PureInsight | August 19, 2002
Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
My name is Flora Chi. I’ve cultivated for more than 4 years now. As I’ve come to today after the many stumbles I’ve had on my path of cultivation, I’ve increasingly felt the power and dignity of Dafa, and the immense sacredness of being a “Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciple” and what an enormous responsibility that is.
Until I got a copy of Zhuan Falun on March 7th, 1998, I had thought that it’s a book that talks about qigong. But when I opened the book and found Lunyu, and saw the first sentence: “The Buddha Fa is the most profound,” I said to myself, “this talks about the Buddha Fa?” I was struck and stared at those two words for a long time. As soon as I saw that sentence, I accepted it and decided to cultivate right then, and I’ve been steadfast. But as I’ve come to today, I’ve found that even as of today there’s still a question of whether I can be steadfast and keep my faith in Dafa. I was steadfast back then, and today I’m still steadfast. But, let’s say that they both appear to be a piece of steel on the surface, the elements of one of them have changed, though, and their sturdiness really cannot be compared. What has made me more and more steadfast, and where the strength of my faith comes from, is this Fa of the cosmos.
If I’m Not Diligent, I’m Killing Lives
I remember that before I started cultivation, I used to think, “How wonderful it would be to live in Sakyamuni’s time and listen in person to his teaching of the Fa!” I really envied his disciples! Now I’ve become a disciple of the Lord of the Cosmos, a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period. How much will people in the future envy us? They will pass around as legendary stories things like how we can just sit here and think about cleansing the bad thoughts in our minds and karma and they’ll be eliminated, and how as soon as we erect our palms we can eradicate the evil beings that damage Dafa. They might say, “If I were to live in that time, I would treasure it tremendously and would try extremely hard.” Today, I live in this exact moment, what should I do? Am I treasuring it?
Our venerable Teacher said in Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston: “You need to be worthy of the title ‘Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple’! That’s something that the cosmos won’t have again. This only happens once since the beginning of time—it only happens once since the beginning of time in the cosmos.”
It’s never happened before, and it will never happen again! For countless times, these words of Master’s have powerfully stricken my mind and heart. Whenever I think of these words, I feel extremely ashamed, because when I’m not diligent, I’m not treasuring this opportunity, which has never come by through the ages, and I’m not being responsible to sentient beings. I don’t have the right to say, “Oh, I know I’m not diligent.” Since I already know that I’m not diligent, why am I still not diligent? One day, I suddenly realized that if I’m not diligent I’m killing lives. So many beings in my own universes are waiting for me to save them and take them back. If I’m righteous, they’ll be saved; if I’m absolutely righteous, all of them will be saved. But if I’m not so good, some degenerate beings will be weeded out. The less diligent I am, the more of them will be weeded out—how many of them will be weeded out is directly related to how diligent I am. Also, so many of the people in the world who I need to clarify the truth to are kings and lords of other universes, and so many of their beings are waiting to be saved. So I don’t belong to myself, and I have no right to be not diligent!
Teacher said in Rationality, “…everything you are currently doing has already established the most magnificent and eternal mighty virtue for Dafa and Dafa cultivators. When this page of history is turned, the people who remain will see your magnificence, and the future Gods will forever remember this magnificent time in history.” As I enjoy this most privileged title that’s envied by all beings in the cosmos, I ask myself, “Do I deserve it?”
One article on the ClearWisdom website says, a disciples saw that Master has been pinned all over his body with nails that are nine niches long, that Master had to have all the blood in his body renewed, and that righteous Gods were kneeling on the ground crying. After July 20, 1999, Master grew gray hair and looked like an eighty-year-old man. The kind of enduring his body has taken is indescribable. In the article In Reference to a Prophdcy, Master said that “The process of Master’s Fa-rectification among humans is, as Gods see it, just like a process of resurrection.” In Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America, Master also says, “I knew that if the students were to bear it, it would be very hard for them to make it through. So I could only let the students bear the evilness played out by human beings, whereas I bore the real things,” and that “Master hasn’t done all this in vain. Whatever Master has done for you was worth it!” How should I conduct myself in order to be worthy of Master’s bearing all this for us?
