What is the Buddha Way?

The following is Master Li Hongzhi's opening statement from Zhuan Falun, the core text of The Great Cultivation Way of the Law Wheel, aka Falun Dafa. To learn more about this, go to http://www.falundafa.org/eng/home.html

Lunyu

"The Buddha Fa"2 is most profound; among all the theories in the world, it is the most intricate and extraordinary science. In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance.

Then, what exactly is "the Buddha Fa"? Is it a religion? Is it a philosophy? That is only the understanding of the "modernized Buddhist scholars," who merely study theories. They regard it as a philosophical category for critical studies and so-called research. Actually, "the Buddha Fa" is not only the tiny portion documented in the scriptures, for that is simply "the Buddha Fa" at an elementary level. "The Buddha Fa" is an insight into all mysteries. It encompasses everything and leaves out nothing—from particles and molecules to the universe, from the even smaller to the even greater. It is an exposition of the characteristic of the universe, "Zhen-Shan-Ren,"3 expressed at different levels with different layers of meaning. It is also what the Tao School calls the "Tao,"4 or what the Buddha School calls the "Fa."5

As advanced as the present human science has become, it is still only part of the mysteries of the universe. Whenever we mention specific phenomena of "the Buddha Fa," someone will claim: "This is already the electronic age, and science is very advanced. Spaceships have already flown to other planets, yet you still bring up these outdated superstitions." To put it frankly, no matter how advanced a computer is, it is still no match for the human brain, which to this day remains an unfathomable enigma. However far a spaceship may fly, it cannot travel beyond this physical dimension in which our human race exists. What can be understood with modern human knowledge is extremely shallow and tiny; it is far from truly coming to terms with the truth of the universe. Some people even dare not face, touch upon, or admit the facts of phenomena that objectively exist, because they are too conservative and unwilling to change their conventional thinking. Only through "the Buddha Fa," can the mysteries of the universe, time-space, and the human body be completely unveiled. It is able to truly distinguish what is righteous from evil, good from bad, and eliminate all misconceptions while providing what is correct.

The guiding ideology for today’s human science is confined only to this physical world in its research and development, as a subject will not be studied until it is recognized—it follows such a path. As for phenomena that are intangible and invisible in our dimension, but objectively exist and are reflected into our physical dimension as concrete manifestations, people dare not approach them, dismissing them as unknown phenomena. Opinionated people groundlessly try to reason that they are natural phenomena, while those with ulterior motives, against their own conscience, simply label all of them as superstition. Those who are indifferent simply stay away from the issue with the excuse that science is not yet advanced enough. If human beings are able to take a fresh look at themselves as well as the universe and change their rigid mentalities, humankind will make a leap forward. "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.

1 Lunyu (loon-yew)—statement; comment.
2 the Buddha Fa—the universal principles and law; the way of the universe.
3 Zhen-Shan-Ren (jhun-shahn-ren)—Zhen (truth, truthfulness); Shan (compassion, benevolence, kindness); Ren (forbearance, tolerance, endurance).
4 Tao—1. also known as "Dao," Taoist term for "the Way of nature and the universe"; 2. enlightened being who has achieved this Tao.
5 Fa (fah)—law and principles in the Buddha School.