(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, I heard that some practitioners called "sending forth righteous thoughts" as "eradicating demons." I don't think such words conform to the Fa. The correct way to say it should be "eliminating evil." Teacher said, "Those who are being eliminated are the evil beings and the evil old forces." ("Dafa is Indestructible") "These old forces are not demons -- they are the lives created after things deviated from the Fa over a long period of time. They have no idea that the universe has degenerated. It's precisely this type of being who, in order to safeguard everything of his own kind, obstructs living beings in obtaining the Fa, impedes Fa-rectification, and has formed an extremely evil force. But they're not demons, although they're doing things that even demons aren't at all capable of. They pretend with hypocrisy that they look out for people's well-being, but their damage is real." "Their appearance is the image of Gods, when in fact they aren't benevolent beings. These forces have had a seriously obstructive effect during my imparting this Dafa today." (Falun Buddha Law - Lecture at the Western United States Fa Conference) Hence, taking eliminating evil using righteous thoughts as "eradicating demons" is very imprecise, and could result in a loophole that the evil can take advantage of and slip away.
Teacher had never said that "sending forth righteous thoughts" was "eradicating demons," nor had this been discussed in articles on Clearwisdom Net . If everyone used this and said so, it could cause serious damage to the Fa. In the article "No Omission in Buddha-Nature," Teacher said, "You should not casually take up a term used or mentioned by everyone. Isn't this adding something human to Dafa? ... You should think about it: If one word is added today and another the day after tomorrow, with the passage of time the next generation of disciples will not be able to tell whose words they are, and gradually Dafa will be changed. ... You must be clear that the cultivation practice form that I have left to you can never be altered. Do not do anything that I do not do, and do not use anything that I do not use. In cultivation practice you should say things however I say them. Pay attention! Inadvertent alteration of the Buddha Fa is undermining it all the same!" (Falun Dafa -- Essentials for Further Advancement)
Similar things have appeared in our work of clarifying the truth. Some practitioners' method of clarifying the truth is more of assailing others who commit the evil. This could give people the impression that we and Jiang Zemin's state controlled media are accusing each other, thus leading people to misunderstand our clarifying the truth as political dissent. In fact, we look down upon evil from a very high level within the Fa, use everyday people's tools to expose the lies, reveal the truth to people, and thus save people. Our clarifying the truth is the manifestation of Dafa's compassion and wisdom, instead of that of the principle of mutual generation and mutual inhibition [note: refers to the karmic principle whereby people suffer tribulations for their accumulated karma.]. Therefore, we only need to let people know that all the so-called reports from Jiang Zemin's group are fabricated and slanderous. On other everyday people's matters, we should carefully use a cultivator's state of mind to review our actions.
Teacher said, "Good and evil coexist within a person. We should dispel the evil side and use only the good side to safeguard the Fa. When others say something bad about us, we can let them know how good we are, and we can reason with them entirely using the good side." (Falun Buddha Fa, Lecture at the Conference in Singapore) Because we still have attachments and abnormal notions that we have not given up, we could easily be taken advantage by evil when we clarify the truth, and even start arguing with people. This way, we cannot achieve the goal of saving people, and to some extent, even affect our spreading Dafa. In reality, what we are actually eliminating by exposing the viciousness is that bad element which indirectly controls people, which is the true evil.
When introducing Dafa, some practitioners only tell people to follow the principle of truth, compassion, and tolerance, instead of telling people about Dafa's "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance" that Teacher imparted to us. This reminds me of the labor camp's sneaky claim, "Asking you to break from Falun Gong is not asking you to break from truth, compassion, and tolerance;" "The XX [party name omitted] Party talks about truth, compassion, and tolerance;" "Truth, compassion, and tolerance are respected virtues in Chinese tradition;" etc. This plagiarizes the Fa and intentionally distorts the Fa; it has led some practitioners who had not studied the Fa deep enough to "enlighten" along an evil path. In fact, a human being's truth, compassion, and tolerance is the definition set for them at their level. It is not Fa, has no deeper connotation, nor any power to save people. Even a cultivator's explanation is only the part that he has enlightened to within his realm, which is far from the ultimate Dafa that Teacher taught.
Teacher said, "You are not allowed to say it, using my original words as yours, or else it is an act of plagiarizing the Fa." (Lecture Three in Zhuan Falun) My understanding is that Teacher has summarized the universal Dafa in three ordinary human being's words, "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance," given profound connotations behind it, which is the Fa. We cannot take the surface of these three words as the Fa. Using it casually is plagiarizing the Fa, explaining it is sabotaging the Fa. If we only ask people to follow truth, compassion, and tolerance, how can they know how to cultivate?
If we tell people to act according to "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance" as Teacher taught, or follow our Dafa's "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance," then a person would look at things from the Fa to be able to understand. This is to see from the surface. Teacher said, "You can only use my original words to say it, adding that this is how Teacher says it or how it is written in the book. You can only say it this way. Why? Because when you say it this way, it will carry the power of Dafa." (Lecture Three in Zhuan Falun) What we do is only on the surface. It is the Fa that takes true effect. We can only promote Dafa by genuinely following Dafa, otherwise, what we are promoting is superficial and merely advises the everyday human being's form of goodness.
Writing this, I enlightened that "Assisting Teacher in his journey in this world" (Teacher's poem Assisting the Fa) is a more serious cultivation process. We must take the Fa as teacher, use righteous thoughts at all time, then can we cultivate to righteous enlightened beings of a higher standard without omission.
These are just my personal understandings. Please correct me if I have stated anything incorrect.