By Shan Rong

December 1, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net) During the past millennia and our many reincarnations, each one of us may have hurt or even killed others. From the point of view that all substances are lives, the number of lives we may have hurt is innumerable. After one becomes a practitioner in Dafa, the lives we have hurt may demand repayment for their losses. So, during our cultivation process, we will encounter different kinds of hardships, or our lives may even be in danger. No loss no gain; debts should be repaid; this is a law of this universe.

The difference between Dafa practitioners and all other cultivators in history is that we are here during the special time of the universe's Fa-rectification and carry the responsibility of saving sentient beings. We do not need to repay with our lives all the lives we have killed, because Teacher has offered us the opportunity to use our cultivation achievements to repay our debts with happiness and good fortune for those we owe. As Teacher said,

So Teacher has done that for us. From this Benevolent Resolution, all Dafa practitioners can feel the enormous kindness Teacher shows to us and to all sentient beings.

But those lives that have been hurt in history are part of the old universe. They do not know the truth of Fa-rectification and are not able to understand the meaning of Teacher's Benevolent Resolution. They even do not believe in the truth that exists. They just believe in the rule of "murder should be repaid with murder, and money with money" which they think is absolutely correct. So before these lives accept or understand the Fa of the new universe, those that you have killed will ask you to pay the debt with your own life. Just as Teacher said,

For example, a life you have hurt may come to take your life. Of course that will not happen because Teacher is protecting us. But that does not mean you don't need to compensate them for their mental anguish. Suppose those lives died very miserably, their hatred towards you will be huge and the way they ask for repayment might be violent. All of a sudden, you may experience a pain somewhere in your body or an all-over uneasiness, which may be overwhelming. At that moment, if you do not apologize to the being, if you do not clarify the truth to them to help Teacher reach a Benevolent Resolution, if you simply take the being as evil and raise your hand to get rid of him, he would think that your xinxing is not good. So his hatred towards you will increase. The Old Forces would make use of this chance to complicate the situation, or even directly interfere with your Fa-rectification cultivation.

When I first heard of Benevolent Resolution, I did not understand it well or simply ignored it. Whenever I felt uncomfortable, I sent forth righteous thoughts to get rid of the feeling without much success. I thought my power was not enough and so I asked for help from fellow practitioners. When this didn't work, I asked for Teacher's help, which still was not always effective. I really didn't know what to do. That's because I did not really understand what Master meant by a Benevolent Resolution.

Then what should we do? Teacher has told us:

So in the process of a benevolent resolution, our actions are very important. For example, if one owes a life, a benevolent resolution could be that the person becomes a life in the new universe. Otherwise, if the knot of hatred is not resolved, the being could bother you for a long time, which would disturb your efforts in the Fa-rectification process. It's possible the being could even commit crimes against the Fa-rectification and thus become a life that will be eliminated, if his continual interfering with you causes damage to the Fa-rectification process.

In talking with others, I learned that some fellow practitioners have been entangled in hardships that were caused by not reaching a benevolent resolution. So we studied Dafa together and clarified the truth to the vindictive beings. If once was not enough, we would try a second or third time. Finally their hatred gradually dissolved in our kindness, and their mental knots were untied.

Let's take one of my experiences as an example. Once, while I was sharing an experience with fellow practitioners, I got up from the bed I was sitting on and felt a great pain in my side. It felt like my bones were dislocated and I could not move. I had felt this before but not as strongly as that day. Fellow practitioners immediately helped me to send forth righteous thoughts but to no avail. At that moment, a fellow practitioner whose third eye is opened told me that in another dimension, a boy in ancient dress was removing one of the bones from my chest. The fellow practitioner asked him: "Why do you persecute a Dafa practitioner?" The boy said with assurance, "He owes me a life." The fellow practitioner said, "He is a Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification process, you can't treat him this way. He will reward you with happiness and fortune through his cultivation achievements. Don't you know Master Li's teaching of benevolent resolution?" The boy fell silent for a while and then said, "I simply can't take it. He hurt me so cruelly in the past, and now he is trying to destroy me (referring to sending righteous thoughts). See how cruel he is!" The follow practitioner said, "Please forgive him, he could not see the true situation and thought an evil being was persecuting him. Otherwise......."

Having realized what was going on I immediately clarified the truth of Dafa to him. Firstly, I apologized to him, and apologized to all lives hurt by me throughout my life history. I felt sorry for all the pain I had caused people and their families. Then I showed the attitude of reaching a benevolent resolution to all lives I had hurt. I told them I would reward them with happiness and fortune using my cultivation achievements. I said that if I were not able to do this sufficiently, my Teacher would do it. I hoped that they would not miss this precious opportunity and pointed out to the boy that what he was doing was wrong and could easily be made use of by the Old Forces and the lives they controlled to disturb the Fa-rectification process. And that would be irresponsible and would need to be paid for during his eternal future. And I told him and all the sentient beings about the truth of the Fa-rectification. I explained how all lives should assimilate to Dafa without exception. I hoped they would break away from the confinement of the rules of the old universe.

While I was talking, the pain in my side stopped. I asked my fellow practitioner with a smile: "Have we reached a benevolent resolution?" The fellow practitioner said: "He left, but the knot in his heart was not totally untied. What you said is right, but seemed to be lacking in compassion." The words reminded me of Teacher's words:

I knew what I had done was wrong. My heart was not pure enough, my tone had been kind of strong, and I had not totally been responsible for his eternal future. The third day, the boy came again. This time I was very calm. My voice came naturally from deep within my heart instead of something thought out by my brain. The boy shed tears. He agreed to a benevolent resolution. Then, I learned that the boy had been a relative of mine in China during the end of the Shang Dynasty and the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty. We played out a tragedy of hurting each other. A hatred that had lasted for 3000 years finally came to a benevolent resolution. When I learned that the boy shouted in tears: "Teacher Li, I reached a benevolent resolution with my father! I reached a benevolent resolution with my father!" I burst into tears. I was so happy that he would be saved. I suggested to the boy that if he was willing, he could persuade all those who were still bothering Dafa practitioners to also accept benevolent resolutions. The boy agreed gladly and thanked me sincerely.

After that, whenever I am physically uncomfortable, except for major xinxing problems, when sending righteous thoughts is not effective, I use the method of reaching benevolent resolutions. It works very well. Later, I took the initiative to clarify the truth to all lives that have been hurt in history, by me or other Dafa practitioners, to seek benevolent resolutions. Later I clarified the truth of Dafa to all lives including animals, plants, and other forms of lives so they could understand the meaning of Fa-rectification and choose their own positions. Though I cannot hear or see other dimensions, I could feel from deep in my heart the effectiveness of what I was doing. I realized that it's very important to clarify the truth to Chinese people who are poisoned by evils. But it's not enough to save only the people o on earth. All sentient beings have been poisoned and polluted; thus, I should clarify the truth to all of them, and help them to get rid of the confinements of the law of the old universe and to assimilate to Dafa.

This is the process to rectify myself and get rid of attachments, a process of saving sentient beings with compassion, a process of really helping our Teacher to reach benevolent resolutions with all lives.

The above is only my personal understanding; please kindly point out any mistakes.

Posting date: 12/31/2003
Original article date: 12/31/2003
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/7/61998.html

 Yearly Archive  Printer Version