(Clearwisdom.net) When reading different periods of Teacher's Fa lectures, I can often feel the immense force of Fa-rectification in different stages. Teacher's Fa lectures are so meaningful, profound, and harmonizing that they are beyond description, including the Q&A's (or explanations of the Fa.) After all, everything that Teacher has written is the Fa. Every time I read fellow Dafa practitioners' experience-sharing articles with Teacher's comments, I develop a deeper understanding on how a Dafa practitioner who assists Teacher rectify the Fa should harmonize Dafa. Articles with Teacher's comments, despite their scarcity, show Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions in different Fa-rectification stages, as well as Teacher's concerns for and guidance to Dafa practitioners' Fa-rectification efforts.
When I first read an article with a comment from Teacher titled, "Singing the Praises of Master and Dafa With Master's Comment," I felt nothing except that it was a good article. After I had read it twice, I began to identify with the author's points. I felt that my personal understandings about the old forces and about why Teacher decided to rectify the Fa were very much in line with those of the author. After some time, I read the article again only to realize that it was truly an exceptional experience-sharing article for its rich content, as well as the author's precise and thorough understanding. In this article, the author has very thoroughly expounded different stages of Teacher's Fa lectures, especially those pertaining to the old forces, Fa-rectification, Dafa practitioners, Dafa and Teacher. The author appears to have digested and blended harmoniously with Teacher's Fa, and expounded his understanding of Teacher's Fa in a well-structured flow. It was a manifestation of the author's maturity in cultivation.
Teacher made the following comment on the article: "The ideas in this article are laid out well, and the author has a very clear understanding of Master's Fa-rectification and Dafa disciples' validation of the Fa. If all Dafa disciples can be as rational and clearheaded as this, and have righteous thoughts and righteous actions in validating the Fa, then there will be no persecution, and there will be no gaps for the evil to exploit."
This is my understanding of Teacher's comment: Teacher meant to direct us to understand his Fa-rectification and Dafa practitioners' Fa-validation from the Fa, because a good understanding of the Fa is the foundation of improvements for Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period.
I consider the publication of "Singing the Praises of Master and Dafa With Master's Comment" to be a landmark in the Fa-rectification, or a landmark of Dafa practitioners' at their new height of maturity in cultivation. On the one hand, through the exchanges of cultivation experiences with fellow practitioners, I realized that a good portion of fellow practitioners had not attained a very clear understanding as to why Teacher must rectify the Fa and why Dafa practitioners must validate the Fa. These even include those determined fellow practitioners who have overcome torture and walked out of detention centers and forced labor camps. Some of them haven't been able to thoroughly grasp the relationship between Teacher and the old forces. Some of them haven't seen through the nature of the old forces. Some are still troubled with the question, "Why is the Chinese Communist government going through so much trouble to force practitioners to renounce their belief in Falun Dafa?" Some haven't been able to differentiate Fa-rectification cultivation from personal cultivation. Some continue to perceive the diabolic tribulations against Dafa as a persecution of ordinary human beings against other human beings. Some fellow practitioners who had overcome torture and walked out of the forced labor camps, are pleased; they believe that the length of a Dafa practitioner's forced detention is directly related to the amount of his "earned" mighty virtue. This cannot be helped as one's xinxing (or mind nature) level determines one's understanding of the Fa. On the other hand, as Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, shouldn't we strive to be responsible to Dafa and to ourselves? I would like to share some of the reasons I have thought of as to why we sometimes fail to enhance our understanding of the Fa.
1. Failing to Take Fa Study Seriously
This is a fundamental reason why we fail to enhance our understanding of the Fa.
Of all things that Teacher has required of us in all of his Fa lectures, studying the Fa has always been mentioned most frequently. After all, how would we cultivators improve ourselves, cultivate ourselves, or assist Teacher to rectify the Fa, if we stop studying the Fa? How would we rectify ourselves if we stop studying the Fa? We must bear in mind that it is the Fa that creates Dafa practitioners and it is also the Fa that creates the future universe. We become particles of the Fa only when we strive to assimilate ourselves to the Fa and harmonize the Fa. The following are a few reasons why we sometimes fail to study the Fa adequately.
