By a practitioner in Beijing

(Clearwisdom.net) Since the persecution of Dafa started on July 20, 1999, I have witnessed some practitioners around me, due to various reasons, not walking their paths of cultivation well. Some enlightened along evil paths, some went to the opposite side under the brutal persecution, some even became accomplices of the evil, and some, led by the pursuit of comfort, slacked off and lagged behind in the process of the Fa-rectification.

When my attempts to persuade and help them turned out to be in vain, I often felt powerless. I felt such deep regret that I even cried out in my dreams for those who have dropped back down. I also worried about practitioners who could not let go of their attachments and not cultivate diligently. I tried to argue against their weak willpower and even got angry with them.

Due to a lack of deep understanding of the Fa and my not letting go of my complaints with the actions of others, I became totally disappointed in some of these practitioners. I thought that there was still an opportunity for those who had not done well yet had repented, but there would be no hope at all for those who still clung to delusion and failed to wake up. Not until the publishing of Master's "Touring North America to Teach the Fa" did I realize that my understanding was incomplete. Master said, "As for those who've gone to the opposite side during this persecution or even done awful things, let me tell you that Master still doesn't want to abandon them." "So I will extract Dafa disciples' original natures", "They cause such disciples of mine to return the same way they came..." I was moved by Master's immense compassion. Master does not want to abandon them. Instead, he keeps their good original nature and arranges the end of their paths. As many of those practitioners came from high levels, they have very good inborn quality and initially had pure thoughts of establishing karmic relationships with Dafa and saving sentient beings. They had taken great risks to come down here, and shown a heart for cultivating Dafa, which is as pure as gold. In addition, they had once cultivated themselves. Moreover, Master does not acknowledge the old force's arrangements and this evil persecution, thus he does not acknowledge the consequences of the persecution either.

I no longer feel such regret for practitioners who have not walked their paths well. Meanwhile, thinking of Master's immense compassion, I realized my own problem. I harbored a lot of grievances and blame for other practitioners, and lacked tolerance, understanding and compassion for them. When I pointed out others' shortcomings, if they could not accept it at the time, I became impatient. For those who had deviated in their cultivation, I paid too much attention to their mistakes and would not forgive them. I always imposed my own standards on others. Now I see that many practitioners who had not done well have woken up and started doing well again. I am now able to understand their feeling broken-hearted as a result of the evil's persecution, and their feelings of regret and wanting to repent for their errors. Facing practitioners who have been wounded in both mind and body, I am now able to sincerely encourage them to walk their future paths well.

I understand that for those who have not done well, who have gone over to the opposite side, taken advantage of by the evil due to serious shortcomings in their cultivation, that although they have to pay for all the bad deeds they have done, the old forces' persecution is the root cause of it all. Dafa practitioners are innocent, and more importantly, the old forces are not worthy of testing Dafa. If we hold these innocent practitioners responsible for the consequences, and follow the old forces' reasoning to say that they have not done well, then in principle this is equal to accepting the old forces' arrangements, which are incompatible with the law of the universe and unfair to beings. Thus I realized that using righteous thoughts to completely eliminate the evil is an urgent responsibility for Dafa disciples, and using strong righteous thoughts to completely eliminate the evil that manipulates humans to persecute Dafa and practitioners is the grandest mercy to sentient beings.

Posting date: 6/29/2002
Original article date: 6/29/2002
Category: Views on Cultivation
Translated on 6/25/2002
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2002/6/21/32107.html

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