(Clearwisdom.net) Ever since July 20, 1999, Falun Dafa practitioners have shifted their cultivation from personal cultivation to Fa-rectification due to the persecution of Falun Dafa by the evil old forces. Since this period began, many sad incidents have happened to Falun Dafa practitioners in China, such as truth clarification materials production sites being destroyed, practitioners being arrested and forced to endure the so-called "tests," and practitioners being forced to walk on the path arranged by the old forces. Based on the principles of the Fa and solid cultivation, every practitioner should realize that the path arranged by the old forces is a dead-end route that will not lead anyone to meet the requirements of the Fa-rectification.
In China, the people have been forced to accept the evil brainwashing of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) doctrines since childhood. Because their minds have been poisoned this way, they are fearful of the tyranny that rules over them. With this kind of mindset, when that evil power acts violently, many Chinese people avoid the truth of what they are seeing out of sheer terror; this makes saving sentient beings in this part of the world much more difficult. In such an environment, to walk the righteous path of Fa-rectification and to eradicate and suppress the evil with maximum force is a crucial matter for each Falun Dafa practitioner.
It is important for cultivators to maintain a righteous starting point. How does one do this? Teacher said it clearly in "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students":
"The truth is, beyond being attached, while human beings live in this world they are never able to take their fate into their own hands. There's no way they can get whatever they want. For a person to get something it has to be something that's preordained as part of his life; if it's not preordained for him he will never have it."
Humans are supposed to live in the environment of birth, aging, sickness and death, and to repay debts according to one's karma; such is the controlling force of fate.
In order for the old forces to achieve their goal of persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners and destroying the people of the world, they have let the evil culture of the CCP instill in Chinese people's minds since childhood, the idea that man can conquer nature. They label all traditional Chinese culture, which stresses the harmonious relationship between people and the universe, as blind faith, and even "stomp on" it so as to "never let rise again" the things that have sustained human moral standards for thousands of years. Communist leader Mao himself was a worshiper of a traditional path. This policy of keeping people in ignorance has caused Chinese people to break their connection with the universe.
Many contemporary Chinese consider that what one has obtained is due to one's own great efforts, and thus regard themselves as central. They consider one's own achievements as the most important thing in one's entire life. There are still people who are willing to do anything, however unscrupulous, to achieve that. To a cultivator during the Fa-rectification period, if he or she does not eliminate the attachment to self and the attachment to regarding oneself as infallible, the direct consequence will be to unconsciously cooperate with the old forces.
Whether we walk the path arranged by the old forces or that arranged by our Teacher, the crux of the matter is that we remain clear-headed and rational. My understanding of clear-headedness is that, first of all, we clearly recognize what Teacher means to us. This is a serious issue. There remains an outstanding problem with some practitioners who were "reformed" by evil forces or were enlightened along an evil path. The evil forces incite them not to recognize Teacher, but only recognize "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," and only recognize being a good person, thus allowing the old forces to get what they want by persecuting Falun Dafa practitioners. Another point is that we must clearly recognize which thoughts belong to us, and which do not. We need to carry out our Fa-rectification work and save sentient beings based on these two points. If we can achieve that, then no matter what kinds of actions the old forces take against us, we will not get lost, and will firmly follow the Fa-rectification path arranged by Teacher.
Another suggestion to Falun Dafa practitioners in Mainland China is that they ought to read the "Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party" in order to eliminate the evil aspects of the Party that still survive, to eradicate their thoughts poisoned by CCP propaganda, and to eradicate the evil forces thoroughly.
If I have misunderstood anything because of my limited understanding, kindly point it out.
