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How I Understand Enduring Hardships By a Falun Gong practitioner from Qiqihar City, Heilongjiang Province
(Clearwisdom.net) Reading a January 10, 2008, article on the Minghui
website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom), "An Initial Understanding of
Enduring Hardships," [English translation is not available] I would like to
share my perspective on the same topic. Please point out anything inappropriate. I do not think we should endure the "hardship" the old forces
forced on us during the Fa-rectification cultivation period. We should eliminate
and negate it. When I first started making "truth-clarification" materials, it was
only the two of us--one other practitioner and me. We had to buy supplies from a
place very far from us. The most difficult thing to transport was paper. I grew
up in a very comfortable environment. I did not think I could carry a box of
paper. Once, when I carried a box of paper upstairs, I was surprised to realize
that it was very easy for me to lift. At that time I did not have righteous
thoughts, and I did not realize it was Master helping me. Then I suddenly
thought, "Oh, no. This must be only a half box of paper. I need to check
it. If it is really a half box, I will have to go back to the supplier."
Then I could no longer lift it! Later on, when I distributed the materials, I tried to overcome my human
notions. Whenever I was so tired that I could no longer carry the materials, I
always recited Master's poem: "A Great Enlightened One fears no hardship Now I am no longer afraid of carrying heavy loads. I have improved my xinxing
and level. I know this is the hardship I have to endure during cultivation. Some practitioners go to the countryside to clarify the truth.
They usually have to ride a bicycle for several hours to go through several
villages. It is quite tiring. Overseas practitioners send righteous thoughts and
clarify the truth in front of Chinese embassies, no matter how cold or how hot
the weather is. They have endured this hardship. This is practitioners'
establishing mighty power. They are all great. However, we must completely negate some of the tribulations the old forces
have imposed on practitioners during the Fa-rectification cultivation period. Not too long ago, a local practitioner became homeless due to the
persecution. Fellow practitioners were trying to help her find new lodging, but
there were differences of opinion among practitioners. One practitioner said,
"My relative has a house. But there is no heat in winter. You would have to
set it up yourself." Others said, "It is still better than nothing.
For the hardship you are supposed to endure, you should take it on."
However, the practitioner in question realized, "I became homeless. To some
degree, it might be because of my own loopholes. But this cannot become an
excuse for the evil to continue to persecute me and interfere with my
cultivation and my efforts to offering sentient beings salvation. We are in the
Fa-rectification period. I need to focus my energy on saving sentient beings. I
should have a stable environment to do the three things steadfastly.
If I live in that house, heating it would be time-consuming. It would affect my
Fa study time and my time for sending righteous thoughts. I am not
afraid of hardships. But if it is not something I am supposed to endure, I
absolutely refuse to take it on! The evil wants to take advantage of me and have
me walk on the path the old forces arranged for me. I will not let it
happen!" Results lie merely in the difference of one thought. Master has arranged
everything well. This practitioner returned to her temporary lodging and studied
the Fa calmly. Two days later she suddenly thought of a suitable place to live
and went there. Within an hour she had found a one-bedroom apartment and signed
the lease without showing her identification card or going through the local
police precinct. She moved in on the third day and continued to do Dafa-validating
work. Master said, "It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created.
Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not
even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations."
("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference") If Falun Gong practitioners cannot clearly recognize this truth and merely
consider every tribulation as a test they need to pass, or an attachment they
need to eliminate, they will be unable to escape the trap the old forces have
set. Didn't you bring the "hardship" on yourself? The practitioner
might have come to a certain agreement with the old forces during a prehistoric
period, but she should now completely negate it. Falun Gong practitioners' main
responsibility should be to offer sentient beings salvation. We should
completely recognize that this tribulation is interference to our cultivation
and our efforts of saving sentient beings. We should completely negate anything
from the old forces and send righteous thoughts to eliminate evil factors. In
the meantime, Fa study will improve our xinxing and automatically
eliminate the attachment to emotions. From studying Master's Fa I came to understand that in the old cosmos, the
deviated complex thoughts of different levels of beings are truly garbage. Falun
Gong practitioners are establishing the future. Practitioners are beings walking
toward the new cosmos. We should not think that the more hardship we endure, the
more mighty virtue we establish. Fa-rectification cultivation requires us to
maximally conform to the ways of ordinary society while cultivating, perfecting
ourselves, and offering sentient beings salvation. We should completely negate
any "hardship" forced on us and eliminate it with our righteous
thoughts. Posting date: 2/7/2008 |