(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, some issues involving important principles surfaced in our Fa-rectification cultivation. Below are some understandings exchanged among Dafa practitioners, for everyone's reference.
Maintain the solemnity and noble purity of a Fa conference
The reason for holding Dafa conferences is "for disciples to share with one another what they have experienced and learned in their cultivation" and "helping one another make progress together." ("The Fa Conference," Essentials for Further Advancement) The Fa conference itself is very solemn and magnificent. Two or three recent overseas Dafa conferences did not abide by these principles. We noticed some issues that need addressing.
First, during the selection of speeches people had submitted, the coordinators had intermixed Dafa practitioners' sharing of experiences with clarifying the truth to ordinary people. The basis, main points and ways of thinking for sharing of cultivation experience are different in nature and in content from truth clarification we do for ordinary people.
Secondly, during those conferences, people who had once turned against Dafa talked a lot about themselves. Although we can benefit ordinary people by telling them about this brutal persecution, it is quite inappropriate for those who had compromised their faith in Dafa and had given in to the evildoers, those who are still trying to make up for their mistakes, to speak at the Fa conferences. It's particularly wrong for them to bring attention to themselves by using their persecution experiences. It was after all their willingness to undergo "reform" brought about by their attachments and other problems that got them into trouble in the first place. They are now parlaying these things for credit to obtain fame, and suddenly claim these experiences were "sacrifices." If reports of such incidents are sent back to Mainland China, they may have a negative impact. Therefore, it is every Dafa practitioner's responsibility to keep Fa conferences solemn and pure, based on the Fa.
Dafa is solemn; we should validate Dafa and not ourselves
Master and the Fa have given us everything we have, and have made us Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples. We need to recognize this precious opportunity of cultivating during Fa-rectification and must grasp our time to offer people a way to salvation. However, some practitioners have been attached to their notions for a long time. They consciously or unconsciously show themselves off and brag about themselves, which takes up a large portion of their conference speech. We must constantly work on ourselves to get rid of this attachment during the last stage of Fa-rectification cultivation. We cannot indulge ourselves! Dafa has created everything we have. If we use this opportunity Dafa has given us to show off, aren't we disrespecting Dafa? Of course here I don't mean to point to the different approaches Dafa practitioners use to explain the truth, including their expertise and valid, personal experiences. We must pay attention to the process, as well as the results. The things we do should display the beauty and purity of Dafa.
During this brutal persecution in China, some people had willingly compromised with the evildoers, either from fear or for various other reasons. These practitioners should all more cherish the time before Fa-rectification ends and purify themselves from the depth of their being. Through Master's boundless compassion, they ought to make up for their mistakes, erase the terrible influence they had on Dafa by doing "the three things" [study the Fa, explain the truth and send righteous thoughts] well, instead of continuing to boast of themselves and mislead others.
If these things are allowed to exist among us, it means we all have attachments and notions we need to eliminate, and we should take this issue very seriously.
Dafa is magnificent and dignified. Master continues to give all people opportunities and allows us time so we can achieve Consummation. True practitioners should not think about things with an attitude of ordinary people's mentality, and cherish the remaining time.
Give up ordinary people's notion of hierarchy and admiration for ordinary people's skills
For a long time, some practitioners who didn't study the Fa well and have heavy, ordinary people's notions have the prominent notion of hierarchy. They admire the social status and skills of ordinary people. They mix cultivation with ordinary people's skills, and they even praise and emulate people with these skills. In fact, Master has pointed out,
"With the spreading of Dafa, more and more people are able to understand Dafa. So we must pay attention to one matter: Do not bring the human concepts of caste or hierarchy into Dafa. Both veteran and new students must be mindful of this matter. Anyone who comes to study the Fa -- no matter how learned he is, how big his business, how high his rank, what special skills he has, or what supernormal abilities he possesses--must actually practice cultivation. Cultivation practice is magnificent and solemn. Whether you can abandon your particular human notions is a major test that you will have difficulty passing, yet you must pass. After all, as a disciple truly practicing cultivation, you must abandon these attachments since you can never reach Consummation without abandoning these notions." ("Abandon Human Attachments and Continue True Cultivation," Essentials for Further Advancement)
If this were an ordinary cultivation way, either from the past or a present one, those practitioners who turned against Master and Dafa, who stumbled, would have lost their opportunity to practice cultivation. However, during Fa-rectification, Master treats all beings with the greatest compassion. As long as Fa-rectification is still ongoing, everyone still has opportunities, including those practitioners who are responsible for losses to Dafa, to themselves and to other practitioners. How they are going to make up for their mistakes is their personal responsibility. Dafa standards, which cannot be replaced by any human notions or mentalities, will determine the final outcome. As we encourage and urge the ones who fell off the path, to grasp the remaining time to make up for their mistakes, other practitioners should also remain rational and calm.
