(Clearwisdom.net) Master mentioned all the practitioners who have made it through to today,
"You have made it through the harshest and most evil of circumstances, and moreover, all along you have been validating the Fa, clarifying the truth, and saving sentient beings--right up to the present."
"I hope that now, at the end of this process, Dafa disciples will do their utmost to save more people and do even better, ..."
("Be More Diligent")
Master has confirmed all that we have done for validating the Fa, and also reminded us not to slack off at the last moment. Master has repeatedly taught us to be even more diligent as the conclusion approaches, however some practitioners, particularly some older practitioners, were unable to let go of their human emotions, and thus have encountered huge tribulations in their cultivation practice.
One older veteran practitioner whom I know seemed to have done quite well in her cultivation practice. On July 20, 2003, when the evil ran rampant, she single-handedly hung two large banners at Madian Bridge-head, and hung another banner several meters long on the railings of Jinshui Bridge at Tiananmen. She then handed out more than twenty informational materials about Falun Gong at the archway of Tiananmen Gate before returning home safely. At a time when the persecution was so severe, she could not have done such amazing things without strong righteous thoughts. Unfortunately, she was defeated by the demon of sentimentality. Her husband suffered from lung cancer in 2008. She then became stuck in confusion, which caused her to suffer a stroke, and she passed away.
Another practitioner, who was 80 years old, had been busy with issues concerning his daughter's house over the past year, which affected his Fa-study and cultivation practice. He died of a heart attack on November 11, 2010. He had done a lot to clarify the truth and save sentient beings over the past ten plus years, and had saved many predestined people, but he could not let go of his affection for his children.
Master said,
"Those who are attached to affection for family will definitely be burned, entangled, and tormented by it. Pulled by the threads of affection and plagued by them throughout their lives, they will find it too late to regret at the end of their lives." ("Cultivators' Avoidances," from Essentials for Further Advancement)
"Cultivation practice must take place through tribulations so as to test whether you can part with and care less about different kinds of human sentimentality and desires. If you are attached to these things, you will not succeed in cultivation."
"If this sentimentality is not relinquished, you will be unable to practice cultivation. If you are free from this sentimentality, nobody can affect you."
(Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
The practitioner's family members told us that he had realized his mistake while in the ambulance taking him to a hospital, and hoped to be given an opportunity to continue his cultivation practice. But the old forces were unwilling to leave him alone. Actually he had previously been hospitalized twice because of his heart problem, prior to his cultivation, but the illness had not recurred after he began cultivating. His life was being prolonged so that he could practice cultivation. The time for some older practitioners to cultivate is limited, so how could he afford to put so much effort into handling his children's human affairs? Because his children were already adults, he should not have worried so much about them.
The older practitioner's home was a Fa-study site. The practitioners watched one video lecture of Master's Fa-teaching in Guangzhou every evening. When practitioners arrived at his home, they first chatted about things taking place in their everyday life. When it was time to watch the video, they didn't have enough energy to concentrate. Some practitioners noticed this problem, but didn't point it out due to sentimentality and saving face. We must take Fa-study seriously, because we don't study the Fa for our Master, and neither are we just going through the motions. We study for our own improvement, and to save more sentient beings. We can't hang onto "reputation-personal interests-sentimentality" with one hand, and raise "Falun Dafa" with the other hand. The first are major attachments, and the latter is a great Buddha shedding infinite radiance. We must abandon human attachments to achieve success in our cultivation practice, or risk placing ourselves in a hopeless situation.
I hope every practitioner can keep Master's teaching in mind. Master said,
"You mustn't forget: this current period of history was kept for Fa-rectification, and is given to Dafa disciples to save sentient beings and perfect themselves. It's not nearly as simple as people imagine it, with human thinking." ("Be More Diligent")
In other words, this period of history would not have existed but for our saving sentient beings. We must cherish this period of time, do what Master wants us to do, and fulfill our prehistoric pledges.
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