PureInsight | May 3, 2004
[PureInsight.org] Those Dafa practitioners who have not stepped out [to help end the persecution against Falun Dafa] often share something in common: Most of them are not keen on joining their local group Fa study or group activities [either to help end the persecution or promote Falun Dafa.] They are free to choose cultivating at home, but the biggest drawback may be that they will raise their cultivation level at a much slower rate.
I remember that, for quite some time after I was released from a forced labor camp in China, I no longer wished to cultivate with fellow practitioners. I only wanted to settle down in an undisturbed and quiet place where I could concentrate on personal cultivation and Fa-rectification work. Thus I took up residence in a rental apartment and became a recluse. No fellow practitioner knew my new address. I was quite content with leading a solitary life until one day I opened Zhuan Falun and the first thing that came to my attention was a passage of the Fa from Lecture Five.
Teacher said:
...they seal their caves with supernormal powers so that you cannot see them. Their cultivation progress is relatively slow, and their methods are relatively clumsy since they have not grasped the essence of cultivation.
(From "Consecration" in Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun)
It immediately became clear to me that Teacher was giving me a hint! At that moment I finally took it into my heart that Dafa practitioners could attain high levels of cultivation very quickly when we cultivated in the most complex environment. Those people practicing cultivation in remote mountains and deep forests may cultivate for a thousand years but have attained but a little bit of gong.
When a cultivator lives in an environment devoid of opportunities for potential conflicts or of other people offering him opportunities to test and upgrade his xinxing, it becomes difficult for him to make very rapid progress in cultivation. I supposed it was high time that I step out from my "cave." I must not cultivate with too few opportunities to upgrade my xinxing or validate Falun Dafa.
The following passage had always puzzled me:
Teacher said:
After the connection, it was a little unbearable for me because no matter how high or how low my level is, I am among everyday people and still doing something purposeful—that is, saving people—and my heart is devoted to saving people. But how peaceful were their minds? Their minds were tranquil to the point of being scary. It is possible for one person to reach this tranquility. But with four or five people sitting over there with tranquility like that, it resembles a pond of still water with nothing in it. I tried in vain to experience them. For those several days, I really felt mentally very uncomfortable and experienced a unique feeling. Everyday people could in no way imagine or feel it; it was completely free of attachment and empty.
(From "Practicing Only One Cultivation Way" in Lecture Three of Zhuan Falun)
Each time I read the passage in the past, a question always appeared in my mind: What makes that type of tranquility scary? It took me some time to arrive at a better understanding of this passage of the Fa. There are deeper levels of meanings in the Fa. Teacher is saving people and his heart is devoted to saving people while the hearts of those gods from extremely high levels are as tranquil as a pond of still water with nothing it. They are completely indifferent to saving people. Isn't it scary that a god becomes completely indifferent to saving people? Even with my limited imagination, I could make a vivid mental picture about how mentally uncomfortable Teacher must have felt at the time.
I then realized that those Dafa practitioners who "persist in studying the Fa and doing the exercises at home" are the human counterparts of those gods that connected their minds with that of Teacher's. In other words, I think there may be lives at each level of the universe that are completely indifferent to saving sentient beings and those "four or five great enlightened people and great Taos from extremely high levels" are but a few representatives of such beings completely indifferent to saving lives.
Some Dafa practitioners still have not stepped out for Dafa or have chosen to cultivate on their own away from fellow practitioners have at least missed the opportunities to cultivate cooperation and coordination with fellow practitioners on Fa-rectification work. The group Fa study and the group exercise practice are the forms of cultivation practice that Teacher has given us. I believe that group Fa study can help eliminate our thought karma and purify our thoughts. Imagine how strong the energy field must be when many Dafa practitioners sit together to study the Fa! I believe that a lot of our bad thoughts will perish within such a strong energy field. Those who have chosen to cultivate in recluse are missing such a wonderful environment to upgrade and purify themselves. What a pity…
Teacher said:
Those disciples who have been persecuted in the tribulations are waiting, amidst their suffering, for precisely these people! They're waiting for these people to break away from humanness...Why does a person study Dafa? Those people only want to gain from Dafa, and they regard Dafa as a protective shield. While Dafa encounters persecution, while disciples are being arrested, persecuted, and beaten to death for protecting Dafa, what are they doing? While their Master is being slandered, what are they doing? Are they waiting for something good to just fall from the sky? Are they waiting to reach Consummation once the tribulation ends? I'm really worried for them. They have no idea how dangerous the situation is for their true beings!...Can those who've obtained Dafa regard things as everyday people do? If a person has obtained the Fa but isn't able to validate the Fa, does he still deserve to be a Dafa disciple? No matter how he "persists in studying the Fa and doing the exercises" at home, he is being controlled by demons and is 'enlightening' along an evil path.
