(Minghui.org) In recent years, some practitioners in my area who seemed to be cultivating well passed away. I will share my thoughts about some of the factors that may have caused this to happen.
From studying the Falun Dafa teachings, we know that some practitioners pass away early because they had contracts with the old forces. That is, the old forces used the practitioners’ deaths to test other practitioners. Another reason is that some practitioners made serious mistakes in their cultivation, including long-term resentment, disrespect for Falun Dafa and its founder Master Li, attachment to lust, and improper management of funds contributed by other practitioners that were to be used to counteract the persecution.
Seriousness of Resentment
Master said:
“Cultivation is about removing human thinking and attachments. Some practitioners follow human thinking as they go about validating the Fa, and in the process satisfy a wish to do what they enjoy. When their ideas are not adopted or when their shortcomings are pointed out, they become resentful and even have no scruples about doing wrongful things, and very much reveal that only by causing disruption can they vent their hatred. All of this goes directly against my requirement that Dafa disciples cooperate well with each other, validate the Fa, and save sentient beings.” (“Be Vigilant,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)
Master knows that some practitioners harbor resentment from past mistreatment and has talked about this many times.
Wang, a practitioner from a different area of my city, passed away recently. After being diagnosed with uterine cancer three years ago, she came to our location and joined our group study, hoping to improve her cultivation. During her stay at my place, I learned that she and her husband started practicing before the persecution began in 1999. They played a critical coordination role and led the efforts in their area to oppose the persecution.
When they learned that the police intended to arrest them, Wang and her husband were forced to stay away from their home. Worried about her safety when her daughter’s wedding was impending, Wang asked other practitioners to help support her daughter during the wedding. However, none of them attended the wedding, which was a heavy blow for Wang. She felt resentment and anger toward the practitioners. As a result, she decided to move away and to stay away from other practitioners. When she and her husband were later arrested, she was released because she had been diagnosed with cancer. Her husband, however, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term. She moved to another city and hardly interacted with other practitioners. Moreover, she was attached to a comfortable life while she took care of two granddaughters. Living with resentment, she died years later at age 62.
Zhao, a practitioner in a nearby town, was tall and beautiful. While she was imprisoned for seven years, her husband found another woman and divorced her. Instead of improving herself amid these tribulations, she felt resentment toward her husband, and the old forces took advantage of her attachment to sentimentality.
When Zhao had symptoms of some physical condition, her daughter forced her to go to a hospital to be examined. The doctors concluded she had a lung disease. She denied the persecution [telling herself that the illness wasn’t real] and looked within, and soon she regained good health. But the old forces did not stop there as her ex-husband also became sick. With sentimentality for her daughter and ex-husband, she had the idea that she would take on her husband’s karma. She forgot that it is Master Li who absorbs the cultivators’ karma. In the end, her husband recovered, but Zhao’s condition worsened, and she passed away.
Disrespect for Dafa and Master
Disrespecting Master and Dafa is another reason the old forces might feel justified in persecuting practitioners.
While organizing the belongings of a deceased practitioner, we saw a practitioner haphazardly place Master’s portrait and the Dafa books in a cluttered storage room. Also, some practitioners had made hand-written copies of the Fa. The format was different from Zhuan Falun,and there were many mistakes in the copied text. These are examples of practitioners not respecting Dafa or Master.
When another practitioner and I visited some practitioners in the countryside, we saw an old couple place Master’s portrait in a spare bedroom. When their adult children, who don’t practice Dafa, visited them, they slept in the bed right in front of the portrait. When we pointed this out, the wife moved the picture to a different location. We know Master has suffered tremendously as he saves us, when we are disrespectful of Dafa or Master, the old forces would use it as an excuse to persecute us.
Master said:
“But there’s one problem, which is, if you don’t respect Master, it’s wrong according to the principles of the cosmos, and the old forces will take advantage of the gap and destroy you because of this. They will have seized the biggest excuse to destroy you, since they have seen the entire process of my saving you.” (Teachings Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)
Lust and Improper Relationships With Practitioners of the Opposite Sex
After working together for a long time on projects that tell people facts about Dafa, some practitioners develop affection toward those of the opposite sex. Also, some practitioners divorce and remarry, and some live together but aren’t married.
Master said:
“Then consider this: how will the gods of the cosmos treat you when they see a Dafa disciple doing such things? Do you realize how terrible it is the instant you do such things, seen in light of the requirements that they have for those who would one day be gods? The moment someone goes wrong in this regard, all the gods in the heavens believe that you definitely must be struck down, for you absolutely cannot be approved of or recognized. Thus, of the ordeals that you meet with thereafter, in many cases the factors involved come from those gods who are fundamentally set on taking you down. Think about how much difficulty that would add to your cultivation!” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume X)
Managing Funds
While reading the persecution reports, there were cases of the police ransacking practitioners’ residences and damaging the material production sites. There were situations in which the police confiscated over 100,000 yuan or even hundreds of thousands of yuan from the practitioners. In most cases, the money didn’t belong to the practitioners themselves. It was contributed by local practitioners and intended to be used for producing informational materials, which we need to be especially careful about managing.
Master said:
“With many Dafa disciples’ projects, you’re launching them as Dafa disciples’ projects, but the management of your funds is a mess. And I’m talking about the majority of them. It’s become a problem. And in this case the old forces will look to make trouble. Some of you have already had these kinds of problems occur, but you still haven’t come to your senses and still don’t take it seriously. I’m going to watch and see how you are going to get through that.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)
Master also said:
“Today at this critical moment in history, with every penny and every little [thing], what’s being revealed is your realm, your state of mind, and your attachments as a cultivator, as well as whether you can achieve consummation or not. (Master pauses) What’s going to become of you?” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)
Cultivation practice is serious. I hope that we, as practitioners, can do better in the final steps. We can support each other and do well. This is also Master’s expectation.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
