(Minghui.org) Continued from Part 1: http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2012/11/3/136132.html
I had a serious headache the next day at work. It occurred to me that the old forces were making trouble again. I immediately sent forth righteous thoughts and then the headache was not as bad. Then my teeth began to hurt. I'd never had such a painful toothache. It was so painful that I could not even drink water. At first I was going to ask Master for help. Then I decided not to, because Master had already borne so much for me. Since I was the one who brought forth all these problems, I should be responsible for them myself and not let Master bear more.
I continued to send forth righteous thoughts until lunch time. As soon as I thought of ordering porridge from a restaurant, my toothache got worse. Then I realized that using porridge to alleviate the pain is an ordinary person's solution. I'm a cultivator and should not have ordinary people's thoughts. I should just eat whatever is being served at the cafeteria at work. So I ordered a combination plate with steamed rice. The old forces continued to give me trouble. The rice was crunchy and spicy. I ate the meal while enduring the pain, but I didn't have difficulty chewing or swallowing the food. It appeared to me that as long as I didn't have human notions, the old forces were not able to take advantage of any loopholes.
I continued to send forth righteous thoughts till the afternoon, but my teeth continued to hurt. Then something suddenly occurred to me: I had toothache at work but not at home. Maybe it was because I had not cultivated my speech at work well, so the old forces took advantage of it. As soon as I looked inward to see if I had said anything wrong, the pain subsided. Then I remembered that indeed I had been lax with my speech. Previously, my unit leader had asked other colleagues to monitor me and stay away from me, but after I sent forth righteous thoughts and clarified the truth to them, most of my coworkers quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Some of them also began to learn more about Falun Dafa and got better acquainted with me. Consequently, I became more lax and began to talk about insignificant things with them, which delayed the things that I was supposed to do.
My unit leader, who had been following orders from the 610 Office to monitor me and often received rewards for reporting me to the authorities, recently developed a stomach ulcer, bronchitis, and heart disease. I had thought about clarifying the truth to him, but because I was somewhat resentful toward him, wrong words came out of my mouth. I said to him: “You don't believe in heaven and only believe in science. No wonder you are suffering from all these illnesses. Look at you, you are still young, but your lungs and heart are failing. You have the 'heart of a wolf and the lungs of a dog' (a Chinese idiom used to refer to a cruel and unscrupulous person).” He looked at me dumbfounded. As soon as I finished talking, I knew that I had said the wrong thing. When I looked back, I knew that I should not have done that. A cultivator should have a heart of compassion. He was a victim of the communist regime's propaganda, and a sentient being waiting to be saved. How could I talk to him like that? I wasn't being compassionate.
My teeth didn't hurt as much after I found my mistakes. I kept looking inward the entire afternoon and found many attachments. For example, I had the attachment of zealotry when I did the three things well; I wanted to show off when I wrote a good sharing article; and I became lax when my environment improved. I felt ashamed for having a pile of attachments! Gradually, my toothache almost disappeared. I said to Master in my heart, “Thank you, Master! You used the old forces' interference and tribulations to help me get rid of the bad things, thus enabling me to be cleansed and rise in level.”
That night when I was meditating at home, the “black shadow” being of the old forces reappeared. As I became larger, he became smaller. He was only a few inches tall. He said grudgingly, “You are quite capable. I won't interfere with you anymore.” He waved the book in front of my face, implying that he would continue to collect “human skins,” and disappeared.
Because I used strong righteous thoughts to eliminate the old forces' interference, and destroyed the bad elements, the path became smoother afterward. Practitioner B came to my house the next day. She said she hadn't cultivated well and thus let the old forces take advantage of her loopholes. As a result, she was constantly in the mode of “karma elimination” and almost fell into the trap of the old forces.
We shared about the death of an elderly practitioner from her Fa study group, and I reminded her to look inward. Later, she said she found the problem. She felt that she was partially responsible for the death of the elderly practitioner. Because she had the attachment of pursuing virtue and was afraid of being arrested, she had transferred a lot of money to material production sites under the name of the elderly practitioner, as well as given that practitioner quite a bit of cash and material goods. However, what she did violated Master's requirement of assistance centers not gathering money or goods. Moreover, her fear of being arrested was also a manifestation of not having righteous thoughts, which could bring more tribulations. She wrongly thought that she would gain virtue by giving large amounts of money to the material production sites, and she might have caused the elderly practitioner to harbor attachments that she otherwise would not have.
Later, Master's law body arranged for us to visit several elderly practitioners. Some of them had attended seminars offered by Master in Guangzhou in the 1990s. Initially, they were quite diligent in cultivation, but in recent months they were not able to understand the Fa well when they read Zhuan Falun. During Fa study, they would fall asleep, become restless, or could not remember what they had just read. They could not send forth righteous thoughts with a calm heart and were interfered with. Previously, they were able to meditate for two hours, but now they could not even sit in full lotus position. They felt frustrated by the situation as well.
When we visited one practitioner's home, we found that his relatives had very strange facial expressions, including the young grandson, who looked at us viciously. I sensed that there were bad elements behind them; the reason the relatives behaved that way was because the old forces behind them resented us. We sent forth righteous thoughts toward the elderly practitioner to eliminate the bad elements behind him. We also decided to clean his home environment and establish a Fa study group in his house.
Later, I found out that the situation in our area was more serious. Not too long ago, similar situations happened in the surrounding areas as well. A coordinator of a Fa study group suddenly died from a stroke. He was only forty years old. Because he had failed to clarify the truth to his family, his parents were causing a bit of trouble; the practitioners in the area sent forth righteous thoughts to take care of the problem.
