(Minghui.org) Since March of this year, several dozen practitioners have been arrested in our local area due to their participation in Falun Dafa activities, impacting our local practitioners to varying degrees. Some had negative thoughts that those practitioners who were arrested didn't do well enough and therefore triggered this large-scale persecution. Some even thought that if the practitioners who were being held hadn't attempted to validate the Fa, the persecution wouldn't have happened. There has been quite a bit of criticism of those practitioners.
I remember that when practitioners broadcast the truth in Changchun, it also resulted in many of them being persecuted. At the time, I wondered if it was because there was something wrong with broadcasting the truth about Falun Gong. If we should do it, why were so many persecuted, to the point of losing their lives? Not until Teacher's article "Look at Things with Righteous Thoughts" was published did I realize I was looking at things the wrong way. I was unconsciously safeguarding humanness. Afraid that I, too, would be persecuted and impacted, I was thinking about how to protect myself.
Facing a similar issue, my viewpoint is now very different from before. Today as the Fa-rectification nears the end, within the very limited time left, so many things have happened. Recently on the Minghui website, Teacher has commented on so many situations that we should wake up. We have been cultivating for many years--have we managed to look at things with righteous thoughts? Have we located our attachments? Have we used our righteous thoughts to harmonize our overall one body? Cultivation is shifting the sand, so that true gold can emerge. Have we considered other practitioners' sand or our attachments to the sand? In fact, everything happening today is intended to expose our attachments and get rid of them.
In my current thinking, I consider nothing that happens accidental--it is a playing out of the many factors in our history and the different choices in one's own cultivation. In addition, Teacher makes use of incidents to help his disciples to elevate. Therefore, in terms of practitioners being arrested, all of us are facing the issue of whether we can use our righteous thoughts to look at issues. It is a test to see whether one thinks in a human or a divine way.
No matter what format practitioners use to validate the Fa, it's not wrong. However, during the process, whether one has strong righteous thoughts or one's thoughts are pure enough will lead to different results. It seems that if a person does one good thing, we draw the conclusion that this is a good person. Or if they do one wrong thing, we then say this is a bad person. We should not so easily negate any path in Fa-rectification, as we have no way to tell the overall picture.
During the process, when practitioners have human attachments exposed that were not easily noticed, that is normal. While validating the Fa, the key is for all of us to realize our attachments and rectify them. Then we can become more rational and stable. Then all of us will have an environment in which to cultivate diligently with each another and validate the Fa more effectively, which is also a cultivation process.
If we don't realize our attachments in a timely way, or don't pay attention to fellow practitioners, or if we think too highly of ourselves and insist on our own opinions, that is because we lack rationality in our personal cultivation. This is related to personal cultivation, which cannot lead to such large-scale persecution. If this did happen, it wouldn't have been a personal issue, but, rather, something wrong with the overall cultivation state of the group.
When something happens that shouldn't, we should use the Fa to evaluate ourselves, as opposed to looking at things on the surface, and we must not blame certain individuals or things. Whether or not you have participated in an activity to validate the Fa, as long as you have listened to or seen relevant news coverage about it, then this has something to do with your cultivation, especially eliminating your attachments.
Maybe you didn't have the same attachments exposed through that situation as other practitioners, but didn't your attachments arise because of it? More importantly, have you developed a kind understanding towards them and provided your righteous support? We also need to look within and see whether it was because, while participating in the activity, our worship, silent approval, following unkind criticism, spreading rumors, or taking our own opinion for granted resulted in a separation between practitioners and the overall environment.
When did our incorrect understanding appear? Did we rectify ourselves after the problem arose? We must use the Fa to evaluate ourselves, to see if we have reached compassion and tolerance in the same realm as Buddha and gods. Only by kindly understanding others, looking within at all times, and seizing every negative thought and negating it and cleansing ourselves of it can we become more and more rational and clear-headed.
This is the state of a true practitioner. To rectify the overall body, each and every one of us has to rectify ourselves. That will result in overall improvement. Studying the Fa in a group, studying more Fa, and making the best use of our time can allow us to cleanse ourselves through Dafa and truly assimilate to the Fa. We must use righteous thoughts cultivated from tribulations and trials and use compassion and peacefulness developed from Dafa cultivation to validate the Fa.
If each one of us could use our righteous thoughts from the Fa to rectify ourselves, kindly remind fellow practitioners, and harmonize our overall body, then Dafa disciples would truly be carrying out Teacher's requirements in the Fa-rectification period.
Through this situation, I have found many of my shortcomings, especially human attachments developed by using a human way of thinking. After I rectified them, I became more rational and clear-headed in my cultivation, my righteous thoughts became stronger, and my mission and sense of responsibility became stronger. I came to understand the gap between ourselves and Teacher's requirements. I came to truly understand Teacher's painstaking efforts.
Without clearly pointing it out to us, Teacher has been using all sorts of means to wake us up, to have us quickly enlighten. However, we were still looking at issues and conflicts on the surface, as opposed to finding the root causes. We also used our human notions to evaluate other practitioners. Isn't this our own cultivation issue? Instead of quickly rectifying ourselves, we went all over the place to talk about our notions without looking within. If we don't understand the Fa while representing the Fa, this will affect other practitioners. Shouldn't we also be "responsible for our own evil deeds?" I truly came to feel Teacher's benevolence in looking at those veteran practitioners who still cannot hold themselves to the standards of a cultivator. Now I can truly understand what Teacher said in “Spreading and Reading Fake Teachings Disrupts the Fa (with Comment from Master)”:
"Looking at your human hearts I find you absurd and I worry for you."
If we don't do well, we will be ashamed to face Teacher. We all say that we must do well and reach the Fa standards so that Teacher will not have to be so concerned about us and he will be happy with us. We should not cause trouble for Teacher or hinder the Fa-rectification process. That is how we can truly assist Teacher to rectify the Fa.
This is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Heshi!
