We Should Be More Diligent as We Get Closer to the End of Our Cultivation Journey

(Minghui.org) In the recent article “Wake Up,” Master wrote, “The Fa’s rectification of the Cosmos has finished, and now a transition to the Fa’s rectification of the human world is taking place. Most of our Dafa disciples will join me as the Fa rectifies the human world.”

Master also wrote, “However, during the course of it numerous lives with enormous karma as well as members of the wicked Communist Party will be weeded out and annihilated.”

I would like to share my understandings on the new article.

Not Being Attached to Consummation

I am involved in a truth-clarification project, and practitioners working on the same project often study the Fa and share our understandings together. After Master published the above-mentioned article, our project team exchanged our understandings. Some considered it an honor to have the opportunity to join Master as the Fa rectifies the human world. Some felt that compassionate Master was giving Dafa disciples opportunities to continue cultivating since the majority of practitioners had failed to reach the requirement for consummation.

Upon reading “Most of our Dafa disciples will join me as the Fa rectifies the human world,” I was also shocked since this seemed vastly different from my understanding of Master’s Fa taught in the past. When looking further, however, I realized that my being shocked was due to my attachment to consummation.

Master has previously talked numerous times that, when the Fa-rectification period concludes, the first thing would be Dafa disciples’ consummation. With this new article, my understanding is that the majority of Dafa disciples will not achieve consummation at the end of the Fa-rectification period. As for the remaining practitioners, I should not think too much about whether they can reach consummation. I should just make the best use of time doing the three things well. This includes saving more people and fulfilling my vow. Of course, it is also a process of looking within and improving xinxing. Only then can I be a genuine Fa-rectification Period Dafa disciple.

Master said,

“Clarifying the truth is something each and every one of you Dafa disciples must do. I’m telling you this again. Anyone who tries to make excuses for himself and who’s never stepped forward is wrong. As for how much longer this tribulation will last, I don’t think you should think about these things much. And don’t think about whether you can reach Consummation, either, because any desire you have can become an attachment and can be used by the evil.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference”, Guiding the Voyage)

Master’s immense compassion has benefited all sentient beings. Dafa disciples, in particular, have been under the tender care and protection of Master because we have a mission to save sentient beings. Therefore, simply seeking our own consummation does not make us worthy of our title of Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples. The Fa-rectification has certain standards. My understanding is that many practitioners have yet to meet the standards and save enough people, prompting Master to extend the time again and again. I cannot let down Master.

Master’s new article is a warning to me. Master has sacrificed so much for us and what I need to do is to make the best of this opportunity and save more people before the Fa rectifies the human world. Once we enter the period when the Fa rectifies the world, I suspect we’d face different cultivation requirements, and there may not be any opportunity to save sentient beings. If so, how many sentient beings may be saved? If we don’t do it well now, there may be endless regret and pain when the Fa rectifies the human world.

Working Together as One Body

Once when our project team had a sharing session, a practitioner mentioned her sickness karma. I asked if she needed others to send forth righteous thoughts to help her. She said no since everyone was so busy. When joining the global sending forth righteous thoughts later that day, the practitioner’s issue came to my mind again.

Master said,

“Now when we clarify the truth to others you all feel that we should treat sentient beings with compassion. Then all the more so should you be compassionate among our Dafa disciples. You’re all disciples in the same practice, and you’re giving your all for the cosmos’s Fa-rectification, so you should cooperate well with one another. Don’t approach things with too many human attachments, and don’t cause unnecessary conflicts and arguments by interacting with each other with human attachments. In these situations your conduct should always show Dafa disciples’ tolerance, kindness, and niceness. The next person’s things are your things,1 and your things are his things. We don’t talk about the “unity” everyday people do, which is a forced, superficial thing. You are cultivators, and your realms are higher.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2002 Conference in Washington, D.C.”, Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume II)

Quite a few practitioners have experienced sickness karma in recent years. To me, this is an opportunity for us to form one body instead of allowing the old forces to defeat us one by one. That is, when other practitioners have sickness karma, each of us should think about how to help and achieve the best outcome as a group.

Supporting each other is not limited to working together on a project. It also means being considerate of each other in our minds. Even without saying it out loud, we can complement and help each other with righteous thoughts. When thinking this way, I could see my physical body being purified by Master. I knew this is an encouragement from Master and I am very grateful for that.

If each of us cultivates ourselves well and form a harmonious one body, I believe that there will be tremendous changes in other dimensions and that our one body will generate indestructible energy capable of destroying all evil interference and tribulations.

Not Being Judgmental

During another sharing our project team had, one practitioner shared a story of how he clarified the truth to a person in China. During the phone conversation, the recipient was afraid of phone-tapping and asked if the practitioner could speak English.

