By a Falun Dafa practitioner from North America

(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher says in "Rationality,"

"Amidst tribulations, it is very difficult for a student to see the cause of a matter; but it's not that it is impossible. When he calms his mind and evaluates things with Dafa, he will be able to see the nature of the matter." Essentials for Further Advancement II

I feel that during the present stage of the Fa-rectification period, in everything we do, our standpoint should always be from the Fa-rectification process. The Fa requires us to maintain a correct standpoint. If our standpoint is incorrect, problems easily occur. For example, I had tried very hard to do a lot of Dafa work in the past, but my standpoint was incorrect. It was not for saving sentient beings, as required by Teacher and Dafa. As I did more Dafa work, I even started to treat it as ordinary people's work. Personal fame, self-interest and sentimentality got mixed into the work I did, and I encountered much interference. Although I felt like I was validating the Fa at the time, I was in fact validating myself. No righteous gods would help me, so the evil was able to interfere. After enduring much pain, I had to re-position myself. Now I understand the Fa's requirement for having a correct standpoint. We certainly cannot do Dafa work in order to avoid being persecuted.

Although I feel my cultivation state has recently improved, my physical health is quite poor. This has puzzled me for a long time. Why was I not able to break through the fundamental "selfishness" for such a long period of time? In the past, much of the interference came from thought karma. Although my health wasn't great, it was still tolerable. But recently, my physical health took a turn for the worse. I later understood that we should look beyond the surface appearance of these matters, and not use ordinary people's logic in handling the work we do during Fa-rectification. The evil persecutes us in order to interfere with the Fa-rectification. The persecution does not happen without reason nor does it interfere just for the sake of interfering. The evil systematically and purposefully persecutes us. In the past, the evil mainly targeted my mind in order to persecute me. It increased my thought karma so that I could not concentrate on the Fa-rectification work that I was doing. That's how they achieved their goal, and they didn't need to interfere with my body. But now, since Teacher has eliminated the thought karma for me, the evil changed its method of persecution. It began interfering with my body, but the goal remains unchanged. When I participated in a few recent Dafa activities, I endured great pain. This even made me really worried about my physical health when my righteous thoughts were not strong.

For whatever tribulations we encounter, it is very important to have a clear understanding. Why is my current state still like this? My current understanding is that firstly, the evil tries to interfere with my body in order to interfere with my validating the Fa. Secondly, I have so far not fulfilled the requirements of Dafa for a Fa-rectification disciple. If I had done so, I would not be in the state I am in now.

A while ago, I tried to ignore my health problems. Sometimes I felt fine, other times I did not, but I could still do a lot of work. Looking back, I realize that that was an ordinary person's understanding. At that time, I would only send forth righteous thoughts targeting my body when I was in great pain. Although I still sent righteous thoughts at the set times every day, I did not specifically target my body, nor did I send forth righteous thoughts for extended periods. Sometimes, I even felt this showed that I was not attached to my physical health. Looking back, I realize that the evil had suppressed my mind, and made up many excuses for me not to send forth righteous thoughts. Now I send forth righteous thoughts because I want to do it from the bottom of my heart. I send righteous thoughts targeting every matter, including my body, because there is evil there that needs to be eliminated by Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts.

Although I have not completely broken through the notion that the evil's interference with my body is persecution forced on me, the pain does not affect me as much. Loss and gain in the secular world no longer move my heart like they used to. In the past, if I encountered any difficulty, I would feel worried and pained. Now, I feel very calm. Although some matters may appear bad on the surface, they may in fact be something good. In the end, many "bad things" in fact turn out to be "good things." I think that the three things Teacher asks us to do are the fundamental safeguard for everything. If we can completely let go of selfishness, assimilate to the Fa and maintain a pure standpoint of saving sentient beings, tribulations will no longer exist. Of course, clearing tribulations is not our purpose, our purpose is to save sentient beings and assimilate to the Fa.

I also believe that sharing with fellow practitioners is very important when you are in a tribulation. Sometimes, another practitioners' personal cultivation experience unintentionally helps me a lot. The practitioner himself may not know it, but I am truly thankful to him. The evil in another dimension is watching us closely and taking advantage of our loopholes, but Teacher and the righteous gods will always protect us and use other practitioners' words to enlighten us. One day, another practitioner said to me that she could sometimes assimilate to the Fa while studying the Fa. She said, "What Master teaches us are principles of gods. As for matters of the human world; let them be the way they are." What she said really enlightened me. It seemed very simple and like something every practitioner understands, but the cultivation realm of her words truly touched me.

This is only my personal cultivation experience and understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.