(Minghui.org) I have been practicing Falun Dafa for over two decades. Through many hardships, I came to understand that, for a human to return to divinity, one must face the trail of life and death. However, I found the trials of getting rid of the attachment to comfort and being able to persevere in cultivation to be more challenging.
There were disagreements among practitioners working on a local truth-clarification project, which created a loophole that the old forces took advantage of. I got arrested, as did many other practitioners in the area. It was heartbreaking. Fellow practitioners and their families had to endure tremendous pain. It caused a huge loss and damage to our efforts to clarify the truth.
While in the detention center, I sent forth strong righteous thoughts. Many people thought I would be sentenced to a heavy term. I kept denying the negative thoughts that arose in my mind and believed I would be released. In my dreams, Master encouraged me and gave me hints. I continued to send righteous thoughts, mobilizing all the righteous factors and clearing away all the negative ones.
I was acquitted of all charges. Others in the detention center thought it was amazing and unbelievable. Looking back, I realized my shortcomings. I hadn’t kept up with studying the Fa. I was not in a good cultivation state, and my righteous thoughts were not strong enough. I didn’t do well in many respects. For example, a local Fa study group met in my home, and I did not pay enough attention to safety.
After I was released from the detention center, I couldn’t cultivate diligently for a long time, and my cultivation state was up and down. As a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period, I must hold myself to high standards, whatever the situation. I must cultivate genuinely and solidly.
I was able to cultivate well in a hostile situation, so why did I let up when things were comfortable? Aren’t Dafa practitioners supposed to cultivate well in any environment?
Master said:
“Right now every minute and every second is crucial. If you miss out during this period of time, you miss out on everything. History won't recur. The history of the cosmos and the Three Realms have gone through so many, long, long years--what have all the beings been waiting for? What are they all here for? For exactly these few years! Yet there are [Dafa] students who are squandering their lives during these few years, not seizing the time. And yet you are shouldering such huge responsibilities for all beings and for history!” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
“Only those Dafa disciples who fall behind in Fa-study will display a lack of diligence and feel dejected during this period of time, even to the extent that they don't know how precious this time is and don't seize the time to do what Dafa disciples should do.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IV)
To overcome the attachments to lust and comfort, I set a few goals for myself.
Master said:
“Group Fa-study is an environment I created for you and a form that I've left for you. I think you should still participate. That's because it has stood the test of experience, and cultivating that way allows our students to improve the fastest. When you cultivate on your own, you miss out on factors that help you improve. And haven't you, as Dafa disciples, said that you would do as your Master says? Haven't you said that you should walk straight on the path that a Dafa disciple should take?” (“Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VI)
I realized that I need a group environment to study the Fa well—as long as it is safe and conditions allow. For safety concerns, it’s better to keep the group small. There was an environment for group Fa study before the persecution started in July 1999. It helped me keep up my cultivation. After I was released from the detention center, there was a small Fa study group in my home for a short while. It helped me to be diligent. I could tell that studying the Fa with other practitioners is very important.
I should study the Fa whenever I have time. I should try to not let ordinary affairs interfere with my Fa study. As soon as my mind is not on the Fa, all kinds of distractions and temptations in the human world can bring tribulations and pull me away from the Fa. It can create a bad cycle.
I set an alarm clock for the time when I tended to relax. It served as a warning to keep myself alert, like a bell or drum.
Whenever I wake up in the morning, I should get up immediately to do the exercises or study the Fa. I must not go back to sleep regardless of what time it is. When I go back to sleep, I always end up getting up late and feeling tired and exhausted.
Most importantly, I should stay away from the internet and keep my internet usage to a minimum. The internet is harmful.
Master said:
“This society is already a mess, and on the Internet all bad things are stirred in, just like demons, circulating. Whatever goes in is stirred in there or mixed in there, disrupting society, the human mind, and morality, and changing people's living state—the good and the bad are all jumbled together.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Team Blue Translation)
Every temptation in the secular world is a test. Every comfort we encounter could become a tribulation that drags us down. I came to understand another meaning of something Master said: “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Finally, after much effort, I returned to the state of cultivation I had in the beginning. It was so beautiful. Still, I must remind myself to maintain this state until the very end.