This story reminded me of a similar experience I had in the past. One time when I called a number in China, the recipient also asked if I could speak English. I thought his tone was provoking and concluded that he looked down upon practitioners – thinking that I could not speak English.

I now realized that he could also be worried about phone-tapping. I felt really regretful for not speaking English during my phone call with him. I learned that we cannot be judgmental when saving sentient beings; otherwise, people may lose the opportunity.

We shoulder serious responsibilities to save sentient beings. Our xinxing will directly affect the outcome of our truth-clarification efforts. I should remain unmoved in any circumstances and just maintain the heart to save people.

Showing Reverence

“Question: How come your masters are all kneeling at this site and lotuses as well as heavenly soldiers and generals are all over the place?

“Teacher: None of them are my masters. All who are from above have to treat me this way, it’s just that you as human beings don’t know about it... While I’m teaching the Fa, there are a lot of Fa-guarding deities from everywhere. If you see them, that’s fine. Some other students have seen them too.” (“Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Yanji,” Zhuan Falun Fajie)

We know that divine beings knelt down to listen to Master’s lectures. Since we still cultivate in the human world and need to conform to the everyday society, we usually sit while studying the Fa. But in our hearts, we need to be respectful to Master and Dafa and remain humble. Even an everyday person knows to respect the law. As practitioners, we should especially revere Master and Dafa, showing respect in our thoughts, words, and action, because Master has done so much for us – teaching us Dafa principles, guiding us along the way, and taking care of us all the time. When everyday people break the law, they’d worry about legal consequences. When I failed to meet Dafa’s requirements of me at different levels, however, I sometimes didn’t even think it was a big deal.

Throughout my cultivation path, there were times when I did not pass the tests well due to strong attachments. Sometimes I looked inward, but other times I lost my temper and didn’t feel regretful at all. Looking back, what I did was disrespectful to Master and Dafa. I also let down Master’s arrangements of using those tests to help me improve my xinxing and raise my levels.

Showing reverence to Master should manifest in everything we do, including studying the Fa, doing the exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts, clarifying facts to people, interacting with fellow practitioners, and handling Dafa projects. I should do even better as a veteran practitioner.

Being More Diligent Towards the End

Recently I have realized that the closer we get to the end of our cultivation journey, the higher requirements of us there are, and the better we should do. For example, Master has mentioned the issue of lust, the topic of eating meat, and many more in Zhuan Falun. The requirements of Dafa disciples are different at different levels. Towards the end of our cultivation, probably even a tiny bit of human notions are not acceptable.

Master said,

“At present, those evil beings are being eliminated, are being progressively cleared out. You’ve seen this for yourselves. Before, when they were doing evil all over the world with the utmost arrogance, in my view many governments were frightened. If [the CCP] were to try to spread its terror throughout the whole world now, it wouldn’t have the strength for it anymore. Nor would it be able to even think about doing that. That’s because as the Fa-rectification ceaselessly forges ahead, [the evil] is being eliminated rapidly dimension by dimension, layer by layer. It resembles how things are with a living being: it has a form of existence at each and every plane. For a being to be powerful, its roots must reach deep and its origin must be great; or in other words, its level is likely to be high. So, when those things are being eliminated step by step, and increasingly it is approaching the surface, with its roots becoming more and more shallow, when at the end there is nothing left but a human being, it amounts to very little.” (“2012 International Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”)

“As Fa-rectification forges ahead and bad factors are further destroyed and weakened, to the point that they'll be no match for you, your strength will show itself to be stronger and stronger. In the future, at a certain point, you will increasingly see Dafa disciples manifest their power, though reaching that point will mean the end has been reached--the very end of the end.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)

From Master’s lectures, we know that the later we get on our cultivation journeys, the weaker the interference from other dimensions will become. Therefore, we should have stronger righteous thoughts and be more diligent. Master has also been pushing us forward and Dafa has been forging us.

Over the past year, Master has also been giving me hints by transforming my physical body, from the back of my head, to the crown of my head, and now to my forehead. Just like Master mentioned in Lecture Two of Zhuan Falun, I also felt the muscle in my forehead getting tight and drilling inward with powerful force. Such a sensation usually happened instantly when I passed a xinxing test or had a righteous thought. I believe Master is encouraging me to do better.

How fortunate we are to have become Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples! I feel ashamed of my lack of diligence in the past. I am always grateful for Master’s compassionate protection and encouragement. I am moved by other practitioners’ righteous thoughts and righteous actions. I am thrilled for numerous sentient beings who have been saved.

Above is my personal understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)