I read an article on the ClearWisdom website in which a disciple whose Third Eye is open said that our Master kept trying to figure out a way to help those disciples who are not diligent to catch up; in the end Master thought of a way—drink poison for them. How large was that bowl? It was as tall as an 800-story building! This is what our venerable Master has done for the disciples who are not diligent!
Sometimes, when my thoughts aren’t righteous, I would immediately remind myself that I must make all my thoughts righteous. I thought to myself that when a disciple does not regard himself as a cultivator it would allow the evil to question Master, “This is your disciple? How come he doesn’t even have righteous thoughts?” I tell myself that I must not let
Master be humiliated by the evil because of me! Ever since I had this thought, whenever I have attachments emerge, I ask myself to immediately look within and not give the evil any chances!
Master said in Zhuan Falun, “Without knowing the Fa at high levels, one cannot practice cultivation. Without cultivating one’s inner self and one’s xinxing, one cannot increase gong.” I knew that Falun Dafa is the Fa of the cosmos, that what I was cultivating was no minor cultivation way, and that the moment I obtained Zhuan Falun I had obtained the high-level Fa. But only now have I realized that I had only entered the gate of a righteous Fa, whereas to know the Fa at high levels I have to continually study the Fa, continually improve my level, and take every step according to the cultivation path arranged by Teacher. When Teacher taught the Fa in Boston, I was there. Teacher said, “There are a lot of things you still aren’t able to do well as Dafa disciples, though, and I can tell you that this is in fact because you’ve neglected Fa-study. The reason is, your surface, which is still assimilating to the Fa, needs to be constantly improved, and as you constantly improve, the things that you need to cultivate away have to be arranged for. Every realm has its own state of being. If you remain stagnant, you definitely won’t be able to keep up with the Fa-rectification.” When I heard that, tears immediately ran down my face. I knew that I was not diligent enough, and therefore I hadn’t reached the realm I was supposed to reach. And if I hadn’t reached the realm I was supposed to reach, I would not be able to keep up with the process of Fa-rectification, I would not be able to do well in the work I do for Dafa, and it would bring losses to the Fa.
Look Inwards, And The Evil Will Be Destroyed
Teacher said that when people have committed sins while deluded, they have no other choice but to pay for them while deluded. In this cosmos only the human dimension is in delusion, and cultivating while deluded is a characteristic of our Falun Dafa cultivation. This requires me to do my best to study the Fa and to assess situations from the perspective of the Fa.
Master has said that humankind’s dimension is the only dimension in delusion and is a place at which a person can’t see other dimensions, so what human beings see is not real—a table that we see seems static on the surface, but in fact, it is really moving. So, what is seen by our flesh eyes is not real. If I want to see the actual existence or the true nature of things, I have to study the Fa in order to break away from delusion. Sometimes when I come across situations, I assess the surface and base my understandings on human notions. It seems as if I'm right, and perhaps when I look back, I was still right. But how can I examine myself this way? Is it someone else’s fault if everything goes wrong and I’m completely correct? It’s most difficult to look within during these moments, and I often come across things like this. I tell myself to listen to Master’s words, and to maintain my xinxing no matter what others do. Actually, when I think about “no matter what others do,” I’m already looking externally and those are already human thoughts. So even when I was able to let go of my attachments at the time, the thoughts would re-emerge once in a while and would even make me feel I was wrong which enabled me to remember those things for a long time. I found that even though I was looking inwards, I did it with much difficulty and was cultivating in a difficult manner. Yet after a lot of bumps on my path, I still did not emerge out of that state. Through studying the Fa continuously, the principles of the Fa made me realize from deep inside that these things are nothing in themselves, and that what’s important is that through these things I was told what attachments I should cultivate away, which level I should ascend to, and what principles of the Fa I should come to realize during this period of time. Even when I hear about things that have to do with other people, it’s to help me realize something, to give me a hint on something, or to have me eliminate my attachments. Teacher said in Dafa is All-Encompassing, “Everything you, a cultivator, encounter is related to your cultivation and Consummation, or else those things absolutely would not exist.” When I understand this principle of the Fa, will I still blame others? Now when I think back about those things, I find them silly and find myself having been too deeply deluded amidst everyday people.
