(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, one of our small localFa study groups was reported to the police by a local person, and a few practitioners in the group were arrested. This caused many to vacillate in their cultivation. We realized through sharing that these arrests were directed at our whole group. We realized that, if we viewed this as just a simple lesson to pay closer attention to issues of safety, it would cause many practitioners to become fearful and adopt a negative form of thinking to evaluate the situation, which meant that we were not fully trusting in Master and the Fa; that thought was still an ordinary notion. We needed to elevate our thinking, and only then could we completely negate the old forces' exploiting our attachments of fear of persecution. Master has left us the cultivation forms of looking within and collectively studying the Fa. Wasn't the fact that the small Fa study group was reported the result of our loopholes? Everyone started to look within and sincerely gave other practitioners suggestions on how to improve, and we were able to rectify all of our incorrect states of cultivation.
For example, when we studied, we weren't respectful to Master and the Fa, and we slacked off in sending righteous thoughts. We added or missed words when studying, and we did not correct ourselves. Some practitioners often read words incorrectly and were annoyed when other practitioners tried to help and correct them. Practitioners often talked about everyday matters, from the cost of food to the increasing price of gasoline. There wasn't anything that they weren't willing talk about. They even used the Fa as an excuse to talk about these things. They got extremely angry when others didn't agree with them. They were indignant when they perceived things to be unfair in society and talked with great interest about national and international politics.
Master told us a long time ago,
“I’d say that a practitioner shouldn’t think too much of what’s good or bad or what’s an achievement or mistake among everyday people. Don’t talk about everyday people’s things with so much interest. Are you interested in and attached to those things, or do you want to do cultivation practice? Everyday people’s things are limited to those things. Haven’t I said that the things of everyday people are no more than those things? People talk about them over and over again—isn’t that just everyday people talking about everyday people?” (“Explaining the Fa for Falun Dafa Assistants in Changchun” from Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa, September 18, 1994)
We also had some practitioners that read experience sharing papers every day on the Minghui website (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) yet hadn't done the three things well, nor did they measure themselves and their cultivation against the requirements of the Fa. They couldn't break away from the attachment to expressing their opinions. They always commented on different situations when they ran into them. They took turns with other practitioners pointing out the faults in the articles on Minghui. This or that enlightenment was “incorrect” or “wrong,” and they completely negated the purpose of posting experience sharing articles on Minghui, which is to see where we deviate from the requirements of the Fa and where we are lacking in Fa-rectification. Their mentality wasn't righteous and they picked on the mistakes of other practitioners. Isn't this the attitude what Master wrote about in Zhuan Falun regarding jealousy?
Master said,
“'Oh, what sort of qigong master is he? I’m not even interested in listening to what he says.' The qigong master may indeed be unable to talk as well as this person does. Nevertheless, what the qigong master talks about is something only from his own school of practice.”
(Zhuan Falun)
The key issue interfering with the state of our group and causing trouble was related to all different forms of jealousy. It manifested while working on Dafa projects and sometimes was very difficult to recognize. Master spoke very clearly about the state of mind of Great Enlightened Beings and how they cooperate in “Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia:”
“So what's their state of mind? It's tolerance, an extremely immense tolerance, being able to accept other beings, and being able to truly think from other beings' perspectives.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.” from Teaching the Fa at the Conference II)
Another problem was that practitioners became very self protective after seeing other practitioners have accidents. This needs to be understood from the historical background of Party culture and the mentality of struggle, where everyone in society feels insecure and fearful. This has produced a fierce need to defend oneself. This manifests as a conscious need to safeguard oneself. This Party culture of self interest is like a poison rooted in one's body and is expressed in such things as not being able to regard another practitioner's things as your things, using safety and the principle of non-action as an excuse to conceal one's attachment to fear, not diligently taking the initiative to participate in activities to rescue other practitioners, and being on guard and taking precautions with everyone.
These attachments, and the words spoken by and actions of practitioners, produced a substance that caused our original, remarkable, and outstanding dimensional field to become impure. Our Fa study environment was no longer a righteous field and not able to achieve the state that Master discussed,
“The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities.” (Zhuan Falun)
This will attract the evil and put us in a perilous situation.
If we believe one hundred percent in Master and the Fa, get rid of old notions that don't conform with the Fa, get rid of human attachments, and negative thoughts, only then can we become truly extraordinary and not give the evil opportunities to exploit our shortcomings. The evil will have great difficulty finding our gaps, and our whole environment will change and become much better. This is our greatest guarantee that we will be able to do the three things well, calmly, and safely.
This is what our Fa study group has learned through sharing. Every practitioner has improved, and the effects are now much better when we collectively send righteous thoughts and study the Fa.
