(Clearwisdom.net) After reading Teacher's new article, “Disintegrate Completely All the Meddling Deities in the Three Realms that Have a Hand in Interfering with Fa-Rectification,” I learned that the deities that have been meddling for years are being cleaned out. It also reminded me of some problems within myself and within the one body of practitioners. The interference and damage that the meddling deities have caused over these past years will be impossible to eliminate if we do not pay enough attention to it or are not aware of it. Rather, we will fall into the traps that the old forces have arranged without noticing.
I would like to present two points here. First, our group environment for studying the “Fa” and practicing the exercises together in China was destroyed, which caused some difficulties for individual cultivation. Second, in studying the Fa and cultivating our hearts, we are far behind what is required by the progress of Fa-rectification, which is actually another consequence of the loss of the group environment. I would say these two points are indeed one.
In the past eight years, the practitioners in Mainland China have stopped going out and practicing together in the mornings and reading in the evenings. A few practice sites have been trying to keep going in a secretive way. The practitioners overseas also have not been doing these things much and the practice sites have become fewer because the practitioners have been busy, and now promotional activities are insufficient. Thus, the public has not been given enough chances to learn about practitioners and Falun Gong.
I would like to focus on the latter phenomenon, which is caused by the loss of the group environment for practitioners to study and cultivate together. We are cultivating among everyday people, validating the Fa, “clarifying the truth,” conducting our personal lives, and working. We are too busy to attend the activities at the practice sites regularly to cleanse ourselves while cultivating with fellow practitioners. The situation requires personal strength, self-control, and enlightenment quality. An individual person's impact is more noticeable and absolute if he or she is a practitioner. This is probably why ordinary people could have negative impressions of Dafa if they see one practitioner has not been doing well. The main cause of negative impressions is the evil lies of the Chinese Communist Party, but we should not overlook the effect of the lack of group environment. If the group environment were still strong, ordinary people would be able to see what Dafa practitioners are like as one body, and people would realize that individual cultivation and Dafa's salvation are not quite the same. For practitioners with different levels or enlightenment quality, this way is better for helping each other, encouraging each other, and improving together.
The old forces require individual practitioners to be isolated and do a lot of work alone. Their rationale is that this is the only way to be a qualified Dafa practitioner, which is completely the opposite of Teacher's wishes and actions in saving sentient beings. There might have been tremendous losses over all these years which we cannot see with our human eyes. For example, the practice sites or study sites may not meet the Fa's standards; some practitioners do not understand the Fa from the Fa itself, even after so many years of practicing, but follow those who seem very capable doing ordinary people's work; some practitioners use Dafa work or reading the book and practicing the exercises as cultivation itself; others do not pay close attention to the Fa when reading the Fa,and talk too much about work and other things, often looking externally instead of looking within; some veteran practitioners do not look within with a calm mind when they encounter conflicts, they argue to protect themselves, and they even form small groups to prove that they are right. This happens in more than one place.
We have been cultivating for a long period of time, and we should not ignore studying the Fa with a peaceful mind, conducting ourselves with the Fa's standards, and looking within. Moreover, we should look at ourselves and see if we have done anything not in line with the Fa whenever we encounter problems. This is what a practitioner should do. However, some fellow practitioners still spend lots of time protecting themselves or proving themselves right, which distracts other practitioners from doing Dafa work or cultivation.
Some other things have happened among practitioners that are in opposition to cultivation and are caused by human hearts. These things can catch fellow practitioners' attention easily and, in turn, delay Dafa work that the practitioners are conducting. All these situations take place because we have not been cultivating according to the Fa and we are looking at our own thoughts and human hearts. If the group environment for cultivation still existed, as practitioners we would be able to focus more on studying the Fa and cleansing ourselves, so that we would not do poorly on the issues mentioned above.
Cultivation is an individual matter, but the environment is crucial. Teacher says that people with a poor base can improve their enlightenment quality if their environment is good. Without the group environment, those without good bases or with relatively poor enlightenment quality may have lost a lot in cultivation. Oftentimes when conflicts appear, between the requirements for gods and the requirements for humans, practitioners choose to follow the requirements for humans in the name of “conforming to the way of everyday people.” This kind of confusion and unclear understanding of the Fa will be eliminated if our practice environment is better so that we can cultivate together at the practice sites and understand the Fa from the Fa itself.
Currently the old forces and meddling deities are being cleaned out. If we can understand the Fa from the Fa more clearly instead of understanding the Fa from a human perspective, the meddling deities will be cleaned out sooner, which is a compassionate and thoroughly divine way to treat ourselves and sentients beings.
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