Some Thoughts on "Letting Go of Life and Death"
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) In the past six months, several Falun Dafa practitioners in our city were illegally arrested, after which we held some sharing on this among local practitioners. We all realized that we fell short in saving sentient beings because we could not let go of life and death, and we all had different degrees of attachment to fear.
Letting go of fear and letting go of life and death are tests that we as cultivators must pass. Teacher has expounded on this issue in several lectures. He taught us, "What I'm telling you is that when you're truly able to let go of the thought of life or death you can do anything!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference") Teacher also said in Lectures in the United States (1997): "This is the difference between a human and a God. If you can let go of life and death, you're a God; if you can't let go of life and death, you're a human--this is the difference." Fear of life and death is a notion of ordinary people; it is not a god's mindset. Everything within the society of ordinary people may change in an instant, and Teacher has explained to us, "By remaining unmoved you could handle all situations." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference"). As long as our minds are in the Fa, we are able to achieve this state, and after we truly change ourselves fundamentally, the evil can do nothing to affect us.
Everything in human society is an illusion. What would be the meaning of our staying in this society if we did not cultivate ourselves and save sentient beings? Now that we understand Dafa as the universal truth, we must have firm belief in the Fa. We should not develop attachments of fear or become perturbed whenever there is a superficial change in our environment. As a matter of fact, in the articles "A Suggestion," "Be Clearheaded" and "My Version of a 'Stick Wake-up,'" Teacher reminded us solemnly that we hold the responsibility of saving sentient beings. Therefore, whether we are able to put down our attachments of fear and whether we are able to step forward is a significant test to determine whether we truly believe in Teacher and Dafa and whether we truly have compassion and how compassionate we are. Personal cultivation and cultivation during Fa-rectification are certainly different. We must negate the old forces, but we must do well ourselves at the same time. Consider a person who is a self-proclaimed believer in Dafa and Teacher staying at home to "study the Fa" when his fellow practitioners and sentient beings are facing great danger. Can he really achieve consummation with such a selfish mentality?
It is possible that this is only one of the reasons behind our fellow practitioners being arrested one after another, however, our failing to let go of life and death is certainly a key reason. If we all step forward to clarify the truth every way we can, and when a fellow practitioner is arrested, we put up posters on all the streets and alleys at night, it would shock the evil significantly. And if we continue on like this until everyone knows the truth, the evil will be eliminated to a great extent. It is precisely because many of our fellow practitioners felt indifferent and did not actively expose the evil when arrests of practitioners took place that the evildoers have dared to persecute practitioners so wantonly. A few years ago, when Ms. Zhou Caixia and other practitioners were tortured to death during their incarcerations in prison, we did very little to expose the evil. Remembering this, we all feel we owe much to our fellow practitioners.
While the "Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party" was being circulated, I had reservations about persuading people to renounce the party and its related organizations, and the very little I did was based on people's different understandings of the nature of the party. I thought that, as the core of the evil CCP was attacked, it would struggle and fight back. I therefore did not dare to do much. In retrospect, such thoughts of mine must only have strengthened the evil.
I feel that the attachment of fear remains a problem for many practitioners in all regions, and thus I have written this article as a reminder to everyone. I hope more fellow practitioners will share their understandings on this issue so that we can all cross this barrier to save more sentient beings. It is also worth mentioning that those who fail to step forward are often hindered by their own notions. If they truly step out, they will find that there are many opportunities to clarify the truth and change their minds.
Fa rectification is approaching the end. The evil shall be eliminated completely. Let us put down all human notions and hasten to step forward. Let us cooperate with one another and support one another. If we do not let go of our attachments now, there will not be another chance.
When we meet our revered Teacher, what will we have to say to Him?
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2005/10/29/113338.html
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