Clearly Recognizing and Eliminating Self and Selfishness in Order to Truly Step Forward

Western practitioner

For a long time I have held onto some very strong and deeply hidden (to myself) human notions and logic. I would now like to share how I understand this in relation to participation in the Fa-rectification process. All comments to further clarify these issues are welcomed.

Coming from an intellectual background, I have harboured endless logical patterns and so-called 'rational' thinking processes; these obscured wisdom and often led me to see things solely from my own perspective, rather than from the perspective of the Fa. Nonetheless, with a lot of knowledge and memory of the words of the Fa, I had in some ways ended up treating the Buddha Fa as a "philosophical category for critical studies and so-called research" (Lunyu) rather than deeply and truly understanding it at different levels.

This then led to the problem of not clearly understanding and balancing the relationship between my cultivation and Fa-rectification. Failing certain tests and falling into the evil's traps became a circular process of lack of clarity, failure, and regret. I now understand that, despite 'doing a lot of things for Dafa' during this time period, it was fundamentally ending up that "If during this period you cannot do well with what you should do, this Consummation stage can only be a cultivation process, and it cannot fundamentally be Fa-rectification disciples' true and final Consummation." (Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples). This is exactly what the evil arrangements intended, to "take advantage of the unremoved notions that are at Dafa disciples' human surface, and Dafa disciples' karma, to make their righteous thoughts falter" (Dafa is Indestructible). In this way, I would focus on my self -- rather than on doing Fa-rectification, placing Dafa in the first place in my heart. This was intended to lead me to become stuck in endless tribulations, run out of time, or even fail and give up cultivation; thus, the old forces' so-called 'test' would be validated.

Furthermore, all these notions and types of thought-karma have been arranged in history by the old forces, precisely to have them become an obstacle to my stepping forward to validate Dafa in these last few moments of the Fa-rectification. "A Dafa disciple completely opposes everything arranged by the evil old forces" (Dafa is Indestructible).

Without clearly, completely and fundamentally recognizing these deviated thought processes, ideas, and bad thoughts, those same notions can be taken advantage of to cause damage. "When someone who's learned Dafa goes down the wrong path, it's because he has attachments that he hasn't been able to let go of. And these attachments are sure to be controlled and taken advantage of by evil beings. Evil beings look specifically for your thoughts that contain attachments in order to strengthen them and achieve their aim of taking control. After being used by demons, these people "enlighten" along an evil path but still think that they're right, and look in the Fa for excuses by taking things out of context to defend themselves." (Lecture on the Fa at the Washington DC International Conference)

Granted, cultivation is a process, as is releasing attachments and recognizing those bad things. But I have now seen that to truly step forward and break these arrangements, I need to place Dafa before my 'self' (which is actually merely a collection of illusory thoughts, and deviated post-natally acquired notions) and simply 'do well with the things I am supposed to do'.

In the mighty current of Fa-rectification, these notions and attachments become small and easily removed with a glance inwards. When focused on Dafa, the mighty power of the Fa can truly manifest, the great benevolence of Enlightened Beings can come forth from my cultivated side, and the evil can be widely eliminated with righteous thoughts.

I have found that there are two major states of mind I have: righteous and non-righteous. The former is simple, powerful; with few thoughts, and wisdom naturally flows forth. The latter has ten thousand manifestations, and is complicated and illusory. If I focus on maintaining a right mind rather than examining and pursuing the intricacies of the non-righteous mind, the non-righteous elements are exposed and eliminated, often many at a time, through persistent Fa-study and participation in Fa-rectification. In the meantime, the Dafa work can proceed unimpeded, and the last step can truly be taken well.

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