Falun Dafa Association of Atlanta
The Great Way
Dzifa A.
What does it mean to have Ample Righteous Thoughts and to have Absolute Faith in Master and Dafa?
Passing the Test
I started cultivating Dafa in the later part of October or the early part of November, 2007. A few months after that, I experienced the test of life through sickness karma. I remember lying there and feeling very terrible, when the thought came as to whether to go to the hospital, or take some medicine, and then I remembered, “…and leave it to Master to arrange whether you stay or go.” [Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles, 2006]. Even with fear of the sensation of dying, I still chose to leave it to Master whether I lived or die. By that evening, I had completely recovered. So although I didn’t express it to myself or to any one, I knew I trusted Master completely! That my faith in Master would be called into question again and again is cultivation, but my responses to these challenges haven’t always been firm, solid, and unshakeable.
The Importance of Forming a closer Relationship with Master
At some point during my cultivation, I noticed that I wasn’t making any progress in my cultivation. I didn’t know what to do about it. I talked to a fellow practitioner, but she didn’t know what I should do about it either. Instead of going to Master with this issue, I thought that I should rectify this myself, and so I languished in this state for a long time and only got worse. I look back now, and I realize what a waste of precious cultivation time. I had put Master at a distance from myself and didn’t realize asking Master for help would have been my best recourse. Having formed a closer relationship with Master now, I think I’ve gotten to know Master a little better. I realize that Master would have given me hints and helped me come out of that state unless it was something I should do all by myself.
Cultivating or not Cultivating?
The bad thoughts came. Or were they always there and I had just become aware of them? Anyway, I didn’t know what to do with them. Sometimes I was able to resist them, and sometimes I got caught up in them. I was still studying the Fa, or was I? I was still going through the motion of studying the Fa and was still struggling to do the exercises every day, but I wasn’t always successful. Sending righteous thoughts? I realized the big difference in how I sent righteous thoughts and how the Minghui Editorial Article “Editorial: The Essentials to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and the Schedule for Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts at Set Times Around the World (Updated)” recommended sending righteous thoughts. I never learned to do it properly! So was I cultivating? Saving sentient beings—I did help with Shen Yun promotions each year, and for a short period of time I worked on some Sound of Hope (SOH) projects. Master said, “If you can manage to really do well in all three regards, nobody will dare to touch you.” [Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference]
Muddle-headedness finally Catching up to me
One night in 2013, while sitting in meditation, two entities approached me and asked if they could tell me something. I said if it didn’t have anything to do with Dafa I didn’t want to hear it. So they went a short piece past me and conferred with each other. They came back and said to me, “Sit still and trust Master”. With an indication that they would help if I wasn’t able to. I was very excited because I thought Master had answered my earlier request to send two practitioners to help me. I had read in a sharing about how some practitioners work with Master to help other practitioners. The next day as I was sitting in meditation, the two beings showed up again. And all at once bad things were dropped on my head—insects, creepy crawlies etc. One of the beings jumped on my head to make sure that the top of my head was filled with the messy generated things. I sat there thinking I already had enough stuff on my body and I didn’t need anymore. I also thought that if I spoke up, I won’t get the help to “Sit still and trust Master”. I also didn’t call on Master because I was afraid Master would put a stop to it, and I’ll be stuck with having to face their degenerated mess on my own. Obviously, my thinking was not correct! I thought it was nothing, because I didn’t believe that such a thing could happen to a person anyway, let alone to a Dafa disciple. And so, I thought to myself, if this is real, I’ll clear it up with righteous thoughts and then I got up and went to bed!
Not Enough Righteous Thoughts
A day after this incident I went to Master and begged his forgiveness for not doing well and for taking things from others, and I asked Master to help me. I felt some relief right away and was indeed grateful. I had thought that everything would be cleared out right away and I could go back to being a “normal” person right away. Since I still felt things moving around on my head, I went back to Master and said that I could still feel things moving around and that perhaps they hadn’t been entirely removed! Boom, I felt the full weight of the evil on my head again. And Master said, not enough righteous thoughts, and attachment to results. That was three and a half years ago, and I’m still in the tribulation as I write this sharing. Where are my righteous thoughts and righteous faith in Master? I thought I had them.
