(Clearwisdom.net) Various everyday mentalities, which I may or may not be aware of, are sometimes very strong during my truth-clarification efforts. I often fail to realize their existence.
For example, I once gave a copy of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to a non-practitioner. After he finished reading three of the nine commentaries, he developed a negative attitude. He asked me to stop giving him such information. I sensed that there existed two sides of him. On the one hand, he felt that what the Nine Commentaries say is correct and he wanted to read it. On the other hand, he was afraid and unwilling to give up what he previously believed, which resulted from various influences from the Party (he has been a CCP member for a long time).
I remembered that he had earlier showed a very good understanding when he was told the truth about Jiang's persecution of Dafa, and he had expressed his sympathy. But once the Party itself was implicated, he felt that he could not accept it. He felt that since people's living standards in China have improved and people were living pretty well, it is improper to talk about the CCP this way. I knew that it was CCP elements that were affecting him. He said, "These must be from Taiwan." I replied, "This is not from Taiwan," as I was worried that he would connect us again with Taiwan. Afterwards, when I thought about this issue, I realized that the mentality of being worried about politics was still in play in my mind. I had used an everyday person's mentality to view truth-clarification. The CCP will say that we are engaging in politics no matter what we are doing. Additionally, I had another wrong view. That is, I always thought that it was because the Chinese government did not understand us that the persecution occurred. Only now have I realized that the CCP has understood us very well ever since the very beginning. It knows that we are good people. It is just because it is evil that it wants to persecute kind people.
When I clarify the truth, non-practitioners can often easily accept my words if I talk about the persecution. However, once I mention the Nine Commentaries, many people often think that we are engaging in politics; it is indeed very difficult. But when I remembered Master saying that the old cosmic elements that remained to be rectified during the Fa-rectification are from even higher levels, I had a better understanding of the issue. Because touching these old elements means rectifying what is at even higher levels in the cosmos, talking about the Nine Commentaries with non-practitioners is, of course, much more difficult than talking about the persecution. At times, I often felt a little agitated after I realized that it was so difficult to inform them about these issues. As a result, what I said sounded like I was arguing, whether I realized it or not. Later, when I thought about this issue, I realized that I had become bogged down within a specific matter. Master told us that when we encounter a conflict, we should not get bogged down within it,
"don't evaluate the matter in isolation and within the specific matter. Jump out of it and take a careful look at it, see if it's in keeping with Zhen-Shan-Ren." ("Teaching the Fa at a New York Meeting" in Falun Buddha Fa - Lectures in the United States)
In fact, it was the case that during truth-clarification, my ordinary mentality of wanting to clearly explain a specific matter took over and I did not consider whether people were able to understand me. Letting people know the truth is not achieved through ordinary means or arguments, but by a Dafa practitioner's righteous thoughts. During the truth-clarification, I even mentioned to non-practitioners some facts or historic events that even I myself did not understand well, or I drew some conclusions based on my partial understanding; so when they argued with me, I had nothing to say. The demons had utilized our human mentalities to keep our tongues in check.
This kind of human mentality, which we may or may not notice, will sometimes come up during our truth-clarification. These ordinary, degenerate notions often play a rather large negative role. One person said, "If you keep doing it this way (that is, our spreading the Nine Commentaries), you might not be given just several years of sentence if you are caught." (I had been detained by the authorities for several years) I said, "That is impossible, as it will collapse soon!" The person said, "Why is it impossible? Is it because it is not likely they will try to catch you or because it is impossible for them to catch you?" With an agitated mind, I had no words to respond. After pondering the issue, I realized that it was my human mentalities that were still at work. I do not have to make non-practitioners understand something or come to help us, and I do not have to vent our discontent about the crimes of the CCP. Instead, we are to save people who have been deceived and poisoned by the evil. Our righteous thoughts are based on that while clarifying the truth. We should never speak from our own perspectives.
