(Clearwisdom.net) It is not uncommon that when one of us senses danger or feels threatened, we will ask others to help send righteous thoughts. To be sure, sometimes we ask all practitioners we know to act as one body to give us strength and assistance. What I would like to point out is that we do not want to fall into the habit of asking others to send righteous thoughts when we feel the slightest bit of danger, regardless of the situation, getting into the habit of relying on others.
Let me use an example to describe this. One evening a fellow practitioner heard someone knocking on the door. She looked out the peephole and saw a stranger. She worried that the person could be someone sent by the Chinese Communist Party regime to persecute her. She started asking practitioners around her to send righteous thoughts to help her.
Things that we run into as practitioners all have reasons. We should think about why we encounter them. A stranger knocking on the door is nothing unusual. It happens all the time to everybody. It could be someone knocking on the wrong door or handing out an advertisement, it could be a thief, or, as the practitioner suspected, the person could be a plainclothes officer. We should continue to think, “Why is it happening to me? Is it because I have had shortcomings in some areas recently?” When we encounter such an event, as genuine practitioners, what should we do? What thoughts do we have? Do we feel intimidated? Or did we stay unperturbed? Did our thoughts meet the requirements for disciples during the Fa rectification period?
If the stranger was not sent by the communist regime, we should still think about why it happened. If he was a plainclothes officer showing up to harass practitioners, we should then think about whether we did something wrong or had a poor understanding on some issues. Look within ourselves, and then think about how we should react, whether we should study the Fa more diligently, calm ourselves down, and stabilize our thoughts. We can send forth righteous thoughts regarding each unique situation ourselves. Of course, we can also share with fellow practitioners and ask them to send righteous thoughts to help.
Someone might wonder, “You, too, will go to fellow practitioners. How is this different from the practitioner in your above example?” On the surface the two approaches look the same. However, the processes are different. In one case, as soon as something happens, we get frightened and start to worry whether the regime has called for meetings to start a new round of persecution. Are they going to arrest me? Should I leave home? We immediately ask fellow practitioners to send righteous thoughts for us. This has become a habit. Even if it is effective to a certain extent, it is not the best approach.
Before we can determine what was really happening (it could have been someone who was knocking on the wrong door), asking many practitioners to help send righteous thoughts can divert them from important tasks they are working on. What this amounts to is interference. Imagine how much interference it would be if each practitioner asked everyone else to help him while it is his own responsibility to look inside himself for shortcomings?
This could be a test for you. If you thought it was targeting you instead of looking within yourself, and you did not handle it as a practitioner should have, it could turn out to be really targeting you. On the other hand, it could have been targeting you, and yet you did well, and there could very well be no follow-up of the original planned persecution. Whether or not you will be truly persecuted is a test of your attachments.
How a practitioner thinks about an issue is important. What we think is what we will encounter, what we are experiencing, or what we are asking for. The Fa has been taught to us. We have to gradually become more mature. We have the ability to protect ourselves. Some may ask, “How can we protect ourselves? Isn't it that we are all protected by Master?”
Indeed, when each of your thoughts are on the Fa, the evil will not dare come near you. Aren't you then protecting yourself? Of course, our ability comes from Master and the Fa. When we meet the standard set by the Fa, we are more capable than when we don't meet the standard. If we fail to remember that we are Dafa practitioners, human notions will overwhelm us. Then we will not be capable. As a result, all practitioners during the Fa rectification period have the capability to protect themselves. When we have righteous thoughts, that is when we are conforming to the Fa in our minds and when we have the capability to protect ourselves.
Legend has it that Bian Que, the earliest known Chinese physician (ca. 700 B.C.), said his elder brothers were good at “treating people before they were ill.” Shouldn't we practitioners all become good at taking care of problems before they develop? Let us assimilate to the Fa in our minds, let our thinking and the process of our thinking all conform to the Fa. Then let's see who dares to harm us. If they have that intention, we will be able to destroy them directly ourselves. Only then will our guardian gods protect us and Master's Fa bodies not allow us to be persecuted. Of course, under such conditions, they dare not come near us because they can find no excuse and they will not rush over to have themselves eliminated.
We all hope we can remain in such a state. However, we may not be able to be like this all the time. What we can strive to achieve is that, when we encounter issues that touch on our attachments or expose our shortcomings, we keep strong righteous thoughts, remain unperturbed, and apply the wisdom Dafa has bestowed upon us. Dafa has taught us new perspectives and approaches to solving these issues. “This is because the Buddha Fa is boundless. What does “the Buddha Fa is boundless” mean? It has unlimited ways...” (“Teaching the Fa at a New York Meeting” as part of “Lectures in the United States”)
Each of us practitioners of the Fa rectification period is capable of resolving these issues independently. Some special cases do need the coordination of the strength of the whole or to help fellow practitioners overcome tribulations. However, we should not fall into the habit of doing this whatever the situation. We should avoid interfering with other practitioners by arbitrarily getting them involved in things we are able to handle independently.
March 7, 2011