Hints from Master
In trying to overcome this tribulation, I’ve come to learn many lessons and can actually look back and see how poor my cultivation state was back then. Master has given me hints on many issues, and in overcoming this tribulation. One day as I was standing in front of Master’s Image, I asked Master to please help me figure out what my problem is and how to overcome it. I had for the longest time it seems been trying to figure out what my problem is. I thought it was fear of this, fear of that, attachment to taking things from others or looking outward for the cause, etc. And each time I’ll send righteous thoughts to remove the attachment, and of course, real substance were removed from my body, but as time went I realize that wasn’t it. Anyway, so I stood in front of Master and asked for his help to overcome this thing, and all at once I saw the last two sentences of The Master-Disciple Bond from Hong Yin II in my mind, “When disciples have ample righteous thoughts/Master has the power to turn the tide.” My understanding of this is that, although it is still necessary to enlighten to what one’s problem(s) is, whether or not I have done so is not crucial. What is crucial is to have absolute faith in Master and Dafa. Only then, will I make it through. Master said,
“No matter what, have righteous thoughts and act righteously, and there will be no test that you cannot pass. Even if things do get very grave and you don't know where your own problem lies, you can't be without righteous thoughts. No matter what the circumstances, your fundamental faith in Dafa cannot waver, because when [your faith remains strong], even if you can't fully understand something or you haven't done something well and didn't pass a major test, or even if you lost your human body and left this world, you will nevertheless achieve Consummation.” [Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005]
But I do believe in Master and Dafa with all I have! But does it amount to “Ample Righteous Thoughts”? What does ample righteous thoughts look like for someone like me?
Examples of Righteous Thoughts
Master gives us many examples of Righteous Thoughts in Zhuan Falun, as well as in his other lectures—San Francisco lecture 2005, LA lecture 2006 etc.
In Zhuan Falun, Lecture Three, Master gives the example of a practitioner who was knocked down by a luxury car.
“…The driver was scared to death and jumped out of the car. He hastily asked her if she was injured and suggested that they go to the hospital. She replied that she was all right. Of course, this student had a very high xinxing level and would not get the driver into trouble. She said that everything was fine, but the collision left a big dent in the car.”
In Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four, Master talks about a practitioner who came to attend the lectures with her husband. Master wrote,
“As they were crossing the street, a car drove by very fast, and its side mirror caught the elderly lady’s clothes. With her clothes caught by the car, the lady was dragged for a distance of over ten meters and “Bam!” slammed to the ground…This student slowly got up from the ground and said, “There’s nothing wrong. You can leave.” … She came to the class and told me this story, and I was very pleased.”
In Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005, Master gives an example of ample righteous thoughts:
“A student was beaten so badly that her legs were smashed and broken into pieces, and they didn't set her bones before applying a cast. It never even occurred to the student that she would become handicapped because of this. She didn't pay any attention to it at all. She just studied the Fa every day, and her righteous thoughts were very strong. When she was able to sit up a little bit, she started to do the exercises. The doctors told her that her bones had been smashed and fractured in several places, and that the cast had been applied before the bones were set. It was all done by those people in the prison hospital. She didn't pay any attention to it and just told herself, "I want to cross my legs and do the exercises." She pushed herself and did it even though it was extremely painful to do. As time went by, she no longer felt any pain when she crossed her legs. The end result is that she has recovered. She can now jump up and down without any problem, and she's just like a completely normal person. (Applause) If any of you can conduct yourself like that, the old forces will absolutely not dare to touch you. Whoever can be like that will be able to make it through when encountering tests. What are "righteous thoughts" about? That is what righteous thoughts are about.”
