(Clearwisdom.net September 7th, 2003)
This article is written for some Falun Gong practitioners who are having problems during their validation of the Fa. For example, some areas still have instances of Falun Gong practitioners being tortured. There are many Falun Gong practitioners showing confusion, and lack of improvement in studying the Fa. They have confusion towards sending forth righteous thoughts and don't know where to direct their energy. This article also discusses the reason for continuing to do the three things which Master Li has asked us to do, the issue of being attached to time, the prosecution of Jiang, and some other major issues. These are my personal understandings; criticism and corrections are welcome.
If the old forces have been completely cleaned up, during the Fa-rectification, how come Dafa practitioners are still being tortured and damage is still being done to Dafa? On August 28th, Master Li said in his comments of "Singing the Praises of Master and Dafa",
"The ideas in this article are laid out well, and the author has a very clear understanding of Master's Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples' validation of the Fa. If all Dafa disciples can be as rational and clearheaded as this, and have righteous thoughts and righteous actions in validating the Fa, then there will be no persecution, and there will be no gaps for the evil to exploit."
In addition, even though the old forces in the cosmos are cleaned up, the beings, which squeezed into the three realms earlier, the rotten ghosts in the three realms and the evil minions of the old forces are not totally cleaned up yet. Those corrupted lives still have an effect.
Practitioners who are lacking improvement display a kind of confused state. They are in a situation in which they go through hardships as they study the Fa and cultivate. Those practitioners are being blocked by different kinds of mentalities and can't consistently harmonize with the Fa. They even sometimes don't want to study the Fa or can't concentrate on studying the Fa. Furthermore, in some incidents, some practitioners who have some understanding of Dafa think, "I understand everything Teacher says," "I get it," or "I know." Isn't this the hardest barrier that blocks one's improvement in studying the Fa? Actually, I feel these phenomena exist in every Dafa practitioner, it is only that they show it in different ways and to different degrees.
What elements cause our lack of concentration when we study the Fa? What elements or lives are blocking us from harmonizing with the Fa? Are we actively and consistently cleaning up the elements in our own systems, which support the old cosmos's Fa? Looking from the angle of the new cosmos's Fa, the old cosmos's Fa has acquired many stubborn views. When Master Li came to rectify the Fa, the strongest element that blocked Master in correcting the Fa was the old cosmos's Fa. For Dafa practitioners, the biggest difficulties are harmonizing ourselves with the new cosmos's Fa, consistently studying the Fa and cultivating, and using the new cosmos's Fa taught from Master to break through the views that the old cosmos's Fa had formed from the origins of our beings. The only way for us to overcome those difficulties is to study the Fa in depth and completely break through our attachments and the pursuit of our old selves. Reflected in the ordinary world, Dafa practitioners have to believe in Master one hundred percent, take every step firmly on the journey of our validation of the Fa, have every thought reach the new cosmos's Fa's standard, and do well with the three things which Master has asked us to do.
We already know that the Fa which Master has lectured on and discussed in Zhuan Falun are the explanations of the new cosmos's Fa. These act as the evidence and impetus for Dafa practitioners during the time of validating Fa and enable the lives in the old cosmos to enter the future.
Then, what reasons do we have for not studying the Fa and cultivating well? Furthermore, only under Teacher's guidance can Dafa practitioners truly become beings in the new cosmos. Because the formation of the new cosmos is done by Master's almighty power, it is a chance that Master has given to all the beings in the old cosmos. It is Master who gives Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples all the abilities and mighty virtue as well as all the lives and levels in the new cosmos. Master has led us to save the beings from the old cosmos and bring them to the new cosmos during our validation of the Fa.
There are major reasons behind all the situations related to one's studying the Fa yet inability to improve. At higher levels, it manifests as large elements resisting to harmonize with the Fa and being controlled by the old cosmos's Fa. The new and old cosmos's Fa are at a stand still. This is caused by our unclear understanding of the Fa. Master's article "Expounding on the Fa" pointed out the state in which we are stuck amidst hardships for extended periods of time. Reflected on the most superficial level, it manifests in firmly guarding the ordinary people's traditional, stubborn views and refusing to change. Isn't it the same as the old cosmos's elements refusal to change? Therefore, when we are confused and improvement becomes slow, we should think about the stubbornness of our mentalities and behavior. Also, during our daily lives, we should think about what part of us is going through hardships for a long time--for example, believing one's own understanding is already extremely high. When this kind of thing happens, we should reflect seriously.
