PureInsight | June 23, 2022
[PureInsight.org]
This story is the previous life account of an individual working in the media.
This individual is a descendant of an English soldier. In the 1880s, the English had set up a colony in Australia to exile convicts.
It was really tough here during the initial days. Convicts and guards watching over them stayed in the plains of the southeastern coastal area. Behind them was the Great Dividing Range, and in front was the Tasman Sea. Winds from the Pacific Ocean directly blew here (New South Wales). As they had just settled here, food was in short supply. They had to transport food from Indonesia or South Africa. Because everything was shipped, if conditions were windy or rainy, food would arrive later. Everyone suffered when food supplies were extremely short. The later discovery of gold and many mineral resources sparked a huge immigration surge from England, France, and China.
On the first day of the 20th century, Australia became a nation of the Commonwealth. Our story starts from this time.
From a young age, he learned from his parents how his ancestors came to Australia and how difficult it was to begin this undertaking.
Sometimes vivid images depicting the past appeared before his eyes, and feelings re-emerged.
In his past life, an elderly person once told him, “Survival is human instinct. The choices you make to survive are critical. When you have but a little bit of food, yet others ask for your food, you face the risk of death by starvation if you give up your food. People will try to convince themselves that not sharing food is okay. If each person ate half, neither would be full. Faced with this dilemma, different people make different choices, so the results are naturally different.”
He did not say what was on his mind, but he thought, “For sure, some people did not share their food and lived on, while others shared food and died of starvation.” The elderly man looked at him and smiled, “I know what you are thinking. Once you face this situation, you will understand how the results may differ.”
Once he grew up, he became interested in surveying Australia's environment and landscape.
He took 20 people with him from Sydney across the Great Dividing Range, journeyed to the outback of Central Australia, passed through the Great Sandy Desert to the upper region of Western Australia, followed the coastline up north, and then journeyed back to Sydney.
From Sydney, they traveled south along the coastline right down to Tasmania, then ventured west all the way to Perth, and then back again.
On the journey, they encountered what the elderly man had mentioned. He chose to give his little remaining food to another starving person. But instead of dying from starvation, he was instead saved by the local aboriginals.
The explorers were met by some aboriginals. One aboriginal told them, “Our ancestors were forced to move out to the remote Midwest by you outsiders, which has greatly pained us. Seeing you people here, we were ready to kill you all to resolve the resentment in our hearts. Out of curiosity, a few of us have been secretly following you to observe your words and actions. We discovered that when you experienced a food shortage, you shared your remaining bit of food with each other, which is not something an average person could do. Therefore, we did not hurt any of you. Furthermore, our ancestors left us a message, ‘If you encounter someone giving away his remaining food, be sure to tell him a secret.’”
The aboriginal man continued, “There are some cultivators who have been engaged in spiritual practice for many years in the mountains of the area (New South Wales) where our previous ancestors used to stay. Those cultivators know many things, including how our ancestors were going to be banished, how this continent would be governed by foreigners, how we aboriginals would be impoverished for a long time, and so on. However, this is not the main point. Importantly they said a very special person would come here in the future to impart to the people of this continent an extraordinarily peaceful, friendly, selfless cultivation way that will bring pleasant changes. At that time, many people from other continents and islands will come live here due to the cultivation practice. These people will be known as ‘emissaries of the divine.’”
Hearing this he asked, “So how can we find these people at that time? Is there not the problem that when a person dies, one goes to either heaven or hell? There is no way to be a human again!?” (Note: This is the belief of western Christianity. “Reincarnation” is a concept from eastern culture.) Everyone listening had the same concerns.
That aboriginal person laughed. “That is within the framework of your ideology. Before your ancestors lived here, they had never seen the animals of this land. (Referring to kangaroos and whatnot.) Do not hold onto your fixed rigid notions about these things, about many things...”
After speaking, the aboriginal man gave his best food to the explorers. In their hearts, every one of them longed to meet the one who would impart the cultivation way. They were all wondering, “Do humans really reincarnate?”
The encounter turned out to greatly benefit them all. The 20 explorers became clear on one principle: One who can be considerate of others during one's most difficult time will be freed from suffering.
After arriving back in Sydney, he took a few people to the area, which was later called the “Twelve Apostles.” Upon seeing how the limestone was eroded by seawater, he experienced an unusual sensation and thought, “Nothing can withstand the natural forces. With the passage of time, everything will be exhausted and disappear. If in the future I can be human again, I had best encounter the unchangeable cultivation way that is able to withstand all forces.”
At this time, he suddenly heard a person seemingly talking to himself, “While wishing for this unchangeable cultivation way that is able to withstand all forces, one should maintain a selfless heart.”
He looked up, only to see a group of people having fun on the shore. He could not see who said those words.
He carefully mulled over the words he had just heard and thought they really made sense. From then on, he made sure to maintain a selfless nature. Many people became his true friends, and he established many benevolent predestined relationships.
Every time he thought of what the aboriginal man told him about what the cultivators in the mountains of that area said, he became increasingly curious. Thus, he finally decided to take three to four people to the nearby mountains of that area and the Great Dividing Range to find them.
Despite two to three years of searching, they were nowhere to be found. Once while passing a mountain cave, they saw a purple light emanating from the cave. However, once they neared, they discovered the cave's entrance was so tiny a person could not possibly fit. Upon inquiring with the locals, people confirmed that it was a common phenomenon for a purple light to emit from there. Moreover, the cave entrance would sometimes become really big. Some people had ventured inside, only to find nothing in particular.
They hung around outside the cave entrance for a few days, but apart from the purple light, they found nothing.
Someone said, “The cultivator probably knew we had come, but was not willing to see us and deliberately concealed himself but perhaps still wanted to let us know that they exist.”
“Perhaps that is so...” was all he could say.
Living with an intense longing for something and a doubtful mindset is really tiring for one's spirit. He was like this in his remaining years. Just before he passed away, he had one wish, “If I could encounter the one who will impart the cultivation way that brings pleasant changes, I will definitely assist in making this cultivation way known to more people, lest others suffer from the pain of waiting and the torment I have suffered...”
To summarize:
Traversing Australia and meeting the aboriginals;
Being informed that the Fa will be spread in the future;
Maintaining selflessness in the world, I wait;
Having reincarnated many times, cherishing predestined relationships, I am now no longer hindered!
Chinese version: http://big5.zhengjian.org/node/239282