Standards for Righteous thoughts
Master also sets the standard for Righteous Thoughts in Lecture in Sidney, when he says
“If you do not care and do not put them on your mind, with the master and the Fa here what is there to fear? As long as the green mountains remain, there is no fear of having no firewood to burn. Ignore them! Once you give them up, you will find that the tribulations have become smaller and you have become bigger. You will overcome them in one step, and the tribulations will become nothing. It is guaranteed to be this way. If one cannot overcome them, it is actually that he cannot give up the attachments or does not believe in the Fa. In most cases, it is because one cannot give up one or another attachment. His failure is all due to his inability to give up the attachments. Because he cannot go that one step further, and break from humanness, he cannot overcome those ordeals."
In Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference, Master said,
"We negate even the very emergence of the old forces and everything that they've arranged; we don't even acknowledge their existence. We're fundamentally negating all of their things, and all of, and only, the things you do while negating and getting rid of them is mighty-virtue. It's not that you're cultivating amidst the ordeals they created. Rather, you are to walk your own path well while not acknowledging them, not even acknowledging the elimination of their ordeals' manifestations. (Applause) So looking at it from this angle, what we need to do is completely negate the old forces. Dafa disciples and I don't even acknowledge the manifestations of their last-ditch efforts."
In Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference, Master says,
"So as a cultivator, what is truly remarkable is when you can be steadfast and have righteous thoughts so firm that nothing can sway you. Be solid and firm like diamond, or granite, and then nothing can affect you--evil will be afraid at the mere sight of you. If upon encountering trying circumstances your thinking can be truly righteous, then, when faced with the evil's persecution and when faced with interference, just one sentence of yours fortified with steadfast righteous thoughts can instantly make the evil disintegrate (applause), and it will make those who are being used by the evil turn and flee, it will make the evil's persecution of you dissolve, and it will make the evil's interfering with you disappear without a trace. One thought born of righteous faith is all it takes. And whoever can hold firm that righteous thought and go the distance will become a magnificent god forged by Dafa. (Long applause)"
I’ve come to realize that righteous thoughts come from the Fa. Ample righteous thoughts come from the Fa. So, if I’m not studying the Fa with all seriousness and with good concentration and understanding, how could I have righteous thoughts? What are righteous thoughts anyway? They are thoughts or understandings based on one’s absolute faith in Master and Dafa. But they are also of material existence. Master says, “…Isn’t everything made of matter?” [Zhuan Falun, Lecture One] The Fa imparts it to us. We may feel we have it, but if it’s not there, then it’s not there!
Is Letting Go a Big Component of Righteous Thoughts?
After awakening to all of these, why am I still struggling to overcome this tribulation? Is it Karma? Master talks about the issue of levels. Is it that even though I’ve enlightened to these truth, I’m not in those realms yet? What puts me in that realm? Trusting Master and Dafa implies letting go and leaving the matter in Master’s hands. Have I done it? While sending righteous thoughts a several weeks ago, a question came to mind: Why all the worries and concerns? Let go and have absolute faith in Master and Dafa. Until this came up, I didn’t even realize I was actively worried and concerned about this tribulation and the outcome of it! So how do I let go of something I wasn’t even aware was going on? What other factors are playing out in my life without my awareness? And so I say thank you to Master for bringing it to my attention, and I begin to send righteous thoughts to clear it out, and I begin to affirm the opposite in my life by starting with the words: I let go of all worries and concern. I have absolute faith in Master and Dafa. Master said, “Cultivation depends on one’s own effort, while transforming gong is done by one’s Master” [Zhuan Falun] I let go!
How has this impacted my Saving of Sentient Beings?
Not in a good way at all. I still don’t have a regular project I’m working on, not for the lack of trying to find one. I have participated in short-term projects and thanks to Master and Shen Yun; I’m able to do quite a bit when Shen Yun season comes around. There are also a couple of fellow practitioners who have included me in their endeavors, to help me keep up with Fa-Rectification. And for that, I’m eternally grateful. As I write this, I know that I must try even harder, and find innovative ways in which to do my part of a regular basis and save sentient beings. Master said, “Dafa disciples are Gods who have descended to the human world with the responsibility to assist Master in saving sentient beings, shouldering the responsibility of saving sentient beings in the lower realms.” [Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference] So how could I not fulfill my responsibility to Master and sentient beings?
Please point out any and all incorrect thinking or understandings here. Thank you Master, thank you fellow practitioners.
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