(Clearwisdom.net) After I went to Tiananmen Square to validate Dafa during the "October 1st" (National Day) period, I was enlightened to some understandings about the roots of complacency.
In the afternoon on October 4, we went to Tiananmen Square where there were lots of tourists. We seized the opportunity to fly a bunch of helium balloons, with a banner displaying "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" attached. A young girl among the tourists read the three characters "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" aloud, her face brimming over with excitement and happiness. Meanwhile, many tourists also came over. The balloons with the three big Chinese characters, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance" flew toward the People's Cultural Palace.
After that, we went to the other side of the Square, and hung the two-meter long Dafa banner on the railings between the Square and Chang'an Street, directly facing the Tiananmen Rostrum and Chang'an Street. Immediately, tourists came over to see it and read it aloud. At that time, I felt happiness beyond description. We kept sending forth righteous thoughts so the evil could not see us and so our trip to validate Dafa would be successful.
At the moment when I was ready to hang up the banner, I felt hesitant in front of so many tourists. Nevertheless, encouraged by my fellow practitioner, I hung up the banner in its place. In fact, now that the evil could not see us, whoever did see us would surely be kind-hearted. At that time, the attachment to the fear that I might be reported by someone, which was buried deep inside, was thoroughly exposed. It almost stopped me from taking an important step forward. To validate Dafa is a great and solemn action, requiring a pure and peaceful heart.
After we hung the banner in its place, we went back to the Tiananmen Rostrum. When we looked into the distance and saw the banner with yellow characters on a red background magnificently hanging over there, I was so happy I danced for joy. I also felt that I should send forth righteous thoughts to keep the banner hanging there for a longer time (actually the thought that it might not stay there long was not pure and righteous enough.) I could not help thinking how good it would be if I could have a camera to take a picture. When I looked back to find the banner, more and more traffic was coming back and forth that blinded my view. I immediately realized that my thoughts were probably not righteous enough, but I was still a little bit carried away by the excitement. After a while, I suddenly saw a policeman patrolling on a motorcycle appear from nowhere. He folded the banner and drove away. At that time, I became aware of my attachment of complacency.
On the way home, I suddenly understood that the roots of complacency come from disbelief or not daring to believe; in other words, a lack of faith in Dafa. After Teacher issued his article "What Are Supernormal Abilities," I remembered there was one line in a reader's letter to Clearwisdom Net: "When your Teacher says you can make it, but you still don't think that you can, you actually do not believe in your Teacher. You cannot be counted as your Teacher's true disciple." I realized that if we believe in Master with determination, and if we believe in the Fa that Master taught us, when we do things in conformity with the Fa and validate a Fa principle, we will face any situation calmly, since we should be able to do it. "You human beings are treasured because you are able to practice cultivation; that is why you are taught such high-level principles. You are treasured because through cultivation you are capable of becoming truly great Enlightened Beings with virtuous enlightenment and righteous Fa." (Determination and Solidity) and, "Cherishing your human side enables you to enlighten to and ascend in the Fa." (Expounding on the Fa)
When we are restrained by some of our notions and do not believe that we are able to do something, and therefore do it hesitantly, if it turns out to be successful in spite of our hesitations, we will have complacency. If, from an ordinary person's point of view, we believe a certain cultivation level is too high to reach, when we finally make it, we will easily have complacency. It is just like the example that Teacher mentioned in Zhuan Falun about the person who failed to become an Arhat and dropped down because he was overcome with joy.
During the Fa-rectification process, when we validate the Fa principles, we Dafa disciples can use our abilities at will and there is no reason to be constrained by notions of the old forces concerning what is or is not proper. In addition, we are able to rectify what is not righteous, and when we believe these principles firmly, we will calmly acknowledge all achievements made while validating Dafa, since they are the manifestations of the mighty power of Dafa, of which we are all particles. Since I was not steadfast enough in Dafa, when I succeeded in hanging up the banner in Tiananmen Square, I felt excited that I could actually do it, that what I had been enlightened to was correct. On reflection, I remembered what Teacher said in Zhuan Falun: "In other matters and in the course of cultivation practice, one should be sure to not develop the attachment of zealotry-- this mentality can be very easily taken advantage of by demons." And so it happened that the policeman folded and took away the banner.
Evil is nothing--what really matters is that Dafa practitioners should not remain indifferent, feel helpless when facing the evil, nor approve or wink at the evil; otherwise, it will be a serious problem. We distribute lots of truth-clarifying literature at night, but we act upon whatever the policemen demand when they come in the daytime to harass us. What Teacher told us is to "completely oppose" the evil. Isn't going out at night but following the police's demands in the daytime a weak spot for the evils to take advantage of? The evil may just use this omission to disturb and destroy us without end. Perhaps the fear that we might be caught and be further persecuted is embedded in this weak spot, and this hinders us from taking a step forward to rectify the Fa.
The practitioner who went with me to Tiananmen Square to validate Dafa became well known locally because she went to Beijing to appeal for Dafa. She promotes and validates Dafa in her present workplace to her colleagues with her compassionate heart, and wins respect from them. The local 6-10 Office tried to get her to the brainwashing class but was refused by her supervisor. After she told the foreign professors in her workplace about the crimes committed by the 610 Office, the 610 Office said they would not force her to go to the brainwashing class any more because they were afraid of international pressure.
She said, "The more people who know that I am practicing Falun Gong, the safer I am." (I understand this to mean that she unmasks the evil to more people.) How can we destroy the arrangements of the evil forces? I think that is what our practitioners presently have to do. Of course, first of all we have to study the Fa. When we are destroying the old, we are at the same time establishing the new.
This is the first time that I have written down my experiences. In the process of writing, I constantly looked backward at what had happened. I also discovered impurities in my heart that were not easily seen while validating Dafa -- that I had been sending forth righteous thoughts to cover my fear of being discovered. What we do when we validate Dafa should be open and above-board, without any notion that we might be arrested. This is different than being afraid of something, and covering up that fear with a principle of the Fa. As Teacher said in "Non-Omission,"(Essentials for Further Advancement) "Yet if a cultivator or an everyday person who cannot even make fundamental sacrifices also discusses this principle, he is actually undermining the Fa by making an excuse for the attachment he cannot give up."
It is a great accomplishment to validate Dafa. It can never be done by planning, and can never succeed under false pretences. It is achieved by solid cultivation.