(Clearwisdom.net) Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York,"

"If he were an ordinary person, no matter how bad he was, the evil wouldn't pay any attention to him. Because he wants to cultivate, though, the evil will try to stop him from cultivating. And when you don't cultivate solidly you become a target for the evil's persecution."

When I read this, I couldn't calm down for a long time, because I have recently noticed that some practitioners have been interfered with because of their gaps in various aspects of their cultivation. I thought a lot about this situation for a long time. I asked myself many questions, including, "What exactly is 'not cultivating diligently'? How is it manifested? What is the consequence of not cultivating diligently?"

"And when you don't cultivate solidly you become a target for the evil's persecution." Master has made it very clear in the Fa. The serious consequences of evil persecution are mainly manifested in two ways. The first manifestation is serious sickness. The other manifestation is illegal arrest or even imprisonment in forced labor camps or prisons, where practitioners have been mercilessly persecuted. Some have been "transformed," and some even persecuted to death. We all know that any persecution in one of the two forms implies serious gaps in our personal cultivation. When we look back afterwards and search within ourselves, we find the aspects that we have failed to cultivate diligently. However, it is often too late.

To avoid the evil persecution, we should examine the several prominent manifestations of "not cultivating diligently." First of all, some practitioners knowingly hold onto humanness with one hand and Buddhahood with the other because they refuse to change themselves fundamentally. They are actually still human beings. They truly think Dafa is good, but they don't cultivate diligently because they cannot let go of their human attachments. As far as I know, such situations are more common among veteran practitioners. New practitioners, on the contrary, are more diligent. Secondly, some practitioners have persisted in cultivation, but they have not been diligent enough. They haven't realized the seriousness of their cultivation gaps. Such gaps can manifest among different practitioners in the following ways:

1. Not being conscious of safety and failing to cultivate speech.
2. Falling asleep during "Fa" study, failing to hold the palm erect when sending forth righteous thoughts, or even falling asleep during group Fa study. With such serious gaps in two of the three things that we do as Dafa practitioners, isn't it terrible in the long run?

3. Serious attachments to human sentiment. When meeting with someone that he "trusts," the practitioner shares everything he knows, without regard as to whether the information should be shared or not. One practitioner tells another practitioner, and the other practitioner tells another one, and they have unknowingly created a small group among practitioners. They tend to gather together and agree with each other when practitioners have different opinions on a Dafa project. This causes impurity in the local cultivation environment, and the old forces can easily exploit such an environment.
4. Some practitioners talk about other practitioners' shortcomings behind their backs. Since all practitioners have energy they have thus imposed negative energy on those practitioners. The old forces take advantage of this gap and strengthen the practitioners attachments, thus pushing the practitioner to a dangerous point. We've had serious lessons in this regard. It also demonstrates that we have failed to cultivate ourselves well. Shouldn't we let go of our Self (or attachment to selfishness) and share our understanding with the person to avoid the loss?
5. Etc.

What do we do about it? The only way is to calm down and study the Fa and cultivate our characters. Only when we regard the Fa study group as a genuine cultivation environment can we can improve ourselves faster.

April 24, 2007