(Clearwisdom.net) Amidst the high-pressure environment in mainland China, it is difficult to get in touch with other practitioners. I work in a government bureau, and almost everyone there knows that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. Even the people who know the truth behind the persecution distance themselves from me, and I can often relate to the saying, “It’s unbearably cold at the top” that Master talked about in “Lectures in the United States.” This loneliness stems not only from the environment faced by the mainland Falun Dafa disciples, but also a sort of helplessness in not knowing how to balance saving sentient beings and validating the Fa, while conforming to ordinary society as much as possible. After a very long period of time, I realized that the reason I could not become more diligent was because of this loneliness! Somehow along the way, my cultivation lost its footing. When I found myself in this dire state, I asked myself, “What am I supposed to do in this environment? What am I cultivating? How should I cultivate?”
After a period of struggle, I slowly organized my thoughts. This empty, lonely environment is just like the destroyed traditional culture—it is the old forces' evil arrangement of testing and eliminating those that it believes unfit to be Falun Dafa disciples. If I continue to remain depressed in this lonely environment, it amounts to acknowledging the old forces' arrangement. Even though this environment can also lead to certain tribulations that allow one to “improve,” a world cultivated out of depression is most likely broken, empty, and devoid of life. Falun Dafa cultivation requires improvement on all fronts, the return to our true selves is a grand consummation—it is truthful, pure, righteous, beautiful, magnificent, and vibrant.
After realizing this, I became enlightened as to the reason behind why Master asked us to conform to ordinary society as much as possible. While we are recovering everything that has been corrupted by the old forces, we are also paving the way for the great wisdom of the higher, more perfect, and more beautiful new universe contained in the Fa (not in the old universe). It is contained in our doing everything with attentiveness and doing it well—whether it is a big thing or small thing. After I realized this, I naturally understood how to face the situation in front of me, as well as what I needed to cultivate and do. As I marveled at the magnificence and wisdom of Falun Dafa, my heart was filled with courage and determination to cultivate to the end. I felt a shining light and boundless compassion after surpassing my previous limits.
I deeply feel that I was overflowing with attachments in the past. The results were not ideal in many of the things that I did, and perhaps the reason for that was my limited level. Perhaps many practitioners have already understood this principle, but also there are other struggling practitioners who are lost as I was under the evil's persecution. I hope that what I have become enlightened to will be helpful to them and help them find their positions in Master's Fa-rectification, so that they can fulfill their destinies.
