Reciting Lunyu Over and Over Is Such a Joy By a practitioner from China (Clearwisdom.net)
I asked some fellow practitioners and myself, "Which one of the
Teacher's articles can you recite most fluently?" The most common answer
was "Lunyu." (On Buddha Law) I then asked, "Which one of
the Teacher's articles do you think is the most difficult to recite?" The
most common answer was also, "Lunyu." Why? The reason is
simple. We can recite Lunyu so fluently that it becomes difficult for us
to stay focused when reciting it. Sometimes, we recite it while our imagination
runs wild. Then is it truly us reciting it? Only each individual can know his or
her own situation.
For practitioners who are imprisoned, what they recite most often is Lunyu.
Before I was arrested, I had memorized Teacher's many articles and the first two
lectures of Zhuan Falun. I know that Lunyu encompasses the meaning
of the entire bok Zhuan Falun. However, to me, it seemed like studying Lunyu
was not as effective as studying Teacher's other articles, so I didn't pay
enough attention to learning Lunyu.
One night, about two months after I was detained in a forced labor camp, I
had a dream. In the dream, I picked up a book at a bookstore. It was a book on
music. There was a picture in it, where a conductor was directing a very large
band. When I took another look at the picture, it came alive. It was like a TV
screen and I felt as if I was at a live concert.
It took some time before I understood the meaning of the dream.
Sentient beings in different dimensions at various levels have different ways
and abilities of communicating with one another. Beyond the dimension where we
live, the environment and the capabilities that the Fa created for other living
beings change. That's why the picture that I saw in my dream carried sounds,
images, and the live atmosphere within it.
Then what about the levels that are even higher? Teacher said in Zhuan
Falun,
"When two great enlightened people meet each other, they can
understand everything with a smile. This is due to soundless telepathy, and
what is received is in stereo sound. When they smile, their ideas are
already communicated."
(The Third Talk, Cosmic Language)
I came to realize that one smile covers tons of changes in the firmament and
thousands of years of history, and the levels below them had experienced
countless jie (hundreds of millions of kalpa. Kalpa: a period lasting two
billion years; here the term is used as a number) and transformations. All of
this was communicated in that one smile. Those two enlightened beings' wisdom
and abilities are beyond the imagination of the sentient beings below their
levels.
Teacher is spreading the Fa in ordinary human society. It must be extremely
difficult for Teacher to use the language of human beings to explain such
profound Fa principles that even gods didn't know in the past.
"... it is very difficult to use human language to express the
high-level, profound principles of the Fa." (from "Using at
Will")
As I understand, the difficulty is not just for Teacher, but also for
practitioners since the notions that we accumulated during the past thousands of
years are all barriers preventing us from truly understanding the Fa principles.
For example, Teacher talked about the universe in Lunyu. When I saw,
read, or recited this word before, I used to understand it based on my
understandings of the universe. However, my understandings included the concepts
formed by modern science, the feelings I gained from what I saw, and even the
so-called "wisdom" formed over the many years of my lives in the past.
It is hard to recognize this problem of using notions to understand the Fa since
it has become a habit. When I recited Lunyu before, I could do it without
thinking. That is because I used my notions to judge everything, including Lunyu.
I know Lunyu covers Zhuan Falun in its entirety, but I only
understood this Fa principle at a very superficial level.
I gradually came to realize what hard work Teacher has done for us! Teacher
is using human language to explain the true situations of the cosmos. I started
to have a totally different feeling when reciting Lunyu. Teacher said in Lunyu,
"BUDDHA LAW can allow people to thoroughly understand immeasurable,
boundless worlds."
We have been shown everything, and now it all depends on us. The degree of
Truth we can see is directly related to how many attachments we can get rid of.
I thoroughly enjoyed reciting Lunyu again and again. It even made my days
in the forced labor camp less difficult. Ever since I started to enjoy reciting Lunyu,
I didn't seem to have so many troubles.
Modern science's degenerate notions
The first benefit from reciting Lunyu was uncovering and eliminating
from my mind the degenerate notions of modern science. I am a computer engineer.
Before I began cultivating Falun Dafa, I liked to read books on science to keep
up with the latest developments. In fact, I became interested in cultivation
from reading an experience-sharing article by a practitioner who is a scientist.
I knew I had a lot of thought karma from my notions based on modern science.
Every time scientists attempted to smear the Fa, my thought karma would agree
with them. I made a feeble attempt to fight back and I was constantly on the
defensive.
In Lunyu, Teacher directly talked about the essence of modern science,
"The ideas that guide today's science are only able to confine its
development and research to this material world, as a subject won't be
studied until it is known--it takes that approach."
