(Clearwisdom.net) As far as the overall situation is concerned, Fa-rectification has come to the end of the last stage. Some practitioners have become very mature, but many others are still struggling with all kinds of tribulations. They are unable to keep pace with Fa-rectification due to the fact that they haven't really been doing Dafa cultivation for a long time. They're dropping in levels. The old forces are also taking advantage of this situation and, using old standards, are pulling these practitioners down. Based on their standards, these practitioners do not deserve the title of Dafa disciples.
Some fellow practitioners are overloaded with human notions, or their understanding of Dafa is at the level of individual cultivation and they have not placed the duty of assisting in Teacher's Fa-rectification as their number one priority. So they still fight for personal success, and want to fulfill their persistent desires and attachments. As a result they encounter various types of tribulations. Some have sicknesses that last for a long time, some have family problems, some become busy taking care of their children, and some have financial problems. What I see is that all these are superficial manifestations, and the real cause of the problems is their thinking – an insufficient understanding of the Fa, and a reflection of various gaps, which also causes the rampant persecution to persist.
The problem is that time is running out. As a matter of fact, if the mentality of Dafa practitioners had not caused interference, the atmosphere of Fa-rectification would have been much better, and maybe the persecution would have ended already. Why has Teacher sacrificed such a great deal and given so much to have the time extended? One of the reasons is to wait for the stragglers and those who have too many human attachments. But time does not wait for us indefinitely. Opportunity won't be there forever. Cultivation is serious. If a person full of karma wants to be a divine being, a Dafa disciple, the envy of all divine beings in the universe, then the standards for them must be the highest. How can one reach consummation without meeting the xinxing requirements?
Before the persecution began, many practitioners did not realize the seriousness of Dafa cultivation. But after experiencing the persecution over such a long time and undergoing so many painful lessons, if one still can't learn a lesson and have a clear understanding of one's own problems, it can be very dangerous. Dafa cultivation is like a boat going upstream, if it does not go forward, it goes backward. We cannot waste time by muddling through things to pass the test. Without getting rid of every single human attachment, we cannot reach consummation.
If we are still unable to look inward, study the Fa without full focus, find excuses for our own attachments, or still think of enjoying wealth, status, and all kinds of desires, we are not fulfilling our vows and we are making a joke of our own lives. We would be destroying ourselves, and also destroying sentient beings' limitless hopes.
In writing this far, I thought of Teacher's “A Dialogue with Time” (Essentials For Further Advancement)
A Dialogue with Time
Master: What problems do you find my disciples to still have?
Divine Being: Your disciples can be divided into two groups.
Master: What are the two groups?
Divine Being: One group is able to painstakingly make progress in the Fa by following your requirements. This group is quite good. The other group is attached to human matters, is unwilling to give them up, and is unable to steadfastly make progress.
Master: Yes, I’ve seen that.
Divine Being: You allow them a period of time to understand the Fa, so some people come with various intentions. After studying the Fa, most of them are able to change their initial purpose for learning the Fa.
Master: Some of them have not changed yet.
Divine Being: Yet it has been too long a time.
Master: Yes!
Divine Being: In my opinion, there is no need to wait for those who cannot become gods. In fact, they can only be humans.
Master: (talking to himself) In the human world, they are indeed too thoroughly lost. They might have to end up like this. I’m afraid they won’t even be qualified to be humans in the end!
Divine Being: Actually it’s not bad to become humans in the new world. Compared with those innumerable high-level beings in the universe who have been eliminated by history, they are already incomparably fortunate.
Master: I still want to wait for some time, see what they are like when the more microscopic matter that damages mankind has been cleaned up, and then make a decision. After all, they did come to obtain the Fa.
Divine Being: In terms of this group of people at present, some have come to study the Fa because they could not find their purpose in life. They are attached to these notions which they are unwilling to change.
Master: There are more such people among new practitioners.
Divine Being: Some of them have come looking for the aspect of the Fa that they consider good, but they are unable to let go of the aspect that prevents them from having a complete understanding of the Fa.
Master: There are also such people among veteran disciples. And the most outstanding evidence of that is that they always compare themselves with humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the requirements of the Fa at different levels.
Divine Being: These problems have already become very serious. It would be good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things that they have been able to find in others.
Master: It’s time for them to become clearheaded so that their environment can turn into one for true cultivation practice, and thus they will be able to become real gods.
Li Hongzhi
July 3, 1997
Comparing ourselves with Teacher's Fa, which group do we belong to? Even back then, divine beings would have thought that it's been too long a time. Fourteen years have now gone by. If we are still not quite clearheaded, the consequences will be terrible.
Some of the practitioners I have met are in a precarious situation. I hereby remind myself, as well as those who are not diligent enough in cultivation, to improve as quickly as possible.
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