(Minghui.org) My cultivation did not proceed in a systematic and balanced fashion. There were times when I felt I cultivated well as an individual, but did not accomplish the three things. I think that this was due to my shallow understanding of the Fa. However, I recently came to some new understandings that I would like to share with fellow practitioners.

Accomplish All Three Things

I received a hint from Teacher during an incident in July, that in order to improve my character and be able to follow Fa-rectification, I must do the three things well.

I went to a restaurant where people lined up with a number to order food. I received the number 110 (the emergency number for the police). A service staff called jokingly to the kitchen, asking them to quickly prepare food for number 110. I didn't think more about this. A few days later, I went to the same restaurant again. When it was my turn, I received number 110 again. At this point, I realized that the number must mean something. I felt that the “0” meant something was not done.

When I reflected upon my recent activities, I realized that I usually completed only two of the three things properly and the third one casually. Therefore, I was not doing what I should, yet I was unable to change. Sometimes, I would read the Fa for too long and miss the time for sending righteous thoughts, and other times I was tired when I tried to send righteous thoughts. I thought that this was an arrangement by the old forces who were interfering with what I should do. However, I didn't carry out my responsibility the way a practitioner should, and I am truly ashamed of myself.

Give Up the Concept of Good or Bad, Actively Assimilate the Fa

Recently, I experienced an emotional tribulation. I had a strong feeling about good and bad, and looked down on people and things which I didn't like. I knew that it was wrong for a practitioner to hold negative feelings, but I justified doing so by telling myself that what I disliked were bad people or things. When I realized that I was following the old forces' arrangements, I got angry with them. I began blaming them for interfering with me, and thought that I'd vented my anger. Actually, I was even more emotionally disturbed, because the old forces were laughing at me for losing my calm and being pushed around without knowing. I was emotionally out of balance and felt very bad.

At this point, I recalled a passage from Teacher in which he explained the process of looking inward. I understood that I'd been looking outward for the cause of an incident. When the people I was dealing with were receptive, I thought that they could be saved. If they appeared disagreeable, my reaction was “If you don't want to be saved, that's your choice.” Therefore, I was choosy in saving people because I was afraid of losing face. In short, I used human methods in dealing with people instead of the Fa.

Now, I understand that because I did not look inward at my own attachments, I regarded human events as unchangeable. Actually, if I improve my character by assimilating to the Fa, the environment around me will then change. When I complained about people being unreasonable, lost, or hopeless, it was because my own understanding was at a low level, and I hadn't assimilated to the Fa. The appropriate process is that when we find the outer environment disagreeable, it actually reflects a problem in our own minds. We should remove the erroneous thinking or negative emotion by assimilating to the Fa. This is validating the Fa. Complaining is a self-defeating process, because it follows the human way instead of the Fa.

With this new understanding, I no longer get angry. Actually, I was happy to discover my own attachment. As a practitioner, the way we validate the Fa is to first assimilate to the Fa to gain greater power to change our environment, which enables us to save sentient beings. If we find our environment disagreeable, it is actually a reflection of our own need to further improve our character. Once we improve our character to the right level, our own environment is subsequently rectified.

In Falun Dafa practice, the most important point is to improve our character. When I reflect upon my own problems, clearly the cause is the lack of improvement in my character. I am a new practitioner because I started my cultivation in the last phase of Fa-rectification. However, I believe that the only way to do the three things well is to improve our character. I believe that I've done that, and whether a practitioner is veteran or new makes no difference.

Proactively cultivating means actively assimilating to the Fa, and refusing to accept the old forces' arrangements. One should also actively save sentient beings. Actively doing something is not the same as reacting to something, but to eliminate evil and assist Teacher in Fa-rectification as a practitioner without procrastination.