(Minghui.org) Sending forth righteous thoughts is one of the three things that Master has asked us to do, and we all know how important it is. But one day, I asked myself: just how effective am I being? How powerful are my thoughts?

Through looking inward, I found that there were still many problems in my process of sending forth righteous thoughts, and that some of these problems were shared by practitioners in my area.

Do we have a solid foundation?

Some practitioners never participate in group Fa study; instead, they prefer to seclude themselves and cultivate alone.

However, that is not the format that Master has left us, but the arrangement of the old forces. If we don't assimilate ourselves into Dafa and act cohesively as a whole body, there won't be a solid foundation to our righteous thoughts, and our thoughts will carry no power.

Master has told us many times that our righteous thoughts won't be strong if we do not study the Fa well. Master has also emphasized the importance of group Fa-study, but some practitioners make various excuses to avoid it.

As a result, these practitioners are often the ones who meet many obstacles in their cultivation which take a long time to overcome. Often, this comes in the form of various health issues.

While these practitioners did try to send forth righteous thoughts to ward off the disease, their righteous thoughts were not strong enough to better the situation. I hope that these practitioners will awaken soon and participate in group Fa-study.

How much do we believe in Master and Dafa?

Master said in Essentials for Further Advancement II that “Dafa disciples' righteous thoughts are powerful.”

However, many practitioners don't completely believe this. Some were skeptical because their Celestial Eyes were not yet open, and they couldn't see the changes in other dimensions. Others believed for the most part, but still reserved a little doubt. Though there may be many reasons at first glance, the root cause is that they do not believe in Master and Dafa enough.

Regarding this issue, many practitioners suggested that we should make sure to think of ourselves as beings higher than the old forces when sending forth righteous thoughts, in order to fully channel the majestic presence of a Dafa disciple. But I don't think that's quite the case; I think it's our faith in Master and Dafa that matters most.

The opening program of Shen Yun is always a spectacular scene of Master leading all the practitioners down to Earth. Practitioners with opened Celestial Eyes often see how Master is eliminating evil beings in other dimensions for us during our trials and tribulations. Master is always the ultimate force behind the effects of our righteous thoughts; if we don't have faith in Master and Dafa, how can our righteous thoughts be strong?

We are never alone when we send righteous thoughts; Master and all the righteous divine beings in other dimensions are helping us. And the more we believe in Master and Dafa, the stronger our righteous thoughts will get.

Who “owns” our abilities?

Some practitioners have witnessed the power of Dafa and their own righteous thoughts. As a result, they believe they possess various supernatural abilities and divine powers.

But if we approach this rationally, none of us can say that our abilities completely belong to ourselves. We only ever have abilities because we have reached certain levels in our cultivation. Seeing that we have reached the appropriate levels, Master unlocks some of these abilities for us so that we can use them to eliminate evil beings. Without Master's help, our righteous thoughts cannot effect change.

We can see a better example of this when we encounter huge tribulations and our lives are at stake. At this time, can we just activate our abilities at will? We can't. Only our belief that Master always has the best arrangements for us will help us. When we truly put down all of our attachments and follow Master, there is no difficulty that we can't overcome.

Do we mix up our priorities?

Here's a question: what do we send righteous thoughts for? We might save sentient beings, disintegrate the CCP, end the persecution, help Fa-validation–the possible answers are endless.

But when we look at “The Essentials to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and the Schedule for Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts at Set Times Around the World,” we were told to “eradicate all evil that damages Dafa...”

It's also nothing like the aforementioned answers.

My understanding is we should always target the root of problems when we send forth righteous thoughts. What is the root of evil in the human world? It's the old forces in the higher dimensions. I believe that if we aim for them, we can send forth righteous thoughts to truly “eradicate all evil” that damages Dafa.

However, many practitioners in my area tend to set targets that are too specific, such as the 610 offices, certain brainwashing centers, or certain corrupt officials. I feel that while these righteous thoughts do have effects, they're not as powerful as they would be if we aimed higher, at the root source.

In fact, always focusing on these specific goals also shows an attachment to getting favorable results. Instead, we should look inward to see why the evil is allowed to get so rampant in the first place. Sending forth righteous thoughts is not an action meant to get us particular outcomes; if we see it as such, then we've mixed up our priorities.

Of course, I'm not saying we should never target any particular evil person or place. We often need to do this when we are trying to rescue specific practitioners; it's useful then to destroy the evil that is trying to detain the practitioner. But no matter what, our thoughts must always be pure and untainted by human notions.

One righteous thought can subdue a hundred evils. If we always take care to channel our divine side when sending forth righteous thoughts instead of our human side, I believe that we will always be successful.

How much do we concentrate?

I'd like to share a story of mine.

My institute holds a Communist flag-raising ceremony every Monday. Being forced to stand through it, I always sent forth righteous thoughts hoping to stop the flag. However, I never achieved a positive result.

I read an experience-sharing article from Minghui where the fellow practitioner said that we should eliminate evil in a more proactive and less reactive manner. It really inspired me.

I began to proactively send righteous thoughts every Monday. At the same time, I didn't pursue the effects of sending forth righteous thoughts; I simply concentrated on eliminating the evil.

After I put down my attachments, a miracle happened.

It was a typical Monday ceremony when I heard my colleague say, “Look! Look! The flag stopped rising.”

It was stuck for few minutes. I maintained an inner tranquility and continued sending righteous thoughts.

Another time, when the flag almost reached the top, the wire for the flag broke, and the flag dropped to the ground.

My realization was correct. I couldn't see into other dimensions, but Master still let me witness the power of Dafa.

In Zhuan Falun, Master told us to focus on “putting the mind on practicing, not putting the mind on getting gong.”

The same applies to sending forth righteous thoughts.

I live in a small county in China. In order to keep up with Fa-rectification, we always tried to improve our methods of sending forth righteous thoughts. However, many times, the results were still not ideal. I hope my article can remind fellow practitioners to look within ourselves and eliminate our attachments so that our righteous thoughts will be more powerful.