Breaking Through Thought Borders of the Individual’s Cultivation (4/5/00) 

I cannot even count how many articles have appeared on the web about the brutal punishment endured by cultivators in Mainland China.  From the death of Zhao Jinhua to the death of Chen Zixiu, over ten Falun Dafa practitioners have been wiped away from this world.  Relying on their unbreakable belief in Falun Dafa, they used blood and life to write the brilliant history of steadfast Falun Dafa cultivators.  This admirable yet tearful matter has another side, as they were torn away from the right of the best cultivation path planned for them by the Teacher.  Is this not a loss for Falun Dafa?  How many cultivators are still receiving brutal torture?  How many cultivators are still facing tyrants’ abuse of power?  The only goal of this endless insane persecution is to force Falun Dafa cultivators to give up cultivation and even do sinful matters of defying Falun Dafa, making it difficult for those who defied Dafa to head back and start cultivating again.  The level of violence is not a matter of how much karma individual practitioners have or how much they can take, but depends upon the satisfaction these tyrants feel and whether the victims truly agree to surrender.  “Only the evil can survive.”  Such darkness and evilness is far beyond the common rationality of inter-generation and inter-inhibition.  This is instead a wide-spread vicious transformation under the cover of inter-generation and inter-inhibition.  It is an insane refusal and confrontation of all vicious things in this universe towards “Zhen-Shan-Ren” (Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance) Dafa!

The suffering experience of other practitioners reminded me of a poem I learned during childhood.  A revolutionist who chose to die for his beliefs wrote it.

“The gate for people is tightly locked,

The hole for dogs is wide open,

A loud voice says—

Crawl to the outside! You would be free!”

Isn’t it describing what’s happening today?  The rest of the revolutionist’s speech has faded in my memory, but I still hear such an echo:

“I thirst for freedom,

But I also know from deep inside—

How can a human body be crawling through a dog hole?”

It is true.  How can practitioners of our righteous Fa surrender to the vicious powers of the universe?  As the evil people see this, they physically torture practitioners in all forms trying to obliterate the spreading of the Fa and salvation of people, trying to obstruct the process of Fa rectifying the universe.  Master Li Hongzhi not only teaches the Fa and offers salvation to people, but also rectifies the Fa.  This concerns the future arrangement of the universe.  Thus this adversity is not a result of practitioners’ individual karma (although individual’s karma does have some influence on the adversity), not targeted at individual practitioners (although predestined relationships exist for practitioners), certainly not because of problems with our entire cultivation practice that need to be rectified (although problems do exist with our entire cultivation practice), but a devastation of the righteous Fa by the obsolete powers and demons in this universe.  The situation has become more serious since April 25 of last year.  Under such a serious situation and such a critical battle between buddhas and demons, what should I do as a practitioner of the righteous Fa to be consistent with the development of history and to assist the Teacher’s accomplishment in this world?     

Since April 25 of last year, with an increased level of oppression, demons have exhibited unprecedented savageness.  I have continued to study the Fa and to reflect, although it has taken my human body and mind tremendous efforts to achieve even the slightest.  I have been trying my best to protect the Fa, which, although I can’t explain the reason easily, I consider to be a basic responsibility of a practitioner.  When faced with unpredictable and complex situations, although I would think about advancing my own cultivation, my main concern has been what I should do for the Fa as a practitioner.  Perhaps some people would consider such concern to be a “pursuit,” but it has led to my making the right decision under several critical situations.  When trying to protect the Fa, I often received hints and challenges from the Teacher.  As a result, I have gained a better understanding of the “Zhen-Shan-Ren” principles, the righteous Fa of the universe, and the true meaning of Dafa cultivation.  This effect is beyond what I could achieve if my thoughts were confined to personal cultivation.