The path to godhood is majestic; people who deviate from the path must latch on to the time left to make up for it
After "Master's New Year's Day 2004 Greeting to Dafa Disciples" was published, we all had a better understanding of the urgency of Fa-rectification. We felt a great responsibility on our shoulders. Master's Fa-rectification has reached the very last stage. The opportunities to guide people to the path of salvation and to fulfill our grand vows are becoming fewer and fewer. This is an issue every single one of our Dafa practitioners must clearly realize and confront with righteous thoughts.
We also brought up the issue of agents from the Chinese National Security Bureau trying to interfere with us during this current time of Fa-rectification. Jiang's group of villains attempted to coerce overseas Dafa practitioners to provide those agents with information by taking the practitioners' family members in Mainland China as leverage. Some practitioners were asked to talk to the national security agents and the police after they had returned to China. Even if they promised anything under coercion and duress, or provided information they considered as not important, it still lets down Dafa. These are things Dafa practitioners should never do! This is an important issue of right and wrong. All of these practitioners face the burning issue of giving up all attachments and returning to the path toward godhood. If they can't take it seriously and don't do it completely, they will probably forever lose their opportunity. Remembering our long, historical awaiting and suffering, considering Master arduously offering us salvation and his boundless compassion, is it so difficult to give up fame, fortune and the emotions of ordinary people?
Put our heart into reading and spreading the facts of the persecution as published on Minghui Net
Some practitioners have profoundly realized the critical importance of systematically understanding the facts of the persecution when clarifying the truth, when showing people a way to salvation, when eliminating the evil in other dimensions, and during cultivation. Many practitioners in Mainland China are denied normal access to Minghui Net because Jiang's group deprives people of their right to know and blocks the Internet. Practitioners in certain countries where information circulates freely exhibit a widespread phenomenon -- they read very few persecution articles from Minghui Net or Clearwisdom Net.
Someone observed that a significant event in ordinary people's society can spread quickly, yet the spread of information related to Dafa and people's understanding of it is usually limited. Why is that? The rape of Wei Xingyan, a graduate student from Chongqing University, the torture death of Liu Chengjun, a Dafa practitioner in Changchun City, dead because he helped people to hear the truth, as well as countless other cases of brutal persecution did not draw the proper attention they deserve. These cases are significant in and of themselves. The lack of circulation of this type of information to a wider audience is because of the evildoers' blockade of all channels of information of these facts to society. Secondly, many practitioners consciously or unconsciously have taken a passive attitude.
Master told us, "Everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") If we lack understanding and don't pay enough attention to the evil's persecution of Dafa and Dafa practitioners, wouldn't that be reflected in the ordinary society? Wouldn't ordinary society lack understanding of the truth of Dafa because we as a whole don't have a good understanding?
Even now, many practitioners stop carrying through with truth clarification work when they deem it too difficult to handle. There is a saying in ordinary society, "where there is a will, there is a way." For Dafa practitioners who think they cannot write good articles, don't express themselves well and don't have special skills, are we then really willing to let superficial delusions of the ordinary world restrict us? In fact, even for practitioners who have special skills, they could not count on this little bit of ordinary people's special skills to do things well. What truly took effect was their determined, righteous faith in Dafa and compassion toward people as Dafa practitioners. With these and through our truth-clarification efforts, the wisdom and power of Dafa will manifest in this world..