(Clearwisdom.net)
Around the time of the 16th Party Congress, the head of the evil took advantage of his power to launch another round of inhuman persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners. Many practitioners were arrested and sent to forced labor camps. In the forced labor camps, some practitioners couldn't bear the cruel torture. They gave in to the evil and did what a Falun Dafa practitioner should not do.
One day, a few fellow practitioners and I discussed this issue. One practitioner said, "Why didn't they send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil elements behind those malicious guards? Wouldn't they have been all right if they had eliminated the evils?" What he said sounds right. By now, almost two years have passed since Teacher first told us to send forth righteous thoughts to rectify the Fa. We all know that righteous thoughts are very powerful. The question is, why can't some practitioners successfully achieve their goals by doing just that? Here I would like to share my personal understandings regarding this issue.
In the past, the old forces used principles that had deviated from the Fa to arrange all matters in the cosmos as well as human history. The so-called "tests" for Falun Dafa practitioners have been carefully arranged at each level. In the course of history, when practitioners went through reincarnations at each level from their original levels to the time of the present human world, the old forces implanted notions formed of deviated principles at each level, along with various kinds of degenerated things, into our minds. All of those implanted notions, as well as the karma that we have accumulated within the Three Realms, are obstacles blocking our improvement and the excuses used by the old forces to persecute practitioners. The old forces' arrangements that were based on principles that deviated from the Fa would reach neither the standards of the new firmament after Fa-rectification or the principles of the new cosmos. Thus Teacher told us to completely deny all arrangements made by the old evil forces.
Then how can we conform to Teacher's requirements for us? Personally, I came to realize that during Fa-rectification and our cultivation, especially if we were under persecution, when sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, it is critical to look inside to expose our last attachments. Acknowledging the existence of our attachments does not mean we acknowledge the old forces' arrangements, because the old forces imposed even those attachments on us. Only through exposing the various kinds of degenerated things and the notions implanted by the old forces in our minds can we fight against them, deny them, and eliminate them. We will then be able to eradicate the excuses used by the old forces to persecute practitioners, and be able to completely eliminate the arrangements made by the old forces.
Teacher said, "When you conduct yourselves righteously Master can do anything for you. If your righteous thoughts are truly strong, if you're able to put aside the thought of life and death, and if you're solid and unshakable like diamond, then those evil beings won't dare to touch you..." (from "Touring North America to Teach the Fa"). When we remove those bad things from our minds our righteous thoughts will become stronger, and Teacher will be able to help us. Some practitioners forget to look inside during tribulations. They send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil simply trying to reduce the intensity of the persecution. This approach will not work. Without removing our attachments, the righteous thoughts will not be very powerful. Human notions and attachments are places for the evils to hide. Even if we can eliminate some of the evils in those dimensions, other evils would replace them because those are the hotbeds where the evils thrive. If this condition is allowed to continue, some practitioners may start to doubt the power of the righteous thoughts and eventually give in to the evils.
Different levels have different Fa. During the Fa-rectification and our cultivation, we need to constantly look inside to unearth the notions and the karma that the old forces imposed on us at each level. We then need to eliminate them by sending forth righteous thoughts. In this way, we will be able to break through the arrangements made by the old forces at that level, and to save the sentient beings related to us at that level, and allow that level to be assimilated to the Fa of the cosmos.
When we elevate ourselves to another level, we will come to realize the notions formed in the old cosmos and the degenerated things that the old forces implanted in our minds at that level. Because of that interference, our righteous thoughts will again appear to be insufficient. So we should continue to bring to light those bad things, remove them, and improve ourselves. After that our righteous thoughts will become more powerful. In this way we improve and strengthen our righteous thoughts. When we realize that our righteous thoughts are not strong enough, it indicates that we must still have some attachments at that level. By studying the Fa, and understanding the Fa from the Fa, we will be able to find our shortcomings, break though the old forces' arrangements, catch up with the Fa-rectification progress, and eventually completely deny all the arrangements made by the evil. That will be the time when Fa-rectification disciples reach the ultimate Consummation.
The above is my personal understanding. Please correct me if I said anything inappropriate.