(Clearwisdom.net)
(Continued from Part 2)
Practitioner C:
Using Original Nature to Look at Persecution Now and Cooperate as a Whole
In the article, "Sharing with Dalian Practitioners on the Recent Local Persecution" on Minghui (Chinese version of the Clearwisdom website) on July 16, 2005, a fellow practitioner pointed out the following problems existing in Dalian:
1. Some practitioners have not been diligent in Fa-study and have not improved their inner natures. Some have given in to lust, jealousy and other attachments, leaving loopholes for persecution.
2. There wasn't enough effort put into rescuing fellow practitioners. The truth needs to be clarified more deeply to expose the evil factors and corruption behind this persecution.
The current status is that many Fa-rectification projects are stalled and not moving forward. It seems that many practitioners are in different stages of restrained fields, a numb state that is keeping them from acting together as a whole. Practitioners are all busy with everyday affairs that seem crucial, and that stimulate their attachments and desires. Some projects requiring cooperation between practitioners cannot be completed or done well. Many practitioners are unable to break through and some people are being severely persecuted physically.
Seeing so many practitioners severely persecuted causes me pain. I still look at all of these with a mindset of individual cultivation and individual validation the Fa. I think that if they or I encounter ordeals it must be a lack of diligence. In my mind, I still mix the mental factor of validating myself into cultivation.
Have I cleared my head after realizing all this? After a period of time, I found that I did not make any big improvement in myself, but simply became a bit more serious on the surface. I did not dare to indulge. If we all, as a whole or majority, stop at surface changes and deal with things in a state of individual cultivation and validation, then I feel it cannot be a true elevation of the whole body.
I happened to meet a fellow practitioner one day. This practitioner told me the detailed situations of certain practitioners being restrained, interfered with and persecuted. I suddenly realized that it was a manifestation of us as a whole being restrained, interfered with and persecuted. I feel that my original nature has awakened.
Teacher said in "Expounding on the Fa" (Essentials for Further Advancement):
"For a long period of time the sentient beings in Dafa, especially the disciples, have had a misunderstanding of the Fa at various levels regarding xinxing improvement. Whenever a tribulation comes, you do not see it with the side of your original nature but view it completely with your human side. Evil demons then capitalize on this point and inflict endless interference and damage, leaving students in long-term tribulations. As a matter of fact, this results from an inadequate understanding of the Fa by your human side. You have humanly restrained your divine side; in other words, you have restrained the parts that have been successfully cultivated and have prevented them from doing Fa-rectification. How can the uncultivated side restrain your main thoughts or the side that has already attained the Fa? Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa. When a tribulation arrives, if you, a disciple, can truly maintain an unshakable calm or be determined to meet different requirements at different levels, this should be sufficient for you to pass the test. If it continues endlessly and if there do not exist other problems in your xinxing or conduct, it must be that the evil demons are capitalizing on the weak spots caused by your lack of control. After all, a cultivator is not an ordinary human. So why doesn't the side of you that is your original nature rectify the Fa?" ... "You should also be clear that 'natural' does not exist, and 'the inevitable' has reasons behind it." ... "Under the influence of this kind of notion you think that all these tribulations are inevitable and that this is just the way it is, thereby developing a passive and pessimistic attitude. So your human side must stay aware. More importantly, your side that has attained the Fa must be clear."
The awakening of my original nature made me look at the origin of each evil interference. I discovered the restraint, the interference and the persecution of each practitioner by the evil were actually attacks on the group as a whole. It was carried into the group by each of us. Every practitioner's state is simply different, so a different level of interference and persecution was experience by each practitioner. The ordeals encountered by each practitioner were not individual problems, nor the surface problem. It was the individual manifestation of each practitioner's participation in the battle between Dafa practitioners as a whole and the evil factors as a whole. They seek to interfere with Fa-rectification and damage the Fa from the microcosmic to the most surface. No matter which form the evil takes in interfering with or damaging each practitioner, their goal is to interfere with and damage Fa-rectification. They intend to damage our attempts to assist Teacher in Fa-rectification and enlighten sentient beings with the truth.
