(Minghui.org) Below is an aspect in my cultivation where I did not do well but am striving to. I would like to share this with fellow practitioners for our mutual benefit.
The old forces instilled their logic in our uncultivated side, a logic that says we must acknowledge their arrangements before we’re allowed to do anything. We cannot allow ourselves to follow that logic.
No one can take advantage of Dafa practitioners. Once a practitioner accepts that logic or mindset, he or she is at the wrong starting point and it will lead to serious consequences. Therefore, we must rid ourselves of the old forces' logic and align ourselves with Dafa as the foundation for our cultivation.
Here is a case in point. Some practitioners might think: “My persecution record is the basis for my future vindication and proof that I am a Dafa practitioner” or “The CCP closed my bank account and stopped my retirement pension, all of which will be proof that I am a Dafa practitioner,” or “I am on the CCP's blacklist and therefore unable to live a normal life. That shows I am a practitioner.” Some even think: “Since I have been persecuted, my sufferings will be proof for my virtue.”
In fact, these thoughts have acknowledged the old forces' arrangements of having us persecuted so as to temper us in cultivation. As Master watches over such practitioners being persecuted, how can he not be saddened?
Some practitioners even look forward to being admired by ordinary people when the Fa rectifies the human world. Such a thought is an attachment to fame. Even though they have suffered persecution, some practitioners have not let go of the attachments to fame and personal gain. How can someone like that reach consummation?
Master said,
“In qigong practice, if some people have bad thoughts that agree with their mentality, they will come to teach these people. One righteous mind can subdue one hundred evils. If you do not pursue anything, no one will dare to bother you. If you develop an evil thought or go after something bad, they will come to give you a hand, and you will be following a demonic cultivation way. This problem can take place.” (Lecture Five, Zhuan Falun)
Master has made the point very clear. We must have a righteous mind.
I said to myself, “I will deny all and any arrangements by the old forces. Even if I have followed the path of the old forces in the past, I now view their interference as roadblocks on my cultivation path. How can charcoal on the tracks stop a moving train? As the train roars by, the charcoal will be blown away and vanish like ashes. The old forces' arrangements will scatter like the charcoal.”
Fellow practitioners, please point out anything that falls short of the Fa in my above understanding.