A Letter to Teenage Friends From a Middle School Teacher

Dear Teenage friends:

I am a teacher. Like all of you, I loved to play and listen to stories when I was young. I especially liked to listen to stories of “The Journey to the West”. [This is a very famous ancient Chinese story of a monk’s epic journey to obtain the true scriptures of the Buddha Law, during which he came across numerous hardships and tests. ] Of course, as a child, I also liked Sun Wukong and envied his supernormal abilities as well as his courage and wit in pacifying demons and eliminating evil. Later on, I gradually learned to respect Tang Sanzang and was filled with admiration by his unswerving faith shown on the journey to obtain the scriptures. Although he was only made of human blood and flesh, under the axe of demon spirits, or above the boiling steamer, when his life was hanging by a thread, he did not show any fear at all! Whatever a person does, his strength of mind is the most important and yet this is supported by one’s faith. With the ability to give up everything out of compassion for sentient beings and an unswerving faith in the Buddha Fa, Tang Sanzang completed his long journey to obtain the scriptures and finally attained the right fruit status. This shows how important it is to have righteous faith.

But let me ask you, what do you believe in? When I asked this question regarding belief of the children around me, their eyes clearly told me that they have no idea and are ignorant about this. Do you know, this kind of indifference for the meaning of life and the purpose of one’s existence and incorrect understanding is the cause of one's life feeling empty and devoid of meaning? Since you started school, learning is your greatest responsibility. Yet seldom does anybody talk about how a person should behave or act. Probably you have not thought about this deeply too, whether it is correct for one to consider one’s own benefit or should one benefit others? I heard of a story when I was young: someone was always complaining that his fate was no good. One day a god gave him three magic arrows. Every time he shot an arrow, he would be granted one wish. This person was ecstatic. He greedily thought of having everything in this world, thus he shot the first arrow, shouting loudly: “Let everything come.” Just as he said these words, gold and jewellery, cars and beauties, delicacies, brocade and beautiful clothes, and pavilions came rushing towards him like tidal wave. Frightened, he had nowhere to hide and just when he was going to be drowned, he quickly shot the second arrow, shouting loudly: “Let everything go away.” Just as he said this, everything including him floated upwards. He hurriedly shot the third arrow, shouting: “Leave me behind.” So you see, someone who is greedy and selfish, even if he is struck with fortune, would also gain nothing. Reading till now, you might say, perhaps: This story is only illustrating some principles. We have heard a lot about principles, what is the use? Of course there is some use. What kind of person you want to be, what kind of attitude you hold towards life, these are extremely important to you.

Let us gather the evidence of prehistoric cultures stretching back endlessly over time: In 1968 Meister discovered some trilobite fossils. When the fossil was tapped open, he found the footprint of a human in the middle of the section of the fossil. That person was actually wearing shoes when he stepped onto the fossil. But the trilobite was a low-level organism that existed 200 million years ago. According to the theory of evolution, apes only started to walk upright a million years ago. 200 million years ago, not even the monkeys were in existence, let alone the apes. So how could there be humans? The Gabon Republic in Africa is a country relatively backwards in terms of scientific progress. In 1972, a large uranium mine was found and exploited in Oklo. The uranium ore extracted from the mine was sent to France to be refined. However it was later discovered that these had been previously extracted. After investigation from scientists using advanced techniques and scientific methods, it was verified that there was once a huge nuclear reactor constructed 2 billion years ago and it operated for as long as 500 thousand years. But according to the theory of evolution, at that time, only eucaryote algae were in existence. The first nuclear power plant in the world was only built by Russia in 1954. Therefore, who built this nuclear reactor 2 billion years ago? In 1880, a pair of interlocking rings made of iron was found amidst coals, yet the coals from this mine in America were only formed seventy million years ago. Also, the Mayan civilization developed rapidly as if by miracle, with no intermediate period and evolutionary stage, everything seemed to descend from heaven, so where did the Mayan culture come from?

