(Minghui.org) An article on Minghui got me thinking. In “It Is Truly Dangerous Not to Cultivate Dafa Seriously,” the author said, “Over the years, forced labor camps and prisons in China have employed ‘highly educated experts’ to ‘transform’ practitioners. This happened because people in China, including many practitioners, are brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) into thinking that ‘education trumps everything.’ They look up to ‘gifted scholars’ and ‘intellectual elites,’ thinking that they are the more sensible and wiser group of people. And naturally, the old forces target the practitioners’ notions and bring in these ‘elites’ to brainwash them, knowing that it would work more effectively.”
Master told us, “Being well-known does not necessarily mean that one really knows things well.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun) Indeed, many of the “transformed” practitioners who went astray or enlightened along an evil path are members of that “elite” class in everyday people’s eyes. Why did they betray Dafa and head down the path of no return?
Wanting to Be Different and Better than Others
When a former practitioner started her media platform, she said unconventional things to draw the attention of everyday people. When practitioners contradicted her, she resented them and attacked Minghui and the practitioners to further promote herself. Unfortunately, some practitioners became very interested in her views and encouraged other practitioners to listen to her, until Master wrote an article warning us about such behavior.
I wonder if these practitioners ever asked themselves why they were more curious about what she said than the teachings of Dafa? Perhaps her views conformed to their attachment to wanting to be different and better than others. I suggest that these practitioners dispense with her views completely and eliminate the attachments that drew them to her. If they don’t, the old forces will have an excuse to go after them and destroy them.
Being Attached to Self and Secular Principles
When conflicts arose, this former practitioner reacted to protect her feelings and ego and would go as far as to question Master and betray Dafa. She justified what she did by saying that she was “conscientious” and wanted to “protect universal values.” Her talking points on the internet initiated a wave of vicious attacks on Master and Dafa.
She is not the only one attached to trivial mundane talents and worldly affairs. One thing these practitioners have in common is that, although they are physically present among practitioners, their hearts are not. They never genuinely believe in Dafa, and their pursuit for ordinary gains outweighs cultivation. They like to think that they are different from others, view Dafa cultivation the same as other conventional cultivation ways, and bring what they have learned in their professions into Dafa cultivation. Every notion is like a wall between them and Dafa. Although they study the Fa every day, they pay more attention to certain parts of the Fa that please them and never truly see the deeper meaning of the Fa.
Master had warned us long ago:
“When a person fails a test or can’t let go of a strong human attachment, he might reverse himself or go to the opposite side. There are too many lessons in history. Only after having fallen down will a person begin to regret, yet then it’s too late.” (“Dafa Can Never be Plagiarized,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Pursuing Fame and Personal Gain
A graduate of a top university did a lot of work to validate the Fa but never solidly cultivated. She was incarcerated after the persecution started and quickly renounced her faith. She began to help the guards brainwash the practitioners in prison. She later went into Buddhism and published many Buddhist books and videos.
Whether she was among practitioners, in prison, or in Buddhism, she always tried to show off her talent and be the best in the game. The guards often used her example to brainwash and “transform” the practitioners in prisons because they were good with words, quick-witted, intelligent, and highly educated. Wherever they go, they attract practitioners who look up to them.
Inability to Relinquish Social Status
An elderly practitioner with high social status used to positively promote Falun Dafa. After the persecution started, he had a hard time severing ties with the CCP because he’d been so indoctrinated with the CCP culture and was very attached to his special status.
When the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party was published, he didn’t agree that practitioners should promote it, believing that it was political. He had a hard time accepting what Master said after July 20, 1999, and believed that Shen Yun was just “a bunch of kids jumping around, not cultivating.” He eventually left the practice and died soon after.
Conclusion
Master said:
“Anyone who comes to study the Fa—no matter how learned he is, how big his business, how high his rank, what special skills he has, or what supernormal abilities he possesses—must actually practice cultivation. Cultivation practice is magnificent and solemn. Whether you can abandon your particular human notions is a major test that you will have difficulty passing, yet you must pass. After all, as a disciple truly practicing cultivation, you must abandon these attachments since you can never reach Consummation without abandoning these notions.” (“Abandon Human Attachments and Continue True Cultivation,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
I suggest that the practitioners who are highly educated and see themselves as experts, gifted, and/or intellectuals (i.e. “elites”) read Master’s article again and let go of the notion of feeling special. They will otherwise remain an everyday person no matter how they cultivate. They may even have demonic interference from their own mind, or, worse yet, mislead other practitioners and disrupt the Fa. And as for other practitioners, please don’t let a person’s social status, level of education, or eloquence sway you. Dafa is the only criterion to discern right from wrong.
Please point out anything that is not based on the Fa.
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