During my nearly one year of experience in protecting the Fa, my view and mind have been naturally broadened.  Some attachments that had been hard to refuse before were given up without conscious efforts.  It has become clear to me that at this special historic moment of the Fa rectifying the universe, the core of our actions should be active rectifying of the Fa process, protecting the Fa, and assisting the Teacher.  This is far beyond personal cultivation.  This is probably the true reason why we chose to attain the Fa at this specific moment.  Also during the process of maintaining the strong righteous will to protect the Fa and assist the Teacher, one must become less and less selfish and fearful, and this contains personal cultivation as well.  By the way, people claim the life in this world to be the most precious; but to a true practitioner, death only means the abandonment of the human body.  It is an end to the suffering experience of humans in this dimension, and an entry to the real beautiful, kind, honest, and compassionate new world.  What an event to celebrate!  Even for those that die for the Fa rectification before they complete the cultivation process, their ending is completely different from the process of starting another round of reincarnation, creating more karma, and ending up with ultimate demise in this chaotic universe.  What is there to fear then?  The horror of death is only an illusion to control people in confusion.  It is only a small dust particle in a small dust particle in this boundless universe.  Beyond this illusion, what is it that is so hard to give up in this human world?

Speaking of protecting the Fa, isn’t spreading the Fa also a means of protecting?  It doesn’t matter what kind of method you use, as long as it achieves the goals of making people aware of that Dafa is good.  Letting the world know the true story of Dafa, giving the people with predestined relationships opportunities to hear the Fa, attain the Fa, and appeal.  Letting every part of the world support and assist Dafa practitioners to obtain their entitled human rights.  Demonstrating Dafa using science and personal experiences.  Encouraging and giving advice to fellow practitioners to continue with the cultivation and support each other through hardships.  Aren’t all the above acts of protecting the Fa?  Aren’t they all consistent with the heavenly trend of upholding the Fa?  The Teacher has surely made arrangements for the improvement of such practitioners who has a righteous faith in the Fa and protecting the Fa, and who is enthusiastically taking responsibility for oneself, society, and Dafa. 

Some people said “Zhuan Falun” did not talk about appealing to government agencies, nor did it talk about the Internet, and so on.  My thoughts are simple on this.  Under the current circumstances, the most important is allowing the Fa to rectify the universe.  Although it is the Teacher that has been rectifying the universe, we as students should give support, no matter in what form.  Continuing cultivation, appealing to the government, spreading the positive attributes of the Fa using the Internet, and advocating to human rights organizations and government agencies of other countries are all examples of giving support.  As long as you always consider Dafa, instead of strong personal opinions and personal benefits, you can make divine influences at this great historical moment.

Some people said it is good that many practitioners continue to practice the Fa even after they wrote a promise to the Chinese government not to cultivate any more.  I had confusions over this, thinking it was just an expedient way to protect practitioners.  Through the course of protecting the Fa, I began to understand that it was a sin to treat the divine Dafa in this way.  Just because so many people surrendered, the demons were able to claim their “victory” and focus their energy on dealing with the essential people of Dafa who were willing to stand out.  Isn’t this assisting the demon as well?  Of course, even practitioners make mistakes in extremely complex situations.  Many practitioners that have made such a mistake have now come back to actively protecting the Fa with extra efforts, and have become the new blood in protecting the Fa.  This is what happened afterwards.

I still remember when hundreds of thousands of Dafa practitioners holding arms and speaking out loud, “You can’t beat people!”  “Beating is against the law!”  In front of such an army of justice and righteousness, the evil lost control.  The ones who were beating felt trembling deep inside themselves.  If every Dafa practitioner could become a firm brick for Dafa in this world, millions of practitioners can build a firm foundation for the beautiful monument of Dafa.  No wind can move it.  No rain can shake it.  My heart stands firm, despite the lightening and thunders.  How long can the clouds gather?  How long can the night last?  With thousands of hearts together, no matter in what form, the beautiful monument of Dafa will destroy the devils.

Protecting the Fa means maintaining the Dafa of this universe.  It is this Dafa that gave me life, rescued my insignificant life from the chaos of the human world, and created the universe and every material and life forms of this universe.  For tens of thousands of years, even the gods weren’t allowed to know the essential “Zhen-Shan-Ren” Dafa.  It is a marvel of my life to be able to contribute to protecting the Fa.  If I don’t protect the Fa, who will?

A Practitioner in America

April, 5, 2000

(Translated on June 10, 2000,

Chinese: http://www.minghui.ca/gb/0001/Apr/05/tupo_geren_xiulian_040400.html)