(Clearwisdom.net) I was very moved by the article "Break Through the Shell of Evil and Form a Single, Flawless Body" published on Clearwisdom.net (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/8/28/89018.html). My experience was similar to that of the article's author, and I successfully went through it. I want to explain how I have come to fully understand the concept of "one body" (of Dafa practitioners) and "the barrier" or the "shell of evil" by changing the basis of my cultivation.
After the persecution started, for a variety of reasons, I lost contact with the majority of my fellow practitioners. The one or two practitioners I could contact then were not in the city where I lived. The author of the above-mentioned article could still get in contact with several other practitioners, while I was in complete isolation. When I was not clear on the Fa, whenever the "karma" attacked my body, when I was arrested, or whenever I encountered severe tribulations during my Fa-validation, I truly wished to have other practitioners around who could share their understandings with me and help me get over the impasse. However, every time I tried to call fellow practitioners who lived in other regions, they refused to talk to me about their understandings on the phone, which was, in fact, very reasonable given the circumstances of the persecution at that time. They also refused to let me visit them. They told me to solve the problems by myself.
Each time a call for help ended in disappointment, I felt angry, hurt, and even desperate. For quite a long time I did not know which areas I fell short in, nor could I drive away that kind of resentment. This lasted for several years.
Over the years, my "single-handed" efforts of validating the Fa and saving sentient beings tempered me, and as a result, I finally came to recognize the root cause of that kind of incorrect cultivation state, which formed the basis for my cultivation. When one cultivates oneself out of selfish motives, the cultivation manifests as "seeking." When one's basis of cultivation is done for altruistic purposes, the cultivation manifests as "giving." This is the fundamental difference between cultivation in the old cosmos and Dafa cultivation. I can look back and see in which kinds of situations I needed help from fellow practitioners; it was always when I was facing a tribulation or bewildered! When I did very well in validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, I would not think about needing other practitioners' help, nor would I think about taking the initiative to help other practitioners. Of course, I did not know other practitioners back then; what I am refering to here is my human attachment. When this need to seek help cannot be satisfied, one automatically becomes resentful. Attachment to the pursuit of anything is the best soil for the existence of resentment.
To suffer for the sins committed by the sentient beings, Buddha Milarepa [an ancient cultivator in Tibet] drank the poison that Doctor Caopu brought him and then showed "symptoms of illness." While in tribulation, he did not ask others to help him, nor did he transfer the "symptoms of illness" somewhere else. He in turn chose to utilize the "symptoms of illness" to save that doctor who was trying to kill him.
What our respected, sacred, and great Master has endured for us is way beyond our capacity to imagine. We can in no way know what and how much suffering Master has endured for us and for the salvation of sentient beings. That being said, we at least should learn from Master so that we can gradually shift the basis of our cultivation from being selfish to altruistic.
Selfishness makes one attend to one's own suffering. On the surface, one seems to always be trying hard to "search inward," while he or she is, in fact, trapped in his or her own suffering and cannot get free. Altruism can allow one go beyond one's personal feelings of suffering, and even free one from the fear of death. In this case, what the cultivator feels is the suffering of others. While helping others to overcome their suffering, the cultivator can gradually and unknowingly achieve the state of freeing himself.
Basing one's cultivation on selfishness can easily make one develop a certain reliance on others and external environments when one experiences tribulations. During the process of giving up one's sense of responsibility, one may lose the independent nature that a cultivator should have. The situation will be just the opposite when one bases one's cultivation on altruistic motives. In this case, while one demands of oneself to be responsible to others, one is also responsible for one's words and actions, as well as for one's own cultivation. In the former case, one is "seeking," while in the latter, one is "giving."
While one is in tribulation, if he or she shows any reliance on other persons (including fellow practitioners), things, or factors, one is "seeking" instead of "giving." The basis for this kind of cultivation, which is selfish, has not gone beyond the principles of the old cosmos. So the old forces and evil have automatic excuses to impose interference on these cultivators, and they can make it hard for these cultivators to free themselves from these tribulations. When we gradually move the basis of our cultivation from being selfish to being altruistic, we will no longer be blocked by the tribulations we are facing, and we will not incessantly "search inward" amid the tribulations the old forces have arranged. In its place is our sacred sense of mission and responsibility. Moving forward with this sacred sense of responsibility, the tribulations before us will completely disappear. We should not forget that sentient beings are counting on us! How can we still have the leisure and time to always attend to our own personal suffering!
