(Clearwisdom.net)
Teacher said in his article "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples" that,
"Most fundamentally, you all still need to establish your great mighty virtue in the process of shattering the old forces' persecution, and return to your highest positions."
Regarding the issue of how to shatter the old forces' persecution, many practitioners have come up with different ideas. My recent understanding is that before the old forces can persecute us Dafa practitioners they have to get us to acknowledge them. And also, the key to shattering their persecution is to deny it completely in the first place.
As we cultivate amidst the Fa-rectification, the old forces try every possible means to make us acknowledge their arrangements.
In the beginning, when we first began to step forward to validate Dafa, some of us subconsciously were still in a state of doing individual cultivation. We regarded the process of being arrested and beaten as opportunities to test our capacity to endure, or we thought it was the inevitable path we had to take in order for us to build up mighty virtue and reach consummation. Some of us even thought that it was the purpose for stepping forward. As a result, police arrested us, beat us, extorted from us, and searched our homes with impunity. Through diligently studying the Fa, we have become increasingly more mature in our cultivation, and we have come to understand that cultivation during the Fa-rectification period is not a matter of just suffering and getting rid of our karma, but it is to completely assimilate to the Fa, help Teacher rectify the Fa and offer salvation to all sentient beings.
Now, Dafa practitioners no longer voluntarily let the evil take us away, so the evil old forces persecute us even more by exploiting our loopholes. The first thing they do is they make practitioners acknowledge them through means such as imagination, association, fear, worry and illusion. These thoughts are human ways of thinking and, in fact, they are precisely arranged by the old forces. Some of these were formed so long ago in the mentalities of humans that they seem fairly reasonable and normal. However, from the perspective of the Fa, they are all wrong. So if your thoughts are not based on the Fa and your righteous thoughts are not powerful enough, you may come to understand things according to these ways of thinking. That would be really terrible.
For example, when you see a fellow practitioner dealing with some issue in Fa-rectification work, you may associate yourself with it. You may imagine that you could be doing that kind of work as well. You would start to think about how you would handle that issue and then you would be totally occupied with imagination. It then becomes an attachment to fear. We knew some practitioners who were taken advantage of by the old forces because of their fears and because they had some recurring unrighteous thoughts. Since this came about because of their insufficient righteous thoughts, the old forces then had an excuse for their so-called tests. That's because in a disguised way the practitioners had acknowledged the evils. Under immense pressure from the evils' vicious field, we sometimes become very miserable, suffering from our attachment to fear. Then we start to think, isn't this just like being in jail? I would rather be jailed than live in constant fear, and so on and so forth. Isn't that a terrible thought? Is it in alignment with the Fa? Sometimes, before we do something, we make extensive preparations for the various possible outcomes. Of course, it is necessary to be careful, but once you keep thinking about it, it is no longer just an attachment to fear, but it becomes an acknowledgement of the evils.
I'd like to address another situation. Some practitioners experience sickness karma, which never seems to come to an end. It makes you feel puzzled and helpless and unable to understand it from the perspective of Fa. By bothering you all the time, it weakens your resolve in denying it absolutely, and it even shakes your righteous belief in the Fa. In addition, some practitioners are engaged in very important Fa-rectification work and have become the target of the evils' attack and interference. Some of these practitioners have firsthand knowledge of it. Some practitioners who can see with their celestial eyes see it as well. In these situations, the practitioners who have been targeted should eliminate it instead of acknowledging such arrangements. Sometimes, subconsciously, some of these practitioners have thoughts that their tribulation shows how great they are. They themselves do not perceive this. Isn't this acknowledging the evil? There is no such principle that whoever does more Fa-rectification work should be interfered with more. As a matter of fact, no matter what Fa-rectification work we are doing, we should not be interfered with.
Speaking from a higher level, there's no justification for the existence of this evil persecution! We should follow Teacher's words, and deny the old forces and not acknowledge their persecution.
As Dafa practitioners, when you are strongly attached to something, you are acknowledging it in a disguised way because you are giving the evil opportunities to find excuses for their so-called tests, which is in fact persecution. On the other hand, as Teacher said in "Rationality":
"When a student has a strong attachment his conduct is, strictly speaking, fundamentally a manifestation of his demon-nature and something brought about by emotion; it is not rational. The evil is then able to appear."
My understanding is that when a person acts out of his demon-nature, he has not only acknowledged the evils in his mind, but he has also accepted its way of behaving. Once your words and deeds align with it, it will be attracted to you, and of course, it will then appear.
Thus, to deny it from the very beginning is the key to shattering the old forces. Teacher told us,
"...and this law holds in both the old cosmos and the new one: a being's choice is up to him, even if he made some kind of vow in history. At critical moments it's still up to him what he wants to do." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
Therefore, the prerequisite for shattering the old forces is that we completely view things from the perspective of the Fa, and that we keep ourselves on the righteous path, and that we deny, from the bottom of our hearts, all the arrangements made by the old forces, including the old forces themselves. No matter the circumstances, if we acknowledge them consciously or subconsciously, we are providing them with the substance for their evil arrangements. It is just like being possessed. When you want it, it will come. You have to refuse it, even feel disgusted about it before you can get rid of it. Only then will Teacher be able to help you. There are many instances of practitioners breaking through tribulations with their righteous thoughts. All of them have shattered the evils' arrangements eventually and freed themselves from the evils' control with their unshakable belief in Teacher and Dafa. They were able to do this because they completely denied the existence of the old forces, and they always had the thought of walking out of the demons' den. Those who are suffering amidst tribulations are most likely being taken advantage of by the old forces since they acknowledge them consciously or subconsciously. While being persecuted, they are unable to be firm-willed, and sometimes, to a certain extent, because of their attachments, they acknowledge the arrangements of the old forces and come to passively endure it. Therefore, their tribulations would be intensified and extended.
I would like to emphasize that we should study the Fa more and more so that we can view things completely from the perspective of the Fa, and view them with sufficient righteous thoughts. Only then can we tell whether our seemingly reasonable thoughts are really in accord with the Fa. It would be very hard, otherwise, to get rid of the old forces' arrangements in every thought we had. Then we wouldn't even be able to distinguish our thoughts from thoughts that are obviously imposed on us. Some illusions also appear to test and scare us. If our righteous thoughts are not strong enough, our minds cannot be stable and peaceful. Problems will then occur. Doing Fa-rectification work requires us to do things rationally and in good order. We should not neglect to study the Fa and cultivate ourselves because we are busy. We should not generate attachments to doing Fa-rectification work itself.
Finally, let's recall Teacher' words: "Don't entertain or get attached to any human thoughts, and just do what a Dafa disciple should do. Everything that's wonderful, that's the most magnificent, and that's the most glorious awaits you!" ("Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
