Falun Gong Founder Li Hongzhi Publishes ‘Why Do Human Beings Exist’

Mr. Li Hongzhi, the founder of Falun Gong, authorized The Epoch Times to publish his article “Why Do Human Beings Exist” on Jan. 20, 2023. Here is the full article, translated from Chinese:

First of all, I would like to say greetings to everyone on the occasion of the Chinese New Year!

During the New Year, one would expect a few New Year’s greetings that everyone likes to hear, but I see the danger is approaching human beings step by step. Because of this, the gods and buddhas asked me to say a few words—which are also things the gods want to say—to all living beings in the world, every sentence is a heavenly secret, with the purpose of letting people know the truth and giving them another chance to be saved.

Why do human beings exist, the universe, from beginning to end, has to go through a long four-stage process of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction. Once the universe reaches the end of the final stage of destruction, everything in the cosmic body, including the universe we live in, will completely disintegrate in an instant! All beings will be annihilated!

The death of a person is only the deterioration and aging of the body in the surface dimension, while the person’s primordial spirit (the real self does not die) will reincarnate in the next life. The universe has formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, and humans have birth, old age, illness, and death, this is the law of the universe, and gods go through the same process, only that it takes longer, the higher the god, the longer the process. Their births and deaths are painless, and during the process they remain conscious, as if changing a jacket. This is to say that a living being does not die under normal conditions. If the universe and the cosmic body disintegrate during the final stage of the formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, there won’t be reincarnation for any beings, and all beings and objects will cease to exist and turn into dust, everything returns to the state of emptiness. Right now, the human world is experiencing the end of the destruction phase of formation, states, degeneration, and destruction. Everything in this final stage is no longer good, that’s why it faces destruction, and that’s why the current society is so chaotic, different chaotic situations such as people having no kind thoughts, promiscuity, psychopathy, drug abuse, and not believing in god. This is inevitable when the cosmic body reaches the end, it has come to this point.

The Creator cherishes the various gods and the many kind and wonderful beings, as well as the wondrous creations in the cosmic body. That’s why at the beginning of the degeneration stage, he led some gods to the outermost layer of the cosmic body (called the beyond the Fa Realm) where there were no gods, and created the earth. The earth couldn’t exist on its own and must have a corresponding cosmos structure to form a circulatory system with beings and living things. Therefore, the Creator created a large boundary outside the earth, which the gods call the Three Realms. Before the salvation in the final stage takes place, gods, no matter how high their levels are, cannot enter and exit the Three Realms at will without the permission of the Creator. Within the Three Realms, there are three major levels; the level where beings on this earth, including human beings, reside is called the “Desire Realm”; above the Desire Realm is the “Form Realm”; and further above is the “Formless Realm.” Each higher realm is more wonderful, but none can compare to the heavenly kingdoms in the Fa Realm and above. The heaven that humans often talk about is actually the heaven in the Form Realm and Formless Realm. Because every realm consists of 10 levels, the Three Realms have a total of 33 levels, including the Three Realms itself. Mankind lives in the Desire Realm, the lowest level, where the environment is the harshest. Human life is bitter and short, and the most terrifying thing is that there’s no righteous principles in the human world. In the universe, the principles for humans are reversed (except for the Fa principles that gods impart to mankind). For example, ideas such as the victor becoming the king, conquering the world by force, and the strong being heroes are not righteous principles in the eyes of gods, they were all acquired through killing and robbery. The universe and the gods won’t act like that, but for human beings it becomes necessary and feasible, this is the principles in the human world, which are “reversed principles” compared to the universe’s principles, therefore one has to “cultivate” according to the righteous principles to return to the heavens. Some people think they are pretty well off because they lead a better life than others, but it’s only humans comparing to others in this dimension, and in reality they are all living in the trash pile of the universe. The Three Realms are built on the outermost layer of the universe, composed of the lowest, coarsest, and dirtiest elements such as molecules and atoms. In the eyes of gods, this is the place for dumping the universe’s trash. That’s why gods consider the molecular elements the dirt, the place in the lowest dimension, and this is the original meaning of the religious saying “God created man out of dirt,” which is to say that gods actually used the materials in this molecular dimension to create human beings.

The gods’ creation of mankind was an appointment from the Creator, who told the different gods to create mankind with different appearances, according to their own images. So there are white people, yellow people, black people, and other races, though the appearances are different, the inner lives are given by the Creator, so they all have the same values. The Creator told gods to create human beings with the intent to save all beings in the universe, including the gods, in the final stage of destruction.