Basically, the notion that seeing comes before believing is drenched in the
pursuit of unlimited physical interests, and completely opposes Truth,
Compassion, and Tolerance, the principles of the universe.
"Believing comes before seeing."
(Falun Buddha Fa - Lecture at the Canada Fa Conference)
No sentient beings can see principles and scenes above their own levels,
since they would already be in that higher level if they were able to see the
true manifestations at that level. Only by believing in Teacher, believing in
the Fa, setting higher standards for ourselves according to the Fa principles,
and getting rid of the degenerate things, can we move up and see greater truths.
Viewed from this perspective, the directions given by modern science are
fundamentally wrong.
Reciting Lunyu, I also came to realize the origin of modern science,
the history of aliens, and the relationship between the old forces and other
things.
"... as advanced as computers may be, they can't compare to the
human brain ..." (Lunyu)
I came to know that no sentient beings can create other beings at their own
levels, even a great enlightened being that can create a universe with one
thought. This is because the wisdom and the abilities needed to freely create
lives come from more microscopic elements. Aliens wouldn't be able to create
such advanced modern science by themselves. Could an everyday person improve his
or her gong level by simply practicing some movements? Would the aliens
be able to break into other dimensions and acquire the ability to control time
and space by doing some scientific experiments while opposing Truth, Compassion,
and Tolerance? No. Without higher-level beings' protection and involvement,
aliens wouldn't have been able to achieve that. They would have been eliminated
long ago.
The technology developed from scientific experiments that we use is an
illusion similar to the "supernormal abilities" gained through simply
practicing some movements, or wealth acquired through "hard efforts."
They are actually the results of the interactions among the microscopic elements
shown in this superficial dimension.
"During the long-drawn-out thousands of years, how many people were
not lost in illusion." (Zhuan Falun, Volume II, provisional
translation)
After digging out the root cause of my thought karma, I started to send forth
righteous thoughts to eliminate it every day. In just a few days, those bad
things were nearly eradiated and could no longer affect me.
Dig out the origin of atheism
The second benefit was completely eradicating the poison of atheism in my
mind. I had been receiving education based in atheism for many years. How much
influence does atheism have? Actually, many people gave in to the old forces or
even "enlightened" along an evil path because of deep-seated atheism.
At critical times, the notion of atheism broke their will. Atheism essentially
denies human nature, since our lives were granted by gods and came from pure
compassion. A denial of the existence of gods is a denial of one's origin and a
betrayal of our original good nature. I believe that the notion of atheism comes
from some high level degenerate beings. Unable to see, they don't believe the
existence of higher-level Fa principles, and thought what they saw and owned
were absolutely perfect and correct. They became so arrogant. The manifestation
of this notion in ordinary human society is atheism. I came to realize that
atheism also has its physical existence. How many of these things are still
residing in my dimensions? It's terrible not to totally eradicate them. We need
to hurry up to send forth righteous thoughts to completely eliminate them.
Every day, I enjoyed studying and reciting Lunyu. Every day, I had new
understandings. The "pleasure" that I got by assimilating my life to
the Fa from inside out and from my origin to my superficial body is beyond
words. I think many fellow practitioners can understand.
What prevents me from striving forward diligently?
After some time, I found that I didn't have new understandings no matter how
much I recited Lunyu and studied the Fa. I couldn't keep up with my
previous state of quickly improving myself and striving forward diligently.
Before, when I had similar experiences, I thought it was normal because I
recognized that the part of me that had obtained the Fa was separated. I could
regain my spirit of striving forward if I kept studying the Fa and practicing
the exercises. I shared my experiences on this with many fellow practitioners.
Many of them had similar problems. We felt helpless and we would act passively
when we got stuck in this kind of situation.
I finally felt I needed to think about this issue more seriously. What is the
thing that prevents me from striving forward diligently?
"...'natural' does not exist ... "
(Expounding on the Fa)
I started to calm down, keep my main consciousness clear, and peacefully look
inside. My main consciousness quietly watched the whole situation. Then I found
there was another "me." When I studied the Fa, "he" was also
studying the Fa and he tried very heard to find higher and newer understandings
from the Fa. However, where is the true "Me?" Rendering a judgment
based on the Fa, I realized that the Fa created all the elements and all the
microscopic particles at different levels of my life. What else do I need from
the Fa? No matter which level I enlightened to or how much wisdom or how many
abilities I acquired, viewed from a higher level, I am still
"...just like grains of sand, and they're granular and in motion
..."
(Zhuan Falun, The Second Talk, About the Third Eye)
Where am "I"? Didn't the Fa create everything of mine?
"The space of the universe is inherently good, and its nature is to
be True, Good, and Endure, and when a person is born he has the same nature
as the universe."