Master said:
“Fa-rectification is in its final stage, and the disruptive factors in the cosmos are dragging those who have failed to be diligent out from among the ranks of practitioners, such as those who 1) lack rationality; 2) act and talk senselessly; and 3) have not removed their attachments, which have increasingly expanded, leading these practitioners to have a strong tendency to look outward and seek outwardly, losing their sense of reason.” (“Sifting of the Sand”)
From these recent events, I came to realize that cultivation in Dafa is the most wonderful and solemn thing in the universe. If our heart is not righteous, or our hidden attachments are not eliminated, then the sinister old forces will hold onto them and persecute us. Not only will they block us from returning to our home, but they will also create irreparable damage to the entire group. Therefore, veteran and new practitioners in our area need to focus on the problem, really look inward, and reach our own understandings based on Master's Fa.
First of all, in order to prevent the old forces from taking advantage of our loopholes, we must truly cultivate ourselves. Let's remember what Master said: “For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference”)
Master also said:
“You should all be thinking this way, with your first thought being to scrutinize yourself to try to find the problem. Whoever is not like this is not in fact a true cultivator of Dafa. It is a magical tool in our cultivation. This is a distinguishing feature of our Dafa disciples’ cultivation. Whatever it is that you encounter, the first thought should be to scrutinize yourself, and it’s called 'looking within'.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”)
Looking inward and cultivating ourselves whenever we encounter problems is a magical tool in cultivation. If we forget to look inward, then we will easily encounter problems on our path.
I remember something that happened a while ago. In order to finish an article, some practitioners in our area had arguments with each other and created more attachments among themselves, which had negative influences on other practitioners. One group sided with a practitioner whose celestial eye was opened. They claimed that whoever participated in this project would gain mighty virtue. This raised many practitioners' attachment of pursuing fame and self-interest. They even said that so-and-so was not truly cultivating and, thus, was not allowed to participate in the project. The other group sided with a veteran practitioner who had met Master before. They claimed that the other side had spies and was on the wrong path. The two groups argued endlessly. I've heard they even wrote letters to Minghui website's editors to complain.
Both groups knew a forty-year-old practitioner who died of sickness karma because she was unable to let go of human attachments. When that happened, they failed to look inward, learn from the lesson, completely negate the old forces' arrangements, and follow the path arranged by Master. Both sides used the case of this practitioner to accuse each other. No one thought about what they were doing. Were they cultivating? Would cultivators fight with each other? Didn't Master ask us to find our own mistakes when encountering conflicts? Weren't these practitioners influenced by the Communist Party's poisonous culture, which brought out their attachment of competitiveness? Weren't they walking the path arranged by the old forces? Fellow practitioners, we really need to wake up!
Secondly, we should place great importance on sending forth righteous thoughts, look at things with a righteous outlook, and think and act with righteousness on a daily basis.
Master said:
“But they made a special dial for the Fa-rectification, and in every dimension they have done certain things surreptitiously. They have even involved the world's people, and planted this kind of dial in humans' bodies. That is why when [the dial] moves, shifts in the state of affairs for human beings on Earth take place. It's exactly because those things are at work. During the Fa-rectification those things are all in the process of being cleaned out, so they no longer play a decisive role.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”)
Master also said:
“When the gong and energy that I left at this place in the cosmos, in the Three Realms, do things, if our students don't act righteously, then the old forces resist, and a state of obstruction appears. That's why I've told our students to walk a righteous path and not to let them find an excuse. Once they find a big one they'll ruin you. And that's especially so when it's at the end and they're making a last-ditch effort. When they can't find an excuse they don't dare to persecute you, because then they too would be violating the laws, and they understand that, so there'd be no need for me to eliminate them--the old cosmos's laws would eliminate them. That's because they are old beings who take strictly safeguarding the old laws to be what's most essential. ” (“Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
My understanding from Master's lectures is that the old forces made arrangements according to what practitioners had agreed to in the past and practitioners' innate qualities. The old forces used the excuse of testing practitioners in order to achieve what they want, and at the same time created serious obstacles. Therefore, some practitioners were arrested and persecuted because of their weak righteous thoughts, while others were displaced for a long period of time. Several were also burdened by family obligations, spending a lot of time taking care of their ill relatives, looking after their grandchildren, or having endless house chores on a daily basis, which affected their ability to do the three things well. Some practitioners were unable to let go of their selfishness and ego, the elements of the old universe, and created gaps among practitioners. A few practitioners also didn't properly handle the funds used for truth-clarification materials.
Recently in our area, several young practitioners who had enlightened along an evil path were persuaded by their practitioner relatives to come back to Dafa. However, some of them were unable to have complete faith in Dafa and Master, and thus, died of sickness karma. Their practitioner relatives didn't look at the issue righteously and were troubled by the attachment to sentimentality. Consequently, they created gaps and interference for other practitioners, because they were unable to calm their hearts.
In my opinion, persuading others to cultivate in Dafa is a good thing, but we cannot force it upon others. It would not work if people do not want to assimilate to the Fa and believe one hundred percent in Master and Dafa. The compassion of those who truly cultivate transcends ordinary people's sentimentality. We should not drag people into cultivation because they are our relatives, as we cannot force anyone to practice. We must remember Master's teachings, measure everything against the Fa, think and act righteously, and not let the old forces take advantage of the loopholes.
Master said:
“Stop letting the evil exploit gaps, and stop being interfered with by human attachments. Do well the things that Dafa disciples should do, and walk the last leg of the journey well. Righteous thoughts, righteous actions.” (“Eliminate the Dark Minions With Righteous Thoughts”)
Above are my current understandings. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate. Heshi.
