(Clearwisdom.net) In today's situation, even though the evils are becoming fewer and fewer, a group Fa study site was nonetheless reported to the authorities by family members of some practitioners, and multiple practitioners were arrested as a result. The group Fa study site was also destroyed. The family members and friends of the arrested practitioners have also been persecuted both mentally and financially in the past years, and some family members thus developed misunderstandings about Falun Gong. This is a painful lesson. After studying the Fa and looking inside for reasons with a peaceful mind, I found several insufficiencies that we can improve upon. I will discuss them here to remind fellow practitioners to pay attention and to improve based on the Fa. If any of my understandings are incorrect, please point it out.
1. Following the Formality of Group Fa Study without Paying Attention to Self-Cultivation
Some fellow practitioners did not put their minds to learning the Fa. They were sleepy during group Fa study and sending forth righteous thoughts, and some even held an incorrect hand position while sending forth righteous thoughts or unknowingly dropped the book while studying the Fa. They went to the site every day to read the book but it was only a formality. When the conflict occurred, they did not look inside for reasons. Instead they focused on other people's insufficiencies. They had a lot to say when discussing others' insufficiencies but very little to say when discussing their own. Some did not like being criticized and even lost their temper. They liked hearing flattering words but could not accept being criticized about things that touched upon their attachments. They thought that because they had been persistently taking part in group Fa study and doing the three things for many years, that even though they were not the most diligent, they were still OK. Others who had done better in "clarifying the facts" and had advised more people to withdraw from the CCP and its affiliated organizations felt that they had done things well and were satisfied, and their mentality of zealotry was evident.
2. About Family
Family is the basic cultivation environment that a practitioner must first face when creating a good cultivation environment at home. Some practitioners do not have a good relationship with their family members and relatives and they are not in the state that a practitioner should be in. Some practitioners are restrained by their children at home and have to take care of their grandchildren.
3. About Alertness to Safety
Group Fa study and group exercises are the form that our Master taught us. During the past several years our group Fa study proceeded steadily without major interference. Some therefore relaxed their alertness to safety. They became insensitive, spoke loudly, did not pay attention to cultivating their speech, and did not pay attention to their own safety or to the safety of others.
4. Pursuing Supernormal Powers
Some practitioners sought out practitioners whose celestial eyes were open and asked them to look at the practitioners with serious illness symptoms. They pursued supernormal powers and did not follow the teaching of the Fa. When the situation of deviating from the Fa occurred, they should have let go of selfishness and read the Fa with peaceful minds, and should have based their actions on the Fa and looked for solutions in the Fa, to help them return to the path of the Fa. However, they were not clear-minded and had the mentality of jealousy, showing off, zealotry, and competing with each other. They tried to validate themselves and insisted on the things they wanted to do.
Through these experiences, I came to further understand that cultivation is serious, and it is a self-purification and elevation process of life. When the status of a cultivator truly meets the requirement of the Fa at his or her level, when he or she is sincerely cultivating in the Fa and understands the Fa correctly, and when he or she has strong righteous thoughts, nothing will dare to interfere with the person. The evil will then not dare to persecute you.
To cultivate oneself is to validate Dafa. As cultivators in the Fa-rectification period, we shoulder the mission of clarifying the truth, saving lives, and validating Dafa. We not only have to do the three things well, as Master taught us, we also have to discard our attachments, constantly elevate our mind nature, and to correctly deal with the relationships and balance between family, society, and work.
It is a great predestined relationship when an everyday person becomes a member of a Falun Gong practitioner's family. Ordinary people do not understand Dafa. They learn about Dafa through observing the conduct of practitioners. If we strictly conduct ourselves following the principle of "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance," as true practitioners should do, and explain the facts about Falun Gong to them with benevolence and kindness that we have achieved through cultivation, I believe that our relatives and family members will all be saved.
March 30, 2008
