(Clearwisdom.net)

Greetings to esteemed Teacher and fellow practitioners!

Teacher taught in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun,

"Accordingly, in your future cultivation practice you will run into all kinds of tribulations. How can you practice cultivation without these hardships? If everyone is good to one another without conflicts of interests or interference from the human mind, how can your xinxing make progress by your only sitting there? That is impossible. One must truly temper and upgrade oneself through actual practice."

Breaking through all tribulations depends on our comprehension of the Fa and our righteous thoughts. I realized that "righteous thoughts" means divine thoughts. When encountering a tribulation or test, will one use an everyday person's thinking and methods to resolve the problems, or use divine thoughts to melt away all difficulties? Those considerations are also a key issue on whether or not a practitioner can genuinely leave behind an everyday person's attitudes.

I would like to share some of my personal experiences. Please kindly point out and correct any wrong assumptions.

Teacher taught in "Drive Out Interference,"

"Now you can see why I've often told you to read the book more, right?! The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." (Essential for Further Advancement II)

Not long after I had begun cultivating, I realized for the first time that I should strengthen my righteous thoughts through studying the Fa.

I had previously suffered from faucitis. Whenever I lacked sleep, the symptoms tended to show up again. I would usually study the Fa during a bus commute because my workplace was far from my home. One time after only a few minutes of studying, sleepiness overcame me and I had a faint pain in my throat. As usual, the faucitis broke out again because I did not have a good rest. However, I sent out one thought, "Let it be. Just keep studying." Then I opened my eyes wide and kept studying the Fa. Unexpectedly, the more I studied, the more alert I became. The sleepiness disappeared and so did the symptoms of faucitis. I felt completely covered in energy. I deeply appreciate Teacher enlightening me to the relationship between studying the Fa and righteous thoughts.

When I study the Fa, it is not always so easy to get rid of interference, because sometimes the interference varies. For a period of time I couldn't focus as I studied; after studying I could never remember what I had learned. That state continued for a long time and caused my righteous thoughts to weaken. Whenever I practiced the exercises, I got sleepy. I also had difficulties with truth-clarification. At that time, there was a notice about changing words in Zhuan Falun. To find the characters that need to be corrected required thorough reading, word by word. Just like that, with Teacher's merciful care,I eventually overcame the interference I experienced when reading.

Every day I can guarantee over two hours of studying the Fa, most of it during my commute to work. Before I began cultivating, I needed to spend over two hours daily commuting, because my company had relocated. Since then, although my company has moved twice more, the commute time has remained almost unchanged. Teacher simply used that way to guarantee His disciple's study time. Once, I tried to hand out truth-clarification materials on the bus, or copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to the other passengers. Since then, whenever I did that, I had butterflies in my stomach - I was thinking about how to hand out materials and clarify the truth. This prevented me from focusing on studying the Fa, and thus the passengers' reactions were usually negative. After several attempts, I realized when we study the Fa, we needed to concentrate only on studying the Fa! Our attention should never be diverted by anything else.

I had also harbored a thought, "Will it affect my eyesight to read the book on a bus?" I immediately dismissed this with my righteous thought, "As the most holy thing in the world, studying the Fa can never be interfered with by anything." Therefore, however violently the bus shakes, and however dim the light is, I have stuck with studying the Fa these several years. A recent physical checkup was one of praise; the doctor said, "It is really unusual to see such good eyes like yours." I actually used to have slightly weak eyesight.

It is usual for me to finish reading through Zhuan Falun once every six days or so; meanwhile, I am memorizing the Fa. I have recited Hong Yin and Hong Yin (Volume II) from memory more than ten times, and Essentials for Further Advancement once; currently I am memorizing Essentials for Further Advancement (Volume II). I recite the Fa when I am transferring buses. When I recite, I often experience a new understanding with each sentence and each character in the Fa, and often experience a really marvelous feeling - that all the cells in my body are melting into the Fa.

Doing well the three things Teachers has requested is a measuring stick for me, to gauge my progress in cultivation practice. If I fail to focus when I study the Fa, I cannot control my thoughts when I try to send forth righteous thoughts and feel sleepy when I practice. I have thus met with huge interference in various respects when I clarify the truth. My solution is to insist on a large amount of studying the Fa and meanwhile looking inward, and letting go of attachments.

Not long ago, I had many tests to pass, which were due to attachments I failed to eliminate.

Just as Teacher taught in "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,"

"Of course, most disciples who are in this state are that way because, at the beginning, they didn't realize that they had subtle attachments or were being interfered with by their own notions, and so the evil has exploited this gap and magnified those factors."

I felt sleepy when I studied the Fa, when I practiced, and when I sent forth righteous thoughts. The sleepiness had progressed to such a debilitating point that when I practiced the standing exercises, I even fell asleep and almost fell down. Things were worse when I practiced the sitting meditation; right after I finished the hand signs, I became unconscious. About an hour later, I woke up from leg pain. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, I had already gotten sleepy before I could finish reciting the formulas. I was profoundly regretful each morning for my slacking condition, holding Teacher's photo. I couldn't find a solution for a long time.

I had not forgotten that I am a practitioner; looking deeply inward I eventually found my attachment. I had been aware of it for a long time but was reluctant to let it go. I couldn't clarify the truth well even though I knew it needed to be done properly. I also knew that all Dafa disciples must do well, in a noble and dignified way, but I always did things like handing out or faxing truth-clarification materials and posting the Nine Commentaries behind my wife's back, for fear she would get angry when she knew. From one perspective, this was an attachment of fear. Looking more deeply, it was entirely an attachment to self and personal benefit.

