(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioners are all cultivating in delusion and have some attachments that are deeply rooted inside us. The old forces will take advantage of these gaps and lead us astray or persecute us. Master can help us to enlighten so that we can eliminate our attachments and overcome tribulations. But when our attachments are strong, we cannot enlighten and may even have false understandings. That's when we incur the most losses. Master will enlighten practitioners when we need to negate the old forces' persecution. We should not fall into the old forces' arrangements and consider it a "test," because practitioners need to walk on the cultivation path arranged by Master.
It is not easy to enlighten to Master's hints, since everyone has their own understandings of what they experience at their level of awareness. The key is to look inward and to use the Fa as the standard. We cannot use any of our human notions to understand things.
I would like to share two occurrences where practitioners have tried to enlighten to Master's hints.
A practitioner once had a dream and heard a voice clearly say to him, "One of you two will be taken into custody." He and the other practitioner in the dream each thought that it was the other who was being referred to. He became very upset and woke up. The next day, the other practitioner in the dream unexpectedly dropped by this person's home carrying a lot of Falun Gong materials, and asked if he would like to help distribute them. When the first practitioner told the other about the dream, the second practitioner said, "How can the old forces make arrangements when it comes to saving sentient beings?" The practitioner who had the dream was a bit hesitant and thought that he shouldn't go out to distribute the materials but was too embarrassed to say anything. Later that day, the practitioner who had the dream was arrested when they were seen putting up posters about Falun Gong in the street.
Another situation concerned a practitioner who was worried that there were no fellow practitioners in her hometown, and often said that she wanted to go back there to distribute materials about Falun Gong. Other practitioners discussed the situation and thought it was not appropriate for her to go back at that time, as this practitioner's hometown is several hours drive away and is very isolated. She was also in charge of other Dafa projects that required attention. However, this practitioner did not give up the idea and went to discuss the situation with another practitioner. This person thought that it was OK for her to return to her hometown and agreed to go with her.
At about 4 a.m. on the morning they were due to leave, the practitioner who had agreed to go with her dreamed that she saw two policemen walking towards them and could see their faces very clearly. When the practitioner woke up, she tried to understand what the dream meant. She wondered if it meant that she shouldn't go. But since they had already spent a lot of money on the bus tickets and the other practitioner was determined to save sentient beings in her hometown, she still decided to go. She then thought that the dream might have been an illusion--an attempt by the old forces to interfere with their validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. She decided to negate the old forces' arrangements and sent forth righteous thoughts.
After spending several hours on the bus, the two practitioners reached their destination. But when they got off the bus and had walked only a few steps, the practitioner who had had the dream felt an intense pain in the heel of her right foot and found it very difficult to walk. She looked down and saw that it was bleeding. She thought about turning around and leaving. But what about the practitioner who was here to save sentient beings in her hometown? She was sure that she would not want to leave and so decided that they should stay together and try to help save the people there.
When the practitioners had finished handing out materials, they went to board the bus home. Suddenly, two policemen, who looked just like the two men in the dream, stopped them. The practitioner who had come to her hometown had also had a dream the night before. She dreamed that she had several beautiful, shiny bracelets. In her dream, she wanted to give them to another practitioner, but the other practitioner did not want them.
Both practitioners had been arrested before. When one of them was arrested the first time, she also dreamed of bracelets, and about two hours before the other practitioner was arrested for the first time, she also felt an intense pain in her right foot.
There is a great importance for practitioners to correctly understand Master's hints and enlighten to them. Old forces dare not to exploit our gaps unless we stay on one level for too long or have strong attachments. Different attachments manifest differently, and as we cultivate further, our attachments appear in more subtle ways. Only Master knows the true situation of every disciple. When we have serious omissions, and danger is near, Master will find ways to enlighten us and protect us so that we can cultivate ourselves well on the correct path. Master will give hints to every genuine practitioner in danger. If we do not correctly enlighten to Master's hints, then not only we, but also sentient beings, will be lost.
