(Minghui.org) When I heard about local practitioners being persecuted, I used to always subconsciously think and even discuss with other practitioners that there had to be a huge flaw in certain aspects of their cultivation state. Otherwise, there would not be so many incidents of practitioners being arrested. I would then think of some hearsay about the persecuted practitioner not meeting the standard of Fa and consider my thinking to be reasonable and fair.
I now realize that this way of analyzing things is looking outward, and to some extent, is to acquiesce to the old forces' persecution against practitioners.
Of course, I am not saying that we should not point out fellow practitioners' problems. When a problem is found, it is best to point it out to them in person. If for some reason we cannot point it out in person, we should focus on the specific problem instead of the specific person and not spread things around among practitioners. If the practitioner with a problem is persecuted, we should not emphasize his or her problem, nor should we fix their problem. The fact that he or she is being persecuted is a cause and effect relationship, and we should not accidentally add even just a little bit of negativity onto the practitioner. Otherwise, our comments will be passed on to others, and might bring more pressure upon the persecuted practitioner or might even provide a basis for the old forces to persecute other practitioners
We have learned in the Fa that practitioners' problems should be set right in Dafa, and that they have nothing to do with the old forces. Anything that is forced upon us by the old forces is their crime and sin, and it is not acknowledged by Teacher and, of course, not by Dafa practitioners, either.
For example, if a person is in danger and there are good-hearted people helping him, they will definitely put their minds on saving the person instead of complaining about him. While trying to save him, they would not complain about how that person got himself into the situation or analyze why he is in that situation. When we try to rescue fellow practitioners, if in our thinking we overanalyze the areas where the persecuted practitioner has flaws and overemphasize that it is because they have flaws that led to him or her to being persecuted, then we are only rescuing the practitioner on the surface, but we are actually helping the old forces out. The old forces may see that even the fellow practitioners accept it and thus have more excuses to persecute.
In “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Teacher said,
“If Dafa disciples can manage to pool their strength together in one concerted effort, and act with extremely strong righteous thoughts, think about it, that will truly amount to divine beings being present in this world. It would be simply terrifying to the evil!”
If we think and act like I mentioned above–it doesn't matter what our intentions are–how could we pool our strength together in one concerted effort for the persecuted practitioner?
Therefore, when we hear about practitioners being persecuted, I think we should set our basis on “examining ourselves.” This is not to acquiesce to the old forces' existence or to the path arranged by the old forces, for the magical tool that Teacher has given us is to “look inward.”
What kind of human thoughts have affected us when we hear of a practitioner being persecuted? What kind of human notions arise? Which ones do not comply with the Fa? We should remove them right away. We should immediately deny the ones that cannot bring righteous thoughts to the persecuted practitioner, and we should not spread things among practitioners.
If practitioners around us are being persecuted, then we should think about whether or not we are overly dependent upon that practitioner, if we have worshiped that practitioner, if we have had lust for that practitioner, or if we have estranged that practitioner. If we can answer “yes” to any of these, then we must ask: Have we actively tried to get rid of that mindset?
Actually, the seemingly “crazed” existence of the evil (in fact, the evil is very weak, even powerless) truly has something to do with every practitioner's individual cultivation state. Try to ask yourself: Have I put great importance on studying the Fa diligently? Have I paid attention to sending righteous thoughts every hour and directly eliminating the evil things? Have I been diligent in doing the exercises every morning? Have I paid attention to clarifying the truth in person and saving sentient beings? Have I paid attention to cultivating myself?
This way, while examining and purifying ourselves, the substance that we bring to other practitioners will no longer be sticky. Instead, it will be the righteous thoughts that we cultivate through continuously reforming ourselves according to the Fa.
In fact, as Dafa practitioners who are on the verge of attaining great fruit status, we should truly change our mentality and not analyze the problems that we are facing with ordinary people’s criteria. We should rise beyond an ordinary person's mode of thinking, let divine thoughts dominate our minds, and support the persecuted practitioners with righteous thoughts.
Category: Improving Oneself