When I couldn't entirely let go of this attachment, just then two more things happened that seemed coincidental. One afternoon my wife was not at home and I began to prepare the envelopes for mailing the Nine Commentaries. I used a small plastic container for water to seal the envelopes. When I was half done, I suddenly noticed that all the water had leaked onto the table. I had used this container only days before - no one had since touched it. So, wasn't it an obvious hint from Teacher that I had loopholes? When I used our washing machine to do a load of laundry that evening and was almost finished, I found the water had leaked everywhere onto the ground from a broken drainpipe. So wasn't it another obvious hint, "A small loophole it will turn into a big one"? I silently expressed my appreciation to Teacher, giving Him my sincere thanks for His repeated hints to me. I made up my mind to completely leave that depressing state of mind behind. Then, when I told my wife later on that I would go to hand out truth-clarification materials the following evening, she only said a few things, reminding me to pay attention to safety.

My initial experience and apprehension about sending forth righteous thoughts came from my truth-clarification efforts by making phone calls. One Saturday afternoon I had some extra time I could use to clarify the truth over the telephone. I sat in the crossed-legged position and sent forth righteous thoughts before doing anything. Because my mental state was pretty good that day, I was able to concentrate immediately. After I recited the Fa-rectification formulas silently, my body felt like it was being placed in a vast field and the field that was covered became bigger and bigger. I then experienced a complete feeling of having melted into all-encompassing energy. When I then made phone calls, almost every call was answered, and people kept listening to my truth-clarifying from beginning to end. One of the calls was to a Public Security Bureau. A lady answered and amazingly said, "I have been waiting here for so long!" She asked a lot of questions, and I answered satisfactorily. I told myself that this is a true example of "The Buddha Fa is Boundless!"

From then on, besides sending forth righteous thoughts before making phone calls, I insisted on sending forth righteous thoughts during the process of the calls. Whenever I can send forth righteous thoughts properly, I can see good results in truth-clarification. This state has lasted for a long time. Gradually, I realized how to send forth righteous thoughts correctly, and how to concentrate in sending forth formidable righteous thoughts. When I send forth righteous thoughts, I don't control the time. I often spend longer than 15 minutes, and sometimes it is quite long. After sending forth righteous thoughts, I can experience a feeling similar to, "The heavens clear, the cosmic body transparent." Currently I send forth righteous thoughts about eight times daily. Each time prior to truth-clarifying or handing out truth-clarification materials, I concentrate to send forth my powerful righteous thoughts. The miracles that manifest from Dafa are encouragements for my continuing diligence.

Now when I look back, my process of understanding when sending forth righteous thoughts makes me realize profoundly the mercy Teacher shows to cultivating disciples, and the strict, gradual instructions for cultivating disciples.

Dafa disciples are cultivating in the environment of everyday people and cannot rid themselves of such a living and working environment. Our everyday life and working environment manifest in our cultivation state, and they determine whether or not we can fundamentally abandon concerns of everyday people. Some examples of trivial matters are given below.

Before I began cultivating, I used to sleep around eight hours every day, but since then my hours of sleep have gradually shortened; currently I sleep around five hours per day. Occasionally three to four hours is sufficient, and my energy is good for the whole day. Initially, though, to guarantee sending righteous thoughts at midnight and at 6:00 a.m, on Sunday mornings I needed to struggle with the demon of sleep and was really suffering. However, arduous practice helped me break through the barrier faster. Please think about it: Does a divine being fear the lack of sleep?

I have worked in software development for a long time. Each time I did software designing prior to cultivating, I needed to precisely think and plan, often exhausting myself from such a tiring devotion to my work. I kept thinking of job-related problems even when walking, eating and sleeping. Since beginning cultivation, I gradually gave up this "traditional" method. Consider this: Will a divine being do things with such excessive and tiring thinking? Now, whatever I want to do, I can continuously be inspired in the process and can hugely improve my work efficiency and quality. That way I can devote more time to study the Fa and reading the Minghui website, and have freed myself from exhaustion.

I have never met with the test of eating meat, but I have an attachment to eating properly and nutritiously. Several times when I saw a whole table of delicious food, I thought, "This time I should have a good meal!" However, as soon as I was half-full, I began to suffer from a stomachache. After several of those experiences, most of my attachment to food has been eliminated. Now my purpose for eating is just getting full. Think about it: Will a divine being harbor the desire for eating delicious food?

My teeth are not so good--my gums always bleed, and the gaps between my teeth are easily jammed with food particles when eating. I previously had my teeth cleaned every six months and could not do without toothpicks and dental floss. After beginning cultivation, this problem did not improve. My wife reminded me once to have my teeth cleaned. I agreed because I remember Teacher had said to clean one's teeth can be taken as wanting to be neat and clean; so I decided to have my teeth cleaned that weekend. However, having raised that idea, my gums inflamed badly the following day, making a cleaning completely impossible. From then on, I never got attached to having my teeth cleaned anymore.

Finally, I'd like to share with everyone Teacher's article, "In Fa-Rectification Your Thoughts Have to be Righteous, Not Human":

"What I am doing is leading you toward godhood in cultivation, leading your understanding, little by little, out of humanness and beyond that of man, and the goal is to lead you to Consummation and the ascension of your being."

Thank you, Teacher!

Thank you, fellow practitioners!