Western Practitioner: Being Weak Is Unknowingly Collaborating with the Old Forces

I want to thank all my fellow practitioners for writing down their cultivation experiences and their insights. Many many times I have felt as if my fellow practitioners were talking about me, and many times the experiences recounted were exactly mine or nearly mine. Each time I feel the preciousness of this support, I remember the words of our Master calling the practitioners’ whole body "a land of purity."

For example, take the practitioner who wrote the Clearwisdom article on October 13, 2006: "Thoughts on Malicious Codes Being Planted in Fangguangming Web Pages." I think that his straightforwardness and sincerity made what he wrote not mainly "Thoughts on" but rather a review, a balance-sheet of his state of cultivation in the last period of time.

Like him, I gradually got to the point of going through so many procedures and complications to do something. Like him, my truth clarification work was more straightforward and dignified one year ago. Like him, I came to realize that I felt behind in my cultivation—at least in this regard—and actually I am trying to catch up.

What is so dangerous about this state of mind is that, arriving at that point, many things go wrong. I get discouraged. If a fellow practitioner makes an insinuation, I worry too much about it. Even basic questions such as "Am I really a practitioner? Am I part of the practitioners’ whole body? Can I still talk with them?" begin to arise. However, when I find again the righteous way of thinking and acting, and when I perceive positive signs in my cultivation, this state of mind disappears, and I realize that becoming weak is precisely collaborating with the old forces. Our esteemed Master says in "Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival:"

"..there’s one thing that they (the old forces) can still accomplish, and that’s their wanting to break the students' will. The students who made the mistake would think: 'Oh no, I wrote that thing. It’s all over for me. Master can no longer take care of me. I’ve let Dafa down.' From then on they are depressed and their hearts feel heavy. That’s the technique they’ve used and I don’t acknowledge it. It doesn’t matter that you fell down, it doesn’t matter! Quickly get up!"

Thanks to Master, I can understand that to be righteous means to be strict toward oneself (shouldering one’s responsibility) and at the same time to be strict toward the evil side (knowing its true nature and role). Holding carefully this pair of scales: this is what I would call cultivation.

Due to the limitation of my level, I ask fellow practitioners to be understanding.