July 2, 2001
[Minghui Net] Dear fellow practitioners, please allow me to use Teacher's words (from Dafa is Indestructible) as the title for my article. It is a requirement for us from Teacher. It is also one of the key factors that enable us to, at the current stage, properly consider and handle many things around us, always keep a righteous mind and do well during each tribulation, as well as to "Clarify the truth thoroughly, eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, save all beings, and safeguard the Fa with determination." (Dafa is Indestructible)
Today, I had a chance to have a short discussion with a fellow practitioner, whom I had not seen for a long time. She had good enlightenment quality. I had some understandings before, but they were obscure and superficial. However, through this experience sharing, those understandings became clearer and deeper. Now, I am writing her experience down to share with you.
There are four practitioners in her family, and all of their cultivations are of gradual enlightenment. Her mother, who had been sent to a labor camp, said to her, "You will also be sent to the labor camp." According to her mother's observation through her Celestial Eye, this was very clear and definite. Plus, her bed would be next to her mother's in the labor camp. When she visited her sister, who had been sent to a jail, she was told again that it could be clearly seen that her tribulation was that she would be sent to a labor camp. Her other sister, also a practitioner, basically said the same thing. Nonetheless, she did not pay attention to these. Later, the police told her that she had to write a guarantee stating that she would give up practicing Dafa; otherwise, she would also be sent to a labor camp. Several practitioners around her had been sent to labor camps already. At that moment, from the lessons that she and other practitioners had learned, she realized that, one should never simply follow the so-called "indication" or what had been seen through the Celestial Eye. Instead, one should only believe in Dafa and trust what Teacher had said.
She first checked herself to see if she had any attachments or omissions, especially fear. Were all these messages aimed at her? After correcting her mind, she calmed down and started to study the Fa. She told herself calmly, "Since Teacher does not recognize or agree with everything arranged by the evil old forces at all, as a disciple of Teacher, I will not agree at all, either." Teacher had said that he only pays attention to a practitioners' heart, and that "If you are not afraid, the factor that would make you afraid will become non-existent." (Eliminate Your Last Attachment (s) For evil elements and evil arrangements, one should not only feel fearless, but we also need to eliminate them. If there were some other things to do, or if for some reason Teacher arranged for her to experience labor camp, she would keep speaking out the truth, and suppress and eliminate the evil wherever she went. Once the heart calmed down, the tribulation appeared very small and it was negligible.
Another big test for her was affection among family members. How to treat family members when they cried, begged, were enraged, or even threatened with death? A practitioner first of all should remain untouched. Then what to do? One can check to see if this situation was to remove any attachment. If there is sentimentality, discard it absolutely. For those family members, eliminate the vicious elements behind them. Speak out the truth, and tell them about Dafa and our understandings. She had many relatives, both on her side and her husband's side. Some said they knew her very well since she was a baby, and they had great expectations for her. Some asked her to think of the children, if not of herself: although in her 30s now, after several years in labor camp, there would be nothing left--including family. Later, she told me that even she was surprised that she had been so calm when surrounded and criticized by relatives. She had a feeling of untold peace and happiness.
When we talked over the phone, she was always calm and happy. I could sense what she had was the true happiness a practitioner has after overcoming big tribulations and experiencing significant progress, which was seemingly simple. I was also happy for her. She also told me that those relatives who surrounded and criticized you, might count on you as the only hope to save them. But if you were not up to the standard, they could (with the help of Teacher) come and help you expose your attachments, so that you could make progress.
There is no one for us to follow during cultivation, and there are no established rules, either. According to her experiences, it is necessary to study the Fa everyday, and to calm down when studying. Whenever there is an incident, always look inside to see what kind of attachments should be discarded. Find those attachments, dig out the roots, and discard them completely, even if it is painful. Keep a righteous mind, and do not follow anything arranged by the old forces. Only what Teacher had said is right. Facing directly and eliminating all evil is the cultivation of an individual, showing compassion towards all sentient beings, being responsible for righteous elements, as well as reinforcing the Buddha nature. Let go of all attachments and clarify the truth.
Moreover, she also told me to face directly all tests without evading them. She said that she used to elude some difficulty or trouble, but not any more. She now faces directly all tests calmly. She found out that by doing so, some tests were easier to overcome and some disappeared by themselves. Of course one should not pursue tests.