The answers to all these mysteries that science cannot explain can be found amongst the scriptures of righteous religions as well as the teachings of Falun Gong. In actual fact, cultivation has always existed since ancient history. Through cultivation, people can have supernormal abilities that ordinary people don’t have. The existence of the supernormal ability of precognition and retrocognition, celestial eye, the supernormal ability of clairvoyance and so on has already been proven in the realm of science. Also, in the history of Buddhism, there were instances when those who had succeeded in cultivation were cremated, sariras were found. Yet sariras are not matter from earth. In the mountains of Jiuhua, till today there are still the remains of the bodies of five monks that have not decomposed for thousands of years. All these phenomena that cannot be explained using modern scientific theories can however be satisfactorily explained using the principles of the school of cultivation adopted by the cultivator. Just as said by the founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi: “ The “Buddha Fa” enables humankind to understand the immeasurable and boundless world. Throughout the ages, only the “Buddha Fa” has been able to perfectly provide a clear exposition of humanity, every dimension of material existence, life, and the entire universe”. (“Lunyu”)

Talking about Falun Gong, perhaps you do not know what it is. Falun Gong is a way of cultivation belonging to the Buddha school. It advocates cultivators to act according to the principles of “Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance”. After getting rid of attachments (for example the competitive mentality, jealousy, the attachment to gain and fame etc), students can concentrate better in their studies, they obtain good results and in their daily lives, they become obedient children from their own initiative. Thus they are well regarded by teachers and parents. Whether it is carrying out scientific research or cultivation of the Buddha law, it is just a matter of one choosing the correct path in life. There is no conflict between the two. Some people just stubbornly regard theism and empirical science as being in opposition. They think these two theories are incompatible like fire and water. Materialism advocates empirical science, yet how do you verify it? Humanity is continuously accumulating experience while developing, and raising arguments etc; then carrying out all kinds of experiments to test the truth or fallacy of the argument. Therefore, if we regard the principles of Falun Gong as a scientific thesis and treat each practitioner as real experiments, then over a period of ten years, with a hundred million people spread across over forty countries, the results obtained from such a large scale experiment should be accurate. Therefore, one can similarly verify that Falun Gong is good from different perspectives, such as the practice has spread to more and more people, every practitioner’s xinxing (morality) has risen, the effects on health improvement and practitioners refusing to give up cultivation even under extreme pressure. Well-known scientists like Newton and Maxwell were religious followers. I think someday we will truly experience the true principles of the universe.

Since 1992 till before 1999, the Department of Social Study and Investigation had been observing Falun Gong. They had known very early on that the essence and intention of Falun Gong is good. (There were even some who started cultivation after participating in the research) Falun Gong has spread so rapidly simply because of people’s personal experiences. They feel good after practising it and then tell others to practise it as well. There is nothing about gain or fame. It spread relying only on word of mouth and there is no advertising or administration. In cultivation, only those with a predestined relationship can come in. Those who have no predestined relationship leave. Nobody has ever interfered. Yet some people with ulterior motives have come up with a charge called “mental control” for Falun Gong.

Cultivation talks about predestined relationship. Furthermore, Master has said in many lectures not to force someone to learn, so how can this be called mental control? Yet the methods used to persecute Falun Gong by those in power seems like mental control of the entire nation and instigating hatred towards Falun Gong. First, starting from July 20 1999, it was confiscating and destroying books on Dafa in a hurry nationwide so that people do not have the opportunity to understand the truth. Next, they launched a powerful attack through state controlled media. For a long period of time, one after another in a rolling action, every TV station continuously televised special reports defaming Dafa and in the newspapers such articles were published one after another. Falun Gong practitioners were forced to write “Statements of Guarantee” using methods such as arrest, jail sentences, keeping watch, not allowed to work or attend school, conducting brain washing sessions etc. This kind of forced brainwashing, not allowing people to understand the true situation is truly mental control. Those who have gone through ten years of great calamity would understand the dangers of mental control. Those who had ignorantly participated in the persecution and mistreated others, even though they were not punished by the law, but their crime weighing on their hearts for the rest of their lives will forever be a painful regret for them.

Those in power did not go through any legal procedures when they made incorrect conclusions on Falun Gong. Not only is this a form of persecution towards Falun Gong, it is also abusing the Constitutional rights given to citizens. Thus, let me remind you that to know the taste of the pear, it is best to taste it first. To understand the truth about Falun Gong, look for a real practitioner and ask him. Of course, the Buddha law cannot be blasphemed. Good and evil will have its just rewards. This will never be changed. To distinguish between right and wrong is to be responsible to oneself. As a teacher, I have the responsibility to dispel your doubts. As a Dafa disciple, let me tell you all responsibly: Falun Dafa is good! At the same time, I hope that from now on, as you move along the path towards adulthood, you will learn to think and distinguish for yourself and learn how to conduct yourself

Translated from: http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200301/16332.html