Take the Righteous Path While Negating the Old Forces
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Beijing
(Clearwisdom.net) The fifth time I went to Beijing to validate the Fa
in November 2001, I was arrested, sent to a detention center and eventually to a
forced labor camp. While I was in the detention center, nothing could sway my
determination to cultivate, but in the forced labor camp it was a different
story and my focus was diverted. With Teacher's hints, I quickly became
clear-headed, and with Teacher watching over me, I continually raised my level
as a practitioner through my involvement in the anti-persecution activities that
followed. With righteous thoughts I successfully walked out of the forced labor
camp. When I later reflected upon the progress of my development in raising my
level as a practitioner during the past year, I felt that I had made significant
progress. At the time I also had a vague notion that I was able to progress so
quickly because I was being persecuted. After returning to work, I persistently rejected everything that the evil
forces mandated, and at the same time, sought opportunities to clarify the facts
to people who had been misled. In the process, the fear of being caught and
re-sent to the forced labor camp took its hold on me, and my acts of clarifying
the facts to people became not so very open or straightforward. One evening, two months after I had left the forced labor camp, the police
again detained me and tried to send me back to the forced labor camp. During the
previous two months, I had been diligently studying the Fa and reading articles
about practitioners' righteous thoughts and righteous actions, so I was prepared
with some idea of how to face the persecution. While in the detention center, I
searched for my own omissions and discovered that my fear of being caught had
created a loophole for the old forces to exploit. Every day I frequently sent
forth righteous thoughts, both to negate the arrangements made by the old forces
and to clear out all elements that had caused the persecution to occur. I
recited the Fa attentively and took every opportunity to clarify the facts to
almost all the people who went in and out of the detention center. During my
interrogations, I would recite from one of Teacher's articles,
"Indestructible righteous faith in the cosmos's Truth forms benevolent Dafa
disciples' rock-solid, Diamond-Like Bodies, it frightens all evil, and the light
of Truth it emanates makes the unrighteous elements in all beings' thoughts
disintegrate. However strong the righteous thoughts are, that's how great the
power is." ("Also in a Few Words" in Essentials for Further
Advancement II). Alternatively, I would send forth righteous thoughts to
clear away the evil factors that were manipulating the police, or I would
clarify the facts to expose the evil forces. The police became weak while I
maintained very strong righteous thoughts. One of them said, "Don't say any
more, we'll be afraid to be here if you speak any more." Finally they asked me to speak my mind about Falun Dafa, and I said, "I
will sign my name for repeating 'Falun Dafa is good!' ten times." A month
later, I left the detention center and I know that it was Teacher who protected
me so that I could deny the arrangements of the old forces. After leaving the detention center, I was able to clarify the facts to people
in an open and straightforward manner under all circumstances. Somehow I still
had a feeling that I was able to raise my level as a practitioner at a much
faster pace while I was being persecuted. A year later, I was again arrested and detained in the detention center. They
tried to return me to forced labor camp, and I again denied the old forces'
arrangements and walked out of the detention center after a month. When the
police later sent me to the brainwashing center, I loudly shouted out, "Falun
Dafa is good!" in the brainwashing center. I clarified the facts to the
people and regularly sent forth righteous thoughts. They dared not keep me
there, so I left the brainwashing center after only ten days. Afterwards, I was
returned to the brainwashing center two more times, and both times I kept
sending forth righteous thoughts daily and clarifying the facts. The police
didn't have much choice but to let me go. I studied Teacher's Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference and,
at the same time, use it to look at my experience in validating the Fa. I would
memorize the paragraphs or parts that I had difficulty comprehending. The
following are my personal understandings: "When you encounter ordeals during your cultivation, you have got to
cultivate yourself and look at yourself--that doesn't mean acknowledging the
ordeals arranged by the old forces and trying to do well amidst the ordeals
they've arranged, that's not the case." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004
Chicago Conference) When I verified my experience with what Teacher had said, I realized that at
the beginning of my journey to validate the Fa, my determination was just as
strong and steady as it is now. The difference was that I initially acknowledged
the ordeals arranged by the old forces and was helplessly enduring the
persecution, and that was a major problem. "It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created.
Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not
even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." (Teaching
the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) This is how our Teacher has arranged for us to cultivate. 2. I realized the fact that being arrested twice more after leaving the
forced labor camp was exactly what the old forces had planned. I persisted in
validating the Fa with unyielding faith and without being swayed by any human
notion, which helped me to reject the plan set by the old forces and to walk
away from the ordeals. Nevertheless, I fell into the scheme set by the old
forces, and was therefore persecuted. Thus, I didn't do well on the cultivation
path designed by Teacher. Teacher said, "We're fundamentally negating all
of their things," (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference)
and that's the only way to walk well on the cultivation path. 3. Teacher said, "What we need to do is completely negate the old
forces." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) During our
cultivation, it is not sufficient that we are unafraid of being arrested, being
persecuted or being able to negate the old forces while being persecuted; we
should furthermore "negate even the very emergence of the old forces,"
"don't even acknowledge their existence" and "not even
acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations." (Teaching
the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference) Teacher asked us to establish our
mighty virtue while negating and eliminating the old forces. 4. We must acquire a more thorough understanding of the Fa through
studying it in order to achieve what our Teacher requires, and that is to
completely negate the old forces. For example, for a long time, I believed that
I could raise my level as a practitioner much faster while being persecuted, and
I now understand that kind of thinking was the reason for my multiple arrests
(of course there were other reasons as well.) There was a practitioner who said,
"This is a good thing" when we talked about the capture of other
practitioners by the police. Not long after that, this practitioner was also
arrested. In my opinion, this was due to the practitioner's deficiency in
understanding the Fa principle and knowingly acknowledging the old forces. 5. It would require us to begin examining our each and every single
thought if we wanted to fundamentally negate the arrangements made by the old
forces. In the past, the old forces have pre-arranged each and every thought; so
today they aim at our each and every thought to arrange their interference. If
we think according to what has been pre-arranged by the old forces, then we will
fall into their trap. They persecute practitioners because our thoughts and
actions were consistent with their arrangements. Therefore, we must straighten
out our thoughts and actions according to the principle of the Fa, and
thereafter negate the old forces completely. 6. Teacher said, "The whole process of cultivation is a process of
constantly getting rid of human attachments." (Zhuan Falun) In our
cultivation process, we must remember well Teacher's teaching that we should
always look within whenever encountering problems, and that if one of our
attachments is the root of the problem then we should purge the attachment
through studying the Fa. If we were all able to do that, will persecution exist
any longer? 7. Teacher said, "During the tribulation, you've taken the
persecution of Dafa disciples by evil beings in this cosmos using bad people to
be human acts." (In Fa-Rectification Your Thoughts Have to be Righteous,
Not Human) The idea that we would not be persecuted or be persecuted less if
we didn't do as much Fa-rectification work is consistent with what the old
forces have arranged. These thoughts lead us to become timid and tentative in
handling things or put too much consideration into how "not to be
persecuted," and this is a very dangerous situation. 8. Teacher said, "Have righteous thoughts! However you think
something should be handled, just go ahead and do it, and when you run into
problems you will naturally know how to solve them. If your righteous thoughts
are strong, everything will work out smoothly and it's guaranteed you'll do
well. "(Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa
Conference) Therefore if we handle all the problems encountered with
righteous thoughts while validating the Fa, we can then completely negate the
old forces. 9. Teacher has said that to cultivate at a high level is to choose to
follow the Fa principles. In our deepest thoughts, we can only choose to follow
the path that Teacher has arranged for us without acknowledging the path
arranged by the old forces. Under this premise, by studying the Fa diligently
and measuring everything we do with the Fa, we can negate the interference
created by the old forces and take the path of Fa validation well. 10. The persecution was not necessary and it didn't have to occur. We can
raise our levels as practitioners through diligently studying the Fa, while
completely negating the old forces. "You are to walk your own path well
while not acknowledging them." (Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago
Conference) December 10, 2004
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/12/11/91159.html
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