(Clearwisdom.net)

Study the Fa and Eliminate Human Notions to Avoid the Evil Persecution

1. Avoiding Interference in the Form of Sickness Karma

Teacher already told us that practitioners do not get sick. We may appear to have sickness-like symptoms, but this is not actual sickness, as it is something that is caused by the evil factors in other dimensions or by our own karma. It is normal for a practitioner to experience a sickness-like state during personal cultivation.

One practitioner said: “When the sickness karma interference appeared, I did the three things more often. I also found many human notions and attachments. Why didn't doing the three things eliminate the interference? How come other practitioners were able to eliminate such interference?” This practitioner did not handle himself as a real practitioner when the problem arose. He did not handle the apparent “sickness” from the perspective of the Fa; instead, he fell into the human notion of “if doctors can't fix it, I will see a qigong master.” He wanted to heal the symptoms by doing the three things more. Of course, this wouldn't work, because doing the three things is not meant for healing illnesses. He wanted to solve a problem by doing the three things. When you use human notions to solve a problem, you are acting at the human level; then you have the same problems as ordinary humans.

Some practitioners quickly awaken when they encounter tribulations. They think of how to handle the problem with the Fa principles and how a real practitioner should act to pass the test. They have no thoughts about eliminating the “sickness.” It is the thought that makes all the difference.

Teacher said:

“And when you are thinking things over, whether you use human notions or the righteous thoughts of a cultivator is going to determine the different results you get.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference”)

There is a story on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net). A practitioner was out clarifying the facts about Falun Gong. Her foot became trapped in a small hole on the street because it was raining heavily and she couldn't see very well. She felt excruciating pain. When she finally got her foot out, it was turned 180 degrees backward, with the heel facing to the front. She thought of Teacher and asked Him for help. Then, she turned her foot back so that her toes faced the front. Her foot was still a little tilted, and she asked for Teacher's help again. Then, she slowly re-adjusted her foot. She checked her foot when she came home and found many bones misplaced. She did not think about what would happen to her foot, however. She told the foot: “I decide what happens to my body and you shouldn't be doing this. Listen to me and go back to where you're supposed to be.” As she talked to the bones, she pushed the bones that stuck out back down. Then she continued with her daily life as if nothing had happened. She realized that it is the human notion that makes one think about how to get out of pain and how to get away from the difficulties in front of our eyes. Righteous thoughts take care of the problem by fundamentally taking care of the factors behind the problem. When the factors behind the problem are eliminated, the false image in this dimension no longer exists.

Older practitioners who are struggling with sickness karma may want to re-read the following from Teacher's lectures:

“Our cultivation system does cultivate both mind and body; a cultivator can prolong his life while he practices cultivation. But some people have not diligently made progress in their In-Triple-World-Law cultivation, and they always linger at a certain level. After much effort to move up to another level, they then linger at that level again. Cultivation is serious, so it is difficult to guarantee that one’s life will not come to an end at the predestined time.” (“An Explicit Reminder” from Essentials for Further Advancement)

“There is a criterion, however, that the life prolonged beyond your predestined time to live is completely reserved for your practice. If your mind goes wrong a little bit, your life will be in danger because your lifetime should have long been over. ” (Zhuan Falun)

“One’s lifetime is limited. Oftentimes you plan things quite well, but do you know whether you will have sufficient time left for your cultivation? Cultivation practice is not child’s play. It is more serious than anything of everyday people - it isn’t something to take for granted. Once you miss the opportunity, when will you be able to get a human body again in the sixfold path of reincarnation? Opportunity knocks but once. Once the illusion that you cannot let go of disappears, you will realize what you have lost.” (“Practicing Cultivation After Retirement” from Essentials for Further Advancement)

2. How to Properly Face the Persecution

I went to Beijing in August 2000 to appeal for the right to practice Falun Gong. The police illegally arrested me and other practitioners and held us in a brainwashing center. There were over 300 male and female practitioners there from around the country. That night, they wanted to search everyone and asked us to take off all of our clothes. I refused and said: “This is against our human rights and is insulting. Why do we have to take off our clothes if you want to search us?” Guard Tang Yubao put me in his office and threatened to punish me. Seven days later, no one came to talk to me. I asked every guard for an explanation. I also approached a political commissioner with the last name of Wang, and the chief of the center with the last name of Meng. I told them how my family benefited from Falun Gong and how it was a wonderful practice. They promised to let me see a division head of the Shenyang Forced Labor Camp to get approval for release. They also asked me not to do the exercises or say “Falun Dafa is good” during the day, but I still did. After 81 days, I didn't have to get an approval anymore, and they were planning to release me. One day before I left the center, I wrote three letters to all of the center's employees, telling them to treat practitioners nicely to ensure a good future for themselves. The captain and guards walked me and my daughter to the front entrance the next day.

On my way home, I felt a sense of responsibility. I wanted to tell everyone in the world about the beauty of Falun Dafa so that they could be saved. I also wanted to tell people what happened in the brainwashing center and let people know how the CCP tortured Falun Gong practitioners.

