(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, respected Master!
Greetings, fellow practitioners!
In 1998, Master taught the Fa in Europe. There was one part that really struck me:
"What is true faith? You're merely saying with your mouth that you have faith, but in your heart you don't actually have faith. Why do I say that? Because when you truly have faith your actions match your words." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe").
I understand genuine cultivation as acting in accordance with Master's teachings. I would like to share several experiences on this theme. If there's anything inappropriate, kindly point it out to me.
I. The people we meet in the workplace are also sentient beings we need to save
Master told us in "Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006:"
"Many students understand only that doing the exercises and studying the Fa are cultivation. Yes, with those you directly engage the Fa. But as you go about truly cultivating yourself in your day-to-day life, the society that you come into contact with is your cultivation environment. The work and family environments that you spend time in are both settings in which you are to cultivate yourselves, are part of the path you must walk, are what you must handle, and handle correctly at that. None of these should be glossed over."
Having a full-time job has been my path in cultivation. However, because of my involvement in many Dafa projects, I developed an attitude that led me to "gloss over" many of my job-related tasks. In my mind, there was a conflict between my job and my Dafa work. I felt that I had a certain amount of time each day. If I did one thing, then I couldn't do another. I'd try to finish an assignment at work as efficiently and accurately as possible so I could use the remaining time to do what I wanted. Because I always did my assignments well, it was never a problem to keep my job, but when it came to doing anything additional, I developed feelings of rejection and refusal toward anything that went beyond the minimum requirements of my job. For example, it's important for me to keep current on all the literature in my field in order to broaden my knowledge about the research I do. But I felt I did not have the time, so I neglected to do it. I knew the "how" in my work, but I didn't know the "why" because I didn't take the time to learn. Companies like to encourage the development of a professional culture with activities like seminars, scientific discussions, company outings, etc. I would avoid participating in activities like these, and I felt happy not to participate because they gave me the opportunity to finish my personal tasks while everyone else was gone. I maintained an average performance level at work, but this led to an inner conflict. After you work in a position for a while, the next step is to get a promotion. My colleagues were all into that, but the idea of a promotion did not excite me. A promotion would mean more responsibilities and a higher level of performance, and that would result in less free time. But if everyone got promoted while a practitioner remained in the same position, that could make people think that a Falun Gong practitioner wasn't their work, which didn't seem right. But I didn't do anything about this conflict. I just ignored it.
This understanding and attitude changed after I found my current job. My company is large and offers good career opportunities. Many employees are very dedicated. Facing the new job and its requirements, I had to think about the development of my career. I suddenly realized that my job and my Dafa work were not truly in conflict. What is the purpose of my being here? To validate Dafa and save sentient beings. Then weren't the people I saw at work every day the sentient beings I needed to save? I had considered Dafa projects to be the only way to save sentient beings, and I narrow-mindedly viewed my work environment as a burden or an obstacle. This one thought had restrained me from using my wisdom. Master told us in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun:
"...matter and mind are one thing."
If I thought I couldn't do it, then I definitely wouldn't be able to do it. Master has always stressed that we should do well in our jobs. At the same time, Master also asks us to do the three things well. Do we genuinely believe in Master? Do we really believe that we can do both our jobs and the three things well? Master also mentioned in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun,
"Good or evil comes from that instant thought."
If the one thought is that I should harmonize to Master's words and follow His teachings, the results could have cosmic proportions--since the Buddha Fa is boundless. Now I am able to spend ten or fifteen minutes reading a scientific paper. When there is an activity in the company, I try to join in. I also try to eat with my colleagues at lunch time. Their happiness and frustrations are very clear to me, and this allows me to clarify the truth in a way that they can easily understand. They also consider me to be trustworthy. However, to accomplish all this doesn't take much time and doesn't interfere with my Dafa work. Regarding promotions, I have a different understanding now--to follow the natural flow of things. I don't need to worry. If I do a good job and get promoted, it will help ordinary people respect me, and this will make it easier for them to learn the truth from me.
I enlightened to the fact that many conflicts in our cultivation are due to notions and attachments that restrain the wisdom we gain from our cultivation. We tend to treat different things or different opinions as contradictory. However, if we improve and reach a higher cultivation level, the contradiction will no longer exist; on the contrary, it can lead to a win-win situation. For example, when we have two conflicting approaches to achieving a goal, if we are too attached to our own perspective or approach, the conflict will never get resolved. If we take a step back and try to see the other person's perspective, it's much easier to find a solution. Sometimes we find that their approach can achieve the same results as ours, and can even supplement or complement ours. Therefore, the process of taking a step back is also a process of edification.
