(Minghui.org) I was saddened to see reports of many arrests of our fellow practitioners on Minghui.org recently.
Master said:
“Everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.”)
Articles on Minghui.org remind practitioners to search within. Here, I have summarized shortcomings with which we have struggled for a very long time in our area.
1. Sickness Karma
Master has talked about the two circumstances of sickness karma: One type is targeted at practitioners in a certain area, and the other is targeted at the person who is eliminating karma.
Master said:
“No matter what happens, nobody should be affected inside. Each student should think only of giving help as a Dafa disciple as he's able, and there is nothing to get worked up about. Even if you can't help that person you should still face this issue with righteous thoughts. Continue to do whatever you are supposed to. Don't become attached to it by looking at it in a human way, don't make these problems worse in your minds, look very righteously at how it relates to everything else and don't think of it as being very important, and be very calm. The old forces will then lose interest, thinking, 'These people aren't moved. If none of them are moved, what is the point?' They will then let the matter drop, and that person's sickness karma will disappear instantly. That's one scenario.” (“Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005”)
In my own words, Master's expectations are that we are not to be affected, nor form an attachment. How have we handled this in real life?
In our area, whenever there were fellow practitioners going through sickness karma, other practitioners would notify each other, and once we got together, we (including me) would start to look for this practitioner's shortcomings, whether or not he had strong righteous thoughts or if there were any areas where he did not do well. It has been like this for many years. If the practitioner going through sickness karma did not handle himself well, other practitioners would spread gossip behind his back. All of these behaviors are not aligned with the Fa.
Here is an example. There was a diligent elderly practitioner in our area. He had done the three things and coordination very well. Our local practitioners all looked up to him, and behind his back, everyone talked about how he had strong righteous thoughts and was such a diligent cultivator. One day, this elderly practitioner suddenly lost consciousness and would not wake up. As he remained unconscious, other practitioners started to worry and say things like maybe he had some attachments or maybe he had not studied the Fa enough lately. There was much talk and opinions. At the same time, fellow practitioners sent a notice to send forth righteous thoughts for this practitioner. A few days later, a fellow practitioner saw this elderly practitioner while he was sending forth righteous thoughts. The elderly practitioner said: “I cannot take it any longer, I am leaving. The 'righteous thoughts' fellow practitioners have sent toward me are mainly their attachments. I am miserable, I am leaving...” This elderly practitioner passed away.
Master said:
“There used to be some students who would often say, 'So-and-so at our practice site has done so well! We'll do whatever he does.' Let me tell all of you that you absolutely must not do that and absolutely must not think that way. Cultivators can't take other human beings as their role models. They must take the Fa as the teacher! (Applause) As soon as you start doing things [like I described] and thinking in that way, two problems will surface. One is that you will likely push that student to a place where there is no way out for him. And it's likely the old forces will lead him to have problems and even make him leave us early in order to test other students. [They'll think,] 'You're all looking to him. With things like this, are you still going to study, and are you still going to cultivate?' Under circumstances like this, there are really some students who think, 'If even he couldn't make it, will I be able to?' They waver. Isn't that the old forces taking advantage of gaps? [In that situation] even I, your master, can't say anything! The old forces say, 'Take a look. See how that test ended up? What we did was right, wasn't it?' So when the righteous thoughts are not strong, people's minds waver. You absolutely must be on guard against that! You should take the Fa as the teacher. You can't look at how well a certain individual has cultivated and as a result learn from that person instead of the Fa.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York”)
Those are all lessons for us. We should not talk about others' states of cultivation. We must take the Fa as the teacher and cultivate ourselves.
2. Attachments to Issues Regarding Wang Lijun, Bo Xilai and the 18th Congress
Master said:
“A little while back a lot of students were thinking: 'The CCP is going to hold its 16th Congress soon. If that head demon in China, that wretch of the earth, steps down, then won't our Dafa's good name be restored? Who'd want to inherit that burden, and who'd be as stupid as it is?' That kind of thinking isn't wrong in the ordinary society, but it's not right for a cultivator. With a Dafa like this, how could so many magnificent future Gods, magnificent Dafa disciples, who've been forged through Dafa cultivation put their hope in some ordinary person? Aren't we insulting ourselves? Could human beings control Gods? But a lot of our Dafa disciples were thinking that way. It's not a big deal if one person thinks that way, and it's not a big deal if two people think that way--that's just their personal cultivation issue. But if everybody thinks that way, then what kind of situation will there be among the larger group of Dafa disciples? It'll be a major disruption, a strong attachment, and that can't be allowed. I saw it, and the old forces saw it, too. The old forces thought, 'Wait a minute, what's this?' So they made the outcome of the CCP's 16th Congress worse.
