Understanding the Ordeals We Face from the Perspective of Cultivation

(Minghui.org) Master said in a recent article:

“If you no longer have compassion in you, if you’ve lost sight of your responsibilities and mission, and have even forgotten about your spiritual goals, then you are bound to be just like everyone else in this world. And if the lines between Dafa practitioners and others are blurred, what will become of you as a group?” (“A Wake-Up Call”)

When I read the sentence, “...what will become of you as a group?” I felt it was the first time that Master had used such a strong tone. And now I think it is related to the current situation we are facing. Seeing some practitioners still waiting to be told what to do or following the crowd, I thought it over for a long time and decided to share my thoughts so that we can safeguard Dafa and improve together.

My intention is to share my understandings with genuine practitioners, because the understandings and behaviors of these practitioners will decide how this situation develops. Other people–such as spies, those who muddle along, those who seek to cause damage–are external factors, and they do not play a decisive role. I think we need to look within for problems from the perspective of cultivation practice.

My observations are limited to some practitioners I know in the United States, so I cannot comment on the situation in other regions. Because these are what I see at my level, my understandings could be wrong.

Respecting Master and Dafa

Depending on the stages of our cultivation practice, our innate characteristics, and the places where we came from, what is required of us in terms of showing respect for Master and Dafa could vary. This is not just lip service; rather, it should be manifested in solid cultivation. For example, when we heard about the lawsuit for the first time, what was our first thought, and was it consistent with Dafa? If not, we should look deeper and find out why we would have such a thought, including where our understanding of the Fa is lacking. This introspection is a part of solid cultivation.

As practitioners, we know that, had we not done poorly in certain areas, something like this would not have occurred. In the cultivation story of Milarepa, his master often beat him and “abused” him in other ways, but Milarepa always attributed the situation to his own karma and never resented his master. How are we doing in comparison?

For practitioners who can often see Master or ask Master for advice on specific issues, we can check if our mindset of respecting Master and Dafa has changed over time. When a practitioner sees Master doing something, saying something, or answering a practitioner’s question in a certain way, it could be a hint for the practitioners involved to look inward depending on their level, cultivation state, and attachments. We cannot have improper thoughts because of these things.

The Problem of Selectively Studying Dafa Teachings

In his lectures, Master has talked about the reasons and manifestations of religions deviating from their original teachings, the causes of tribulations in Buddhism, different forms of students undermining the Fa, chaotic situations in society, the formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction process of the old cosmos, and different behaviors of beings created at various stages of the cosmic cycle. Many practitioners think that Master is talking about other religions, about everyday society, or about the old cosmos. As a result, we may subconsciously think we are not part of it.

Master wrote in 1996,

“The clergy’s misconduct completely violates the vows of purity they have taken, makes God’s entrustment not worth even a penny, and astonishes both mankind and gods. Kindhearted people have been regarding them as the only people whom they can rely on for salvation. Disappointment has made people increasingly disbelieve in religion, and in the end people have completely lost their faith in God, thereby committing all kinds of bad deeds without any reservation.” (“Degeneration”, Essentials for Further Advancement)

I remember when I first read this article as part of a group before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) started to persecute Falun Dafa in 1999. I shared my understanding that, since Master had spoken of these phenomena, we should watch out for them. The volunteer assistant replied that this passage was talking about other religions, not us. Many years have passed, and I still see many practitioners who see it this way.

In my understanding, Master is teaching the Dafa of the entire universe, and he explains Dafa to us as part of Fa-rectification and to guide our cultivation. If it’s only an issue with one religion or ordinary society, it may not be worthy of mention by Master. I think Master was using these examples to tell us what could happen to us practitioners and the challenges we could face, but we did not take it seriously. Had we paid more attention to these teachings in Dafa and corrected ourselves in time, many tribulations could have been avoided or lessened, and we might not have encountered the ordeals we see today.

Master wrote in 2000,

“Had you truly been able to discard those fundamental human attachments as you cultivated, this final ordeal would not be so vicious.” (“Towards Consummation”, The Essentials of Diligent Progress II)

If we haven’t paid enough attention to these teachings, I think it’s worth asking ourselves why. These thoughts could be from the parts of ourselves that we have yet to cultivate well, the parts that view ourselves as beings who carry out the Fa-rectification rather than beings who are also being rectified. Because the source of these thoughts could be in a microcosmic level, it is difficult to discern, and practitioners may even think they are righteous thoughts and follow them to wrongful things.

The Importance of Regarding Dafa as Teacher

Taking the Fa as our teacher is a cultivation principle that we have all known since the beginning. All our thoughts and actions should be based on the Fa as much as possible. However, some practitioners have developed major problems in this area. Since the recent external attacks started, I have some some practitioners write articles and posts that blame other practitioners and CCP spies. If they meant to clarify the truth, these articles and posts should be spread widely. But these views should not be taken by practitioners as the standard for cultivation and turned into a “he said, she said” situation in society. I believe practitioners should be clear on the Fa principles and stay unmoved.

As cultivators, when we encounter problems, we should look for answers from Dafa, explore the reasons for why these things happen, and think about how to correct our own problems and collective shortcomings.

Some practitioners feel that, if there are problems with a project or coordinator, Master will correct them. The implication is that they will not go wrong, and even if they are wrong, the issue would be resolved. Some practitioners regard whether they can join certain projects and hold certain positions as criteria for whether they are cultivators and whether they are practicing well. Some practitioners who participate in projects also enjoy this feeling. These are also manifestations of not being able to regarding Dafa as teacher. They are corrupting the cultivation environment and are far away from cultivation!

