(Clearwisdom.net) Recently there have been several incidents involving Dafa practitioners being persecuted for making Dafa materials. I feel we should sum up our experiences and lessons in this regard, so that we can do better in the three things Master has told us to do. The following are some of my personal views. Please kindly point out anything improper.
1. My understanding on eliminating the old forces' way of thinking
The old forces' way of thinking in essence is the notion that they keep what they want in Fa-rectification, or they want to change only others instead of themselves.
If there were no old forces in the universe, then all our degeneration and impurity would be resolved with good results by Master's mighty power of the Fa. Then, since the old forces have appeared, we should not acknowledge their arrangements, and this not acknowledging should meet the standards of the righteous thoughts and righteous actions of the new universe. In fact, the act of "not acknowledging" itself is eliminating the evil.
I remember once when I was sending forth righteous thoughts, I saw a mass of things like dark clouds swooping towards me. I eliminated many of them with the mighty power of the Buddha Fa, but still there were some left. I then remembered what Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,"
"I absolutely will not acknowledge any of those things you arranged in the past, old forces. I don't even acknowledge you."
When I had this thought, all the evil disappeared straight away. The not acknowledging the old forces is what we have cultivated in our practice over a long period of Fa-rectification cultivation, and it is a natural manifestation of our cultivation fruit status. How strong our "not acknowledging" is, is a true reflection of our xinxing level.
In order to truly not acknowledge the old forces and all their arrangements, and to save sentient beings, we need to eliminate our own degeneration and attachments. Due to the fact that we also came from the old universe, the degenerate material elements accumulated at various levels in the long process of degeneration also block us from righteous enlightenment of the Fa. Besides, the old forces are forcing interference upon us. All this makes it extremely important and urgent for us to truly face our own attachments, to eliminate these degenerate elements and our degenerate way of thinking.
For example, when printing Dafa materials, I often used to think that I have "superior conditions" and that is why I was shouldering such an important responsibility. But when I carefully thought about this later on, I realized that I still had an attachment that "I'm better than others in this respect." In fact whenever I realize that I have or should have the ability to do a certain task, I should also be clear that it is because I have responsibilities and obligations in this respect, and because I need to cultivate in this form of work, that is why Master has arranged for me to do this task.
In the past, when I was sharing experiences with fellow practitioners, I had a tendency to speak before everyone else and leave very little chance for others to say anything. I did not take much notice of what others were sharing or would not accept other people's ideas. When I heard fellow practitioners saying how good my understandings were, I would feel very pleased with myself. When I calmed down and thought it over, I realized that this way of thinking was no different from that of the old forces.
Gradually, I understood that I should be tolerant towards other people. However, I found myself sometimes going to other extreme: when others raised different opinions, I would not oppose, but I would still hold onto my own ideas and would not want to change. I would take an indifferent attitude towards other people's ideas and I even thought that everyone was taking his/her own path. I thought: Well, we all have our own path, let us go our own way. Some time later, after studying the Fa, I realized that what I thought was not at all the tolerance from the connotation of the Fa. When a being is able to think of others from their perspective, he/she is not only broad-minded and would not argue with them, but is also tolerant towards others and looks more at other people's good points. He/she would do his or her best to encourage everyone to progress towards a common goal. This is tolerance. It is not only a kind of capacity, but also a great state of compassion.
After I came to this understanding, when I exchange ideas with others, I always keep a state of mind that we shall improve together, and I truly respect fellow practitioners' opinions, and try to let go of my own ideas. I'm now better able to listen to other people's ideas and to truly look inward whenever an incident occurs. In addition, I'm able to look at issues from the angle of fellow practitioners and from the perspective of one body. I understand that I should not be affected by the mindset of others. When others say this is a good idea and that is not or vice versa, I must truly let go of my own mindset when measuring the situation. Only by doing so, can I take righteous steps in cultivation. Furthermore, we need to consider issues from the angle of one body as much as possible. Perhaps this is the "harmony" between individuals and one body as a whole.
Being indifferent toward fellow practitioners is the old forces' way of thinking, and is in fact also cooperation with the old forces. No matter how different our understandings of the Fa may be, we are all particles of the universal Fa. Our lives are one body and only by being part of this one body can we maximize the immense wisdom and power bestowed upon us by the Fa, can we walk out from the boundaries of "how can I improve as an individual" arranged by the old forces and melt into the boundless mighty current of Fa-rectification. Only by doing so, can our "self" "attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism," ("Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature", Essentials for Further Advancement) and can we exist in the new universe.
2. "It has to be Dafa disciples who do Dafa work" ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference", Guiding the Voyage)
We must regard the Fa as the top priority in anything we do. We must do it with the mentality of a Dafa practitioner in order to do it well. Sometimes, we had a great shortage of truth clarification materials and some fellow practitioners had to "work extra hours" to make the materials. After a while, it's likely that their Fa study and sending forth of righteous thoughts would be affected. If we don't pay attention, it's easy for sending forth righteous thoughts to become a mere formality, and it also affects the outcome of our saving people.
