(Clearwisdom.net) We must first rectify our hearts if we want to completely end the persecution and do an even better job in saving sentient beings.
1. Eliminate Our Attachment to Fear
During the period of personal cultivation, almost every one of us went through the test of illness. The root of the illness, which was a being with intelligence in another dimension, has been removed by Master. The only thing that remained was a little bit of black qi emitting from our bodies. When it seemed that the body was "sick," if we can treat ourselves as cultivators and deny the "illness" with righteous thoughts, that state would pass very quickly, and we would soon be fine. However, if we didn't have righteous thoughts and had fear, then perhaps we would really cause illness in ourselves. Like Master said in Zhuan Falun, "You should not always worry that it is an illness, for this fear of illness is an attachment and it can bring you trouble just the same." (Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun) I think we should all be familiar with this Fa principle by now.
From the same principle, if we regard the persecution as what human beings do to other human beings, or if we are anxious about the situation and have excessive fear about the persecution, then how is that different from regarding any physical discomfort as illness? Isn't the continuation of the persecution also a reflection of the fear that some Dafa practitioners have held for a long time in their hearts?
2. Eliminate the Attachment of Accepting the Persecution
The source of our fear of the persecution is our acceptance of the persecution. The fear comes from our thought that the persecution is inevitable. Some practitioners feel as though tribulations are unavoidable as long as one cultivates, and that they must bear tremendous hardship to improve. They have forgotten that we are cultivators of the great Fa, which is different from any other form of cultivation in history. The path we walk is the broadest and most upright. It requires cultivation of our hearts. "However high your character is, that's how high your gong is." (Zhuan Falun)
When Master spoke of Jesus being nailed to the cross, He said,
"In the past, these were laws in the cosmos--everything was like that. From my perspective it's because the old cosmos's Fa lacks wisdom in this regard, so next time it won't be like this." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003")
"In fact, what I want to establish and the problems that I intend to resolve during the Fa-rectification include no longer having divine beings who come down to save people be persecuted by the sentient beings in the Three Realms." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
For us, Dafa disciples who are creating the cultivation paths of the future, how can we not walk our paths well? We must create a path that is not defined by the persecution. In Master's arrangements for the Fa-rectification, he had not arranged this tribulation for Dafa disciples to be tested and persecuted. This is the same principle as our being free of "illness." So how can we continue to accept the persecution and passively endure the arrangements of the old forces? The persecution lasted until today because many practitioners actually accepted it in their minds.
3. Eliminate Our Attachment to the Persecution
Many practitioners may disagree with the statement that some of us have an attachment to the persecution. If we think carefully, however, the issue is not so simple. Do we admire those practitioners who have been tortured and persecuted yet continue to practice? Do we think that the practitioners who are only quietly doing what they should do are ordinary and not as remarkable as those who have endured severe persecution? Are we proud of our experience of being persecuted?
All of these mentalities reflect an attachment to the persecution.
Actually, we were persecuted because our righteous thoughts were not strong enough and we had not done well. The old forces used this as an excuse to bring more hardship to Master's Fa-rectification.
"In Gods' eyes the same is true with the old forces' arrangements. If you hold on to humanness with one hand and won't let go, and you hold on to Buddhahood with the other hand and won't let go, just which one exactly do you want? When you can truly let go the situation will definitely be different. The students in regions that have been severely persecuted, or in places that have been seriously damaged, should really think about it: what's really going on? Some students said that the persecution has lasted so long and even those who performed well before are falling short now. I don't think that's true. True gold has revealed itself more and more, isn't that the case? If you're truly able to let go of the thought of death, and have no attachments at all, would the question of falling short still exist? Would the question of reforming you still exist? And would the question of having you do such and such still exist? If all the hundreds of or all the thousand people held in a labor camp can do that, see if the labor camp still dares to keep you!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
If we use the Fa as the standard, we can see that this persecution could happen because we have not done well and still have various fears and attachments. In other words, we were persecuted because we did not walk well the path Master arranged for us. We have fallen on our path of cultivation. What we want to be is a genuine cultivator, a god with strong, powerful thoughts and mighty abilities. We do not want to be heroes among ordinary people.
Let us completely let go of human attachments! We must completely understand clearly the issue of illness and let go of it, before we can be free of it. The same principle applies to the persecution. We must completely understand clearly the manifestations of this persecution before we can completely end it.
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