(Clearwisdom.net) I read the article "Three Realizations from My Cultivation Practice" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/4/9/84390.html) and totally agree with the author's understanding. As Falun Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, if we can let go of life and death, if we are always humble, tolerant, and compassionate, and if we always keep clear minds, we can steadily assist Teacher with Fa rectification until the end and fulfill our prehistoric promises successfully. I would like to share with everyone my understanding of the "sober-mindedness and steadiness" referred to in the article.

Sober-mindedness and steadiness describe a state opposite to being muddle-headed and stumbling on the road of cultivation practice. By now, every practitioner has learned from many lessons during their cultivation. Some suffered painful torture, and some even lost their lives. Facing this, we need to learn well from our past experience and maintain sober minds.

I have had painful experiences before when I didn't do well. Why didn't I do well? It was because I was not clear-minded. Why wasn't I clear-minded? It was because I was unable to break away from qing. And why couldn't I break away from qing? It was due to the lack of righteous thoughts! The root cause was that I didn't study the Fa well. Consequently, I couldn't use the Fa to guide me and didn't have strong righteous thoughts. I used qing to deal with things. Qing is the most irrational thing and is the mother of all trouble. I had this realization when I deeply regretted my mistakes.

What is being clear-minded? It means to always maintain righteous thoughts, no matter what happens. What is being muddle-headed? That means we use human notions when things happen.

When other people point out your problems, you acknowledge the problems calmly and try to correct them as soon as possible. When you see other people have conflicts, you check yourself to see whether you have such attachments. If you find any, you will get rid of them quickly. When dealing with family and social issues, you always keep in mind that you are a Falun Dafa practitioner. You use the Fa as your guidance and are not moved by human sentimentality. When you face life and death situations, you know clearly your prehistoric promise and recognize that you came here to assist Teacher with Fa rectification. You understand your responsibility and what you came here for. This is being clear-minded.

The opposite is, when other people point out your shortcomings, you either think that you don't have them or you try to defend yourself. When you see other people having conflicts, you feel lucky that you are not part of it. When facing dangers, you either succumb to the persecution and report other practitioners to the police. Or you don't take any precaution due to the mentality of showing off and forget that numerous people are waiting for you to save them. Or when facing life and death situations, you only think about what would happen if you die. These are all signs of not being clear-minded.

To sum it up, if we want to maintain sober minds, we need to study the Fa more, strengthen our righteous thoughts, and remove human notions. Teacher said:

"When Disciples Have Sufficient Righteous Thoughts, Master Has the Almighty Power to Turn the Cosmos Around." (Hong Yin II)

Only with strong righteous thoughts can we let go of life and death, always be in a humble state, be tolerant and compassionate, and steadily walk our paths of cultivation with sober minds.

The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.