(Clearwisdom.net) I used to lament the fact that I did not know practitioners who I could share with or who could help me when I encountered tribulations. Even though there are many practitioners in my area, they do not interact with one another. A long time ago I wrote about this issue, but the result wasn't good because I was somewhat blaming others. An article from the Clearwisdom website titled "You Will Have No Fear if You Trust Teacher" first pointed out the collective cultivation state in Beijing. The main problem that prevents Beijing practitioners from forming one-body is fear. My thoughts are very similar to those that practitioner wrote about, so I wish to write about this more. As the conclusion of Fa-rectification period draws near, I hope that Beijing practitioners can rid themselves of all attachments, break the barriers, and form an invincible one-body.
After the persecution started on July 20, 1999, the overall cultivation environment in China was destroyed. Beijing practitioners were forced to give up group study. This enabled the old forces to create barriers between us. Because of the attachment of fear, group study has not yet resumed openly and in large numbers.
I have suggested restarting group study and working in concert to do the three things, but some practitioners have said there is not be enough time, others have someone said the time was not yet right, and another feared that restarting would bring about conflicts. Although we all do things to save sentient beings, because of the barriers, some practitioners have fallen behind in Fa-rectification. Their minds have remained on the human level, and they think that persuading people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is political and that writing truth-clarification phrases on currency is destroying money. Some even refused to watch Master's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners." Because of the lack of ongoing discussions among practitioners, we often have nothing to share when we meet. Sometimes practitioners do not even want to meet with one another.
Group Fa-study is a form of cultivation that Master asks us to partake in. In "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners," Master reaffirmed the importance and necessity of group Fa-study. Although Beijing is where the evil has clustered, the CCP's existence is already doomed. What do we have to fear? The present environment is created by our own actions. Group study will help us to do the three things much better. Without a cultivation environment, we cannot share and improve. The fear of conflicts exposes our selfishness, which we should let go of. Teacher said:
"Conflicts are inevitable. Without conflicts there wouldn't be any improvement. If assistants did well, students did well, and nobody had any conflicts in this setting, who would be happy? Demons would be happy, and I wouldn't be. The reason is, you would lose your cultivation environment, you wouldn't be able to improve, and you wouldn't be able to achieve the goal of returning. So you shouldn't view conflicts as bad." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference")
In some areas, the persecution increased during the Olympic Games, while the environment in some areas was quite good. This shows that we did not form one body, and the old forces took advantage in the areas where practitioners had not come together. As was said in the 2008 Divine Performing Arts world tour, "A single chopstick can easily be broken, but a bundle of chopsticks is very hard to break."
Of course, Beijing practitioners are all trying to save sentient beings and create their own cultivation environment. And the collective power is enormous. Our efforts will have the same effect on a grand scale that The Heavenly Circuit exercise has on our energy channels during our personal cultivation.
"You need to make all the energy channels in your body get wider and wider, make the energy stronger and stronger and brighter and brighter, and finally, at some point, have tens of thousands of energy channels merge together, achieving a state of no energy channels and no acupuncture points, with your entire body connected into a whole. That's the ultimate goal of opening the energy channels." (Zhuan Falun)
Only when we form one body for our mutual advancement can we fulfill our prehistoric vows. I hope Beijing practitioners will resume group Fa-study and become one body as soon as possible.
The above is my understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate in my sharing.
