(Clearwisdom.net) One day I talked with a fellow practitioner who had experienced tribulations and yet was very firm in Dafa practice. He said that in those days he was lazy and did not advance in cultivation. After communicating with each other, I realized the reason for his laziness was his strong attachment to time. Since he was attached to time, he often thought about when the persecution would end. However, when the persecution didn't end when he expected, he was disappointed and didn't have complete faith in Dafa, which finally led to laziness.
The fellow practitioner mentioned, "Teacher said in 2001 that it's going to end soon. Why hasn't it ended yet?" In fact, on September 26, 2000, Teacher said in the article, Serious Teachings,
"There are also some people who say, 'why doesn't Master finish this sooner?' Let me use a few human words to criticize them: these people aren't even ashamed to say this! Those disciples who have been persecuted in the tribulations are waiting, amidst their suffering, for precisely these people! They're waiting for these people to break away from humanness."
Here is my personal understanding of why it has not ended yet. The reason Teacher extends the ending over and over is because our merciful Teacher is actually trying to give us disciples and human beings a chance, a chance that allows Dafa disciples who took detours or did not do well to have another chance to do well, and to have the opportunity to save more sentient beings. In the end, we will be able to accomplish our prehistoric wishes.
Take me as an example. After the persecution began, I went astray for over three years. I even confused myself as an ordinary person. Our great Teacher gave me another chance and made me realize my errors and mend my ways back to the cultivation path guided by Teacher. If it was really as that fellow practitioner said, that it would end in 2001, those practitioners who went astray would have forever lost the chance to aid Teacher with Fa rectification and fulfill their prehistoric vows!
Just as Teacher said in the book Guiding the Voyage,
"Cherish the present time and make the best use of it--this time is meant for the disciples."
Our respected Teacher not only has compassion toward all disciples and gives them chances, but also has compassion in His heart toward sentient beings and those who are deceived. Teacher gives them opportunities to learn the truth about Falun Dafa, and to finally make the right decisions on their life's road so they can truly move into the future. Because our respected Teacher comes to save sentient beings, He extends the final end the Fa rectification course again and again to give sentient beings chances to have a beautiful future and return to their ever-lasting true selves.
From another point of view, the course of Fa rectification is not ending so quickly because some Dafa practitioners are attached to time and are disturbed by their erroneous notions formed within ordinary human society. The evil spirits of the old forces and rotten demons take advantage of this and further interfere with those practitioners' firm belief in Dafa, who then become lazy and maintain a "die-away" situation. Personally, I think that being attached to time is the fundamental reason for some practitioners, even for some veteran practitioners, to become lazy and depressed. Here, I sincerely hope fellow practitioners in China can form a better environment by getting together in Fa study, discussion and communication. That environment will help to encourage practitioners to support each other. Thus, if we notice any erroneous conditions from some fellow practitioners, we can evaluate them by using Fa and correct them in time. Because everyone communicates from the standpoint of the Fa, such an environment will not give those "slacking-off" thoughts or notions any credit.
In the end, as a mutual encouragement, allow me to share one paragraph from our respected Teacher's article "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,"
"Actually, if you think about it, the cultivators of the past didn't dare to slack off for even a second, and that was when it took an entire lifetime to complete the journey. So how can Dafa disciples--who are to achieve the Attainment Status of a being who is saved by Dafa and who have the most convenient cultivation way--not be even more diligent when they are given this most glorious honor of Fa-validating cultivation in a brief cultivation period that passes in the blink of an eye? You already know that the form of a Dafa disciple's cultivation has one cultivate here, in the world, among ordinary people, and that the cultivation directly targets one's mind. All human attachments and notions that interfere with validating the Fa and saving sentient beings must be removed. For cultivators traveling a divine path, is it really that hard to get rid of those attachments that arise from human thinking and to change those notions? If a cultivator doesn't want to get rid of even those things, well, how is he to show that he's a cultivator? Of course, most disciples who are in this state are that way because, at the beginning, they didn't realize that they had subtle attachments or were being interfered with by their own notion, and so the evil has exploited this gap and magnified those factors. I know that after you become clear on this you will quickly catch up, but you should take fewer detours on this most magnificent, divine path; not leave reason for regret in your futures; and not fall so far behind in terms of levels. That is my hope, your hope, and the hope of the beings who are counting on you."
The above is my personal understanding. Please point out if there is anything that is not appropriate.
