“The Best Thought a Being in the Cosmos Could Have”

I have been tracking the number of people withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organisations. Each time I looked the latest number, I felt very anxious and worried. There are not enough people withdrawing from the CCP. Why aren’t more people withdrawing from CCP?

I don’t really know where to begin. Teacher has published “We Are Not ‘Getting Political’” and “Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World” on Falun Gong websites. Teacher has published “Turning the Wheel Again” and his statement to withdraw from Communist Youth League in the Epoch Times. Countless Falun Gong practitioners have shared their understandings on the significance and meanings of publishing a statement in the Epoch Times withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliated organisations. What exactly is keeping Falun Gong practitioners in China from withdrawing from the CCP?

I remember a story about cultivation that many Falun Gong practitioners are familiar with. Once upon a time, a mother and her daughter had nothing but each other. They survived by begging for food on the streets. Despite the destitute life and hunger, the daughter was devoted in her cultivation practise. After overcoming countless trials and tribulations, she was finally approaching the completion of her cultivation practise. One day, her master cautioned her, “When you complete your cultivation practise, you must not look down towards the human realm.” Finally the moment came. She completed her cultivation and soared into the sky. Her mother was beside herself. She kept crying and begging her daughter to take a look at her one more before she left for paradise. She exclaimed, “My daughter, will you not look at your mother just once more? Think about how much we have gone through together!” Tempted by her mother’s heartbreaking plea, the daughter forgot her master’s warning and turned back to look at her mother. The instant she turned her head, she fell down from the sky. Next her mother turned into a demon and sneered. “In order to ruin your cultivation practise, I have followed you for 500 years!”

I believe that, when we Falun Gong cultivators heard this story, all of us must have cautioned ourselves in our mind, “The moral of the story is that we must take heed of Teacher’s teaching and let go of all attachments at the critical moment.” But Teacher has given us a very clear warning. Why do we still hesitate to follow Teacher’s words?

Teacher said, “Dafa disciples do not want to leave behind any blemishes; their making a renunciation is not ‘getting political,’ and even less is it going through a formality. Rather, it is an attachment that needs to be removed in cultivation. No one can reach Consummation if they remain marked by, or if they acknowledge, the most evil thing in the entire cosmos.” (From “Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World”)

Many of us were born in China and grew up under the Chinese Communist Party’s demonic education and culture. As soon as we started to attend school, we were likely to be pressured to join the CCP and/or its affiliated organisations and, thus, were marked by “the most evil thing in the entire cosmos.” But now we are cultivators on the journey to godhood. We must remove the demonic mark to reach Consummation. Why do you have to find all kinds of excuses to ignore Teacher’s teaching? Does not prove that you are so used to wearing the demonic mark that you don’t even want to remove it? With so many years under Teacher’s tutelage, why do you even forget the most fundamental rule of a disciple is to obey his Teacher?

We have all learnt a lot of important and personal lessons from the past five years of the CCP’s cruel persecution against Falun Gong. We may have accumulated a lot of mighty virtue that all sentient beings envy us for as we continue to stand up against the persecution and clarify the truth about Falun Gong, but we must not forget that we will face tests even at the last minute before we complete our cultivation practise. Being Falun Gong practitioners does not mean we have an insurance policy.

Teacher said a long time ago, “If you do not follow the requirements of the Fa, you are not a practitioner of Falun Dafa.” (From “The Issue of Pursuit” in Lecture Two of Zhuan Falun)

I hope that we will continue to encourage each other not to fail our cultivation practise by a very narrow margin, or ruin many years of our cultivation practise in the 11th hour.

Teacher said, “Everything I’ve been doing during the Fa-rectification and everything I want, to spell it out, are the choice of the future cosmos and the needs of the future cosmos. (Applause) So for the beings of the old cosmos, and this includes all the elements of beings, when it comes to the Fa-rectification and what I choose, all beings’ harmonising and completing things according to my choices and contributing their best ideas and approaches--not to change what I want, but to harmonise and complete things according to what I’ve said--is the best thought a being in the cosmos could have. (Applause) But the old forces haven’t been doing it that way. They’ve considered their choices the most essential, and have thought that everything I do should harmonise everything they want--they’ve completely reversed it. I don’t want to state their crimes too harshly, right now I don’t want to name their crimes. But it’s absolutely wrong, they absolutely can’t do it that way.” (From “Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)

It is a necessary step for every Falun Gong practitioner to erase his demonic mark. We must not disappoint Teacher, who has been patiently waiting for us for a very long time. We must not forget that we are Teacher’s disciples and we must follow Teacher’s teaching to continuously strive forward in our cultivation practise.