PureInsight | September 4, 2001
Evil should not exist in the cosmos, and originally there was no evil in the cosmos. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun that “old age, illness and death are also forms of demons, but they are created to maintain the characteristics of the universe” (“Practicing Evil Cultivation” in Zhuan Falun). In other words many demons are created for a purpose and are not necessarily “evil”. Then where does the true evil come from? Have we ever wondered why Master uses the term old “forces”, rather than demons or degenerated beings? A “force” is something created by the motion or actions of other things, meaning there are factors creating “forces.” So to eliminate the old forces and their arrangements we need to eliminate the “factors” that bring them into existence and give them strength.
“This has been a concentrated manifestation of all the beings’ performance at different levels after their degeneration. All the degeneration of beings, and all the bad states beings can display during the Fa-rectification period, manifest in a concentrated way in the entire system of the old forces. During the Fa-rectification, today’s beings have fully acted on everything they could possibly do. So their bad actions are themselves exactly what truly need to be eliminated during the Fa-rectification.” (“Lecture on the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Conference”)
So didn’t the old forces come into existence as a direct result of the degeneration of the beings in the cosmos? If beings themselves did not degenerate could evil have come into existence? Aren’t the factors behind the old forces actually a manifestation of beings bad elements that have come into existence over time? “Those evil being are also something negative, and they are all black. Thus, they can come because this environment suits them.” (“The Issue of Treating Illness”, Zhuan Falun)
Master has told us that the evil has already been eliminated in the cosmos and the only place left for it to hide is within the three realms. But have we stopped to think why this is? Why the persecution is still continuing? What the meaning of master still waiting for us to truly step out of humanness is? Doesn’t “completely opposing everything arranged by the old forces mean immediately and without exception eliminating all bad thoughts or degenerated notions that arise in everyday life and while doing work for Fa-rectification? This also includes doubting yourself and doubting the righteousness of your work during Fa-rectification. If we don’t unequivocally eliminate bad thoughts, fear, attachments, human notions, sentiment, and especially laziness as soon as they crop up aren’t we giving the evil room to exist and in more blatant terms, strengthening them? “If every cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstances, evil is bound to be afraid of him. If every practitioner is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist” (“Eliminating Your Last Attachments”). If we don’t allow the negative to exist within ourselves, not even for a second, and if we remain firm on this fact, evil can no longer take advantage of our loopholes. If all disciples can do this, the evil forces will no longer be a factor in Fa-rectification.
In my past as an ordinary person, whenever a bad thought, uncomfortable feeling, or attachment arose I would begin thinking with it; in extreme cases I would even follow it to act. Then, as a cultivator, whenever some negative thoughts cropped up I would try to push it away, but feel guilty for having it. Now whenever an unrighteous thought reflects on my mind I simply send out righteous thoughts to eliminate it. Then shortly it is gone. This has made my thinking much clearer and more rational and caused fewer losses in Dafa work. We should clearly recognize the evil beings’ attempts to do damage and impede Fa-rectification through us.
Why can evil display itself so rampantly in the human world? It is because human beings are the most degenerate beings, and have gone the furthest from the characteristics of the universe. And the principle of mutual generation and mutual inhibition play a great role in the human world. The deterioration of human morals has created an ample environment for demon nature to grow. So in rectifying the human world we must correct all human beings’ distorted notions, unrighteous thoughts, and all behavior that goes against Zhen-Shan-Ren. Disciples have already begun exposing distorted notions of human beings and thus narrowed the domain of evil. Even Master has confirmed this “You know, what’s presented on our PureInsight website is the future humankind’s new concepts, and it represents the new humankind’s future thinking and correct views, along with the state, the compassion, the kindness, the purity, the righteousness, and the great forbearance displayed by Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period, and it’s helping to shape the future society.” (“Lecture on the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Conference”) So as disciples we must keep forging ahead. Once this step is done, I believe evil will no longer exist in the cosmos.
