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Some Thoughts Gathered Through Experiences in Cultivation

September 24, 2003 |   By a Chinese Practitioner Living Outside China

(Clearwisdom.net)

1. Cultivation is very difficult. It is difficult when you feel the grievance of being wrongly accused, treated unfairly, or when others do not understand you. However, when others commit wrongdoings, you still can treat them with an open heart and tolerance. The immense tolerance is cultivated from an arduous environment and it does not come simply from talking about it.

Why do the old forces test Dafa practitioners? It is simply because we still have many bad attachments such as jealousy, resentment, complacency, suspicious feelings, a low capacity for tolerance, competitiveness, fear, worry, etc. The old forces makes use of these attachments to create tribulations for Dafa practitioners, to poison everyday people so they will not read or take Dafa truth-clarifying materials, insult Dafa practitioners and cause damage to the Fa-rectification as they please. To "get rid of our attachments" is the excuse the old forces use to test us.

When we have conflicts among ourselves, scolding, blaming and refusing to cooperate with others, we are falling into the trap of the old forces. When we have a problem, we should strictly examine ourselves. When we look at others, we should also look inside ourselves, and thus our environment will be improved. The more attachments we eliminate, the fewer tricks the old forces can use on us. It will be more effective to save sentient beings.

Master has told us in Zhuan Falun that

"I'll tell you a truth: the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments."

2. Last night I joined some other practitioners for experience sharing. I felt the field was very good. Many practitioners shared their experiences open-heartedly. In fact, how did we look at the criticism or praise from our fellow practitioners? Do we blame or thank them?

A practitioner told me in our yesterday afternoon telephone conversation that the other day my experience had greatly shaken her and helped her to get rid of many of her attachments. She said, "I visited you the other day and saw so many Dafa materials all over your house. You have done so much Dafa work and take care of the children at the same time. Does your husband have any objection? How have you managed to do Dafa work continuously over the past few years? Does your husband support you financially?" I answered, "I do have disagreements and conflicts with my husband, but I have not hidden any complaints inside my heart. If I did have a grievance, I get rid of it after I calm down."

In my four years path of Fa-rectification, I have visited many places and countries, and passed out many Dafa materials. My husband has helped me a lot. On many occasions, we do have big conflicts. Sometimes, we fought over our disagreements. But every time, they always ended with the same result: an improvement in our mind nature. Every improvement was gained with much gratitude.

If we do not solve and get rid of our heart of accusation, problems will gradually appear in the family. During Fa-rectification, the old forces will take advantage of all loopholes. If we do not solve these types of problems in ourselves, it could lead to us not maintaining righteous thoughts. Thus, we could find it extremely difficult to develop the power of being as a whole body. Likewise, uneasiness could then be built between practitioners. I thus hope that all of our experience sharing can be sincere and candid.

3. The cultivation practice of our little practitioners should not be loose. Although there are many external factors, such as schoolwork, I think the key is whether the parents are responsible to their children.

At the beginning, my husband and I were particularly concerned about my two-year-old son, who had become loud and willful. At last I shared my thinking with my husband. We had so much attachment to our son and our attachments had made him spoiled. So, we began to give him suitable restrictions and corrected his bad habits.

Since we are in the middle of Fa-rectification, in order to be responsible to our children we should help them follow closely with Fa-rectification. Generally speaking, children are active. When we go to tourist sites, I will let my son put on clothes that have lettering or designs related to Dafa, to spread Dafa to the tourists. In general, tourists are very willing to take Dafa materials from the children. Very often together with my son, we clarify the truth and deliver Dafa materials to the tourists. Some tourists also ask to take a picture with my son. Once on my way home, there was an Indian person ahead of us, and my child chased after him to hand him Dafa material.

On Sunday, I also take my child to the Minghui School, so that he has a good environment to study the Fa, practice the exercises and watch the flash animations on Minghui together with other little Dafa practitioners. The children love to watch them. Sometimes, I will also take my child to participate in the experience conferences in neighboring counties.

Nearly every night, my husband and I study Fa together and ask our child to study Fa together with us. At the beginning, he always cried and made trouble. He tried to prevent us from studying and instead tried to get us to play with him. Because we were extremely persistent in our Fa study, finally he understood that we have to study at night, so he stopped making noise and played by himself. Sometimes, when we study Fa, he even crosses his legs and sits next to us!

There is a paragraph in "Falun Buddha Fa Lecture At The Assistants' Fa Conference in Changchun" about teaching children:

"Question: If a child refuses to listen when being disciplined, and if he continues to be stubborn, is it correct to let him have his way?"

Teacher: "Not exactly. Parents are committing a crime when they indulge their children. The degree of depravity that today's human society has fallen to can't be said to have nothing to do with you, generation after generation. Let me tell you that you have to discipline your children. I've noticed that the society in the United States has been so restricted by its laws that people can't discipline their children; disciplining children is almost like a criminal act. Children are thus being indulged and spoiled. Those children don't even know the most basic things about human behavior, let alone manners. What bunch of humans are being shaped for the future? But let me tell you this: China has the kind of tradition where you must discipline and educate your children. You can't indulge them. You may spank or scold them. We say that cultivators shouldn't get angry. Children can be disciplined. If you're in a pleasant mood and you spank them with a smile, they'll still feel the pain. The purpose is to teach the child a lesson--to tell him not to do bad things. Educating children isn't wrong. Think about it this way: It's not about being attached to yourself; it's doing a good deed for society as well as for the future humankind. But if you're overly attached to it you'll go to the other extreme. What I mean is that it's not a problem to discipline children, but you should do so sensibly."