(Clearwisdom.net) The more the Fa-rectification progresses to the final stage, the higher the requirements the Fa-rectification poses on us. Each word, action, and thought of ours may affect whether sentient beings will be saved.

In the face of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) evil and cruel persecution of Falun Gong, many people from mainland China appear to be fearful and indifferent. However, their true selves still put their hope in practitioners who cultivate Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. The more steadfast we are and the more confident we are in Teacher and the Fa on our cultivation paths, the more hope people feel from us and the easier it will be for them to approach the Fa and have their preconceived notions transformed.

Conversely, if we do not truly believe in Teacher and the Fa and do not manifest the manner of a true practitioner, ordinary people will think, "You Falun Gong practitioners are merely like this. Maybe you are not even as good as I am." They might have even worse thoughts.

Whenever people see a practitioner always making mistakes with respect to money, they might complain, "How come she is practicing Falun Gong? You'd better talk her out of it. Doing what she is doing, she does not deserve to be a practitioner." Whenever they see a practitioner displaying the attachments of ego and selfishness, they will say, "Look at what he is doing. Does he deserve to be a practitioner? How absurd!"

If a practitioner does not hold his or her temper and has conflicts with other people, people will say, "You believe in Falun Gong. Why are you treating others like this?"

Whenever we are too attached to our egos and do not cultivate ourselves according to the Fa, we cause ourselves to stay for a long time in the state of being inconsistent with a practitioner's standard and we will eventually go astray from the Fa. Then, people will look down on us and regard us as lower than non-practitioners who have low moral standards. The reason is that they know the superficial meaning of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and know how to measure our words and deeds in this superficial dimension based on the meaning of the principles at their level of comprehension.

In fact, each and every being on earth will subconsciously develop a standard deep down in their souls as soon as they carefully read the three words, "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance." The clear-minded sides of their true beings play a role in enabling them to understand practitioners' cultivation states to a certain extent. People may not necessarily use the superficial meaning of "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance" to measure other non-practitioners, but they will surely use it to measure practitioners' words and deeds. We should pay full attention to this, even though it might seemingly involve very trivial matters.

I don't think it is by accident that I encountered these kinds of situations. I have explained to people that the problems we face on our cultivation paths are not as simple as viewed superficially. I have also explained that our Teacher is benevolent and keeps giving opportunities to practitioners, because, no matter what, a practitioner will make improvements along the way by studying the Fa and cultivating xinxing as long as he or she has the desire to cultivate.

I remember a fellow practitioner who had changed completely after practicing Falun Gong. After the persecution started, someone once talked to me about this practitioner, "Compared to her, I am really selfish. I dare not be selfish in front of her. I do not really know Falun Gong, but I believe she is such a good person so what she believes in must be good." Then this person narrated some trivial events that really moved her. When this fellow practitioner was persecuted, this person initiated telephone calls to express sympathy and solicitude. She also accepted practitioners' truth-clarification and has quit the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Youth League.

Once, I was riding a bus when I saw a person claiming to be a Falun Gong practitioner and even claiming to have been persecuted and losing his job as a result. After that person got off the bus, the driver said, "He cannot be a practitioner. Falun Gong practitioners are all good people with nice manners. I know a practitioner personally. If someone bought something from him and accidentally paid him one hundred yuan too much, he would run to catch up with the buyer to return the extra money."

Another time, I was in a taxi and the driver said, "My younger brother works in the field of industrial commerce. His boss is a Falun Gong practitioner and never accepts personal gifts (bribes). His boss is such a nice person but has now been arrested. My younger brother has visited him several times. My brother told me he was really fortunate to have such a good boss, yet his boss was sent to prison."

I also remember that a fellow practitioner, who had not practiced Falun Gong for that long, said to me, "I saw one of our fellow practitioners shopping in the market. I could feel that he was obviously a practitioner due to his appearance and demeanor, which seemed to differentiate him from others." Similarly, another person who wants to start practicing Falun Gong also told me that she felt that one would develop a more elegant demeanor after practicing Falun Gong. I think what she probably meant by "elegant demeanor" was the refined manner that a practitioner would naturally display when his or her xinxing is consistent with the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance.

These practitioners who are deemed as nice people by non-practitioners have really cultivated themselves according to Teacher's requirements. They make good a impression on ordinary people not because they have done anything spectacular but because they have conducted themselves as true cultivators in their daily lives. They have paid attention to trivial things on their cultivation paths and have followed, in concrete steps, what the Fa teaches us. Thus they can truly validate the Fa and display the appearance and manner of true practitioners.

I have written this article because I have noticed that some fellow practitioners, including myself, have not truly cultivated themselves. Instead, we have spent a lot of time and effort on the theory and can speak easily and eloquently when clarifying the truth and persuading people to quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations. In ordinary people's eyes, the eloquent speech and arguments merely show that we can speak well, but our truth-clarification cannot carry the power of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and therefore it is hard to move people's hearts. Moreover, some practitioners have considered truth-clarification activities themselves as cultivation and think that as long as they go out to do truth-clarification work, they are truly cultivating themselves. These practitioners cannot conduct themselves well in their daily lives, and therefore cannot develop and maintain a harmonious relationship with other people and other fellow practitioners. Even worse, some have been in conflicts with others for a very long time but still do not want to look inward for improvement. In all these situations, our efforts in truth-clarification work are actually being negated, bringing us extra difficulty in saving sentient beings.