Problems with Selfishness

About two years ago, a practitioner kept talking to me about whether should do more to help the United States as a being. I did not understand why she kept sharing this idea with me, but I have always remembered this.

While studying Dafa teachings recently, I noticed an extremely microcosmic selfishness in me: I want to cultivate, I want to clarify the truth, I want to save people, I want to improve, I want to promote something, I have to achieve my own goals... This is actually a kind of selfishness, without consideration or responsibility for other beings. This is a deviation in the fundamentals of Fa-rectification cultivation, and it could also be reflected in ordinary society.

Have We Reached the Standard for Being Good People in Society?

I started to practice Dafa at Zizhu Park in Beijing. I felt that the assistants and practitioners there were kind and good people at first sight. Later, it was the same when I went to a practice site at a school. Without saying anything or doing anything, I could tell at a glance that the practitioners were kind people. My roommates also said that we were good people. Many years have passed, but I still remember what the practitioners were like back then.

But after arriving in the United States, I found that many practitioners here were very capable at work. Through long-term work, they have also accumulated social status and wealth. But at first glance, they seemed no different from everyday people in society. Of course, I have also met very good practitioners who have been helping other practitioners for more than 20 years, but they are very few.

When I first arrived in the western U.S., I found some practitioners in a big city in who did not greet people when meeting for the first time. Even if I took the initiative to say hello, they would ignore me. They included practitioners from Taiwan and practitioners who had been in the U.S. for decades. After moving to a big city in the Midwestern U.S., I also came across practitioners like this. So, to avoid embarrassment later on, unless I met a practitioner who I knew very well, I would not say hello. In the U.S., when two strangers meet on the street, they often say hello in a friendly way, but some practitioners do not do so.

I have met seven landlords in the U.S. I got along very well with them, so they also agreed with Dafa very much. I also met a kind and helpful landlord who cooked for me every day and cooked a large table of dishes for the tenants every weekend, all for free. These landlords were not wealthy. Although landlords are not obligated to do this, I have never heard of a practitioner landlord doing this. I have also found it harder to get along with practitioner landlords and those in projects.

The reason I brought up these examples is not to criticize anyone but to make the point that it is important for practitioners to at least be considered good people in society.

A Pure Land

I understand that in the past, one could only cultivate according to the specific form of their school of cultivation. In this Fa-rectification, because Dafa is great, our cultivation can take on many different forms. In other words, one can cultivate in Dafa and improve themselves in any environment. So, one can cultivate under the persecution in mainland China, and can also cultivate in a peaceful environment abroad. One can cultivate in a pure group of cultivators, and one can also elevate themselves in a less pure group. No matter how the old forces arrange things, students can cultivate by following Dafa.

Does the ability to cultivate in any environment mean that we should acknowledge the arrangement of the old forces? No! Because our improvement has nothing to do with the old forces. This is the power of Dafa itself: we can cultivate in any environment, including the environment arranged by the old forces.

To see what would meet the standard of Dafa, we can look at how Shen Yun saves people in a pure, kind and beautiful way. During the Fa-rectification cultivation, we should be responsible not only to ourselves but also to other practitioners and to society, as Master teaches in the opening sentence of the first lecture in Zhuan Falun.

When I see behaviors in the practitioner community that are unrighteous and yet have persisted for so long (including forming cliques and refusing to look within with the excuse that one is “giving others the opportunity to improve”), I think it could be the result of what Master described in “Expounding on the Fa” in Essentials for Further Advancement: “Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa.” If we don’t look at these issues from the perspective of the Fa principles, it may not be clear that certain behaviors are disgraceful.

We Cannot Use Dafa for Our Own Gain

I often hear practitioners say that such-and-such project is led by Master, a certain thing was designed by Master, and how something else involves Master. Some project leaders have also claimed that certain projects are required for the Fa-rectification. But one can easily feel the impure motives when practitioners say these things to solicit support from other practitioners or inflate their own importance or that of their projects.

It may be acceptable to do this in everyday society, but invoking Master’s name or Dafa is a serious matter. There are multiple reasons why we practitioners should not do this. For example, if we claim to do things on behalf of Master or Dafa, and then we do poorly, all the conflicts and troubles could be directed toward Dafa or even Master in the end. If some practitioners who are not firm in their faith give up cultivation as a result of irresponsible actions like these, could we possibly make up for the loss?

Ordeals and Karma

Have we practitioners reflected on ourselves and asked why we came to practice cultivation? Improving our xinxing is the key to eliminating karma. So, facing such huge ordeals, shouldn’t we practitioners as a whole put more effort into cultivating our xinxing? That is, we should face the problem head on, take the initiative to correct ourselves, and improve instead of always looking externally? Looking externally cannot eliminate karma. At most, it can only suppress things on the surface, but then it may come back more violently next time or transform into other forms of destruction.

I have discussed many topics above, but we need to maintain a solid foundation of studying the Fa with a calm mind every day, studying with our heart, and improving our xinxing. When we study Dafa with a calm mind, we will find our xinxing constantly improving. We will also be able to find answers in Dafa, and our actions will be more in line with the Fa.

There are many talented, kind, and upright people in this world, but only we have the opportunity to assist Master in Fa-rectification. We should cherish this opportunity, help each other improve, and walk the remainder of our path well.