Rethinking the Essence of Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts

Recently, during a group Fa study, a fellow practitioner discussed the essence of sending righteous thoughts, and asked my mom and I what we think about while sending righteous thoughts. At first, I didn't think much of it. After all, we've sent righteous thoughts for so many years now, how can we not know what to say in our minds? This practitioner sat in the lotus position, lifted her palm and showed us how it was done. Before she had finished, I interrupted, "This is what I do too," thinking that there was not much difference between us.

However, this practitioner told me that when we recite: "...thinking about eliminating the bad thoughts, karma, bad notions, and external interference in their minds. As you're like this, think that they die, and then they will be eliminated." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa Conference", Guiding the Voyage), it has to be recited word for word because it is a quote from Master's lecture. We cannot change or miss a word, otherwise we would be unable to display the power of Dafa. What I had been rambling in my mind, while similar, was all made up by myself.

When lifting up one palm, we should recite in our minds the following from the Clearwisdom editorials on sending righteous thoughts: "While sending forth the righteous thoughts, imagine that you are like a god, as tall as heaven and incomparably noble, with an enormous body." "Eradicate all evil that damages Dafa, disintegrating all of the dark minions and rotten demons, destroying all elements of the Communist evil specter and all of its evil factors in other dimensions, encompassing all of it and leaving out none". After that we recite Master's verses, "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the Evil is completely eliminated" "The Mie word needs to be so strong that it's as large as the cosmic body, encompassing everything and leaving out nothing in any dimension." ("Righteous Thoughts")

After our sharing, we went on-line and found Clearwisdom's "The Essentials to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and the Schedule for Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts at Set Times Around the World (Update 2)", and downloaded Master's lectures "Righteous Thoughts", "Eliminate the Dark Minions with Righteous Thoughts", "The Effect of Righteous Thoughts", "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference" and "Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference". My family and I studied them, correcting our method of sending forth righteous thoughts.

Now, when I have time, I send forth righteous thoughts every hour, and have noticed an amazing difference. After 15 minutes, my entire body, head to toe and front to back is projecting enormous warm energy. Moreover, this is the first time in years both my body and mind have been able to experience tranquillity. I can feel my mind clear as water while reciting Master's: "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the Evil is completely eliminated". In the past, I would always think about many things, recite many names, and only start reciting Master's words when I was out of ideas. My mind used to be full of thoughts and I thought that was the way to do things. However, Master told us that:

"When you send righteous thoughts you shouldn't keep reciting the formula. You just need to recite it once and it'll work, except for in special circumstances. If you feel that you can't become tranquil and you readjust your righteous thoughts, that's okay, but still it's just for that moment. Actually, when you can truly be tranquil, one thought is more than enough to shake Heaven and Earth, there's nothing that it can't do, and it's as if it immediately immobilizes and restrains everything covered by your domain; you're like a mountain, and you instantly restrain them. You shouldn't always have an unsteady mind. You can't achieve that when your mind is unsteady." ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")

No wonder that even after all these years, not only was I unable to feel the effects of sending forth righteous thoughts, I even felt a sense of unwillingness to participate. Whenever the time came, I would feel passive, the reason is that I had been doing it all wrong. Of course, Master's words are the Fa, what energy they bring! So even though it looks like we are following Master's instructions, isn't it true that Master is doing the entire Fa-rectification himself?

Besides discussing my new understandings on the importance and method of sending forth righteous thoughts, the reason I am writing this is to remind other practitioners not to disregard its importance. Do not make the same mistake my family did. We put forth so much effort every day, yet it was all wrong. Please download and read Clearwisdom's "The Essentials to Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts and the Schedule for Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts at Set Times Around the World (Update 2)" Only by truly and solemnly sending forth righteous thoughts can we help Master in Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings.

Please feel free to correct any misunderstandings or shortcomings in my sharing.