(Clearwisdom.net) I have come to the understanding that all our xinxing manifestations during the Fa-rectification that do not meet the standards of Dafa are elements of the old forces, and that all of our attachments and notions originate from selfishness. When we proactively assimilate ourselves to the Fa and purify every single thought we have, we are negating the arrangements of the old forces to meet the selfless standard of the new universe. I have gained some deeper understanding on many issues in recent cultivation. Please kindly point out anything improper.
1. On the issue of fundamental attachments
"Divine Being: You allow them a period of time to understand the Fa, so some people come with various intentions. After studying the Fa, most of them are able to change their initial purpose for learning the Fa.
Master: Some of them have not changed yet."
...
"Divine Being: Some of them have come looking for the aspect of the Fa that they consider good, but they are unable to let go of the aspect that prevents them from having a complete understanding of the Fa.
Master: There are also such people among veteran disciples. And the most
outstanding evidence of that is that they always compare themselves with
humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the
requirements of the Fa at different levels."
("A Dialogue with Time
"Some people think that Dafa is in keeping with their own understanding of science; some people think that it agrees with their own code of conduct; some people think that it speaks to their own dissatisfaction with politics; some people think that Dafa can salvage humankind's degenerate morals; some people think that Dafa can cure their illnesses; some people think that Dafa and Master are righteous, and so on and so forth."
("Towards Consummation", Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My personal understanding is that although fundamental attachments vary from one person to another, they all protect what they think is good and what they do not want touched, but which are completely degenerate. Human beings all have their corresponding cosmic systems, and when the whole universe became deviated from the Fa, they also came down to the human world for various purposes that had already deviated from the universal Fa before obtaining the Fa.
"Before the Fa-rectification, the old forces crammed the lowest-level section of each of those tens of millions of remote cosmic systems into the Three Realms of the central cosmic system where we are. Seemingly, this was to prevent them from being left out of the Fa-rectification, and was to show that they took part in Fa-rectification, when in reality they were using Fa-rectification to reach their selfish goals."
("The Effect of Righteous Thoughts", Essentials for Further Advancement II)
"Actually, the old forces are nothing more than an enormous tribulation that was set up in the cosmos for my Fa-rectification. Way back when, no being thought I could overcome it. So with that understanding, a lot of the cosmos's high-level beings took the stance of watching from the sidelines, while the beings who've taken part have been using the opportunity of the Fa-rectification to do what they want, with absolutely no second thoughts about it. But as for the matter at hand, many of the cosmos's Kings and Lords know that it is critical to the survival of the firmament; if this Fa-rectification doesn't succeed everything will be gone. Yet they don't want fundamental changes. So it's exactly under the effect of this complicated state of mind that the beings of different levels have demonstrated the true realms deep inside themselves and their behavior."
(Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)
Our environments in everyday people's society vary from one another, and therefore our attachments also vary (my understanding is that this fact is also a specific selfish arrangement of the old forces). Some people, through Fa-study, could see the Fa principles and endeavor to fundamentally let go of all selfishness and assimilate to the Fa, whereas some others could not completely relinquish the self and wholeheartedly assimilate to the Fa. Isn't this the same as the old forces who insist on what they want and are therefore unable to comprehend the Fa righteously?
I thought of my own experience when I could not let go of life and death in the face of the evil persecution. I gave in to the evil when I did not have strong righteous thoughts, and fundamentally it was because I was afraid of being harmed and I wanted to protect myself. In fact, the more I wanted to protect myself, the more I was losing myself.
"Now that you've arrested me, I haven't thought at all about going back." (Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference)
"When you compare them it's clear at a glance how well they cultivate." ("Huge Exposure" Essentials for Further Advancement)
Later, I discovered that this selfish way of thinking was deeply disguised and manifested itself all the time. So whenever such thoughts occurred I would check for the root cause, and would eliminate it if it was based on self-interest.
