(Clearwisdom.net) For a long period of time I was in a very poor cultivation state. Although I was unhappy with my cultivation state, all sorts of human notions hampered me from pulling myself out of it. I felt my mind was not very clear and was often filled with many doubts about Dafa.
Teacher said,
"At present, the old forces have already been completely weeded out. From the ones in the highest forms all the way down to the so-called Gods and warped beings who have, as arranged by the old forces, taken part in the Fa-rectification and affected the Fa-rectification at different levels, all of them have been weeded out entirely. They're gone. And those dark minions who actually carry out specific tasks are being completely weeded out, too." (Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Washington DC Fa Conference)
When I came across this passage of the Fa, I thought, "Since Teacher has already weeded out the old forces, why do the cohorts of the old forces in the human realm appear to be as rampant as ever? Why do the depraved police in China continue to persecute Dafa practitioners? Who is manipulating these depraved police?"
During my dark period, I also avoided reading the Minghui Weekly Digest [a Chinese-language website] that contained many facts of the persecution occurring throughout China. It was not just because I couldn't bear to know that my fellow practitioners continued to suffer the most insufferable and appalling tortures that I didn't want to read Minghui Weekly Digest. It was because I was afraid that the same thing might happen to me. Whether it was everyday people's work or Falun Dafa truth-clarification work, I was constantly vigilant and kept reminding myself, "Be careful! Be watchful! Otherwise, I might be abducted by the police and suffer from the same persecution!"
After I sent forth righteous thoughts today, I was suddenly inspired with a new understanding about the source of the evil that has been manipulating the depraved people in the human realm to persecute Dafa practitioners. Teacher has told us in Zhuan Falun that matter and mind are one thing. It follows that, every time I fear the persecution, I generate some matter in the human realm, or perhaps in other dimensions as well. This matter will then side with the persecutors, which reinforce their evil energy field and weakens my positive energy field.
Teacher said,
"As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. Even though the old forces do exist, if you don't have those thoughts they can't do anything." (Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.)
Teacher also said,
"...real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos." (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
Every time I imagined how frightening the depraved persecutors were, wasn't I reinforcing their dark energy? I failed to be responsible for the righteous elements, and I assisted the evil elements. The minute I was enlightened to a new understanding on this issue, it became clear to me what I must do. In addition to differentiating the righteous from the evil, we must keep the righteous thought in our minds that no evil should exist. We shouldn't follow our attachment of fear and keep imagining how horrible those depraved people are and how capable they are of persecuting Dafa practitioners, because that would increase their dark energy . Instead, we should eliminate their dark energy with our powerful righteous thoughts.
It is my understanding that one must eliminate one's attachment of fear to meet the standard of consummation at different levels. Teacher said,
"This time he became scared and reminded himself in his mind: "I shouldn't get excited. Otherwise, I'll fail again." With this fear, he failed again. Fear is also a kind of attachment." (Zhuan Falun.)
I think that, during the Fa-rectification period, I must eliminate my attachment of fear, not just to attain a higher level of cultivation, but to be responsible to the Fa and to the sentient beings as well. For a cultivator, eliminating the attachment of fear is also a process of assimilating to the Fa.
I think it is of supreme importance to rectify each and every one of my thoughts while doing truth-clarification work. After all, to rectify oneself is to deny the old force's arrangements and to cut off the evil's supply of dark energy.