Sometimes, when something happens, if I’m having a hard time going through it and always dwelling on the details and being unable to break out of them, I ask myself, “Would a God think like this? Would a Buddha think like this?” The answer is definitely “No.” And then I am able to get over it.
After the article Dafa Is All-Encompassing was published, I’ve read it many times. Teacher said, “So a cultivator needs to let go of all the notions and principles of everyday people, and only then can he cultivate to a high level and break out of the Three Realms, the reverse of the cosmos.” Everything I come across is testing whether I want to be a human being or a God, and whether I can regard myself as a true cultivator, abandon what my flesh eyes see and what my human heart feels, and look at it with the cosmos’ high-level, righteous principles of the Fa. Of course, this is easy to say, whereas during tribulations the painful tests on my xinxing peeled off my human skin. Last year, my human skin was too thick to be peeled off. I, having cultivated for three years, actually lied in bed for a day and a half and did nothing—I was defeated by my human attachments that I couldn’t let go of. The difference between ordinary people and cultivators is that ordinary people obtain things through their efforts and pursuits, whereas cultivators have to let go of everything in order to gain. Completely letting go of everything means letting go of all my attachments. Now when I look back at the tribulations, they are nothing. The person defeated is a human—a righteous God would never be defeated!
Actually, what the evil fears is that we look inwards. They always persecute Dafa disciples with the excuse that we’re not righteous enough. If every one of us looks inwards, then they will not only be unable to find an excuse [to persecute us], but also be unable to find an excuse to exist in this cosmos, and they will have to be destroyed! Oftentimes, I have found that after I peel off several layers of my human skin, my way of thinking grows further apart from that of humans’ and grows closer to those of Buddhas’ and Gods’, my understanding of the Fa becomes clearer, and I become more steadfast in the Fa.
Break The Reasoning That has Formed Deep Inside After Thousands Of Years
I have encountered many things in my cultivation. Last week, I was typing an email to another practitioner and as I was typing, my keyboard suddenly stopped producing letters on the screen, as if the ink ran out. I immediately thought, “What have I done wrong that has given the evil the chance to take advantage?” I sent forth righteous thoughts right away. Then I tried to type again but the computer wouldn’t work properly. So I turned off the computer to kill all the demons. But when I turned the computer back on, the situation grew worse Because I couldn’t type in the password, the computer stopped working for me altogether. Sweat trickled down my neck. I looked within, and thought of the day before, when I stopped my reading of the Fa to do other Dafa work. I did not know the real cause of the problem. My computer still wouldn’t work. So I used another computer which I haven't used for quite a while. After I spent half a day reassembling this computer, the disabled computer began to work, and when I immediately tried this computer, it suddenly worked, too, as if no problem had ever occurred to it. Although I didn't know what the true cause was, I think I passed a test because I was able to look inwards and believe that the problem was inherent in myself. Although I solved the problem in an ordinary human manner on the surface, I didn’t deal with the incident with an ordinary person’s way of thinking. Through that incident, I found that I have changed. Before, when I ran into problems, I was able to view the situation with a cultivator’s state of mind, but after realizing that I was unable to send out righteous thoughts with a pure mind and strong effect, I grew anxious and treated the situation like an ordinary person. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, my mind was not pure and righteous because of my anxiety. I was unwittingly using sending forth righteous thoughts as a method to resolve difficulties among humans. Dafa is solemn - It definitely won’t display the Fa’s power to people with impure thoughts, and It definitely won’t solve problems for humans.
