(Clearwisdom.net)
When I read an article titled "Looking At Things With Righteous Thoughts Enables Dafa Disciples to Completely Oppose the Old Forces' Evil Arrangements and Create a Wonderful Future For Sentient Beings" (http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/2/20/32336.html), I discovered some remnants of the degenerated concepts previously laid in me by the old forces. I would like to share my understanding with you so that we can eliminate the bad thoughts more thoroughly.
In the article, the first example described a practitioner who has done important Dafa work. The police prepared a thick pile of documents and expected the judge to sentence him to 10 to 12 years in prison. The police did not succeed in their attempt under the righteous thoughts of the practitioner. The practitioner was sentenced to two years in a labor camp instead. Another example was that a practitioner was the number one defendant in a "big case." The police could not get anything out of him after interrogating him for over twenty days while beating him with electric batons throughout the night. In the end, other practitioners were sentenced to prison terms but he was sentenced to one and a half years of forced labor.
At first I thought, "See, originally they were going to sentence him to a prison term, but now they only sentenced him to labor re-education. This has rejected the arrangements of the old forces." But I soon realized that this thought was incorrect. It sounded like saying that the labor camp sentencing was warranted. Does it mean that I am satisfied as long as there were no prison terms? Isn't this agreeing to the sentencing of the practitioners by the evil? Doesn't this leave a large space for the evil to persecute practitioners? Looking from the point of the Fa, there are no fundamental differences between sentencing to a labor camp and sentencing to a prison. I clearly see the trickery of the old forces. They let go a bit, to keep the practitioners off guard, and then they take the opportunity when we relax in our righteous thoughts to accomplish their evil objectives.
I also found that in my mind the remnants of degenerated human thoughts still existed. I felt that since the practitioner was involved in such a big case and was caught, it would be natural for something bad to happen to him in the trial, otherwise it would be too abnormal. Yes, the problem is this "abnormality." We should use the Fa to evaluate things, but not use everyday people's thinking.
In the third example in the article, the first practitioner spoke bravely and righteously. Thus he gained the upper hand in the trial. But some other practitioners were intimidated by the evil and showed attitudes of regret. At the end, the first practitioner was sentenced to five years in prison, while other practitioners were sentenced to 10 years in prison. When I read this, I thought: "The other practitioners were inferior. See, they got a heavier sentence." The judge in the article also said, "This Dafa disciple did great. It seems that he has reached consummation. The others really did not do well, and their behavior made me upset." But after thinking about it more carefully, I found that this kind of thinking is also degenerated. The judge's words were in line with the old forces; they have committed crimes themselves but still spoke boldly.
If practitioners did not do too well, does it mean that they need to be persecuted more heavily? Master has clearly told us that we cannot accept this. Practitioners cannot be persecuted. This is the Fa. Aren't these degenerated thoughts arranged by the old forces? Isn't this the space that they still survive in today? Isn't this the reason why they are able to continue with their persecution of the practitioners?
From this I realize that we need to evaluate all our thoughts with the Fa at all times. Only this way can we filter out the degenerated thoughts that the old forces have arranged in our minds ages ago, and completely reject the old forces' arrangements.
