(Clearwisdom.net) Since Teacher started asking Falun Gong disciples to do the three things, we have been doing them with various degrees of devotion. However, we often feel that our ambition gets the better of us, that we are at the end of our rope, that we are constantly subject to evil interference or that we encounter interference with our physical health. For a very long time, some of us have been confused by these problems, but do not know how to overcome them. During today's cultivation experience sharing, it suddenly dawned on me that the key is to genuinely do the three things Teacher requires of us.
In my humble opinion, only when we think from Teacher's perspective and do what Teacher requires of us, will we truly be doing the three things well. Only then will we truly understand the Fa from the Fa and truly upgrade our cultivation levels. Only then will Teacher enlighten us to higher levels of the Fa. I don't think Teacher wants us to aim for a higher level of gong when He grants us a higher level of the Fa. I think Teacher wishes us to use the higher levels of the Fa to guide our cultivation practice and to save sentient beings.
It is also my understanding that we should unconditionally and completely accept Teacher's Fa, regardless of our level of understanding. We should check ourselves against the Fa and eliminate our notions and thoughts that do not comply with the Fa. We shouldn't selectively accept the Fa that complies with our understandings or notions, neither should we choose to follow only the Fa that we are willing to follow. If we should do so, we might appear to be doing the three things on the surface, but actually dodging the real work. In fact, seeking what we want from the Fa but refusing to contribute to it would be worst thing we could do.
When we start to feel a lot of pressure, feel at a loss with the Fa, encounter a lot of obstacles, or experience a lot of interference in our physical health, it may be because the way we do the three things is not completely in line with what Teacher requires of us. The only solution is to return to the Fa completely. We should think from Teacher's perspective. We should think about the progress of the entire Fa-rectification and identify the tasks that Teacher would want us to do immediately. As we continue to do so, our thoughts will be more in line with those of Teacher. Teacher will naturally reveal the Fa to us and we will know what to do.
Teacher does not pass judgment on us or seek anything in return. Teacher only wants the best for us. Likewise, we should treat sentient beings the same way Teacher treats us. We shouldn't seek any gratitude and should want only the best for them. We should bestow the boundless grace of Buddha on the countless sentient beings. Once we rectify ourselves, we will be impervious to all types of elements in the universe during the Fa-rectification. We will be unmoved by praise as well as criticism, for our sole purpose is to save the world's people. We have signed a prehistoric pledge with Teacher in order to save sentient beings. We have no other goal.
We encounter problems in the Fa-rectification because the evil has exploited our secular attachments and because Teacher, in turn, uses the evil's schemes as opportunities for us to upgrade our morality, validate the Fa, eliminate the evil, and upgrade our cultivation levels. We will accomplish a lot of things by overcoming evil interference. Hence, we should not allow the surface symptoms of problems to confuse us. Whether we have identified our attachments or not, we must persistently eliminate the evil causing these problems. Meanwhile, we should seriously search inward to identify the loopholes in our xinxing and rectify them right away. Then we go back to handle the surface symptoms of the problems. However, by the time we rectify our xinxing, we probably won't need to handle these surface problems because they will most likely have already disappeared because they are no longer needed.
Sometimes we know what we should do and how we should do it, but we tend to waver and fail to do it the way we should. Only now have I come to realize that this is because I fail to genuinely assimilate to the Fa. Sometimes my heart is in the Fa, but at other times it's not. On the surface, it looks as though I am very clearheaded at one stage, but muddleheaded at another. Or it looks as though I am diligent at one stage, but take time off from my cultivation at another stage.
Teacher said,
"Those who go to Tibet sincerely in search of the Dharma may settle down there once they arrive--those are true practitioners." ("Guanding" in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun.)
We should settle down in the Fa and genuinely cultivate ourselves.
