(Clearwisdom.net)

In his greeting to Dafa disciples on New Year's Day 2004, Teacher encouraged and exhorted us to "stay diligent on the path to godhood". Recalling the past, I suddenly realized that Teacher has frequently been mentioning that we should take "the path to godhood". On New Year's Day 2003, Teacher indicated that Dafa disciples should fulfill the grand vows we made before history "with godlike righteous thoughts and righteous actions". While going toward godhood in the final stage, we must face the problems of how to cut off various old degenerated notions, selfishness, attachments, etc. and make a change in our very nature.

During the course of my studying the Fa and cultivating xinxing (heart or mind nature, moral character), answers to many questions that I was not even aware of having and insight into issues where I was short of clear understanding in the past appeared before my eyes. I have tried to write down some of these so as to share them with fellow practitioners and elicit valuable opinions and discussion.

From 1999 to today, the persecution has lasted for nearly five years. When seeing so many fellow practitioners in China being arrested, detained, and forced to work in the labor camps, I feel it is very important that we understand thoroughly the nature of the persecution, viewing it with the eyes of godhood and remembering at all times that we are Dafa disciples who made grand vows to validate Dafa and save sentient beings in the Fa-rectification period. We are not weak, ordinary people who are suppressed by the huge state machinery. This will determine whether or not our hundreds of thousands of Dafa disciples can really play the roles that they should during Fa-rectification.

With regard to the nature of the persecution, we Dafa disciples know through studying the Fa that this persecution is not one of ordinary people persecuting humans, but is arranged by the old forces who control things from behind the scenes. However, when actually facing direct persecution, the different states we are in often lead us to perform very differently. In my personal view, these differences reflect the difference in our understanding of Fa principles.

When we really assimilate to the Fa principles of Dafa with a pure heart, our hearts are not only firm in the Fa, but our understanding is also reflected directly in our living state. Conversely, if our hearts are not so pure or we just know the theory, we will go back to the state of an ordinary person when encountering hardships. That difference demonstrates the nature of a cultivator and displays a real difference of realms. Cultivation is serious. No thoughts or feelings can change the objective standard that the new universe requires for godhood.

Speaking of different states, for example, some practitioners never have ordinary people's worries, concern for reputation, self-interest, and sentimentality, or the attachment of fear. They just do everything they should with righteous thoughts and actions. As a result they have not been persecuted. Ordinary people around them also understand that they really cultivate well and solidly. They can see through the nature of the persecution and are completely beyond the normal understanding. But it seems that these fellow practitioners do not pay much attention to sharing their insights on how to have strong righteous thoughts and actions with more practitioners on the Dafa websites, which would encourage and help more fellow practitioners.

Some practitioners also appealed to the authorities, went to Tiananmen Square, clarified the truth, and exposed the persecution. But they were persecuted very severely again and again. They were arrested, beaten, and detained. Among these, some practitioners had always done very well, but later on some of them were persecuted to death and some were suddenly "transformed" by the evil. For those "transformed" practitioners, no matter if they can step back into cultivation again, their "transformation" caused many other practitioners who studied the Fa less to become confused and disheartened. Seeing that those so advanced (simply regarding vigorous actions and ordinary people's abilities as advancement in cultivation) have been "transformed", they think their own situation is totally hopeless . At the same time, the ones who were "transformed" also think that they have cultivated very well, so why did they not pass the test at that moment? In fact there are many misunderstandings of Fa principles. They didn't notice that, and were taken advantage of by the evil.

For instance, were these vigorous actions mixed with an ordinary person's heart for pursuing justice? Were they using their wits and abilities like an ordinary person fighting for a cause? One cannot neglect the understanding that the Fa has more requirements for cultivators in nature and level--to counter the persecution is to rectify Dafa and save sentient beings. A cultivator cannot put his heart into the form itself of countering persecution and think that countering persecution in the Fa-rectification period is equal to cultivation. If one neglects the study of the Fa and the improvement of xinxing that Fa principles require, it is easy to be taken advantage of by human attachments. When facing persecution, the old forces make you feel you are caught by the huge evil and make it hard for you to connect your human surface with your already-cultivated, dignified and colossal godly side.

For the above practitioners, some were sentenced by the evil persecutors. If sentenced to beyond ten years, the practitioner immediately made an appeal. However, if sentenced to only a few years, the practitioner merely accepted it, thinking that the evil cannot last so many years anyway. Actually at this moment the practitioner has begun thinking with human attachments and has been taken advantage of already. Since the practitioner was not so firm in Fa-rectification and allowed the evil to take advantage, the practitioner thinks it is impossible to not be sentenced and then accepts the evil's persecution. In fact, when a practitioner can really see through the nature of the evil and be firm in Dafa, even when they do something wrong at one moment, many chances still exist. The evil cannot prevail in the end. For instance, you are arrested. You always keep sending forth righteous thought in close proximity and you clarify the truth rationally at every opportunity. Can the evil keep up? Even if you are unstable in your heart and the evil is going to take advantage of this to sentence you, you cannot let it put a Dafa practitioner on trial, let alone sentence one to jail for a long time. This is impossible for ordinary people to achieve. But for Dafa disciples, the difference of just one thought makes for a vast difference in realm. In the face of persecution, if a disciple has attachments not removed and bows to the evil by accepting the persecution, the practitioner will be restricted by the evil and will let them prevail. However, when a disciple's heart, believing in Teacher and Dafa, is firm and has no omission, the practitioner not only clearly knows the basic reason of the persecution, but also knows, like a god seeing the world, the evil is nothing in front of Dafa disciples, Dafa, and Teacher. When you are led by this kind of heart, the evil dare not even look at you directly or come near to you, because it cannot stand the vast field of righteous thoughts which can destroy all evil elements. This kind of heart comes from cultivation by really studying the Fa. It is real.

For these practitioners who are tortured in forced labor camps for a long time, many of them are obviously insufficient in righteous thoughts. For example, when the practitioner has an environment for studying the Fa and practicing the exercises in the jail room, and there are people to listen to the truth of Dafa and are kind to Dafa practitioners, the practitioner would feel at ease being locked up and think that he/she has created the best cultivation environment possible under the circumstances. In fact, Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period should clarify the truth by utilizing the time created by Teacher. When you are under the evil persecution and deprived of freedom, aren't you restricted by the evil? Why are we limited to the forced labor camp or jail to create such good environments? We should break through the evil's persecution, and then we can do what Dafa disciples should do! Dafa disciples shouldn't stay in dark and vicious jails at all! Otherwise, isn't it degrading to our godhood and also disrespectful to Teacher?

Certainly, living up to this is very hard; it requires spanning the distance between our human and godly sides. The main obstacle is that, according to the human heart and concepts, righteous thoughts cannot possibly be so strong, so pure, or so firm. Some practitioners know in theory that the evil's persecution cannot be accepted, but their minds and actions still have the components of accepting passively due to their understanding not really going beyond the human.

Using a human's will and means against the persecution, no matter how one resists, is limited. It is equal to giving the evil a position of using humans to manage and control gods. In this case, a Dafa disciple cannot freely and thoroughly validate Dafa and save sentient beings. It is a big loss already, and that's before we even consider our many fellow practitioners who are persecuted to death in the vicious labor camps!

In order to lessen the loss, we Dafa disciples must improve our understanding over a broad area from the Fa principles, see through the nature of the persecution, and lead ourselves using the already-cultivated side of godhood. Only by doing this, can we reach Teacher's requirement: fulfill the grand vows we made before history "with godlike righteous thoughts and righteous actions".