May 3, 2003
(Clearwisdom.net) Whenever the evil is relentlessly arresting Dafa practitioners or ransacking Dafa material production sites, fellow practitioners would always remind each other to be careful and rational. These kind reminders reflect practitioners' mutual concern for one another and their responsible attitude towards Dafa and are very precious.
Then how do we understand the "rationality" Master talked about? Here I would like to share some of my shallow understandings on this issue. In view of the current situation, we must pay attention to security measures at everyday people's level, otherwise we will be no different than what Teacher wrote about the man who holds the book Zhuan Falun in his hand and yells in the street that he is not afraid of being hit by a car. On the other hand, if we become alarmed and feel nervous when we come across any interference, or hide away without doing anything under the evil pressure, and our taking precautions against the evil is based on an everyday people's standard, then, is this being rational? To judge by the Fa, this is not being rational, but is regarding the persecution as a persecution of man against man.
Since July 20,1999, when the evil started persecuting Dafa, practitioners have been facing the possibilities of being arrested, tortured or even losing their lives at any time; yet there are practitioners stepping forward all the time. The mighty current of Fa-rectification is rapidly progressing and the evil is being destroyed in large numbers, and the remaining evil is becoming less and less. They have already seen that their days are doomed. The only thing they can do is to try in every possible way to damage and disintegrate the strength of Dafa practitioners, to confuse Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts so that they could create a bit of hiding space for themselves to prolong that little bit of their limited remaining life. Therefore, we should not be deceived by their false pretence and we should clearly realize what Teacher explained,
"The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
Master also said,
"My only concern is that Dafa disciples themselves won't be firm inside; when there's some kind of attachment, some kind of fear, or what not, then the old forces see it and take advantage of the omissions and persecute them." ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa")
We clarify the truth to save sentient beings, and everything we do in this regard is the most righteous and the best. The evil is not worthy of "testing" us. Master has thoroughly expounded the Fa to us, then why do we still experience such interference and persecution? It is all because our main consciousness is not clear and we are interfered with by our human shell, and we tend to analyze and reason with human notions. Master said,
"As Dafa disciples, we're against this persecution. And as your Master I don't acknowledge this thing, and I don't acknowledge the whole arrangement the old forces made." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
Therefore, as far as the persecution is concerned, we should first of all completely negate it and absolutely not accept any of the arrangements of the old forces, and firmly believe that everything is under the control of Master, at the same time check within ourselves and see if there is a loophole somewhere, for example, whether we have gained a righteous understanding of Fa-rectification, whether there is any unsteadiness and impurity in our hearts, whether we still have fear or attachments of doing things for the sake of doing them, of showing-off, of combat mentality and of zealotry, whether we have tacit cooperation between practitioners, and most important of all, whether we have done well in Fa-study and in practicing the exercises. Failing these, we would be the same as everyday people doing Dafa work. Only by doing well in these aspects, would we be able to discover our shortcomings in a timely manner and rectify them, and would we be able to walk our path more righteously. This is being "rational." If we hide away and take a wait-and-see attitude whenever there is interference, and passively endure things, this act itself is putting us in the position of being persecuted ourselves and it is accepting the arrangements of the old forces. Therefore it is not "being rational."
Dafa practitioners are the leading player in the show, and the evil beings are only clowns, so our way of thinking should be in an active state and should be based on the Fa. We should purify ourselves, require ourselves to strictly and constantly let go of our attachments. Teacher wrote,
"If you are able to succeed in improving yourself this way, what you do then, with a pure heart, will be the best and most sacred." ("Further Understanding" Essentials for Further Advancement)
Only when we understand the Fa principles, improve our xinxing and keep righteous thoughts and righteous actions can we truly be "rational."
