By a Dafa Disciple in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Comments from editors: While sharing experiences with practitioners from an area where the persecution is still rather serious, we have found that there exists the following situation: Practioners in that area pay a great deal of attention to clarifying the truth and distributing truth-clarifying materials. However, one common phenomenon is that they do not have a deep and clear understanding of the principles of the Fa, and they do not take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. Other areas have also seen a similar situation. The following article by a practitioner in China points out and addresses this concern. We encourage more practitioners to write about their experiences in how they manage to do all of the three things well, and their understandings about sending forth righteous thoughts and Fa-study, so that we can help practitioners in these areas and all improve together.

Dafa disciples in Fa-Rectification cultivation must measure all their thoughts and notions against the righteous and selfless standards of Dafa, until the end when we finally give up all the old, degenerated thoughts and notions that do not meet the pure and pristine standards of the new cosmos. This is like a rebirth process for Dafa disciples from the old universe, and it is a critical matter for the future of the new cosmos. Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period have a great responsibility. It cannot be imagined or described with everyday people's way of thinking. Truly studying the Fa well with a calm and tranquil mind, assimilating to the Fa, and rationally understanding the Fa's principles are the fundamental prerequisites for our meeting the requirements of Dafa disciples, and they will guide us to walk our path righteously in Fa-rectification cultivation.

Truly having a rational understanding of the Fa's principles comes from the righteous elevation of one's thoughts through Fa-study. Sometimes we can sense this elevation of our thoughts, and other times we may not sense it. The part that can be expressed with everyday people's way of thinking and language is only a superficial reflection of this elevation of righteous thoughts.

As we are validating Dafa in the maze of the human world, if we do not study the Fa diligently, we will be unaware of the deviation of our thoughts and our conduct from the Fa principles, nor will we be willing to acknowledge our own problems. To give a rough analogy, if a person wants to walk toward a destination but is blindfolded, then no matter how righteous he feels his path may be, he will unavoidably deviate from his path over time.

In the article "Golden Buddha" (with Master's comment), the writer stated, "Doing Dafa work for long periods of time without thinking of anything else does not necessarily mean that a person is constantly in a state of mind of what a Dafa disciple should be. As for how to truly walk one's own path well and righteously, it's not something that can be clearly and thoroughly understood immediately."

Indeed, this phenomenon does exist among some practitioners. It's not that we should take a negative attitude towards them, as they have indeed done a lot in clarifying the truth, which is very good. The concern is that if these practitioners become too busy to have time to study the Fa, or if they are not diligent enough to study the Fa, or they cannot calm themselves down to truly study the Fa with a peaceful mind, then it is unavoidable that they may deviate from a righteous path. For example, when one does Dafa work, one may mix in one's attachments to gaining merit, fame, or showing off. Some practitioners even let these attachments grow. Some cannot accept fellow practitioners' kind reminders and stick to their own way of doing things. They cannot think over their problems from the perspective of validating the Fa and offering salvation to sentient beings. Instead, they consider the contributions that they have made to be more important. They don't send forth righteous thoughts at the specified times, treating it as something trivial that could be done, or could be left out. They will only take seriously the types of work that can show "achievements" in this physical dimension, but will neglect work that may have results only in other dimensions or are not immediately reflected in this physical dimension. There also exists a situation amongst practitioners who do not diligently study the Fa, and that is they don't seem to be keen on reading experience sharing articles of other practitioners posted on Clearwisdom, and they even develop a critical attitude towards these articles. Some will only read the top articles, plus one or two experience sharing articles, and they only care about their own gain and loss from their own personal perspective.

From the perspective of the Fa, these loopholes may provide a place for those beings that should have been eliminated in the Fa-rectification to continue to exist, which not only interferes with the practitioners themselves, but also with others. This situation is still quite common in a few areas where persecution by the evil is rather serious.

Master asked us to do the three things well, and studying the Fa well is the most fundamental prerequisite to doing everything well. We have to do all three things well and should not use everyday people's mentality to evaluate what we should or should not do. We should pay more attention to sharing our understanding of the Fa principles with fellow practitioners in various ways and we should listen to other

practitioners' opinions. This will help us find our own shortcomings and enable us to correct them in a timely manner to avoid unnecessary losses. Based on the perspectives of being responsible to Dafa and to all sentient beings, we have to look squarely at our own attachments, because this will help us let go them. Becoming rational and mature based on the principles of the Fa will help us form an indestructible One Body and help Dafa disciples to walk together on the righetous path during the last stage of Fa-rectification.

The above is my personal understanding. Please point out anything improper.

Posting date: 1/17/2004
Original article date: 1/16/2004
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/12/26/63364.html

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