(Clearwisdom.net) During the past six months the persecution has been fierce in different areas. Besides the evil gathering strength again and putting up a last-ditch struggle before its demise, our own mindsets did not conform to the Fa, and the evils took advantage of our shortcomings. The following are understandings relating to cultivation.
Can we overcome selfishness and the attachment of validating ourselves?
The old forces that persecute Falun Gong practitioners are of selfishness. Learning the Fa had made us understand that a life of selflessness is more powerful and has more wisdom than a life of selfishness. But how many of our fellow practitioners are sufficiently clear-minded and conscious of this, to abide by Master's teachings to "consider others first before thinking of yourself" and achieve altruism?
A first reaction when facing a sudden blow or difficulty is self-protection, with hands gripped into fists - a manifestation of self. Then, how can he discover what is actually going on in his mind? We are sure that a Falun Gong practitioner's divine side meets the requirement of the Fa. But when one's righteous thoughts are weak, his human side is isolated from his divine side, and his divine side cannot give full play. Then, how many human notions do we have? All practitioners are doing the three things. The degree to which they comprehend the Fa creates significant differences in their cultivation levels. This may be inevitable. But we should make stricter demands on ourselves to follow the Fa in order to meet the requirements better.
While doing the three things we harmonize and consummate everything and countless beings in the new universe. Our virtue and all divine attributes are all included. How much we can do, how much we can bear, whether we are diligent and what kind of Fruit Status we will reach are all included.
The practitioners who attained the Fa but hid in their homes and failed to step forward to save beings for fear of the persecution not only cannot get rid of the old universe's selfness, but their moral standard is lower than that of non-practitioners. They could not gain anything even if they read the Fa. The Buddhas, Taos, and divine beings will not reveal high-level Fa principles to people of such low realms. Since the lives of the new universe are selfless, then where will these practitioners be positioned? Not to mention those whose egos were enlarged, believing themselves to be great and higher than Master and Dafa, and thus deviated from Dafa.
Master mentioned in "Sifting of the Sand" three types of practitioners who are not diligent. Many areas have these practitioners. Although there are not many of them, they have a significant negative impact. Following the Sichuan earthquake, some of them who do not have a clear mind posted improper articles on the Internet. The ruling regime's special agents also set traps on the Internet trying to cause the public to have misunderstandings about Falun Gong practitioners. We should not be moved by ordinary people, but we must look inside for reasons, to discover and discard the slightest selfishness we have during truth clarification in the earthquake's aftermath, and by cultivating, rid ourselves of remaining notions that conform to the old forces' arrangements and raise our level of compassion. Some areas indeed have people who call themselves "practitioners," but they persecute and destroy Falun Gong practitioners. These people can often infiltrate practitioners' circles and provoke practitioners and coordinators whose egos allowed them to be stirred up, and thus made the process of looking inside for the practitioners and coordinators extremely complicated. Because these people are not genuine cultivators, and their deviated thoughts and actions have created the mountain-like huge and granite-like hard material, wherever they went, the coordinators of that area would have trouble, and losses and difficulties would appear for the Fa validation work.
Some practitioners do not cultivate their xinxing. Driven by the human mindset, they were doing the three things and at the same time doing things that interfere with the coordination of the whole group. Although they were bearing heavy tribulations from the old forces' interference and arrangements, they were all for self. Diligent practitioners who give up the attachment to self and let go of ego, while considering others first, easily get rid of attachments with their righteous willpower. The old forces then have no strength to coerce or to take advantage of these divine beings who are altruistic and have let go of life and death. Those who still live an irresponsible, private life and who waste the money other practitioners had saved from their daily budgets for making truth clarification materials are not cultivating. The same goes for those who are "gathering" money, those who go extremes and are not even comparable to calm, ordinary people who follow thousands of years of culture, and is the same for those who, for validating themselves, are jealous of fellow practitioners, persecute fellow practitioners, interrupt the coordinators and regard solemn declarations as child's play. If they continue like this, no matter how much they do, they are not cultivating.
