(Clearwisdom.net) I was studying "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference" today. In the past when I read this, I understood that we should negate the old forces' arrangement. However, I did not understand how, "We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence." It seems today that I have an understanding of this. I would like to use an example to illustrate my understandings.
One day, someone shouted at me that Falun Gong was a cult and was very bad. I was so upset that it seemed as if my heart was shaking. I forced myself not to argue with him, but for a few days, it hurt whenever I thought about the incident. With tears, I looked within myself. I have always seen myself as a practitioner of Falun Gong and everyone around me has always known that I practice Falun Gong. If someone mentions that Falun Gong is not good, it is the same as saying that I am not good. If someone says that Falun Gong is a cult, it means that I would then also be a member of a cult. At those moments, my heart was disturbed and there were many reasons for this. One reason is that I dislike being criticized. The old forces view the improvement of xinxing as top priority and so they reason that "she has an attachment that she must be rid of." So they had people say things like that in front of me. This resulted in those people sinning against Dafa. The old forces do not see humans as important. Since I do not like being criticized, I must cultivate better to get rid of this attachment. I cannot let the old forces take advantage of my loopholes and persecute people.
Now I have a deeper understanding of "we don't acknowledge any of the things that the old forces arranged," "we don't even acknowledge their existence" and "not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." One thing I learned is to safeguard Dafa and to defend Dafa as a part of defending myself. Another understanding is that we must discover and correct our shortcomings. These understandings are as fundamental as heaven and earth.
As Fa-rectification rapidly progresses, the righteous thoughts of Dafa practitioners are getting stronger and stronger, and the remaining evil beings and factors are less and less. Although there is hardly any evil left, they are still putting up a last ditch struggle and are being very destructive. When faced with this situation, what are the thoughts of Dafa practitioners? A few days ago, I heard someone saying that the persecution will become more intense before the Olympics. Are Dafa practitioners thinking about whether they may sustain losses, or about saving sentient beings? This is a most important question to consider!
A Dafa practitioner must get rid of selfishness through cultivation and "attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism" ("Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" from Essential for Further Advancement) How are we to completely negate the old forces and not even acknowledge the manifestation of their last ditch struggle? My understanding is that saving sentient beings is the most fundamental and important thing we must do. Dafa practitioners must selflessly save sentient beings with all their might. When facing tribulations created by the old forces, our hearts should remain unmoved and our thoughts undisturbed. We should follow Teacher's words and use the Fa as the standard to measure everything, and make the best use of our time to save sentient beings. That is an example of "righteous thoughts and righteous action," and completely negating the old forces.
The above are my understandings at my current level, please point out anything inappropriate.
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