(Clearwisdom.net)
Editor's note: This is a letter written by a young Dafa disciple named Xiaoxiang (alias) who is prison. After learning that fellow practitioner Xiaoguang (alias) was able to search for his own gaps while doing activities for Dafa, Xiaoxiang overcame many difficulties and obstacles to take the risk of writing and sending this letter to Xiaoguang.
Xiaoguang,
After hearing that you were searching within yourself for gaps, we laughed with joy. But then we also cried. Yes, cultivation is really hard. Although Teacher has taught us constantly, we have been deluded so badly that many problems have occurred. Where is the gap? It was after experiencing everything that we realized the following: Weren't all of us in the old cosmos? Everyone is devoting his mind and effort to the Fa-rectification. However, after a long period of time, we only emphasized doing the work and neglected to improve our levels in the Fa, and we didn't sever our connection to particles at that level. Although we said we didn't acknowledge old force arrangements, didn't those old substances [of ours] still follow all those old force arrangements? This inadvertently divided disciples' hearts in the Fa, insisting on their own opinions. Isn't the fundamental cause due to our inability to let go of our own selves, to melt into the Fa? Although our one whole body is a formal unity, our hearts are not. That's why the evil has become so rampant. This has inadvertently hindered Fa-rectification's progress and has created huge mistakes, yet we were not even aware of this. Although we looked good in the form, however, Teacher said:
"If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary--the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!" (from "Cautionary Advice" in Essentials For Further Advancement)
If this the case, how then can the evil reach us?
Teacher says: "I can't just let you work without reaching Consummation" (from "A Person in Charge is Also a Cultivator" in Essentials For Further Advancement) We won't change until we hit a brick wall. Truth-clarification material sites have been "destroyed" then "created", one after another. We have been waking up one after another. We must understand the Fa from the Fa. We must eliminate those stubborn and deeply rooted notions, even those things that we considered to be so good and so right. If our hearts truly melt into the Fa, we can then look around, everything around us is so smooth and so clear. Nothing can stop us.
Besides, when we read Teacher's Fa-lectures, we again feel Teacher's compassion. But we are not compassionate enough. We don't understand sentient beings and we don't recognize sentient beings' suffering. We don't know how to save them. I've been with ordinary people after my imprisonment. It was then when I understood their minds. They had been poisoned so badly and they were even scared of Dafa. When they saw that we were so good and so righteous, each one of them thought that there's hope for his salvation.
Fellow practitioners who are outside, you have done excellent jobs. We are inspired by you and we also shed tears for you. I don't have time to elaborate on this but I can talk about the lesson I've learned. You must realize this, it doesn't matter if we are in a prison or are outside, we are one whole body. It is when our levels as a whole meet the standard that we truly reject everything of the old forces', that we are the renewed, brand-new beings. We must bring Teacher's compassion to sentient beings. We should be responsible for sentient beings and think for them. We should do everything with kindness. We better not put words that scare people in our flyers, words such as "whoever removes this will receive retribution". Can we use another way to let people understand and accept us?
Learn from my lesson: taking extreme measures brings loss to Dafa. So to sum up my lesson: search for our own gaps, and most importantly, improve our character and level in the Fa.
Xiaoxiang and big sister Xin,
Morning of February 25, 2002