How Firm Is Our Faith? Some Understanding of Believing in Master and The Fa

(Minghui.org) Master said,

“In the past, after climbing into a cave with the help of a rope, a cultivator would cut off the rope to practice cultivation in the cave. If this person could not succeed in cultivation, he would die inside it. Without food or water, it was under this very special circumstance that he resorted to this particular cultivation method.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)

When I read this part of the Fa it deeply resonated with me, and I had a new understanding of believing in Master and the Fa.

In the past, a cultivator had to let go of everything among everyday people, enter a cave and use the special method Bigu to cultivate. This is definitely not leaving a way out, unlike practicing in the temple where one could return to society if he felt he couldn’t continue cultivating. This can only be done if one has strong faith in the master of the discipline. Regardless of whether he could eventually succeed in cultivation, the thought itself is very remarkable.

For thousands of years, although there have been many people who believe in cultivation, very few really cultivated, and only a few of them eventually completed their cultivation. Of course there are many reasons, but not being able to achieve one hundred percent righteous faith in the master and the guiding principles was the most fundamental reason. People cannot see the truth in the maze, and are restricted by the notion that seeing is believing. Therefore, even people with good foundations will inevitably have doubts and vacillation. Those cultivating in an unlocked state can only see partial truth, not to mention those cultivating in a locked state. This is the difficulty of cultivation, but it is also a precious and valuable part of cultivation.

We talk about believing in Master and the Fa every day. Perhaps few people think about why we should believe in Master and the Fa. It seems to be a thing that one does not need to think about; otherwise what do we still cultivate for?

We can make a very superficial analogy. We want to go to a place, but we’re standing on a flat surface. So, we don’t know how to get there, what obstacles we will encounter on the way, or how to deal with them, because we can’t see everything. But Master is standing on a high place. He clearly sees everything and tells us what to do and the path to take.

However, since we can’t see, we often feel that what Master said doesn’t match our own experiences or the situations we encounter. These are opportunities to test our righteous belief. When we overcome difficulties with righteous faith in Master and the Fa, we will find that everything is in Master’s control. Without this faith, nothing can be achieved.

Now our cultivation has come to the final stage, and having faith is even more critical. We know from the Fa that as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples we have no retreat, so we do not leave ourselves any way out. The Fa rectification will succeed. The practice of Bigu was a minor cultivation way, yet those cultivators were able to knowingly and completely cut off their own way back. Shouldn’t our faith be even stronger?