(Minghui.org) We all talk about “doing well the three things,” but I realized that I have done poorly with one of the three things, which is sending forth righteous thoughts (SFRT).
Over the years, I have seen or heard that some diligent veteran practitioners, including activity coordinators, who did very well in the past twenty years in resisting the persecution, have experienced serious sickness karma, and for a long time, it was difficult for them to break through it. Some even lost their lives, leaving confusion for others.
I was baffled for a while. These practitioners appeared to have a fairly good understanding of the Fa principles and did well in Dafa activities, but why is it that they have been unable to break through the tribulations of sickness karma for so long?
I have gained more understanding of the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts and would like to share them with fellow practitioners.
Human Thoughts and Weakness
I see very little with my celestial eye, and for a long time, I treated SFRT as a “task” to do, and I didn’t seem to think it made much difference when I sent forth righteous thoughts in dealing with my own sickness karma.
One evening a few years ago, when I was home alone, it was time for SFRT so I switched off all the lights in my room. Suddenly, I saw many different messy images in my dimensional field coming towards me from all directions. I was scared as the images looked even more frightening than the scary devils I have seen in movies.
I turned on all the lights, then ran to the room where Master’s portrait is to ask Master to strengthen me, and kept reciting the verse for SFRT. It took me a long time to calm down. That night, I didn’t even dare to SFRT again. How could a Dafa practitioner be so scared! I felt ashamed of myself.
The next evening, when it was time for SFRT, I turned off all the lights in my room again and waited anxiously for a couple of minutes, for fear that the scene the night before might appear again. I was somewhat mentally prepared this time and kept repeating the word “eliminate” in my mind, even though I was still feeling unsettled. I wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but gradually, the dark scene turned into some grayish color and became brighter.
On the third evening, I did the same thing, but nothing happened. For the next three evenings, I switched off all the lights and was well-prepared mentally. Again, I didn’t see or feel anything. Suddenly, I thought: Could it be that the evil entities see that I’m not frightened anymore and that I have become more focused on my SFRT so they couldn’t be bothered to interfere with me? From a more positive perspective, could it be that because I hadn’t paid much attention to SFRT in the past, so the incident was to show me the importance and the power of SFRT?
However, human thoughts can be rather shallow and weak. As time went on, I began to slack off again in SFRT and fell back to the state of treating it as a “task” to do.
Struggling to Keep My Palm in an Upright Position
I have been working hard with Dafa responsibilities with only two to four hours of sleep most nights. However, for a long time, I was unable to keep my palm up in an upright position when SFRT. Fellow practitioners reminded me many times, but I was still struggling to hold up my palm in the correct position, even though I thought I was doing alright. Sometimes, a fellow practitioner would suddenly hold up my fallen palm, but most of the time, they would tap my palm to alert me.
To make sure I was doing it properly, sometimes, I would keep my eyes open when SFRT, still, I was told that my palm was not upright. Because I wasn’t doing SFRT properly for a long time, I began to experience some physical symptoms. For example, my knees began to hurt, and for a while, I had to try to bear the pain so that no one could tell that I was having trouble with my knees.
To help rectify my problems in SFRT, I took videos of my SFRT for about three or four months, and I could clearly see that even when I had my eyes open, I would fall into a drowsy state from time to time, and my palm would fall three or four times. I was determined to rectify myself, and those bad elements that interfered with my SFRT were removed gradually. Half a year later, my problem of holding my palm upright when SFRT was largely resolved.
However, human notions, habits, and state of mind can be very stubborn. Even though I could keep my palm in an upright position, my mind was often distracted. As a result, I am still in a mind state of “finishing a task” when SFRT.
Inspiration from Fellow Practitioners
One day, a fellow practitioner I know well called and told me that a practitioner was in trouble, and I would be next, so I’d better be careful. I didn’t agree with what he said and argued with him on the phone. Later, I realized I was wrong and felt grateful to him. He posted two sharings to our group of his experiences after he realized the importance of SFRT.
I called him twice and we chatted for over three hours, which I found very encouraging and inspirational. Mostly, he shared about how he called upon his divine power and Fa implements when SFRT, making them from something invisible to something tangible.
I shared with him a few more times and read many relevant sharing articles on Minghui.org. Suddenly, I felt a bit more enlightened and I wanted to do well in SFRT.
An Experience that Shocked Me Deeply
It was three months ago. One evening, around 6 or 7 p.m., after I got back home from driving a long distance, I felt really tired and went for a nap after a quick dinner. I got up later, did some Fa study and a few sets of exercises, and felt much better. After SFRT at midnight, I did a half-hour sitting meditation, and from 12:50 to 2:10 a.m. I did SFRT for 80 minutes. It was an unforgettable experience, during which I experienced five battles.
In the first battle, I felt some overwhelming darkness rushing towards me, a scene similar to the incident I mentioned earlier. At the top, there was a huge copper bull, with dark and glossy skin, and underneath its skin were densely shining spots. It was a horrific scene crushing down to my forehead.