(Zhuan Falun, The First Talk, Truly Guiding
People Up to High Levels)
The true me is one body with the Fa and doesn't pursue what I think I need
from the Fa.
The Fa enabled my main consciousness to uncover this attachment. When
reciting Lunyu again, I completely threw myself into it. Like a wood chip
dropped into molten steel, I gave my whole self, whether it was righteous or
unrighteous and whether it was from my nature or from what I learned later, to
the Fa, without holding anything back and without any pursuit. At that moment, I
felt how happy one could be when truly "assimilating to the Fa!"
Later, when sending forth righteous thoughts, I no longer tried to concentrate
on reciting the Fa-rectification verses that Teacher gave us. Instead, I felt
myself transforming into those verses, "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the
Evil is completely eliminated." My righteous thoughts were countless and
boundless, covering the whole firmament, encompassing all of it and leaving out
nothing.
I have undergone so many huge changes by learning the Fa!
I could feel huge changes every day. When I looked back to the past, I could
hardly recognize myself. It was as if I had started a new life, yet the huge
changes happened in just one month. I couldn't help but sigh, "I have
experienced so many huge changes by learning the Fa!"
In my past Fa study, I had known that all the things that we saw through our
eyes are false illusions. Then what are the true situations?
"...when your Third Eye is open you can magnify things to look at
them ..."
(Zhuan Falun, "Why Doing Cultivation
Exercises Doesn't Increase Gong")
For example, a malicious person in this dimension might be an evil rotten
ghost when seen with our Third Eye, while actually in a more microscopic
dimension there was a higher level being controlling the ghost. The higher level
the Third Eye is, the more "true situations" can be seen. Then how do
we deal with the following issues? First, What if my Third Eye sees nothing?
Secondly, even if we can see through our Third Eye, who's to say that what we
see is the true situation? The great gods in the old forces have many
supernormal abilities. They can see and manipulate things below their levels,
but do they see the true situations?
Teacher has told us to view all problems with righteous thoughts.
"Everything in the cosmos is created by the cosmos's Fa-principle of
Zhen, Shan, Ren. All matter and every factor of a living being are brought
into being by the characteristic Zhen, Shan, Ren."
(Falun Buddha Fa, Lecture on the Fa at the U.S. Midwest Conference)
What are the true manifestations of what we see in front of us, what we feel,
or don't feel? Aren't they simply Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance? Though
Teacher didn't carve these three words into our eyes, if we can truly render
judgments based on these three words, wouldn't we be able to see the true
situations of everything? And that is the most righteous of the "righteous
thoughts!"
That winter, I was locked up in the coldest cell in the forced labor camp
because I refused to be brainwashed. Because of long-term persecution, I was
extremely weak and had a very painful stomachache. One day, the temperature
suddenly dropped. Cold winds combined with unbearable pain made me feel
miserable beyond belief. But when I calmed down and viewed the situation with
righteous thoughts, I came to realize that no matter how hard the environment
appeared to be, nothing could go beyond the control of Truth, Compassion, and
Tolerance.
Indeed, anything that goes against the characteristic of Truth, Compassion,
and Tolerance will ruin itself since all lives and materials, and their wisdom
and abilities, are composed of microscopic particles brought into being by this
characteristic. Going against the principles of the universe is to ruin oneself.
When those malicious people smeared the Fa and Teacher, when those people who
didn't know the truth held hatred against the Fa, and when the old degenerate
high-level beings started the so-called "test" of the Fa, they were
betraying the Fa and were about to destroy themselves since their lives were
supported by the Fa. However, the Fa and Teacher are still maintaining their
lives, giving them one more chance. What a great compassion! No human language
or any words can describe the immense benevolence!
I feel incomparably happy when I think of this with righteous thoughts.
Everything, including the bitter winter, the scorching summer, the sunshine,
green trees, good people, vicious persons, even the prison cells and instruments
used to torture Falun Dafa practitioners are all simply stage props or roles in
a play. Nothing is separate from the Fa. To me, "Fa" is no longer
those few books. Instead, myself, the layers upon layers of elements around me,
all the matter everywhere, and the boundless and countless firmaments that are
beyond my imagination, are actually all particles of the Fa! Looking at all
these things, I was moved to tears.
?
"The truth is, BUDDHA LAW is not limited to the little portion in
scriptures, which is only BUDDHA LAW's initial-level Law. Instead, there is
nothing that BUDDHA LAW cannot explain--it thoroughly unravels all
mysteries, from those of particles and molecules to those of the universe,
from small things to great things. It is a different discourse at different
levels on the nature of the universe--to be True, Good, and Endure--at
different levels, what Daoists call 'the Dao,' or what Buddhists call 'the
Law.'"
(Lunyu)
Posting date: 8/29/2003 |