consummation, and it is vital that everything we do now is comprehensive and worthy of Fa-rectification. Now, not only can we not slack off, but also we must have a clear understanding of what it means to be a disciple within Fa-rectification. A simple understanding I have is that we need to have an overall understanding of what is going on, and also be able to recognize small seemingly insignificant matters. This will then enable us to handle situations in the way a particle of Fa-rectification should. For example, we know that the evil old forces have brought a great disturbance to Fa-rectification, and we have to break through the evil forces’ arrangement, while also eliminating the evil. We also know that everything in the Three Realms exists for Dafa, and this period of time is for Dafa disciples. Since we have reached the standard for Consummation, and Teacher has told us that “If a problem isn’t caused by our own attachments or mistakes, then it must be that the evil is interfering or doing bad things.” [From “Fa-Rectification and Cultivation”] We need to comprehensively clarify the truth, and save sentient beings, so that our paradises won’t be barren. This is looking at Fa-rectification from a macroscopic point of view. How do we deal with all the problems that arise and how do we know specifically what we should be doing at this time? This, of course, requires a comprehensive understanding of the Fa, and from within the Fa we will be able to solve every problem.
When explaining the truth to someone who is resistant, we should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil if the resistance is not created by our own attachments. We should also do a good job explaining the truth in ways that everyday people can understand. When working on a project and feeling tired or unable to think clearly, we should clear out our bad thoughts and karma that are obstructing us. We also need to make sure that we still study the Fa, practice the exercises and don’t go to extremes.
We also need to pay attention to details and do things well. If we just work and work, but don’t understand the Fa and the requirements on us, then our work will be at the same level as an ordinary person. This simply doesn’t reach the standard for Fa-rectification. Why is it that some practitioners seem to work really hard, but don’t get much done, or what they do get done is not done well, while other practitioners without having to put in much effort are able to accomplish many things? I think this depends on the mindset of the practitioner, and how well they really understand the Fa and are able to act as a particle of the Fa. Teacher requires us to not slack off and do well what we need to do. Just because one puts in a lot of time and money into something doesn’t mean that the project will be done well. We need to use everything we have cultivated and everything within the Fa to truly do our projects well. I find those practitioners that really do well and have great results are those with a comprehensive understanding of Fa-rectification, the evil’s arrangements and how to use wisdom and righteous thoughts to deal with situations. Someone who can truly reach that level will definitely be able to do everything well, because their godly side is strong and they are able to act as a particle of the Fa.
