(Clearwisdom.net) Once I was sharing with a practitioner. She was considered by other local practitioners as someone who has cultivated very well. She told me: "After July 20th, (when the persecution started officially) for these many years, I have been brutally tortured many times in jail. Several times I was almost beaten to death." Then she said: "But when I think about these tortures, who can I blame? They are all due to my own sin." What she meant was that her suffering was not due to the old force's persecution, but was something that she was supposed to bear. Because of this fellow practitioner's misunderstanding in this aspect of Fa and other factors, she fell into the den of monsters again after coming out of jail.
During the period after July 20, there were quite a few practitioners who had similar thoughts, such as "a police car is a Fa boat," and "if one gets brutally beaten in jail, he will get a lot of virtue that cannot be obtained otherwise." This phenomena lasted until August 9th of 2000, when Master wrote "Rationality" to clear up Dafa practitioners' confusion. Of course, today no one would still say "the jail is the best place to cultivate." However, I think that in today's new situations of Fa-rectification, there are still many similar issues that are puzzling us. For example: as time moves on, some practitioners are not following Master's teaching of "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be," but hold an attachment to the end of Fa-rectification. They are attached to all kinds of things; they get lazy, get sluggish, and drift with the tide. Some even started to smoke and play mah-jong. As an excuse, they would say that a cultivator needs to fit into society. Over long periods of time, they rarely study the Fa or do the exercises, not to mention the three things. One after another these practitioners have begun to get sick or suffer other difficulties. Some even passed away.
Master told us:
"We also have some students with a misunderstanding. They think that once they practice Falun Dafa they are assured that their physical bodies will never die." ("An Explicit Reminder," Essentials for Further Advancement)
These practitioners think that since they practice Falun Gong and have Master's fashen protecting them, that they will never get sick. When they suddenly appear to be sick, they can be persuaded to go to a hospital by their families. They will then start taking medicines, medical shots and transfusions - some even let themselves be hospitalized for very long times. When these things happen, is it because they can't see that it is due to the old forces' persecution? Or is it because they don't know it's all due to their omissions? Or is it because they have never sent forth righteous thoughts to completely disintegrate the old forces' arrangements? No, it's not any of the reasons above. It's actually because they feel helpless against the old forces deep in their hearts, because of their acceptance of the persecution, and because of their disregard for the Fa's seriousness.
Right now the old forces in other dimensions are using all opportunities and doing all they can to persecute Dafa and Dafa practitioners. It especially focuses on persecuting Dafa practitioners financially. In China, many Dafa practitioners lost their jobs and their opportunities to work. Some are forced to leave their homes and/or forced to live separate from their spouse and children. Many Dafa practitioners' families have been destroyed. Some practitioners don't have income to make a living, others have lots of debt. This brutal persecution has already lasted for eight years and it severely interferes with Dafa practitioners rectifying the Fa. Many fellow practitioners have to struggle to make a living, and at the same time, they have to be responsible for their family, take care of sick relatives, and find times to do Dafa work under pressure and risk. The environment is quite terrible and very difficult! But as for the economic persecution, which is forcibly given to Dafa practitioners by the old forces must be negated! If we think that cultivation should be like this, that we should be penniless in order to cultivate to a high level; isn't this walking on the road arranged by the old forces?
Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period have the historical responsibility on their shoulders of saving sentient beings. We are not like the slovenly ascetic monks in history, who focused only on self-cultivation. Every thought of a Dafa practitioner is related to the Fa. A Dafa practitioner's dress, appearance and demeanor are all showing Dafa and a Dafa practitioners' invincible might. A Dafa practitioner's outside appearance should be compassionate, dignified and elegant. In this aspect the great and compassionate Master has set the best example for all of us.
