(Clearwisdom.net) Before the Olympics started, some overseas media published articles predicting that the Olympics would not take place. Of course, as popular media, they have freedom of expression, and it is fine for people to express their opinions. However, as practitioners, if we do not view this issue from the Fa, but instead get attached to these articles for non-practitioners, share them among practitioners, and even regard what they say as fact when we clarify the truth, that is inappropriate.
Actually, even before the Olympics' opening ceremony, there were already articles on Minghui (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) reminding practitioners not to be attached to predictions and the time that Fa rectification will end. After the opening ceremony was over, some practitioners were disappointed, which is another kind of attachment. Some non-practitioners no longer accept our truth-clarification anymore, since the Olympics did not end up as some of us predicted. We really should think about what happened and look inside.
I. The Most Fundamental Problem Is That We Did Not Study the Fa Well
When we were attached to the result of the 16th People's Congress, the result was even worse than expected. Later, Teacher mentioned clearly in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.:"
"It's not a big deal if one person thinks that way, and it's not a big deal if two people think that way--that's just their personal cultivation issue. But if everybody thinks that way, then what kind of situation will there be among the larger group of Dafa disciples? It'll be a major disruption, a strong attachment, and that can't be allowed. I saw it, and the old forces saw it, too. The old forces thought, Wait a minute, what's this?' So they made the outcome of the CCP's 16th Congress worse. "
"As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. "
Among the three things we are to do, studying the Fa is the most important. If we do not study the Fa well, we will not be able to look at the issue with righteous thoughts, and we may not be able to do the other two things well as a result. If we look at things from the perspective of saving sentient beings, it is not wrong for us to expose the Chinese Communist Party by talking about the Olympics. The key is that this thought cannot become an attachment. As long as we have the desire to save all beings and cultivate ourselves, Teacher will enable us to do so. Regardless of how the Olympics turn out, we should just do what we should do. This is similar to how the purpose of our cultivation is to reach Consummation, but we cannot be attached to Consummation itself. If we want to go to college, we should study well. Then we will naturally get into college, instead of thinking about going to college all day but not focusing on studying.
II. We Did Not Pay Attention to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts
If we view the issue from the standpoint of the Fa, everything the CCP did was controlled by the evil specters and rotten demons. Teacher said:
"... nothing in this world is tenable or can exist without there being cosmic factors behind the scenes, without there being microcosmic factors. " ("Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference")
The article "What I Saw Through My Celestial Eye on August 8, 2008" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2008/9/5/100402.html) published on Clearwisdom on August 11 also mentioned this. We should remember sending righteous thoughts, our most powerful tool! Teacher mentioned a long time ago about the reason that the evil still exists and the importance of our sending forth righteous thoughts:
"Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. "
"As you know, the persecution that Dafa disciples in Mainland China suffer is quite severe, so each student has to truly, clearly realize what his responsibility is, and when he sends forth righteous thoughts he has to be able to truly calm his mind and truly produce the effect of righteous thoughts. So this is something extremely critical, extremely important. Then if every student is able to do that, I can tell you, with five minutes of sending forth righteous thoughts together, the evil in the Three Realms will never exist again--that's how important this is." ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
III. We Did Not Do Enough Truth Clarification
If most ordinary people could understand the facts about Falun Gong and no one supported the evil CCP, then the CCP would not be able to do anything. However, whether it's in China or overseas, there are many people who still do not know the facts yet. So we cannot blame anyone but ourselves, since we have not done enough truth clarification.
The fundamental reason for our problems is that we have not done the three things well. Teacher is compassionate to us and the sentient beings, giving us opportunities to do it better and giving sentient beings opportunities to be saved. There is indeed very little time left. We should learn from this lesson, seize the time to do the three things well, and fulfill our vows.
