PureInsight | September 10, 2001
The connotation of “immediate retribution in this lifetime” has become deformed along with present society. For an ordinary person, a sense of vengeance has been added into the meaning of these two words. Like finally getting back at someone. As an outlet for releasing hatred upon others, a person will sometimes use these words. The truth is that immediate retribution in this lifetime does not imply vengeance. Actually, it’s the compassion of gods, a timely warning for people’s wrongdoing and a timely repayment of sins. A person experiencing immediate retribution for his wrong deeds will realize it’s not good to bring tribulations to himself; therefore he won’t make the same or even bigger mistakes in the future. People around him will notice the retribution from his wrongdoing, thus they will deliberately behave themselves well, acting with kindness. If benevolence receives immediate repayment, people will become kind-hearted and the morals of society will consequently improve.
No matter if it exists in ourselves or in the minds of everyday people, as disciples, we should eliminate this deformed thought activity. When we speak out these words, our hearts should focus on a state of saving sentient people along with a state of compassion. Our hearts should also be without a trace of hatred or vengeance. Even when we eliminate those evil ones that have no human nature left to be saved, we should still manifest our compassion. One reason for this is because we are stopping them from committing a larger sin later and from having to pay tragically for it. Secondly, it’s to stop their further persecution of kindness, because it’s our responsibility to uphold kindness in human society. When we see those villains who are worse than beasts, who beat people to death or rape female Dafa disciples, or when we are persecuted, we shouldn’t have any thoughts of hatred or revenge. Instead, our thoughts should be directed at eliminating the evil for the sake of righteousness in the universe and compassionate salvation for everyday people who are being used and fooled. If we send righteous thoughts or hand out flyers with compassion, then when there is lots of immediate retribution in this lifetime, more and more everyday people used by the evil will be able to see the truth. Because we follow the nature of the universe, what we do will carry the tremendous power of the Fa. If we do things with deformed thinking, which is powerless, we will delay the process of Fa-rectification and salvation of everyday people.
The old forces in the universe arranged for increasingly less immediate retribution in this lifetime. This warped arrangement of people not believing in retribution, has resulted in causing the moral standards in human society to decline swiftly. When you tell the everyday person about the idea of retribution caused from kindness and wrongdoing, he will offer you lots of opposing examples: “Plenty of rich people are scoundrels and scum who became rich by means of cheating. The worse a person becomes, the richer he becomes. These days, lots of top officials in China are corrupted and depraved. The worse they are, the higher positions they hold. The more benevolent a person is, the more other people will tease him. If he’s not careful, he might be cheated and lose all his worldly possessions. A person who thinks about others first and helps people in critical situations ends up with a bad reputation.” The good is considered bad. Hence, people will say: “Where’s the retribution? I have to be smart, otherwise, I’ll end up suffering losses.”
If there’s no principle of immediate retribution in this lifetime, people will no longer believe in retribution and they’ll become ever worse, the good will become bad and eventually turn out to be ruined in the end. The old forces in the universe create an illusion that; the worse a person is, the more benefits he gets while the more benevolent a person is, the less luck he will have. In this arrangement, sentient people are forced into the abyss of destruction. Immediate retribution in this lifetime is the mercy of Gods toward human beings, just like parents’ teaching their kids. When a child commits wrongdoings, a gentle spanking will make him remember what he did was wrong. When a child performs well, a compliment will let him understand what is right and he will subsequently grow up in a righteous way. As a child, I was told a story: A murderer was given a death sentence. Before departing to the execution ground, he was asked if he had any wish. He answered by saying he would like to see his mother. When she came, he proceeded to bite her. People asked him why he did this and he replied: “I hate her because she didn’t teach me when I did wrong things as a child, for that reason I will now die for committing the worst deed!” If there were no immediate retribution in this lifetime, people about to be destroyed would say: “God, why didn’t you warn me at that time!?”
Dafa will eliminate all that is deformed. Immediate retribution in this lifetime will be manifest again in human society.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2001/8/18/11355.html
