(Clearwisdom.net) Many recent experiences have made me recognize one of the old forces' cunning tactics. When I think of a new way or project to save more people, if I've gotten to a key spot when sending righteous thoughts, or when I look inside myself to find critical issues hindering me from further advancement in cultivation and am about to resolve it, the evil forces project intimidating thoughts to my mind. They want me to think that the thoughts are my own, and thereby cause me to negate my righteous thoughts and weaken my belief in Dafa and myself.
For example, I was planning how I would clarify the truth to a friend who was coming to visit me. Right at that moment, various scenarios of potential danger and persecution formed in my thoughts.
However, as long as we practitioners keep our main consciousnesses strong and maintain righteous thoughts, those intimidating thoughts can be easily discerned. You can feel clearly that those thoughts are not yours at all, and that they have suddenly jumped into your mind.
Besides interfering with our minds, our bodies may feel attacks from the evil when we are sending righteous thoughts. Once we strengthen our righteous thoughts, the evil will be quickly destroyed. Master said, "one good can overcome a hundred evils," (Zhuan Falun) and "just by having your heart unaffected you will be able to handle all situations." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II ) From another perspective, what the evil forces are doing shows that they are approaching the end. They know there is not much they can do to sabotage practitioners' cultivation and truth-clarification activities. Therefore, they blatantly do their evil deeds, knowing that they will be eliminated anyway. At the same time, it means we are doing the right things, which makes the evil forces afraid and desperate. We should strengthen our sending righteous thoughts even more when encountering such situations.
I would like to remind fellow practitioners of another point. Illness karma and imprisonment are obvious forms of persecution. Sometimes, the evil interference takes on other forms that are not so easy to discern. They take advantage of our existing attachments to disturb our moods and feelings, which in turn may slow down and lower the quality of our assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification. This is also a form of persecution.
"As a Dafa disciple, your steadfast, righteous thoughts are absolutely unshakable, because your renewed being is formed precisely amidst the Fa-rectification." ("Dafa is Indestructible" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Being able to maintain a good and steady cultivation state indicates we are mature in our cultivation. I have gradually realized how important it is to stay clear-headed, keep up a firm belief in Teacher, and study the Fa a lot. We should clearly discern the source of each and every one of our thoughts. As for those bad ones, we should destroy them with utmost seriousness and steadiness, and also eliminate the source to completely eliminate such interference.
This is my understanding at the current level. Fellow practitioners, please point out anything inappropriate. Heshi.
