Choices and Lessons

By a Falun Dafa Practitioner in Mainland China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Recently, a fellow practitioner who has been forced to leave his home and was working for a truth-clarification material production center had a serious bike accident after which he was taken away by the police. He was riding back to the place where he was staying, and fell off of a bridge. The fall was so serious that he could not move afterward. This practitioner was usually pretty careful about safety. However, the attention to safety is also a notion in this human world to which we have to conform. It is a factor in our validation of the Fa. Our improvement on the Fa and elimination of human attachments are actually key. If the human attachments are not eliminated, no matter how careful we are with safety in worldly people's ways, the evil will find an excuse to persecute us. The abduction of this practitioner is such a case.

It was about 4 a.m. when the practitioner fell and was immobilized under the bridge. It was very dark, so he called to a stranger on the bridge to call his family, even though he knew his home phone was already tagged by the police. When his family members received the call, they drove around the area. However, since the exact location where the accident happened was not discussed on the phone, his son could not find him. When his son returned home, his son took the practitioner's wife to go looking for him together. When they arrived at a bridge, the practitioner's wife asked their son to look under the bridge. The son said that it couldn't possibly be there, and they drove home. When they got home, it was light out. Shortly afterwards, they received another phone call and learned the location of the accident. However, it was already too late. When they took the practitioner home, police also followed. The police took the practitioner to a hospital for examination. When the doctor said that everything was fine, the police took the practitioner to a brainwashing center. After a few days at the brainwashing center, the practitioner basically recovered physically. In about 20 days, he was sent to a detention center. He has been detained there for three months now.

On the surface, it appeared that someone was controlling and arranging the situation. Actually, if we look at the true principles of things, it was the evil's dark minions persecuting the practitioner. The dark minions knew that under normal circumstances, they could not catch this practitioner. Therefore, the dark minions took advantage of the emotional attachment the practitioner had toward his family. When he fell and couldn't move, his mind was interfered with and he did not have righteous thoughts. His human emotions got the upper hand and made him want to go home. In addition, the dark minions also controlled others, so that they could not tell his family where he was, and made it difficult for his family to find him, even when they were in close proximity to the accident location. When his family finally found him, the evil people under the dark minions' control also arrived. Although he looked like he was severely injured, when he arrived at the hospital, everything was fine. He recovered within a few days. All of this was to set the premise to send him to the detention center.

This is what truly happened, not just my speculation. Because we are cultivators, the turn of events all depends on our thoughts. If our thoughts are righteous, then they are divine thoughts, and regardless of how terrible the environment, our situation will improve. If our thoughts are not righteous, then the bad situation will turn worse beyond our imagination. For example, if when immobilized, this practitioner thought, "I came to assist Master in Fa-rectification, this is my mission, and I will validate the Fa no matter what happens," the situation would be different. As soon as he had righteous thoughts, our benevolent Master would help him. That's because this was his original wish and vows he made a long time ago. Simply put, if he chose to follow Master, then Master would help him. If he had called fellow practitioners, the practitioners would come find him, and his body would have gradually recovered. If his righteous thoughts were very strong, miracles would happen, since "when disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn back the tide." ("The Master-Disciple Bond," Hong Yin II) He would be able to return to the material center and continue to validate the Fa.

Unfortunately, this fellow practitioner did not make such a choice. His human attachments emerged and he wanted to go home. This was also what the dark minions wanted. In other words, he had unwittingly chosen to follow the old forces. As such, the evil would lead him to a prison cell, one step after another. Just because of this one thought, which led to one wrong choice, he has paid such a high price. Now that he is detained and cannot study the Fa, it will be really difficult for him to improve or validate the Fa to fulfill his vows. The sentient beings who are awaiting his salvation are no longer able to be saved. Those who had the hope of obtaining the Fa through him are now too scared to obtain the Fa. What a painful lesson! We are making choices with every thought of ours. It's a matter of following the Master versus following the old forces. If we make the right choice, a new realm will be shown to us. If we don't, we'll have to pay the price for the wrong choice. In addition to feeling pain and anger, we should reflect back on what kind of choices we made that led to such a loss.

Actually, these choices are not just made during great tribulations and tests. The people who are knowingly and unknowingly making poor choices include those who are unable to step forward and validate the Fa due to fear, those who want to keep the status quo, those who are afraid of dropping in level if they are arrested, and those who are not able to validate the Fa well because they are attached to their life of comfort, a nice apartment, and children. However, our only choice should be following Master, whole-heartedly assisting Master in Fa-rectification, clarifying the facts, and saving sentient beings. This was our original wish when we came, and is also the path of our return. Let us learn from our mistakes. If our choices are not righteous, or not very righteous, we must pay the price, which may involve prices of blood and life. Master told us, "Past lessons should make you more mature." ("Toward Consummation") We should not have fallen in vain; our tears should not be shed in vain. When a fellow practitioner falls, then we have fallen, too, just in a different way. We should enlighten from our mistakes, improve our understanding, learn our lessons, and correct our mistakes. Together, let us walk our path well.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/4/21/153197.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version