Then why did the Creator ask the gods to create humans in such a lowly and inferior environment? Because this is the lowest level of the universe and the harshest place, only through suffering can one cultivate, and only through suffering can one eliminate sinful karma. In the midst of suffering, to elevate yourself is to be a good person who remains kind and grateful. Moreover, salvation is a bottom-up process, and it must start from the lowest place. Life here is suffering, there will be conflicts of interest among people, and in the harsh natural environment, human beings have to work hard mentally and physically to survive, etc., all of which provide life with opportunities to elevate and eliminate karma. It is certain that suffering can eliminate karma. In the midst of suffering and conflicts, if a person can still maintain kindness, he will accumulate virtue and thus his life will be elevated.

In modern times, when the Creator needs to use human bodies to save sentient beings in the universe, most of the original lives in the human bodies have been replaced by “gods” reincarnating as humans. Because humans can eliminate sins and karma in the midst of suffering through the human body, and at the same time, in the environment of reversed principles, if one can hold on to the righteous principles spoken by gods and maintain kindness, one’s life will elevate. The final stage of destruction has come, the gate of heaven in the Three Realms has opened, and the Creator is selecting this kind of people to save.

In the process of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction, everything inside the universe or cosmic bodies became impure, and isn’t as good as when it was first formed. This is the reason why it enters the destruction phase. In other words, everything inside the cosmic body has degenerated, all living beings aren’t as good as how they were in the beginning, and all lives aren’t pure and have sinful karma, that’s why there is destruction. Religion calls this the “original sin.” To save the cosmic bodies, the Creator called on the multitude of gods and lords to descend to the human world, to become human beings in this environment, to endure hardships, to improve themselves, to eliminate their karma, to reconstruct themselves, in order to return to heaven. (Because the Creator is also rebuilding the universe while saving sentient beings) the new universe is absolutely pure and beautiful. If a human being can maintain kind thoughts in this harsh environment, stick to traditional values when bombarded by modern notions, maintain faith in gods when attacked by atheism and evolution, such a person can achieve the goal of being saved and returning to heaven. The chaos is the last arrangement by the gods, whose purpose is to test whether the lives can be saved. At the same time, suffering can eliminate their karma during the process. Everything is done in order to save sentient beings back to heaven.

That is also to say, the purpose of living in this world is not for some societal accomplishments. Humans will become bad if they strive and fight for gains by any means necessary. The purpose of being human on earth is to eliminate karma and cultivate oneself better. People come to this world for salvation, waiting to be saved by the Creator, so they can return to the heavens. Lifetime after lifetime, in the process of waiting, one accumulates virtue, which is also the purpose of reincarnation. The chaotic world is for the fulfillment of the multitude of sentient beings. However, when facing tribulations, some people begged the divine for help but did not get what they asked for and began to hate the gods, to the extent that they became antagonistic against the gods, resulting in [them] entering the demon’s realm and creating new sins and karma. Such people [should] return in a hurry, pray for forgiveness from the gods, and thus repent and be saved. As a matter of fact, everything in life, whether one loses or gains is the retribution of one’s previous life’s good deeds and bad deeds; the amount of blessings in this life is determined by the amount of virtue accumulated in the previous life. With a lot of virtue, one can exchange it for becoming a high-level official and having an abundant salary in the next life, as well as all kinds of riches and blessings, including family happiness and even the children’s well-being. This is the fundamental reason why some people are rich, some are poor, some become high-ranking officials, and some are homeless. It is not like the demonic rhetoric of egalitarianism propagandized by the evil communist party. The universe is fair, good deeds will be rewarded, bad deeds will meet with consequences, if not in this life, it will be in the next life. This is the absolute way of the universe! The heaven, the earth, the divine, the Creator are benevolent to sentient beings. Heaven, earth, mankind, and the divine are all created by the Creator, who will not treat the beings differently. Karmic retribution is the fundamental reason for having or not having blessings in life.

Loss and gain manifests in society as normal phenomena, but fundamentally, it is caused by and the result of a being’s actions. Nonetheless, to have and not have, loss and gain, appear to be in line with the situations of human society. Therefore, no matter how rich or poor you are in your life, you must do good deeds, refrain from doing bad deeds, be kind, respect heaven and gods, and be willing to help others. In this way, you will accumulate virtue, and will have blessings in your next life. In ancient China, old people used to say that if you suffer in this life, don’t complain about it, do more good deeds and accumulate more virtue, and you will be better off in the next life. It also means that it will be useless to ask for the gods’ help if you didn’t do good deeds and didn’t accumulate virtue in your previous life. The universe has its own laws, which gods must also obey. If a divine being does what should not be done, this divine being is also going to get punished. It’s not as simple as what people think, should gods give you whatever you want? The condition is that you must have virtue accumulated in your previous life, then you can exchange your virtue for the things you want. This is determined by the law of the universe. But fundamentally speaking, this is not the ultimate purpose of accumulating virtue. Accumulating virtue is paving the road to go back to heaven, and is not for exchanging for the happiness of one lifetime.

Master Li Hongzhi

Jan. 20, 2023