By a Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) What is cultivation during Fa-rectification? I personally think it refers to cultivating within Master's Fa-rectification. As a practitioner, the goal of cultivation is to help Master with Fa-rectification.

How do we achieve that goal? First, we must make sure we do not interfere with Fa-rectification. This requires us to let go of all of our human attachments and assimilate to the characteristics of the universe in order to help Master with Fa-rectification. Because acknowledging the existence of our human attachments is a factor in preventing our assimilation to Dafa, it will definitely play a role in hindering and interfering with Fa-rectification. At the same time, the existence of human attachments nourishes and "helps the evil" ("My Version of a 'Stick Wake-up'"). In addition, the existence of human attachments can also interfere with others assimilating with Dafa and cause negative effects. This shows the importance of cultivating our minds. Cultivating our minds is the foundation and key to helping Master in Fa-rectification. What we need to emphasize is that we cultivate our minds for the purpose of helping Master with Fa-rectification, instead of for completion of our personal cultivation. So what we achieve through cultivation must be the righteous enlightenment of altruism. Of course, the completion of cultivation is the natural result of genuinely helping Master in Fa-rectification, instead of being a result of pursuit. So, it must be selfless and without omission. Every Dafa disciple should understand the basic point of cultivation during Fa-rectification.

Secondly, to help Master with Fa-rectification, we need to take the initiative to harmonize with what Master wants. This is manifested by the word "help." This is to do well in clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts. Doing well with these two things is proof of cultivating our minds and also of taking the initiative to validate Dafa. It is the manifestation of "Accomplishing is cultivating "("Solid Cultivation" in Hong Yin) If we compare studying the Fa and doing the exercises with "cultivating," then, clarifying the truth and sending forth righteous thoughts is "practice," to practice and improve ourselves according to Master's arrangements. The result will be achieving the highest level of selflessness, that is, assimilating to Dafa. It is not to do so-called "cultivation" and improvement in tribulations arranged by the old forces, because no matter how you improve, it is for the Self. No matter how high one becomes, it is actually not that high. Not only is it not high, it cannot go beyond the realm of Heaven and Earth, because it is within the old principles and still wanders within degeneration and destruction.

The old forces' arrangements are meant to severely interfere with and damage Fa-rectification and to destroy numerous beings. These arrangements must be completely denied and cannot be acknowledged. Dafa practitioners should understand this issue rationally. Therefore, "helping Master" certainly includes breaking and clearing the interference and damage to Fa-rectification, and harmonizing the needs of Fa-rectification at the same time.

Another issue needs our attention. If we don't study the Fa or do the exercises well, then we certainly cannot do the other two things smoothly. It's easy to get into a mindset of "doing things" and also to be "taken advantage of" by the evil. This requires practitioners to first look inward when encountering anything. Only by letting go of all human attachments can one not interfere with Fa-rectification. One can then have stronger righteous thoughts, save more people, deny the old forces' arrangements, eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, and stop the evil from doing bad deeds. (This is a manifestation of compassion with no omission). So, "looking inside" is the basic training in cultivating during Fa-rectification--the path to improvement and the way to assimilate to the Fa. I think the "inside" referred to here is the need of Dafa itself and Fa-rectification--from the point of view of cultivation during Fa-rectification. I understand that this is what Master meant by saying [we should] "understand the Fa from within the Fa." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia")

Once our thoughts are rectified, our environment will certainly be rectified. When our thoughts are not right, our environment will certainly not be right and the evil will, of course, follow us as our shadow. The persecution will not stop by itself because the evil elements "are wicked, malicious, and bad" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference"). Therefore, we practitioners should often reflect our cultivation within our environment and use our environment to cultivate ourselves well. Finally, we should change our environment and create an environment with righteous thoughts, creating our own divine path that is harmonizing, all-encompassing, and not destructive to Fa-rectification.

Another issue is the understanding of human attachments. In fact, all human attachments come from "selfishness" and "oneself," while righteous thoughts come from the Fa. Whenever my attachments occur, such as zealotry, competition, etc., I feel I have been apart from the Fa and I feel like a life without roots, or water without a source. Without Dafa, nothing exists. We don't exist, either. Why would we be attached to loss and gain among each other? What should be cherished and maintained, instead of ourselves and our human attachments, is the Fa. Cherishing Dafa is to truly cherish oneself.

I hope fellow practitioners can benefit from my understandings.

Posting date: 5/16/2008
Original article date: 5/16/2008
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/4/28/177370.html

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