Another reason for our lack of improvement and not doing well in validating the Fa, is that we didn't know about the Fa in the new cosmos before we came to the ordinary world to help Master do Fa-rectification. Therefore, we agreed with the Fa of the old cosmos, and believed that during validating the Fa, some lives in the old cosmos and within ourselves would be eliminated according to the old cosmos's standards. However, Master doesn't recognize this. In the ordinary world, it manifests as some Dafa practitioners being passive and careless when it comes to lack of improvement, or some Dafa practitioners reaching "consummation" in the form of illness and unnatural deaths such as accidents.
Then how come some Dafa practitioners who don't improve fast, still consistently understand the Fa at higher levels? It is because even though they are not improving themselves fast, they still cultivate. Our intention is based on the fact that Master wants to save every being in the old cosmos. Today, as we validate the Fa, we cannot stay in the state of not improving and resisting change. It is actually a state in which we silently recognize the old cosmos's Fa. It is a state that interferes with us. We also cannot allow any evidence to support the existence of those elements which interfere with the validation of the Fa and the beings that were meant to be saved.
Many times, it is not because we didn't study the Fa, or didn't study the Fa enough, it is because we didn't look inward. In Master's lectures, Master talked about "looking inward." Speaking from the perspective of this level, the key is to look inward. As problems occur, use the Fa to measure one's character; by doing that, one can break through old views and attachments. Master has said:
"So what is character? Character includes virtue (which is a type of matter), it includes enduring, it includes awakening to things, it includes giving up things--giving up all the desires and all the attachments that are found in an ordinary person--and you also have to endure hardship, to name just a few things. So it includes a lot of different things. You need to improve every aspect of your character, and only when you do that will you really improve. That's one of the key factors in improving your potency." (Zhuan Falun)
Therefore, at times, when we stop improving ourselves, we should measure every aspect of our character against the Fa's standards. We should sincerely study the Fa, using the Fa to determine our character and behavior completely. Zhuan Falun is the Fa for the new cosmos. It guides us from all levels to improve in our cultivation. We cannot constantly stay in the state of í confusion' and the state of silently acknowledging one's own lack of improvement.
In the following, I am going to talk about the importance of clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts.
The beings of the old cosmos are protecting the old Fa. In front of the Fa of the new cosmos, which is the genuine reality, they do not want to and are unable to adapt, which brings difficulties to the Fa-rectification and Dafa Disciples' validation of the Fa. This is manifested in this world in the form of misconceptions. For example, some ordinary people think that since the current government has already made a decision about the nature of Falun Gong and the persecution against Falun Gong through government regulations and laws, then, no matter how righteous you are, so long as it is a law, you have to go along with it. They think so long as it is the so-called government's decision on the nature of Falun Gong, then it must be correct. Some people's deep-rooted misconceptions prevent them from being willing to hear the truth about Falun Gong, even if by chance they heard, they would not be willing to correct their misconceptions. They freely participate in the persecution of Dafa. This is because the elements in the Fa of the old cosmos are not willing to embrace the Fa and reality of the new cosmos. Similar situations also exist among Dafa practitioners, such as a variety of deviated understandings. In Fa-study, in the powerful field or living environment formed by the Fa of the old cosmos, some practitioners are not willing to let go of their old ways of thinking, have even strengthened their attachments, and have therefore stopped progressing or are improving very slowly and so on.
Then why should we clarify the truth? Current human beings all came from very high levels, but because of Jiang's deceitful propaganda, many of them are running the risk of being eliminated. When we are clarifying the truth, we are fulfilling our sacred vow to Teacher to carry out the historic mission entrusted upon us, which includes validating Dafa, eliminating the evil and saving sentient beings. Cultivation in the Fa-rectification period is not just for personal consummation. Personal consummation is just the foundation for us to carry out our historic mission. Before Teacher's Fa-rectification ends, Fa-rectification disciples must use every minute to help people around them understand the truth, and understand that Falun Dafa is good, so that they won't be eliminated during the Fa-rectification of the human world. From another perspective, this is also a process of enriching our own worlds, and establishing our own sentient beings.