1.1 Lack of Respect for the Fa
It is difficult to detect when you lack respect for the Fa [for if you have already detected a lack of respect for the Fa, you would have rectified your attitude.] I remember a passage of Fa pertaining to respecting Teacher and the Fa.
"Question: Why are your teachers all kneeling here? And why is this field full of lotus flowers, as well as soldiers and commanders from heaven?
Teacher: None of them is my teacher. All gods in other dimensions have to treat me in this manner, except that you human beings do not know it. You thought, because they were Buddha's and Tao's, they must be my teachers. There are even more gods in much higher levels of the universe. Do not mistake them as my teachers. Whenever I give a Fa lecture, many gods of all levels who are responsible of safeguarding the Fa are listening as well." ("Answering the questions about the Fa in Yanji Fa Lecture" of Explaining Questions about the Fa.) (Provisional translation subject to further improvement, Zhuan Falun Fa Jie, Chinese version)
Teacher has already explained to us when all the Buddha's, Tao's and gods in other dimensions have to kneel in front of Teacher while listening to his Fa lectures. Many Dafa practitioners have also reminded fellow practitioners in regards to respecting the Fa. Let's not forget one of the old forces' excuses of destroying Dafa books in China is that many Dafa practitioners did not have enough respect for the Fa. Every word in Dafa books bears Teacher's Fashen. [Law body; a body made of gong and Fa] Let's ask ourselves a question: Do we have appropriate respect for the Fa? When we lack respect for the Fa, we may in fact be regarding the Fa as everyday people's philosophy. We can never see the supernormal content of the Fa while we think and behave like everyday people because the Fa can never be revealed to everyday people.
1.2 The Lack of a Clear and Clean Mind While Studying the Fa
This is another common problem among Dafa practitioners. Why are we sometimes unable to achieve a tranquil mind whiling studying the Fa? Isn't it because we fail to control our own minds? Those interfering thoughts that cannot be controlled cannot be our own thoughts. We must resist, deny, and eliminate these interfering thoughts while reinforcing our main consciousness. We must study the Fa with a clear and clean mind!
1.3 The Lack of A Systematic and Complete Fa Study
Some fellow practitioners would often select to study their favorite Fa lectures, or their favorite parts in a Fa lecture. They don't study Teacher's new articles and Fa lectures systematically, or in chronological order. Some practitioners even think that they have "finished" studying a Fa lecture or an article after reading it only once, and would not even try to understand the parts that puzzle them. For example, prior to July 20, 1999, Teacher has explained his attitude towards the old forces and their systematic interference and damage they have caused. Since July 20, 1999, Teacher talked about the old forces even more frequently in his Fa lectures. It is only when we study the Fa more diligently that we will have a systematic and thorough understanding of the old forces' nature. It is only when we have seen through the old forces' nature that we can deny them fundamentally and end their participation in the Fa-rectification. Each time the Fa-rectification progresses into a new phase, Teacher would reveal to Dafa practitioners more about the old forces' arrangements. It follows that, if we do not study Teacher's Fa lectures and articles in chronological order, and, instead, select to study only our favorite parts, we would not be able to completely dissolve into the Fa. Some practitioners with an attachment to fear would even deceive themselves with such an excuse: "Studying Zhuan Falun would suffice to guide my cultivation. Teacher said, í The truth is, no matter how many more scriptures we publish, they are merely supplementary materials to Zhuan Falun. Only Zhuan Falun can truly guide your cultivation.' ("Comments for Republication" in Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa") Teacher meant to caution Dafa practitioners of a tendency of looking for new and unheard of things in Dafa. This should not be used as an excuse not to study all of Teacher's Fa.
