(Clearwisdom.net) I have practiced Falun Gong for more than ten years. I have been illegally imprisoned several times because I practice Falun Gong. Whether it was in a brainwashing center or a detention center, I rejected the persecution and old force arrangements. Each time I was able to come out because of righteous thoughts and righteous actions. Here, I want to share two of my understandings.
1. My Understanding of the Need for Right ThoughtsIn talking to people about Falun Gong, I often used to tell them how the CCP persecuted Falun Gong. I told them how we practitioners risked being arrested, imprisoned, sentenced, or even tortured to death, even for simply talking with people like them, clarifying the truth, as I was doing. I told them that we risked our lives to clarify the truth to save people.
Suddenly one day, I realized that it was fine to say this while clarifying the truth to non-practitioners. But if I keep saying this, I might begin actually accepting this in my mind. Then at the micro level, I would have acknowledged the persecution, because matter and mind are one. When I went out to clarify the truth, sometimes unrighteous thoughts would pop up in my mind, such as how to deal with evildoers and how to run when they chased me. I even had dreams that I was being chased by a group of bad guys. I was running around trying to find a place to hide, and I woke up in a cold sweat. I also experienced this in real life several times.
Once I realized that these were wrong thoughts, I started to reject and eliminate them. What I do is the most righteous and greatest thing in the universe. I should not be persecuted. I should walk the Fa-rectification path that Teacher arranged for me. Once unrighteous thoughts came up, I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate them immediately, and not acknowledge them.
In other dimensions, everything is alive. The bad thought itself is also a bad substance. When it reflects into this human level, it might become a reality. Therefore, we must strictly control our every thought.
2. Maintaining a Cultivator's Mindset
It has been almost ten years since the persecution began. However, some practitioners still cannot act as they should in the face of persecution. Even practitioners who did pretty well when they were free, fell when they were imprisoned, and some have never gotten back up again.
Teacher said,
"At a certain point in time, you will be made unable to discern clearly whether something is true, whether your gong exists, whether you can practice cultivation and make it, or whether there are Buddhas and if they are real. In the future, these situations will surface again to give you this false impression and make you feel as though they do not exist and are all false - it is to see whether you are determined. You say that you must be firm and sure-footed. With this determination, if you can indeed be firmly resolute at that point, you will naturally do well because your xinxing will have already improved. But you are not yet that stable at the moment. If you are given this tribulation right away, you will not be enlightened to it at all, and neither will you be able to practice cultivation whatsoever. Tribulations may take place in different respects." (Lecture Six, "Your Mind Must be Right," Zhuan Falun, 2000 Translation).
My initial understanding of this Fa was that we should not do bad things and we must maintain our xinxing. When the persecution came, I understood that we should safeguard our cultivator's mind under this extreme pressure. It's that simple.
Teacher also said,
"It's a critical test of life and death, then. If a person can't abandon his concern over life and death, he absolutely won't be able to Consummate." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore")
I realized that the real meaning of a life-and-death test is about human attachment. If we let go of all attachments, there will be no test that we can't pass. I think this issue is very important. If a person dies, what will he be afraid of? There is nothing he won't give up, whether it is the emotional attachment to children, parents, or spouse, fame, interest, etc. And he has to let it go even if he doesn't want to. As long as we truly let go everything, we can pass the test of life and death. Will the "transformation" test exist any more? When I faced severe persecution, I maintained my cultivation mindset with determination. The result was that the evildoers said "We are not going to try to "transform" you any more." That's the end of the test.
Teacher also said,
"Some people find their tribulations very big in cultivation practice, but actually they are not. The bigger you find them, the bigger they will become and the smaller you will become. If you do not care and do not put them on your mind, with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear? As long as the green mountains remain, there is no fear of having no firewood to burn. Ignore them! Once you give them up, you will find that the tribulations have become smaller and you have become bigger. You will overcome them in one step, and the tribulations will become nothing. It is guaranteed to be this way." ("Lecture in Sydney")
What I have come to understand best is that we should firmly believe in Teacher and Dafa in any situation. Let's follow Teacher's words and do well the three things, so that we can cultivate ourselves well and also save more people.