(Clearwisdom.net)
The escalating SARS epidemic in China has played a positive role in our clarifying the facts, yet in some respects it has also created obstacles. The incident provoked some logical thinking by Chinese people, and many also reflected about Dafa. Some officials even secretly pulled aside employees who practiced Dafa, and asked them, "What does your Master say about SARS?" At the same time, many apartment complexes have restricted visitors due to the SARS outbreak, thwarting our efforts in truth-clarification literature distribution.
Presently, in addition to SARS there are many other deadly contagious diseases and natural disasters simultaneously surfacing, such as the floods and the schistosome disease in the South, along with the severe drought and governmental corruption in the North. In such a fateful and crucial historical period, guiding sentient beings toward the right direction, and more efficiently clarifying the facts to save the world's people are Dafa practitioners' greatest priorities. When I received Master's "Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference," I read it three times to achieve a thorough understanding. I suddenly became enlightened to the thought: doesn't the phrase "Falun Dafa is great" act as a savior? Any ordinary person who believes this can be saved.
Of course, we cannot directly convey to people what Master has told us, because they cannot comprehend it from a practitioner's level. But through clarifying the facts, if an ordinary person is willing to accept the idea and recite the phrase "Falun Dafa is great," then haven't we reached the goals of letting him establish righteous thoughts and salvation?
When I was being held in a detention center, I remember encountering a suspect from a suspended court case who had been incarcerated for a few months. After realizing the facts, he cried out "Falun Dafa is great!" and was soon found innocent and released. Other inmates were awed and amazed.
Master has compassionately pointed out that anyone who's not against Dafa won't be immediately weeded out, let alone someone who recites "Falun Dafa is great." On Clearwisdom.net, I frequently read about some miracles that manifested for ordinary people who treat Dafa with compassion, and I personally have also witnessed such events. Due to my inadequate understanding of the boundless Buddha Fa, I did not give it much consideration, as I thought, "How could one sentence be so powerful?" I used to believe that only by distributing truth-clarification literature and clarifying the facts to world's people can we save the sentient beings. I didn't know that in the great period of Fa-rectification and under the divine mercy of Master:
"One thought a person has might determine his future" ("Further Comments on Superstition" Essentials for Further Advancement II)
"I have told you the solemnity and sacredness of the Fa in order to eliminate your confusion about and misunderstanding of the Fa" ("Expounding on the Fa" Essentials for Further Advancement)
Seemingly, "Falun Dafa is great" sounds like a simple sentence, but I've enlightened to the fact that that it encompasses numerous Fa principles and heavenly values.
In "The Teachings in Buddhism are the Weakest and Tiniest Portion of the Buddha Fa" Master said,
"People have heard sages say: 'Worshipping Buddha can plant causal seeds for the opportunity to practice cultivation; cultivators who chant incantations can receive protection from high beings; observing precepts can enable one to reach a cultivator's standard'" (Essentials for Further Advancement).
If so, isn't saying "Falun Dafa is great" articulating one's belief that Dafa can save sentient beings, and being reverently respectful to Buddhas? Also, Teacher pointed out in "Lecturing on and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,"
"Even when an ordinary person shouts out 'Falun Dafa is great' today, Master will protect him, since after he's shouted those words he wouldn't survive amidst the evil if I didn't protect him."
Doesn't this achieve the effect of chanting an incantation? I remember Master telling us about the cultivation way of Buddha Amitabha. One keeps chanting incantations because Buddha Amitabha declared that he will take care of and guide anyone who sincerely chants them. Alas, this heavenly secret has been revealed!
The above is my personal understanding. Fellow practitioners please point out anything inappropriate.