(Minghui.org) When I read Master's past teachings, I used to have a good feeling inside. However, my mind was unsettled for days after I listened to Master's recent teaching. I know that the Fa-rectification will end soon, but I hadn't carefully thought of the consequences of not reaching consummation.
Before I left for the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference in Los Angeles, I kept revising the question I would like to ask Master. Tears welled up when I thought of my question: “What can I do if I don't have enough time left?” But I was too embarrassed to ask this question.
When we were told at the conference that it was time for questions and answers, I slipped my question slip back into my purse.
Master had already answered my question,
“But if you can, as cultivators, steady your minds a bit and do well at what you’re supposed to do, everything will be there for you, in fact. If you can all manage to do the three things well, divine beings will look after you even if you are off in a remote corner of the world, and so will Master’s law bodies.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
As Master's disciple, how can I beg for more time or ask Master to say something to ease my anxiety? We have been immersed in the compassion of Buddha light since the first day we read Zhuan Falun and we all hope to be saved. Master's words made me think: Does our behavior and thoughts make us savable in the eyes of the Master Buddha?
I studied Master's teaching repeatedly and finally calmed down inside. Master said,
“In the past, cultivators would remove attachments one after another. But in your case, almost all of your attachments remain while they are weakened and lessened one layer at a time, weakened and lessened continually, further and further. That’s the approach that I have taken with you, and it allows our Dafa disciples to live normally among ordinary people prior to achieving consummation and to save people in a normal manner while being one of them. At the same time, precisely because your human thoughts haven’t been fully removed, it allows you to cultivate against their interference, and if you can stay alert and cultivate yourself at all times, and fulfill your responsibilities as a Dafa disciple, that is mighty virtue and is simply extraordinary. And that is your path.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
I came to the understanding that as long as I have the opportunity to learn the Buddha Law, time is not an issue, because Master has the power to change time.
The worry of not having enough time left to cultivation is actually based on regret for missing past opportunities to improve in cultivation and anxiety for what the future holds if I have not done well enough.
If we wish to make it to the end of Fa-rectification, we have to learn from the past and correct our mistakes on the rest of our cultivation journey. We need to hurry up and make every step count towards consummation.
Master won't treat us differently. However, we can't slack off. As soon as I wake up every morning I ask myself, “Have I studied the Fa and done my exercises with a quiet mind? Have I concentrated well when sending forth righteous thoughts? Have I put my heart into offering salvation to sentient beings? Have I made progress on memorizing the Fa?”
I have decided to compare myself to the requirements of Dafa on everything in life, to be alert to my attachment to self-protection when dealing with people, watch my wild thoughts when I am alone, and eliminate my attachments during tribulations.
Let's not stress about the time flying by. Let's ask ourselves how much we have assimilated to the Fa, and how to do better.