(Clearwisdom.net) Master said in "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005 (Lecture portion):"
"Since July 20, 1999, the evil has done a lot of bad things, but I won't talk about those things too much. There is such an enormous amount of evil for Master to clear away, and Master has to bear the karma of many students, so there is a certain amount of harm done to [Master's] surface body."
Master seldom mentions the suffering that he has endured, so why did he mention it this time? Is he reminding us that, as disciples, we indeed need to diligently strive forward, truly cultivate, and truly play our roles in saving sentient beings? Master is bearing the karma for us, and Master's surface body is being harmed. Are our hearts for striving forward still untouched? While thinking that Master's surface body is being harmed, I feel very sad in the side of my divine nature, and I always want to cry. Master has silently endured too much for us disciples, and now I can only diligently strive forward so that Master will endure less for me.
It was once reflected in my mind that the current status of the sentient beings is that they are anxiously expecting to be saved. Only then did I realize the urgency of saving sentient beings. I felt that I had thought too little about sentient beings, and instead, too much about myself. I decided to force myself to let go of self as soon as possible and put sentient beings in my heart.
Recently, I found a fundamental attachment. I feel very happy when hearing about the wonderful future Master mentions in lectures, and I wanted to pursue such a state by cultivating Dafa. I did not want to pay out, but I wanted to enjoy. I was attached to a comfortable lifestyle in both the human life and my Dafa cultivation.
Master said,
"Those transporting the Nine Commentaries into mainland China are not limited to Dafa disciples; ordinary people, too, have been bringing in the Nine Commentaries in large quantities, some even in cargo containers." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
I enlightened the moment I read this. Dafa practitioners should print and spread more of the Nine Commentaries. Even the everyday people are doing it. We should do much better. In some areas, the practitioners who participate in producing truth-clarifying materials are still very few. Each of us disciples should blaze our own paths, and nobody can replace us. Thus we must give up the selfish attachment of waiting for, relying on and obtaining from others. Some practitioners feel it is dangerous to produce the materials, so they even dare not to think about it. Actually it is due to the attachment of fear, and in fact, it is dangerous if we do not let go of our attachment of fear. If Dafa practitioners do not do the Dafa work, who else would do it? As long as Dafa need us to do anything, we should try our best to create the condition to do well.
Master said,
"I will address this from another angle: it is an act of compassion for Dafa disciples to save all beings, and you are trying to save as many sentient beings as possible. If you are able to save half of the human beings, then Master will truly be happy for you!" ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005")
Most of the Chinese people live in the countryside, so this requires us to help people there to know the truth. Then we can save more of the sentient beings there. In winter of 2005, a fellow practitioner talked about her experience of spreading truth-clarifying materials (in -23oC/-9oF weather) in the countryside, dozens of miles away from her home. She went there once every several days. Before she set off, she familiarized herself with the road and then went back home to get the materials. Each time she took a big bag of materials, and sometimes in one night she would walk through five or six villages by herself. She walked from 10:00 p.m. until morning, and she said she did not feel cold while walking.
She said, "If we don't save the sentient beings in our own areas, who else will? Aren't we the hope of the sentient beings?" Sometimes when she couldn't find another practitioner to accompany her, she reminded herself, "Wouldn't you still cultivate even if there wasn't a fellow practitioner accompanying you? You must fulfill your promise, including your vows." So she walked in the snow-filled field in winter on her own, and sometimes she walked a very far distance. In order not to omit cul-de-sacs, she walked through each village one by one, even including those most far and remote places. After a period of persistent work, about 30 or 40 villages had been covered.
If all Dafa practitioners can do as well as this practitioner, many of the sentient beings in the countryside will be saved. In Manhattan, it is so cold that fellow practitioners' faces and hands become black and blue, yet they persist. The practitioners there can do it, and I believe we practitioners in China can also do well.
Through studying "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005," I felt the urgency of saving sentient beings. The requirement for Dafa disciples of the Fa is higher and higher. Thinking about what Master is bearing for me, and thinking about the expectations of the sentient beings who are at the brink of danger, I indeed have no excuse not to strive forward diligently.
December 24, 2005