Make Advancements Based on the Fa, Completely Eliminate the Old Forces and Break Through Their Arrangements

A Dafa Disciple from China

(Clearwisdom.net) In order to completely eliminate the old forces and their arrangements, one must first improve oneself. Studying the Fa well is the way to improve oneself. The following is my humble understanding:

1. My Understanding of Studying the Fa

In the early stage of studying the Fa, we were all studying with a lot of human notions. The most serious problem was not treating each lecture, each issue, each paragraph, each sentence, and each word in Zhuan Falun with equal importance in our Fa study. This is a serious obstacle in studying the Fa. For example, in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun it reads: "To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." It is clear that this sentence is the truth. But what is the context of this sentence? It seemed the context is not as important. In fact we didn't treat the entire Fa as the Fa, instead we only studied a part of the Fa, the part that we thought was good. Dafa is an integrated unity, and each word is connected with the entire Fa. Therefore this is also studying the Fa with the attachment of pursuit. If you study the Fa with such a bad attitude, how can the Buddhas, Daos, and Gods behind the words of Zhuan Falun show you the meaning of the Fa?

Some believe that the purpose of studying the Fa is just to elevate xinxing. This paragraph talks about the universe, that paragraph talks about supernormal abilities, this paragraph talks about spirit or animal possession, that paragraph talks about stealing qi--they all have nothing to do with me. To study the Fa with such an attachment of pursuit, how could you see the Fa at higher levels? In what state do high-level beings exist? You don't even know the requirements of Fa for the beings living there, how can you improve your xinxing?

Another problem is to study the Fa with human notions, even to match human notions to the Fa, and use "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" as the guidelines for everyday people's life, and to judge if one's thinking, speech and behavior abide by Dafa's requirements. To think about how to be kind and compassionate using human notions is to think and study the Fa with a human heart. In the early stage of clarifying the truth, everybody had a simple idea: they were slandering Dafa, we must expose their lies and fabrications, and let everyday people know that Dafa is good. It was that simple, and nobody thought about it in terms of being compassionate. Later in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" of Guiding the Voyage, Master said, "I'm telling you that this is your mercy, and you are truly saving the future people!" I realized that as long as our thinking, speech and behavior meet the requirements of Dafa, we are compassionate. We don't need to add any human notion to it.

Another issue is being afraid of asking questions when studying the Fa, for fear we would have any attachment of pursuit, and think there is an attachment of pursuit whenever there is a question. I believe this is going to the other extreme, just like Zen Buddhism's "digging into a bull's horn." This limitation of Zen Buddhism's thinking is an important reason why it's cultivation level stays low and eventually went into a dead end.

It is no small matter if we don't have any new understanding of the Fa, and repeatedly fail to see the Fa's principles when we study Zhuan Falun. We should neither have any attachment of pursuit, nor dig into a bull's horn. We can only study the Fa well when we are calm.

2. The Status of Cultivation

First we must be very clear about our cultivation status and position. As for "Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples," cultivation has reached the final stage. But some fellow practitioners couldn't clearly recognize their cultivation status; some even are not clear about whether they are in In-Triple-World-Fa or Beyond-Triple-World-Fa, and whether or not they are beyond the Three Realms. These are the factors that seriously obstruct them from ascending to higher levels.

Because our change begins at microscopic levels, we changed very rapidly in the microscopic level in our cultivation. From the Three Realms, different levels of the cosmos, different levels of celestial bodies, different systems of the universe and colossal firmament to the entire universe, Master has been continuously expanding our realms and giving us hints for our improvements. Furthermore, Master pushed us to our highest positions around July 20, 1999, and the only thing left was the human shell. Our problem is not whether we can reach Consummation or not, but instead how to make our human sides have a clearer understanding. The Fa from Master is for us, but some fellow practitioners have not realized it yet, and they felt as if the Fa is for somebody else. This is one of the reasons that we couldn't have a clearer mind.

If the human side of a Dafa practitioner does not have a clear understanding of the Fa, and believes that he or she is at a low level, it will affect the ability of his or her divine side when sending righteous thoughts. But this is not to imagine oneself being at a high level. One must understand it from the Fa in order to use the full potential of his ability. Because humans could not imagine what it looks like from the high level, it is still very low no matter how high you imagine yourself to be.

3. About Sending Righteous Thoughts

It is normal for us to remove bad thoughts from ourselves first before sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate evil. But it is problematic to view removing our bad thoughts as a precondition for sending righteous thoughts and fear that righteous thoughts are not strong and pure enough. If, in fact, it is true that righteous thoughts are not strong enough, then it is necessary to regularly study the Fa, and to guide oneself with righteous thoughts. If it is possible, the duration and frequency of sending righteous thoughts should be increased, so that it is faster and more effective to eliminate evil. However, one should not increase the duration and frequency of sending righteous thoughts just because he or she thinks his level is not high enough and his righteous thoughts are not strong enough. The idea of being at a level not high enough and righteous thoughts not being strong enough are all factors that affect one's righteous thoughts.

Do not blend human notions in when sending righteous thoughts, do not have any sympathy towards the old forces and rotten demons that attempt to throw the Fa into disorder, just completely and forcefully eliminate them. When we send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate evil, we are not only breaking through the persecution arranged by the evil old forces, but also saving sentient beings. This is genuine benevolence. To blend in human notions will reduce the effectiveness of righteous thoughts.

When standing at a level above the universe, one's single thought can generate the universe and all lives in it, from the lowest level to the highest level. You can even generate something bigger. Your single thought, of course, can eliminate any evil life in the universe that persecutes Dafa.

4. Do Not Wait Passively and Depend on Others

I personally think that to rectify the Fa in the human world is Dafa disciples' responsibility, and we cannot have the idea of passively waiting for Master to rectify the Fa. We came to the human world to save the universe. In the Fa--rectification period, Master gave us the opportunity to cultivate, put us on the right path, taught us Dafa, and made it possible for us to realize the vow we made a long time ago. If we do not take the initiative to rectify the Fa, but instead wait passively for Master to rectify the Fa when evil is persecuting Dafa, then why are we here at all in the human world? Aren't we Dafa disciples that came here to rectify the Fa in the human world and save people? Master will assist us and even do it for us if we do not have the ability. However, if we do have the ability but don't do it and passively wait, then that's the issue of a lack of righteous thoughts.

The above is my humble understanding. If there is anything inappropriate, please compassionately point it out and let's improve together.
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/3/8/45935.html

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