(Clearwisdom.net)
On June 6, 2006, Clearwisdom.net published an article written by an 11-year-old practitioner. The title of the article is "Looking at the Persecution of Falun Dafa Practitioners from the Viewpoint of Our Reincarnations." The little disciple recorded in detail what he saw in other dimensions about the treaties he and his father were once forced to sign with the old forces before they came down to the human world. The content of his treaty was to not study the Fa or practice diligently, and not to study his schoolwork diligently. The content of his father's treaty was to indulge in lust. Before the persecution of Falun Gong began, the whole family of the little disciple was very diligent in cultivation. However, after the persecution started, he gradually slacked off in his school study and Dafa cultivation, and his father began to indulge in lust and have affairs with other women. After receiving hints from Teacher, he and his father suddenly enlightened to the fact that their bad states were all due to the treaties they signed with the old forces. Therefore they made up their minds to completely negate the old forces' arrangements and to firmly follow Teacher in cultivation. As a result, their cultivation states gradually improved.
(See http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/6/6/74153.html for the whole article)
I was very shocked after reading this article. For a long time recently I have been very lax in my cultivation, but I had never thought this would have anything to do with the old forces. Now I realize that my cultivation state was a result of acknowledging the old forces' arrangements. After sharing with some fellow practitioners, we also realized that I am not the only one who has had this problem.
I obtained the Fa in 1997. At that time I was very diligent. Even though I was preparing for a college entrance exam and did not have much time to practice the exercises or study the Fa then, I still treated myself as a practitioner all the time and required myself to follow the principles of the Fa. On the first mid-term exam after I obtained the Fa, my ranking in the whole grade moved forward 99 places, which seemed incredible in the eyes of non-practitioners. As I kept cultivating, Dafa opened my wisdom and my grades kept getting better and better. In the end, I got accepted by a famous university as I wished.
The evil communist party began the persecution of Falun Gong one year after I started attending college. Even though the evil was very rampant, I was still able to persist in cultivation. However, after 2000, I began to slack off. I often mingled with ordinary people. All I heard, read, said and thought were ordinary people's things. Because of my cultivation state, my grades got worse and worse. I barely managed to graduate from college.
After I entered the workforce, my cultivation state got only worse. My job was very time demanding and I could seldom find time to do Fa-validation work. In my company I met ordinary people and unknowingly became contaminated by them. I even began to show interest in ordinary people's low-taste stuff. I once tried to find the reason for my bad cultivation state, but I never thought this could be the arrangements of the old forces. Those bad gods kept interfering with me, pushing me to a road away from Dafa.
This year I took a new job in a different industry. However, in the past six months, I was fired twice. On the surface, it appeared that the reason was that I didn't do certain things well. But I was clear in my mind that this absolutely was not a normal cultivation state. I thought that it must have been that I had become stuck somehow. I started looking for answers, and it was then that I saw the Clearwisdom article I mentioned at the beginning.
I asked myself, "Is it possible that I also was forced to sign a pact with the old forces before I came down to the human world? Is it possible I am walking on a path arranged by the old forces? These are all possible!" I decided that I must face the pact I signed with the old forces and completely deny it!
Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference,"
"We don't acknowledge this persecution, but it has happened. In this persecution, how you, as Dafa disciples, put an end to the persecution that the old forces have forced upon us and negate the arrangements by the old forces, how you manage to walk the righteous path of a Dafa disciple, how you save sentient beings during this persecution--all of these are responsibilities bestowed upon Dafa disciples by history. Dafa disciples must do those things and do them well."
Now I realize that I hadn't really understood the above passage of Teacher's Fa. When I encountered problems, I often treated them just from the perspective of that specific issue, but never thought about elements behind the issue. I acknowledged the old forces' arrangements and they pulled me down.
After I came to realize the above, I made up my mind to deny the old forces' arrangements. Whenever I had unrighteous thoughts or behaviors, I would immediately realize that they were the old forces' arrangements and that I must deny them. I then found that things began to turn for the better.
Looking around at my fellow practitioners, I see some of them who are also interfered with by the old forces. When I share experiences with them, I find many have the same thoughts as I did before. They say they're not that diligent because their work is too busy, etc. Such thoughts are acknowledging the old forces' arrangements, and so they only become busier and busier. As I see it, the fundamental problem is that they are still acknowledging the old forces' arrangements. The time left for our cultivation is very limited. If these practitioners cannot rectify their cultivation paths, the consequences will be severe. The old forces intend to persecute practitioners. If we don't negate them, we will walk farther and farther on the path arranged by them. How horrible that would be!
I thank Teacher for giving me hints and helping me realize my fundamental problem. I have written this article in the hope that fellow practitioners who have the same problem will wake up and check if there are old force elements that are interfering with them. Don't treat the things you encounter as random and accidental and don't let the old forces take advantage of your omissions. We must firmly deny the treaties we signed with the old forces and come back to the path arranged by Teacher, the only path leading to Consummation.