2. On making up for the losses by redoubling efforts
Because I had gone astray during the Fa-rectification, when I came back I was anxious to do more to make up for the damage, to the extent that I even thought unwittingly that the best way to make up for the damage was to experience the evil test again and to get out of it with the help of righteous thoughts. With such strong attachments and degenerate notions, I came across many difficulties in what I was trying to do, and soon the local police came for me again. Actually many practitioners who were arrested again not long after they had been released all shared the same mentality. Later, through sharing with fellow practitioners and through in-depth Fa-study I realized that the root cause of this way of thinking lay in the degenerate notions of the old forces, and I still thought of myself first and my standpoint was not from the Fa. This was no different than the old forces, who only emphasized practitioners' personal cultivation.
"It won't do if a Fa this immense doesn't go through such a huge test." ("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America" Guiding the Voyage) Therefore, there is a notion that one can only acquire the greatest mighty virtue by going through the evil persecution. Alluding to this, Master said,
"Their warped notions have made them think that the persecution of Gods in history was rightful. Incidents such as Jesus being nailed to the cross have become the precedent for high-level beings who come down to save people. How could this be acceptable? This itself is degenerate!" ("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America", Guiding the Voyage)
We have come to validate the Fa, not to be persecuted by the evil.
"Everything is inconsequential compared to Dafa disciples validating the Fa, it's the hugest thing, and you've done it!" (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)
Master has long told us that if all this did not happen he could provide a benevolent solution to all lives, and all [lives] would meet the standards [of the new cosmos]. In other words, if there weren't any of the old forces' arrangements, Dafa disciples still could reach Consummation in their cultivation. All that has been arranged by the old forces are destructive, and some disciples were arrested, beaten, or even killed. If these disciples were still validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, wouldn't they be playing a big role? Shouldn't we think from the perspective of Master and the Fa-rectification? We must be very clear what we want to make up for. It is definitely not for what we did not do well in personal cultivation or how to pass the tests arranged by the old forces. We must truly and clearly recognize our responsibilities as Fa-rectification Dafa disciples and deny the arrangements of the old forces. Only then will we be able to make up for the damage we caused in the Fa-rectification.
Master treats every practitioner with immense compassion and mercy, giving no thought to the mistakes sentient beings made in the past. How pitiful we are if we only pay attention to our own loss and gain in our cultivation. When I thought of this, nothing was left in my mind but one sentence: I want to be with the Fa.
3. Anxiety
Recently I had an argument with a fellow practitioner while sharing understandings of the Fa. He said that because practitioners still had
attachments that they were not even aware of and because the third category of practitioners (from "Touring North America to Teach the Fa") still had karma, the evil persecution might still happen. I felt rather uncomfortable upon hearing this, and argued with him for a long time, saying that as long as practitioners had strong righteous thoughts we would be able to deny these and the persecution should never have happened. When I calmed down I found the hidden reason for my argument. After I read what I felt Master said about the third category of practitioners, I have always had some misgivings that I belonged to the third category and I might meet bigger tribulations and I would still need to suffer more hardship. At the beginning I was not aware of this anxiety.
"Also, a lot of our students are concerned about many things, all kinds of stuff. In fact, once you think about those things your realm has dropped. Don't think about anything, and don't worry about anything. Master is compassionate, and he'll definitely arrange for you what's the best." (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003)
We are already cultivating in Dafa, and the Fa-rectification has progressed to this stage, then why is it that we are still concerned about these things? Fundamentally, we are still concerned with self-interest. Why can't we use the time we spend worrying about these things on studying the Fa more, and on how we can play a better role in saving sentient beings? "...your renewed being is formed precisely amidst the Fa-rectification" ("Dafa is Indestructible" Essentials for Further Advancement II) I think that no matter what our historical background is, as long as we are truly assimilating to the Fa, we are true lives, and as long as we have strong righteous thoughts we shall be able to deny the arrangements of the old forces.
"In religious cultivation practice of the past, the Buddha School required emptiness. One should not think about anything and enter the door of emptiness. The Tao School taught nothingness, as there is nothing. One should not want anything, and neither should one pursue anything. A practitioner believes he should only focus on practicing, without paying attention to obtaining gong."(Zhuan Falun)
Actually, we should not be concerned about whatever we can do. We should just do the three things we need to do as Dafa disciples, and we should let go of our self as much as possible so that we can become completely selfless, and totally dedicated to the salvation of sentient beings.
(To be continued)