(Clearwisdom.net) According to a fellow practitioner, the earliest person to obtain the Fa in Qinghuangdao started practicing in 1995. I heard that three people back then had the great fortune to attend one of Teacher's Fa-study classes. After that, the news was passed from person to person, heart to heart, one after another, and more than 10,000 people began cultivating. Among the coordinators were many assistants, who moved others greatly by their efforts and sacrifices in establishing and nourishing Qinghuangdao's cultivation environment. Without a word of complaint, they traveled to the three counties and four districts of our city, helping Dafa practitioners in the whole city form one body, a strong cultivation environment. But since the evil persecution began, those who were the solid backbone, and the various assistants, have undergone a big change with the passage of time.
As Dafa practitioners solidified their efforts to oppose the persecution and started saving sentient beings, all cultivators have entered into the phase of validating the Fa as part of Fa-rectification cultivation. New persons of responsibility appeared, and a new backbone of diligent practitioners formed. But the Fa's requirements for Fa rectification period Dafa disciples haven't changed: self-liberation and personal Consummation are not our goals, but, rather, on a foundation of solid cultivation, we must negate the old forces' arrangements, widely clarify the truth, and save sentient beings. Only then are we fulfilling the grand vows we made before coming to this world. How can we save more people? As particles of Dafa we do the three things Teacher requires of us, and those are the responsibilities we must fulfill to the utmost. The key is to form a solid body and manifest the Fa power of one body. Only in a one-body environment, without the gaps brought about by human hearts, can we have all that is not righteous return to goodness, inspire passive practitioners who haven't stepped forward to step forward, and have all that does not conform to the Great Law return to the road that Teacher has arranged. With good coordination and a cooperative environment, we Qinghuangdao cultivators can cover all of the sentient beings we are responsible for. Without righteous thoughts from the Fa, even our own salvation is questionable, let alone our ability to save others.
We've already been through ten years of Fa-rectification cultivation, which have been filled with biting hardship and cruelty. It hasn't been easy to make it to today. In this forging of an indestructible Arhat's body, look back at when we broke through the old forces' arrangements and look back at where we have fallen down--it has not been an easy journey, so we have to treasure it!
But on this ten-year path we have been weighed down by mental burdens, which follow us around like shadows, chained to the human hearts we have as a body, draining our energy. They are what we call "gaps." The human attachment that causes each party to insist that he or she is right has hindered us for so many years and is a major gap in our city. Teacher has warned us again and again that it is only Dafa practitioners who can damage the Fa, and it is the human hearts of practitioners that cause the greatest disruption and interference. It has gotten to the point now that some people won't accept scriptures or materials from others who are not from their group. The fact is that, as practitioners, everything we come across is a test and is about whether you can adhere to Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance during this process. It's not about looking at others or changing others, it's about finding where we are stubbornly refusing to adhere to the Fa. Only by accommodating others can we form one body.
Perplexed and tormented by these conflicts, we have continually deceived ourselves by not cultivating inwards, but rather thought about how to resolve other people's problems, how to shift responsibility, which uses up precious energy that should be channeled into saving people. Why don't we all take a look at ourselves! Thirty-three Qinghuangdao practitioners are still incarcerated and being persecuted. Several hundred people have left our ranks and stopped cultivating. Several hundred more have stayed at home and won't come out to validate the Fa. Others have been persecuted with sickness karma and left this world prematurely.
Facing so many problems, how can we waste our energy on these internal matters? Let's compare ourselves with districts that have done well. Other regions have blanketed their area by clarifying the truth to every home. In some places, 90 percent of practitioners who gave up have returned to Teacher's side. What is their secret? Isn't it just solid Fa study, true cultivation, and looking within to form a solid one body? After forming a solid field of righteous thoughts, only then could they save the area's sentient beings. Every practitioner in our city should think this over: Aren't we the practitioners that Teacher has mentioned who are still confused, still not clear and rational? We ourselves are still unable to face up to our own shortcomings, so how could we look within and improve? Looking at others' faults and our own strengths when running into conflict, isn't this the wrong way to go about it? In fact, it's also very dangerous.
Let me put forward a humble proposal, just like the old saying goes: "Put out a brick which returns as jade." Why don't all of our city's most enthusiastic assistants and coordinators start at their small Fa-study groups and calm their hearts, look within, cultivate solidly, and make our environment very upright. Let's manifest Dafa's Buddha Light shining throughout the world. "Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the Master" (Zhuan Falun). When we can all become mature in the Fa, only then can we do well with the three things, truly help Teacher rectify the Fa, and save the people whose predestined relationships with us have developed over countless ages.
If there are flaws in what I've said, please compassionately point them out.