We all know that Zhuan Falun is immensely profound because Teacher has compressed everything he can give Dafa practitioners into Zhuan Falun, but why has Teacher been giving us Fa lectures in the Fa-rectification period? Isn't Teacher trying to prevent us from chances of losses or detours in cultivation? If Teacher hadn't talked about the old forces in his articles and Fa lectures, none of us would be able to understand the old forces. Even if we did develop some understandings of the old forces, our understandings could never be as thorough and systematic. It would be absolutely impossible for us to thoroughly understand the old forces' nature without Teacher's articles and Fa lectures because the ultimate old forces come from an unimaginably high level of the universe. In conclusion, it is irrational not to study all of Teacher's articles and Fa lectures thoroughly and in chronological order.
2. Various Degrees of Human Notions and Attachments
It's an indisputable fact that a lot of Dafa practitioners have been struggling on the same cultivation level for some time. The root cause is that they are still holding fast to human notions and attachments. It is exactly like Teacher said, "If you hold on to humanness with one hand and won't let go, and you hold on to Buddhahood with the other hand and won't let go, just which one exactly do you want?" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference") Secretly they expect Teacher would take them away from everything. My dear fellow practitioners, Teacher has already taught us, "No human attachment can be taken to heaven." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" in Guiding the Voyage.) What is cultivation? Teacher said, "The entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." ("Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels" in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun.) The reason why Teacher has left us with our remaining human attachments is so that we can remain in the human realm to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification. We should not be reinforcing these human attachments. In the end, we will have to eliminate our remaining human attachments. Some fellow practitioners haven't removed their fundamental human attachments, and are unwilling to face them. Some of them would even say, "My xinxing is so low that I don't think I will be able to reach consummation. Let those practitioners with high xinxing reach their consummation." My fellow practitioners, Teacher said, "Did you know that Fa-rectification disciples who aren't able to come through the Fa-rectification period will not have another chance to cultivate, because throughout history you have already been given all the best things?" ("Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples") Haven't we waited millions of years in history for this very moment? Besides, if we cannot come through the Fa-rectification period, the countless lives associated with our colossal firmaments will be weeded out. Those countless lives that truly belong to you will be weeded out because of you. In comparison, how can human attachments be worth being obsessed with? Think about it for a moment. It is these very human attachments that are obstructing you from developing furthering understandings of the Fa, from having righteous thoughts, and taking righteous actions, and, thus, resulting in substantial losses in your life.
3. Neglect of the Constructive Role of Experience-Sharing in Promoting Cultivation
Exchanging cultivation experiences is one of the cultivation forms that Teacher has given us. We can promote each other's cultivation through exchanging cultivation experiences. Sometimes a sentence from a fellow practitioner can open a new window of cultivation. Fellow practitioners' understandings of the Fa are good lessons for us to learn. In order to help reduce the old forces' persecution against Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, Teacher has given us many hints to help us come through the Fa-rectification period, but some of the Fa Teacher has said are at a very advanced level. Under the circumstances, exchanges of cultivation experiences become especially necessary. There are always some fellow practitioners diligent in their cultivation that can quickly grasp Teacher's new Fa lectures and rectify their own cultivation path. Clearwisdom.net is one of the platforms that Teacher has given us to exchange our cultivation experiences. From "Facts of the Persecution," "News and Activities from Around the World," "Non-Practitioners Awaken to the Truth," "Fa-rectification Stories," to "Practitioners Exchange Experiences and Insights," every kind of article, especially "Practitioners Exchange Experiences and Insights," reflect the immense force of the Fa-rectification. Whether it is "the current situation of Fa-rectification" or "how to walk each step on the path of Fa-rectification righteously" that you are interested in, you will find related articles on Clearwisdom.net. However, there are many practitioners that are still not taking Clearwisdom.net, a Dafa practitioners' web site, seriously. Dear fellow practitioners, please cherish this web site. Teacher has repeatedly confirmed the importance of Dafa disciples' web sites. How can we have any reason not to treasure them? If you come across a good experience-sharing article, please read it a few more times to help you seek inward. I am not saying that this is the only way for us to exchange our cultivation experiences. Depending on your personal situations, you may also choose other forms, such as experience-sharing gatherings, which are more direct, though less convenient than reading articles on the web, and allow more thorough, two-way discussions on tangible cultivation issues.
