My Understanding of "A Spontaneous Thought"

By a Chinese practitioner

6/6/2003

Throughout my cultivation I had been bothered by a question, that is, why I did not do well in certain areas? I was working hard at that time, wasn't I? I did not give up, did I? Why did I not overcome the obstacle? Only until recently did I understand why. I wrote it down in order to share my cultivation experience with all of you.

We all have a habit of forming a definition and conclusion about things in our society. Whenever a situation develops, we would first try to either approve or disapprove, whether it is a person, an object or some issue. After we have affirmed our thoughts then we would pursue the situation based on this understanding. In fact we have confined and limited ourselves by such a mentality. Even if we try harder later on, we would have already been framed by this "spontaneous thought" and unable to transcend it (because we could not realize early on that we could rise above it), ending up unable to perform well in some areas. More seriously, many of us could not recognize that the failure was the result of this "spontaneous thought," and could not realize it. On the contrary, we would make the excuse that the tribulations were very immense and the persecution was severe. This is very misleading and confusing, with devastating effects.

Once I was detained at the county detention center and a policeman coerced me to sign a "repentance paper." What was my "spontaneous thought" at that moment? "If I do not sign it, chances are they will detain me." Yet the Fa had clearly told us and I also knew from my heart, never to cooperate with the evil. I also tried to reason with them and asked them to be fair. Yet being influenced by this "spontaneous thought" my strength was not adequate. I even felt that my own will to stand up against them was lacking. Yet afterwards I comforted myself that I had clarified the truth to them, and I stood up against the persecution... and it was over just like that.

Later on I repeatedly pondered it and suddenly realized that all the tribulations were caused by that "spontaneous thought." At that moment I recalled Teacher's words in "Zhuan Falun," "We have said that good or evil comes from a person's spontaneous thought, and the thought at that moment can bring about different consequences."

Therefore, it is critical that our "spontaneous thought" is always based on the Fa. Especially as we are at the final phase of the Fa- rectification, we are constantly facing the final resistance from the evil old forces, as well as interference from the human elements of practitioners. Thus, it is crucial to purify our thoughts.

We must measure everything with the standard set by Dafa, because we are beings created by Dafa. Whether it's now or in the future, safeguarding Dafa and maintaining Dafa's standards is our sacred mission and obligation. "No matter what happens, one must maintain good xinxing. Only through adhering to Dafa can one be truly right." (Zhuan Falun). Teacher also said, "How was the cosmos created? It was created just by a Great Fa Enlightened Being's one thought." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") Hence, we must seize the time that we have now to cultivate ourselves to be pure, to be noble, and to reach Consummation.

What I have written here was only my own understanding and I hope it will be of value to my fellow practitioners. Because I am limited by my level of understanding, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

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