(Minghui.org) Greetings revered Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2003. During my 15 years of cultivation, I had indulged myself in everyday people's life and watched my attachment to comfort grow. The 2016 New York Fahui was like a stick warning for me. It urged me to be diligent and eager to rediscover the motivation I had in my early days of cultivating, so as to catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification.
Master said:
“There are also people who think: I am a veteran practitioner and there won’t be a problem if I do not study the Fa for a period of time. There is a problem; it doesn't matter how veteran you are, because the part of you that has been cultivated is already separated from you. Your gong that has been elevated to your original heavenly position will function only if combined with your righteous thoughts in the Fa. If you do not study the Fa and are away from the Fa, your gong cannot be mobilized, because that is Fa’s power.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Team Blue Translation)
After returning to Taiwan after the Fahui, I started to improve my time management, and studied the Fa every day. For the past two years, my cultivation status has been much better, and ordinary people’s desires no longer disturb me as much. I have more time to spend in my own cultivation and participating in Dafa activities.
Some practitioners encouraged me to attend local Fa study sessions. But many of my human attachments, including seeking ease and comfort, not wanting to share with other practitioners, and fear of losing face, held me back. I reminded myself, “I was like this for the past ten years. Aren't I determined to take cultivation more seriously? How can I stay like this forever without making breakthroughs?”
I began making a concerted effort to attend the Fa-study group. I was touched by fellow practitioners’ selfless sharing – including how they look within, cooperate with one another, work as a team, and devote themselves to Dafa. From these experiences, I saw the gap between myself and them, and I started to treasure the cultivation environment.
For a long time, I only listened to other practitioners’ experience sharing rather than sharing my own experiences with others. This is a form of selfishness and related to my reluctance to look within. When fellow practitioners asked me to share, I knew it was an opportunity arranged by Master to improve my cultivation. I cannot just benefit from the Fa without giving back. I started to examine my cultivation, write down my experiences, and share with other practitioners.
After several sharing sessions, I was no longer nervous, and was happy to share my own experiences with fellow practitioners. Upon letting go my attachment to self, I also began to host the experience-sharing sessions during Fa study. My heart was with with the practitioners.
Master said:
“Those of us who have the ability, who are in their prime, excepting people who are older or who have poor memory, should try to memorize the book. Perhaps what I’m suggesting is high—my requirement might be really high. But in many regions a lot of students have memorized it very well. When they study the Fa they don’t even need the book—they recite it from memory.” (“Comments Regarding the Fa-Rectification Made at the Falun Dafa Assistants Meeting in Beijing,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)
But I always refused to memorize the Fa because I thought I would be unable to do it.
One elderly practitioner shared with me that she recited the Fa by writing it down repeatedly until she memorized it. I was really touched. Even people with advanced age can do that, and yet a young person like me still looked for excuses not to do it.
Encouraged by a practitioner, I began memorizing the Fa. I could only memorize a few sentences at first. A short paragraph took me a month to memorize. The second one took me a week. When memorizing the third one, I didn't think of anything, but focused my thoughts on memorizing as much as I could, and it turned out that I was able to recite a long section in only three days. I was amazed by the Fa's power, and I gained confidence.
I now recite the Fa anytime and anywhere, whether I am driving or before going to bed. I truly feel the joy of cultivation and assimilating to the Fa.
Many people feel that reciting the Fa is only for young practitioners or those with good memory. But from reading the sharing articles on the Minghui website, we see many cases of elderly practitioners memorizing the entire book of Zhuan Falun. What really matters is whether we have the heart and determination to recite the Fa. All other excuses are our human thoughts.
With intensive Fa-study, my daily cultivation status stabilized and I also had a breakthrough in memorizing the Fa. However, my attachments to ease and comfort prevented me from doing the exercises in the early morning, let alone going to the practice site. Some practitioners shared how they persisted in joining the practice site every morning, which motivated me to do the same, but I gave up easily every time I tried.
Master said:
“Dafa is the Law of the cosmos, and it is what brings life into being and makes greatness possible. To learn it, it’s necessary that you study it with all due seriousness and mental calm, and do so consistently, while also ensuring that you understand what you are reading. Only when you ensure that your conduct as a person—and as a cultivator—abides by the Fa are you a Dafa disciple. The exercises play a supporting role alongside cultivation, and neither can be neglected.” (“A Congratulatory Letter to the Fa Conference of Argentina,” Team Yellow Translation)
I felt bad for not doing the basics well in my more than ten years of cultivation. I also realized that my understanding of the Fa has stayed on the surface level. When I was touched by practitioners' sharing, I felt motivated to do better, but that didn't come from my own heart of wanting to do better.