We all know that the Fa at each level can guide our cultivation at that level. Individual cultivation is not the main purpose for Fa-rectification practitioners; our true goal is to fulfill our prehistorical vows to help Teacher rectify the Fa and save sentient beings.

Practitioner A in our area spent a lot of money and hired a lawyer, trying to rescue practitioner B. In the end, the rescue was not successful. Practitioner C saved practitioner D from being persecuted through personal connections and money. After a short while, practitioner D was arrested again. Recently, some practitioners were kidnapped, sentenced to prison, or put in forced labor camps; some even lost their lives due to the persecution. We must walk our paths righteously and understand the nature of the persecution. We should know why the old forces arranged the persecution, the relationship between Teacher and the old forces, the relationship between practitioners, sentient beings and the persecution. We should know the responsibility and mission of practitioners as they are related to the persecution. If we have no clue about any of this, how can we understand and handle the persecution correctly?

We all know that this persecution is not a case of one person against another. It is the old forces and evil beings in other dimensions influencing bad people to commit crimes. We need to eliminate all of these evil entities in other dimensions, explain the facts about Falun Gong to people associated with the persecution, and try to save them. We must let them know that it is a crime to persecute practitioners, and that such actions will lead to self-destruction and complete elimination. Our purpose and priority is to save people from all walks of life and not just rescue fellow practitioners. Therefore, we must change our way of thinking and our actions accordingly.

In my understanding, an everyday person's thinking is about how to rescue a fellow practitioner from an illness or a disaster so that he or she can be more comfortable, while a divine being's thinking is to resolve the fundamental problem – present the facts about Falun Gong to people in order to save them, using the rescue of fellow practitioners as a means to present the facts. Actually, when people understand the facts, they will not support the persecution. The facts about Falun Gong will also dissolve evil entities in other dimensions and bring an end to the persecution.

3. Study the Fa Well; Truly Cultivating Yourself Can Negate and End the Persecution

Some practitioners are limited by their desires for earthly gains and by lust. They don't truly understand that their responsibility is to save sentient beings and fulfill their historical mission. Other practitioners are busy with making money and family matters, and consider cultivation a secondary matter. They cannot stand having a loss or giving up lust, and frequently argue with their spouses. They are busy with earthly matters and do not think about the three things. Others are not keeping up with sending forth righteous thoughts or studying the Fa. They are tired most of the time, have a tough life and contribute very little toward doing the three things.

Actually, suffering is a good thing, because it offers the opportunity to remove attachments. Teacher wants us to use suffering to upgrade our character, while the old forces' intention is to use it to harm us. We must not accept the old forces' arrangements. Instead, we should use the tribulations to cultivate ourselves. Is it possible to cultivate and become a Buddha comfortably? Is it possible to remove human notions comfortably? In Dafa cultivation, if we use human notions instead of the Fa to deal with a problem, we will be fooled by appearances and may end up being persecuted.

True cultivators understand the seriousness of cultivation, but those who don't truly cultivate are just everyday people. If you can't let go of attachments to fame, earthly benefits or human emotions, then you are just an everyday person and may be susceptible to persecution. We know that many of the people being persecuted are not true cultivators or have big gaps in their cultivation. Those who hold on to human notions, have many attachments or cannot withstand tribulations while still holding on to the title of Dafa practitioner are targets for elimination by the old forces. They waited for thousands of years to fulfill their historical mission, but their chances of accomplishing this are then destroyed. Isn't this dangerous?

A fellow practitioner said it very well: “A cultivator who looks inward for shortcomings is someone who has been truly cultivating. True cultivation is established through studying the Fa with a quiet mind. It is not an issue of how many lectures you cover in one day. Reading more lectures is good, but the aim is not volume - the key is to understand the Fa being read, so that there is improvement in character.”

4. Fulfill Our Historical Mission, Value Our Opportunities, Keep Up with Fa-rectification

The emotion and desire, good and bad, and righteous and evil in everyday society have provided the old forces and their cohorts with a working environment. They check every Dafa practitioner to see how he or she gets through a tribulation and assists Teacher with saving sentient beings. Every practitioner is being checked! In such a special, unprecedented Fa-rectification period, regardless of how far Fa-rectification has progressed, we must be broadminded, compassionate, kind and calm, and conduct ourselves rationally, peacefully and with stability. In short, we must not be moved or contaminated by anything that belongs to the human world.

In order to achieve purity and mighty virtue, we must fully understand the Fa and get into the habit of looking inward and conforming to the Fa. We must always purify our thoughts, let go of human notions, identify our weaknesses and correct them. Otherwise, the old forces will have a reason to persecute us or lead us to oppose Dafa, which is a path of destruction and hopeless regrets.

Let us regard the Fa as our teacher, and firmly step forward during the last phase of Fa-rectification.

This is my current understanding of the Fa. Please point out anything improper.