Trial of Strength

I recently hand-copied the lecture "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference." As a result, I suddenly came to understand why I've had so much interference and so many illusions. The dark minions continue performing missions arranged by the old forces. Master has clearly pointed out that the old forces in the universe no longer exist. When sending forth righteous thoughts, we should thoroughly eliminate the dark minions of the old forces and the rotten spirits under their control that disrupt the Fa (law or principles,the teachignsin Falun Gong), and completely end the old forces' involvement. I have been seriously following Master's guidance to send forth righteous thoughts, and naively thought they had been completely eliminated long ago. However, this morning I clearly saw a shiny little flash of light that darted across in front of my eyes.

A series of problems has recently occurred at home. Thinking through what caused the problems, I realized I was trapped. When things happened, I thought I was just going through a process that a practitioner normally encounters. I dealt with the problems with a calm mind and tried to find the causes within myself. Gradually I went into the personal cultivation state unwittingly. I even comforted myself that I attained the Fa late, therefore my personal cultivation was included with the Fa-rectification cultivation. Every day I studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts, but did less and less things to reveal the persecution that is taking place. There was much interference whenever I did practical work. There were so many illusions that I could not distinguish which ones were true. Therefore, I could not decide what to do. After copying the whole lecture of "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference," I suddenly realized what the problem was. I did not realize how important it is to send forth righteous thoughts. Although I did it every day, I did not touch the essence - my righteous thoughts were not strong enough, which gave the dark minions the chance to fight back. After realizing this, I started sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate them.

I realize it is very important to have a clear understanding of the Fa in order to thoroughly eliminate the old forces' dark minions and rotten ghosts that disrupt the Fa. This requires us to study the Fa more deeply and more thoroughly. Furthermore, the following points are worth stressing.

1. Clearly distinguish between personal cultivation and Fa-rectification cultivation in order to eliminate the old force interference.

"You know, I give you automatic mechanisms for increasing gong and other elements such as the Falun. Also, my Law Bodies are personally looking after Dafa disciples, and my Law Bodies appointed some Gods who can truly assist with Fa-rectification to help. But, the old forces have systematically arranged their elements, too, and in that way they specifically arranged everything they wanted. So this has put every student under the influence of specific arrangements by the old forces, and under the influence of those old force beings."
("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference")

Master has mentioned again and again that the disciple's path is very narrow, and a slight deviation can make one unable to return. When stuck in a tribulation arranged by the old forces, it is indeed very miserable. That path has no future. For a period of time, I always dreamed about being tested. I wondered whether I was on the path arranged by the old forces. My righteous thoughts were not strong enough, so the old forces created false illusions in order to shake my righteous beliefs.

"So to thoroughly eliminate all the evil elements, from now on when Dafa disciples send righteous thoughts they should completely clean out those old forces' behind-the-scenes helpers, meaning, eliminate them. They're specifically carrying out everything that the old forces want to have done. Only after they're eliminated can more sentient beings be saved, and my Law Bodies and the righteous Gods who truly uphold Dafa will be able to look after things comprehensively. Start to completely eliminate them. The majority of them are at a low level and directly control rotten spirits. It's very easy to eliminate them since their levels are rather low, but they are hiding inside the most surface dimension."
("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference")

When they are eliminated, our paths will be easy to follow. It is extremely important to choose which path to follow.

2. Earnestly clarify the truth and expose the evilness of the persecution to local people

Fa-rectification has reached the surface. Master asks every senior practitioner and every new practitioner to do well clarifying the truth and exposing the evilness of the persecution to the local people. Local fellow practitioners are very anxious to start working on it, however since we do not know much about the local evil conduct, we don't know how to do it. We all hope information will come out soon so that we can expose the local evil on a large scale. Everyone is waiting. It is not a simple thing, as there are no materials to reference. As long as every practitioner truly takes action and cooperates, we should be able to make a breakthrough. However, the situation still has not improved. I realized it might be because some dark minions still exist in some practitioners' dimensions, and they have tried to interfere or cause damage, and struggle to survive. Therefore, it becomes critical to target them directly and eliminate them on a large scale through sending righteous thoughts.

Master has pointed out that the evil elements are from a very low level, and they hide at the most surface dimension. Since they are directly behind the evil on the surface, eliminating them and removing these elements will make exposing the local evil more effective.

3. Stress cooperation among practitioners and make use of our strength as a whole

Some practitioners already realize that the old forces' dark minions have created many gaps among practitioners in order to interfere with and damage Falun Dafa related work, and make fellow practitioners unable to cooperate well with each other. The ability to look inside when encountering problems differentiates practitioners from ordinary people. Facing different solutions, we should use the Fa to choose the best solution.

