A Western Practitioner in Canada
During my cultivation before the crackdown on Falun Gong I was quite diligent in looking inside myself so as to cultivate as fast a possible. After the crackdown began however it seemed I changed more slowly. In the face of the immense and profound cosmic climate my human heart of nobility and great purpose surfaced. But because I didn't stay steadfast to looking for my attachments in all circumstances my human heart was not abolished. This then caused unnecessary difficulties in my melting into the Fa rectification. When I was criticized or complimented this human heart would only get stronger. As a result there have been too many instances where my human side restrained my divine side from further rectifying the Fa and myself.
There have been too many times that I didn't do well in cultivating minor personal issues in my life and in all cases it interfered with my ability to be an aid in this Fa rectification. Once I realised this, I once again became more diligent in cultivation. My heart became larger and more peaceful and my mind came to a deeper understanding of the Fa's requirement for myself (us). From one perspective, when we look inside ourselves we follow the requirements of the Fa (Law) and when we enlighten to the principle of the universe we are obtaining the Tao (Way). As particles of Dafa it is through the cultivation of our hearts that we represent a manifestation of the principle of the Universe at this level. How well or how poor we do has a direct effect on the Fa at this level. When we do well it is quite magnificent and doing poorly is quite dangerous.
How can our attachments be solely an issue of self-cultivation, when they (our attachments) are the very things that will stop our cultivated side from rectifying the Fa? If I am a particle of Fa, then any dirty heart I don't let go of will have a counter productive effect on the rectification of the Fa. I do not think I, nor any one disciple is so important, but the better we can understand our relationship with Dafa the better we can harmonize Dafa and the better we can let the Dafa harmonize us. To better understand my role in Fa rectification, I ask myself:
What is there within my heart, that interferes with helping Master rectify this matter?
What stops me from embodying compassion when dealing with my fellow disciples and humans?
What does it mean to rectify the Fa?
From my understanding, Master has stated that this is the Dharma ending period. This is the time when humans have no Law in their hearts. From our perspective this is quite easy to see. But what is this human heart? What is it to be human? This level and everything in it, is made of sentimentality. When the human heart leans toward good then they will live well, the opposite is also true and we have all witnessed this as well. So isn't our duty to lead people's hearts to lean towards Dafa or better yet to lead their hearts into Dafa. If the lack of Law in their hearts will lead them to unceasing deterioration, then wont the opposite also be true. If they have Law in the heart, specifically The Great Law of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance (The Dafa of Zhen Shan Ren), then what result will this have? The Dafa harmonises everything, and will naturally harmonize this last shell of the last layer. To question this fact is simply humorous. But, the question is how to get the populous to lean towards or to walk into Dafa?
While sharing the beauty of Dafa we are continually using our energies to also suffocate the evil being expounded against Dafa. But often times I will forget about the destructive evil within myself. I get involved in task after task, claiming that this work is more important than myself. I would lose sleep, food, and then I get busier and busier. When then do get time to study the Fa? Where is my calm mind and heart, which I need to study the Fa? How can I calmly look into my own heart when my cultivation is in such a state? But my mind says, "I want more people to support Dafa", "I want to suffocate the evil", "I want the suffering of my fellow disciples to stop", or "I want to do more to end this matter sooner and to go home sooner". These are among the many things I held in my heart that interfered with my cultivation at this precious time. Indeed we should be able to sacrifice ourselves in our work for Dafa, and for sure, we should have the most lofty and righteous purpose. But we cannot use these "wants" or wanting hearts to melt into and bring about this Fa rectification.
We are cultivating the heart of Buddha, Tao and God. It is this heart, our cultivated hearts that we should be strengthening and manifesting in all our deeds. This will strengthen the manifestation of the Buddha Fa at this level of the universe.
With this heart then we can guide the human heart towards Fa. Not because we want them to follow us, but because they will want to follow. In fact almost all are hear for the Fa. So in their hearts they already want it and when we can manifest the Dafa then they will naturally follow. Master has given us the Fa, and used the lowest and most limited language and concepts (the human mind) to untie the knots in our minds and hearts. We should take their minds and hearts into consideration, the same way Master considered our minds and hearts. We have Zhuan Falun to guide us to Zhen Shan Ren, but they (the everyday people) do not. They only know of, or know about Dafa through seeing and judging us. Can our actions and deeds ever completely measure up to Dafa? Of course not. Then all of our thoughts, actions, deeds etc... should, at the very least, be the most outstanding in all of this human society.
I have attended and helped with a number of our press conferences before. Many times the evil has come to disturb these conferences. On one occasion we did not let them in and other western media became confused and questioned us on why we stopped the Chinese state run media from entering. They asked us why we would not let them in. This is not common for a press conference. So we explained to the western media that China's state run media had sabotaged other conferences and stopped western media from asking questions. We told them this stops us from letting the world know what is happening to us (Falun Dafa), they accepted and we continued. This suffocated the evil and let us continue the press conference. This helped to create some positive media.
From one perspective we were professional, efficient and even relatively effective, but from my opinion we missed a chance. If we are only successful from the humans perspective than it is not enough. If people only follow us on the surface and don't understand in their hearts then a great problem could arise. That is people will only support Dafa on the surface and will be easily shaken to the evil side. If their hearts don't change then what we are doing could turn into some kind of movement in human society. Master has explained that no movement can change the human heart and that Dafa should never fall into such a state. We can not just adopt human ways of doing things, instead we should "use them at will" to guide people into the Fa. When doing this we not only "maximally conform to human society" but also rectify the formalities of human society, because when we use human formalities we use them from the perspective of the Fa and the Fa harmonises everything.
We missed a chance to change the hearts of the western media with our compassion. We could have told them that China's media would interfere with them getting their questions answered, and the vicious fabrication and slander would continue contaminating people's minds. Then they would not only agree, but they would be thankful. When we can answer their questions we are also saving them and all those who read their articles. We would touch their hearts and they could see how Dafa practitioners really do think of others first. They would then know in their hearts because they would have not just heard about Dafa but experienced it. In fact this is a very small example but it helps to convey my point.
If we can remain calm with hearts of compassion then we can see this level clearly, let go of our wants (humanness) and see the "wants" of the others. This persecution has affected every level, part and aspect of human society. When talking to anyone we should do our best to explain it from their perspective. We should awaken them to the fact that they too are within this great calamity. Cultivation is not something everyone will do now, yet they should at least have the chance in the future. But first they must make it to the future. Form another perspective, their cultivation if now or in the future, will only involve themselves but at this time, what they can take part in is incomparably greater.
Lets take into account the enormity and gravity of this time and offer those who are lost a way out with our selfless compassion. Let's regard the small issues with a kind, polite, and selfless manner. Standing well groomed clean, pure and upright in this dimension and standing as high as the heavens in other dimensions, we will guide the human heart and help Master rectify the Fa.
Fellow disciples, lets consummate this matter. Not so we can go home, but so we can be true particles, worthy of this Dafa.
He shi.