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Taking the Middle Way and Being Righteous

Oct. 5, 2002 |   By a practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net)

Teacher has arranged a different path for each practitioner. I think that this is because the differences in the elements composing the nature of our lives give rise to our different enlightenments to the essential Fa of the universe. Differences in our individual cultivation are inevitable. However, because the Fa of the universe created this situation, it must be the Fa's requirement and manifestation. So, these kinds of differences are in accordance with the Fa. Falun Dafa practitioners are different from the cultivators in the past and the future because we are beings that were established for the Fa. We should exist as Fa-rectification Dafa disciples. We have been forever connected with the Fa. This is a blessing for us, and it sets very high requirements for us as well.

Fa-rectification Dafa disciples exist as one body. It is critical that each one of us does well in our cultivation. However, it is more important that the Fa as a whole is safeguarded. The fundamental reason for rectifying the Fa is because of the degeneration of the old forces. My understanding is that their degeneration resulted from their positioning themselves as first and foremost. They are selfish and attached to themselves. Thus they deviated from the requirements of the Fa at their levels. The Fa-rectification Dafa disciples established by the Fa are the hope of the future universe. Through cultivation, we should not have the notion of individual loss and gain, and we should not be selfish at all. The realm and all the thoughts from the part of us that has obtained the Fa are from the Fa and exist for the Fa, for the universe, and for all sentient beings. The Fa is the most important to us while individual Consummation comes after that. The practitioners as a whole are the most important to us while each individual practitioner comes after that. Of course, individual Consummation and individual purity is the prerequisite for the purity of all the practitioners as one body. I came to realize that in order to keep the new universe harmonious and indestructible, it is critical for the Fa-rectification Dafa disciples as one body to reach the standards of the Fa and to stay solid like diamond and immutable when meeting the different requirements of the Fa at different levels.

Then how should we walk each step well and integrate ourselves as one body, so that we as a whole can reach the requirements of the Fa? I came to understand that we should take the middle way and be righteous.

In the past, when studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth, I didn't pay enough attention to studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. Instead, I was busy with various kinds of events to clarify the truth. My excuse was that I should make the best use of every minute and all my energy to save more sentient beings. However, interference kept occurring and things stopped going smoothly. I tended to be preoccupied with very trivial matters. I even thought about how to do things well in my dreams. I was exhausted. I received a worse result in clarifying the truth even when I spent much more time on it. After looking inside and checking my whole cultivation process, I came to deeply understand the importance of taking the middle way and not understanding the Fa from an extreme standpoint.

Taking the middle way is not the same as the everyday people's notion of taking the safest path. Instead, it is wisdom, a righteous enlightenment, a righteous thought, and a righteous act from the Fa. It is a manifestation of assimilating to the Fa that occurs at will. It can be achieved only when we clearly view everything from a high level and understand the whole situation. With it, we can do everything just right. We need to take the middle way while being righteous, being complete, being harmonious, being unbiased, and having no attachments and no omissions. My personal understanding is that the requirement of taking the middle way is included in each level of the Fa and it is one reason that the universe can stay indestructible.

When we can take the middle way and assimilate to the Fa, we will feel that studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, and clarifying the truth all melt into each other. During this process, I found that I have gradually become complete. When I naturally returned to the Fa as a whole, I reached a realm where I felt myself existing with and melting into the universe. My thoughts and my actions were driven by the changing of the cosmic climate. Thus, they were in accordance with the requirements of the Fa. From this personal experience, I came to realize that Fa-rectification disciples all have a different role to play in the current situation as a whole. So as long as we can position ourselves well, we will be in the correct positions that Teacher has arranged for us. We will then be able to do things well as we are supposed to. As long as all of us can return to the positions that Teacher arranged for us, then we, as one body, will be able to exert in the purest fashion the boundless power of the Fa. We will be solid like diamond and immutable. As an entire body, we were created for the Fa. We should exist for the everlasting good of the universe.

I observed some practitioners who appeared to be very determined and making diligent progress. They seemed to be afraid of nothing. They deemed the practitioners' rationally and carefully doing things as an attachment of fear. However, when facing a true test at serious times, it was just these practitioners that would very often go astray. During the tribulations, they couldn't understand the Fa from the Fa. They were even used by the evil and "enlightened" along an evil path. I think that currently there is no longer the issue of whether the Fa-rectification disciples can strive forward and be determined. Rather, the issue should be how we can truly be responsible for the Fa while being determined, and how we can better assimilate to the Fa while striving forward. The superficial determination and striving forward come from irrationality if the practitioners haven't fundamentally and truly assimilated to the Fa, and if they have stepped forward just because they were afraid that they were not determined enough. Thus they didn't take the Fa as most important, and they didn't consider the situation as a whole. The determination and striving forward of the true Fa-rectification Dafa disciples should be rational and wise. When being determined and striving forward, we should first consider the Fa, the situation as a whole, and the sentient beings. We should be responsible for all of these while assimilating to the Fa so that we can handle things well.

I remember that in 1999 when I listened to Teacher's Fa lectures abroad, I couldn't hold back my tears when I heard Teacher say that he had gone to endless lengths for all the sentient beings in the universe. At that moment, I let go of life and death under Teacher's immense compassion. From then on, the word "Teacher" has meant loyalty and justice to me, and it has become a realm and an inspiration with very deep meaning. Our invincible and diamond-solid determination is so unchangeable that we will never let Teacher down, and we will absolutely cultivate ourselves well in order to be responsible to the sentient beings and to the universe.

As Falun Dafa practitioners, it is an immediate necessity for us to know how to assist Teacher in saving more sentient beings. Currently, only a small number of people in China have been saved. There are practitioners in many areas in China doing a huge amount of work to clarify the truth. However, in some other areas, like the area that I live in, there are only a few practitioners. Most of the practitioners that have stepped forward to validate the Fa have been illegally detained, sent to forced labor camps, or sentenced to prisons. So there are even fewer practitioners left to do truth-clarification work now. There are so many sentient beings that haven't heard the truth yet. They were systematically poisoned and now they are forced to watch films that smear Dafa. Faced with this large-scale slander campaign by the media, we know that we haven't done enough to clarify the truth. We cannot stay in the state of individual cultivation any longer. Our rectifying the Fa should have more substance and be more effective.

Teacher has arranged the best paths for us. The gods of the universe are watching us. Let us melt into one great body in the Fa. Let us walk each final step well in the Fa-rectification period in order to truly meet the requirements and the standards that the Fa has set for us.