(Clearwisdom.net) The following is recorded from the experience sharing of two Dafa practitioners, one of them from northern China and the other from southern China.
A: Recently there has appeared some interference in our cultivation and we need to deepen our understanding on certain problems from the perspective of the Fa. Now I hope to take advantage of our meeting and discuss them with you.
B: OK, it is no problem for us to make good progress together through our discussion.
A: Here in our area, there was a practitioner who died soon after being released from a forced labor camp where he suffered severe torture. It is hard to grasp the essence in such complicated situations and this caused some difficulties in clarifying the truth. Later, supported by Teacher's power, we broke up the interference by sending forth righteous thoughts. However, how a practitioner should view this situation remains unclear. Can you share with me your understanding?
B: A similar situation once happened in our area although in a different form. It was a situation where the old forces took advantage of a practitioner's loopholes and he was arrested. This practitioner got out of the detention center openly and with dignity by sending forth righteous thoughts. After retuning home, he looked inward to find out his own loopholes and denied the old forces' arrangement.
A: So, please tell me your understanding of our situation from the perspective of the Fa.
B: OK, but it should be made clear that both of us should take the Fa as Teacher and you should point out with compassion when I make any mistakes.
First, the death of this practitioner was the arrangement of the old forces. When answering the question "Why do the old forces dare to kill Dafa disciples in the persecution?" raised in Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival, Teacher said,
"There are two situations here. One is that in the past the old forces felt that a type of mentality arose among Dafa disciples, which is, once you cultivate in Dafa you think it's like having insurance, and there's nothing to be afraid of, there's no sickness or death, this or that won't happen, and everybody just has good fortune. But, once that mentality arises there's going to be trouble. The old forces will do what they want to do, and once you unknowingly acknowledge their arrangements they'll have excuses to control you and create various types of danger for you. Of course, Dafa disciples won't die like ordinary people, and even for those who've departed ahead of their time what awaits them is the very best -- that's for sure. So during this period, what they do is take a few away first. Of course, among those who've died, there's also what they'd arranged in previous lives.
"Also, they're doing these things in this time during Fa-rectification when Dafa disciples are urgently needed in saving sentient beings -- aren't they causing serious trouble? How many beings can a Dafa disciple save while he's in this world, right? Isn't that doing something bad?
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"Speaking from another angle, my disciples, when the old forces are able to do what they want to do, isn't that because you've silently consented to what they want to do?"
I think that on this question Teacher has explained clearly. The old forces are attached to what they want to do and this is a very serious issue for all practitioners.
Secondly, to see the reason that the old forces dared to do so, we need to check how we Dafa practitioners did our job as a whole. Have we realized the nature of the old forces? Is it because we didn't study the Fa well, didn't look inward enough and lacked righteous thoughts? For example, after that practitioner was kidnapped, did you send forth righteous thoughts as a whole?
Did you do anything to rescue him? After this practitioner got home, were you attached to his personal improvement while neglecting sending forth righteous thoughts as a whole?
Did you help him more in an everyday person's way which neglected disposing of the evil and failed to clarify the truth in a larger area and save more sentient beings? Were you attached to other people's improvement and neglecting looking inward yourself?
A: Good points. We do have some problems on these issues. And furthermore, we do have some loopholes as a whole.
B: Here in our area, we also had lessons, which were all caused by Dafa practitioners' attachments. The complicated situation in your area wherein a practitioner died contains the factor that practitioners had loopholes and the old forces took advantage of them. Teacher pointed out in Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference:
"What do I mean by 'areas to improve on'? Yesterday a student asked me, 'Master, why has the United Nations Human Rights Commission turned into what it has? The U.S. brought up China's human rights problems several times but each time its efforts were voted down, and in the end nobody would even bring up the topic. Later on, even the chair position was assumed by a government that seriously violates human rights.' We should think things over calmly, and sometimes we really can end up seeing things clearly. It's not that the righteous elements have stopped working. It's that sometimes it's easy for the old forces to take advantage of the gaps in what we do."
It was an attachment when we focus only on our personal improvement. When we are attached to everyday people's way of solving problems, the effect of our sending forth righteous thoughts will be weakened. If our field of righteous thoughts is impure and not righteous enough, and therefore unable to save sentient beings, the old forces will take advantage of our gap.
At the same time, the fact that we don't understand the principles of the Fa in an all-harmonizing way may not be reflected in an obvious way when we are handling some minor problems. However, it will be a serious problem when we are handling some big issues. If we are not clear-minded on the principles of the Fa, how can we all-harmonize our Fa-rectifying work?