I asked two young practitioners how they persisted in attending the morning exercise. Both of them said to me, “You have to take your cultivation seriously.”
I realized that the root cause was in myself – I wasn't taking cultivation seriously enough and didn't want to suffer. After I made up my mind to get up in the morning to do the exercises, I had two dreams that night. One was that Master told me to remove the bracelet when practicing as it would block the energy flow. The other was that I was standing on a boat and the scenery around me was very beautiful. My body felt very light. When I woke up, I was very excited and thanked Master for his encouragement.
I usually needed 8 to 10 hours of sleep every day, and I often slept in on weekends and holidays. No matter how many times I set my alarm, I kept resetting it and going back to sleep. A fellow practitioner offered to help me by calling me in the morning. It worked on the first day, but on the next day, my phone was broken. It became clear to me that this was interference. So I began reciting the Fa and sending righteous thoughts before I went to bed. I got up the next day as soon as the fellow practitioner called me. I finally overcame the test for morning exercises.
I can now get up immediately when my alarm rings or the practitioner calls me. I have become less attached to sleep. After doing the five exercises every morning, I'm full of energy, even if I slept less than four hours. And doing the exercises outdoors is a great opportunity to let more people know about Dafa. I hope more young practitioners will join us.
When practicing meditation, we should pay attention to our movements and posture, and keep our minds clear without falling asleep. We should also do the exercises while following the music, so that our movements are in sync. I believe the energy field from our practice, as well as the peace and tranquility demonstrated by Dafa practitioners, can help us to save more people. Doing the exercises well is also being responsible to our own cultivation.
Because my husband was involved in making truth-clarification films, I also had the chance to participate in this project. I didn't have many thoughts of my own at first, and just did things as I was told to. There was a period of time when we were going to Taipei every weekend to do the film and coming back to work on Monday. I didn't feel tired during this time, and I believed it was my cultivation path arranged by Master.
While making the video for the July 20 event in 2017, the practitioner in charge of planning wanted to add footage about fellow practitioners' daily cultivation, so a lot of coordination was required. It happened that the coordinator practitioner was out of the country, so another practitioner and I began making arrangements for the project.
After the coordinator came back to Taiwan, I wanted to hand the project back to her, but another practitioner insisted that I continue working on it. She said we had managed the project from the beginning, so we were more familiar with whole process.
Despite agreeing to continue working on it, I became upset about that practitioner and felt this wasn't fair. On my way back home, I realized my problem and felt sad for having such negative thoughts and not being able to cooperate with fellow practitioners unconditionally. The purpose of the film is to save sentient beings and it's not a single practitioner's business, but our shared responsibility.
I corrected my thoughts and tried to put myself into others' shoes to look at the matter. The coordinator had recently come back, and it would take her a lot of time to pick up the project. Meanwhile, the other practitioner had also took on a lot of work and made improvements in many areas. Many other practitioners had also cooperated with us without complaints. The entire situation became totally different when I looked at it from another perspective. With everyone's hard work, I believed we could make a very touching video.
Indeed, when I took the video, I saw many colorful Falun rotating. I was grateful and knew that Master was encouraging me. After the film was done, it had the highest number of page views on our social media. Overseas practitioners subsequently helped us add English subtitles and publish it on other social media platforms. I was also touched by their cooperation and effort to spread the truth. I saw the difference and gaps between our cultivation. I now value every single chance for making truth-clarification videos.
My cultivation journey has been full of ups and downs. We have waited for this moment for hundreds of thousands of years. We have to take this seriously and bear the Fa in mind. In this chaotic and confusing world, we need to cultivate ourselves well, go against the tide, and follow closely the progress of Fa rectification, so that we can save more sentient beings and not let Master down.
I'd like to end my sharing with Master's poem:
“All For This Day
Beyond time and space I vigorously rectify the FaDespite the huge ordeals my will never bendsAmidst crazed evil, I never lose my wayI regard eliminating the evil as whisking dust awayWhen disciples walk righteously the path of DafaThe light illumines the world, purging evil completelyDiligent disciples–plum blossoms in winter's chillThe eons of hardship were all for this day”(Hong Yin III)
Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you Master. Thank you fellow practitioners.
(Presented at the 2018 Taiwan Experience Sharing Conference)