As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. Even though the old forces do exist, if you don't have those thoughts they can't do anything. When your righteous thoughts are strong enough the old forces can't do a thing. If someone in ordinary society really did restore our Dafa's name, think about it, maybe human beings will do this, but have you thought about this: how high would I have to position that person? Isn't that right? You're cultivators, and all changes come from your cultivation and the Fa-rectification; everything that you yourselves validate and enlighten to, and everything that you'll receive, all this comes from what you have done on your path. Absolutely don't think about any favors the old forces might do for us, or about how the ordinary society might help us. You are the ones saving the ordinary people's society, and you are the ones saving sentient beings!” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.”)
After the Wang Lijun/Bo Xilai incident this year, some practitioners in our area started to get distracted. They even neglected everything else and devoted their time to using ordinary people's press and other ways to expose Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang's crimes. They wanted to see the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) crumble, so that the environment could change, and find justice for Dafa.
From the Fa, we know that Dafa disciples' hearts should not be moved by things in ordinary society. We should just do the three things well. However, we still did not reflect on this incident according to the Fa, and our hearts were moved. We talked about this event with great enthusiasm. We even did not bother to talk about the persecution, as we focused on exposing just these few individuals.
The evil party will disintegrate once enough people are saved. We are still unable to be steady and live up to the standards of the Fa. Wasn't the 2008 Olympic Games lesson enough? If we still care so much about the result of the 18th Congress, a new obstacle will form. Why can't we always live up to the requirements of the Fa? The truth is that we have not studied the Fa well enough. We need to not care about the 18th Congress at all and not be affected by it. The evil CCP will disintegrate once we save enough people.
3. Being Unable to Measure Oneself According to the Fa
In our area, I have seen many practitioners have conflicts when they coordinate. They did not cultivate themselves according to the Fa. Some treated each other as enemies after the conflict and stopped talking to each other. Not only did they not cultivate themselves, but they stopped seeing each other altogether. Some other practitioners could not control their xinxing after conflicts and became irrational, and as a result, the evil took advantage of their loopholes.
Some practitioners did not show any compassion toward a fellow practitioner who had been homeless for a very long time due to the persecution. They kept on giving the practitioner a hard time and eventually asked him to leave. The coordinator had difficulty finding a safe place for the homeless practitioner, and the homeless practitioner ended up getting arrested again after he was placed in an unsuitable place. Instead of offering assistance, some practitioners started spreading rumors among themselves before they verified the facts. If a practitioner got arrested, instead of searching within, someone would immediately start to talk about the shortcomings of the arrested practitioner. It has continuously been like that over the years in our area.
The above are examples of lack of coordination and cultivation issues that I have seen among fellow practitioners in my area. All of the practitioners from the above incidents have been persecuted to different extents. Some were arrested, sent to labor camps and sentenced many times; some lost their jobs; some became homeless; and some were unable to move forward in their cultivation. Some fellow practitioners wanted to resolve conflicts by sharing their thoughts, but no one seemed interested; everyone thought the other person was wrong.
I have talked about three problems that have existed in our area for a very long time. In my view, the root of the problem is being unable to calm down and study the Fa well. Whenever there is a problem or when trying to do something, we are unable to stay calm and think about what Master has taught us and how we should proceed as true practitioners.
From another angle, frequently throughout the years we did not cultivate ourselves well and did not meet Dafa's standard. After so many years, in our area, we have yet to form an environment where we all search within.
Please, my fellow practitioners, after years of cultivation, let's ask ourselves: Do we use the Fa as a guide when we encounter the three issues I have mentioned above?
That is all I wanted to say. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
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