(Clearwisdom.net) On the journey of cultivation everyone has his or her own tests to pass. For all of us as practitioners, we need to make good use of the tests that Teacher arranged for us, since they are precious opportunities for us to clear away our karma and elevate our xinxing.
There is a distinction between someone practicing purely individual cultivation and a practitioner of the Fa-rectification period. That is, for the latter, the old forces will always arrange interference on our path of cultivation. The old forces are attached to their "arrangements" and think that a practitioner needs to meet so-called "requirements" of theirs. Our Teacher does not recognize these so-called "arrangements," and of course we cannot recognize them either.
In theory, every practitioner should be able to understand this principle. But in reality, on the path of cultivation, some may not be so clear minded, and will follow the old forces' arrangement unconsciously. Because all practitioners have various kinds of attachments, large or small, if they do not study the Fa thoroughly enough, they will knowingly or unknowingly fall into traps that the old forces arranged. They will then be led by the old forces and take detours in the path of cultivation; the worst ones will go to the opposite side of Dafa.
The reason this happens is very simple. Throughout this period of history, the Fa that guides our cultivation has never been publicly taught. It is the "Dafa of the cosmos," or the fundamental law of the cosmos. No one knows the full extent of this Fa because the time has been so long and its level is so high. Although our human history is long and there are numerous cultivation methods, nevertheless, all the information stored in our heads cannot be compared with Dafa.
All sorts of cultivation methods have existed, and various enlightened people have come to the world to save people over the long course of human history. All of this information and teaching have formed a strong field in another dimension. This, combined with the old forces' intentional interfering, will at times render a practitioner unable to defend himself in the face of persecution if he does not pay enough attention to Fa study.
To put it in another way, Dafa practitioners are actually cultivating in an environment arranged by the old forces. So it is important to try to eliminate the old forces' interference. Cultivation in Dafa is unprecedented in the universe. There is no example for practitioners to follow and there are no references to rely on. All improvement and elevation arises from the Fa. We need to be able to cultivate and become enlightened while living in today's corrupted society. Every ounce of energy that a practitioner needs comes from Falun Dafa itself. Any trace of non-Falun Dafa material brought into a cultivator's gong will make his future universe impure. Having a filthy surrounding is advantageous to our cultivation, but we cannot take anything from it. The old forces will try their best to interfere in practitioners' validating Dafa, so that they can accomplish what they want and cause the Fa-rectification to be conducted in their way. To eliminate such interference, the only thing we can do is to keep elevating our level of cultivation. We need to keep studying Dafa because that is the source of power for our elevation.
A practitioner's complete success in his own cultivation is not the true purpose of cultivation. A practitioner in the Fa-rectification period needs to validate Dafa, to tell people the facts about Dafa, and to save sentient beings. He has the responsibility to help Teacher in saving people. To eliminate the old forces' interference is also a part of saving sentient beings. The specifics include completely rejecting and eliminating the old forces, and not recognizing any of the previous promises we may have made to them. But this is easier said than done. With the slightest carelessness we will fall into the trap of the old forces' arrangement, follow their mode of thinking and ways of judging, and will bring unnecessary interference to our doing the Three Things that Teacher asked us to do.
For example, in today's China, whoever is against the Chinese Communist Party is considered to be against the country. No party in the free world would create such anti-people legislation. A political party in a democratic country will never be like this, while this is the norm in communist countries. So if a Falun Dafa practitioner accepts the arrangement made by the old forces, how can he go about telling people the facts about Dafa and saving sentient beings? Therefore no matter what are we faced with, we cannot turn to the old forces' arrangement to look for the requirements for our cultivation. Rather, we need to look for them in Dafa; that is, we need to use Dafa as our guide. With respect to the persecution that the old forces forced upon us, our respectable Teacher has told us many times and on many occasions that we cannot acknowledge it. We need to completely eliminate the interference introduced by the evil spirit of the communist party and not accept any of the old forces' arrangements.
Furthermore, the requirements of the tests in our cultivation can sometimes be similar to the arrangements of the old forces, particularly in the initial phases of our cultivation. Some examples are the test of lust and the interference of fame, personal interests, and "qing". By no means should we follow the old forces' arrangement for our cultivation. This is the requirement of Falun Dafa, and has nothing to do with the old forces. Even though the two sets of requirements may partially coincide, it does not mean that it is the old forces' arrangement.
The inner content of Falun Dafa is enormous. There is no comparison that can be made between Dafa and the content of the old forces. We need to be very clear on this. In other words, not a single concept in Falun Dafa mimics that of any other cultivation discipline, even though similarities may exist. Some concepts may partially agree with each other but they are not exactly the same. Two such examples are the concepts of "non-action" (wuwei) and "non-omission" Identical concepts do not exist in other practices. Falun Dafa practitioners need to follow Falun Dafa to cultivate. Teacher has made it crystal clear in in Zhuan Falun: ("In Cultivation You Need to Commit to One Discipline"): "I don't teach about using thought direction here, and our Falun Dafa doesn't care much about thought direction, so don't go adding anything like thoughts into it."
From the above, we can see how important it is to study Dafa, because only Dafa contains the standards for practitioners.
In the actual work of exposing the evil, telling the facts of Falun Gong, and validating Dafa, we may encounter all sorts of interference. Sometimes we may even encounter direct persecution by the evil. At that time, we need to realize that we are following Dafa's requirements to validate Dafa. We have no need to consider any other factors. Even in their most rampant craziness, the old forces would not dare to directly harm the cosmos' principle of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance." Closely following Dafa requires practitioners to have pure and clear minds.
Teacher said in "Using at Will:"
"I have never liked grammar and words standardized by the modern Chinese language, which have their meanings shallowed. This is why I often don't use standardized grammar and words when I teach the Fa! Some people do not understand this. The truth is, words whose meanings have been altered by modern people already have modern people's notions infused into them. Words that contain elements of atheism and politics, in particular, are impossible to use when teaching the Fa. To allow students to understand, I am doing what I can to use the grammar and words of the modern Chinese language."
As I understand it, Teacher is setting an example of how to break through the old forces' arrangements. Therefore, we only need to focus on the Three Things required by Teacher. We should conform to ordinary society to cultivate ourselves and save sentient beings.
