(Clearwisdom.net) Practitioners cultivate while in ordinary people's society. In the beginning of our cultivation, we feel that we have done well and passed many xinxing tests. However, at some point, we suddenly feel that everything is not going right and we are almost no different from everyday people. If we don't study the Fa on a regular basis and our righteous thoughts aren't strong, we may begin to think, “How come I don't see any improvement? I am still the same as before. How come I don't have supernormal abilities after cultivating for so long?”
From studying the Fa, we know that Teacher immediately separates the part of us that has reached the standard in cultivation so that we can continue to cultivate in society and validate the Fa. This way, it is guaranteed the part that has consummated will not be contaminated.
Each time we elevate towards a higher realm, we have to remove something from our ordinary side. Teacher said,
“That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”)
It is my understanding that only if we cultivate this way will our true selves reach consummation. All the cultivation methods before were simply laying a foundation for today's people to obtain Dafa. These methods only allowed one's assistant spirit to reach consummation. In Falun Dafa, the part that has reached consummation is constantly separated in another dimension, so that we can continue to cultivate as though we are just starting as everyday people.
After practicing for a long time, we know that we have achieved something with Teacher's compassionate salvation. However, we can't see our “achievements” as they are separated in another dimension and we will still have human notions and attachments that haven't been completely eliminated.
When we fail to coordinate and cooperate well in a project, we must treat issues with righteous thoughts. We shouldn't have any kind of opinions about practitioners who don't cooperate well with us. We should treat them with compassion since practitioners are still cultivating with their human side and sometimes they will make mistakes. When conflicts arise, it is a good thing. If both parties can treat the conflicts with righteous thoughts and look within for their attachments, then the conflicts become a stairway to higher levels.
In addition, we should not get frustrated and pessimistic in cultivation. We need to realize that even though we can't see how we are doing in cultivation, the changes that have occurred in every dimension are huge. So, we should be confident that we have cultivated to a high level.
We should cultivate like when we first obtained the Fa—how we couldn't put Zhuan Falun down as we constantly studied it and how we did the exercises regularly. We also paid attention to our thoughts at all times and tried hard to suppress any negative thoughts. When conflicts occurred, we looked within unconditionally while continuing to treat the other person with compassion. We didn't fight back when being punched or insulted. We constantly upgraded our xinxing and did the three things Teacher asks us to do. To progress diligently like this, we will definitely reach the ultimate level.
Lastly, I would like to mention that we shouldn't feel zealous when we feel we have achieved a lot in cultivation, and we should pay attention to the demons emerging from our own minds.