"For Dafa disciples as a whole, in the process of validating the Fa, when you work together in concert, the Fa power is great. Whether you're doing things as a group or doing things individually, what you're doing is the same kind of thing, and that's what we mean by one entity. You're all clarifying the truth, sending righteous thoughts, and studying the Fa, so the specifics of the things you're doing are different but the division of roles is orderly, together there's a form, and separated there are particles."
("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")

Please remember Master's teaching and value the predestined relationship with fellow practitioners. We should not be trapped into thinking about how other practitioners behave, therefore creating contradictions among fellow practitioners and leaving a loophole through which dark minions can take advantage. We should learn from our lessons.

One thing made me think a lot. A local practitioner in charge has spent thousands of yuan (Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China) on materials containing the true facts about Falun Dafa over the past years. Recently she has been short of money and would like other capable fellow practitioners to take part of the responsibility. But she is afraid to give an impression of collecting fees. The work cannot be stopped, but she has a dilemma. I realized that the Jiang regime's policy of "bankrupting them financially" targets every practitioner.

The practitioners I know are almost all in poor circumstances. Some have debts and some barely maintain a basic living. A practitioner in his 60's works until midnight every night frying food, but he still continues to study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, and expose the persecution every single day. A practitioner who escaped an illegal arrest with righteous thoughts and became homeless had several hundred thousand yuan in debts. My situation is a little better - just barely enough to support myself. Until this year, I had just enough money to buy a second-hand computer for 150 yuan, which enabled me to do some writing and transcribing. The PC can only run Windows 95, so there are many things it cannot accomplish.

We should not let such a situation continue. We must break through the old forces' arrangement. Master has said that cultivating Dafa is a blessing. Dafa will bring blessings to practitioners after their attachments are eliminated. Moreover, practitioners are undertaking the magnificent task of clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. The financial persecution should not be allowed to continue. Exposing the local evil to local people is urgent, and it requires every Fa particle to do well. In this period of time, these situations are definitely a kind of interference. Many fellow practitioners already realize that all practitioners should cooperate as a whole to solve the problem and to eliminate the evil together. At the same time, it is another opportunity for practitioners to do better.

We should understand Master's expectations. There is no need to say what we should do as practitioners. Utilize every penny of practitioner's money well. It is supposed to be used for saving sentient beings, not for seeking comfort in everyday life.

4. Continue to pay attention to personal cultivation.

"A cultivator cannot stop cultivating even at the very last moment before he reaches Consummation."
("A Suggestion" from Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Because the persecution has lasted so long, many practitioners have slacked off a bit and gradually become not very diligent. Some are not in a good mental state. It is very dangerous if this situation continues. We have gone through the hardest period. We must not drop out at the last minute.

Many fellow practitioners mentioned the issue of a fundamental viewpoint. If one's viewpoint is toward the Fa-rectification, one's thinking will be very clear and hidden attachments will be easily found.

I have seen a 70-year-old practitioner who looks like a 40 or 50-year old lady. Her words touched me deeply, "Be strict with yourself." The older practitioner validates Falun Dafa through her image, which is very solid and powerful. The older practitioner, who sells flowers for a living, practises the Falun Dafa exercises every day without skipping a single day.

"As Dafa disciples, what you should do in the current situation is clarify the truth to the world's people and expose the evil, thereby safeguarding Dafa. Your own improvement and Consummation are part of this process."
("A Suggestion" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Emphasizing personal improvement is still in the domain of being "selfish." By truly merging oneself into the Fa-rectification, one will gain magnificent freedom.

5. Do not relax long-term efforts to eliminate evil with righteous thoughts

There are still things from the old universe in our small celestial system. Any carelessness could be exploited. Therefore, we should keep strong righteous thoughts at every moment, and thoroughly eliminate any thoughts that are not in line with the Fa through sending righteous thoughts. It is just like playing chess. Every chessman has its function. They need to cooperate together in order to succeed. The true winning is not to eliminate all the chessmen of the opponent, which will waste time and energy, but to intelligently capture the head chessman. The remaining chessmen will then be of no use at all. I realize that suing Jiang worldwide targets the head of the evil, and I believe every practitioner should support this with righteous thoughts and actions. Exposing the local evil is as important as Jiang's case, because it cuts off support to the head of the evil and keeps the evildoers busy dealing with their own issues. At the same time, we should find their accomplices of the evil, expose them so that they don't have any place to hide, and then eliminate them completely in other dimensions.

The above is just my personal understanding. Please point out any thing improper.