Quoting out of Context Is Not Learning the Fa with Righteous Thoughts
Those practitioners who do not raise their xinxing often quote Master's words, "Dafa disciples' personal cultivation and improvement are no longer an issue, nor is Dafa disciples' achieving Consummation." ("Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference" April 7, 2007 in Manhattan)
These practitioners, with their strong attachment to self, neglected the connotation and the following content in Master's teaching. Master said,
"Dafa disciples' personal cultivation and improvement are no longer an issue, nor is Dafa disciples' achieving Consummation. Right now, one important thing that needs to be attended to is the matter of how to save more sentient beings, and it is something Dafa disciples are to accomplish during their current process of achieving Consummation. This is Dafa disciples' mission, a duty that cannot be shirked, something that they must do and must complete." ("Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference" April 7, 2007 in Manhattan)
We once heard a practitioner quote this lecture as an excuse to go easy on himself in raising his xinxing; we also heard some other practitioners said they could finally take a break.
We cannot say that practitioners' thoughts and deeds in the past six months were the reason for the evil's desperate persecution, but practitioners who do not look within and who do the three things to validate themselves have not overcome the selfishness of the old universe. Can a person who does not diligently cultivate himself and who does the three things based on a selfish mentality become a Dafa practitioner during the Fa-rectification period? We are not clarifying the truth for the purpose of clarifying the truth; we are doing so to save people. Holding a selfish mentality, can one save more people or become a Dafa disciple who considers others first?
The article "My Cultivation Journey during Seven Years at a Materials Production Site" brought out the conflicts, arguments and contradictions existing among practitioners that the divine beings could not agree with. They were actually manifestations of the ego-driven old universe. The practitioners in that story experienced intense conflicts because they failed to consider others first before doing anything, and they failed to study the Fa well and look within on the basis of catching up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Large materials production centers in other areas may not be like the situation the author mentioned, but other similar situations existed in different areas. These circumstances are representative, and caused a shock in the final cultivation stage during the Fa-rectification period. That is why we need to further understand the reasons for such a situation.
Similar situations mentioned in the above article were discussed relatively deeply in several other articles in the 331th issue of "Minghui Weekly". Based on our seven years of experience of running a large-scale materials production center, I felt that the practitioners' "looking within" in the above-mentioned material production center was only at "the primary level." After being blamed, the practitioners concerned did not further expand their mind capacity and did not look deeper within. They stopped at the personal level and kept silent without explanation and endured and bore the responsibilities that fellow practitioners should have taken. This limited the true functions of the materials production center. Didn't they have a gap and aggravate the separation among each other? Didn't they fail to take the responsibility for the whole group's coordination and improvement? If we look within we would be able to realize that the things happening around us are also a reflection of our own cultivation status. If we expand our capacity to include those coordinators who show their ego, to include the whole group of local practitioners, would we still say that this ego belongs to others instead of me?
When we read that article, it touched us deeply. We truly understand the author because we have walked out of the same situation. Practitioners not involved in materials production work think the materials site is sacred and is a piece of pure land that is hard to find. But they are unable to treat practitioners at the materials site with truthfulness. They either think practitioners at the site have reached a very high realm, or suspect these practitioners of having problems. In reality, isn't there a similar phenomenon existing among other practitioners? For seven years, fellow practitioners "worried" about practitioners at our materials production site "being self-satisfied" and "placing themselves above other practitioners," I did not hear any words of encouragement or offers to help from them. The only direct, affirmative phrase I heard was, "It is really not easy for you." There was not much criticism, but many suggestions. This also created an environment of much friction among the practitioners.
It is the time for the practitioners as a whole group to improve our level. Every one of us should, as soon as possible, reach the standard of "selflessness and altruism." Only by doing so will we be able to save more people in the limited time we have left!
The above are my personal understandings; please point out any mistakes.