(Clearwisdom.net) Over the course of time, some practitioners have let up in their cultivation. This happens as a result of various notions. One is laziness, another is thinking, “I’ve worked hard for so many years” or “I’m tired” after working to end the persecution for so long. Another cause of this problem is long-term tribulations that practitioners are in that they have found hard to resolve. Yet, instead of getting rid of their attachments or eliminating their karma to reduce their suffering, they are indulging in ordinary people’s activities and producing more karma. These activities include watching ordinary movies or television, reading ordinary books, looking at ordinary websites, or indulging in inappropriate behavior with members of the opposite sex.
There is a young female practitioner in our area who is a veteran cultivator. She loves to read ordinary books, look at mainstream websites, and watch popular movies. As we all know, these things carry karma and “a person is like a container, and he is whatever he contains.” (“Melt Into the Fa,” Essentials for Further Advancement) The karma manifests on her body in the forms of weight gain and digestive problems. People are concerned for her, yet she fails to look for the cause of the problems in her own xinxing and instead pours more karma into her brain.
There is another female practitioner in our area whose husband divorced her for another woman. Instead of paying off the karma by enduring the situation righteously, she is now dating a married man, creating the same kind of karma again. “This is how the retribution goes round and round.” (Zhuan Falun)
There are two practitioners’ homes in our area that are the centers of two types of activities. One home is where Fa study is held. Practitioners who attend group Fa study there not only study the Fa well, but share understandings and truly improve their xinxing by pointing out each others’ attachments. This group also does truth-clarification activities together. Photographs have shown that there are many Faluns in other dimensions in this house.
The other home is a place where practitioners who manifest the types of behavior described above go to socialize. Their activities include watching ordinary movies, men and women inappropriately spending time together, and parties. Diligent practitioners who have gone to this house have felt very uncomfortable in the environment there. I wonder what that house looks like in other dimensions.
All the practitioners involved in the things described above are veteran practitioners. I feel very sad to see this situation. Didn’t Master say “the closer to the end, the more diligent you should be” not the less diligent you should be? Looking within, I find that I manifest some of the same problems these practitioners have. In the past, I wouldn’t miss a single global time for sending forth righteous thoughts. I would wake up in the middle of the night every night to send them. If I missed a day of Fa study I would take it very seriously. If I studied one day for only 30 minutes, I would make it up as soon as possible and study longer the next day. I would control what I ate and not indulge my attachments. Also, I would take seriously the section in “Cultivation of Speech” in Zhuan Falun where Master gives us a standard:
“When we open our mouths to speak we should speak in line with a practitioner’s character, we don’t gossip, and we don’t say negative things. You’re a cultivator, so to decide whether or not you should say something you should see how you measure up to the standards of the Law. If it’s something you should say, it’s no problem as long as you’re in line with a practitioner’s character standard as measured by the Law. And besides, we have to talk about the Law and spread the Law, so not speaking wouldn’t work. When we talk about minding speech, it’s about the ordinary things like reputation and profit that you can’t let go of and that aren’t related to a cultivator’s actual work in the world; it’s about disciples in the same practice talking about pointless things with each other; it’s about stuff that’s done to show off because of attachments; about spreading rumors heard through the grapevine; and talking about other things in the world with a lot of excitement and interest.”
I used to stop myself if I were to say any of the things Master tells us not to say, and I would feel uncomfortable when I heard other practitioners saying such things. Now such words comes out of me quite often. I find that the root of these problems in myself is this same laziness or thinking I’ve “worked hard” or that Master somehow accepts me.
We don’t know how much time is left. Master has said that “the people of the future will follow what today's Dafa disciples do” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”) and that “As a Dafa disciple, everything of yours is formed by Dafa and is the most righteous, and it can only be that [you] rectify everything that is not righteous.” (“Dafa is Indestructible,” Essentials for Further Advancement II) Have we forgotten that in order to reach consummation we cannot have a single omission? Have we forgotten what we came down to this earth for?
In “Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Master said,
“The intensity of our clarifying the truth should grow only greater and greater, so you mustn’t let up—you absolutely must not. If humankind really experienced something like what the prophecies have described, it would be too late for regret. You mustn’t let the sentient beings down, nor fail to honor the vow that you made before the dawn of history. And since this evil persecution has not yet ended, we have absolutely no reason to slack off.”
How many beings out there are desperately hoping they will come across a Dafa disciple who will save them?! How much time have we wasted? The gods are watching us at every moment. Sometimes I wonder what they think when they see some of our behavior.
If we handle things righteously, Master can truly do anything for us. Yet instead of dealing with our fatigue or our karma in a righteous manner, we are creating more karma for ourselves. And when we create more karma for ourselves, we create more that Master has to bear.
Even if we have to work against the persecution for another ten years, let us never forget who we are and what we are here for! Let us never forget that the way to reduce our suffering is to cultivate! Let us never forget that there are standards for Dafa disciples, and if we do not meet the standards in time, we, too, will be weeded out!
Category: Journeys of Cultivation