(From an article from Minghui Editors titled "Serious Teachings: Recorded from a Recent Talk by Master")
After I read the above passage of the Fa, I have deeply considered it and have come to the realization that those fellow practitioners who have obtained the Fa and benefited from the cultivation practice in Falun Dafa spiritually and physically but have been hiding at home are putting themselves in peril. Apparently they have not realized the severity of their decision. They still believe that cultivating at home will suffice and that they will still upgrade xinxing and reach consummation by cultivating at home.
Teacher points our the error of their logic when He said:
These people who only want to take from Dafa and not give for Dafa are, in the eyes of Gods, the worst beings.
(From "A Suggestion" in Essentials for Further Advancement II )
Contrary to their belief, personal cultivation has become only a part of cultivation practice during the Fa-rectification period. During this special period, a Dafa practitioner is required to cultivate himself through assisting Teacher with the Fa-rectification and offering sentient beings Teacher's salvation while upgrading their xinxing during the process.
Cultivating at home by no means qualifies as cultivation practice during the current stage of Fa-rectification period. The personal cultivation stage in the Fa-rectification period is over. Teacher said:
Dafa disciples are magnificent because you are here at the same time as the period of Master's Fa-rectification and are able to safeguard and uphold Dafa.
(From "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples" in Essentials for Further Advancement II )
We must fulfill our vows, complete our mission, and attain selflessness and altruism before we will be admitted to the new cosmos.
In contrast, those who "persist in studying the Fa and doing the exercises at home" are occupied with their [selfish] thoughts of upgrading cultivation levels and reaching consummation. They watch silently while countless lives are deceived by Jiang Zemin's vicious lies and are about to be weeded out, and are unwilling to step out and save them. They know their fellow practitioners are suffering the most insufferable agony in prisons, forced labor camps, forced braining washing centers and psychiatric institutions, but they are indifferent to their plight.
Falun Dafa requires its practitioners to cultivate compassion among other things and being compassionate means at a very basic level being unselfish. We all know that we must attain selflessness and altruism in order to enter the new cosmos, why are these fellow practitioners still unwilling to step out?
There may be millions of different paths in a righteous cultivation but all of them lead to the same destination. "Enlightening along the evil path" does not occur only in the forced labor camp or forced brainwashing center, but also outside these places. As Dafa practitioners in the Fa-rectification period, one will be weeded out after the Fa-rectification concludes if one continues "enlightening along an evil path" until the end of the Fa-rectification.
In fact, I think such beings in the human and other realms throughout the universe will be weeded out after the Fa-rectification period. I believe this law also existed in the old universe because I don't believe any place in the universe will tolerate such beings. I don't think that these practitioners purposely choose not to follow Teacher's Fa. Instead, I believe that they just haven't truly understood this part of the Fa and have little foresight of the consequence and sadness of their lack of understanding in this regard.
The total extinction of body and soul is the last thing that Teacher wishes and that's why Teacher has been waiting for them to improve.
Teacher said:
Let me tell you, do you know what's the biggest pity? Those who have already stepped into the Fa but missed it, or those who didn't take it even when given to them—that's what they'll deeply regret forever and ever. They cannot anticipate how sorrowful they'll forever feel!...If a person has simply walked near [Dafa] but not truly entered the gate—he passed by it or he's only been watching from outside the gate, that's the saddest thing!
(From "Falun Buddha Fa – Lecture at the Conference in New Zealand," unofficial translation)
After reviewing this passage of the Fa, I remembered that there were many people who had quit cultivation practice in Falun Dafa, had been diligent in cultivation practice in Falun Dafa, or had been "persistent in studying the Fa and doing the exercises' at home" and "enlightening along an evil path." If they don't cherish this predestined opportunity, their thousands of millions years of waiting will be ruined forever and they will "deeply regret forever and ever." Teacher said:
Those who won't be able to Consummate, when that day comes all you can do is just sit there and sob! For the ones who haven't cultivated well, I'd say it'll be too late to cry.
(From "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")
It's time to become more clear-headed. Do not pass by Dafa.
This concludes my understanding on this subject, which is limited by my current cultivation level because Falun Dafa is boundless. I sincerely hope those fellow practitioners who have not stepped out will quickly step up and out from their humanness in this regard as soon as possible, start participating in the Fa-rectification work and catch up with the pace of the Fa-rectification. Please do not pass by Falun Dafa or it might be too late when you finally realized what you have missed.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/11/17/24536.html
