(Clearwisdom.net) Based on the latest news from China on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, it appears that there has been an increase in the number of arrests of Dafa practitioners in various regions of China. The same is true in our region. Recently, there were incidents in which practitioners were arrested or harassed one after another. Moreover, posters announcing rewards for people who report practitioners were found in several places. This was very rare in the past year. I would like to share some of my understandings regarding this phenomenon.
Teacher said in his lecture that the environment is becoming more and more relaxed. Yet the trend in many areas appears to be the opposite. Of course this is the doings of the evil. But it is also the result of the entire body of practitioners not being diligent, thus giving the evil an opportunity to take advantage of our loopholes.
Since the publication of Teacher's article, "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be," there have been many experience sharing articles on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website from fellow practitioners. Many practitioners had the feeling that Teacher's article was talking about "me." When I first read it, I felt the same way. But when I read that Teacher was explicitly talking about "a small number of students," I thought to myself, "This is not a common issue, so the problem is not very serious."
Not until recently, when I shared with local practitioners about the increase in the number of persecution cases in various regions, did I realize that we all had somewhat of a lack of diligence. When I got home, I started to memorize the article, "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be," word by word. I noticed that what followed the sentence, "And yet a small number of students," was, "-- veteran students." How many veteran students are there in China? Isn't this a common problem?
Teacher taught us this Fa ahead of time, but the recent round of persecution still happened. This means that many people did not pay enough attention to this article. Teacher said in the article,
"As far as how things are now, in the course of the cosmos's Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples' validating of the Fa, gigantic changes have been effected in the circumstances of the persecution that arose on the Dafa disciples' path of cultivation. The cultivation environment and the perceptions people have are both undergoing changes on a fundamental level."
My personal understanding is that Fa-rectification has entered a new stage. When the evil factors become less and less and the overall environment becomes more relaxed, Dafa practitioners should realize the importance of personal cultivation and, at the same time, the importance of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. Because the closer it is to the end, the more intense will be the surface human attachments, notions about life, and all the factors that form a human being. If we are not careful, we could be affected and interfered with by the final factors arranged by the old forces, and we could unknowingly become despondent.
"The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be" is the requirement of the last stage of Fa-rectification. Those who are not diligent need to become diligent, and those who are diligent need to be more diligent. It is dangerous to maintain the previous state of mind. Isn't that how the old forces arranged things? Only when we become more diligent than we were before can we break through this barrier.
Regarding "diligence," my understanding is that there are two parts to it. One is to really put in the effort when it comes to studying the Fa, and another is to have one's thoughts on the Fa during our everyday activities. When I shared with local practitioners, many of them mentioned that they would get very sleepy when studying the Fa recently. And they didn't feel that the Fa got into their hearts. Therefore, they found it hard to be diligent. Recently, there have been many articles on the Internet that talk about memorizing the Fa. I think this could be one way of becoming more diligent.
My personal experience is the same. Before, I felt the result was pretty good just reading the Fa, but sometimes my mind still wandered. It is very different when I try to memorize the Fa. You cannot miss one word, and when you do memorize it, it goes into the heart. Many practitioners have already talked about the feelings and benefits from memorizing the Fa, so I won't say too much here.
Regarding the problem of feeling sleepy when studying the Fa, I think practitioners who have this problem most likely had this problem at the beginning of their cultivation. Since these practitioners did not break through the problem at the beginning, the problem is being intensified by the evil at the last stage. My personal experience is that in the past, if one had a strong will and made it through one time, it usually is not a problem anymore. But right now, it is not as easy. In addition to using righteous thoughts, memorizing the Fa can also be very effective in breaking through the problem of sleepiness. I think the reason many practitioners easily become sleepy is that they still have human notions regarding sleep. For example, they worry that not getting enough sleep leads to sleepiness, or they think they need to go to bed at certain time. Sometimes we don't think this way consciously, but such notions do exist in our minds. That is one of the factors that form a human being, and there are many more. When we aren't aware of their existence, the evil uses them to interfere with us. All of these barriers can only be broken through if practitioners study the Fa more and cultivate diligently.
Another issue is about group study and sharing. When practitioners get together, we form an energy field that can eliminate anything that is not righteous. Many issues that we cannot resolve on our own no longer exist when we walk into this field. In addition, when practitioners get together to study the Fa and share experiences frequently, we encourage each other and automatically become more diligent.
In the past, I often neglected doing the exercises every day. When I came to a new work environment, I started working with two other practitioners. After a few days, it seemed that they had the same problem, so the three of us agreed that we couldn't skip doing the exercises even for a day. Every morning when we come to work, we ask each other if we had all done the exercises in the morning. After a couple of times of not doing the exercises and being reminded of it, it was no longer a problem. Moreover, when one practitioner's thoughts or behavior is not aligned with the Fa, we could use the Fa as the standard and remind each other. Such a cultivation environment is very precious.
During the current Fa-rectification period, group study and sharing is becoming more important. From my experience and the experiences of those around me, the evil is also trying everything to prevent Dafa practitioners from getting together. Because of the decrease in the quantity of evil, it no longer has the means to control evil people to directly persecute practitioners on a large scale. Therefore, they are taking advantage of the practitioners' remaining attachments and human notions to create conflicts and barriers between practitioners, so that practitioners cannot get together to study the Fa and share experiences in today's relaxed environment.
A female practitioner noticed that a fellow male practitioner no longer studied the Fa and spent all his time making money to support his family. She saw that the evil was taking advantage of this practitioner's loophole, and she wanted to study the Fa with him every day at his place to help him. But after two days, she stopped going. When I asked her why, she said that some practitioners passed around rumors that she had had feelings for this male practitioner in the past. She did not want to go help him so that others would not start the rumor again. When I asked her which was more important, her reputation or the improvement of a fellow practitioner, she suddenly realized that her human notion was being taken advantage of.
There are some practitioners who have done all the three things every day but who were still arrested or harassed recently. After sharing our understandings, it seems that doing the three things had become a routine for them. They did the three things day after day but could not let go of their human notions. They are no longer conscious of being diligent. I remember Teacher warned practitioners in the first poem of "Hongying" II, "The will to strive forward whole-heartedly cannot be changed" [provisional translation]. Right before "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be" was published, Teacher again reminded us in, "A Will That Ebbs Not":
"Disciples of Fa,
be diligent, with a will that ebbs not
The countless years of hardship were all for this time"
As long as the persecution has not ended, any lightening up in our being diligent is very dangerous to a cultivator, especially at the last crucial moment of validating the Fa. Let us all become more diligent.
These are my personal understandings only.
December 1, 2005