A Clear Mind Can Overcome Tribulations, Break Illusions and Eliminate Interference (Shared at the 2003 Benelux Fa Conference)

Hello all,

I feel happy and honoured to be able to talk here today to all of you on our first ever Benelux Falun Dafa Experience Exchange Conference. We have all been waiting a long time for this event and I’m proud to be part of this today.

In "Rationality" (from Essentials for Further Advancement II) Master said, “Amidst tribulations, it is very difficult for a student to see the cause of a matter; but it’s not that it is impossible. When he calms his mind and evaluates things with Dafa, he will be able to see the nature of the matter.”

A while ago a fellow practitioner told me: ‘the evil tries to create illusions for practitioners. Sometimes troubles or tribulations can appear as big as a mountain, while in reality they are nothing more then a thin sheet of paper. As long as we can keep up our righteous thoughts we can break through this illusion. If we would be able to see the truth and see the evil for what it really is, it would not be able to hold on for one second.’

I often think about the principles that I should uphold and the things that I should do, more than actually doing these things and upholding these principles in my everyday behaviour. Often, when I come home at the weekend after working abroad or in the office for one week, I realise that, despite of all the good ideas and the concepts that I had in mind before going to work, I again failed to live up to the standards for a practitioner. It often seems like I’m following some kind of theoretical cultivation path instead of a practical one. Also, when sending forth righteous thoughts, there often is a ‘far away’ notion in it, something esoteric, going on in other dimensions, far from what I’m able to see and experience in daily life.

Recently I became more aware of this and I realised that I should actually cultivate more instead of thinking and wondering about how to cultivate. Instead of wondering how to get over the mountain I try to get going and maybe I’ll realise that, instead of a mountain, it is only a thin sheet of paper standing in front of me. Doing so my righteous thoughts have also surpassed the restrictions in my mind about ‘far away’ dimensions and they also became solid and effective in this human world. Paper sheets are no longer an insurmountable obstacle for me.

In "Dafa is all encompassing" (from Essentials for Further Advancement II) Master said, “Everything you, a cultivator, encounter is related to your cultivation and Consummation, or else those things absolutely would not exist.”

During sending forth righteous thoughts in Houston last year, all of a sudden a gigantic demon appeared to me. It was a demon looking exactly like I have always expected demons to be. When I tried to eliminate it, it was as if I couldn’t even touch it, as if it was out of my control. This demon, that seemed so powerful, presented me a throne. If I was to sit on it, then this demon would become my servant and I would become the king of a kingdom. I tried to eliminate this demon, but it didn’t work. Everything went pretty fast and the changes in the situation seemed to depend on nothing but one single thought. At the same time I was quite curious about this kingdom. One moment my curiosity became stronger and maybe I even felt a little bit flattered and I decided to just sit down on the throne for a short moment and to check out how the kingdom would be. As soon as I sat down the demon stood behind me and put his hands on my shoulders and I saw the kingdom that had been promised to me. It was filled with things that I have liked a lot for many years in my life and that I’m still at least a little bit attached to. There were lots of beautiful people, the weather was really nice and the nature was very beautiful. It seemed interesting to me and for a moment I was seduced by all of this.

I quickly remembered that I only sat down to take a short look and that I absolutely didn’t want to stay in this kingdom that was offered to me by a demon. I wanted to cultivate and eliminate demons. I decided to get out of the throne and eliminate this demon. However, from that moment on it seemed like my righteous thoughts had much less effect and that my mind wasn’t very clear anymore. Moreover, when I wanted to try again to eliminate this demon who had offered me the kingdom, I couldn’t find him anymore.

During the next few weeks I lived some of the heaviest tribulations that I have so far encountered in my cultivation. I went abroad for work and I came into a serious tribulation that I had never expected. All of a sudden my relationship with my wife was at stake. It came to the point where the choices I had to make were so difficult to bear for me and were so devastating for the things I like most in my life as a human being, that at one point a thought crossed my mind and I asked Master how it was possible that he was asking this kind of sacrifice from his practitioners and that I was wondering how cultivation could possibly include such a thing. Immediately afterwards I realised that all tribulations that we meet in our cultivation would never be more then what a practitioner can possibly endure. I knew that I should continue my cultivation, taking things as they come. In my mind I asked Master to help me get through this tribulation and to help me bear the consequences. No matter what they were. I decided that I would get through this test following the standards for a practitioner and that I trust on Master to guide my path in such a way that it is best for my cultivation and my future.

A few days later, when I was in Brussels sending forth righteous thoughts together with other practitioners, I still wasn’t able to get a good result. It still felt like my righteous thoughts didn’t have much effect. The tribulation at home was, contrary to my expectations, still going on. At that moment I had a very clear idea crossing my mind: In this tribulation I had been behaving according to the standards all along. I realised that I had to continue on my path as a cultivator, without looking back or having second thoughts. There was no wrongdoing in my behaviour and I had already passed this test, so now this situation couldn’t control or influence me any longer. At that very moment I was all of a sudden sitting on that throne again and there was this demon again, standing behind me, still holding his hands on my shoulders and pushing me down on the throne, so that I couldn’t get up from it. At that same moment it felt like something exploded. The demon vanished, as if it had been torn into pieces and I was free again and my mind was more clear again. The throne disappeared as well. Later that night when I went home, I had a very clear and solid understanding when discussing things over with my wife and that same night we cleared away the problems and misunderstandings that were still left.

I think this story shows how important it is that I’m not afraid for what appears to lie ahead. That would only come down to being attached to things that I don’t want to loose along the road.

In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A" Master said, “As I’ve said, everything that happens today in the ordinary society is the result of Dafa disciples’ thoughts. Even though the old forces exist, if you don’t have those thoughts they can’t do anything.”

Thank you all very much for listening.