PureInsight | February 25, 2002
We all know about students taking examinations. When a good student gets an exceptionally high score or a poor student somehow unexpectedly manages to get a passing score, they both feel that they got lucky.
Because a test cannot fully reflect how much knowledge a student has, chance is certainly a factor in testing. The next test result may not be the same.
However, cultivation practice is different. There is no such thing as getting lucky. There are reasons behind the good test scores that we mentioned above. Nothing happens by chance. There is no coincidence, because everything has been prearranged.
That statement seemingly sounds so old-fashioned!
Whenever this old saying of "It is fated." comes up, some people who don't agree with it will immediately say, "If there is truly such a thing as fate, then we would not have to do anything anymore." That is a misconception. It does not work this way. We still have no choice but to do those things that are decreed by fate.
A person (a life) has been arranged to do certain things. If this person (or life) doesn't do these things and messes up the arrangement, how much karma would he generate? If a person (or life) does what he should not do, how much more karma would he generate?
However, the gods arrange things very ingeniously and wisely, and it is not easy to disrupt such arrangements - even if one tries to. But even though the person could not manage to disrupt the arrangement, attempting to do so would still create a great sin. This might cause the person to miss what he should have obtained and lose what he should not have lost. People can enjoy good fortune only if they have virtue. If they incur sins, they have to pay back those debts.
Everything has been prearranged. However, being lost in a maze, nobody knows how this is arranged. How should one act? Do what you should do and don't do what you shouldn't do. But how could you know what you should do and what you should not do? "Zhen-Shan-Ren" [Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance] is the principle of the universe. Using the principle of Zhen-Shan-Ren to guide one's action and to conform to the principle of Zhen-Shan-Ren at one's own level are the best thing for any being. To a cultivator, the standards of the Fa keeps on rising higher and higher. One has to study the Fa constantly in order to know how to conform to the principle of Zhen-Shan-Ren better and better. To other beings, there is also a requirement to refresh their knowledge of the Fa-principles at their levels. To everyday people, being a good person is the most realistic, as well as the most unequivocal requirement. Of course, one's own criteria for measuring good will also change accordingly.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/16/13383.html