I had a similar experience. During a period of time last year, I was extremely busy and sometimes I even dreamt of Dafa materials turning inside a machine, and I didn't have time to study the Fa or send forth righteous thoughts. My body was extremely tired and I was anxious and flustered. Soon, I realized I could not let the situation last. How I can do "work" like an ordinary person?
Saving people is sacred and I must do it with the great benevolence and wisdom of a great enlightened being, instead of the mentality of a preoccupied non-practitioner doing work. The reason the flyers work is because of the elements behind it. If we add so much impure substance to it, how can they truly achieve the purpose of saving people?
Master told us to do three things well: study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth. We can't allow it to become a mere formality. Our righteous thoughts and everything that we have was obtained from the Fa. If we can't study the Fa with a calm mind, we cannot have invincible righteous thoughts that suppress all evil. When we encounter problems, if we "solve" them with the ideas of ordinary people, even if we get by, our xinxing was not improved on the issue and we would plant possible future problems for the Dafa work and give the old forces an excuse for persecution.
Personally I think no matter how busy we are on the surface, our heart must remain calm at all times. I think when exchanging experiences, it's better if practitioners do not give all the details of their work or inquire excessively of others' work. These do not seem to have any direct relationship with cultivation and improvement. They are only curiosity of ordinary people. As for the details on how to do the work, if we were clear on the Fa principles, everything would be easily done.
Every one of us must have the initiative. Don't wait or depend on other practitioners; do things with our heart in order for our whole body to have greater power.
Master told us to eliminate the evil. We can eliminate a portion of the evil and rectify a part of the cosmos when we cultivate well in a certain aspect; on the contrary, if we don't cultivate well in a certain aspect, it might become the excuse for evil interference and persecution.
We improve in the Fa and eliminate attachments in order to better eliminate the evil and save people, instead of being afraid of being taken advantage of by the evil or being persecuted. That is a passive way of thinking. We should actively eliminate the evil. Just like that I had a thought before: how to break through a tribulation after it had taken place. But later when I reflected on it, I thought: this itself has the element of accepting the "reasonableness" of the persecution. We should not acknowledge the happening of persecution from its root! Therefore, an invincible and omnipotent righteous thought that sweeps through levels upon levels of cosmoses arose in my heart: no old force can persecute me using the excuse of helping me to improve, directly or indirectly! I melt all impurities with incomparably pure thought cultivated from Dafa. Furthermore, when I do things, I do them with a rational and non-pursuing mentality. I am not attached to righteous thoughts themselves and I didn't have the attachment of "I'm not afraid of anything because I study Dafa." In fact, everything is natural. A god's thought is a righteous thought. This is the state of a god.
3. Cooperation Within a Whole Body
In fact, the evil's interference with any one of us is targeted at our whole body; therefore whatever we do, we have to do it from the perspective of the whole body and utilize the wisdom and power of our whole body. This is also showing whether each one of us can use our initiative to heartily cooperate with the whole body.
The evil is afraid of being exposed and tries its best to hide. They use our remaining degenerate notions in a vain attempt to make us acknowledge their persecution. For example: before, I thought that compared to fellow practitioners who were illegally sent to forced labor and prison, it was nothing that we were simply detained. When I thought deeply, I realized: that's not right! Isn't this acknowledging the evil? Detention differs from forced labor and imprisonment only in extent and form, but essentially they are all persecution against Dafa and Dafa practitioners! Even a one-minute detention is persecution! We cannot let the notion of "it's nothing" exist in our mind! Therefore, in order to better eliminate the evil, I think it's critical to be clear on this issue in our mind. If practitioners in one area can all write out their persecution experiences, it will have great effects on eliminating the evil as a whole body. In fact, this is also an issue of being active or passive and an issue of coordination.
4. "In cultivation practice you should follow a higher and higher standard for yourself" (Zhuan Falun)
The evil has seen its imminent end and as the result has became more fanatic and even irrational. In this situation, we must truly negate them with the purest righteous thoughts. We must not acknowledge their existence at all! We have attachments and we make mistakes. We quickly improve and fix them so we don't need their tests at all.
Master said, "Everything I've been doing during the Fa-rectification and everything I want, to spell it out, are the choice of the future cosmos and the needs of the future cosmos." ("Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference") The insignificant us can only unconditionally assimilate to Dafa and walk the path arranged for us by Master. Only by doing so will we reach the standards of the cosmos. We have no other choice. The only other alternative is to do like the old forces, but the result would necessarily be eliminated by Fa-rectification.
All in all, when we encounter a large-scale interference, we must remain calm, "with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear?"(Falun Dafa Lecture in Sydney) What the evil wants the most is our irrationality and lack of righteous thoughts. We remain unmoved like diamond and calmly think about what problems we have. In our mind, we cannot allow any kind of acknowledgment of everything the old forces forced on us. Neither can we passively wait. By actively eliminating the evil, studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth, in fact we would be eliminating the evil, as humans cannot move gods.
March 28, 2003
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