Cultivation Has No Shortcuts: Walk Well the Final Steps of Our Path

One evening, my wife rode her motorbike home with a young practitioner following closely behind her. She was eager to get home, therefore, she took a shortcut. Looking from the distance, the road she saw ahead was actually a ditch as she approached it. Before she realized it and stepped on the brakes, part of the bike was already in the ditch and so was the young practitioner's. Fortunately, both of them remained unscathed and were able to get out of the ditch to continue their ride home.

She told me what had happened when she got home. I perceived that was Teacher trying to enlighten us. How can there be an accident on the path of cultivation? For a long time, my wife had been trying to help this young practitioner, in an effort to keep this practitioner from getting caught up in ordinary society and going astray. Thus she neglected studying the Fa and doing the exercises. She missed sending forth righteous thoughts frequently and often had conflicts with other practitioners. Even though she continued to clarify the truth and helped people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party, they both were aware that it had become harder saving sentient beings. What they didn't realize was that the effectiveness of saving sentient beings would ultimately be affected because they did not do well in studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. We are fortunate to be Dafa practitioners during the Fa-rectification period; our mission is to help Teacher to save sentient beings. Studying the Fa and doing the exercises well is to cultivate ourselves, while sending forth righteous thoughts is to clear the evil elements in our own spaces and the interference from evil elements in preventing people from knowing the truth.

From what they had encountered, I realized that it wasn't accidental. I carefully looked within myself and found it wasn't a trivial matter: I was ashamed when I realized that I hadn't done well in doing the three things myself either. Because of my busy work schedule, I had little time to study the Fa. Each day, I only read a few paragraphs and quickly felt very tired. Although, I knew it was interference from the evil, I still couldn't control myself and thus put the book down and went to bed. As for doing the exercises, I had been missing the morning global group exercises. While sending forth righteous thoughts; I was distracted by random thoughts and couldn't keep a quiet mind, therefore my palm dropped and I couldn't keep my hand in the lotus position.

Teacher once said that during this final period of Fa-rectification, every instant is precious beyond measure. We all know that it is a great honour to be a Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period. Why then do we not cultivate diligently and allow ourselves to be interfered with by the evil and cannot free ourselves? Looking deeper, I found I was interfered with by my own mindset, which was hidden deeply within me: my attachments to comfort, fame and gain, competitiveness, lust, and proving my self, etc. When I became aware of my deeply hidden mindsets and exposed them, I found that Teacher had already helped me to eradicate them. When I finished reading all of Teacher's lectures published prior to July 20,1999, I realized that the interference I had encountered was caused by the evil using my attachments as an excuse. As my xinxing (character) improved, I began to understand the meaning of following the divine will. I now pay close attention to studying the Fa, even when I have lots of work to do either at work or at home. When I truly put my mind on the Fa and follow the divine will, Teacher arranges for me to study the Fa and do the exercises and I haven't missed any of the global set times each day for sending forth righteous thoughts.

There is no shortcut in cultivation. Let us do the three things well, which Teacher entrusted us with and form a powerful whole unit to walk well on the final leg of this journey and follow Teacher home, reaching consummation.