Our attachment to the time when the Fa-rectification ends is another attachment we hold. It is not just an attachment to time. It is a strong human mentality. When we clarify the truth, we often get attached to the outcome. Although the result is very important, our own improvement is what's most critical. When we encounter the vicious persecution or face pressure, we hope that the tribulations will end soon. Regarding those Dafa practitioners who have not stepped forward to participate in the Fa-rectification, and then rush to join in the Fa-rectification period cultivation practice to avoid being left out (of course, they should hurry to come out to validate Dafa), they fail to realize that a Dafa practitioner's mission is to validate the Fa. We exist to finish the mission, and we do not come out just for the sake of coming out. Coming out to validate the Fa is our responsibility. As Dafa practitioners who have cultivated themselves in society, we are walking a path to become divine beings, so how could we just want to quickly leave the ordinary world? Master has said that Dafa practitioner's righteous thoughts are omnipotent, and that it is only because we still possess ordinary mentalities that the old elements in the cosmos can still take advantage of us. Therefore, we still need to break through our own human mentalities, the final gaps, where the old cosmos' elements still exist. Consequently, we can still feel the pressure and encounter difficulties during the Fa-rectification, and all of these obstacles are the results of the interference of the old cosmic elements. Eliminating these old elements reflect the mighty virtues of Dafa practitioners. So we cannot hold human mentalities while we undertake all of our Fa-rectification activities. Otherwise, the results will usually be contrary to what we expect.
What is our purpose for hoping that the Fa-rectification will end soon? Does this simply reflect our mentality of seeking comfort and wanting to go to heaven now? When we see the persecution occurring, why do we become scared? Why do we feel the pressure? Aren't all these responses due to our human mentalities, wishes, and notions? Doesn't our hoping that the persecution will end soon reflect our human mentality of wanting to use an external force to end the persecution?
"If you do not want to change your human state and rationally rise to a true understanding of Dafa, you will miss the opportunity. If you do not change the human logic that you, as an ordinary human, have formed deep in your bones over thousands of years, you will be unable to break away from this superficial human shell and reach Consummation. You cannot always count on me to eliminate karma for you while you fail to truly progress in comprehending the Fa and rise above human understandings and notions. Your ways of thinking, your understanding, and your appreciation towards me and Dafa are the product of ordinary human thinking. But what I'm teaching you is in fact moving beyond ordinary humans to a rational, true understanding of Dafa!"
"In practicing cultivation, you are not making real, solid progress on your own, which would effect great, fundamental changes internally. Instead, you rely on my power and take advantage of powerful external factors. This can never transform your human nature into Buddha-nature." ("Cautionary Advice" in Essentials for Further Advancement)
If we were truly at the status of a god, would we want to leave the human world as soon as possible when we see countless beings waiting for salvation and being poisoned by evil? The moment when the Fa rectifies the human world will not come if we are simply waiting and counting on someone else.
Teacher said, "Who would you count on? All the beings are counting on you!" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
The cultivation path created by Dafa through which a human becomes a divine being never existed before. Our cultivation practice is the process of taking such a path, and we have to fulfill our prehistoric oath in this human world. We have to purify ourselves and our own worlds in the cosmos. In other words, our worlds cannot exist in the new cosmos if we do not eliminate all the old factors. Did we achieve the complete selflessness required by Dafa? Without this environment in the human world, how could we take the path that leads to becoming a divine being, how could we validate the Fa, how could we save sentient beings, how could we build our mighty virtue as Dafa disciples?
I believe that a god would not be attached to any given world. Rather a god would see validating the Fa and fulfilling his responsibility as the top priority. Being in the human world or not has no significance for a god, except for the Fa and saving sentient beings. It is all right for a human being to wish to leave this dirty world, but such a wish could be a strong attachment for a Dafa disciple who has more important responsibilities. This is because we came to change the cosmos. We came to save all beings. As disciples of the new cosmos, we should be completely selfless. Master told us more than once that we came here not only for our personal Consummation:
"As you already know, Dafa disciples have gone through the process of Consummation, and history today has bestowed upon Dafa disciples an even greater responsibility: not your own liberation and Consummation, but saving more sentient beings. That's why you deserve to be Dafa disciples." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference
In addition, we cannot leave this human world by any human methods, we have to achieve the levels we do during the process of validating Dafa. We must meet the higher standards of Fa-rectification cultivation. This cannot be achieved by simply doing more work. The reason we feel that it is difficult to clarify the truth to people is because we still have many human attachments and notions. The key is not whether people accept our view, rather it is whether we keep ourselves righteous. Our righteous thoughts can change anything, and this is not something human efforts could achieve. On the contrary, the more human effort we put forth, the harder it is for people to understand the truth. When I imagine that people may react in this way or that way, it often turns out that they react exactly as I imagine. Everything is caused by our own factors.
