(Clearwisdom.net)
It was once told that Buddha Sakyamuni asked his disciple, "How could you keep one drop of water from drying up?" All his disciples could do was look at each other and were unable to offer an answer. Buddha Sakyamuni then told them, "Put it into the ocean." Indeed, the life of one drop of water is short. Yet when it is put into the ocean and becomes part of the ocean, then it obtains a new life. Since the ocean never dries up, the drop of water will live on forever in the ocean.
Teacher has said,
"My roots are all deeply planted in the universe, and if someone could affect you, he could affect me, and to put it directly, he'd be able to affect the universe." (Zhuan Falun)
Then how could the persecution continue to take place around us? Other than those practitioners who had the attachment of fear and attachment to consummation, we also saw many experiences shared on the Internet by practitioners who denied the old forces with their righteous thoughts and conduct. Their resolute conviction about Dafa touched people's hearts. Many of us could identify our own shortcomings and inadequacies from them, thus motivating us to be more diligent during the final journey of the Fa rectification.
I noticed that some fellow practitioners had this kind of notion: "The persecution has taken place. Throughout our efforts of righteous thoughts and conduct, reject such persecution. This is what rejecting the persecution of the old forces is all about." However, such an understanding could be further enhanced. Sun Tzu stated in his book "The Art of War": "Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting." It would be much better if we could dissolve the persecution before it became a threat. The best outcome would be to deny any opportunity for the persecution to manifest itself in our realm.
Time is very precious now. We could save more sentient beings if we encounter less interference and disruption, so as not to waste the prolonged cultivation period during the Fa rectification brought with great suffering and expenditure by Teacher.
Other than the causes outlined above, there could be another serious issue. Some practitioners unknowingly formed the mentality of validating self, validating self accomplishment, without completely assimilating to the Fa during the Fa rectification period. This provided an excuse for the old forces to persecute. The old forces felt that they could "test" the rest of the practitioners by persecuting a few of the most diligent practitioner.
Each of us had shortcomings throughout our cultivation. The above is just my personal understanding. I hope the experience sharing will be of value to fellow practitioners.
