(Minghui.org) Master said,
“Cultivating according to Zhuan Falun will lead you to success in cultivation.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VII)
After the persecution of Falun Dafa started, I wondered how we could cultivate based on Zhuan Falun, as the book does not even mention the old forces.
Recently I read this sentence,
“This is because one is unable to receive the universe’s characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren, as one has acquired the black substance by doing wrong deeds.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun, 2000 Translation)
I was suddenly enlightened to a level of understanding: Zhuan Falun does not mention the old forces because Master teaches us to follow the highest qualities of the cosmos: Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. We do not need to worry about the old forces because they do not represent the standard of the new cosmos, nor do they control our cultivation path.
If we follow the old forces’ arrangement or pay too much attention to it, we may trap ourselves in the old forces’ mentality and deviate from the cosmos’ qualities.
Master said,
“If a person is completely in the Fa no one can touch him.” (Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005)
Master also told us,
“...if a Dafa disciple doesn’t follow Master’s requirements, he must be following the old forces’ arrangements.” (“Be Clearheaded,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress, Vol. III)
As Dafa practitioners, assimilating ourselves to the new cosmos’ law is the way to get us to our true homes. But because we still have many attachments, including human desires, competitiveness, arrogance, factors of the CCP culture, etc., we are sometimes blocked by our notions and karma and may not fully connect to the Way at our levels. The old forces may then seize that as excuse to create slander and persecution to “test” Dafa disciples.
The new cosmos is completely unselfish and altruistic. The old forces are not in the new cosmos and thus what they arranged does not meet the new cosmos’ standards. In the new cosmos, cultivators do not need to be tested by persecution. Master didn’t arrange imprisonment, brainwashing centers, or other forms of persecutions for us.
Thus, if our cultivation meets the requirements of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at our level, we will not see any interference from the old forces.
Eliminating Negative Thoughts from the Old Cosmos
Having faced severe persecution, many of us gradually became accustomed to following the old forces’ thinking and logic, and thus formed many strong negative thoughts around “being persecuted.”
Though I tried to eliminate worrisome thoughts about “being persecuted,” I still, from time to time, thought about how to reject and avoid persecution. I sometimes felt that I had eliminated these negative thoughts, but they later popped up again.
Master taught us in “Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X:
“Sometimes you may feel that the evil is not being wiped out fully, and you wonder how come it is surfacing again. Well, if you could achieve Consummation after just cultivating for one day, and become a Buddha on the spot, it wouldn’t amount to cultivation. It really is hard to clean out those notions and bad things that you have formed while leading your daily life, and you need to change those habitual things that have formed. You have already formed a way of thinking such as that, and so you have to look into your manner of thinking and correct things there if you want to avoid more problems. You might be wondering, “But haven’t I already cleaned those things out?” Indeed, when you send righteous thoughts the field does become bright and clear. However, the moment you get up, what’s in your head is in fact human thinking, and when you think about something or do something, you quickly lapse and go back to where you started from, and that thing [you cleared out] is there again. And further yet, if your mind and thoughts aren’t even steady when you send righteous thoughts, you will be clearing out and eradicating bad things over here while at the same time producing them over there. Cultivation is about reforming yourself, and things are indeed as I’ve described.”
I realized that I was harboring a notion from the old cosmos: to protect myself. This made me focus on how to avoid being persecuted. Whenever there was a tribulation, I first wondered if the old forces were going to try to persecute me.
I have been persecuted, including being held in a detention center and a forced labor camp and tortured. This further strengthened my impulse to want to protect myself.
When I rented or bought an apartment, I used a false name or the name of a relative so as not to reveal my identity. When the police came to check, I gave them someone else’s name. When I was taken to a detention center, I kept wondering if I would be sentenced to prison or a forced labor camp.
By doing that—worrying about being found and persecuted—I was acknowledging the persecution and treating myself as a fugitive. I had forgotten that I was a Dafa practitioner and had Master’s protection.
If our minds are fully rectified based on Dafa, the evil will be eliminated and there will be no persecution. Even when facing persecution, we should focus on cultivating our minds, rectifying the impure, and eliminating our human notions. Our xinxing should be based on the Fa, not around the old forces or persecution.
Whenever I ran into interference in the past, I sent righteous thoughts to reject the old forces’ persecution. I now focus on the Fa. Everything will be resolved as long as I improve my xinxing.
For example, I had intense pain in my leg one day. I looked within and found that I had an attachment to wearing short skirts since they showed off my good figure. After I decided to eliminate that attachment, the pain went away. Another time, several of my teeth were loose and hurt so much that I couldn’t sleep at night. I found an attachment to food and eliminated it. The pain in my teeth stopped, and the teeth were no longer loose.
When I heard that Dafa practitioners might lose their jobs, I said to myself, “This is a test of my xinxing. Master takes care of everything.” I didn’t worry or have negative thoughts. As a result, I didn’t lose my job, and, in fact, I got a raise.
Rectifying Our Way of Thinking To Be Based on the Fa
My company started to review technical rankings. I was at Level 2. My coworkers told me I needed to write a dissertation to be promoted to Level 1 and suggested that I buy one, which many of them did and got promoted. I knew I couldn’t do that. I also refused a relative’s offer to use her connections to help me.
One day, my manager called me into the office. I thought it was an opportunity to tell those in the office the truth about Dafa and save them. The accountant told me that I’d been promoted to the Advanced Level, a level higher than Level 1. My coworkers were surprised. Many had tried different ways to get promoted to the Advanced Level, but never were. I did nothing, but was. When they congratulated me, I helped them to understand that the CCP is evil and that they should quit the Party.
My residential community was locked down when the coronavirus broke out in China. People needed show their ID and a permission card to leave by the community gate.
I knew I didn’t do well, otherwise the restrictions wouldn’t be so strict. I said to myself, “I must do well. I must go out to help people – this is what the Fa requires. I need to go out openly.” Then a miracle happened! I went out without being checked. From then on, they stopped checking ID and permission cards in my community, but not in other communities.
Be an Enlightened Being of the New Cosmos
Whenever I encountered interference in the past, my first thought was to reject the old forces. I was sometimes focusing solely on rejecting the old forces, and forgot to improve myself.
When helping other practitioners who faced interference, we also focused on the old forces. We thought that even if the practitioner had gaps, the old forces were still not allowed to persecute him.
In doing that, we were somehow acknowledging the old forces. Also, our underlying thoughts may have been for ourselves.
The enlightened beings of the new cosmos are completely for others. When we reach that level, the old forces and their persecutions will not touch us. But to get there, we must cultivate ourselves solely based on the Fa, and assimilate to the new cosmos.
When I run into problems now, my first thought is recall what Master said about it. I will then follow Master’s direction.
When I go out to tell people about Falun Dafa, I remember that this is what Master wants me to do, and I must use the most compassionate heart to do it. I no long think about whether or not I will be reported to the police or arrested.
When I send righteous thoughts, I no longer do it to prevent being persecuted personally, but instead to help sentient beings to be saved. I also add a thought to eliminate all the human sentimentalities, notions, and factors that don’t meet Dafa’s standard.
Master said,
“...real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Guiding the Voyage)
My understanding is that only when we do well and meet the Fa’s requirements at our level can we truly help Master to save people as well as the higher-level beings in the old cosmos.
Category: Improving Oneself