In the Consecration section in Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun, Teacher said, “…our human mind activities or human thoughts can generate a substance. At a very high level, we have found that it is indeed a substance, but this substance is not in the form of the brain waves as we have discovered in research today. Instead, it is in the form of a complete human brain.”
If I don’t establish righteous thoughts, my bad thoughts will take the form of a complete human brain in another dimension. When I’m stubbornly attached to my human notions, those dark brains will be the blockages that will obstruct my path, and will manifest in this dimension such as interpersonal conflicts with others. Actually, I’m the one who has caused all of this. So I have to purge out my bad thoughts—in fact, that means getting rid of those obstacles I myself have caused in other dimensions.
On another occasion, a practitioner asked me for my opinions on another fellow practitioner. If this happened before, I would have tons of things to say. But now I know that everything has a reason, and that I should no longer speak about human things. I said to the person, “If she’s doing something bad to me, then there must be something wrong on my part.” This disciple said, “Wow! You’re making me see you in a different way now. No wonder few people have been talking about you recently.” After hearing what he said, I realized even more that the principles of the Fa are not ordinary people’s theories, but are true manifestations. When I’m able to control my mind at every moment with righteous thoughts and righteous actions like a true Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, then those dark brains will dissipate and my path in other dimensions will be smooth. And the manifestation in this human dimension will be that I have less problems.
Being Resolved To Correct My Temper
I remember that when I first obtained the Fa and read in the article, What is Forbearance, about “To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator,” I thought, “What kind of forbearance is it if a person has no anger or grievances? If he wants to vent his anger, he can’t. And only when he stifles his anger it’s considered forbearance?” I used to be very dissatisfied with the work of another practitioner, and each time I angrily called him, I would send him a lot of de. For over half a year last year, I almost called this practitioner on a daily basis and sent him de. He accepted everything with a smile, whereas I couldn’t maintain my xinxing. Even when I was able to occasionally forbear the situation, I was truly restless and vented my anger at this practitioner.
It was not until the last two months that I have realized that all kinds of attachments have been concealed behind my temper—all attachments imaginable are included. My temper had become the best protection that prevented these attachments from being destroyed. I recall that when I was only five-years-old, I was arrogantly bossing people around despite the fact that they were a lot older than me. My mother has criticized me many times on the way I criticized my father - it was as if I was giving a lecture to a three year-old child. Nothing in this world could restrain me except the time when I completely read Zhuan Falun for the first time. Then I thought to myself, “Great, now somthing will keep me under control.”
Teacher said in Lecture in New Zealand, “Let me tell you that when a person is angry, it’s without doubt that it’s his demon nature playing out. Why is that? Some people think that ‘I lost my temper because I’m teaching others to be good’, or that ‘I lost my temper because I wanted them to do a good job.’ That’s still demon nature, and punishing something bad with something bad, because you’re using your demon nature to have others do good things.” One time, I was not happy with a practitioner’s work and got really angry, so I sat there and carefully experienced the state I was in when I was angry. I found that my mind and rationale were completely swept by anger, I couldn’t continue to do the things I was supposed to do, and I felt uneasy. Due to my anger, I wasn’t able to do good work for Dafa. Who would be happy about it? For the first time, I clearly realized that the state of my mind would make the demons that cause damage to Dafa the happiest, and that the demons were using the demon nature in me to interfere with my clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. I’m sending forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the evil everyday, so why don’t I decisively eradicate the demon nature in me? I started to search for the root of my anger, and then I realized that losing my temper was only a phenomenon that manifested on the surface. At that moment, certain attachments of mine were provoked. When the attachments manifested, it was the best time to see through them with a clear mind and eliminate them.
When Master was touring North America to teach the Fa, I kept waiting for him to come to my state to teach the Fa. But when he came, the assistant forgot to inform me. When I found out afterwards, I was extremely upset. I sat down to cleanse myself, but after examining my inner self for a long time, I still couldn’t figure out why I was not supposed to listen to the Fa. But I immediately recognized a problem I’ve had for decades. That is, I would always blame others first whenever I encounterd a problem. I quickly eliminated these bad thoughts and maintained my righteous thoughts.
