By a Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Among the practitioners I have met, I have noticed that there are some problems in sending forth righteous thoughts. Here I would like to share my understanding with fellow practitioners.

1. Not Paying Enough Attention to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts

Due to a limited understanding from the Fa-perspective regarding sending forth righteous thoughts, some practitioners only do it four times a day at 6AM, 6PM, 12AM, 12PM [Beijing time], as if it is unnecessary or impossible to send forth righteous thoughts at any other times. It is really a pity. Why are some practitioners among us not doing well in sending forth righteous thoughts? Some practitioners find that one of the reasons is that they do not study the Fa sufficiently.

Master has mentioned many times the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts in his lectures and articles. Master says,

"Let me tell you, all those who remain and that can persecute Dafa and Dafa disciples are due to our students themselves. Students who haven't taken sending forth righteous thoughts seriously: the evil in the dimensions that you are supposed to shoulder and be responsible for has not been eliminated. That's the cause. So you must take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. No matter whether you think you have the ability or not, you should do it." (from "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.")

In the article "Righteous Thoughts," Master says,

"Dafa disciples are now sentient beings' only, sole hope for salvation. So, in order to do Fa-rectification more effectively, while you clarify the facts you have to take sending righteous thoughts very seriously, and in a timely manner purge the evil and your own problems so that you won't be taken advantage of by the evil."

As Dafa disciples, if our minds are filled with Fa and if we can melt into the Fa, our true nature will know what to do. We will follow Master's instructions and experience the effects of sending forth righteous thoughts, and thus take it more seriously.

Another reason might be that those practitioners do not communicate often with other practitioners. Those who are in an isolated situation should communicate more with other practitioners. At the same time, other practitioners should actively contact them and help create a better environment for their cultivation. More communication will help them see the differences and their own shortcomings so as to help them keep up with the Fa-rectification.

Still another reason is that they haven't completely rejected the arrangements of the old forces or realized the evil nature of the persecution. That's why there are all sorts of interference when we send forth righteous thoughts. When that happens, we should reject it and expel it rather than submit to it and be restrained by it.

"Of course, each one of our Dafa disciples says that we don't recognize the old forces' arrangements, but that's not something you just say--you have to follow the requirements of Dafa and the Fa-rectification. I absolutely will not acknowledge any of those things you arranged in the past, old forces. I don't even acknowledge you. When your righteous thoughts are very strong you can purge it and you can reject their arrangements." (from "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")

Accordingly, when we can really break away from the old forces while sending forth righteous thoughts are we really cultivating and are rejecting their arrangements.

2. Limited by the Concept of Three 5-Minute

In "Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference," Master says,

"...our students can quiet their minds for five minutes, sitting with their hands in Jieyin and thinking about eliminating the bad thoughts, karma, bad notions, and external interference in their minds. As you're like this, think that they die, and then they will be eliminated. Five minutes will do. When we get together for group practice, think about eliminating the evil in the Three Realms, while holding one hand vertically (li-zhang) in front of the chest, and just think with True Thoughts for five minutes--this should do it."

Some practitioners and I enlightened to the fact that we can extend the period of time while eliminating bad things from our minds according to our specific situations. We shouldn't be limited by the 5-minute concept. When Master said, "Five minutes will do," he didn't mean that you can only do it for 5 minutes. The same holds true when eliminating the exterior evil. We can do it for a longer period of time. If we take it as a task and keep peering at our watches while sending forth righteous thoughts and rigidly following a time period of 5 minutes, we are being superficial and focusing on the formality. Some practitioners change their hand gestures or stop sending forth righteous thoughts when the 5 minutes is up even if they have barely entered the state of sending forth righteous thoughts, and forgetting all about the point of sending forth righteous thoughts. We should correct that now.

We think that it's better to hold hands up at integral points. We can also send forth righteous thoughts at other times and extend the period of eliminating the evil; don't necessarily be bound by the idea of doing it for only 5 minutes.

3. Not Concentrating When Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and Letting Miscellaneous Thoughts Disturb Us

This might be a very common phenomenon. Of course, it is not an issue of methodology; it's related to our levels of cultivation, how many attachments we have eliminated, the state of our progress, and how seriously we take sending forth righteous thoughts. We ought to follow Master's instructions:

"You should focus your attention and your effort, your mind has to be absolutely clear and rational, the force of your thoughts needs to be focused and strong," ("Righteous Thoughts").

We should ignore anything that comes into our minds and eliminate it right away, as it is severe interference, and further eliminate the evil factors that are manipulating us behind the scene. The miscellaneous thoughts that we have could be something we are attached to in everyday life, which should be taken lightly. At the same time, we can eliminate all the arrangements by the old forces in the Fa-rectification and all the evil beings that are being used in their arrangements to damage Dafa. Apart from the Fa-rectification verse, there is only one word "Mie" in our minds that fills every part of the cosmos. Then, all the jumping thoughts and interferences will be swept away.

4. Hand Gestures Change While Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts

Some practitioners do not hold their hands upright when sending forth righteous thoughts. Or they hold their palms upright at the beginning, but let them fall to the side after a while. With the lotus-palm gesture, they keep their hands open for a while, but gradually let the hands close and are deceived by the illusion that they are still holding their hands upright and are not even aware of the change. For some practitioners, such a problem has lasted for a long time. I think it is also a kind of interference that fellow practitioners have to pay attention to. We need to eliminate the evil factors that cause the changing of the hand gesture, and to also look within to find the problems in ourselves. We think that it's critical to not let go of the main consciousness. We ought to keep our spirits alert. We are doing such a divine mission of eliminating the evil and saving sentient beings. How can we not keep our spirits alert?

Then the evil will take advantage of the loopholes. Under such circumstances, instead of eliminating the evil, it is interfering with us. Therefore, we have to maintain a clear mind while we are sending forth righteous thoughts and keep a strong main consciousness. Sending forth righteous thought is having the mind intent dictate super-normal abilities to do things. If we don't have a clear mind, or are not being rational, the supernormal abilities will not fully demonstrate their power.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/1/31/43670.html