(Clearwisdom.net) One day on the way to work, I saw coming from across the street a three-wheeled electric pedicab taxi. That taxi and the two behind it each had a small Falun Dafa symbol on them. My heart was warmed upon seeing this; the three drivers were not practitioners, but they must have believed that Dafa is something good. This little episode also helped me to see a problem in my cultivation state.
The persecution locally is still quite serious. In the past two years, over a hundred practitioners have been subjected to persecution in one form or another. Sometimes, it doesn't seem as if much has changed in the last few years. Sometimes in the depths of my heart, I feel melancholy and numb: "Every day we go out like this, but how come society hasn't changed that much? When will it end?" Actually this is a manifestation of a lack of willingness to improve, and these thoughts are obstacles to our cultivation. This is exactly what we need to remove in cultivation. I cannot let these mental obstacles control my thinking.
Master taught us at the "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference":
"Rather, to quietly cultivate in bleak loneliness, unable to see hope, is the hardest of all. Doing any form of cultivation entails undergoing a trial such as this and a path with such features. Only if one can persevere and continually forge ahead does it amount to true diligence. It's easy to talk about, but putting it into action is tremendously difficult. That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank."
"The most precious thing is to manage to continually progress while in this grueling setting, under pressure, and unable to see hope. That is the most precious, and greatest, thing."(Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference )
Speaking from another perspective, people's feelings are constantly changing, and when we look at things in the context of our ordinary thinking, we often do not see things clearly. Sometimes these perceptions are obstacles that interfere with our faith. During this special period of Fa-rectification, it is obvious that the evil party is falling from power when we look at the big picture. On the other hand, this is also our cultivation environment. When we allow ourselves to sink into melancholy and become discouraged, how can we still effectively save sentient beings?
Those small, but telling, symbols that I saw on the taxi's represent the tireless work of many practitioners. Sentient beings are waking up, it is just that sometimes we let our emotions confuse us and lead us astray. Fellow cultivators, let us continue to strive to do even better!