Later on, I had a few other tests and was able to pass them smoothly. Now I have experienced what Master said about enduring “completely without anger or grievance”. I can’t explain that feeling with language; it’s not that your heart will be like a pond of still water, rather, it’s a type of happiness—a type of happiness that is only experienced by cultivators and it comes from forbearance. I experienced this happiness because I was able to break away from delusion with the guidance of the Fa principles.
The Power Comes From The Fa
One time I was reading Zhuan Falun and came upon Lecture 2, “The Issue of the Celestial Eye.” There was a sentence that described the following: when a master sees that your celestial eye has opened, he will transform one for you, “which can also count as a result of your own cultivation.” I had read this passage countless of times and was even able to recite it, but it was different on that day. I was struck from head to toe, and I read it again—“which can also count as a result of your own cultivation.” At that moment, I suddenly realized that Master had always been giving me things silently, yet all of them had been counted as if I had done them. I had often taken what our benevolent Master and Dafa have given me—wisdom, abilities, and everything else that I’m not aware of—as my own accomplishments. I cried in shame.
Do I really have a list of accomplishments? Even I myself was created by Master, what could I possibly have? Everything I have has been given by Master. Master said, “Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” Whatever Master requires of me as a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple has actually been arranged a long time ago. So all my abilities and accomplishments are a result of Heaven’s will, in other words, Master’s will. If I have any abilities, they have been given to me by the heavens—by Master.
I used to think that my abilities had already been utilized to the fullest, and so how could I possibly do better? That was a human notion, a human logic, which was not wrong. But now I feel that Dafa has given me boundless wisdom, that I can never use up all my abilities, and that as each day goes by they will grow stronger and I will become better because I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. As long as I diligently make progress within the Fa, follow the path that Master has arranged for me, and continually raise my cultivation level, then my wisdom will continue to grow and my abilities will strenghten. My personal experiences have proven that this is truly how it is.
One time a fellow practitioner said to me, “When it comes to Dafa work, when you do it well, it has nothing to do with you; but when you don’t do it well, it has everything to do with you.” These words were really consistent with the principles of the Fa. When I do my Dafa work well, it’s because of Dafa’s mighty power and has nothing to do with me. When I don’t do my Dafa work well, it’s because I haven’t studied the Fa well enough and have thus caused losses, then of course it has to do with me. So as a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple, I need to clear-headedly recognize and handle my relationship with Master and with Dafa.
Send Forth Righteous Thoughts: By Staying Unaffected, We Can Handle All Situations
When I first began to send forth righteous thoughts, my facial expression implied as if I was fighting with someone. A fellow practitioner said, “Look at you, with your cheeks puffing out, you’re really exerting a lot of effort, aren’t you!” I thought that eliminating the evil required an all-out effort. Another practitioner said to me, “You should be merciful when you send forth righteous thoughts.” I argued, “Why have any mercy for the evil?” Later on through studying the Fa, especially after reading Touring North America to Teach the Fa for several times, I saw more and more clearly the wickedness of the evil demons in other dimensions who are causing damage to Dafa. If the cosmos were to be renewed according to their wicked standards, then the re-created cosmos would still be unrighteous and be filled with selfishness, and what would be the point of re-creating the cosmos? Then I thought of the changes I had gone through after I took up cultivation. If Falun Dafa were not taught to the public on a large scale, I would have become degenerate along with the degenerate human society. I had some experience with some religions before, but none of them could enable me to elevate my morality, and I would have been still mired in mud within the maze—the most frightening part was that I didn’t realize it at all!
