(Minghui.org) I think that we all deeply cherish the opportunity and the honor to cultivate during the Fa-rectification period. Because of this, I would like to share some understandings below on how to elevate ourselves in this cultivation period.
My Understandings on Fa-rectification Cultivation
For a long time when fellow practitioners suffer from persecution, we've been able to look within, clarify the truth to those involved in the persecution and send forth righteous thoughts. However, there are also many fellow practitioners who still do not have a clear understanding of the persecution. They regard it as persecution of people against people or acknowledge the persecution while resisting it.
Such a state of mind has in fact prolonged the persecution. The root cause is that these practitioners are still not clear about Fa principles, especially Master's teaching about beating them – the old forces – at their own game. Their faith in Master and Dafa is not firm enough either, which has in turn weakened the power of the Fa in eliminating the evil and saving sentient beings. They haven't fully realized the magnificence of assisting Master in Fa-rectification and the magnificence of cultivating during this period of time. They resist the persecution with a feeling of helplessness.
I would like to give a positive example first. It happened around 2001 and 2002 when the persecution was most severe. A veteran practitioner had been illegally arrested and the evil said they would keep her in the labor camp for three years.
Not long after, news came out that this practitioner had started a hunger strike to resist the persecution. Local practitioners came together and shared their understandings of the situation. They all held a simple and pure thought: We will go and demand her release.
Nobody talked about this practitioner's xinxing or doubted if they could rescue her, or whether she was worthy of their efforts. They all held one thought: She is a good person and should be released. With such a pure thought, they indeed managed to get the practitioner out of the labor camp, and her non-practitioner family members all felt it was a miracle, as they had never thought it possible.
In fact, when practitioners first went to the labor camp, the guards there all laughed at them: “You all must be mad, trying to get someone out of here. It's unbelievable. Our duty is to lock people up.”
But the practitioners remained unaffected and kept doing what they could: Writing letters, sending forth righteous thoughts and going to the labor camp to demand a release.
As it was a long way to the labor camp, the members of her family who were practitioners decided to go there to demand her release while other practitioners wrote letters to the labor camp authorities. Older ladies with little education also wanted to help even though they could only write, “Please release the good people as soon as possible!”
Nobody thought: “Would they actually read these letters,” or “Since others have written already, I don't need to write anymore,” or “Would these letters be of any use at all?” Everyone participated in the rescue work with a pure heart.
Just as Master said in Zhuan Falun, “-- no matter how your handwriting is—it carries gong!”
The practitioners' strong righteous thoughts may have mobilized the gong in other dimensions to target the labor camp. The practitioners who went to the camp said that each time they were there, the authorities seemed rather nervous and scared, saying: We have received so many letters from you, like snowflakes!
The practitioners cooperated unconditionally as one body and formed an environment that completely negated the old forces.
Soon afterward, the labor camp contacted some other relevant departments on their own initiative for the release of the practitioner. In less than a month, the labor camp called her family to pick her up.
The truth is, her release was a result of the fact that the practitioners acted according to the standards of Fa-rectification cultivation as one body. Because of this, Master arranged the best outcome for the situation – just as Master said,
“Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master.” ( Zhuan Falun)
Looking back, I felt that the practitioners were able to help and support each other with a very pure heart during that time. Maybe it was because we had still maintained the state that Master had pushed us up to. As time went on, although we have learned more about Fa principles at various levels, many of our human attachments have also surfaced. Due to the influence of everyday people's society and the evil arrangements of the old forces, our minds have also become more complicated.
Some practitioners take an indifferent attitude towards those who are being persecuted, saying that we shouldn't send forth righteous thoughts to support them because they had attachments. When rescuing illegally arrested practitioners, some practitioners were unwilling to join in regular sending forth righteous thoughts or sending them near the court where fellow practitioners were being unlawfully put on trial, with the excuse that they could save more people by not going. These practitioners have failed to understand the sacredness of Fa-rectification cultivation, which aims to attain “the righteous enlightenment of selflessness and altruism”
Our family is also a Fa-rectification cultivation environment. I have a 10-year-old son. Sometimes he throws tantrums for no reason. When he does, it is like his demon nature has gone wild.
No matter how others would urge me to teach him a lesson, I remained unaffected and refused to regard his “demonic” behavior as his own. At the same time, I would calmly send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evils that were controlling him. Soon, my son would go back to normal.
In the past, I used to think that the old forces had arranged for my son to give me more tribulations, so I always held some prejudice against him and got angry with him easily. Later, I realized that it was wrong to think this way. I don't even acknowledge the old forces themselves, so how can I acknowledge their arrangements?
I came to the understanding that Master is beating the old forces at their own game in Dafa disciples' Fa-rectification cultivation and has arranged the best for us all.
My Understanding of Dafa Disciples Playing the Leading Role
We understand from the Fa that human beings have never been in control and everything is arranged by Gods. Master told us,
“What is a Buddha? 'Tathagata' is what human beings call someone who's come with the truth and the power to do what he wants, whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos.” (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
During the Fa-rectification period, Dafa disciples cultivate in the human world to fulfill our mission in assisting Master in Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings.
In cultivation, I feel that the righteous thoughts sent forth by Dafa disciples are leading the direction of events in the human world, even though they seem to let things take their own course.
For example, not long ago, a fellow practitioner told me that her workplace was processing social security paperwork for employees. Everyone was asked to get a certificate from their local police station to prove that they have no criminal records, and that they do not practice Falun Gong.
Upon hearing this, my first thought was: This is an evil regulation to harm people. Besides, it also violates the law in everyday people's society. It should not exist.
I then sent forth a strong thought: “It should not exist”. The fellow practitioner also handled the issue with righteous thoughts. A few days later, she told me that the processing work was finished and that people did not need to get the certificates anymore.
I thought: Maybe it was because our thoughts were righteous and wanted to safeguard the Fa, so Master made the arrangement for us.
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Category: Improving Oneself
