By Shan Guo from outside of China

(Clearwisdom.net) For Dafa practitioners, righteous faith in Master and the Fa is the most basic and most important aspect of our cultivating in Dafa. However, this righteous faith is not based upon ordinary people's knowledge and mindset, and if that's what one's faith is based on, it would be the same as believing blindly and it would be very difficult for one to truly assimilate to Dafa. Only by being rational enough on the issue of righteous faith will we be able to truly display the mien of a true Dafa practitioner in terms of xinxing [mind-heart nature, moral character] and in terms of our Dafa work.

I have encountered two concerns recently. A practitioner who had obtained the Fa before 1999 was unable to overcome the demon of lust. He made the same mistakes repeatedly, even after Master not too long ago had given a lecture in New York City addressing relevant issues. This practitioner truly wants to cultivate in Dafa, and he pays attention to Fa-study. Confronted with this issue, after some thought-provoking conversations and probing, we found that the reason he couldn't fundamentally change his behavior was because he treated Master's Fa principles as philosophical doctrines. The reason he wanted to change was because Master said such behavior was bad and he felt he should follow Master's words, but he didn't understand or remember why Master said it was bad. In practice, therefore, he still acted according to what he could comprehend, which was to treat this issue with the morally degenerate, modern people's code of conduct. That is the reason why for a very long time he wasn't able to reach a practitioner's xinxing state on these issues. He recognized this problem himself, looked inward and saw the core issue. The tribulation was no longer a tribulation and this time he was able to overcome it, unlike before.

Another concern is the coordination among practitioners in one area. Some practitioners recently appeared to have shifted the basis of their Dafa work and gradually deviated from their goal of clarifying the truth and saving people. In the process of doing Dafa works in the form of everyday people they behaved like everyday people trying to achieve something. Master taught the Fa regarding this relatively common problem. Following the lecture, though, some practitioners treated Master's words as the command from a worldly leader instead of teachings relating to universal Fa principles. They said, "I believe in Master, so I'll do as he said." I think if we don't truly understand Master's words, it's easy to go astray in our cultivation. First, if we mechanically "follow" Master's words, we could limit the outcome of Dafa validation work. If we encounter a similar problem the next time, we would then need another "instruction," or we might simply copy others, instead of, when faced with a new situation, doing well in what we should do as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples in a comprehensive, independent and harmonious manner. It is also possible that we don't grasp the gist of Master's Fa and even misinterpret the Fa, which is one of the main reasons why some practitioners, including some who obtained the Fa before July 20, 1999, have frequently made the same mistakes.

Secondly, Dafa practitioners' righteous faith in Master should be unconditional, but it doesn't mean we superficially do as Master says. Instead we should have a good understanding of every single Fa principle Master has taught us while holding a firm faith in Master. This understanding is not a prerequisite for faith; it's actually the result of faith, because people who misinterpret Dafa often analyze Master's Fa with their acquired notions and selfish mentality before determining whether they should believe the Fa Master has taught us.

These two incidents are a very good reminder. They made me see that Dafa practitioners' respect for Master and the Fa are fundamentally different from the respect shown to someone by ordinary people. It shows "Compliance is cultivation," (Hong Yin) not the concept of near and far on a physical scale, or any other method used by ordinary people. Isn't it the case that amongst those former practitioners in China who went astray, many of them did so because they had not given up their notions and attachments, even some fundamental attachments, and they had only "studied" the Fa like they would study worldly knowledge? They had obeyed Master as someone would obey a superior in their work unit, which led to blind belief instead of the righteous faith required by Dafa. That is the reason they didn't build a solid foundation for authentic Fa study.

If we don't treat this issue with righteous thoughts, we would create a false façade and think we won't have any problems on the issue of righteous faith and respect for Master. As a result, we won't be able to unearth and recognize the real problems, no matter how much we try to examine ourselves. Seen from other dimensions, everyone's attachments are crystal clear. It is therefore almost inevitable that the evil beings arranged by the old forces would, after a while, take advantage of our attachments, which would create a gigantic tribulation on our cultivation path.

Dafa practitioners' faith in Master and Dafa must be completely based on rationality and a true practitioner's righteous faith, and only then can we meet the requirements of Fa-rectification.

Posting date: 1/14/2004
Original article date: 1/13/2004
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/29/63586.html

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