Cultivating As If I Were a New Dafa Practitioner

(Minghui.org) I was fortunate to participate in the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference and was deeply moved by what Teacher Li Hongzhi said. However, after returning home I felt as if I was almost at a stand still in my cultivation. In fact, I noticed that I had not been really living by the Dafa principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.

Teacher said in Zhuan Falun that “Zhen-Shan-Ren [Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance] is the sole criterion to discern good and bad people.”

I realized that I lacked a fuller understanding of the meaning of these principles. However, I experienced recently a number of incidents that helped me gain its deeper meaning.

Cultivate Truthfulness

During a cultivation sharing meeting last week, I noticed that some practitioners were able to speak from their hearts and appreciate the goodness in others. I was not able to do the same, but I recognized that it was the way a practitioner should be.

It reminded me of a question and answer given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference:

“Disciple: The work environment at the media company is very complicated, and the practitioners who work there with me have the same feeling. Sometimes the mind games and scheming against one another are worse than what everyday people do.

“Master: When you don’t trust one another and aren’t truthful in what you say, and no one can take any criticism or look inside, then of course things are complicated.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference”)

I understand that when you don't need to protect yourself, no one can bring harm to you. If you do encounter conflicts, it is because you need to improve your character. We have to be truthful before our environment can be pleasant.

Cultivate Compassion

My husband and I take turns studying the Fa with our child. When it is my turn, my child and I often argue. When I commented about him lacking seriousness when studying the Fa, he would talk back to me. Then, I told him that he needed to respect his parents.

My husband said that the three of us did not always behave like a family because we lacked compassion for each other and did not treat each other with respect.

I used to believe that writing articles about the evil doers in communist China was clarifying the truth about Falun Dafa to people. After listening to a young man's experience sharing at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference, I realized that writing articles with compassion is also clarifying truth about Dafa to people.

When we show that we care for people, they instinctively accept what we have to say. In fact, people can sense the true feeling behind your words. Treating everyone with compassion is a basic requirement for practitioners.

Cultivate Forbearance

Over the last few weeks, we reprinted old articles in our health column. I did not think it was appropriate and complained to the editor in charge of the column. The editor replied, “The practitioner responsible for the column made a mistake. You have also made a mistake by not bringing up the issue with compassion.” When I calmed down, I realized that I did not cultivate forbearance.

I think I am among the practitioners who are impatient. I have to continuously face everyday problems. I tend to deal with these problems in a human way instead of using the Fa for guidance. Master said at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference:

“But even after Master has instructed you in this way, once you go back to the real world, you will once again find one another irritating. Once you go back to the real world and are affected by self-interest and personal attachments, your state of mind will no longer be what it is now! You need to keep in mind that you are cultivators, and that your responsibility is tremendous!” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference”)

Reflecting upon what Master said, I understand that I felt good during the conference because Master had purified everyone's thoughts. However, I now need to let go my own attachments, many of which are caused by my upbringing in China.

Human temper is a negative trait. It is something to be removed regardless of whether one is a practitioner or not. The state of mind that we want to keep is the state we have at any of the Falun Dafa conferences.

Therefore, I hope we can all be more diligent on our cultivation journeys.