(Clearwisdom.net)
Dafa disciples in different areas have been doing very well in rectifying the Fa and clarifying the truth to the world's people. Recently, however, some lapses have occurred in our Fa-rectification work, and some Dafa practitioners have been arrested. With regard to this situation, I would like to share my understandings.
1. The Importance of Fa-study
Teacher has required in each and every lecture that we study the book more and study the Fa more so that we do not fall behind and are able to keep up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Due to the old forces' fanatically persecuting practitioners in China recently, many Dafa practitioners were arrested and quite a few truth-clarification material sites were damaged, negatively impacting our efforts to clarify the truth to the world's people. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston", Teacher says:
"There are a lot of things you still aren't able to do well as Dafa disciples, though, and I can tell you that this is in fact because you've neglected Fa-study. The reason is, your surface, which is still assimilating to the Fa, needs to be constantly improved, and as you constantly improve, the things that you need to cultivate away have to be arranged for. Every realm has its own state of being. If you remain stagnant, you definitely won't be able to keep up with the Fa-rectification. When you do well in the Fa-rectification, I can see that it's always because you are able to understand the Fa from the Fa; and when you do somewhat poorly, I can see that it's because you aren't making a priority of Fa-study and you aren't able to understand the Fa from the Fa. As a Dafa disciple, no matter what the situation or what the circumstances, you have to study the Fa, and you can't neglect your own assimilation and improvement; you can't forget to study the Fa. If you don't study the Fa well, you won't be able to do Dafa work well."
Because Dafa practitioners have neglected Fa-study while doing Dafa work and have regarded Dafa work as their first priority, the amount of time they spend on Fa-study has progressively decreased. Doing Dafa work like ordinary work has enabled the evil to take advantage of this lapse. Therefore, the old forces are interfering with us, restricting our divine sides and leading dangerous situations to occur.
2. Neglecting to Send Forth Righteous Thoughts
Some fellow practitioners think that sending forth righteous thoughts does not have a very significant effect. This comes from not having studied the Fa well. Teacher says in "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A."
"Let me talk about another issue. Namely, as you know, we are eliminating the evil at set times, that is, we're sending forth righteous thoughts. In the past it wasn't called 'sending forth righteous thoughts,' it was 'divine powers'--using divine powers, Buddha Fa's divine powers. Everyday people have referred to it as 'supernormal abilities.' So why do I call it sending forth righteous thoughts? Since you're doing Dafa cultivation, everything should be the most magnificent and the purest. None of the things we do are just about your personal cultivation. We have to also consider the Fa, and we have to consider the new beings of the future, and, at the same time, we have to consider the form of beings in the future. Because you're laying a foundation for them, the path we take has to be righteous."
"Dafa disciples' magnificence is connected to the Fa-rectification of the cosmos, and your greatest mission is to safeguard the Fa. Let those that don't damage Dafa just be. If someone damages Dafa, you should clarify the truth to him, restrain the evil, eliminate the evil, and save people. So in other words, right now we don't do anything about the many bad phenomena in today's human society, because those are things to be handled when the Fa rectifies the human world. And the things to be done when the Fa rectifies the human world have nothing to do with Dafa disciples, because you are to reach Consummation. Dafa disciples' magnificence is connected to the Fa-rectification, and it's different from the form of personal cultivation mankind had in the past--it's definitely not the same thing. So in other words, our sending forth righteous thoughts is to eliminate the evil that persecutes and interferes with Dafa, and persecutes Dafa disciples, and is to eliminate all factors that persecute the Fa." "Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it. What you eliminate from your own mind are ones which have an effect within the expanse of your own body; at the same time, you need to eliminate the external ones, which are directly related to the dimensions you're in. If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples. As you know, the persecution that Dafa disciples in Mainland China suffer is quite severe, so each student has to truly, clearly realize what his responsibility is, and when he sends forth righteous thoughts he has to be able to truly calm his mind and truly produce the effect of righteous thoughts. So this is something extremely critical, extremely important."
3. The Attachment to Time
Some practitioners have displayed their attachment to time when exchanging experiences with others, thinking that the persecution will end at a certain time and that they can therefore slack off in Fa-study. As soon as lapses occurred, there would be danger. They were not able to endure the torture when facing the evil's persecution, writing "repentance statements" against their will and leaving a blemish on their cultivation path. Teacher says in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa":
"Think about it, everyone, at this fast speed it amounts to nothing in light of the entire history of your existence, or the eternity of your existence. In the future, when you look back on this period of time [you'll find that] it was only an instant, that it was nothing. At the beginning of this persecution, each day felt like a year to you all. Even during this recent period of time, many students have been wondering, 'When will it end? When is this persecution going to end?' Some people are thus thinking about Master having written in his poems that spring is coming, (everyone laughs) and think, 'Oh, so it'll end in the spring?' I also mentioned autumn in my poems, (everyone laughs) so some students said, 'It must mean it's going to end in autumn.' Then when autumn was over and it didn't end, they seemed to be somewhat disappointed. Think about it, isn't that using ordinary human thinking to look at these things?"
Some practitioners have developed a mentality of letting up and pursuing comfort. Thinking that the Fa's rectification of the human world is about to come true and having done a large amount of Dafa work, they cling to their "accomplishments" and become very pleased with themselves. They have no intention of going further for fear of not being able to endure if they are arrested. This kind of selfish mentality is even less like what a Dafa disciple should have at this point in time.
Teacher points out to students in "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples":
"Actually, there are a few students who have always been reluctant to do things that are for destroying the evil and clarifying the truth--as if that would be doing something for Master, or as if that would be putting in extra for Dafa. As soon as you heard me say that you had reached the standard for Consummation, you felt like a big burden had been lifted, you slacked off, and didn't want to do anything anymore, instead of taking what Master told you--something so sacred--to be motivation for becoming more diligent. If you are still unclear about what a Fa-rectification disciple is, you won't be able to step forward in the current tribulation, and you will be led by the human world's pursuit of comfort to 'enlighten' along an evil path. Master's heart has always been pained by those who have fallen, and the majority were ruined by that pursuit."
4. Be Compassionate to Fellow Dafa Practitioners
Certain people, under the evil's persecution, have written the so called "repentance statements" against their will or even stopped practicing. After their release from detention, their contact with fellow practitioners tends to be limited because fellow practitioners are reluctant to come in contact with them and keep their distance from them, thinking that they have damaged the Fa. Consequently these people do not have access to Teacher's new articles or Clearwisdom articles and thus have become even more distant from the Fa-rectification progress.
From the perspective of being compassionate, I think that we as Dafa disciples should be more broad-minded. If we are able to have great compassion and show great mercy towards everyday people and evil people, so should we demonstrate these qualities even more towards our fellow practitioners. Teacher says in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa":
"I said earlier that if we don't cultivate well, for our Dafa disciples it won't just be a matter of painful regret when they reach Consummation later on. Those who have cultivated well will truly have a grand Consummation when they return--all the sentient beings who put infinite hope in them will be saved by them. But when some of those who don't cultivate well return, they'll find their universes in a broken and incomplete state. As for those who've gone to the opposite side during this persecution or even done awful things, let me tell you that Master still doesn't want to abandon them."
Teacher is compassionate to each and every disciple, hoping that we will not fail. As long as the Fa-rectification is even one day from completion, Teacher will give us opportunities to make up for our shortcomings. As Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, we should take the Fa as Teacher and treat all sentient beings with benevolence.
Because of my limited cultivation level, I can only discuss this on a superficial level. Please correct me if there's anything improper.
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