II. When we see someone else's shortcomings, we should look inside ourselves
Once at a sharing in Boston, a practitioner said he felt he was an average practitioner, but he also felt that some practitioners were treating him differently from so-called "important practitioners." He called this "snobbishness" and said it made him upset. At the same sharing, I said I had felt the same thing when I first came to New York from Boston. There were many practitioners I didn't know, and I felt I was being treated like an outsider and that I was ignored. I felt that they treated some other practitioners intimately and warmly, which seemed snobbish to me. What I had enlightened to at that time was that I should look inside myself when something like this happened. I shouldn't treat practitioners this way. I shared this as my experience and thought I had enlightened very well. Unexpectedly, another practitioner stopped me after the group sharing. She asked, "Do you realize why you experienced this 'snobbishness?'" I answered immediately that I had looked inside after seeing it and had reminded myself not behave like that. She replied curtly, "The reason you saw it is because you, too, are snobbish!"
At the beginning I didn't take this seriously, but during the next several days, her words kept coming back to me, and I couldn't stop thinking about them! It reminded me of a practitioner's question and Master's answer in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore:"
"Question: How can we more quickly get rid of the well-hidden attachments deep inside us?
"Teacher: I'll point them out to you. My only concern is that you won't abandon them at the time. I'll definitely point them out to you. All of your attachments will be exposed for you. Even if I don't point them out to you myself, I'll have others do so. It could happen when you have a problem, during which an attachment of yours is struck. I'm only concerned that instead of thinking of those attachments, you'll look outside yourself for the cause. I will definitely point them out to you, you can count on it."
My enlightenment was that what the practitioner had said was not accidental. She had said this to point out my problem. At first I didn't want to look inside because the thought, "I am snobbish," was not a pleasant one, and I didn't feel that I was that bad. When I really thought about it though, I had to admit that the practitioner was right. In the process of growing up, I'd been tainted by many bad things in this human society--like being snobbish--in order to protect myself and my interests. I showed more interest in people who could be useful or helpful to me and less kindness toward those who couldn't benefit me. I sensed I had this problem before I started cultivating, but I considered it a "human weakness" I could do nothing about. After I started cultivating, even though I gave up attachments to ordinary things, this problem still remained and became evident in the way I treated other practitioners. For example, I would be warmer and closer to some coordinators or those who could be helpful to me in my projects, but colder toward practitioners I had nothing to do with. Only when I was treated coldly could I understand how others felt when I treated them coldly. This made me understand the pain I could cause, particularly as a coordinator who did not treat her team members equally.
After I saw the problem, I decided to correct it. How? By not being snobbish again! I realized that my actions shouldn't be based on self-interest, for example, whether a person could be helpful to me or not. On the contrary, I should treat everyone with a sincere heart, whether they were ordinary people, fellow practitioners, young or old, whatever their social position or level. With just this one thought, I experienced a huge change--it was as if heaven and earth had been turned upside down. I felt that a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. When I interacted with people, the gap between my heart and theirs was gone. Because I thought of others first, I suddenly felt that my heart could be close to theirs. The change was so great and took place so fast, I couldn't adjust to it at the beginning. I kept asking myself whether it was true. Could I be this nice? I was afraid I might go back to my old ways, but after a while, everything became natural and this new outlook became part of me. Thus, one practitioner's single sentence completely changed my attitude toward others, which had developed over several decades of my life. Before the practitioner had pointed this out, I just couldn't see it, and even if I could see it, I couldn't correct it. I am so grateful to that practitioner! Master told us in Lecture Five of Zhuan Falun:
"Our practice has a focus and truly points out those attachments. By abandoning them, one will make very rapid progress in cultivation."
In Lecture Eight, Master also said:
"Think about it, everyone: Isn't it you who suffers knowingly? Isn't it your Main Spirit that sacrifices? As to what you have lost among everyday people, haven't you knowingly lost it? Then this gong should belong to you, as whoever loses, gains."
We all know that Master gives us a ladder to Heaven. So in the process of cultivation, when we climb the ladder, every step is very clear and very real.
III. Considering others first
After the publication of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, I very much regretted that I had not read many ancient Chinese works. What I had learned was what the CCP educational system had wanted me to learn. Regarding traditional Chinese culture--the genuine culture of humankind--I didn't know much. However, I gradually learned in my cultivation that the Buddha Fa is boundless. It embraces everything.
Many practitioners have seen that our attachments all stem from the word "selfishness." Master said in Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland,
"Actually, you don't yet know that this selfishness reaches all the way up to very high levels."
So in cultivation, how can we let go of selfishness and step out of the mold that restrains the beings in the old cosmos? Master said in "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement:
"I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others--or even future generations--along with Dafa's eternal stability."
Master also told us how he does this. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston" Master said:
"You probably remember something I've said to you often: a Dafa disciple should consider others first in everything he does. Whenever something happens or whenever a situation comes about, even if it's a minor thing, my first thought is of others, for it's already become natural for me--I just think of others first."
