(Clearwisdom.net) When fellow Falun Gong practitioners spoke of how they came up with righteous thoughts or how they passed xinxing tests, they often talked about asking Teacher for help. I had never thought about there being anything inappropriate about asking Teacher for help during tribulations. Sometimes I even agreed that it was a reflection of practitioners' righteous thoughts at certain levels.
However, I felt grave concern after I read an article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website entitled, "Taking Responsibility" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/10/7/78723.html.) A fellow practitioner saw in a dream that Teacher's body was severely damaged and tortured when He endured karma for the sentient beings and for practitioners. I realized that while it is good in general that we as disciples think of Teacher at pivotal moments, we should study the Fa better, attain a better enlightenment quality and grow more powerful righteous thoughts instead of always relying on Teacher for protection or acting like "underage children" incapable for shouldering responsibilities.
Teacher is rectifying the Fa. We are at the very bottom among all the lives saved by Teacher, except that we have the enormous fortune of obtaining the Fa, cultivating the Fa and co-existing with Teacher's Fa-rectification. Perhaps it is due to these unusual circumstances that Teacher has been enduring the majority of the seemingly infinite amount of karma and debts we have created in history. Although we face only a minimal amount of karma manifested in the many forms of tests and tribulations, oftentimes we prefer to avoid them and push them away. In the face of demonic tribulations as the result of our karma, we think only of calling Teacher for help and expect Teacher to take care of them.
Yet the universe is governed by the Fa. Each person has to reap what he sows. If you refuse to pay your debt, whoever clears the debt on your behalf has to pay the debt for you. It means that this person has to actually endure the suffering and pay back the karma. When we call Teacher for help in the middle of tests or tribulations, when we beg Teacher to solve our problems, or when we rejoice as problems go away, does it ever occur to us that it was because Teacher endured the pain for us that the tribulations disappeared?
Such is the nature of lives from the old universe --selfishness. But we are supposed to transcend the old universe, attain selflessness and become new lives of the new universe that are completely altruistic.
Of course we endure some pain (relatively little compared with our karma) to pass a test and elevate our cultivation level, but behind the scenes it is Teacher who balances the complicated grievances and gratitude accumulated in history. The prerequisite is that we must first elevate our minds. This is the difference between a cultivator and an everyday person, and the most critical factor in gaining the approval of Teacher and divine beings.
Since July 20, 1999, I haven't had the heart to beg Teacher for help when I encountered troubles or faced tests. I hope for nothing from Teacher but hints on the Fa. When I then reinforce my faith in the Fa, demonic tribulations will disappear before I know it. Actually, they do not just disappear, it is always Teacher who takes care of them. Perhaps this is what it means to gain without seeking.
Often when we fail to study the Fa diligently, we blame everything and everyone in the face of demonic tribulations. At times we even blame Teacher for not intervening. As a result, the tribulations can become more severe and daunting. The escalating tribulations in fact mirror our attachments. Cultivation is about eliminating one's attachments. How can Teacher remove the demonic tribulations to appease our attachments?
Teacher said,
"Man always thinks that when a God or Buddha appears it will be earth-shaking, that when he saves people his Buddha-image will grandly manifest, and that with a wave of his hand he will destroy the evil ones who undermine the salvation of people. If that were the case, wouldn't it be better if the Buddha took people up directly from the heavens? You should know that people who are to be saved need to pay off, through arduous cultivation, all the sins and karma that they generated in the past doing bad things, they need to get rid of their human attachments and all the other bad things that they carry, and at the same time they need to rectify their behavior and thinking. Only then can they be saved." ("The Vows of Gods are Being Fulfilled" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)
We should understand and face demonic tribulations righteously like cultivators. If Teacher was to endure all the karma for us to pass all of our tests, how would we be able to elevate in our cultivation?
