(Minghui.org) The Minghui.org issued a “Notice: Call for Submissions to Commemorate World Falun Dafa Day 2017” in late February this year. As the submission deadline of April 13 is fast approaching, I’d like to encourage my fellow practitioners to grab their pens and write down their cultivation experiences.
My own experience tells me that writing about our journey of cultivation not only helps us see and remove our deeply hidden attachments, but also enables us to learn from fellow practitioners as we help each other finalize our sharing articles. Overall, it is a process that greatly benefits our cultivation. I’ve found that I am able to remain calm when faced with conflicts.
For instance, I had a discussion with my husband last night over the spending for our daughter’s wedding. Though we disagreed, I stayed calm. In the past, I would have already blown up.
I felt greatly encouraged when Teacher’s poem “In Dao” (Hong Yin) suddenly came into my mind this morning:
Present but the mind is not—No dispute with the world.Seeing but seeing not—Not lost, not tempted.Hearing but hearing not—A mind hard to disturb.Eating but tasting not—A mouth freed from attachment.Doing but pursuing not—Constantly dwelling in Dao.Quiet but thinking not—The mystical and wondrous may be seen.
Last year, when I saw the “Call for Articles for the 13th China Fahui on Minghui.org” notice for experience sharing, I asked every practitioner I saw: “The Fa conference will start. Are you going to submit an article?”
Some said they didn’t know how to write an article. I said, “I can help.”
Some said that they didn’t have much to write about. I said, “Teacher does not look at how long or how well you write the article. It is about your heart and sincerity.”
I also started to write my own article, but I didn’t know where to start. Sitting there for a while, sudden an idea came into my mind. I wrote down whatever came into my mind, and then arranged the structure. Soon, my article was ready.
During the writing, I saw that I could easily be irritated by other people. The writing process helped me to disintegrate this bad substance in my mind. I was very happy afterwards.
When I went to visit other practitioners to see their progress, they were always there. Several times, I arrived right after they got back home.
I asked practitioners how they felt after writing the sharing article. Many said, “It is totally different after writing it down.”
I recalled that I promised to edit a practitioner’s article. Actually I hadn’t written much before, but I said firmly to her, “I’ll help you!” I knew that Teacher was behind me and Teacher would help me.
This year when I read the “Notice: Call for Submissions to Commemorate World Falun Dafa Day 2017,” I felt more confident.
I wrote about tribulations between my sister-in-law and me. I found that I was not compassionate towards her, and after that, I could feel my compassion emerge.
The next morning, when I studied Zhuan Falun, I read Teacher’s words:
“In the course of cultivation, one is to give up different desires and attachments.”
and
“If that attachment is relinquished, that material itself does not have any effect. What really interferes with a person is the attachment. Therefore, throughout history the accomplished monks have also found that the matter of whether one eats meat is not a critical issue. The key question is whether the attachment can be abandoned. If one does not have any attachment, it is fine to eat just about anything to fill one’s stomach.”
I suddenly enlightened: “It is not so important that a thing is good or bad; what really important is the human heart. If we didn’t have the attachment, whether a thing is good or bad will not impact us.”
I went to prepare breakfast. Teacher’s words kept showing up in my mind:
“In genuine cultivation one must cultivate the heart: Only when you improve your xinxing can you attain a clear and clean mind, and a state free of intention (wuwei). Only when your xinxing improves can you assimilate to the characteristic of the universe and remove different human desires, attachments, and other bad things. Only then will you be able to abandon the bad things in yourself and ascend so that you will not be restricted by the characteristic of the universe. Then the substance of de can be transformed into gong. Don’t they go hand in hand? This is precisely the principle!” (Zhuan Falun)
I was so excited that I wrote the words down. Then I suddenly understood why Teacher arranged the cultivation way to be done in secular society.
I went to another Fa study site and shared my experiences in writing experience sharing articles. I went back there the next week. Two of them had already finished their articles.
I want to encourage fellow practitioners to write out their story and their understandings, just as it is stated in the “Notice: Call for Submissions to Commemorate World Falun Dafa Day 2017.” By writing down real, touching stories in detail, we will validate the Fa and help more people benefit from Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. This way, the Buddha-light will illuminate everywhere.
The writing itself is a process to get rid of the bad material and attachments. When our xinxing improves, we will look at things from a totally different perspective. The bad things can’t interfere with us anymore.
So, let’s not be blocked by “I don’t know how to write” or “I’ve had only a little education.” Those are notions of everyday people. We have studied the universe’s Fa!
I’d like to conclude my sharing with Teacher’s two poems from Hong Yin Volume II:
Deterrence
The divine pens deter those demons in human skinLike sharpened blades, they extirpate rotten spiritsThe old forces pay not the Fa its due respectWielding the brush you shall subdue the surge of madness
The Master-Disciple Bond
Four years has the wild evil surgedA steady helm has assured the right courseThe Disciples of Fa have gone through evil trialsAnd though great the pressure, their wills are unbowedThere is no affect between master and discipleThe Buddha’s grace remolds Heaven and EarthWhen disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide