(Clearwisdom.net) I have read many articles written by fellow practitioners about their understanding of "the appearance stems from the mind," that Master has mentioned in "Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting." These articles have really helped me in my cultivation. One thing that happened to me recently made me gain new insight into the principle of, "the appearance stems from the mind," and I would like to share my understanding on this with fellow practitioners.
If a human body is like a universe, going from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from the cells to the surface of the human body, and from the inside to the outside, all particles contain a person's characteristics. How much one assimilates to the characteristics of the universe will determine how much one assimilates to the Fa.
When I started to practice Falun Dafa, I came to understand that the true meaning of my life was to return to my original, true self. When I practiced the exercises, I sometimes realized that I was frowning with a taut expression. But I slowly learned to relax by listening to the exercise music, and my facial expressions changed, becoming more peaceful and calm. When I was walking, I realized that I looked serious and nervous. So I asked myself, "Why not smile?" I then learned to smile at the people around me. As I studied the Fa, my heart assimilated to the Fa and was purified. My world changed. The universe changed. Each of my cells were changing, and becoming peaceful, tranquil and wonderful. It's a kind of feeling that I have never experienced before.
Each cultivator's surrounding environment is the manifestation of their cultivation state, as some phenomena arise from our states of mind. When my thoughts deviated one time, I thought that I was a burden to my husband. I bowed to him almost every day, and was afraid that he would be angry with me. But the more I was like that, the more he was critical of me. As soon as he returned home, he found fault with me, and often complained. It seemed that I was his burden. Later I changed my thoughts, and only wanted to study the Fa more and validate the Fa more. I am doing the most righteous thing and have done nothing wrong. A practitioner is not the servant of everyday people. I maintained a righteous mind and talked to him, "I don't go out to work, but choose to work at home. Though I earn only a little, it's because I want to spend more time studying the Fa and practicing the exercises." All of a sudden my husband said, "I support you!" From then on he stopped finding fault with me, and didn't prevent me from doing Dafa work. I enlightened that a practitioner's environment is created by themselves. I would like to remind fellow practitioners who haven't come to terms with the tribulations and interference from the family, "Look inside and determine if the root of a certain thought is not right, and is not in line with the Fa, otherwise the old forces will take advantage of the loophole and keep on interfering with you. As long as we are in line with the principles of the Fa, no one will dare to interfere with us.
We create the environment for validating the Fa, so if we send forth righteous thoughts and study the Fa well, we will seldom be interfered with when clarifying the truth or distributing materials. However, if we are not doing well in our cultivation, then our minds will not be stable, and we may feel nervous and have fear when we clarify the truth. When we have fear, elements of the old forces will create false thoughts and negative feelings, but when we adjust our minds, all the bad things will disappear.
When I had just started burning DVDs to use for truth clarification, I didn't want my husband to know about it, because I didn't want him to worry about me. One day, when I was busy burning discs at home, he phoned me and said he was coming back soon, and asked me to go downstairs to help him offload some wood. This upset me, as he has never come back home in the afternoon before, and the bed had materials scattered all over it. I was only half way through doing what I needed to do. What should I do? If I rush and gather up all the materials, I could mess everything up. Time was pressing and I became anxious. When I calmed down, I thought, "Why am I so upset? Just let him come back. Let him see what I am doing. I am doing nothing to be ashamed of, and it is the most righteous thing. No one can block my way." I composed myself and continued doing my work. When I heard a car pull up outside the house, I didn't move. I then heard the car driving off after a few moments. I looked out of the window and saw that my husband and several of his colleagues had already taken the wood out of the car and left. I knew that Teacher had arranged everything well for me.
I remember a time when I was eager to talk with someone about how great I was. I knew such a thought was not right, and tried to eliminate it, but it still kept surfacing in my mind from time to time. When a neighbor came to my home to chat with me, I knew that I must pay attention to the cultivation of my speech. But I still spoke about how respectful I was of the older generation. I was actually validating myself in front of an everyday person. When the neighbor left, I was very regretful for my words, and knew that I didn't maintain my xinxing well. Many of my attachments were exposed, and I learned a lot from the experience.
If our environment is not right, then it's surely because the manifestation of our attachments in other dimensions has changed the environment. If we let go of our attachments and upgrade our xinxing, then the bad substances in other dimensions will be eliminated - "The appearance stems from the mind." Our appearance includes our walking and talking, our family environment and our cultivation environment. These are all manifestations of our personal cultivation.
This is my personal understanding about the Fa. If you find anything inappropriate, please point it out compassionately.
