(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997 and have been cultivating mostly without my third eye open. Occasionally Master would allow me to see something in a flash. I knew it was to strengthen my will to cultivate and to encourage me to be more diligent. I took a big detour at one point in my cultivation and developed symptoms of breeding demons in my own mind.
I had all those experiences mentioned in the article “The Deeper Causes Behind the Appearance of Those Who Would Lead Us Astray” (http://en.minghui.org/html/articles/2013/4/5/138770.html). I was fortunate not to go around fooling others and that I did not commit huge sins.
When I felt genuinely repentant, and seeing that I was still savable, Master pulled me out of hell. He took a skeleton out of me. (This was what I saw in a flash.) I would like to share this part of my experience to expose and dissolve the evil.
I also hope that all of my fellow practitioners who are still in danger can awaken quickly so that they will not take such detours, but will walk well on the path Master has arranged for us. I would not have what I have today without Master, and I would have long been destroyed by the old forces from high levels in the old universe if Master had not kindly taught me the Fa.
Indulging in Worship of Individuals, I Took the Path Arranged by the Old Forces
When I first obtained the Fa, I did not know how to cultivate. I just went to the practice site to do the exercises, without understanding the importance of Fa-study. Later I met fellow practitioner C, who told me to “regard the Fa as teacher” and to study the Fa more often. As I read more of the Dafa books, I felt what C said was really true! I did not know at the time that it was Master who was doing everything and it was because of the power of Dafa that things were changing. Gradually I developed attachments to zealotry, worship of idols, and showing-off.
As we were colleagues, I often went to share with practitioner C, telling her what I had enlightened to and what I understood from the Fa. But every time I said something, she would say something negative about it and tell me her own understandings. In most cases, I would not insist on my own views, but felt what she said was right. Each time I left C, Master's words would appear in my mind, keeping me in the Fa.
As time went on, I got to know more practitioners. I joined group exercises and gradually walked on my own path. Through Fa study, I understood that I must not follow others, but regard the Fa as teacher.
Looking back, I could see that I had followed the arrangements of the old forces, and I did not recognize it as worshiping idols. I thought C was a veteran disciple and what she said must be right. I failed to regard the Fa as teacher. As I did not realize the danger of worshiping idols, I deviated more and more from the Fa.
Master dropped very clear hints to me at the time. Once in a dream, I saw myself walking with C, and people around us were practicing all kinds of messy stuff, but C said they were also righteous. I argued that they were evil. In the dream I remembered Master's words from Zhuan Falun,
“I’m telling you, those are all evil religions. Even if they don’t harm people, they’re still evil religions, since they’ve interfered with people’s faith in the original religions. The original religions can save people, but those ones can’t.”
I also saw in my dream that C had a tail behind her. Due to my poor enlightenment quality, I began to feel resentful towards C, thinking that she should not have treated me that way. I did not realize it was arranged by the old forces and it was the evil that was trying to interfere with me, not C. I should walk my own path.
A Serious Lesson Regarding Developing Demons in My Own Mind
By the time I realized there was something wrong with me, I had already taken a wrong step and developed demons in my own mind, regarding myself as being at a very high level and being extraordinary.
By the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999, I had already shown serious symptoms of developing demons in my own mind. Just as Master discussed in “Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival,” even though I realized that I had developed demons in my own mind and wanted to turn round, I encountered many obstacles.
The old forces took advantage of my loopholes and really wanted to destroy me. In the end they faked Master's Law Body to fool me. Their tricks and false pretenses deceived me, and I took a miserable fall and learned a serious lesson!
Master did not give up on me. When Master saw that I truly wanted to come back to the Fa, He pulled me out of hell. Once while I was doing the fifth exercise, I clearly saw a big hand move towards me to grab something, and it pulled a skeleton out of my body.
After I Recognized the Crooked Understandings, Master Encouraged Me
I recall that as early as 1998, there were already practitioners who had gone astray. They spread rumors that “the real Master is in heaven” and that Master looked like this or that. At that time, I was not able to distinguish between what was righteous and what was evil. I even thought what they said was correct. Then some people claimed they did not need to do the exercises anymore, and I was a bit suspicious of this at the time.
