(Clearwisdom.net) Fa-rectification cultivation is approaching the end. Practitioners have lived, worked, “clarified the truth,” and resisted the persecution among ordinary people for nearly eight years. However, due to interference from the old forces, my cultivation state has not reached the requirements of the “Fa,” and I have not been diligent. Looking back, for a while now we have not been able to resist the persecution and save sentient beings as well as we hoped. I believe the key questions are: What is the difference between a cultivator and an ordinary person? Have we reached the basic requirements of the Fa?
When looking at an issue, a Dafa disciple should first be concerned with the requirements of the Fa and the needs of Master's Fa-rectification. No matter what happens, and how difficult, we should choose to follow Master's instructions without hesitation. This is especially true for veteran practitioners. If we regard our personal needs or things in ordinary human society as more important than Master's Fa-rectification, if in the face of hardship, we first consider the degree of difficulty and our personal interests before we determine whether to do what Master asks of us, or if when Master asks us to do something we try to change the subject due to fear of difficulty and personal views or interests, pretending that what we want to do is what Master asks, yet ignoring what Master asks, then we will bring forth interference due to our own actions.
When non-practitioners look at issues, they look at the surface and focus on external gains and losses. When Dafa disciples look at an issue, they see beyond the surface properties and look for its essence. We should have this ability. When we encounter conflicts or obstacles, we must look for our own shortcomings, eliminate our impurities, let go of our notions, and treat every conflict and obstacle as a step towards returning to the Heavens. We seek to relinquish the burdens and filth we acquired in the secular world, obtain what ordinary people cannot, and reach what ordinary people want but do not know how to pursue. If practitioners can truly do that, then the progress in cultivation of Dafa is truly rapid! Having cultivated to this point today, if we are still used to using ordinary people's ways of thinking to understand things, and take seriously the pleasures, gains, losses, fame, interest, suffering, joy, and hardships of ordinary society, then it is easy to be trapped by one conflict after another. We can be stalled by each conflict for a long time. Fundamentally, a stagnant state is caused by our own lack of cultivation, not by others or any external factors.
A third thing to be vigilant about is being selfless. When ordinary people think and do things, they always start from their own, selfish interests. Master asks practitioners to cultivate in order to “...attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature” from Essentials for Further Advancement) My personal understanding is that to be selfless, we cannot mind personal gains or losses, including not being attached to specific understandings or notions at specific levels. We should always look at things from the perspective of the Fa-rectification and the fact that we are cultivators in nature.
Every cultivator knows that divine beings and humans look at things differently. However, for many fellow practitioners who have cultivated for many years and have worked on many projects to validate the Fa, have they been able to treat themselves differently from ordinary people? Are they always being responsible to themselves, the sentient beings in their worlds, and the sentient beings that Master wants to save? Do they treat themselves as ordinary people in some respects, because the old forces interfered with their cultivation, so that their surface bodies cannot be changed at the same pace as their cultivation levels, and they cannot feel supernormal capabilities or see truths with their flesh eyes? As a result, have they stopped using the Fa to set high requirements for themselves?
I had many thoughts after reading Master's recent article, “Disintegrate Completely All the Meddling Deities in the Three Realms that Have a Hand in Interfering with Fa-Rectification.” The above is just a portion of my thoughts. What I described is common among practitioners and is also a part of our daily cultivation. Looking back at my path of Fa-rectification, every step in the last eight years has involved solid improvements, fundamental changes, as well as regrets of not breaking through the old forces' arrangements and interference. There were many moments when I did not meet the standard set by Master. In our cultivation, the key is whether we are able to continue to treat ourselves as practitioners, walk the path to the end, and be diligent to the end. This involves choosing to be diligent at every step, and choosing to cultivate in Dafa with everything we have. I hope I and my fellow practitioners can use the Fa power in “Disintegrate Completely All the Meddling Deities in the Three Realms that Have a Hand in Interfering with Fa-Rectification,” and more rationally and clearheadedly break through the old forces' interference and obstructions in our cultivation. We should validate the Fa better by showing the power of the Fa, be truly diligent within the Fa, and in our saving of sentient beings, more fully demonstrate the thoughts and actions of divine beings on the path of return.
