(Clearwisdom.net) I often think about the foundation of our cultivation: Should we put Teacher's requirements first and do our best to get there? Or should we give the highest priority to our personal gains and losses, our consummation, or the advancement of our understanding of the principles of Dafa, and then selectively do the three things that Teacher asked?
Teacher told us in "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" (from Essentials for Further Advancement II):
"Then is being attached to reaching Consummation an attachment? Isn't it also an attachment born of human desire? Would a Buddha be attached to reaching Consummation? As a matter of fact, those cultivators who are truly approaching Consummation don't have this attachment."
Teacher also told us in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference" (in 2003):
"An article published on the Minghui website described a student who told people the facts about Dafa and shouted "Dafa is good" wherever she went. "No matter where they take me, I'll ignore everything the vicious policemen say, and no matter how violently you beat me or how terribly you swear at me, I'll remain just as I am." The labor camp was so scared that they sent her back in a hurry--"We don't want her." It's because they figured, "We won't be able to convert her, and on top of that she'll influence a large number of people." (People laugh) And they won't be able to get a bonus, either. (Applause) They had no way to handle it--where could the local police station put her? They had no way to handle it, so they sent her home.
That looks like human conduct, but in fact it's not. That was because she reached that point through cultivation and truly arrived at that realm--'Now that you've arrested me, I haven't thought at all about going back. Now that I've come here, I've come to validate the Fa.' So the evil was scared. Also, the number of evil beings is quite small now. The more we eliminate them the less of them there are."
Because this practitioner has reached that realm, the evil in other dimensions could not stand her. Why couldn't they stand her? I recalled Teacher's words in "Also in a Few Words" (from Essentials for Further Advancement II):
"The article 'Good People' doesn't use a lot of words, but it illustrates an underlying principle. Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the power is. Dafa disciples are truly stepping forward out of ordinary humanness."
The Minghui/Clearwisdom website has reported many stories. A practitioner with strong righteous thoughts changed her antagonistic family members into being understanding and supportive, and her boss and colleagues even provided transportation to support her truth clarification activities. Practitioners' righteous thoughts and truth clarification efforts made the police change their minds and stop their attempts to arrest practitioners. In one instance, more than 20 practitioners were arrested at a Fa conference. One practitioner there took complete responsibility by saying, "I invited everyone." Despite her suffering violent torture that lasted six days and nights, she did not say another word. In the end, the police released her while sending everyone else to a forced labor camp. One practitioner and his wife both foresaw an evil arrangement in which he would be arrested during his trip to the Forestry University to distribute flyers. Instead of panicking, they sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the possibility and went on the trip. He returned safely. Another example is that a practitioner corrected an internal error in a printer with his righteous thoughts.
In contrast, evil forces dare to attack some practitioners who always claimed to have "looked inside for fault in all situations." Have these practitioners really reached state of being unshakable?
Teacher said,
"When your minds are very righteous, a special agent wouldn't dare to stay where you are. He only has two options. One is to be assimilated by the righteous field, since the pure and righteous field that Dafa disciples give off purges everything that's bad in a person's mind. The pure, righteous field would disintegrate it, disintegrate everything that's unrighteous in the person's consciousness, and that's another manifestation of salvation and a reflection of compassion." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference")
Teacher also told us,
"Forbearance (ren) is not cowardice, much less is it resigning oneself to adversity." ("Beyond the Limits of Forbearance" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
We Dafa disciples of the Fa-rectification period should look deeply at our attachments and in our hearts: When we cannot overcome the evil, is it because of our fear or lack of righteous thoughts?
Teacher said,
"If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Have we all met the requirement of "looking inside of ourselves"?
Some practitioners were very firm after they were arrested and tortured, yet they were detained for a long time.
Teacher said,
"Now that the persecution has happened, I've made use of it so as to have Dafa disciples nullify the persecution while validating the Fa, thus establishing the mighty virtue of Dafa disciples." ("My Version of a 'Stick Wake-up' ")
Then is it possible that, although we have let go of life and death, we put the effort of nullifying the persecution, denying the so-called test and clarifying the truth with dignity at a lower priority? Which task is more important, our own personal cultivation or validating the Fa and saving people's lives?
At present, the Fa-rectification has gotten to a point where the evil is no longer so rampant. The persecution and the CCP cannot survive much longer. Some practitioners have become so complacent about it that they are enthusiastically talking about this subject.
Teacher told us in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Washington DC Fa Conference:"
"No matter what big things are happening, pretend nothing is going on and just go about, as usual, doing what a Dafa disciple should do."
Why don't we think about how to use this last chance to save more people?
Teacher told us clearly,
"That being the case, all the more so should you do well the three things that Dafa disciples should do,..." ("New Year's Greetings" in 2005)
If someone is sitting idly while waiting for something or if that person is afraid of being persecuted at this last stage of Fa-rectification for doing more Dafa work, then what is their basis for cultivation? Is it for personal gain or for Dafa?
Some practitioners like to talk about "sentient beings" as if they were talking about their personal property. As enlightened beings who cultivated according to Dafa, we are responsible for countless sentient beings, aren't we? That is the responsibility bestowed upon us by the future universe. If we still forget to consider the total image of Dafa, forget to validate Dafa as a whole body and do not coordinate well to do the three things, do we still have any right to talk about such responsibilities?
Teacher told us,
"whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos." (Guarding the Voyage "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference, 2000")
Teacher also said,
"As you know, a Buddha or a God can give up his life for living beings and for the interest of the universe -- they can give up anything, and remain unperturbed nonetheless." ("Lecture at the Western United States Fa Conference, 1999")
Some practitioners think, "Even if I die, I can still reach consummation." They may be right indeed. However, the Buddha in heaven can give up everything (including life) to safeguard the truth. Is he so wrapped up in his own consummation?
Teacher said,
"Why is it that a being needs to be saved by Dafa and me personally? Or, to put it plainly, [think about] what kind of a being is worthy of salvation by the Great Law of the cosmos? For a being who is saved, could it just be about personal Consummation?" ("My Version of a 'Stick Wake-up'")
Having gotten to where we are today, we all know that we should contribute to saving people. But how can we do so without total commitment?
Teacher told us in "Lecture at the Conference in Switzerland:
"I can give up to the greatest extent possible everything I have. I can thus resolve all of this."
What about us? Should we feel complacent about our efforts to save people? In the movie Schindler's List, when thousands of Jewish people thanked him for saving their lives, Mr. Schindler cried as he pointed at his watch and ring, "I could have saved a few more lives with this, a few more lives with that." Now let's ask ourselves as Dafa disciples, "Have we done all we could to do well the three things Teacher asked us to do?"