Can the brutal persecution against Dafa enable the disciples’ morality to rise? The facts have proven that it cannot whatsoever—only by rectifying people’s hearts can the fundamental problems be resolved. But the evil old forces are not righteous themselves, so how could they make other people righteous? They are interfering with Master’s Fa-rectification and interfering with people’s predestined relationship in obtaining the Fa. All of their intentions, which are the most despicable, have proven that they are evil, and that their future can only lead to destruction! Whenever I think of this, a grand feeling of mercy would envelop me, and this mercy would bring me to tears. From the perspective of the Fa, I have realized that the more clearly I see the nature of the evil, the more I recognize the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. The more peaceful and tranquil my mind is when I send forth righteous thoughts, the more powerful they are.
It’s extremely important to clear one’s thoughts before sending forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes I would be in the middle of doing Dafa work, and the alarm would remind me that it was time to send forth righteous thoughts. Even though I had my legs double crossed, I still worried about whether my train of thought would be interrupted, and whether I could continue on the same train of thought after sending forth righteous thoughts. When I tried to resolve this problem, I remembered what Master said in Expounding on the Fa: “Your enlightened, original nature will automatically know what to do.” When I clear my own thoughts, I’m in fact clearing away the dust that has covered my original nature. When the dust becomes less and less, then my original nature will be revealed more and more. So, those five minutes used for clearing my own thoughts do not interfere with my doing Dafa work. Instead, it guarantees that I will do it better.
The more pressing the work is, the more important it is to calm our minds to send forth righteous thoughts. This is precisely a test of whether I am a cultivator or an everyday person. For several times, I felt that time was too pressing and I could just send forth righteous thoughts after completing the work, and that if I send forth righteous thoughts once an hour it would delay the work. In reality, the situation is the opposite of what I thought. The purpose of clarifying the truth is to enable people to see through the evil’s deceit, while sending forth righteous thoughts is to eliminate the evil. If all of the evil were completely eliminated, then there would be no need to clarify the truth. The reason for clarifying the truth is because the evil is still running rampant. When I understood this principle clearly, I no longer regarded sending forth righteous thoughts as a task that had to be completed. Instead, it was the purpose of my searching for Master throughout all these lifetimes. Isn’t this so? The purpose for Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples to seek out Master is not just to return to their own origins, but also to follow Teacher in Fa-rectification, to act as the guardians of the cosmos, and to eliminate all of the evil that is causing damage to Dafa.
When the part of me that has completed cultivation is separated from the rest of me, I have to cultivate anew at this human side. At this point, my state is not as good as the time immediately before the separation. So it is even more important to study the Fa well during this time. During those times, the state I’m in while sending forth righteous thoughts is a bit poorer. I would suddenly start thinking about other Dafa work or other things related to Dafa. I would immediately correct this way of thinking, telling myself, “Let me first eliminate the evil that distracts me.” On the surface, I didn’t think of anything bad, since after all I was thinking about Dafa work. But it’s still unacceptable. Why not? Well, what should I be doing at that time? To send forth righteous thoughts! Yet what was I thinking about? It was things that had nothing to do with sending forth righteous thoughts. Put another way, I was not eliminating the evil at that time, so isn’t this a serious matter? This is precisely how the evil is cunning, as they are using seemingly righteous thoughts to interfere with my eliminating them. So during that time, any thoughts that arise and have nothing to do with sending forth righteous thoughts are a form of interference, something to be eliminated without hesitation!
Master said in “Lecture at the Conference in New Zealand”, “This Fa will never be changed at any realm or any level of the cosmos. It can never be changed again. So this Dafa of the cosmos will forever remain invincible.”
Now Master has given us the formulas and the ability to eliminate the evil, and among all of the sentient beings in the cosmos, only Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples have this ability to cleanse themselves internally and to destroy all of the evil in the cosmos that is damaging Dafa. This is an extraordinary mission and an honor that have been bestowed upon Fa-rectification Dafa disciples by Teacher, and it is precious beyond description. There had never been Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples before, and there will never be any in the future. So let’s remind ourselves again of Master’s teaching, “You need to be worthy of the title 'Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple'! That's something that the cosmos won't have again. This only happens once since the beginning of time—it only happens once since the beginning of time in the cosmos.” [From Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston]
Master, I will do my best to walk a righteous path, and be a true “Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple”!
