(Minghui.org) (Continued from part 1) The cause of fellow practitioners’ deaths is not “illness karma,” but many factors together give the old forces loopholes to exploit. Hanging on to just one attachment is not enough to end a practitioner's life.
I believe that even if a cultivator improves slowly, as long as he bases everything on the Fa and continuously lets go of his attachments, the old forces will not dare to kill him.
Four days before she passed away, a fellow practitioner told me, “This tribulation is too big for me to break through.” She seemed to have righteous thoughts when she worked on Dafa tasks; however, that single sentence said at such a pivotal moment revealed her confusion and human mindset. Unable to identify the reason for the tribulation, she was filled with fear coupled with other human attachments. She could not let go of the human thoughts formed while living in human society.
In contrast, when another fellow practitioner in our local area was on the brink of death, she felt regretful and said that it was such a shame that she had not cultivated well enough over the past decade, and she had not done a good job in clarifying the facts to people. With that thought, she was healed.
As she lay there dying, her only thought was about walking on the path Master arranged for her and to cultivate until the end. Her righteous thoughts brought her back.
Measuring Ourselves with Dafa Standards
Some practitioners are unclear about cultivation, nor do they know what they need to let go of and with what standards they should measure themselves. Our goal in cultivating in Dafa is not to become good people in ordinary society, but to reach Godhood. We need to measure ourselves with the standards for high level divine beings. We should be clear what mentality Gods and Buddhas maintain under normal circumstances, as well as in conflicts. Once we are able to maintain a high level mentality, we will elevate. However, if we always measure ourselves with the standards for good people in ordinary society, we won't be able to elevate and reach consummation.
Even if we let go of all our human attachments, such as jealousy, competition, showing off and zealotry, we are still good people. A truly good person takes everything lightly; however, without letting go of human notions, he is still an ordinary person, no matter how good he is. Some children are very pure with few attachments and notions, but they are still ordinary human beings.
Dafa demonstrates various high standards in different dimensions. If we do not measure ourselves with the standards of Dafa, we will not know the principles of high levels, and our xinxing will not be elevated.
Letting Go of Old Notions with Righteous Thoughts
When we sent forth righteous thoughts at noon one day, a fellow practitioner talked to her husband for about five minutes: what to buy for lunch, close the door tightly, what to cook for their child, etc. She completely forgot what she was doing and the requirements of Dafa.
A large number of practitioners use human thinking to deal with issues because they believe that since we are Fa-rectification Dafa disciples, we don't need to worry too much about human attachments.
When answering a practitioner’s question, Master said,
“Question: Many among the disciples currently have this thinking: When a practitioner experiences tribulations because of interference from the old forces, other practitioners think that even if he does have attachments, the persecution shouldn't be allowed to take place and everyone should send righteous thoughts. My question is, if the practitioner himself doesn't improve, will this work?
Teacher: That would be a serious impediment. If he himself isn't rational, whatever we do amounts to nothing. Sending righteous thoughts can eliminate what's outside him but not what's inside his mind. Whatever a person wants to do comes from a single thought of his--it's he who decides if he wants something or not. When this situation occurs, I think there has to be a knot in his mind that stems from attachments. If he's really not able to do it, you can go and help him. There's no problem with doing that. Try to help him understand things on the basis of the Fa-truths and by studying the Fa more.” (“Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”) (verified)
Failing to let go of notions and thus lacking sufficient righteous thoughts have caused the deaths of our local practitioners. We should learn from this lesson and search within. We need to understand that cultivation is a serious matter; therefor we should treasure the conflicts which occur between practitioners so we can improve together, and quickly transform our human notions.
Master said,
“You can't let up with your individual cultivation. No matter what you are doing, be it clarifying the facts or doing projects that validate Dafa, you must first put cultivating yourself well as top priority; only then can the things that you do be more sacred, for then you are a Dafa disciple, and are doing things as a Dafa disciple to validate the Fa. Ordinary people can also do the things that Dafa disciples do, but they cannot have the mighty virtue of Dafa disciples. They can only receive blessings and virtue, and accumulate future blessings. (“Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference”) (verified)
Cultivating ourselves well and elevating our xinxing are crucial in our personal cultivation.
The above is my personal understanding of the reasons for the deaths of our local practitioners. I hope that we all improve together so that we will not lose more practitioners.
Category: Improving Oneself
