(Clearwisdom.net)
Recently, vicious police officers in China deceived or kidnapped some practitioners into attending Brainwashing Classes. Some practitioners resolutely refused to attend the classes from the beginning, and they sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements controlling the police. As a result, the police had no choice but to give up their evil plans. Some other practitioners, although already deceived into attending the Brainwashing Classes, never changed their determined, righteous beliefs in Dafa, so the evil again had no choice but to give up. There were also some practitioners who, even though had remembered not to betray Dafa under any circumstances, were constantly pressured by the evil, and eventually wrote a guarantee statement such as "be a good, lawful citizen." Being released after this, they may have thought, "I did not betray Dafa." But soon afterwards, the vicious policemen would come to arrest them again, claiming that the previous guarantee statement did not meet the requirements, and that they had to rewrite them.
When facing the vicious persecution, the practitioners mentioned above applied different standards on themselves, which then led to different consequences.
Teacher said, "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces." "As a Dafa disciple, everything of yours is formed by Dafa and is the most righteous, and it can only be that [you] rectify everything that is not righteous. How could you bow to the evil? How could you promise something to the evil?" ("Dafa is Indestructible") Nothing is accidental. Different attitudes and reactions of practitioners at critical moments are actually based on his everyday cultivation during the Fa-rectification.
If in the process of clarifying the truth and validating the Fa, a practitioner can let go of all sorts of attachments while always holding themselves to the most righteous standard of a Dafa particle and rectify anything that is not righteous, then all of the arrangements made by the evil old forces can only be used to eliminate the evil, clarify the truth, and establish our mighty virtue. For these kinds of practitioners, is there anything that could possibly interfere with or obstruct them? On the other hand, those practitioners who passively endure tribulations or who even give in step by step do so partly because they did not take the initiatives during everyday cultivation during the Fa-rectification or they had attachments of fear. During the steady upgrading of a Dafa practitioner in the Fa-rectification, only when one reaches that level could he assimilate to the Fa at that level and be transformed by the standard at that level. Now, every Dafa practitioner knows that he should completely oppose everything arranged by the evil old forces, and rectify anything that is not righteous. If he still cannot achieve this at critical moments, it is because he did not really let go of those attachments of an ordinary person. As a result, they weighed him down, not letting him upgrade to a higher level. His Xinxing (heart/mind nature; moral quality) standard was only that high, so he was not able to perform according to the standard of a higher level.
Teacher said, "any fear is itself a barrier that prevents you from reaching Consummation, and is also a factor in your being 'reformed' toward the evil side and in your betrayal." ("Dafa is Indestructible"). Every genuine practitioner has to set for himself a standard of, "Cultivating until no attachments are left" ("Cultivating in the Maze," Hong Yin, a collection of Master Li's poems), instead of comparing themselves with their past or with some practitioners who were not diligent. The Fa-rectification is proceeding rapidly. Pride and arrogance, long-standing attachments that we haven't gotten rid of, or failing to discipline ourselves with higher standards at all times, could make us fall behind.
"Cherish the present time and make the best use of it--this time is meant for the disciples." ("Lecture on the Fa at the Washington D.C. International Conference") We must cherish this precious time that Teacher has given us to cultivate. Teacher is not only waiting for those who have not yet stepped forward to step forward, but is also waiting for those who have done wrong deeds to work hard and make up for it, as well those who have fallen behind to catch up.
The evil old forces are directly involved in persecuting Dafa and Dafa practitioners. They keep a close watch on every bit of human attachment still remaining within practitioners, and look for chances to amplify and feed them so that they can control practitioners and reach their goals of ruining them. In breaking through the constraints caused by friendship or affection among family members, or in dealing with different opinions among practitioners, we have had a good amount of success in breaking through the vicious interferences, as well as a good amount of lessons of being controlled by them and making mistakes.
In the most recently published article "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples," Teacher said, "If during the evil's persecution a Dafa disciple doesn't do well or slacks off, it's very possible all his previous efforts will have been for nothing." We should be clear that we must oppose any so-called "test" arranged by the old forces. Whether or not we can oppose it and rectify anything that is not righteous by following the highest standards and having the most righteous mind is exactly Teacher's true test of us disciples. To pass the tribulations and tests in such a precious time in history, we have to discipline ourselves with the highest standards all the time: the highest standards of studying the Fa, cultivating Xinxing, eliminating the evil, letting go of attachments and overcoming laziness, and dealing with different opinions among practitioners. We cannot lower the standard or slack off for a single moment.