I remained unmoved, focusing on the word “eliminate” in my mind. At the same time, I tried to call upon Fa implements and divine power to help me. I didn’t feel anything specific at the time, but ten minutes later, the darkness in front of me gradually disappeared. I felt rather tired. Then the evil launched a second attack, quite similar to the first one, and then came a third attack, the color was still dark and gloomy, but I no longer had the unsettled feeling I felt earlier.
The fourth attack was very vicious, and it felt like an enormous sucker trying to suck me in. It lasted for about ten minutes. I kept still and remained unmoved. In the fifth attack, an enormous black object appeared in front of me, like a vast wire mesh, with a funnel in the middle. Somehow I felt it was Hell going down the funnel. At that moment, my mind was very clear with no distracting thoughts or fear. I held only one thought “Go in.” The color inside was gray, and I saw broken walls collapse. Suddenly, I seemed to come to a lush field, with a forest to the rear right and a row of rocket launchers to the front right, firing fiercely into the distance. As I felt pleased, I found myself back in bed, feeling very tired.
It has been 23 years since Master taught Dafa disciples how to send forth righteous thoughts in 2001, but I didn’t do well most of the time, and sometimes my SFRT had no effect at all. What would the old forces do in such situations? They would certainly take advantage of our loopholes to unscrupulously attack and persecute us.
Those scary scenes I experienced when SFRT were actually attacks from the evil entities accumulated in my dimensional field over the years. Our compassionate Master gave me the opportunities to feel their existence so that I could truly take SFRT seriously and quickly patch up the huge loopholes I had.
SFRT for a Longer Time and Call Upon Energy, Fa Implements, and Divine Power
Master said,
“Validating the Fa is for the most part being done by their main body here, and when their righteous thoughts are strong they can call upon their energy, Fa implements, and divine power--that’s usually how it is.”(Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art)
Master also said,
“When you send righteous thoughts, you aren’t required to enter a state of tranquility wherein you are not thinking about anything. You do think when you send forth righteous thoughts, and your thoughts are [to be] very strong. Right now you should mainly think about disintegrating the vile CCP’s evil specter and those dark minions and rotten demons, about destroying them, and purging them. That is different from going into a state of complete tranquility.” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
Through studying Master’s teachings, I understand that it is in line with the Fa principles to call upon Fa implements and divine power and transform them from invisible to tangible while SFRT.
At the moment, in addition to SERT four times at the global set times every day, I also do a couple of longer sessions, during which time I would call upon my Fa implements and divine power to eliminate the evil. Often I thought of Monkey King’s golden cudgel shown on the backdrop of a Shen Yun program, and on a number of occasions, my body felt like it went through a guanding process. One time while I was silently reciting the verse, a large golden cudgel appeared from my left side and struck the darkness in the front.
One other time, while SFRT, I felt thin light beams emitting from both sides of my body, and sometimes I felt as if there were Falun rotating around me. Of course, we should not focus on such things, otherwise we would be thinking with human notions. It follows a similar Fa principle that if one looks at things through the optic nerves, then one’s celestial eye would not work.
I have only started to SFRT for longer times and paid more attention to the issue, so I haven’t much experience. However, I have made progress in three aspects: First, I have become more focused when SFRT; second, I have experienced how to call upon Fa implements and divine power when SFRT; third, while studying Zhuan Falun, I can feel more connections between the Fa principles and SFRT.
Why Not Use the Divine Sword
I have now come to the understanding that Master has bestowed divine power and a divine sword to every Dafa disciple, which enables us to protect ourselves. However, if we fail to do well, it is no different than putting them aside and fighting with the evil barehanded, or not fighting at all and allowing the evil to unscrupulously persecute us. I wonder if this is the case with those veteran practitioners who have been suffering tribulations for a long time.
For practitioners who have relatively fewer things to do, it might be a bit easier for them to remain calm when studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and SFRT. However, for practitioners who have more commitments, especially those who are overloaded with tasks, it might be a bit more difficult for them to stay focused when studying the Fa or SFRT. The fact is no matter who you are, as long as you are still cultivating in the human world, you have human thoughts, human emotions, and attachments, which are often taken advantage of by the old forces.
We learned from the Fa principles that the old forces aim to destroy sentient beings. I realized that the old forces at a certain level seem to stick to the idea of “Phoenix Nirvana” that a phoenix must fly into the fire, and burn to death before it can rise as an immortal phoenix from the ashes. They want to “test” and destroy Dafa disciples in the same way.
I feel really ashamed for not doing SFRT properly for so long. It is one of the three things required of Dafa disciples, and yet I have done so poorly in the past. It’s such a big loophole! I have let Master down, as well as those countless sentient beings waiting to be saved so anxiously. I must quickly rectify myself and make up for the loss.
Recently, a fellow practitioner shared his understanding after studying “Expounding on the Fa.” He believed that if one is doing well in SFRT, it means that the part of him that is cultivated well is rectifying his dimensional field.
The above is only some personal understanding at my current level. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate in the sharing.
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