Master said,
"For a long period of time the sentient beings in Dafa, especially the disciples, have had a misunderstanding of the Fa at various levels regarding xinxing improvement. Whenever a tribulation comes, you do not see it with the side of your original nature but view it completely with your human side. Evil demons then capitalize on this point and inflict endless interference and damage, leaving students in long-term tribulations. As a matter of fact, this results from an inadequate understanding of the Fa by your human side. You have humanly restrained your divine side; in other words, you have restrained the parts that have been successfully cultivated and have prevented them from doing Fa-rectification. How can the uncultivated side restrain your main thoughts or the side that has already attained the Fa? Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa. When a tribulation arrives, if you, a disciple, can truly maintain an unshakable calm or be determined to meet different requirements at different levels, this should be sufficient for you to pass the test. If it continues endlessly and if there do not exist other problems in your xinxing or conduct, it must be that the evil demons are capitalizing on the weak spots caused by your lack of control. After all, a cultivator is not an ordinary human. So why doesn't the side of you that is your original nature rectify the Fa?" ("Expounding on the Fa" Essentials for Further Advancement)
Master also said, "Speaking of being able to do well, it's easier said than done--it's not like I tell everybody that they have to do so and then they're able to do so. It comes from having built a solid foundation in cultivation, and it's built through studying the Fa for a long time." ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa")
"Your righteous thoughts and everything you accomplish come from the Fa, so no matter how busy you are, don't neglect Fa-study." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
Therefore, the true rationality comes from the Fa, from our understanding of the Fa at various levels and from us assimilating to the Fa. Only with the "principles" at various levels, can our "wisdom" at various levels be opened up. It is not the same as everyday people's cleverness, quick-wittedness and flexibility. The principles and way of thinking of everyday people are controlled by the gods within the Three Realms and they can not go beyond the arrangements of the old forces, because everyday people's way of thinking is fundamentally arranged by the old forces, and therefore only by jumping out of the reasoning of everyday people and walking on the path arranged by Master and by keeping righteous thoughts and righteous actions can we go beyond the reach of the old forces.
For mutual encouragement, I will briefly tell you several short stories about Dafa practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions.
Once, when an evil person found me riding my bicycle distributing truth-clarification flyers on the street, he stopped me and searched me. I then carried the flyers and VCDs in a small leather bag. I couldn't hide them, and furthermore, my bag was unzipped and the materials inside could be clearly seen. However, after the evil person put one of his hands into the bag and groped everywhere, he just could not find the materials. I felt the miraculous power of Dafa. I found an opportunity and used one hand to zip the bag. I told him in a stern voice, "You have gone too far." My righteous thoughts seemed to shock him then and he stood there, still. Before he could regain his focus, I suddenly removed his arm that was holding my arm, and then rode my bicycle away in a dignified manner.
Other practitioners told me a fellow practitioner's story. This fellow practitioner went to pick up truth-clarification materials. He carried the materials in a big bag and tried to get on a train. It was during a time when the police at the train station were carefully checking all travelers' personal belongings. The practitioner had no other way out but to send forth righteous thought and asking Master to help. When the bag was opened during the examination, all the truth-clarifying materials became blank papers. So the practitioner passed the checkpoint without any trouble.
A different Dafa practitioner went to another place to pick up a large number of truth-clarification materials. He needed to hire a taxi, but no drivers wanted to take him. They were all afraid of being caught. He had taken much effort before he finally struck a deal with one taxi driver. The driver used safety concern as an excuse and asked the practitioner to allow two other persons to accompany him. The practitioner thought that it did not matter for the two other persons to accompany them. When the car was speeding along the highway, the practitioner realized that this car was a police vehicle that was used to arrest Dafa disciples. The several persons inside were policemen with whom this practitioner had dealt before.
The practitioner calmly sent forth his righteous thoughts to eliminate the evils, refusing to acknowledge all of the evil old cosmic forces' arrangements. He kept looking for opportunities to escape. When the car arrived inside a big city, the evil persons also increased their surveillance of the practitioner, attempting to follow this practitioner to the truth-clarification material preparation site and then destroy it. The practitioner calmly led the evil persons to the front of one employer's building and said, "You stay outside and I will call you after I am done." The practitioner went into the building by himself and walked toward the other end of the hallway. When he walked to the end of the hallway, he found that another building exit was right there. In this way the fellow practitioner safely escaped after manifesting the mighty power of his righteous thoughts.
During one most recent incident a practitioner was arrested, the source of the truth-clarification materials was exposed, and the authorities found the small house where the materials were stored. After getting inside the house, the police found that there were still some materials that had not been taken away. They silently locked the door and hid themselves in the dark, trying to ambush and arrest those Dafa practitioners who might come by later to pick up the materials. They waited for several days and caught no one. After they entered the room again, they found that all the materials were gone. "How were the materials taken away? These practitioners are really capable." The evil persons felt puzzled. These materials were, in fact, taken away by Dafa practitioners in a dignified manner.
All these miracles are due to our great and benevolent Master's protection of genuine Dafa practitioners. Stories about these kinds of miracles can be heard everywhere and are countless, which fully proves that as long as Dafa practitioners keep righteous thoughts, have righteous actions and fundamentally negate all the evil arrangements, including the old cosmic forces, the evils will not dare to persecute the practitioners, because everything is under Master's control. So I understand that the genuine meaning for "Rational" is as Teacher's wrote in his poem "A Righteous God" (from Hongyin, collection of poems)
"With righteous thoughts and righteous actions
He is diligent without letting up
Eliminating demons that damage the Fa
He is good to all beings"
Fellow practitioners, please point out anything that is improper.
