(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings Master, Greetings Fellow Practitioners!
I began Fa study in 1997. I was too excited after reading Zhuan Falun to fall asleep that night. I found the answers to many questions that I had, and I felt like I was awakened from a dream. I knew then that I could not live without the Fa.
I started reading the Fa every day, reading whenever I had time. Before I started cultivation I was picky about food. But to save more time to read the Fa, I often just had a very simple lunch. I also attended the group Fa-study and exercises after dinner. I swam in the ocean of the Fa and felt very comfortable. I could tell then that I was undergoing huge physical and mental changes.
Master encouraged me to cultivate. He let me experience all kinds of supernormal abilities in dreams. Shortly after I started cultivation I felt that my body was light, and I felt like I was flying when I walked. My most unforgettable experience was that once I was in bed when Master cleaned my body. Although I could not move, I knew that Master was helping me, so I was not nervous. I also heard Master's sigh, which I will never forget.
The sigh manifested Master's benevolence to every sentient being, and the immense effort to save the lives of those who have a lot of karma. I felt guilty for the karma I had created, and appreciated Master's salvation. Whenever I think of hearing this sigh I want to cry. I don't know what I can do to pay Master back. Master has given me all I have. No matter what I do, I am carrying out Master's arrangements. What I should do is to strive forward diligently and keep Master's teaching in my mind at every moment, so that I won't betray Master's compassion.
1. Listening to Master and Cultivating Oneself Well
Master said,
"...the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." ("Lecture One" from Zhuan Falun)
My understanding is that we should constantly cultivate ourselves until we reach consummation. This is fundamental. If we don't cultivate ourselves, then no matter how much we have done for Dafa we are merely everyday people who do things for Dafa. This might bring us good fortune, but we won't reach consummation. If we are like this, we will betray Master's benevolent salvation efforts. So, before we reach consummation, we should always treat ourselves as cultivators and constantly improve ourselves, which is the basic requirement for genuine cultivators. I never slack off in my cultivation. I started to memorize the Fa, and I have now gone through the process of memorizing Zhuan Falun four times. I look for the shortcomings in my behaviors that might be non-Fa-based and try my best to eliminate my attachments and human notions.
Of course, I am not always able to find my attachments or notions. But Master always gives me opportunities to find them. When I encounter conflicts with others, I know they are hints for me to find the real reasons and the attachments so that I can eliminate them. I think that if a cultivator can do this all the time, then he is in a very good cultivation state. Sometimes I don't pass the test, but I think it is a temporary state in cultivation. One should not be afraid of it or frustrated by the failure. Instead, one should try one's best to pass it next time.
For example, before I started cultivation, I had a short temper and always yelled at people. My coworkers told me my biggest problem was my bad temper. I wanted to change, but I was not able to control myself. After I began to study the Fa, with Master's help and the Fa's guidance I became a considerate person, and my coworkers said that I had become gentle.
Master said,
"Shan is the manifestation of the nature of the universe at different levels and in different dimensions. It is also the fundamental nature of Great Enlightened Beings. Therefore, a cultivator must cultivate Shan and assimilate to the nature of the universe, Zhen-Shan-Ren." ("A Brief Explanation of Shan" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
"Forbearance is the key to improving one’s xinxing. To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns. To endure completely without anger or grievance is the forbearance of a cultivator." ("What is Forbearance (Ren)?" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Master further explained the danger of demon nature to a cultivator,
"The same applies to human beings, who possess Buddha-nature and demon-nature at the same time. What one does without moral obligations and constraints is of demon-nature. Cultivating Buddhahood is to eliminate your demon-nature and strengthen and increase your Buddha-nature."
"One’s Buddha-nature is Shan, and it manifests itself as compassion, thinking of others before acting, and the ability to endure suffering. One’s demon-nature is viciousness, and it manifests as killing, stealing and robbing, selfishness, wicked thoughts, sowing discord, stirring up troubles by spreading rumors, jealousy, wickedness, anger, laziness, incest and so on."
"If a cultivator does not get rid of his demon-nature through cultivation, his gong will be badly disordered and he will attain nothing or follow a demonic path." ("Buddha-Nature and Demon-Nature" from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Isn't bad temper a type of demon nature? One cannot reach consummation with it. How can we suppress our demon nature when the conflicts come? Master said,
"As practitioners, you will suddenly come across conflicts. What should you do? You should always maintain a heart of compassion and kindness. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you room to buffer the confrontation. You should always be benevolent and kind to others, and consider others when doing anything. Whenever you encounter a problem, you should first consider whether others can put up with this matter or if it will hurt anyone. In doing so, there will not be any problems." ("Lecture Four" from Zhuan Falun)
It is true in daily life. When the conflicts come, if I can handle them based on the Fa and behave as a practitioner I can pass the test. Once at my workplace a customer yelled at me, saying that I did something wrong, which was not true. He was quite angry, and many people came to see what was going on. At that moment, all I was thinking was, "The conflict comes; I should hold my xinxing." So, I kindly explained everything to him and tried to comfort him. Later, his coworker dragged him away and asked me not to be mad at him, because he had mental problems. I smiled at his coworker and said to myself, "I have gained four ways in one shot and I should thank that person." One of my female coworkers was even scared to tears. Many other people were amazed by the way I handled it. They knew that I was cultivating in Falun Dafa, so they were amazed by how I had changed. Because of this incident, my workplace was awarded the title of "model work unit" at the end of that year.
But sometimes I cannot handle the conflicts very well. Even nowadays I can still get angry over some small thing. I am sometime mad at myself for having this shortcoming. When I don't handle a conflict well, I don't even dare to face Master's portrait. Later, through studying the Fa, I have come to understand that Master has arranged it. Master addressed this issue in several articles written in 1998, such as "Lecture at the First Conference in North America," "Teaching the Fa at the Assistants' Conference in Changchun," and "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore."
