(Clearwisdom.net)
I have come to understand that if Falun Dafa practitioners would have done well in the beginning of the persecution, this evil persecution would not have continued. The old forces would not have found excuses to test practitioners because they would have held strong divine thoughts.
If practitioners would regard themselves as lives of the new cosmos, created by Dafa, have sentient beings' well-being at heart, and be unselfish and selfless, fears and suspicion would not have hindered our ability to walk on the righteous path. If practitioners would display the Fa in every thought, word, and action, there wouldn't be so many tribulations and hardships. If in the face of all tribulations and tests, practitioners would follow Teacher's words, understand Dafa principles clearly, look within and display supernatural capabilities, the persecution would not have escalated or even continued. If practitioners truly understand that Teacher is rectifying the Fa and saving sentient beings--not withstanding that Teacher also saves all Dafa practitioners--and shoulder all responsibilities and missions, then they will do well. No practitioner would be interfered with by human attachments, jealousy, or showing off, and there would not have been so many hard lessons. If we can understand well the cultivation form given to us by Teacher, which allows us to practice in human society, we would not be subject to the delusions of the human world. In addition, we would not care about just doing things and forget to cultivate diligently, bringing unnecessary losses to Dafa.
We understand now that we did not mature because of the many tribulations and hardships we faced. All these have brought shame on the lives created by Dafa, but failed to comply with the Fa. What has made us truly mature are the profound and deep Dafa principles that Teacher told us, Teacher's guidance, and Teacher's merciful protection and hints. Teacher is worried about us, but let us learn to cultivate ourselves, become Dafa practitioners who can judge everything by the Fa, step by step. Benevolent Teacher created the great Fa, and the great Fa created Dafa practitioners. We are already lives of the new cosmos. Our existence today is only for saving sentient beings, the precious people who were brave enough to come to this word to hear about Dafa, especially those precious lives that lend a helping hand for to enable Dafa to be known far and wide!
1. Practitioners with Nothing but Righteous Thoughts Are Most Indispensable to the the Salvation and Return of Sentient Beings
After I hand copied word for word "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital," I understood that the people of today came to this earth because they hold firm faith in Dafa and believe that the Fa-rectification will succeed. I realized how confused I was by the human world. I felt very sad for those who are lost in the human world and do not remember the wishes they had from ancient times, and for myself who was not able to save sentient beings with my whole heart. If practitioners do not have righteous thoughts and do not do well, sentient beings that held firm faith in Dafa and came to this world for Dafa could lose their future.
One afternoon after work, I was heading to a practitioner's home to show him how to use the computer. There were too many vehicles, so I had to stop before crossing the street. I noticed a motorbike about two to three meters ahead of me that had also stopped. It appeared that the driver wore a police uniform and seemed hesitant to move. He just looked my way. I worried about why he was still there. I was not very righteous and did not go to the practitioner's home. I reasoned that this was for the other practitioner's safety. Instead I went shopping in a supermarket.
That night I studied "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital." When I was sending forth righteous thoughts, I was suddenly clear what a true practitioner should have done. Why didn't I listen to Teacher's words? I imagined that the police officer was a bad person. Didn't I push him toward being bad? I was not compassionate. Instead I imagined that he was a persecutor. I did not comply with the Fa. Didn't I interfere with the Fa-rectification? Wasn't this interference caused by a negative thought? Teacher said that the Fa principles will benefit us and there will be kind thoughts in others' minds when we meet. If practitioners can maintain righteous thoughts at all time, all lives that see practitioners will have kind thoughts. They will benefit from our strong righteous field, which disintegrates negative elements. This will eradicate the old forces' arrangements that have a negative effect on sentient beings. Our righteous thoughts will be advantageous for the salvation of sentient beings. This will help us treat every life coming for the Fa with righteous thoughts.
Over the past nine years of practicing Falun Gong, although I often regard myself as a practitioner, sometimes I forget and behave like a mere human. Especially when I'm at home, I relax my righteous thoughts. Although I feel I have let go of fame and self-interest, when my husband talks about his promotion at work, I am still moved. I still have the attachment of wanting more benefits and an attachment to competitiveness, although I tell others to take losses and gains lightly. But I still want better things for myself in my heart. I look within to find the problems I still need to cultivate away. When I am afraid to clarify the truth, I am considering myself first instead of thinking about how sentient beings can be saved and their safety. In advising relatives or colleagues to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), or when I clarified the truth to them, they instead tried to persuade me. I was disgusted and did not want to talk to them anymore about this subject. I also was easily moved by their jarring words, became irritable, and could not let go of the attachment of fear to others' criticism. Because I put myself outside of cultivation I always compared myself with everyday people, but I am a practitioner, so I will do things well.
Through studying "Fa Teaching at the U.S. Capital," I positioned my relationship to everyday people correctly. I'm now able to treat family members with righteous thoughts, and live with them harmoniously. I am no longer afraid. I regard my family members as lives who should play a positive role in the Fa-rectification. When I have time, I talk about stories from the Minghui/Clearwisdom or Pure Insight websites, traditional culture, and practitioners' truth-clarification activities outside of China. I think they should know about these things, because they also came for the Fa. I also pay attention to what is truly good for them. When practitioners' acts conform to the Fa, it is truly beneficial for my family. After I changed my attitude towards sentient beings and held true righteous thoughts, I discovered that my family members' positive sides increased exponentially.
As the only hope for sentient beings to gain salvation, the purity of every thought and every act by practitioners will impact whether sentient beings of different universes can be saved, and will impact Dafa's direct manifestation in human world. The entire cosmos is created by the Fa and without Dafa there is nothing. Enlightened lives will naturally know Dafa's boundless might. How much Fa practitioners understand, how much they conform to Dafa are actually the direct display of Fa in human world. This persecution still exists! This is precisely because practitioners have not done well, and it is a direct reflection of failing to unfold Dafa's mighty power in the human world.
