Just Sitting at Home and Waiting for Consummation May Render Our Cultivation in Vain

(Minghui.org) Several days ago I had a dream, in which I saw two classrooms. One of them was clean with Falun Dafa practitioners sitting up straight full of energy. The other one had much more practitioners, most of whom, however, were so lazy that they didn’t care to clean the room. 

In the dream, two teachers were coming to give each classroom a lesson. Noticing practitioners lazily resting their heads on the desk in the second classroom, I reminded them to clean the floor before their teacher came. Two practitioners cleaned their side of the room. I then reminded the practitioners on the other side to do their part. They did it perfunctorily. I also told them to sit up instead of resting their heads on the desk. Some of them listened and sat up. 

After I woke up, I realized this dream was a hint for me to remind practitioners who are just sitting at home waiting for consummation. 

The Cultivation Environment in My Region

This dream was similar to the situation of practitioners in my area. After the zero-out campaign [aimed to force every practitioner on the government’s blacklist to renounce their faith] and two large-scale arrests, some practitioners became less diligent. Every day they were busy making money from dawn to dusk. They hardly had any time to study Dafa teachings, do the exercises, and send forth righteous thoughts. Even when they do have some spare time, they may spend it playing on their cell phones. 

Most of these practitioners began to practice Falun Dafa before the persecution started in 1999. In the early years of the persecution, they suffered tremendously and overcame difficulties assisting Master with Fa-rectification and saving people. Many of them were once jailed or held in labor camps. Despite their diligent past, they have now fallen behind and behaved like everyday people. 

Some practitioners have strong fear. To protect themselves, they merely stay at home studying Dafa teachings and sending forth righteous thoughts. They do not dare to go out to expose the persecution of Falun Dafa and spread the goodness of Falun Dafa. Some of them used paper currency printed with messages about Falun Dafa, and they even considered that was enough to show they have put in efforts to save people. They believe that they will have no problem reaching consummation. They don’t think they need to do anything else (such as clarifying the facts face-to-face or distributing truth-clarification materials) before they reach consummation. 

There are a few practitioners in my area who have never slacked off or stopped going out to clarify the facts to save people. Some of them were repeatedly arrested and detained, but they resumed their truth-clarification efforts as soon as they were released. Even those under illegal “house arrest” still go out looking for opportunities to save people. Once I saw two practitioners telling people the facts about Falun Dafa on the street. Both of them had been released just one month earlier. I was really inspired by their righteous thoughts and righteous actions and noticed the gap between me and them. These are what genuine Dafa disciples should do, I thought. 

Urgency of Saving People

Many things have happened recently. Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader who launched the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, recently died on November 30. The CCP abruptly ended its zero-COVID policy on December 7. Soon COVID cases surged across China, resulting in many deaths, including Yang Lianghua (former reporter of People’s Daily), Zhou Zhichun (former editor of China Youth Daily), 34-year-old soccer player Wang Ruoji, 37-year-old Hao Yu (employee of Shanghai Television Station), 57-year-old Jiang Hualiang (Chinese Academy of Sciences member), and others. The crematories have been overwhelmed in Beijing and other places, while morgues in hospitals were packed with corpses too.

All these tell us that time is limited. There is a Chinese saying that “saving people is like putting out a fire.” We practitioners know the plague targets the CCP members and those who are close to the regime. If we do not go out and look for opportunities to spread the goodness of Falun Dafa, clarify the CCP’s defamatory propaganda, and help people to stay safe, isn’t it the same as doing nothing when witnessing murder and arson?

Master said, “You have made it through scores of difficulties on your journey, and shouldn’t be tripping and falling at the end.” (“Wake Up”) 

My dear fellow practitioners, seeing people dying and doing nothing will not enable us to reach consummation. Right now in my area, employees in many businesses tested positive, and these places had to shut down one after another. Even many of those paid by the CCP to follow practitioners were also infected and stopped coming out. If we practitioners still stay at home and do not step forward, aren’t we just paralyzing ourselves with our own fear?!

Stepping Forward

From Master’s lectures, we know enlightened beings are selfless. Many diligent practitioners mentioned above also overcame many challenges to save people. 

Fang is not well educated, but over the years she kept telling people about Falun Dafa face to face. Once when she did that, a police officer was about to arrest her. She sent forth righteous thoughts and begged Master for help. The officer left immediately. Fang returned home safely and continued telling people about Falun Dafa. Earlier this year, she was arrested but released on the same day. Out of fear, most other practitioners dared not go out. But Fang and another practitioner still went out to save people right after she was released. 

When Lan was released from a detention center, she had strong fear and sometimes even wanted to live away from home to hide from the police. Through intensive Fa-study, sending forth righteous thoughts, and looking within, however, she tried her best to suppress her fear. In the end, she made up her mind to let go of life and death. Then she was able to go out again to expose the CCP’s slandering propaganda against Falun Dafa. 

I have a good friend Ying. When I was detained for my belief, she helped my child a lot. She is wealthy and very accomplished. Although she did quit the CCP organizations, she often had a disdainful look when I talked to her about Falun Dafa. Several days ago, I visited her and we talked for a long time. In the end, she understood many things and agreed to recite the phrases of “Falun Dafa is good” as well as “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good” for safety. She said she would also share the information with her family. 

Besides Ying, I also reminded some other friends to whom I had clarified the truth previously to recite the phrases for blessings during uncertainties such as the pandemic, and they all agreed. 

True Cultivation

Here are two stories. In the 2020 season of Shen Yun performance, one program titled “Taoist Destiny” caught my attention. One wounded soldier was tired of killing on the battlefield and decided to cultivate when a Taoist master showed up. He passed a series of tests and practiced like other disciples of his master. But one day, his master asked all the disciples to follow him and jump off a cliff. Everyone backed off except for this new disciple. Just as the remaining disciples were saddened to see both of them disappearing over the cliff, they were surprised to see the master – as well as the new disciple – rising from the valley to the sky. Only those with determination and actions can be considered true disciples. 

Another was a story mentioned in an experience-sharing article titled “Golden Buddha (With Master's Comments).” When two people who cultivated Buddhahood met a butcher, they asked him to join them to see the Buddha. The butcher said he was too filthy and unworthy, but would like the two people to take his sincere heart to the Buddha. As these two people arrived at their destination, Buddha pointed to a giant pot filled with boiling water asking if they dared to jump in. These two were hesitant and decided to throw in the butcher’s heart for a test. Upon seeing the sincere heart turning into a golden Buddha in the pot, the two jumped in too, only to become two pieces of fried dough. 

In China, people dub those who always follow the wind with no principles “fried dough.” Having followed Master to descend to this human world, and waited for millions of years for this Fa-rectification period, we cannot let it all end up in vain because of slacking off in the final moment. We must be clear on who we are and what we are here for instead of ruining this precious opportunity. 

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)