(Clearwisdom.net)
From the Editors: This article was written by a practitioner from a city in Northeast China. During recent experience-sharing with others, he discovered some common problems among local practitioners. In the belief that the overall progress of Fa-rectification in his area depends largely upon how well individual practitioners do, he hopes that local practitioners will pay attention to their attachments, rectify themselves, and walk a righteous cultivation path during the Fa-rectification cultivation period. He wrote down his thoughts to share them with more practitioners, including practitioners from other areas. Assuming they do exist, we really need to pay attention to the problems enumerated by this practitioner. We hope that fellow practitioners who read this article will search inside themselves with peaceful hearts so that we will be able to do well in the three things that all Falun Dafa practitioners currently need to do: study the Fa well, clarify the truth in a deeper and more refined way, and have a correct attitude towards sending forth righteous thoughts.
To Fellow Practitioners in City ____
As Teacher's Fa-rectification process has been speeding up, the evil is facing its ultimate extinction. At present, what should be done in this final stage? We should take this last step steadily.
Recently, some material-producing sites in our local area were damaged. Many fellow practitioners were arrested, and we all deeply regretted the loss. The evil is obviously trying to make a final effort. However, much of this damage wouldn't have happened had we done everything correctly. When searching the root cause, we found that some fellow practitioners are still clinging to their attachments and trying to find excuses for themselves. This situation has actually hindered the Fa-rectification progress in our area. After we calmed down and searched inwards, we discovered many problems that commonly exist among practitioners. We summarized them into the following points and hope that our fellow practitioners will carefully read them.
1. Not looking within during conflicts
Teacher has been urging us to look inside ourselves during conflicts. We all know this Fa-principle. Yet many of us haven't truly realized its seriousness and haven't achieved it in genuine cultivation. We don't think that we can be true cultivators if we don't look within. Not searching inwards will make us cling to our human notions. If we do this, are we really cultivating and improving ourselves? Some practitioners tried to protect their fundamental human interests and they would immediately argue with others whenever those interests were touched upon. Is that true cultivation? What stopped us from searching inside ourselves? We found two negative factors. One, attachments to the pursuit of fame, showing off and zealotry. Oftentimes, some practitioners felt they had been doing pretty well since they had been to Beijing to appeal, had made many truth-clarifying materials, and had done a lot. They took them as the standards to measure their xinxing [heart-nature, moral character]. They unintentionally harbored demon-nature and used their contributions to Dafa as a means to pursue fame and to show off among fellow practitioners. This strong attachment is itself extremely filthy and terrible. However, some practitioners couldn't realize it nor maintain a high xinxing level when conflicts arose. They talked about other practitioners everywhere. They didn't truly cultivate themselves and didn't consider other practitioners. Isn't all this strong selfishness? The other factor: some practitioners were very attached to certain things and couldn't listen to others at all. The evil took advantage of all these omissions.
2. Not Taking Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts Seriously
We also found that many fellow practitioners didn't take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously enough. They either seldom sent forth righteous thoughts or just did it on Sunday. This is a serious problem. Teacher said in the "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida,"
"Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. ... If you don't eliminate them, then they not only persecute you and restrain you, but also persecute other students, other Dafa disciples."
We found that wherever the evil is rampant, the practitioners in that area had failed to take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously enough. They thus unintentionally fostered the evil.
Presently, in order to eliminate the evil in the dimensions that we are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for, many practitioners send forth righteous thoughts every hour on the hour, every day (time permitting, of course).
3. Not maintaining a respectful and calm mind during Fa-Study. Placing emphasis on quantity rather than on the quality of the reading.
Some practitioners did not take studying the Fa seriously. They did not take Fa-study as the most important and the most sacred thing that we need to do. They only cared about how many lectures they read per day and ignored the issue of studying the Fa with a calm mind. Some practitioners had a lot of responsibilities in their daily jobs and Dafa work, and thus they didn't have much time to study the Fa. When they studied the Fa, they felt sleepy. What would happen if we were to allow this to go on for a long time? Just try it and you will find that studying one or two lectures a day with a calm mind will make a great difference in your hearts and in your actions.
4. Not maintaining a pure heart when making truth-clarification materials
We realized that some practitioners didn't have pure enough hearts when doing Dafa work. For example, some of them were not serious when making truth-clarification materials and just tried to finish the work as though fulfilling a task. When they received the truth-clarification materials, they tried to hand them out as soon as possible to get it over with. When handing out materials, they had the attachment of fear and did not have enough compassion. They didn't try their best when doing Dafa work and were irresponsible. They only cared about speed and convenience for themselves, but not quality and effectiveness. Some practitioners often counted how many they had made or distributed. When the practitioners made truth-clarification materials with these hearts, could the energy field of those materials be pure?
