(Clearwisdom.net) Fellow practitioners are like true reflections of ourselves. Recently I read an article, "Only by Truly Cultivating Can the Test of Life and Death be Passed," in the Minghui Weekly, no. 478 (http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2011/3/9/交流--实修才能走过生死大关-237348.html), that really shocked me. Aren't all of these examples like the story of the "Golden Buddha"? If in the course of cultivation you only pay attention to the outward form of cultivation and don't truly cultivate your heart, you will never pass this fatal test that is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person. Seeing a fellow practitioner in my local area persecuted in the form of sickness karma helped me to see past attachments more clearly.

It also helped me to realize what Master said,

"Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person." (“True Cultivation” from Essentials for Further Advancement)

In the past like this practitioner I faced similar fatal tests of whether I could let go of human attachments and whether I truly believed in Master and the Fa, while in the midst of tribulations. I remember the first time that I was illegally arrested by the Chinese Communist Party I faced a fatal test: whether I could let go of the fear of losing my job and the fear of being sentenced; I failed to pass this test. While I was in a forced labor camp I faced a fatal test for a second time: whether I could let go of the fear of dying there and the attachment of qing to family. I compromised and signed the so-called three statements. It wasn't until a few years later that I really understood. On the surface it appeared that I feared this or that, or that I hadn't let go of this or that attachment, but in reality the issue was really that I did not fully believe in the Fa. I wasn't able to fully believe in Master and the Fa because I did not give Falun Dafa the correct position that it deserved and did not treat it as the most important. Instead I considered life and death, and loss and gain as the most important. Isn't this the characteristic of the life of the old universe-- to be selfish? Isn't this false cultivation? Whether we truly believe in Master and the Fa or not is the root question. In the entire process of practicing, whether we pass a test or not depends on whether at every moment and each time we can thoroughly understand and accept each test and every tribulation.

Master said,

"If you still are not fundamentally resolute in the Fa, everything else is out of question." (“For Whom do You Practice Cultivation?” from Essentials for Further Advancement)

From the bitter lessons that I have learned over the past decade, from the sharing of what local practitioners and thousands and thousands of other practitioners have enlightened to, I learned that cultivation is a serious matter. I came to understand that being able to pass fatal tests while suffering is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person. It is a touchstone determining whether a person is truly cultivating or not. Cultivation is like gold, it can not be the least bit fake and only then will it shine brightly. Cultivating a person is also cultivating one's heart and only then can one pass tests successfully. In the "Golden Buddha" story, the butcher didn't cultivate the outermost form but gave his whole heart to the Buddha. The Buddha then gave him a golden Buddha body. The other two that cultivated Buddhahood only cultivated the outer form and didn't truly cultivate their hearts. In the end they achieved nothing.

In the past I practiced and cultivated myself every day, yet I didn't enlighten to the true essence of cultivation practice. I took practicing and doing things as the most important and treated cultivating my heart as secondary. This was a profound and deep lesson that I learned. It is not permissible to be the least bit false in cultivation practice. If a person only floats on the surface of practice, and does not firmly and solidly cultivate his heart, then he is ultimately only fooling himself. To truly grasp the essence of cultivation practice one must cultivate the heart above anything else.