In the event in your area, if each of the practitioners maintained the mentality of doing without pursuit, emphasized the progress of helping practitioners improve, studied the Fa conscientiously and looked inward, kept sending forth righteous thoughts collectively to get rid of the evil and clarified the truth on time, then there wouldn't have been any gaps for the old forces to take advantage of. Not being attached to the results is the state of mind that Dafa practitioners should have.
A: Yeah, cultivation is a serious thing. Especially in the last stage of Fa-rectification, it will not do even if we go a little bit astray. We have to not only improve ourselves as a whole, but also, at the same time, to completely eliminate the participation of the old forces, watching out for the old forces who want to take advantage of our own loopholes. Teacher said in Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference:
"And then there's a final type of element. What type of element is it? You know, I give you automatic mechanisms for increasing gong and other elements such as the Falun. Also, my Law Bodies are personally looking after Dafa disciples, and my Law Bodies appointed some Gods who can truly assist with Fa-rectification to help. But, the old forces have systematically arranged their elements, too, and in that way they specifically arranged everything they wanted. So this has put every student under the influence of specific arrangements by the old forces, and under the influence of those old force beings. Those beings that the old forces arranged to do specific things aren't those messed up, low-level spirit or rotten ghost kind of beings that I've talked about. There are Buddhas, Daos and Gods among them, though they're all of low levels, and here at this lowest level that is the human world they're doing things given to them by the old forces."
In my opinion, if our foundation of Fa-rectification is attached to personal cultivation and further advancement, and if we fail to view things from the perspective of the Fa, then we really should pay more attention to and think over the principles of the Fa and our progress in Fa-rectification.
Take myself as an example, I recently did some Dafa work well and received some praise. Subconsciously, I had gradually developed a mentality of regarding myself as infallible, and attachments to doing things, showing off, and looking outward. On the surface, it appeared that I was still doing the three things as required by Teacher, and all I did seemed to be for the Fa. However, deep inside I was attached to the notion that it was "me" doing it, emphasizing my personal improvement and making myself very busy all day long. Then, I could not calm down in my Fa-study and improve myself in understanding the principles of the Fa. I could not see through the relationship between the old forces and my own attachments. I could not handle well the relationship between myself and the whole body of practitioners. I did not have a good understanding of how we can improve as a whole.
The smoothness of doing Dafa work does not necessarily reflect one's maturity in understanding the principles of the Fa. Sometimes it is human being's experience and techniques that solve a problem. Even though on the surface I was able to do some Dafa work smoothly, I knew very well that there was a gap between my Xinxing and the requirement of the Fa. I did not do well to harmonize the whole body of practitioners and I lacked true compassion that is able to melt steel.
I failed to completely remove my degenerated notions that conform to the old forces, so I incurred severe interference while doing Dafa work, making me unable to cultivate myself in a solid way and play a powerful role in the whole body. Although sometimes I was able to see my warped notions, I still wasn't able to get rid of them completely. As a result, once I almost fell into a trap set up by police when I was making a careless contact with our Dafa truth-clarification material site. I barely escaped danger that time.
As for watching out for the old forces' behind-the-scenes helpers to take advantage of our gaps, practitioners in charge of our Dafa truth-clarification material sites have been paying special attention to the safety of the material sites. In their opinion, to do Dafa work well in such a special situation, one must study the Fa in earnest to understand better the all-inclusive harmonizing effect of Dafa. Safe operation of the material locations should be the number one consideration. No matter how good an individual's idea is, one should weigh it carefully, balancing it with the overall situation of all the practitioners as a whole and handling well the relationship between emotion, compassion, and mercy.
Those things which must be done but may cause safety problems to the material sites can be done in locations away from the sites and in an all-harmonizing way. Teacher said in Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference:
"Those rotten ghosts that are intent on disrupting the Fa really like it when you're in disarray, as the old forces' whole goal is to have all this end up according to their arrangements. I'll tell you, when all that you're doing today is in line with what I have taught you to do, then that's not letting them take advantage of your gaps and not letting them find excuses to persecute you."
It is very important for us to become completely harmonized in Dafa and make solid advancements in our own cultivation.
In short, each of our Dafa practitioners should become mature in the Fa as soon as possible, cultivate grand tolerance of an enlightened being and great benevolence that can melt the steel. Let's harmonize ourselves in Dafa.