(Minghui.org) Some practitioners in my area have fallen behind or stopped practicing due to pressure and fear. Some have been deceived by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies given the persecution of Dafa. They seldom read the Fa or do the exercises, let alone clarify the truth.
Some of these practitioners began practicing well before 1999, but most of them just before July 20, 1999. The persecution of Falun Dafa started before they fully understood what cultivation was all about, so they were afraid to practice. But deep in their hearts, they still know that Dafa is good. They have a predestined relationship with Dafa, and some have a very good cultivation foundation.
Ming, the brother-in-law of practitioner Jia, is a former practitioner. He’s in his 50s and lives in the countryside. He began practicing just before the persecution began but stopped out of fear, pressure, and not fully understanding what Falun Dafa is. Encouraged by Jia and his wife, he started to practice again. However, Jia’s wife was persecuted many times and then enlightened along an evil path. Influenced by her, Ming got confused.
Ming has cultivated off and on for years. He is friendly and welcomes practitioners. A week ago, Jia suggested that a few practitioners go to his home to read the Fa and talk about their experiences.
He greeted us when we arrived and invited us in. He then said he had to feed the livestock. While we waited, we read the Fa and discussed his situation. Jia said that the local coordinator whose celestial eye was open said Ming’s foundation was very good, and it was a pity that he’d stopped practicing.
Ming came back at noon. He said that, although he did not study the Fa or do the exercises, he really liked to meditate and could sit in the lotus position for two hours. After he stopped practicing Dafa, he followed other former practitioners who also gave up Dafa cultivation and did many other things, such as “traditional culture.” With Jia’s help, he started to listen to Dafa practitioners’ media.
Ming talked about his great confusion, which was also the biggest obstacle that made him give up cultivation again. He commented that, long ago, Master said that Fa-rectification was coming to the end, but it hasn’t ended yet. According to Ming, many people who gave up cultivation or enlightened along a deviant path had doubts about what Master said.
We saw that his confusion created a big obstacle for him, but we thought it was a good thing that he expressed his opinion so openly. We shared with him our understandings on this issue.
One practitioner said that the Fa-rectification hasn’t ended because Master is giving opportunities to practitioners who have fallen behind and sentient beings a chance to listen to the truth and be saved.
I also shared my understanding: “It’s true that Master told us the Fa-rectification would soon end. But many practitioners haven’t cultivated to their fruition status and many people haven’t been saved. Compassionate Master extended the last 20 minutes to 20 years.”
I quoted from Master’s Fa lectures:
“At one point I said that one day now passes in what used to be the passage of a second, and later I told you that one year now passes in what used to be the passage of a minute. But even though the pace has been so fast, the beings in here can’t detect it. And that is because the objects inside this place and all of this place’s factors are, accordingly, going at a faster pace. Time and space have created different environments in the cosmos and different forms of dimensions. The beings and all things that are here are accelerating along with the time. That is why you can’t feel it accelerating.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume V)
“The only way human beings can detect time’s acceleration and how it compares to before, is by a sense they might have based on their impressions. And older people know this even better: before, it felt like a person could do a lot in a day, one day felt long, and it seemed as though it would never get dark, whereas now dusk comes soon after dawn and it gets dark before you have done much. Another thing is, the capacity of the human body wouldn’t keep up [if time were sped up too much].” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume V)
Master also said,
“And perhaps a moment of time there will result in long, drawn-out years for the lives here. And to our eyes what is but a moment, that moment could be a long, lasting period in another time field. Meanwhile, what’s a long, lasting period in our world is but a brief moment to certain gigantic gods. It’s time that causes all of this, and it’s time that is playing tricks. That’s what it means.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Practitioners,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume VI)
I continued, “Many elderly folks say that the days are now really short compared to when they were young. Then, they could do a lot of work and it was still daylight. Now, the time passes so quickly that the day is over without really getting anything done.”
I reminded him, “Whatever Master told us is true. Master explained the principles to us clearly and made them easy to understand. It is we who do not understand the Fa well or misunderstand the Fa based on atheism or focusing on when Fa-rectification will end. That is what has created obstacles and confused us.” He listened intently, and I could tell what I said touched him.
