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To Be Human or Immortal?

Jan. 31, 2011 |   By Yiyan, a practitioner living outside China

(Clearwisdom.net) The Minghui Editors recently published an article calling for papers on “Divine Occurrences in the Human World.” While many of us have shared our understandings with each other, many practitioners in my area either had not heard about the call for articles, were indifferent, or were acting like spectators, waiting to read other practitioners' articles.

I recently reviewed the Minghui article “Human Beings or Immortals?” published in October 2005, (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2005/10/30/66376.html) and afterwards realized that this is a good opportunity for Dafa practitioners to walk out of the human world into the divine domain, as long as we are willing to cultivate as a whole. If we can really advance together and improve as a whole, then a lot of things such as: sending forth righteous thoughts as merely a formality; being arrested while sending forth righteous thoughts in a group; sending forth righteous thoughts with a mind of hatred and the mentality of competitiveness; feeling helpless when encountering difficulty in saving sentient beings; and so on; will disappear, and the mighty power of Dafa will be directly reflected in us.

In the article “Human Beings or Immortals?” the practitioner wrote: “After going through six years of brutal persecution, some practitioners consider themselves as divine beings already, but why are they still under persecution? Why can't they eliminate the evil? Some other practitioners consider themselves human beings and therefore lack the power to eliminate the evil. Indeed, what are we—humans or divine beings?”

The article continued, “Fellow practitioners who still have various human attachments, please ask yourselves seriously: Am I truly selfless? Am I truly benevolent? Is my mind pure and translucent? Can I look at my heart and truly be worthy of judgment before heaven and earth? If the answers are in the negative, then you are not a divine being. If you can say yes to the above questions, you are a great divine being, with the power to dissolve all evil and all unrighteous things. No obstacle can hinder you. Instead, obstacles are opportunities for you to establish your mighty virtue through your efforts against persecution.”

The practitioner also talked about his understanding of divine beings: “What does it mean to be a divine being? They are benevolent and compassionate. Regardless of who or what situation a divine being faces, he or she always has benevolence and compassion— only out of compassion does a divine being save sentient beings. In order to save all beings, a divine being clarifies the truth, steps forward to validate the Fa, and resists the persecution.”

These are the righteous thoughts and righteous enlightenment of Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period. To many veteran practitioners, who may be familiar with these words, do we really appreciate that this understanding can only come through diligent cultivation? These are not the words of ordinary theories or knowledge. It is not sufficient to simply “know it” and leave it at that. This understanding is reflected in our practice. If a practitioner's cultivation was not mature and they didn’t have a thorough understanding of the high levels of Fa five years ago, do the majority of veteran practitioners at this current time have righteous thoughts in their hearts on these issues?

Regarding what is human versus what is immortal, the author cited Teacher in Hong Yin , “Distinction Between Human and Enlightened Beings:”

“What is human? Sentiments and desires fill the body.
What is immortal? Human mentalities do not exist.
What is Buddha? Benevolence and virtue in abundance.
What is Dao? A pure and tranquil true being.”

I recalled in our sharing of what Teacher said, “Gods walk the earth, validating the Fa” (“What’s to Fear?” Hong Yin II ), “Righteous thoughts each step of the way, Divine beings are present in this world.” (“Stirred by Reflection”) A fellow practitioner said that he often spent lots of energy in validating the Fa all these years like “a human walking on the earth.” He used a human mindset to validate the Fa and save sentient beings and many problems couldn't be resolved and the results must surely not have met Teacher's expectations of us.

This sharing is a good reminder to me. I often lack confidence in my abilities and the effectiveness of my righteous thoughts. This is because I feel my cultivation isn't good enough. In this regard (on supernormal capability, righteous thoughts, power of the Fa) I had insufficient understanding of Teacher and Dafa and was lacking of a righteous belief in the Fa principles and did not quite believe it. Since the time Minghui called for papers, I became aware of these cultivation problems and know I need to lay down human notions and concepts.

We should really think about this. Many of us have been cultivating for over a decade. Have we always considered ourselves as cultivators and cultivated away our attachments during all these years? Do we realize that cultivators are not ordinary people? What does it mean to walk a divine path? Of course, when we talk about these things with non-practitioners, we should cultivate our speech and consider whether those who we are talking to will be able to accept our words. We should speak rationally, know clearly who we are, and cultivate diligently.

Teacher said,

“...what's been bestowed upon Dafa disciples today is the state of Gods, and you should progress toward the state of a God. You can do a lot of things well if you approach them with righteous thoughts.”

(“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference”)

I understand that when our righteous thoughts are taking effect, we are in the state of Gods and are Gods in human world. When our righteous thoughts are strong, we are in the state of Gods validating the Fa and are the embodiment of the Fa in the human world. In this state, what can't be accomplished as Dafa requires? We don't need to waste time consuming our energy, feeling powerless and being opinionated. We can let go of our attempts to validate ourselves, and the pursuit of fame, gain, the love of ordinary people, and our notions that we cannot achieve what Teacher requires of us in doing the three things. Thus, there will be as many examples for people to see as there are Dafa practitioners. Can the evil beings' lies play a role in the human world where the “evil is naturally defeated”? (Don’t Be Sad, Hong Yin Volume II)