My understanding of what Master said is this: Since we are cultivating in everyday people's society, in order to prevent our enlightened part from being polluted again, Master separates our enlightened part in other dimensions. So what we have in human society is the unenlightened part and therefore we still have human notions. Since the enlightened parts have been separated, we have an illusion that we are not improving. What is the advantage of this form of cultivation?
Master said,
"Cultivating in such a way ensures that the side that has been fully cultivated won't be contaminated, it ensures that the person can keep cultivating while not seeing the truth in this delusory setting, and it ensures that Dafa disciples will be able to validate an even higher Attainment Status. At the same time, it also ensures that during this period the human world isn't impacted and altered by the divine side." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital")
Master has arranged the best way for us. If we don't cultivate well, we will betray Master's benevolent salvation efforts.
2. Clarifying the Truth and Offering Salvation to Sentient Beings
Were it not for the persecution, I believe that we would not try to clarify the truth to people. We would instead spread the Fa and let more people benefit from it. But the persecution is a reality. The CCP persecutes practitioners and attacks Master. As disciples we should take action.
Master told us to clarify the truth so that the sentient beings who have been deceived by the lies will be saved. After the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and Master's "Turning the Wheel Towards the Human World" were published, it is clear that the CCP is about to be eliminated. So it is urgent for us to convince people to quit the evil Party and clarify the truth.
I was temporarily imprisoned at the beginning of the persecution. I was also fired from my job because I appealed for Dafa three times. My coworkers said, "It is so unfair to fire such a good person who contributes so much to our company just because he appealed for Falun Gong. In the meantime we still pay bonuses to those who don't work well and bring damage to our company."
The financial situation in my family is fairly good, so I didn't have to worry about money. But the authorities lied to people, saying that Falun Gong practitioners don't work because of Falun Gong practice. To refute the lies I found a job with a flexible schedule, so that I had enough time to study the Fa and clarify the truth. I set up a family-centered Dafa materials production site. Since I had fear at that time, I bought a fax machine that also made copies. I told myself, "Even if the police see it, they cannot incriminate me based on a fax machine." When I look back, the notion I had was quite laughable.
I made dozens of flyers every day. I distributed them in many residential subdivisions. I even handed them out in the military and police residential areas and colleges.
On the street, I often see many laborers from the countryside. I told myself that they come to Beijing not just to make a living, but also to learn the truth and to bring the truth back to their hometowns. Master won't leave out any sentient beings! They should learn the truth, even if they are from the remote areas. I told myself that it was my responsibility to clarify the truth to them, since I saw them. I have handed out a lot of truth-clarifying materials at places where many countryside workers were assembled.
As my xinxing level ascends I become more and more mature and also learn more computer skills. I bought a new color printer and a DVD burner. I download materials from the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, edit them, and then print them out. I am now making more high-quality truth-clarifying materials. I realized that the truth-clarifying materials made by Dafa disciples are actually Fa tools, which have great power in every dimension. Before I hand them out, to make sure that the materials have the greatest power, I always place them in front of Master's portrait and ask Master to give the materials power.
Before I go out to clarify the truth I always send forth righteous thoughts with my mother, who is also a practitioner, to eliminate the evil in other dimensions that might try to harm Dafa and practitioners. Then I go out, and my mother keeps sending forth righteous thoughts at home to help me until I am back. We have been cooperating like this for several years, and everything has gone smoothly. One time however, when a guy saw me putting some material into a car, he pretended that he didn't see me, but when I passed by him he held my bicycle. I was initially a little nervous but soon calmed down and shouted at him, "What are you doing?" He was scared and he released me. I knew that Master was helping me. Because I had solid righteous thoughts, Master helped me to eliminate the evil behind that person. To avoid that person, I went to a village and successfully distributed all the materials.
I went to many different places to distribute materials and never returned to the same place twice in a row so no one was able to spy on me. I went out to clarify the truth, rain or shine or snow. In the last seven years I have been to almost every corner of Beijing. It is just like Master's poem tells us,
"He comes with Truth that gives him free reign
And travels the four seas with a free and easy spirit
The Fa’s principles spread throughout the world
His Fa Boat sets sail, loaded full with sentient beings"
("Tathagata" from Hong Yin II, translation version A)
I didn't develop a showing-off mindset or zealotry though, because I know that all of my achievements are actually arranged by Master. What I have done is to carry out Master's arrangements. If I didn't try my best to measure up to Master's requirements, then I should feel guilty. I have nothing to show off.
During the process of clarifying the truth, I gradually eliminated fear and suspicion, something that was previously quite strong. I had suffered so much from the fear and suspicion when I was an everyday person. These two attachments severely interfered with me in clarifying the truth at the beginning of the persecution. Whenever I saw a police car on the street I was afraid that it was coming for me. Later, whenever I had this suspicion, I recited Master's article "Expounding on the Fa." Gradually, I was able to eliminate fear and suspicion, and I was no longer afraid of police cars.
Whenever I had fear I would say to myself, "Everything I have Master has given to me. What am I afraid of? Am I afraid of losing my physical body or the comfortable life in the human world? Do I want to be human forever? Why do I have fear when I am doing good deeds?" When I asked myself those questions the fear left. I now have a better understanding of Master's poem,
"A Great Enlightened Being does not fear hardship
Having forged an adamantine will
And with no attachment to living or dying
He walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly"
("Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions")
Although I still sometimes have fear and suspicion, they are so minute that I can easily eliminate them.
I have written about my own experiences of validating the Fa. The cultivation experiences of every Dafa disciple are actually a history. The play is not over yet, so we need to learn our lessons and strive forward diligently to reach consummation.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, everyone.