I started learning from Master. We are accustomed to thinking in terms of "I like," "I want," or "I think." Instead of continuing this way, I thought, I should try to think of others. I should try to take a step back and not emphasize myself. I should try to look at others' viewpoints, to see whether what I wanted was convenient for them or might cause them some difficulty. Gradually, I felt this approach bringing me to a new and beautiful realm. The process of interacting with people, such as colleagues, fellow practitioners, and even people on the street, became very smooth and harmonious.
At the same time, I also came to see Master's simple words, "Consider others," as encompassing many of the traditional cultures and virtues of humankind. For example, if children consider their parents and understand their difficulties, the children are xiao, which is an important element in traditional Chinese culture. Another example is that if a person always thinks of others, that person follows yi, which is another virtue in traditional Chinese culture. It's the same in our cultivation. If we promise a practitioner that we will do a project, we have to keep our promise. If we don't fulfill it, what will our fellow practitioner have to go through to compensate for our failure? This is xin in traditional Chinese culture.
Once I regretted that I hadn't read many ancient Chinese works and didn't know the appropriate human manners and behavior taught in the traditional culture. In actual cultivation, however, I realize that everything is within the Fa. We know "Zhen, Shan, Ren" (Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance) is the highest manifestation of the Buddha Fa. The Fa of the cosmos is connected from top to bottom. Following "Zhen, Shan, Ren" and cultivating ourselves to be good people on the human level, and on even higher levels, is the path we need to walk. This is also my understanding of "harmonizing with the Fa" and "validating the Fa."
IV. Continue moving forward and be more diligent
In cultivation, I always felt that my state of diligence was going up and down. My state was pretty good for awhile, but then I felt I wanted a break. When I let my guard down, I fell into the trap of seeking comfort. Struggling to jump out of it took a lot of effort, and that time was wasted. How to maintain a constant state of diligence has long been a puzzle to me. It is possible for a practitioner to be diligent for a moment or longer, but how could one remain diligent all the time? I had always understood that "When something reaches the extreme, it reverses" was the rule in this dimension, and that this was regulated by the principle of "mutual generation and mutual inhibition." In my thinking, a period of diligence had to be followed by a period of relaxation or slackness. At the very least, it was a painstaking process to remain diligent all the time, because we couldn't simply jump out of the principles of the old cosmos.
Last year at the Chicago Conference, however, when I heard Master's greeting to the Fahui, I felt that the puzzle had suddenly been solved. Master said,
"Gold's luster increases as it is refined over time." ("To the Chicago Fa Conference")
My feeling at that time was that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and I would be able to find my way through. What Master said was the Fa--the Law--of the cosmos, surpasses any principle in this dimension, including "mutual generation and mutual inhibition." There was also another principle in the cosmos--that gold would become refined and more and more brilliant over time.
Then I reexamined my previous understanding. Actually, one does not maintain a good cultivation state with strong intention, but with wuwei, i.e., following the course of nature. To assimilate to the principle of "Zhen, Shan, Ren" is the true nature of life. The "highs and lows" in cultivation are manifestations of this human world and defined by human understanding. Since the assimilation to "Zhen, Shan, Ren" is endless and boundless, however, where does the concept of "highs and lows" come from? When we are in a good state and yet want a "break," isn't it because we are seeking human comfort or human satisfaction? These are human terms defined by human understanding. When we get a bit of praise or feel a sense of achievement, we think it's a "high"--but it's really a notion, and far from the true mission of our lives. We need to continue moving forward and be more diligent.
* * * * * * * * * *
Ten years have passed since March 23, 1997, when I muddle-headedly went to the New York Fa Conference, heard Master's lecture, and obtained the Fa. Dafa has changed me from a selfish, karma-laden, ordinary person into a genuine cultivator. How bad we were, how many attachments we had, or how many mistakes we have made are not important. What is important is that today Master gives us the opportunity to correct them, truly discard them, and return to our true selves. Over these years, although we have had too many attachments and not enough enlightenment, Master has always given us the best of everything and awaited the best news from us. Fellow practitioners, let's be diligent in learning from Master--cherish our fellow practitioners and cherish sentient beings. Let's walk our future path well.
In conclusion, I'd like to recite Master's poem, "Plum Blossoms," from Hong Yin II:
Plum Blossoms
(in Yuan verse)
In the chaotic world, like pure lotus flowers--
plum blossoms, a hundred million
Cold winds only accentuate their beauty
The interminable snowfall and rain
are the tears of gods,
Who look longingly for the plum blossoms' return
Never, ever get preoccupied with worldly things
Steel your righteous thoughts
For all [that you have gone through] since ancient times,
Was for none other than this time around.
Thank you, Master!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!