(Clearwisdom.net) In the past, I think I did the three things pretty well: Clarifying the truth and persuading people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and affiliated organizations proceeded smoothly. But more recently, some bad thoughts flooded my mind, such as, "Why did my brother not get his paycheck? How can I give him a hand to tackle this issue? Does my child study diligently?" Those thoughts frequently popped up when I was studying the Fa or doing the exercises. One day, I had a flat tire on my bicycle, but could not find the leak even after looking carefully. I suddenly woke up. This was a hint that I also have "holes" in my cultivation.
When I looked inward, I found the attachments of emotion, fame, and profit. Today, I felt terribly chilly with a pain in my chest and on my back, further indicating the cultivation loopholes.
First, I sent forth strong, righteous thoughts that the persecution or interference from the evil forces was not acknowledged though I had a loophole, and I concentrated on studying and memorizing the Fa:
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive out Interference" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
"All human attachments and notions that interfere with validating the Fa and saving sentient beings must be removed. ("The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be")
"When human thinking gains the upper hand, that person heads toward humanness; when divine thinking and a person's righteous thoughts gain the upper hand, he heads toward godhood." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
"Even each Dafa disciple's every move, every action, every word, and even the questions you ponder, none of it is that simple. In the future you'll see that everything was very carefully arranged. But it's not me who arranged this, it's the old forces who did." ("Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")
Through studying the Fa, I now realize that because I did not guard my thoughts, human thinking gained the upper hand, and I was following the arrangement of the old forces, just as Teacher says in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,"
"The Dafa disciples who have been persecuted for a long time but have remained steadfast and continued to validate the Fa have worked very hard, and it hasn't been easy for them to obtain what they have obtained. Even less should they become lax. Don't allow yourselves to leave the state in which you are to cultivate because of momentary fogginess, or because you have let up over time. Once the predestined opportunity is lost, that will be the end of everything. The evil has been trying everything possible to bring you down. Some gods don't want you to rise through cultivation."
So we have to rectify our every thought with the Fa. We need to pay attention to this. When an inappropriate thought comes up, we should be aware that it is not from our true self, and we cannot follow that thought. Instead, we should intensify our righteous thoughts to break through the arrangement by the old forces. As a Falun Gong practitioner in the Fa-rectification period, we should rectify every thought in order to do better in clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. As I write it this, all of the uncomfortable symptoms have disappeared, and I feel the relaxed state which comes from assimilation to the Fa.