(Clearwisdom.net)
Part 1: http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/9/12/100590.html
Part 2: http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/9/14/100638.html
(Continued) Then how do we eliminate our attachment to fear? First of all, we should study the Fa more.
Master has clearly taught us,
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
The Fa can also help us eliminate our fear. If we study the Fa well, we would look for the attachment to fear and add in the thought of eliminating it when sending righteous thoughts. If we keep doing this, the attachment to fear will eventually be eliminated completely.
I had a strong attachment to fear myself. For several years after the persecution started, due to my strong attachments and human notions, I became one of the practitioners that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) focused on. The evil forces were fierce. I was forced to leave home to avoid persecution. After some time, I studied the Fa more and read many experience sharing articles on Minghui, and I realized my many fundamental attachments and the attachment to fear. I began to understand a principle: as a Dafa practitioner, the safest approach is to walk righteously on our own cultivation journey. Think about it: If we all hide in our homes and are afraid of stepping forward to join the Fa-rectification; if we all wait until the environment becomes more favorable, how long would Master's Fa-rectification have to wait for us?
Master clearly teaches about this in Hong Yin II:
What's to Fear?
Should you have fear,
it will seize upon you
If thoughts are righteous,
evil will collapse
The cultivator's mind
is loaded with Fa
Send righteous thoughts,
and rotten demons explode
Gods walk the earth,
validating the Fa
When one has fear, it can be taken advantage of, and one might be arrested. When thoughts are righteous, evil forces collapse. As practitioners, we should study the Fa more and have our minds filled with the Fa. We should send forth righteous thoughts more to eliminate the dark minions and rotten demons and eliminate the evil beings and factors that persecute us. We should keep our own dimensions so pure and benevolent that no evil can penetrate. Who would be able to persecute us?
We should not view this persecution as one group of people persecuting another. It is carried out by people in this world, but they are controlled by evil beings in other dimensions. Yet to Dafa practitioners, the evil beings in other dimensions are nothing. If we have righteous thoughts, the evil is destroyed. Why do we fear it? We are Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period. We are validating the Fa and saving sentient beings in the human world. We are fulfilling our prehistoric vows and missions. Nobody is qualified to persecute us!
Of course, this does not mean that practitioners should not pay attention to safety. We should always keep safety and security in mind. However, we should view it from the Fa perspective. Some practitioners focus too much on human approaches. Even experience articles on Minghui reflect this incorrect thinking, as I understand it. Some articles are done with righteous thoughts. Some view the persecution as one group of people persecuting another. If we go with the human understanding and approach, we are not using righteous thoughts. For example, in some areas, when there were arrests, some practitioners even became afraid of using a telephone, which greatly impacted practitioners validating the Fa. Some practitioners were afraid of validating the Fa during "sensitive days." Paying attention to safety is being responsible for Dafa, being responsible to sentient beings and being responsible to fellow practitioners. However, it does not mean that we should give up validating the Fa in order to protect ourselves. These practitioners forget that this persecution was forced on us by the old forces that have only been following their own principles. The old forces took advantage of practitioners' loopholes to manipulate the evildoers in the human world to persecute practitioners.
I am not against the idea of being careful when using a telephone. (I, myself, pay great attention to safety when making phone calls.) I merely hope fellow practitioners will strengthen their righteous thoughts and always keep the most righteous thoughts as we walk our cultivation paths. Nobody is qualified to persecute us! In the meantime, we should always look inward to examine ourselves. As Master says,
"Calmly reflect on the attachments you have
Remove your human thoughts
and evil will naturally die out" ("Don't be Sad", Hong Yin II)
When we see practitioners being arrested, or the threat of danger, we should examine ourselves for any attachments and human notions. We will probably realize something we have never noticed before. With regards to the telephone, I sometimes think: "This life is so sad. All lives in this world came here for the Fa. Why can a telephone only be used by everyday people or by the evil to persecute practitioners? Why can't it be useful for Dafa and Dafa practitioners? Shouldn't it become a weapon for us to suppress the evil and save sentient beings?" Whether practitioners' thoughts are righteous or not determines a life's position and future. We Dafa practitioners should give this life a position that it deserves.
In my personal cultivation, I sometimes do not have strong righteous thoughts. However, I remember Master's teaching,
"...as a cultivator, what is truly remarkable is when you can be steadfast and have righteous thoughts so firm that nothing can sway you. Be solid and firm like diamond, or granite, and then nothing can affect you--evil will be afraid at the mere sight of you. If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")
I realized that Master has given us the most effective and powerful precious weapon. If practitioners could recite this Fa, deeply understand its true meaning and use it to strengthen our righteous thoughts, we would be able to step out of the shadow of fear and walk toward consummation.
The Fa-rectification advances rapidly. The evil in other dimensions become less and less, weaker and weaker. Now is the time to end the nine long years of persecution. There are still many people in Mainland China being deceived by the CCP's lies. There are still many sentient beings that have not been saved yet. Dafa practitioners must truly understand the root cause of the persecution and its continuation, and we should keep strong righteous thoughts to completely eliminate the fear and other human notions that negatively affect our cultivation and improvement as one body. We should fundamentally stop the persecution, save more sentient beings and fulfill our prehistoric vows and missions. Only then will we be able to follow Master and walk to consummation with no regrets.
This is my personal understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.
