(Clearwisdom.net) In my cultivation path I have witnessed the evil's attack. It is a systematic attack that can target the most veteran practitioners to the newest at any time. Recently, many practitioners have shared how they were attacked. Some had vicious attacks of sickness or crippling pain. Others battle laziness or bouts of anger and frustration. However, no matter how the evil tries to attack, I feel its mission is a focused and fundamental attack on the one thing it knows that can defeat it. Master has continued to tell us over and over again about the one and only way we can strengthen righteous thoughts and truly and fundamentally eliminate the evil. This is studying Zhuan Falun. I feel the systematic and fundamental mission of the evil is to keep us away from studying the Fa.
As new articles come out I sometimes feel ashamed when I see that Master has to tell
us about our shortcomings several times in more that one article. It is because as one body we haven't learned the lesson that could be affecting the whole body and the Fa rectification. Still, Master continues to compassionately tell us what we have to do in order to improve.
In past articles Master usually didn't point out our mistakes more than twice, three times at most. However, since the beginning of my cultivation I have constantly read in almost every article Master telling us over and over again to study the Fa. "Study the Fa more." "You can't forget Fa study." "Don't neglect Fa study" "You must study the Fa a lot."
At this stage of Fa rectification our time is most precious, and in the blink of an eye the weeks continue to go by. I look around at my own environment and I see that I am so busy. I look back over the past year and ask myself, "Am I busier than I was last year? Do I have more Dafa work to do? Am I involved in more projects? Am I involved in more ideas? Do I have more fires to put out? Am I flooded with more emails to read and respond to?" The answer is "Yes."
I then ask myself, "Am I reading Zhuan Falun more than I was last year? Do I study the Fa more each day? Am I taking more time and more focus to study the Fa? Do I truly set aside more precious time to really study the Fa? The answer is definitely no.
I feel this is a blatant attack from the evil. It is similar to demonic interference in cultivation as stated in Zhuan Falun, where everything comes and tries to stop someone from practicing cultivation in order to keep his level down.
Some practitioners tell me how much they read Dafa websites. They read everyday for two hours. They then tell me they wish they had more time to read the book. Others say they try to find time to read but they are so busy with Dafa work. They tell me the reason they do so much Dafa work is because they can see immediate results from the things they create, which they can use to clarify the truth to people. They also wish they had more time to read the book. I feel it doesn't make a difference how much time we had. If we don't fundamentally change our thinking, we will never get around to reading more. There will always be more and more to do.
A practitioner shared her understanding with me. She feels that Zhuan Falun is the new cosmos. When we read Zhuan Falun we assimilate to the principles of the new cosmos, we become the new cosmos. The old forces have ruled the world for millions of years. We have all lived within the old forces for thousands of years and in this lifetime our consciousness has been dictated by the old forces ever since we were born. How can we possibly break through any of the old force arrangements if we ourselves don't fully assimilate to the new cosmos as much as we possibly can? When we read Zhuan Falun we are eliminating the attachments that keep us chained to the old forces.
In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.", Master says, "Of course, each one of our Dafa disciples says that we don't recognize the old forces' arrangements, but that's not something you just say--you have to follow the requirements of Dafa and the Fa-rectification. "I absolutely will not acknowledge any of those things you arranged in the past, old forces. I don't even acknowledge you." When your righteous thoughts are very strong you can purge it and you can reject their arrangements."
I used to read the book, looking to enlighten to new principles and deeper meanings. This in itself was not only a pursuit but was fundamentally off. In my understanding the desire to enlighten to deeper principles of the Fa won't fundamentally change my being. I take the example of the old forces. It is comprised of many extremely high level beings that have enlightened to high principles themselves. However, they continue to persecute and go against the Fa. Why is this? It is because there attachments to this undertaking have warped their very nature. When I search for principles I keep my focus away from the more fundamental plan of eliminating my own attachments. It is when I can truly find my omissions by reading the Fa and eliminate them through cultivation that I truly feel my levels raise within the new cosmos.
Master says that we can't be everyday people doing Dafa work. We must be Dafa disciples who do Dafa work. In my understanding it is because when we don't study the Fa we are using all the old force arrangements to dictate our every thought and every action. Of course we can't sit back and do nothing until we all reach the ultimate enlightenment state. This is not possible. However, Master tells us if we do what we are supposed to do, everything will be covered. In my understanding a big part of this is studying Zhuan Falun.
One night I sat down to study Zhuan Falun. I felt I had lost a lot of time in my Fa study over the months and it would take a lot to catch up. I had a restless feeling because I still had so many things to do. Some things I was excited about, others I didn't want to do but had too. I actually stood by my chair and stared at Zhuan Falun on my coffee table. I didn't pick it up. I felt as if there was some force keeping me away from sitting and reading. The restlessness, the excitement, my emails, my projects! I stopped and looked inside my head. At that moment I saw it. I recognized it and said to it, "You are so eliminated! I finally see you and your power is gone!" I then sat and started to study Zhuan Falun. It was a great and powerful reading experience.
After I finished I went upstairs to continue my work. My mind was clear and I felt focused and alert. I started to chop away at all my responsibilities. I found that all the things I had to get done got done faster when I read. If I don't read the stress, frustration and procrastination set in, and I find my ideas are messy and usually not within the Fa.
We all know this principle. The fact is Master has given us so many chances to upgrade our levels before this time is over. I feel we must finally put our Fa study first and foremost. We must listen to our Teacher and truly put the effort into studying Zhuan Falun. Only then will we be able to fundamentally destroy the evil and fundamentally clarify the truth. Without this we may miss this precious chance. We may look for salvation in doing more and more things. Our attachments will forever remain buried and we may crawl within the boundaries delimited by levels of our own ignorance.
"Your righteous thoughts and everything you accomplish come from the Fa, so no matter how busy you are, don't neglect Fa-study." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")