We are practitioners. We must correct our shortcomings the minute we recognize them. If we are not sufficiently righteous, let's make an effort to conform to the requirements of the Fa-rectification from now on, until we are assimilated into the highest universal characteristic of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." We need to save sentient beings with sufficient righteous thoughts and return to the new cosmos with the saved sentient beings.
2. Being Solid as Diamond Saves Sentient Beings Even Better
Practitioners become more and more clear that this is not a persecution between humans but forced on us by the old forces. We can negate this persecution by the old forces with righteous thoughts. Since the origin of all evil come from other dimensions, sending forth righteous thoughts, displaying supernatural capability, and firmly eradicating evil are very important. On this aspect, I did not listen to Teacher's words. When I am busy or lazy, I forget to or miss sending forth righteous thought at set times. Once when I was sending forth righteous thought, I felt there was no life of any form in other dimensions, but a hand appeared to throw black things downward. Think about it, if you are busy, and do not eradicate everything with righteous thoughts, those dirty things will remain in your dimension. Even if you can't see the evil, it still exists!
Sending forth righteous thoughts as one body is magnificent. Only Falun Dafa practitioners have the power to eradicate the evil at that time. They display practitioners' mighty power and save sentient beings. If you are part of this effort you will receive incomparable glory, but if you miss it, the regret and stain can never be cleansed. Teacher chose us and we are certainly capable of achieving what Teacher wants.
Teacher mentioned the power of righteous thoughts and supernatural capabilities in many lectures. If we truly believe Teacher's words and act accordingly, how can evildoers still flaunt their power before practitioners? How can people not be cautious, especially when facing immediate retribution in this lifetime? Teacher said that, in order for people to obtain Dafa, he has opened their wisdom, but they do not use this gift correctly. Why can't people realize that persecuting practitioners is persecuting themselves? Why can't they stop doing the wrong thing? The Fa-rectification verses that Teacher gave us are extremely powerful. It is a true principle of the universe imparted to stop and lessen the evil's persecution of practitioners. I also understand that it rectifies at the same time the old cosmos' warped principle that does not allow for immediate retribution to happen. I wonder why immediate retribution has not happened on a large scale, although we have sent forth righteous thought for six years. I think this is because practitioner's xinxing has not reached the standard of the new cosmos. There is still too many human notions, too many impure hearts, and a slew of human goals.
3. Put All Your Might Behind the Practice Form Given to Us by Teacher
As Fa-rectification period practitioners, we must clearly understand that we are not simply humans cultivating in the human world and trying to achieve consummation. We are gods created by Dafa and are saving sentient beings during the end of the old cosmos. Yes, it is Teacher who is rectifying the Fa and saving people and Dafa practitioners are assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification. Teacher told us that it is impossible for a Buddha to come to this world and talk about the Fa. Today's Dafa practitioners have come to save people in human form. Humans wish to have a future in the new cosmos. There are standards, which will look at each life's attitude towards Dafa, because the new cosmos is composed of the universal characteristic based on "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Anyone that does not approve of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" will disintegrate the minute the new cosmos arrives. Therefore, practitioners must clarify the truth in hopes that all sentient beings will see through the lies, stand tall, and say Dafa is good. On the surface, we ask for people's support and understanding, but we are actually helping people to make the correct choice at this critical moment. This is the mercy given by Teacher to sentient beings. We shoulder such a big mission. We do not just want to be a good person, but also a good god, a god that saves many people. In order to achieve this, we must maintain righteous thoughts at all times, achieve what Teacher requires of us, and appear like humans with righteous thoughts, but are still in the state of a god. As a matter of fact, practitioners are completely different from ordinary people. Practitioners have found their true selves through practicing Falun Dafa. They immerse themselves in "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and clearly know where we came from and where we are going. Non-practitioners are still in the maze. Therefore, practitioners have to speak clearly and can't be confused about the significance of life. They should use the side that is the enlightened to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification.
While writing this article, I realized that I have been practicing and doing Fa-rectification things by the old human principles many times. I did not conform to a Dafa practitioner's standard. Since I am now clear on the Fa principles concerning this aspect, I think and act truly based on the principles "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." Now I know that it is not just a change on the surface, but that I have melted into the Fa, and I feel great comfort about this.
4. Clearly Understand That Fa-Rectification Projects Are Work, Not Practice
Before I listened to Teacher's "Fa-Teaching Given to the Australian Practitioners," I always treated Fa-rectification work as part of cultivation, regarded how much and how well I did Fa-rectification work as how well I was progressing in my cultivation. As a result, I only paid attention to Fa-rectification work and neglected cultivation. Sometimes, I did not study the Fa or practice the exercises and was not diligent. Therefore, I was very slow in doing the three things and wasted much effort.
After I listened to Teacher's new lecture, I suddenly realized that Dafa work, studying the Fa, and practicing the exercises are one system, and that one cannot do one and not the other. Otherwise, not only can we not save other people, we may well be lost ourselves.
Now I know I must keep on studying the Fa and practicing the exercises, and at the same time do Dafa work well. Teacher wants us to do everything well. He showed me that I was judging things still with human notions. For example, Dafa work that I felt unimportant would be left behind, and even forgotten, or I just gave up if it took too long. Isn't that not doing Dafa work well? Even without supervision, we must do quality work. Otherwise it is not work done by a practitioner.
I feel ashamed for not giving my best to save sentient beings. I am ending this experience sharing article with a question, "How much time and how many opportunities do we still have to do well? How much time and opportunity is there for sentient beings to be saved?" We must ask this of ourselves.