PureInsight | December 3, 2001
There is an iron rod in India that is more than 99% pure iron. This high purity is hard to achieve even with modern smelting technology. This iron rod has existed outdoors for many centuries without significant changes. But as we all know, a common iron rod in the open air would become rusted once it rained, let alone after sitting there for many centuries.
Both are iron rods, so why are they different? Both are composed of iron, yet with a difference in purity, the outcome is different. The India iron rod is very pure with little foreign substance. The iron molecules are in a well-ordered, stable and hard to change configuration, and thus can be kept for a long time. A common iron rod has a lot of impurities in it. It contains a lot of foreign substances, so the iron molecules are not well-ordered and the internal structure of the iron rod becomes aberrant. Once the regular order of the molecules is destroyed, iron will corrode easily.
Any substance will undergo metamorphosis after a long period of time. This is caused by two reasons: one is that foreign substances were generated during that period, another is that the original substance itself eroded and disintegrated, thus becoming different from the original.
For example, if it is a piece of pure iron at the beginning, its surface will finally became rusty if it is exposed to rain and wind. But this will only happen after a long period of time. Now the property of this piece of iron is different from the original. It contains two different substances, iron and rust. The rust is a compound derived from iron, but it has its own properties. The original piece of iron now has two different sets of properties. From its interactions with other substances, the rust will again generate more new substances. Then the piece of iron will have more still more properties.
The longer the time elapsed, the larger the corroded part will be, and the more the metamorphosis that will have occurred. Initially, when there was only a small rusty part; the properties of the piece of iron were still largely those of iron. But when a large part has become rusted, then the iron piece would have two different qualities, that of iron and that of rust. Initially the rust was only on the surface, but when a larger portion has corroded, the properties of the rust will become dominant. Then the properties of iron will be masked. In other words, the original properties of the iron rod have totally changed. This is just like a person, who is pure at birth, but once contaminated in the big dye vat of society, fighting for personal interest and acquiring many attachments and notions, his kind nature will then be covered up. His inborn nature thus cannot manifest, and what manifests are all those deviated notions.
If a very long time elapses, in addition to rusting, the iron will itself also disintegrate, similar to what happens to a rock after a long period of time, disintegration. But it will take an extremely long time. The property of the iron will then be totally different from its original state. Before disintegration, the piece of iron was firm and determined, now it will be fragile and easily broken. Though it is still iron, it is no longer the original pure iron, and its properties have also fundamentally changed.
All substances in the universe will undergo deviation, even including gold. Gold is the substance in Buddhas’ paradises. Pure gold is 24K. After a long period of time, it is now only 18K. That is to say, over remote ages the substance metamorphosed , and became less pure. A lot of new, foreign substances were generated; the properties also changed and are no longer the same as the original. The substance has become different from the original one. In another word, it is no longer “genuine”.
Substances are composed of microscopic substances, microscopic substances are composed of even more microscopic substances, and so on. Those microscopic substances that compose the more macroscopic substances can also undergo changes, just like the iron. Just like the gold mentioned above: on the surface you cannot find the impurity, since the impurity occurred at the microscopic level. This kind of metamorphosis is the most dangerous, because it occurs at the root. Nor would any new materials made up of these substances that have undergone metamorphosis on the microscopic level meet the standard.
Matter and mind are one thing. When matter changes, its properties also change and will no longer be the original properties. Just like that piece of iron, its properties changed, and thus it no longer had the properties of pure iron. All the principles these metamorphosed substances hold will also change and deviate from the true principles of the universe.
If all the matter in the universe has metamorphosed, the standards held by this matter will be different from those of the original universe. From Zhuan Falun, we know that when this happens, all the principles and substances within the universe will be blown up, and all the lives in the universe will be destroyed. Then enlightened beings at extremely high levels will rebuild the universe based on their own characteristics. The new universe will behave according to the new characteristics and principles. So those (lives) who were not destroyed will become demons that interfere with the principles of the new universe.
“At present, the entire universe has already undergone a great change. Whenever such a change takes place, all lives in the whole universe will be completely destroyed and lie in ruins. Every time this situation occurs, the characteristic and all the matter inside the previous universe must be blown up. Usually, all lives will be killed from the explosion. Yet not everyone has been wiped out from the blast each time. After the new universe is reconstructed by the great enlightened beings at an extremely high level, there are still some that survive the explosion. The great enlightened beings build the universe according to their own characteristics and standards. Therefore, it has a different characteristic from that of the previous universe.” (from “Practicing Evil Cultivation” in Chapter 5 of Zhuan Falun)
Of course, our current situation is different from that of the past. Though the universe has metamorphosed, the outcome will be different from the previous total destructions. That is because the universe is undergoing Fa-rectification. During the Fa-rectification, the old universe will be assimilated into a new one.
To really solve the problem, rectification must be started from the microscopic level. If only the surface of the iron piece became clean, while the particles in the microscopic level were to be left unchanged, the metamorphosis would not be eradicated. The deviated substances derived in the universe over its long history will be directly removed during Fa-rectification. They will disintegrate at the microscopic level. Those undergoing disintegration will be assimilated and rebuilt at the microscopic level. After Fa-rectification, the properties of the substances in the universe will meet the standards of the Fa, and be assimilated to the Fa. Then the principles in the universe will be the true principles of the universe, rather than false ones.
The human body is a small universe. To rectify the Fa in our own small universes, our human bodies, we must clean out our own deviations, including deviated notions, which all have material existence. Our own small universes cannot meet the standards if we do not clear out our own deviations. Of course this cannot be achieved in one shot: there must be a process to gradually purify it. To rectify the Fa we need to rectify ourselves first, and to continuously purify ourselves. Only then can we bear the mission of Fa-rectification disciples.
This is my personal understanding. All comments are welcomed.
Translated on November 19, 2001 from http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2001/11/17/12516.html