If we don't have strong enough righteous thoughts, we could behave carelessly in our daily lives, and feel confused. If our Fa-study, sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth only stays at the superficial level, then it does not really help you improve your true self. Thus the old forces' minions keep carrying out or even strengthening the persecution of some practitioners.
What are strong righteous thoughts? When our righteous thoughts really are strong enough to fill up our small universe to the fullest, do you think this persecution can still last? If in the course of validating the Fa, our righteous thoughts are strong enough to control the situation, can the persecution still exist? Why aren't our righteous thoughts pure enough or strong enough? Isn't it that we haven't studied the Fa well? Beings in our own body systems still have so many elements that are not assimilated with the Fa of the new cosmos. What does it mean to "rule"? It means the ability to stay in control of the whole situation under any circumstance. Are we up to the requirements of the Fa? Thus, we really need to take a hard look inside ourselves to see if, in the course of our validating the Fa, we have omissions in our Fa-study and cultivation.
You must really cultivate in the Fa, only then can the Fa protect you. If we are righteous, how could the evil forces in the old cosmos be able to persecute us? Of course there are some other factors involved.
I would like to mention something here briefly. A large number of practitioners are still attached to the time issue of Fa-rectification of the human world. Think about it everyone, how much have we really understood and assimilated to the Dafa of Truth-Compassion-Tolerance? In clarifying the truth, are we really waking up sentient beings so that these beings of the old cosmos can be maximally assimilated to the new cosmos or in the human world? Have the righteous forces really done their best to understand and support Dafa? In the center of evil in China, through our truth-clarifying efforts, are the righteous elements in China really effectively supporting Dafa and boycotting the evil? Isn't this the issue of us not being able to do well in the three things? How could we rely on any external factors? The attachment of time means that you are not taking initiative in cultivating yourself well. It is the same as the attachment to graduation time. If you are not doing your homework and not finishing up your courses, when graduation time comes, can you graduate? Can you reach consummation? Isn't it that you have brought this loss to yourself?
In addition, the issue of time is also related to how well we Fa-rectification Dafa disciples are doing in the three things, that is, cultivation, and eliminating the evil and clarifying the truth. Why are we still attached to the hope that Teacher will end the Fa-rectification? What Teacher has given to us are new beings and the Fa of the new cosmos. Our duty is to save beings in the old cosmos through exposing the evil persecution and validating the fact that Falun Dafa is good. If we still have the attachment to ending the Fa-rectification, isn't it the biggest case of selfishness? Since there is too much suffering in the human world, you want to reach consummation sooner rather than later in order to end this tribulation. When your thinking is like this, the whole thing is based on your own suffering and not on saving sentient beings.
Teacher said,
"So for the beings of the old cosmos, and this includes all the elements of beings, when it comes to the Fa-rectification and what I choose, all beings' harmonizing and completing things according to my choices and contributing their best ideas and approaches C not to change what I want, but to harmonize and complete things according to what I've said C is the best thought a being in the cosmos could have" (Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference).
We must definitely use our most powerful righteous thoughts and best means to validate Dafa and to harmonize ourselves according to what Teacher has told us.
Now let's reflect on how the Fa-rectification is manifesting in the human world. Although the head of the evil is already extremely weak, he is still hanging on miserably. Cases of severe persecution and torture are still happening around the country constantly. There are still some evil propaganda and distortions of the truth in media reports. They are still protecting the old Fa, the old cosmos and all the related beings and factors of this persecution. Although they still have Buddha nature, their impure parts will need to be rectified in Fa-rectification. But Dafa Disciples, is our understanding of the Fa really up to the requirements of a king who is capable of ruling the new cosmos? Whether or not the lawsuit against Jiang can progress well depends on if we can improve in our Fa-understanding as a whole, doesn't it?
My fellow Dafa practitioners, in this critical juncture and transition between the new and old cosmos, let us understand the Fa in a more clearheaded way, fulfill our sacred mission which has been bestowed upon us by history and establish our mighty virtue!