After I returned home, I still could not understand why they did not need to do the exercises anymore. I thought I was not the same as they, and I still needed to do the exercises. I opened the book Zhuan Falun and saw that Master's photo was radiating; He looked like He was in his 20s, sitting on a lotus flower in a red robe. Usually Master looks like He is in his 40s in the photo. I knew my understanding was right at this time and Master was showing me this and encouraging me to take a righteous path.
I would like to mention here that the sharing we have with fellow practitioners is for improving our xinxing and to let go of our attachments. It is not to tell others what one has enlightened to with a show-off mentality, or to tell others how high your understanding is, or to try to impose on others your own understandings. Even though we sometimes do this unconsciously, it is very harmful to fellow practitioners, especially to new practitioners.
On the other hand, if we can make it through such interference, then it is a good thing. The power of Dafa is boundless, and the Fa can rectify everything and is indestructible. So long as we diligently study the Fa and conduct ourselves according to Master's requirements, then we can pass all tests.
Recognizing and Eliminating All Evil Interference
I did take a detour in my cultivation, and the wicked things in my body (from my developing demons in my own mind) interfered with me. Especially after the persecution of Falun Dafa began, such interference never stopped. They interfered mostly with my Fa-study. Sometimes while I was studying the Fa, I suddenly became blind, passed out, and dropped the book.
From constant study of Master's teachings published after the persecution started, I understood that I had at some time signed pledges with the old forces. I began to send forth righteous thoughts to deny all this, and I refused to acknowledge any arrangements by the old forces. I tried my best to do things according to Master's requirements.
I kept cleansing myself, and gradually the evil being emerged. I started to eliminate it with righteous thoughts, but I could not do it. Each time I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it, it would run away. Later, I was able to feel it. I could occasionally see the evil being through my celestial eye in a flash; I saw that it was a triangle-shaped mollusk with a black back.
The scene I saw showed a row of classrooms, pretty empty, each with only five or six people studying something. This evil being looked into every classroom, trying to find people it could control; when it knew that I could see it, it ran away. One other time, this evil being tried again to get into my brain. I firmly sent a strong righteous thought with the word “eliminate,” and it was dissolved immediately.
There was also a kind of evil thought floating in the air. It was like what was mentioned in the article “The Deeper Causes Behind the Appearance of Those Who Would Lead Us Astray:” that these beings of the old forces took themselves as lives from outside the immense cosmos and outside of Master's Fa-rectification. Now I understand that they are also a kind of evil being.
This kind of being is very deceptive. It pretended to be “me,” and it tried all kinds of ways to confuse Dafa practitioners. It made me feel it was me. Whoever acknowledged it, it would control that person. At that time, I did not know how to dissolve it, and just tried to deny it. I even thought it was a thought from the side of me that had not cultivated well. Looking back, I understand that it had nothing to do with me, and it was an evil being of the old forces, a degenerated being that must be eliminated in Fa-rectification. If we fail to recognize it with a clear head, it could be very destructive.
When I encountered such evil thoughts, at first, I felt it was my own thought. But Master saved me and protected me. The Fa principles helped me understand that everything was included in Master's Fa-rectification, with no exception. As long I exist, I am in the Fa-rectification, and I must rectify myself according to the Fa.
The evil thought always wanted me to do things that would interfere with and violate Master' Fa-rectification. I refused to do them. I remembered Master's teachings, and I thought: Everything I do in the human world is my own doing, which does not conform with that thought because my primordial spirit is here in my flesh body. I do not recognize the thoughts from other dimensions as being me.
When sharing with other practitioners, we found that sometimes when we were sharing face to face, suddenly a practitioner seemed to turn into someone else, and his mind drifted away. When other practitioners noticed this, the practitioner who showed this strange phenomenon resumed his or her normal state.
We shared about this and understood that it could be interference from evil beings of the old forces in other dimensions. When we did not have a clear understanding of the Fa principles, we thought that particular practitioner was strange. In fact, it was not the practitioner, but some other being. Such things happened to me as well, and I also saw it happening to other practitioners.
I do not have contact with many practitioners, but I go to the Minghui website every day. The Minghui website has linked us, practitioners who are scattered here and there. When we come across certain problems, very often we can get inspiration from articles on Minghui. Sometimes when I encountered problems, I went to the Minghui website and found articles where practitioners were sharing on those very issues. This helped me take fewer detours.
