(Clearwisdom.net) I started to practice Falun Dafa in 1997, but it seems that I just recently learned how to look inward. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences.
Study group creates environment for our improvement in cultivation
There are few Dafa practitioners in my area, where the persecution of practitioners has been severe. The practitioners grew apart.
Last fall I proposed moving a study group from practitioner A's home to my home to reduce the pressure on here. My family objected to this. I thought in my heart: “What you say does not count. I must insist on following what Master told us.” When practitioners eventually arrived, my family kept silent.
We have four or five practitioners in our weekly study group. Practitioner B lived far away and had encountered interference. We encouraged her to smooth out the home environment and pay more attention to her xinxing. We told her that her husband would cooperate when she adjusted herself. Her commute to get to the study group is more than one hour, and she also tries to make truth-clarification phone calls. After a while, her husband no longer interfered with her coming to study the Fa.
Several fellow practitioners' homes were ransacked right before Chinese New Year's Eve this year. Some practitioners decided to go into exile left home to avoid harassment. Some were illegally arrested. I worried that practitioners might have concerns about coming to my home. Practitioner C replied right away: “We are not afraid. Let's study.” Such words from practitioners strengthened my resolve. We eliminated the interference and immediately resumed Fa study.
Master said,
“Sincerity is a prerequisite if you are to rectify your mind.” (Falun Gong)
No matter how busy we are or what kind of difficulty we meet, we must study the Fa with a peaceful mind, as Master teaches us. Now, whenever I start to study, I adjust my posture first. I sit with my legs in the double lotus position and grasp the book with both hands. I feel that I've become serious about Fa study.
Cooperating as one body to rescue fellow practitioners
Practitioner A is a senior citizen who suffered persecution several times over the past ten years. In early 2010, Domestic Security Division agents again arrested her. Practitioner E often clarified the truth to her family and encouraged them to rescue her, but her family didn't take any action.
After more than four months, practitioner A was still detained. Why she was not released? I think it was because we didn't act as one body. We took getting rid of the old forces' persecution as the practitioner's own matter. When we realized our deficiency, practitioner E contacted other practitioners to rescue practitioner A. Everyone took what happened to another practitioner as their own issue. The gap between practitioners was closed.
We realized that the basis for rescuing other practitioners needed to be set straight. We are the only hope for non-practitioners. We must rescue ordinary beings and fellow practitioners from the bottom of our hearts. The righteous thoughts of the whole body determine the direction of this mundane world. All good and bad things, and even dangerous illusions, cannot shake our righteous thoughts. Every practitioner who participates must be determined to do the task well. We can't give up in the middle.
Everyone felt the strong power of one body in the process of cooperation. Senior practitioners kept sending forth righteous thoughts at noon and midnight, and sending truth-clarifying letters to related organizations/bureaus. The practitioner responsible for hiring an attorney gave them detailed information. Those responsible for sending messages sent the latest news to the Minghui website and local practitioners. One month later, practitioner A was released.
I realized that the process of rescuing a practitioner is also a process of self-improvement. Because my fear was not eliminated, the evildoers followed me. I cooperated with other practitioners to visit an attorney and practitioner A's family. When meeting with them, I repeated in my mind that I am a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period, and that we are doing the most righteous thing that no one should interfere with. Concurrently, I found my psychological loophole - that I could not openly safeguard Dafa with my excuse of concern for safety. Cultivating Dafa, safeguarding Dafa, telling people the facts about Dafa, and delivering truth-clarification materials are all actions of great kindness. None of them violate any law. I should discard all self-imposed guilty feelings.
In addition, I realized that we must look inward when witnessing other practitioners' conflicts. I found that I always witnessed conflicts among practitioners. This was also not coincidental. After looking inward, I found that I had the same xinxing issues as them: the way I spend money, jealousy issues, and so on. I began to cultivate myself, discussing my deficiencies with practitioners; we improved together based on the Fa principles.
My heart also expanded while helping practitioners. Practitioner A faced great pressure after her release, and sometimes she spoke in an offensive way to me. My human nature emerged, and I wanted to just stop trying to help her. After I calmed down and looked at my own attitude, I realized that it was our responsibility to help her.
Master said:
“Maybe you’ve heard the Buddhist saying, 'When a person’s Buddha-nature comes out it shakes the Ten-Directional World.' Whoever sees this will help him, and they’ll help him no matter what. Buddhists believe that saving people has no conditions attached, it’s done at whatever cost, and they can help him unconditionally. That’s why we can do a lot for our students.” (Zhuan Falun)
Fellow practitioners also quickly realized her shortcomings. I need to ignore the shortcomings of other practitioners and focus on their merits. I realized that I must help practitioner A unconditionally. The resentment that I felt soon disappeared., and the separation the old forces put between us totally vanished.
Helping a practitioner who encountered illness karma
Practitioner F is elderly and married to another practitioner. The old couple kept going out to clarify the truth about Dafa to rescue sentient beings. This summer, Practitioner F (the wife) suddenly developed illness karma, manifesting in the form of partial paralysis. She lacked righteous thoughts and hoped to cure her ailment in a hospital, so that she could continue her cultivation thereafter. As a result, she continued to be partially paralyzed.
Though we usually went to her place to send forth righteous thoughts, progress was limited. Her righteous thoughts became weaker as time passed. We reflected on how to truly help her. Our starting point was wrong. We tried to help her find her xinxing loopholes, and it seemed rational to assume that the old forces were persecuting her because of her xinxing issues. However, we put ourselves in the role of helping others and forgot to look inward. I think xinxing issues is one of the reasons the old forces are able to interfere with practitioners. Another reason might be our lack of understanding of the Fa principles as a whole, which may give the old forces an excuse for interference and persecution.
When we realized this, we gave up the thought of helping others without looking inward ourselves. We studied the Fa with the practitioner and sent forth righteous thoughts together. We encouraged her to resume practice and Fa study in peace. We encouraged her to get rid of the attachment of removing the physical pain and focus on doing what she could do regarding Fa-rectification.
Helping sentient beings to change their mind
When this study group initially started, practitioners would consult me because I participated in some coordination matters. My tendency to show off became bigger. Recently I felt that these practitioners were actually closer to one of my family members (also a practitioner). I felt uneasy, realizing that this must be the old forces trying to take advantage of my show-off mentality and jealousy to separate us, but I still could not let go of my mindset. I did not even want to participate in the Fa study group anymore.
I tried to eliminate my jealousy, but discovered that I was unable to do it on my own. I understood that it must have been due to the existence of some deeper factor. Looking inward repeatedly, I found that I always wanted to be ahead whenever my self-interests were at stake.
Master said:
“We human beings usually think of those things as good, but when you look at them from a higher level they’re usually bad. So what people think of as good, like making out better by ordinary standards, or having things go better, the way the Great Enlightened Beings see it, that person is worse off. What’s worse about it? He gains more, he harms other people more, he gets things he shouldn’t get, and he’ll care a lot about his reputation and profit, and the result is that he loses virtue. You want to increase your gong, but you don’t take cultivating your character seriously, so your gong won’t increase at all. ” (Zhuan Falun)
I realized that the selfish nature of the old universe is one of the reasons it is difficult to eliminate jealousy.
Master told us,
“There’s a rule: a person who doesn’t get rid of jealousy while cultivating cannot achieve a True Fruition—he definitely won’t achieve a True Fruition.” (Zhuan Falun)
I reminded myself to identify jealous tendencies every time, and to eliminate them right away once I discovered them.
Master has exerted great effort to save all beings. We need to treasure the path we have traveled, treasure all practitioners, treasure all beings, and try our best to be in harmony with Master's wishes.