However, for us it does not matter who suffers the persecution, we should treat it as our whole body encountering the persecution, because it directly attacks the ultimate goal of every practitioner's life. It directly touches the fundamental significance of our lives, because our lives are directly bound to the Fa and the Fa-rectification.
I realized what I should do. Although I know that I am not perfect, the wisdom of our Dafa practitioners as a whole is perfect. Although we still have flaws and attachments, Dafa practitioners together as a whole can manifest a harmonious field that comes from the Fa. The essence of the whole body has no omissions. This is one aspect of how our human surface harmonizes the Fa.
I also enlightened to the following. When we see fellow practitioners being persecuted, we should not look at it and deal with it from only the basic point of individual cultivation and validation of the Fa. It is actually not the action of a Dafa practitioner's original nature, but the actions of superficial notions formed by cultivators in cultivation and Fa-rectification. This action can only bring forth the restrictions from the human side, it can't create the essential leap from individual to the whole body. A thought from a Dafa practitioner's original nature will certainly rectify the micro-dimensions to the surface. It will bring huge changes in Fa-rectification and salvation of sentient beings.
Today, I am talking mostly about looking at the current persecution from two angles. One angle is whether we can understand it with our original nature and the other is how we can cooperate as a whole.
As for cooperating as a whole, I feel the cultivation elements among our Dalian practitioners are being restrained to differing degrees. The intimidation, separation and damage caused by the evil that is keeping us from cooperating as a whole were the loopholes we left for it.
Teacher said:
"How can the uncultivated side restrain your main thoughts or the side that has already attained the Fa? Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa." ("Expounding on the Fa" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I enlightened to the following from this passage: If we can't cooperate well as a whole, then the power of Dafa practitioners as a whole will be restrained. Won't this also restrain the manifestation of Dafa in the human world? The lack of cooperation, conflicting ideas and jealousy among practitioners cause gaps and keep us stuck in a state of conflicts. Doesn't this counteract Dafa?
"Dafa is harmonizing all sentient beings, and all sentient beings are also harmonizing Dafa." ("Expounding on the Fa" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
So, what I understand is that if we cooperate well as a whole, it will harmonize Dafa. In other words, we should use the best ways to harmonize the needs of Dafa.
The connotation of Dafa practitioner's cooperation is not simply communicating and arranging things well on the surface. It is also the requirements of the Fa during Fa-rectification and the characteristic of Dafa. Then let's look at it in this way. Fundamentally, cooperation is not a problem of willingness or unwillingness to let go of human notions and arrangements by the old elements. It is the same as not acting based on the Fa. Willingness based on attachments to doing work, fame and/or gain, and unwillingness based on fear and/or the attachment to self; these are all manipulated by the old negative forces to cause interference and obstacles during Fa-rectification.
It is a natural display of Fa-rectification Dafa disciples' xinxing levels when practitioners cooperate well together. When we encounter ordeals, we should be able to let go of one's own notions, take into account the whole body, and be responsible for fellow practitioners and sentient beings. What we send out should be righteous, kind and tolerant. Namely, our main thoughts should be solid like a diamond, thoughts that disavow or refuse to acknowledge the existence of evil. We should unconditionally harmonize with fellow practitioners' righteous ideas and cooperate with what is required to do it. If we can all achieve this level or even just do better, then things will naturally improve. I feel when we talk about cooperating, it is not that we do just surface things, but that everyone must enlighten to the Fa, look inward at one's xinxing and act according to the actual situation in local areas. We as a whole should truly take a righteous step forward as required by Fa-rectification of each one of us.
Summary:
We chose the thoughts collected from the above three practitioners in an informal discussion to draw the attention of Dalian practitioners to the need for cooperation as a whole during the current Fa-rectification work. At the same time, we hope that practitioners doing coordination work and those involved in Dafa activities can move in the same direction as Dalian. They should act as a whole, pay attention to our responsibilities as a whole and not just be responsible for practitioners in their own areas. We should now think about how we can help others improve and not only depend on others to help us along. We all need to improve in validating Dafa through our own improvements and through joint efforts with all practitioners. We all need to turn our cities into genuine cultivation environments that validate Dafa and into places where we offer the truth to all sentient beings for their salvation.