PureInsight | October 15, 2001
An ancient Persian Prophet Zoroaster (also called Zarathustra; c.630 - c.550 BC) predicted a battle between good and evil. He said that he had received a heavenly mission from Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord and the God of Light to preach the truth. He foretold that the whole world would be involved in the battle between good and evil because a group of dark forces were against the forces of light. Mankind would be given the power to choose between good and evil. The end of the world would come when the forces of light triumphed and the saved souls would rejoice in its victory.
They divided the progress of the world into four stages, with every three thousand years as one stage. During the first three thousand years, this material world was created. At the end of the second three thousand years, Ahriman, the principle of evil, would try to destroy the world. By the end of the third three thousand years, Ahriman would have succeeded. But he would bring self-destruction onto himself. At the beginning of the fourth three thousand years, Zoroaster will reincarnate and bring a new belief into the human world. During this, mankind will go through a final test, abandon all immoral characteristics, and become pioneers and leaders in the new world.
According to the prophecy of Zoroaster, human nature was bright and moral, yet Ahriman wanted to destroy everything. Therefore, a world of good and evil came to exist and mankind had to choose between the two. After physical death, souls would go through a bridge. Good souls would go to the heaven; dark souls would go to the hell. During the battle, a cleaned soul would dissolve into the new world.
Thoughts from Good and Evil
People now living on Persian soil do not believe in Zoroastrianism any more. They believe in “fighting evil with evil”. Their revengeful mindset has brought them a lot of disasters because they did not follow Zoroaster’s teachings of “resist evil with good, let the light show and let the darkness disappear”.
In Zoroaster’s prophecy, good and evil were not theoretical descriptions or superficial behaviors. They were two forces above human society. All human behavior was just choosing between good and evil. It was not that some fixed thoughts or behaviors were good and some others were evil! From the platform of the battle between good and evil in the cosmos, the real good was abandoning all evil and dissolving oneself into the bright side. Siding with darkness was evil.
Modern people understand good and evil from behaviors and motivations. This can easily change the standards of good and evil. Judging good and evil from behaviors can easily lead to emphasizing insignificant good behaviors and superficial formalities. Judging from motivations leads to making bad behaviors reasonable. For example, both the arguing sides argue their behaviors are good and just, based on their own standards. However, is arguing itself good? Aren’t the arguing sides used by “arguing”? Therefore, it is hard to understand the principle of good and evil from individual angle. It is hard to tell the fundamental nature of good and evil from the point of view of human notions.
Some good standards in the human society are not good! For instance, being good to parents and loyal to one’s country are considered good behaviors. However, if during the battle of good and evil, attached to this small kindness, one sides oneself with the evil, then this is evil! For being a nice person and being nice is not the ultimate goal, but an origin. Kindness is a fundamental characteristic that constitutes all beings in layers and layers of the cosmos. We all need to assimilate to this characteristic and return to that realm.
Therefore, only if we can constantly improve our understanding of good and evil and not be attached to our individual enlightenments, can we assimilate to the light of truth and become invincible to the evil forces.
Falun Dafa Reveals the Truth of Good and Evil
Modern people interpret the old teaching in Buddhism “do no bad; do only good” as a principle or theory for living in human society. It’s nice to be able to achieve it. Yet it doesn’t matter if one cannot follow it. Is it that people have been used to understanding this sentence with literal and superficial meanings? Human theories and arguments of kindness cannot help people achieve pure kindness, not even basic kindness! For the principle of good and evil is not some human theory or doctrine. If we really seek for truth with our hearts, we will ponder what good and evil are. We improve to different levels and understand the principles at different levels amidst Falun Dafa cultivation.
Zoroaster’s prophecy described above shows us that the manifestation of good and evil is beyond human understanding. People’s standards for judging good and evil are vague. Therefore, they can hardly tell good from evil during all of today’s manifestations of good and evil things. The battle in Zoroaster’s prophecy was not a fairy tale, but a prediction of today’s situation.
During the Fa-rectification, we can tell people “what is good and what is evil” from the principles of the Fa. We can illustrate with simple words and Fa-rectification concepts. Zoroaster’s prophecy only serves as an example to quote.
We can all understand that people should know principles about how to be people. People should understand that vengeful, narrow minds will lead to mutual hatred and destruction among human kind. One should know the principles of “what goes round comes around” and “evil cannot resist good”. One should be compassionate and forgiving. One should learn Buddha Fa and join Dafa cultivation. When human notions and people’s mindsets change, they will know, from bottom of their hearts, that the persecution of Falun Dafa in Mainland China is an extremely evil phenomenon. They will be able to abandon dark evil when the light arrives.
Then we should clarify the truth to human beings with these higher-level understandings. Let them understand the meaning of evil and the mighty virtue of Dafa at a fundamental level. All of these closely tie into what we have cultivated. Only when we can reach the realm of “selflessness and altruism” (Essentials for Further Advancement: No Omission in Buddha-Nature), can light dissolve evil. Every particle of the Fa-rectification should cherish the opportunity. The performance of every particle affects movements of other particles. We should protect the new cosmos without any selfishness during the Fa-rectification.
These are my personal understandings. Any corrections are welcome.