This human world is quite harsh for a cultivator, and it is getting worse as we cultivate further away from ordinary people. Looking back at my cultivation path over the past years: I was imprisoned for validating the Fa, my wife had affairs, I lost my job and suffered financial difficulties, other people did not understand me, and many times I felt death would be much easier than living. Though these were all caused by the old forces' persecution, I must have had omissions that the old forces took advantage of. It was still my own problem. Because we are emerging from the old cosmos, the old factors have been a part of us, and we will follow the path arranged by the old forces if we do not strictly follow the Fa. Dafa cultivation is different than ordinary cultivation: any omission could be fatal.
Actually, the attachment to time is just a phenomenon on the surface. The true reason behind it is that some practitioners are relying on Master's power and want to take advantage of the powerful external factors to overcome all tribulations and achieve Consummation. This is a misunderstanding of the Fa. My understanding is that Consummation is not a human concept that "I want to achieve Consummation;" instead, it is the great Benevolence that can encompass everything and consummate everything, which manifests when one achieves the complete selflessness required by the Fa. Therefore, we will never achieve Consummation without benevolence to all beings. Master and Dafa are consummating everything, which is truly the Buddha's boundless grace to numerous beings in the old cosmos. The cosmos will not be rectified by our waiting, though Dafa could do anything. Without our validation of the Fa, it is not Fa-rectification; rather it would be Master recreating everything.
I recently saw some problems among our local fellow practitioners regarding withdrawal from the CCP. There were two situations. One is that some have been passive about this issue and have not done anything about it. The other is that some eagerly want to withdraw but do not dare to use their real names out of safety concerns (there have been different opinions on this second issue among fellow practitioners).
Practitioners in the first situation fell into old traps again, like Master said,
"You cannot always rely on me to bring you up to a higher level while you, yourself do not move. Only after the Fa is explicitly stated do you make a move. If it is not taught clearly, you do not move, or move backward. I cannot recognize such behavior as cultivation practice." ("Digging Out the Roots" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Master would not acknowledge such a situation as cultivation. Actually, Master has already set an example for us by publishing a withdrawal from the Communist Youth League on the internet and the article "Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World." As Dafa disciples we should unconditionally follow Master. Why wouldn't we? Isn't this an opportunity to show Dafa disciples' power as a whole body, an opportunity to show the Fa's mighty virtue in the human world? Currently over one million people have withdrawn from the CCP, yet this number is still very small compared to the one hundred million practitioners in China. Though many posted their withdrawal statements on a public board rather than on the internet, the amount is still too small. Practitioners in the second situation seemed to be validating the Fa, but, actually, they are validating themselves. How should fellow practitioners treat this issue? My personal understanding is that we are saving people; we need to lead people by eliminating the control of the evil specter. Our purpose is to completely eliminate the evil from the cosmos; this is clearly validating the Fa. Master has done it, why can't we follow? If Master did not do it, would we ever do it?
For a long time I thought that pointing out fellow practitioners' mistakes was being responsible to the Fa, yet very rarely did I see my own factors in them. Master told us a long time ago that
"...when two people have friction between each other, each one should examine him or herself. Not only should the two people with the friction examine themselves, but also the bystanders who happen to observe the incident should. That's when you'll really improve by leaps and bounds." (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore,)
My understanding is that when we see others' shortcomings, they are actually our own shortcomings. Pointing them out to others is actually pointing them out to ourselves. Moreover, we should focus on whether it is right or wrong from the Fa's standpoint, not from any individual's thinking of what is right or wrong. The most important thing is for our Dafa practitioners to improve together.
Buddha's light illuminates everywhere,
Propriety and justice are perfected and illuminated.
Together, wholeheartedly strive upward,
The path ahead is bright."
("Harmonizing with Fa" in Hong Yin)
