(Clearwisdom.net) Only through in-depth understanding of Teacher’s new articles and following the Fa-rectification’s requirement in cultivation, can we truly achieve the state that we should be in, walk steadily, become rock-solid gradually, and do the three things better.
I often see some practitioners who study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth of Falun Gong, but still look at things using ordinary human notions. Usually, when Teacher publishes a new article, they immediately comprehend it conceptually, cultivate diligently for a while, and fall back to their previous lazy, relaxed or numb states.
Why couldn’t they understand the Fa from the Fa? Why is their understanding of Teacher’s Fa always limited to the surface? Why do they have strong human attachments? What is hindering them? I think there are two factors.
(1) First, their standpoint is incorrect. In other words, the foundation of their cultivation is not on the Fa. They cling to their understanding of the Fa by their human side, which makes them unable to understand the Fa fundamentally or ultimately change their human nature.
True cultivators always put the Dafa first. Whatever they encounter, they first think about the Fa and what the Fa requires of them in such situations. They measure things according to the Fa, understand the Fa from the Fa, and gain wisdom and ability from the Fa. However, cultivators with strong human attachments always put their understanding first. Whatever they encounter, they first think what they should do according to their personal understanding.
In fact, if examined closely, their thinking contains the old universe’s fundamental attribute – selfishness, and everything the old forces arranged for us, including our education, life experiences and all kinds of ordinary human notions and thoughts. Actually every single thought of ours contains factors from the old universe, which works either positively or negatively in Fa-rectification.
Now it is not difficult to see why those practitioners with strong human attachments always treat and handle conflicts arranged by Teacher as if they are ordinary people’s everyday problems. On their cultivation path, they spend most of the time to live ordinary people’s life.
They let tests pass by them as things that happen by accident. They cannot stay in the Fa or have their wisdom enhanced by the Fa. In another words, true cultivators continue to assimilate to the universe's principle, break away from the old universe’s fundamental attribute – selfishness, and gain wisdom. But a cultivator with strong human attachments is still bound up by the selfishness of the old universe and his wisdom and capabilities are blocked up.
So we should realize that every cultivator in the Fa-rectification period must break away from old universe’s boundaries, and obtain the new universe’s characteristics. That is where we are heading. Adhering to our human knowledge from the past is an obstacle that prevents us from seeing the higher level Fa.
Once a practitioner told me, "If you want to see the higher level Fa, you cannot be attached to your understanding from yesterday or even from the last moment. Adhesion to the past means stasis; weakening of our righteousness comes from complacency and even numbness to change. We should continue to enlighten according to the principles of ‘Truthfulness – Compassion – Tolerance’ at different levels."
(2) Secondly, those cultivators do not pay attention to true cultivation. They don’t often measure themselves according to the Fa, or look inward. After a while, they don’t know how to look inward. They generally can look inward when they are reading the Fa, but after putting the books down, they return to their old selves to deal with things using human ways.
Cultivators are true cultivators only if they follow Teacher’s words without reservation. True cultivators believe in Teacher and the Fa, enlighten from their faith, and act with righteous thoughts. Those who cultivate diligently have strong righteous thoughts at all times and can melt into the Fa. So when something occurs, they can immediately measure it according to the Fa, find their attachments and human notions, adjust their mindsets in time, eliminate interference, strengthen their righteous thoughts, and solve problems fundamentally.
The lazy cultivators, however, whose cultivation states lack solid foundations, do not regularly look inward. Encountering problems, they automatically look outward. Therefore, they cannot pass xinxing tests, which makes tribulations accumulate and conflicts to worsen. Under pressure, they become easily agitated and even go astray. They usually consider things superficially and try to solve problems as they appear.
The reason behind this situation is that they always incorporate their human understanding into such matters as cultivation, Fa-rectification, the persecution, and the three things that Teacher asks us to do. Unconsciously, they reserve a place for things they consider good, but they remain grounded in the old universe.