We must be able to make sacrifices and be responsible. We cannot always push onto other practitioners what we need to cultivate and what we need to be responsible for. Nonetheless, even if help from the other practitioners is effective, it is still the genuine manifestation of the infinite power of Master and Dafa during the process of Master's saving us in the ordinary world. We cannot attribute these outcomes to fellow practitioners and thus develop the attachment of relying on fellow practitioners.
We are the Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, and we are shouldering a huge responsibility for creating a reference for people to follow in the future. Dafa practitioners, in general, need to walk a path of the "one body" of Dafa practitioners in validating the Fa. In the meantime, while operating within this whole body, the individual practitioner also needs to walk his or her own path. How we view tribulations and how we overcome predicaments with the noble mindset of validating the Fa and offering sentient beings salvation can all become reference points for the future. It is therefore particularly important to be able to independently walk one's own path. We have come for Fa validation, so when we encounter problems, we should first rely on the Fa, rather than any individuals, factors, external environmental changes, or any kind of external help. If Master and Dafa cannot help us, what is the use of depending on others? From the great matter of ending the persecution to the tiny matter of personal tribulations, what we can depend on are only Master and Dafa, as well as the righteous thoughts that we have cultivated from the Fa. This is the real understanding that I have gained from gradually correcting my basis of cultivation and overcoming resentments over the years.
Additionally, isolation and psychological pain are only personal feelings. If one has completely immersed oneself into Fa validation and the salvation of sentient beings, one will not have such feelings. However, when one is experiencing tribulations one can easily take these human feelings as evil interference and thus overlook the parts a cultivator needs to purge. So it is not that one has fundamentally eradicated the mentality of resentment, but that one has transferred one's resentment from fellow practitioners to the evil. As a result, one should not be surprised that the root cause for one's tribulations has not been removed.
We can try to forget the tribulations we are facing. We should broaden our vision more and more and try our best to put our thoughts into how to even more effectively and widely save sentient beings on an even larger scale, and examine the significance of our lives. This way we will gradually get into the state of "being altruistic," which is the key to our overcoming tribulations!
Regarding the evil's efforts to try to separate us, my belief is that the evil does in no way have the ability to separate Dafa practitioners. Our human notions are separating us. My mind is not separated from fellow practitioners, so I should not feel that fellow practitioners are excluding me. I should do what I am supposed to do and not be affected by others.
Looking back at my experiences, when I gradually turned the basis for my cultivation toward altruism, my resentments disappeared "like vanishing smoke and clouds." When I look back at the way that the fellow practitioners who live in other regions treated me, I not only fully understand their circumstances, but also sincerely thank them. It is they who have made me unequivocally face my own selfishness. It is they who have given me the opportunity to "battle single-handedly," sacrifice, and take on responsibilities. Even though the practitioners in the other regions and I have rarely contacted each other, our minds are connected; it is the case that Dafa has tightly connected us "Dafa particles," and the evil can in no way separate us! Those who believe that the evil has the power to separate us have already highly overestimated the evil. Faced with Dafa practitioners, they are nothing!
Regarding the concept of one whole body of Dafa practitioners, my understanding is that the concept of the whole body does not simply refer to the surface meaning, such as whether cultivators have contacted each other or gathered in a group. We should see if our Fa validation and our offering salvation to the sentient beings requires a form or if the conditions do not permit it. If we are deviating from the main direction of Fa validation and the salvation of sentient beings, we still cannot say that Dafa practitioners are one body. Especially at the present time, when the conditions in China are still very harsh, the old forces can even take advantage of this gap and arrest all the practitioners when they are gathering. There are many such lessons. Therefore, Dafa disciples do not have to gather formally in a specific location to be called one body.
Over the years I had no choice but to validate the Fa by myself as I was unable to get in contact with other practitioners. I felt lonely, empty, and even desperate when I experienced tribulations, but I have never felt that I was separated from the whole body of Dafa practitioners. I read almost each and every article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, as these articles all reflect the purest sides of Dafa practitioners. I have benefited tremendously. Through Minghui/Clearwisdom.net, I always have a sense that I am a part of the whole body. I have never had the feeling that I was "expelled from the group" as described in the above-mentioned article.
Furthermore, considering the enormous pressure in China, it is not easy for practitioners to get in contact with each other, so the basis for their contacting each other should be even more focused on Fa validation and the salvation of sentient beings. At the very least, we should make efforts by holding onto the belief of harmonizing the whole body rather than have the mentality "I want to improve" or "I want to overcome this particular predicament."
As long as all of us consider ourselves as Dafa particles and act according to the Fa, even though we are in the state of "separated there are particles," we are still parts of the whole body, and we have not been separated from the whole body, because the Fa has connected us. Furthermore, only the Fa can temper Dafa practitioners into one body, which is the one body in the real sense.
September 10, 2007
