(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, several practitioners have written articles discussing how practitioners are being impacted as the Olympics draw nearer. Why should there be a strong impact? Actually, this feeling among practitioners has happened before. It results from an attachment to the time that the Chinese Communist government will dissolve.
Way back in 2000, after Teacher published "Towards Consummation," some practitioners said, "I think Fa-rectification is about to finish. Let us go to Beijing." However, autumn and spring came and the persecution continued. At the time, I heard a story. An imprisoned practitioner thought the date, May 13, 2001, was the ending date for all persecution. When that day came, and nothing happened, he was so disappointed that he gave up Dafa. In "Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference" on July 21, 2001 Teacher said,
"Originally, the old force's arrangement was that there would be a total of twenty years, divided into a Fa-rectification period and a period in which the Fa rectifies the human world."
Someone estimated that by spring 2002 the first ten years would have been completed. Of course, nothing happened at that time. Then came the 16th National People's Congress. Teacher made some statements about this event also,
"A little while back a lot of students were thinking: "The CCP is going to hold its 16th Congress soon. If that head demon in China, that wretch of the earth, steps down, then won't our Dafa's good name be restored?" "But if everybody thinks that way, then what kind of situation will there be among the larger group of Dafa disciples? It'll be a major disruption, a strong attachment, and that can't be allowed. I saw it, and the old forces saw it, too. The old forces thought, "Wait a minute, what's this?" So they made the outcome of the CCP's 16th Congress worse." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
"An article that you wrote and that's on the PureInsight Website mentions that the Book of Revelation in the Bible says that the evil beast would attack God with his mouth for forty-two months, which is three and a half years. I won't comment on whether that's the case, but I can say that this evil drama has really come to the final stage, where it has the will but not the strength to carry on." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. Fa Conference" on July 22, 2002)
At that time I was in a labor camp. I was counting the number of days also. January 2003 passed and nothing happened. I was somewhat disappointed also. Now nine years have gone by. Many practitioners and myself were watching the springs and autumns. In 2002 in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa" lecture Teacher said,
"Some people are thus thinking about Master having written in his poems that spring is coming, (everyone laughs) and think, 'Oh, so it'll end in the spring?' I also mentioned autumn in my poems, (everyone laughs) so some students said, 'It must mean it's going to end in autumn.' Then when autumn was over and it didn't end, they seemed to be somewhat disappointed. Think about it, isn't that using ordinary human thinking to look at these things?"
In 2005 "New Year's Greetings," Teacher said, "During this year, Fa-rectification's enormous force will bring changes to mankind." Some people guessed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would dissolve during the year of the chicken. In responding to a practitioner's question in "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005," Teacher said,
"There are also people who say, "Something Master said seems to mean such and such, but why didn't it happen when the time came?" [People who feel that way are] actually all just speculating. Isn't an attachment to time an attachment? Only when you cultivate without any omissions or gaps is it the best cultivation."
The Olympics are about to be held. Many believe that problems will show up during the Olympics and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will dissolve. The source of their argument is from another statement made by Teacher in "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,"
"Ordinary people can say whatever they wish. Well, the Olympics are a few years away, so it's questionable whether the wicked Party will make it that long. And whether or not it will be given a chance to shine is not up to humans. Human society wasn't created for it. What's there to shine, anyway?"
Recently, many practitioners have discussed the same problem and had analyzed the issue calmly and rationally. I feel that there are other reasons causing the attachment to the Olympics. For example, this year (2008) many disasters have occurred (heavy snow in the southern part of China, the protests and subsequent suppression of Tibetans, the earthquake in Wenchuan, the event at Wong-an, snowing in summer, etc). Furthermore, during the Olympic torch relay, there were many protests in many countries and the flame was extinguished several times. Some fortune tellers, scholars of the Book of Changes and people with ESP (including some practitioners) offered predictions about the Olympics. All these strengthened the attachment of the practitioners (including myself) and caused incorrect viewpoints to be formed. Some practitioners with the attachment to time began reducing their truth-clarification activities under pressure from the CCP; others worried that they had not done the three things well and could be eliminated or kept counting the number of days left for the persecution to end and did nothing except wait. These practitioners are selfish, because they focus only on their own future and disregard the saving of sentient beings and what the Fa requires.
Actually, why should we care about what happens at the Olympics? We have already had many lessons resulting from being attached to time. During the last phase of Fa-rectification, the issues should be how to cultivate our xinxing, send forth righteous thoughts and save more sentient beings.
Some practitioners had been attached to time for many years, and when their predictions failed to materialize, they began to doubt the Fa. They also felt that there was no ending to the Fa-rectification. This is caused by their own misunderstanding. Teacher never gave a time frame. This is how one's faith in the Fa and understanding of the Fa is tested.
One must not apply human logic to assess the Fa or Teacher's words. The human way of studying cannot get to the real meaning of the Fa. One must adopt the way taught in the Fa to understand the deeper meaning of the Fa. What is critical is to have a firm faith and understanding in Dafa. Finally, let us read a paragraph together from Teacher's words in "On the Novel The Cosmos's Calamity:"
"What I want to tell you is this: You have gone through great trials and hardships to arrive at where you are today. By all means, you shouldn't let your heart and mind bob about like duckweed, stirred at the first hint of wind."
