PureInsight | July 14, 2008
[PureInsight.org] In the last
article entitled "Gods Bless China," I gave an overview of how the
Chinese civilization has been arranged, protected and blessed by Gods
up to this day. Aren't all kinds of disasters that have occurred
recently in Mainland China meant to remind us that we must cultivate
virtue in order to have a bountiful harvest, and to live and work in
peace and contentment? Isn't "Urging people to quit the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and its puppet organizations" helping us to break
free from the control of the communist specter that came from the West,
no longer be the descendants of Marxism-Leninism, and return to the
ranks of Chinese people? This movement itself is to protect Chinese
culture. I hope you will cherish this precious historic opportunity.
In the following sections, I will talk about the most mysterious part
of Chinese culture, the establishment of cultivation culture.
When we mention "cultivation," many people may think we are strange
because it is inconceivable to them that we would be more interested in
becoming a good person with great virtue rather than taking pleasure in
money and beautiful woman.
Actually, in Chinese culture, the establishment of cultivation culture
has a very long history. The Yellow Emperor (a legendary Chinese
sovereign and cultural hero who is considered in Chinese legend to be
the ancestor of all Han Chinese) was believed to be the founder of
Daoism (Taoism), and later during the Spring and Autumn Period (roughly
corresponds to the first half of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, from the
second half of the 8th century BC to the first half of the 5th century
BC) appeared Laozi and Confucius.
Daoism lays emphasis on solitary cultivation, while Confucianism
focuses on loyalty, kindness and filial piety. The Buddhism that spread
to China from India at a later time emphasizes compassion and teaches
salvation of all sentient beings. Because people in those times had
very high moral standards to begin with, it was easier for them to
develop some supernormal capabilities, but records speaking of magical
powers were later seen as myths and stories made up by people.
In ancient times, the emperors in each dynasty thought highly of
cultivators and even assigned some of them to be high-ranking
officials, such as chief advisor to the emperor. Toward the end of the
Shang Dynasty (1600-1100BC), Zhou Wenwang (King Wen of Zhou) invited
the cultivator Jiang Ziya to work for him, and Jiang Ziya helped his
son Zhou Wuwang (King Wu of Zhou, the son of King Wen of Zhou)
overthrow the Shang and establish the Zhou Dynasty, which lasted for
808 years. We know that Jiang Ziya was a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun
(one of the highest deities in religious Daoism) and cultivated the Dao
(Tao). During the Warring States Period, Sun Bin (died 316BC) was a
student of Master Guiguzi (a hermit who was skilled in military
strategies), and later he became the head advisor of the army. In the
Three Kingdoms Period, Zhuge Liang (181-234AD), who had great wisdom
and foresight, played the historic dramatic role of "dedicating one's
life to working for the country until death." At the end of the Sui
Dynasty, Wei Zheng (580-643, a politician who served as a chancellor
during the Tang Dynasty for about 13 years during the reign of Emperor
Taizong) also cultivated Dao. Wasn't Fan Lihua a Daoist? Liu Bowen
(1311-1375, a Chinese military strategist, officer, statesman and poet
of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasty) of the Ming Dynasty was also a
Daoist.
We know that many well-known literati are called "lay Buddhist" or "lay
Daoist." For example, Li Bai (701-762, a famous poet in the Tang
Dynasty) was called Tai-Bai Lay Daoist, and Su Shi (1037-1101, a famous
poet during the Song Dynasty) was called Dongpo Lay Daoist.
Listing the above examples was intended to illustrate that in Chinese
history, cultivation was deeply rooted in people's minds. People
praised cultivators highly and treated them with great respect.
Because people's moral standards were relatively high in those times,
their enlightenment quality was better than that of modern people.
Thus, when an opportunity came to cultivate, they could accept guidance
from enlightened beings and cultivate diligently in society or in
temples and finally achieve consummation. This was seen commonly in
ancient times.
Lines from ancient poetry such as, "a winding path leading towards a
deep and tranquil place, a meditation room appears deep in the flowers
and trees" and "four hundred and eighty temples from the Nan Dynasty,
many of them are now in mist and rain," not only describe the scenery
and the authors' feelings, but also portray the popularity of
cultivation at that time.
I previously wrote some articles about prehistoric cultures, intending
to break people's superstitious belief in the Theory of Evolution.
Humans did not evolve from a lower species. To explain this more
clearly, human beings came from different dimensions at higher levels.
Gods actually only created the human body, and the true lives of human
beings were not generated here. That is to say, the human world is not
our original home, and we came from different dimensions at higher
levels, which were much more beautiful and glorious. Therefore, when a
cultivation environment formed in society, many people would walk the
path to heaven through practice.
Looking from the perspective of Fa-rectification, all of the past
cultivation ways, including both solitary cultivation in mountains or
those practiced among people in society, were in fact establishing a
cultivation culture for human beings. On the other hand, the
establishment of cultivation culture during the 5000-year Chinese
history allowed many beings, who had experienced numerous adversities
and hardships during reincarnations at different levels and in the
human world, to be able to understand the meaning of cultivation, of
Buddha, Dao and God, of eternity and truth, etc., the concepts used in
cultivation. Then they can reach the ultimate goal of returning to
one's True Self through Falun Dafa cultivation.
This marks the end of the "Introduction" to this series. We will move forward with the next article entitled "Victory Drums."
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2008/7/3/53631.html
