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Break Through Despondency; Cherish This Predestined Opportunity
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in North America
(Clearwisdom.net) Our revered Master published an article titled "A
Will That Ebbs Not" on September 18, the day of the Chinese Mid-Autumn
Festival, in which He benevolently instructed us: "Disciples of Fa, "Be diligent, with a will that ebbs not "The countless years of hardship were all for this time" Twenty days later, benevolent Master published another article, "The
Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be" in which He conveyed
solemn teachings regarding a small number of practitioners who have grown
despondent and who are no longer diligent. After studying the new article I realized that Master is again solemnly
pointing out our shortcomings in cultivation during this last stage of Fa-rectification
cultivation. He told us the Fa principles regarding the issue of diligence
during cultivation. He also compassionately pointed out to us how to be solid
and righteous on the last leg of this journey, so we will fulfill our
predestined mission from countless years ago. Recently, I often hear practitioners say that they are in low spirits and are
not as diligent as they used to be. They feel as if many attachments and human
notions still exist despite years of cultivation. They forgive themselves of
their shortcomings and constantly find excuses to justify being lax. When clear-headed though, they feel they are not in a good state, and it
seems quite difficult for them to break through it. They have also demonstrated
non-diligent behaviors such as placing Dafa work above Fa study. They justify
not studying the Fa well with "I'm busy and don't have time." Some
practitioners have trouble ensuring the quality of Fa study and merely go
through the motions'. In fact, unless they study the Fa well enough, they can't
truly do well with Dafa work. They can't get up at 6:00 a.m. to send forth
righteous thoughts and are not as active and attentive now as they used to be
when clarifying the truth, as their will to save people has eroded. A few practitioners even devote large amounts of time and energy doing
ordinary people's things and living well the ordinary people's life, such as
enthusiastically watching long TV series, and other things. Master clearly points out in the new article, "They haven't realized that this is an attachment to the duration of
Fa-rectification, or is caused by interference from incorrect, acquired
notions, which results in their gaps being exploited by interfering factors
that the old forces left behind early on in the surface of the human
dimension, wicked specters, or rotten demons--things that have magnified and
strengthened those attachments and human notions--all of which has brought
about this despondent state." [...] "...most disciples who are in this state are that way because, at the
beginning, they didn't realize that they had subtle attachments or were being
interfered with by their own notions, and so the evil has exploited this gap
and magnified those factors." ("The Closer to the End, the More
Diligent You Should Be") So, which of our attachments or acquired notions were taken advantage of by
the evil? Are we satisfied with what we have contributed in our cultivation and
validating the Fa, thinking that we can now relax? Do we presume that we have
cultivated ourselves very well and should simply wait for cultivation to end? Is
it because the timeframe for the end of cultivation has exceeded what we had our
minds set on, and therefore we have started to wrangle over self-interest in
ordinary society? Are we attached to a comfortable lifestyle, no longer willing
to make unconditional sacrifices to cultivate ourselves? Are we misinterpreting
cultivation and making arrangements in a way to suit our own desires? Are we
following our notions instead of always regarding the Fa as the teacher in
cultivation? Are we abusing Master's compassion to forgive our shortcomings
again and again, and indulging ourselves in our heart, thinking that Master will
never give up on us? Are we thinking of the end of Fa-rectification with our
degenerate notions about time and wrongfully conclude, "We still have
time" or, "There is always tomorrow if I don't things well
today?" Master told us in the Fa that any problem that arises in cultivation is the
result of human attachments and notions. If we can't follow Master's teaching,
solemnly and truly look inward by judging ourselves with the Fa, firmly get rid
of human notions and attachments that must be eliminated through cultivation,
then we would be leaving gaps for the old forces, rotten demons and wicked
specters to exploit. If we shun, cover up, make up excuses, speculate about
cultivation or deceive ourselves with our own concocted imagination to comfort
ourselves, we would equally permit the old forces to disrupt Fa-rectification
and tolerate the evil to wantonly destroy sentient beings. During discussions, some practitioners express dissatisfaction with their
despondent state, yet they feel powerless to break through it, or that the
results of their efforts to break through have been less than optimal. We
understand from Fa principles that solid cultivation means cultivating in the Fa
and eventually eliminating attachments. If a cultivator says, "I know this
is a test, but I just can't give up my attachments;" if he doesn't have the
resolve to make solid progress, pass tests and make improvements; if he is
attached to or deluded by the so-called real world, full of temptations; if he
looks at cultivation and cultivation principles with human notions instead of
cultivating and improving according to the righteous principles of Dafa, then he
will not reach consummation in Dafa. In fact, the various attachments and notions are not from our true selves,
yet they interfere with and disrupt our cultivation. So, why not eliminate them?
When our righteous thoughts obtained through Dafa cultivation truly come into
play, these notions will have no place to hide. Every Dafa disciple knows that this one opportunity has come after countless
years and is incomparably precious; we know that the glorious fruition we will
achieve through Fa-rectification cultivation will be unprecedented and will
never happen again. Only we truly walk a path toward godhood, and we do so under
Master's guidance. Yet, all of this magnificence manifests through Master's Fa-rectification,
through melting into the Fa, through fulfilling our mission to validate Dafa and
save sentient beings, through discarding all human attachments and notions that
interfere with validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, and eventually
reaching godhood. The difficulties we encounter in cultivation appear to be tribulations and
things to be avoided to everyday people, but to cultivators they are, "[...] an outstanding opportunity to remove karma, be cleansed of sin,
purify the body, elevate your plane of thought, and rise in level--it's an
extraordinarily good thing." ("The Closer to the End, the More
Diligent You Should Be") Only by believing in Master and Dafa and firmly following the righteous Fa
principles of Dafa in cultivation, fundamentally changing our ordinary people's
way of thinking'', eliminating interference, restrictions and barriers brought
on by the inverse principles of human society; only then will we 'not leave
behind any regrets that we will never be able to make up.
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