(Clearwisdom.net)

Over the past four years many practitioners in China have been illegally imprisoned, brainwashed, and forced into homelessness to different extents. Some practitioners are continually being arrested, beaten, detained, and closely monitored by their local police unit. Other practitioners have heard the stories or have witnessed incidents of practitioners being persecuted. The torment and suffering caused by all this have led to the situation of "enlightening along an evil path" and betrayal of Dafa.

It is clear that these problems arise due to the old forces' arrangements, but we are all Fa-Rectification period Dafa disciples, so we must look inward when problems arise. The following is an assessment of some shortcomings in cultivation that I have enlightened to. I hope this article can assist us in traversing the rest of our journey even better. (Note: the following cases are representative of some practitioners, but do not reflect the overall situation of practitioners in all regions).

1. Practitioners Often Incorporate Emotions When Comprehending Dafa

Some practitioners use emotion toward Master and Dafa. For example, many practitioners cannot help but exclaim words such as "Master said it so well!" or "What Master said was so wonderful!" etcetera. I feel that those who harbor these notions have actually placed themselves apart from the Fa, as if they are evaluating or assessing Dafa from the outside. What criterion will you apply if you are standing outside of Dafa? When we are at one with the Fa, then we are not fit to judge it. Conversely, when truly letting go and stepping out of human emotions, we will be able to melt into the Fa, and truly understand the Fa from within the Fa.

Another instance where we regard Dafa and Master with human emotions is the way some of us tell people the facts of the persecution. Sometimes they may not understand or agree with what we say, and in some cases they may directly oppose us. This may cause us to feel upset or disappointed inside. Especially when we encounter individuals who speak insolently or irrationally, we become even more upset. Master has taught that we shouldn't get angry with people, but when we act like this, aren't we? This is a result of using emotion to look at Dafa, using emotion to look at the Fa-Rectification, and using emotion to look at old force arrangements.

The old forces arranged the persecution of Dafa, and from it we can see the inadequacy of their character (Xinxing) standard. Even so, when arranging all of this, they still did not employ any human emotions. But, when we're being persecuted or facing adversity, we unintentionally produce human emotions, and use these emotions to deal with problems. This could be one of the reasons why the evil has brought about such a vicious persecution. Therefore, when we confront the old forces' arrangements, we should step out of human emotion.

While studying the Fa, practicing cultivation, clarifying the facts and facing the evil persecution, we often inadvertently use human emotion in our handling of various issues. After some time, our planes of thinking shift away from the Fa. We no longer have true faith and confidence in Dafa. Instead, we regard the Fa and tribulations in our cultivation with emotion. When we are under the influence of human emotion, we tend to get stuck in the problem itself, and other difficulties may also crop up.

2. We Are Unable to Maintain a Strong Master Consciousness

Our main consciousness is not strong when we cannot calm down during Fa study. Perhaps

we didn't truly study the Fa when we went to Fa study in the beginning, but just went there to join in the fun.

Our main consciousness is not strong when we cannot step out of the realm of human thoughts and notions. This manifests where problems arise or we encounter the evil's persecution and we cannot deal with it using righteous thoughts, and when we do Fa-Rectification and clarify the facts about the persecution we cannot achieve a good effect.

Without true cultivation, we use our own understandings of the Fa to judge other practitioners, often leading to conflict or unnecessary interference. Others may be led to feel ashamed or embarrassed by us, but it is actually indicative of our own failure to look inward, and cultivate ourselves well.

Without true cultivation, the problem of incorrectly understanding the Fa can arise, yet sometimes we are unable to see it. We often comprehend the Fa by incorporating our own thoughts. In doing so, we can be easily influenced by the old forces and their ulterior motives, and if we cannot detect the problem at an early stage the old forces will lead us further and further away from the Fa. Sometimes thoughts crop up like, "This Fa is wrong, I've been deceived." The words in the books haven't changed - it is our own notions that create such deviated understandings. Without a strong Master Consciousness to wake us up, our own notions may deceive us. The people who brainwash practitioners by force also use those same words, but do they have righteous thoughts? Following our notions to cultivate, how can we be following the standards of the Fa?

How can we correctly deal with these problems in our cultivation? We still have our human side, so it is normal to trip once in a while during cultivation, but we are different from everyday people. We are Dafa practitioners, and during the course of cultivation, we gradually improve our understanding of the Fa. We shouldn't be afraid to trip, but when we do trip and fall we should get up quickly, and use it as a lesson learned to temper ourselves and improve our understandings. If we used to be perplexed by the Fa, we should now have a more lucid understanding. Let us act according to the standards of the Fa, and not according to our own ideas and notions, to display righteous thoughts, righteous actions, and righteous comprehension.