(Minghui.org) Many Dafa practitioners in our region have recently been arrested and imprisoned. Their homes were also ransacked. I felt very sad about this and had a lot of thoughts about it.
I gained some insights into this issue after being imprisoned for three years and from Master Li's article “The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be.” Based on my cultivation experience, coupled with the deficiencies I've seen in some practitioners in my area, I ‘d like to talk about how to avoid such detours on one's cultivation path.
We are practitioners during the Fa-rectification period. Those who are diligently practicing will eventually ascend out of the Three Realms and return to the different levels of Buddhas, Taos, and Gods in the new celestial bodies that Master created. Therefore, we should cultivate by the “correct and upright Fa-truth.”
Master said:
“Going through hardship and suffering is an outstanding opportunity to remove karma, be cleansed of sin, purify the body, elevate your plane of thought, and rise in level—it’s an extraordinarily good thing. This is a correct and upright Fa-truth.” (“The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress Vol. III)
I enlightened that whenever we encounter tribulations, it should be regarded as a good thing. We should look at the problem positively, and the opposite of how regular people view things.
When it comes to righteous Fa-principles, it is not difficult for diligent Dafa practitioners to understand them or follow them. But it is not a simple matter for those who can't let go of “humanness.” These practitioners have relatively more hardships and a lot of tribulations on their cultivation path. When they cannot overcome the tribulations, the old forces will beat them down hard. For example, getting arrested is a handy means of persecution by the old forces; I know it well.
On March 30, 2017, during my work breaks, I went out to put up Dafa posters in the residential buildings of the county township. I was arrested, and my home was ransacked by officers from the county public security bureau. I was then sentenced to three years in prison.
After serving the prison term, I studied the Fa with my heart and constantly looked inward and reflected on myself. While in prison, under Master's protection and with righteous thoughts, I wrote many articles to clarify the truth and counter the persecution, and I returned home without being transformed or writing anything inappropriate.
But there is nothing to brag about because there were omissions in my cultivation, and the old forces took advantage of the loophole to persecute me. Master didn’t arrange for us to go to prison to cultivate, that is not a cultivation place for Dafa disciples. Digging deeper, I had too many attachments and the lesson was huge!
Why did the old forces dare to persecute me? The fundamental reason is that I did not fully understand Master’s Fa-principles. Whenever a conflict occurred, I complained about it instead of looking inward and cultivating. Over time, all of these failed tests became a huge tribulation, and the persecution by the old forces was unscrupulous.
Before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Falun Dafa, I was a civil servant in an administrative law enforcement unit. I had been influenced for decades by the CCP’s culture of atheism, fighting, and degenerated notions. I thereby formed a strong fighting spirit.
I particularly liked to watch sports. When the opponent was playing better, I didn’t feel happy for them, but felt upset and jealous instead. After I became a practitioner, whenever there were major competitions, even if I was studying the Fa, I kept checking the score. My strong fighting spirit also continued to strengthen my jealousy.
I failed to eliminate this demonic nature for a long time; so it is easy to imagine that this would be reflected in my cultivation. When doing Dafa things, the old forces were poised to persecute me. Only by cultivating ourselves well can we do better in offering salvation to sentient beings.
We learned through Fa-study that the principles of human society are the opposite of those one level higher. Only by eliminating our attachments and everyday notions can we ascend out of the Three Realms and reach higher levels. When conflicts come, it is particularly important whether we can treat ourselves as true cultivators and act in accordance with the Fa.
Master said:
“When your righteous thoughts are firm and when you can repel those things, I remove them for you bit by bit; however much you can do, that's how much I remove for you and diminish for you.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
After I was arrested, my relatives and friends were very anxious. They tried their best to locate some social connections to get me out. At that time, their conflicts were focused on my wife, who is also a practitioner, as they urged her to send money to the evildoers.
Under that tremendous pressure, she resisted sending money and, instead, hired a righteous lawyer to defend me. The lawyer filed a complaint and a second-instance appeal, accusing the public security bureau, procuratorate, and courts of bending the law for selfish ends. At the same time, she sent truth-clarification materials to townships and other government agencies. This not only greatly deterred the evil, but also helped quite a lot of people to understand the truth about Dafa. This is what Dafa disciples should do.
The persecution in mainland China is still quite severe. It can be said that it is the last madness. In the face of being arrested and imprisoned, some practitioners hoped to use money and other ordinary approaches to solve the matter. Some practitioners, in order to leave the harsh environment, wrote the so-called guarantee statement without even being beaten or verbally abused by the evildoers.
Unfortunately, the wicked people did not release them. In the eyes of the old forces, the more attached you are, the more you will be tortured; and even the old forces despise one’s betrayal of Master and Dafa.
My wife and I share the same view about sending money. Had we given money at that time, it would have been like transfusing blood to the evil to persecute me further. So sending money indirectly goes against what we should do. (Of course, everyday people’s behavior should be treated differently.)
After this tribulation, I had a better understanding of the issue. Whenever we encounter difficulties, we should look inward in time. There must be human thoughts, notions, and attachments to eliminate. It is also a good opportunity to improve our xinxing, so we can really move upward in cultivation. I hear fellow practitioners ask why some seemingly diligent practitioners are always persecuted. Master has said:
“It’s nothing like that. It is just that you have not cultivated well, and they will give you trouble—they will insist on doing this. Using the old forces’ words, mainland China is like the Supreme Daoist’s dan-tempering furnace, and that fire must burn fiercely so as to forge true gold. As I have said, it's not that when a situation is getting better, the evil will also become better. The evil will not become better, and it can only be eliminated. Before it is eliminated, it will act up, especially during its near-death struggle at the end, it will do that. It’s like poison, if you want it not to be poisonous, is that possible? It’s just poison.” (“Fa Teaching at the New York Fa Conference on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of Dafa’s Introduction to the Public”)
Therefore, regardless of the type of ordeals we encounter, we should view them rationally and positively from the standpoint of the Fa. This is also a manifestation of our firmness to our faith in Dafa. But if the old forces impose hardship on us, we can neither acknowledge it nor accept it, and must totally deny it.
We are lives that were created by Dafa, which is above everything. When I look back at the tribulations that have forged us, I realize they are really trivial.
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
Category: Improving Oneself