Also, those lazy cultivators whose cultivation lacks solid foundation usually are not clear about cultivation and the path Teacher arranges for them. They always treat conflicts and problems as if they happen by accident. Actually, when we start cultivation, Teacher has arranged a path of cultivation for us. From that moment on, everything we meet or feel is not accidental. There is always something for us to enlighten to and cultivate toward in anything that happens, no matter how minute it may be. So we should be clear-minded and treat everything in cultivation and Fa-rectification with rationality.
When I was writing this experience-sharing article, an incident happened which made me realize the seriousness of cultivation and Teacher’s expectations of us. A fellow practitioner I know was holding his one-year-old baby, when the baby wet his pants. The practitioner said to the baby with a slight blaming tone, "See, you wet my pants. Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?" At that time, the baby started to cry and wouldn’t stop.
The other practitioner in the next room heard the crying, came over and helped the practitioner carry the baby to another room. Gradually the baby stopped crying.
Afterwards, I asked this practitioner if he knew why the baby cried. He said, "That child doesn’t allow anyone to criticize him. He cries when anyone criticizes him." I then asked, "How about yourself?" Very reluctantly, he said, "There are certain areas of myself that I don’t allow others to criticize." I then asked him, "Why is it that your pants were wet by the baby?" He said he didn’t know.
Teacher said,
"In any case, a cultivator must look at things as a cultivator should and with the mind of a cultivator, and absolutely cannot look at things with the mind of an ordinary person. Nothing you encounter is simple, accidental, or an ordinary thing. It must have to do with your cultivation and your improvement. Because you are a cultivator, your life path has been changed, and you have been given a new cultivation path; nothing on your path happens by chance. But it will definitely appear to be by chance, because only in this delusion and in a state where you are the same as ordinary people can you show whether you are cultivating, whether you cultivate well, and whether you are able to pass test after test. That is cultivation, and that is righteous enlightenment!"
("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles"
When the practitioner criticized his child, he was looking outward instead of inward. He didn’t think why it happened to him. He regarded it as an ordinary thing that happens randomly, and so he was using ordinary people’s notions to address it. He was using ordinary people’s principles to treat things that happened in cultivation. So, he didn’t think much about it. That is what hinders him from clearly realizing it was arranged by Teacher for him to improve, and for his xinxing to catch up with the Fa-rectification.
Every opportunity missed is accumulated. When he talked to the baby, he didn’t follow Teacher’s Fa to point out the problem with good intentions. So the child cried and didn’t accept his criticism. If a practitioner doesn’t carry a field of righteous thought, he or she can’t rectify any abnormal conditions. The child does not accept any criticism, which reflects exactly how the practitioner normally doesn’t accept criticism.
Every opportunity that Teacher arranges for us to improve ourselves and catch up with Fa-rectification is very precious. For an opportunity to happen, there are a multitude of factors. Sometimes, it won’t happen if even one factor is missing. My personal understanding is each opportunity is unique. If you let it go, it is gone forever, because Fa-rectification will not come a second time. So cultivation during the Fa-rectification period is very serious, which has very high and strict requirements. It won’t work if we come up even a little bit short.
We should understand the Fa deeply, build strong righteous thoughts, and truly display the divine power of our righteous thoughts. What do people look like if when their minds are beyond the Triple World? They are people on the road to godhood, they can do whatever they set their minds to do and follow it through, and they are unshakable and solid, like diamond. Teacher has given us boundless wisdom and boundless divine power. It is up to us whether we choose to follow the Fa’s standard and enlighten to it.
Recognizing this, I am thinking of the situations and responsibilities of practitioners, especially those in China. We should do the three things well steadily, and cooperate with practitioners outside China to suffocate the evil, eliminate the evil party, and stop the persecution of Falun Gong. Overseas Dafa practitioners have established the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China (CIPFG). What kind of righteous thoughts should we practitioners in mainland China have?
Teacher has always been looking after us. Teacher’s wish is to save us. Let us cultivate diligently in Teacher’s mighty benevolence!
Please point out any errors.