(Clearwisdom.net) This year before the Chinese Communist Party's Olympic Games, my employer sent me to Qingdao City, Shandong Province on a business trip. Qingdao City was one of the venues for the Games. At the beginning I did not want to go because I did not want to leave my cultivation environment. But I also knew that right before the Olympic Games, a lot of the communist evil spirits and all kinds of evil elements would be gathering in the Qingdao area. Since I knew that I should take this opportunity to go there and focus on eliminating the evil, I decided to go, and take my daughter (also a practitioner) with me. This way my daughter and I could share a hotel room, and we could create an environment to focus on sending forth righteous thought at night. After I made this decision I felt better. But now when I think about it, I realize that I did this with heavy sentiment and attachment of not wanting to change my cultivation environment.
It was probably on the way to Qingdao that a thought came to my mind, "If I forget to send righteous thoughts after I arrive in Qingdao, I need to somehow manage to avoid being persecuted by the evil." I did not catch this thought as being a wrong one and so I did not immediately reject and eliminate it. As a result, soon after I checked in to the hotel in Qingdao, I began to experience "illness" symptoms. From outward appearances it looked like the extreme air conditioning was causing me to have a headache and my whole body was in discomfort; I fell asleep after I sent righteous thoughts for a short duration. Ever since I returned from Qingdao, I've had symptoms of having a "heavy cold." I became anxious since I did not want the ordinary people around me to see me in this condition. After I started practicing Falun Gong, for several years I've not had such serious illness symptom. When I went to work on Monday, I noticed that almost all my colleagues in my office had caught a cold. They asked me whether I had gotten the cold too, for I was sneezing with a running nose. Since it would cause them to misunderstand if I tried to hide the symptoms, I simply said I had one. As a result, this illness karma dragged on for a long time and even now I still have the symptom of a cough.
Thinking about this experience of being persecuted, I feel that the main reason this "illness" happened is because my cultivation state is not good. There were also two other important points. One is that I did not reject the thought of fearing being persecuted after I arrived in Qingdao; this shows that I was not diligently cultivating and I did not have strong righteous thoughts. This loophole was taken advantage of by the evil. Another one is that I was not open and aboveboard about my cultivation state. When ordinary people asked me whether I had a cold, I simply agreed instead of replying with wisdom. The evil latched on to this point and made the persecution worse. During this period, my daughter was also having the same symptoms, but she did not acknowledge the persecution. She did not give a direct answer when she was asked about it, and as a result her symptoms were over in a few days.
To cultivate every thought is really very important. To catch an incorrect thought as soon as it pops up and to eliminate that incorrect thought helps one to take less detours on one's cultivation path and avoid losses. Often an incorrect thought appears as a very small and insignificant thought. If it is not immediately eliminated and driven away, it will multiply and expand, and finally it will interfere with the practitioner. My understanding is that the incorrect thought is similar to having spirit possession. Master mentioned,
"Initially, the animal does not dare to possess him, and it will first give him some energy to try out. One day, the person will suddenly find himself with the energy that he has been seeking, and he can also heal illnesses. Upon seeing that it works, the animal will use it like a musical prelude, "Since he wants it, I'll attach to his body. That way I can give him more things and do it easily. Doesn't he want the Celestial Eye? Now I'll give him everything."" (Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)
Let me cite another example. A while ago I always felt that I had strong attachment to comfort and ease and I also felt that this attachment was very hard to discard. Actually, it was because I didn't eliminate those thoughts as soon as they appeared, and I was instead moved by these thoughts. For instance, when the weekend was coming, I would feel that I had been quite diligent for that period of time and that I had been doing the three things well. A thought would then appear that I should take a break. However if I followed this thought, I would not be able to be diligent for several days.
As a matter of fact, if one wants to cultivate his every thought he must study the Fa well and keep himself diligent. If he keeps the Fa in his mind at all times, then as soon as an incorrect thought appears he can immediately recognize it. At the same time he must also be determined to firmly cultivate and discard attachments. Master taught,
"It is impossible for everyone to attain the Tao. Even for those who can continue their cultivation practice, it remains to be seen whether you can succeed and if you are determined to practice cultivation." (Zhuan Falun)
Cultivation is extremely serious and no ordinary people's mentality can be brought to heaven. As cultivators, as Dafa practitioners of the Fa-rectification period, we must be determined to firmly cultivate ourselves and to discard attachments. When the attachment to fame, personal gain, sentiment, lust, desire, ease and comfort and so on appear, we must discard it, eliminate it and totally root it out.
Dear fellow practitioners, cultivation in the Fa-validation period has proceeded to the final step. Lets follow Master's teaching to cultivate our minds, sever desires, and cast off attachments, and with the attitude of being responsible to Master, to Dafa, to sentient beings and to ourselves let's do the three things well with steady steps to fulfill our prehistoric sacred vows.
September 22, 2008