Later, everyone talked about their positive physical and mental changes and the miraculous things they’ve experienced in cultivation. We also mentioned how Dafa is spreading around the world and many respected monks in Korea and India are practicing Falun Dafa. We encouraged him to return to cultivation again and not miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He listened to everything we said and was very happy. He said that he wanted to resume practicing. We helped him install the videos of Master’s lectures and the exercise music on one of his spare phones. I reminded him to listen to Master’s lectures often and keep doing the exercises. We also told him to recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” while doing his farm work.
He mentioned that some local practitioners nearby had been harassed and arrested by the CCP, and their families were implicated. He was afraid that cultivating Dafa would have a bad impact on the future of his children and grandchildren. We told him to cultivate at his home for now and that no one would know. He could clarify the truth to his friends and relatives that he trusted, but mainly when he felt it was appropriate.
Before we left, we read Master’s Guiding the Voyage together, and Ming was very serious and focused as he read. After we left, a practitioner said with emotion that we really came for him this day, because compassionate Master never gave up on him and arranged for other practitioners to give him a chance to come back at the last stage of Fa-rectification.
Awakening Former Practitioners
Based on my experience of helping this practitioner who fell behind, I had some understandings I would like to share.
First of all, we need to regard those practitioners as new practitioners and should start by talking about our positive changes in order to remind them of when they began practicing Falun Dafa and awaken their true selves. For those who were deceived by the CCP’s lies, we need to start with the basics, such as the staged self-immolation. We should not underestimate the great power of the truth.
For example, a former coworker who used to practice came to see me around 2004. She knew Dafa was good and could not let it go, but she had many doubts that prevented her from resuming cultivation. She asked many questions, but the one I can never forget was about the self-immolation on Tiananmen Square in 2001. I was surprised that she did not know the truth about it since we had distributed information about the self-immolation countless times, and she was also in contact with many practitioners.
I explained to her in detail the obvious flaws in the CCP-fabricated self-immolation, and I will never forget her shocked expression after she understood the truth. Many of her doubts suddenly disappeared. She looked so hopeless when she walked into my home and so happy and refreshed when she left. She looked like a completely different person. The power of the truth is so great—it really changed her. She began to cultivate diligently again and later set up a family-based truth-clarification site.
Second, we should not ask too much of these practitioners. It is very important to let them resume studying the Fa and practicing the exercises first. After a while, we can show them how to send righteous thoughts. When it comes to truth clarification, we can suggest that they start with their trusted relatives and friends when they feel it is appropriate and speak as a third party in order not to expose themselves. This won’t put them under too much pressure.
Third, our practitioners should cooperate with each other and pay attention to sending forth righteous thoughts, which usually has a good effect. When we arrived at Ming’s home, we began by sending forth righteous thoughts and the effect was very good. It disintegrated many evil factors that prevented Ming from coming back to Dafa cultivation.
Fourth, we can study the Fa in a group with them and start with Master’s lectures right after the persecution began. This will answer many of their doubts and questions.
Many practitioners stopped practicing after the persecution started. Over 10,000 people in our local area practiced Falun Dafa before 1999. During the early years of the persecution, we produced Master’s new articles in our local area and the most we produced were 800 copies each time, which was less than one-tenth the number of practitioners before the persecution began. This number may not reflect the whole picture, but it is true that many practitioners gave up cultivation. As far as I know, the situation is the same in surrounding cities and counties.
Many years have passed. Although new practitioners started cultivation at different times, the total number of Dafa practitioners who truly cultivate and do the three things is not optimistic. To those practitioners who gave up cultivation or fell behind, it would be a sad ending and a huge loss when Fa-rectification ends. This will put many sentient beings who placed their hopes in those practitioners in a desperate situation when they face destruction.
Those practitioners who stopped practicing are actually in tribulations. The old forces prevent them from coming back to Dafa and want to destroy them and the countless sentient beings they are responsible for saving. This is not what Master wants. We need to strengthen them with righteous thoughts, eliminate the evil factors that persecute them, clarify the truth with compassion and patience, awaken their true selves, help them move forward instead of wandering outside Dafa, and truly come back to Dafa. Master is waiting for them and will give them opportunities.
Master told us, “I look at an entire being overall, and even when there is just one thread of hope, I’ll give him hope.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2004 Chicago Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume IV)
I hope more practitioners will pay attention to this matter and have the compassion to help their fellow practitioners who have fallen behind to escape the danger and despair. This may also be one of our prehistoric vows.
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