(Clearwisdom.net)
Dear fellow practitioners, please think over what the biggest tribulation in your current cultivation is. What causes you to not strive forward diligently and not break through tribulations? Especially for those practitioners who have not striven forward diligently for a long time and who have been in tribulations for a long time: you should really make up your mind to dig out the root of your attachment. Time waits for no one!
Right now the tribulation focusing on Dafa and Dafa disciples is the biggest tribulation in the history of the universe. All beings in the universe are inside the tribulation. The effect of this tribulation on each different being's life is totally different. The effect is decided by the creation and history of that being's life, and his attitude toward the Fa-rectification. But no matter what, the tribulation during the Fa-rectification period is the biggest tribulation for all beings.
For each particular being, the appearance of the tribulation is different. For Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period, the biggest tribulation is that they are not striving forward diligently and are not truly having the effect of validating the Fa. For the current period during the Fa-rectification, the biggest tribulation for Dafa disciples is not being able to save more sentient beings. In a word, it is not being able to do well the three things that Teacher told us to do. For everyday people, the biggest tribulation is not being able to understand the truth and obtain the Fa.
During the Fa-rectification period, especially in Mainland China, some Dafa disciples are in a state of not striving forward diligently. Fa-rectification is already close to the end. Why did this happen?
Teacher taught us in the Fa:
"Teacher: You have no idea that loneliness can ruin everything for a person. In the past, what did monks depend on in their practice of cultivation? Why were they able to succeed in cultivation? Their greatest hardship was loneliness. What hardship did they have to endure? It was the hard-to-endure loneliness. Why could a person who went up to a mountain to practice the Dao succeed in attaining the Dao? Worldly people were enjoying glory, splendor, wealth, and rank. Even poor people, who weren't enjoying glory, splendor, wealth, and rank, also had kith and kin, and enjoyed earthly pleasures. The monks cultivated hard in the mountains by themselves. Without any contact with other people, that loneliness, which is hard to endure, can wear away a person's many attachments and various desires. Of course, we're not taking this path. We aim directly at one's heart--it's the fastest way. I don't think there is time for you to [have your attachments] worn down over several decades. " ("Lecture at the First Conference in North America")
My understanding based on the Fa is that selfishness is one of the main causes of loneliness. If a being's every thought is within the Fa and about striving forward diligently, how can he feel lonely? So the best way to break through the loneliness is to strive forward diligently. As long as we feel lonely, we should study the Fa, send forth the righteous thoughts, and clarify the truth to save the sentient beings. Why did some Dafa disciples who were released from prison not strive forward diligently and were negative? Because those places are very tightly controlled by the old forces, and were the most concentrated places of the rotten substances, demons, and rotten ghosts. As soon as you stop paying attention, those corrupt elements form an extremely strong field in your body, and especially in your mind. They exist in your dimensions as a form of spirit possession, and separate you from the Fa and from other practitioners. They isolate you, make you unable to strive forward diligently, and then destroy you. The biggest prison is not just the forced labor camps and prisons where the Falun Dafa disciples have been persecuted, but the old forces, the principles of the old universe, and the restraint of the corrupt elements from the old universe.
From a bigger picture, what the old forces want the most is for the Dafa disciples in an area to be in a negative state and isolated from each other. The best way to break though the old forces is group Fa study. Teacher already emphasized this in "Teaching the Fa to Australian Falun Dafa Practitioners." From a bigger picture, the Dafa disciples in Mainland China and overseas should also improve communication and understanding among themselves. I think the best way is to harmonize the Minghui websites. [Translator's note: These websites include Chinese Minghui, Clearwisdom, and the website in other languages.]
On the surface, the situation in Mainland China is still quite complicated. Especially in the beginning, it was quite chaotic. That is because the demons, rotten ghosts, corrupt substances, old forces, and the inharmonious factors of the old universe were all concentrated there. But with the progress of Fa-rectification, the demons and rotten ghosts were largely eliminated, and the situation there has already undergone a great change. From the point of view of Fa-Rectification cultivation, the place which has problems (including problems with individuals, local areas, or the whole body) is where the corrupt substances haven't been fully eliminated. Or, where practitioners haven't cultivated themselves well, and where there are still inharmonious factors of the old universe.
Finally I want to emphasize again that when we are in the state of not being able to strive forward diligently, when we cannot truly have the effect of validating the Fa, when we cannot save more sentient beings, we are in the biggest tribulation. How can we break through that tribulation? We need to calm down our minds and look inward and make up our minds firmly to break though our attachments. Just as Teacher said in Zhuan Falun: "It's hard to endure, but you can endure it. It's hard to do, but you can do it." (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)