(Clearwisdom.net) The key to truly elevating our xinxing in cultivation is to learn the Fa well. During my sharing with many fellow practitioners about learning the Fa, we all mentioned that how to manage to study and learn the Fa with a peaceful mind is a topic that concerns practitioners most. Many practitioners said they started to feel sleepy as soon as they picked up Zhuan Falun, and they could not stay focused with a clear mind while studying the Fa, whether in a group Fa study or in individual Fa study. They had read through one chapter after another, over and over again, but they felt muddleheaded and could not remember what they had learned. It was indeed a waste of the most precious time extended by Master for us to elevate, while at the same time Master is bearing enormous suffering for us.
Some practitioners are trapped in housework or daily jobs, or they are interfered with by the affection toward their children or grandchildren. Their minds easily stray while reading the Fa. Although they stare at the book, they talk about their family issues. They read wrong words, wrong lines, and even wrong pages. These practitioners are also very anxious about themselves and feel very bad. They blame themselves for not being diligent. Fellow practitioners have offered various opinions and suggested various methods for them to address the problem. Some said that if one felt sleepy when reading the Fa in a sitting position, then why not read the Fa standing up? And that if one got sleepy when reading the Fa in a standing position, try reading the Fa while walking around. Other practitioners suggested that one could kneel down and read the Fa, that one would not feel sleepy in that position, that it is very effective, and that it would calm one's mind quickly.
Regardless of what method we use to try to achieve a peaceful mind to study the Fa, we are looking and seeking outward. Although it may resolve some problems, it cannot resolve the root problem. When we are trying to use a method or a technique to achieve the calming of our minds, we are deviating from what Master teaches us, which is that we should look inside for the solution when encountering difficulties. The practitioners that have been trying hard by looking for methods to calm their minds have not been able to find one and have been puzzled. They have not been able to break through their difficulties regardless of what methods they have tried. They continue to experience the interference as before.
Feeling sleepy, experiencing interference, and not being able to calm the mind when studying the Fa occurs because one has not realized how important and how serious learning the Fa well is to a practitioner. This is not the same as school study, whereby if you fail in school, you can still find some other job, such as manual labor, to make a living. In the past, chanting scripture was important to cultivation. The cultivator needed to chant the scripture to the point where every word of the scripture appeared in front of his eyes. The cultivator's mind must be so tranquil that he thinks of nothing in order to achieve the standard for a cultivator. His master would then pass the true scripture to him, and he would then be able to cultivate to the Right Fruit. Today we are learning the Great Law of the Universe. We are unable to imagine how profound, how magnificent, and how great the Law is with our human wisdom. We cannot explain the Great Law with human language. Only when we are diligently cultivating ourselves and only when we are reading the Fa with a peaceful mind will Master awaken us to different levels. We, as Falun Gong practitioners, can then remove our attachments and human notions with the guidance of Dafa. We can then awaken our wisdom and enhance our will to cultivate. We can then maintain a clear mind in the cultivation environment in China, where evil factors and evil pressure are everywhere. Then we can keep up with the progress of the Fa-rectification. Only in this way can we achieve our mission of saving all living beings, which Master wants. If every practitioner can understand the importance and seriousness of learning the Fa and can maintain a clear mind, all the evil elements and factors that have been interfering with our Fa study will be disintegrated by our powerful righteous thought.
Some practitioners, when doing ordinary work, get too busy to think about anything else. They even make excuses for their attachments by saying they are conforming to the Fa of the ordinary people's level and that doing ordinary work well is also cultivation. Some fellow practitioners in the countryside, when things are busy, do not study the Fa or do the exercises for several months. Some have said that they would make up for it after the busy period was over. Some have given up the group practice and Fa study environment to prepare food for their grandchildren, take their grandchildren to school, and pick them up after school. Here I am borrowing a corner of the Minghui/Clearwisdom website to alert these fellow practitioners. If today we are still negligent about doing well the three things that Master has asked us to do, and if we still struggle for our desires, sentiments, and personal gain, we are really in a dangerous situation. If we still struggle for personal gain, as arranged by the old forces, when the Fa-rectification concludes, we will be left behind by the Fa-rectification, along with the disintegration of the old elements. We made our vows at different levels when we came to this world. If we fail to be diligent after we have obtained the Fa and cannot fulfill the oath we made as divine beings because we were numb and lost in this world, how many living beings who are longing to be saved will then be ruined because of us!
When experiencing interference during Fa study, we must look inside for reasons. What is really interfering with us are not outside factors; it is because we cannot let go of ordinary people's mentalities, and our ordinary people's mentality is taken advantage of by the evil elements. When we truly believe in Master and believe in the Fa, when we position learning the Fa and cultivation as the first priority, and when the main consciousness is alert, we will be in an optimum state of mind such that the more we learn the Fa the more energetic we are. We will then truly experience the wonderful feeling of, "After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!" that Master has told us about. ("Lecture Nine" in Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation version)
August 24, 2007
