(Clearwisdom.net) Many times, we hear the expression "keeping up with the Fa-rectification process." Many practitioners try very hard to meet this standard. They work diligently on every project that comes their way.
Looking back, however, I myself have always regarded doing the projects themselves as "keeping up with the Fa-rectification process." I have worked on several projects such as encouraging people to quit the Chinese Communist Party, or the Chinese New Year Spectacular. However, I have neglected the other side of the issue. "Of the two words 'cultivation' and 'practice,' people only pay attention to practice and ignore cultivation. If you search externally for something, you will not obtain it by any means." (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun) As a result, when doing Dafa projects, I was content with using my own means, my own understandings, and my own approaches on things, but neglected to meet the requirements of Master's, the needs of the projects themselves, and the requirements of the Fa-rectification progress and process.
When the persecution first began, Master's requirements of disciples was to step forward, validate the Fa, and clarify the facts. In the 2002 lectures in Boston and Philadelphia, Master spoke about the need for us to cooperate well. In "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," He told us, "You must get to the point where you are able to take criticism, regardless of who it's from." In "Teaching the Fa in Canada," Master said, "The work and family environments that you spend time in are both settings in which you are to cultivate yourselves, are part of the path you must walk, are what you must handle, and handle correctly at that. None of these should be glossed over. At the 2007 New York Fa Conference, He told us the importance of professionalism.
The Fa-rectification process also continues to have new and higher requirements for us. As a cultivator, if we don't make progress, we are actually going backwards. That is because if we don't improve ourselves, we are not able to meet the requirements at every stage.
"Whichever field you might be in, when you are able to improve your skills, that is a reflection of your having continually risen in realm. And people can see that you are a good person and someone who cultivates his or her heart and mind. From the vantage point of human beings, you are becoming a good person. As a result of studying the Fa and cultivating your inner self, you do better and better, and gods give you the wisdom you deserve and give you inspiration so that you can come to realize a lot of things while you study, create better things, improve your technique, and reach beyond. Think about it, in human society, this can be done in any legitimate occupation, can't it? While you do well at work, you are cultivating yourselves--can't you improve that way?" ("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," 2006)
In doing many projects, including printing truth-clarification materials, making flyers, editing, creating webpages, working with the media, performing in the Divine Land Marching Band, participating in a parade, clarifying the facts one-on-one, we are all validating the Fa and saving sentient beings using using specific skills in ordinary human society. There is an issue of proficiency in our skills and level of professionalism. People often have inertia; they usually like to do what they enjoy, and don't like to do the things that require learning new things, changing themselves, and going beyond their comfort zones. Many times, as we start working on something, we tend to be content with the status quo and become unwilling to study the Fa, cultivate our mind, improve our understandings and xinxing, and sharpen our skills to achieve a higher level of professionalism. Because a project usually involves a limited number of practitioners, the coordinators are resistant in pointing out the practitioners' problems, for fear that the practitioners would quit upon hearing criticism. Yet this situation resulted in the lack of professionalism and progress in many projects. Once the practitioners get used to a set way of working on the projects, it can be an obstacle for the improvement of the entire group.
On some projects, some of the participants also only pay attention to the immediate effects. They stress the importance of certain projects and their impacts. Unwittingly, they treat the problems they encounter as external interference and difficulties, using the importance of the project as an excuse to ignore their own improvement. By doing so, they neglect the fact that Master arranged us to do certain projects not only for the sake of the projects themselves, but also to provide a special environment for us to let go of the attachments we still hold while in cultivation.
Keeping up with the progress of the Fa-rectification does not only mean following trends and working on projects that we consider important. Instead, as Dafa practitioners, we should walk well the path Master arranged to judge whether a project is worthy of doing. Then we should cultivate ourselves while doing the projects to meet the requirements of the Fa-rectification process.
The persecution won't simply end when we reach the state that we have hoped for in doing these projects. This is just my personal understanding. Through the various projects, we have indeed been able to clarify the facts and eliminate the evil. However, doing the projects in itself is not the fundamental reason why the persecution should end. As Master said, "If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)," Essentials for Further Advancement II) Attachments and degenerate notions of the old universe are hidden in the parts of us that have not yet cultivated well. That is how the old forces are able to survive and continue to have excuses to persecute practitioners. If in doing these projects, we pay attention to the process, improve our xinxing, elevate our understanding, and treat it as a process and an environment to eliminate attachments, we will be able to form stronger and stronger righteous thoughts in our efforts against the persecution. Our righteous thoughts will be as solid as a diamond. The projects will naturally be able to have the effects they should have. The evil will be eliminated on its own, and the persecution will inevitably come to an end.
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