(Clearwisdom.net) When practitioners returned from the 2006 Toronto Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference, some of them shared with me about the content of Teacher’s lecture. They also shared their experiences with each other, which helped me. I started to review my cultivation path, and decided to improve the quality of my cultivation.
1. Reviewing my cultivation and returning to true cultivation
During our sharing, we discovered that a common problem amongst us was in finding time everyday in our busy schedules to study the Fa and practice the exercises. This situation results in our lagging behind or stopping our cultivation. All of us know that it is very important to study the Fa. We study the Fa everyday. However, we don’t memorize the Fa as we did in the past. I recalled that I was happiest when I studied the Fa everyday. I realized that I’d gotten into the habit of treating Fa study as a formality or as a routine thing. For example, I always clarified the truth after studying the Fa. So while studying the Fa, I would sometimes think about clarifying the truth afterwards. This is a very serious problem. I am aware that I should study the Fa with strong righteous thoughts, and that I cannot allow any other thoughts to prevent and/or distract my study.
If we don’t study the Fa well, our cultivation suffers. In such a state, I still tried to clarify the truth, but my efforts lacked power. Clarifying the truth well is not an ordinary person’s skill. Even if I spend more time clarifying the truth, the results do not always turn out as well as I expected. After reflecting on my cultivation in these years, I am now more aware that I should make better use of my time to study the Fa, and really study the Fa with a pure heart!
2. Sending Righteous Thoughts
Even though Teacher tells us the importance of sending righteous thoughts, I didn’t send righteous thought very well. Recently, I read Teacher’s Guiding the Voyage:
"So if the evil has reached the point of being no longer savable, how to handle it isn’t a question of one’s personal cultivation—it is guarding the Fa of the cosmos. When necessary one can use different abilities of different levels to eliminate it."
I realized that Teacher’s Fa safeguards the whole universe. This is the highest Fa of the universe. I told myself to send strong righteous thoughts as Teacher said in "Righteous Thoughts":
"You should focus your attention and your effort, your mind has to be absolutely clear and rational, the force of your thoughts needs to be focused and strong, with an air of supremacy and of destroying all evil in the cosmos."
I also realized that the reason why my righteous thoughts were so weak was because I didn’t study the Fa very well. I should spend more time concentrating on studying the Fa.
3. The China Internet Firewall
I communicate with friends through the Internet. Last week, since my access to the Internet was blocked, these friends tried to contact me about how to break China’s Internet blockade. They also worried about whether their computers were being blocked or had viruses. I calmed them. I also forwarded them the responses of fellow practitioners and other Internet friends from Mainland China. I was concerned that our other Internet websites were being blocked. Actually, our Teacher’s Fa is quite clear in providing guidance.
Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference":
"Right now the evil beings are basically following, in an irrational way, the factors originally arranged by the old forces; they are being used and are doing things that interfere with the Fa-rectification. Some evil beings get up and flee the moment they are in proximity to Dafa disciples. Some tremble with fear, hesitant, while they do bad things now. So Dafa disciples should not be afraid, and they should handle everything in an upright and dignified way. It is the evil beings that are scared."
During our fellow practitioners’ sharing, we found that we used ordinary people’s ways to resolve difficulties rather than righteous thoughts and righteous actions. Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006":
"That’s why I say that when it comes to cultivation, you must truly grasp what cultivation is, be truly and rationally responsible to your own cultivation, truly handle everything you encounter with righteous thoughts, and have strong righteous thoughts."
4. Experiences Clarifying the Truth
Once after waking up, the following sentence from Zhuan Falun appeared in my mind:
"One should return to one’s original, true self; this is the real purpose of being human."
This sentence repeated several times. At that time, I realized that I should value more my cultivation in Dafa. After that, I contacted several Internet friends. I have come to value my cultivation more. Now, the evil is scared. Dafa has already helped people to accept the truth. I will now give several examples. I hope that all practitioners can value their cultivation in Dafa.
When I told an Internet friend about the importance of quitting the CCP, he said," I am not a member of the CCP. I am at work now. I am afraid that others will watch me. Don’t get me in trouble, ok?" So he told me that he would chat with me at night after work. After I clarified the truth to him, he said, "I didn’t believe you before. Sorry. Would you help me choose an alias to quit the CCP? They are too evil."
Another Internet friend told me, "I am not a Falun Gong practitioner. But I do not agree with the CCP’s ideology. Falun Gong practitioners invented a software program that thwarts the Chinese government's vast system designed to limit what its citizen see, and therefore help us to freely navigate any Internet websites. Thanks very much Falun Gong practitioners." When he agreed to denounce the CCP, he also proudly told me, "I want all the Chinese people to know I already quit CCP. I will clarify the truth to my friends."
Another Internet friend said to me, "I have no opportunity to go abroad. I don’t know anything about foreign countries. I really appreciate your efforts to help me know so much about what’s going on outside of China." When I wrote an announcement, he said, "I will record this historical period. I really appreciate your help." Recently, I talked about the Tiananmen Massacre with my Internet friends. Some of them wanted to see a video of it. After seeing the video, some of them knew more about the CCP’s violence. They sighed. Some of them immediately quit the CCP and its related organizations. One Internet friend wrote a letter which said, "Thank you for your support. We, those living in Mainland China, are better informed because of your efforts."
There are some Internet friends who are learning the facts about the CCP’s history of violence. These friends oppose violence. One of them said, "Please give me an alias to quit the CCP. I agree with all you’ve told me." Compared to the past, because practitioners have been diligent in doing the three things, now the situation is totally different. We cannot slack off in our efforts to clarify the truth about the CCP and its persecution of Falun Gong. We still need to put effort into clarifying the truth for those people who misunderstand Dafa or have illusions about the CCP.
Conclusion: We Can Cultivate Well If We Truly Treasure the Fa
Some follow practitioners told me, "I feel I am not a real Falun Gong practitioner." Or some have said, "I can’t clarify the truth very well." Those negative thoughts do exist. I have come to realize that, when practitioners feel depressed about falling behind in cultivation, I must encourage myself and fellow practitioners to remain diligent. I told myself that those negative thoughts result from of a lack of strong righteous thoughts and if we have them, the evil will strengthen them.
Teacher said in "Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006":
"What is cultivation? Only what [you have here] today is true cultivation of human beings. Only this format today is recognized by all gods in the cosmos as true cultivation. All of those things in the past were establishing a culture."
Only by truly valuing our cultivation and doing the three things well can we better clarify the truth.
Category: Improving Oneself
