My Thoughts on Being “Experienced in Cultivation”

(Minghui.org) Master taught us,

“As Dafa disciples, everyone wants to become a true disciple, a Dafa disciple who’s determined, walking on the divine path, and experienced in cultivation.” (Teaching the Fa in Washington D.C. in 2018)

I would like to share a story that deepened my understanding of what it means to be “experienced in cultivation.”

Steadfast Mind of a Practitioner

A young practitioner experienced semi paralysis when he tried to get up one morning -- he couldn't move the left side of this body. However, as a Falun Dafa practitioner, he did not panic, instead, he tried to do the third Dafa exercise, even though he couldn't lift one of his arms. After he did the exercise 81 times, he recovered from his semi paralysis.

I was shocked when I heard this story. Even though I didn't witness this miracle, I could imagine what happened. Many divine beings were watching. They saw a half paralyzed practitioner who kept on practicing the exercises with a steadfast mind. They were touched. Even the old forces would admire the practitioner's strong righteous thoughts. How could he not pass the ordeal? I couldn't help thinking, “This really is a steadfast practitioner. If we were all like him, nothing could stop us, all evils would be eliminated.”

Ordinary people often say “well trained,” meaning that one has trained hard. Practitioners say, “experienced in cultivation.” The surface meaning is that one cultivated diligently. But how? I always hoped to keep my original attitude toward cultivating diligently and improve my xinxing. However, I thought there was another layer of meaning, which a true practitioner must attain.

It is just as the young practitioner I mentioned above. His thoughts were based on the Fa. He knew that he would recover if he kept doing the exercises, without consulting doctors.

Different Thoughts Lead to Different Results

Then, I read another story that could help explain what “experienced in cultivation” means.

Several practitioners were helping a fellow practitioner move steel window frames. Six windows that weight more than 2,200 pounds were loaded on a truck. When the truck went into reverse, a practitioner was hit, and they all fell on top of him. A practitioner tried to stop them from falling and was seriously injured. The fellow practitioners told the practitioner under the windows not to think like a normal person, but to think like a divine one.

He was pulled out and was in a coma that entire night. The next morning when he woke up, he did the exercises and studied the Fa as usual, despite his broken legs. He recovered after 40 days. During the 40 days, he could clearly see a dark purple ring of karma on his legs moving from his knees to his ankles, little by little, until they reached his toes, and then moved out of his toes, resulting in full recovery.

This was an amazing experience. There are many things that could happen when one faces such a situation, What is of the greatest importance is that one understands the difference between the behavior of a divine being and a human being. Different thoughts will lead to different result.

Enlightening from Reading Experience Sharing Articles

Practitioners have read many experience sharing articles on the Minghui website, and their enlightenment depends on the individuals' diligence on their cultivation path.

Let us not forget that each and every practitioner is unique. What happened to others may not happen to us. Thus, we need to understand others' experiences based on the Fa, and improve our xinxing based on the Fa.

My understanding of “well practiced” is not only based on ordeals we experienced, but also on how we have cultivated.

There is a story about one of Shakyamuni's disciples. He was begging for food. People noticed that his appearance was different than that of the people in that area. They thought he must be someone extraordinary, and found out that he was one of Shakyamuni's disciples. His demeanor showed them that he was truly a disciple of Shakyamuni, and so they decided to become practitioners.

This tells us that a Dafa practitioner should represent the goodness of Dafa, show the demeanor of a true practitioner, and be diligent in doing the three things.

Some had clarified the truth for more than 10 years without stopping. Some had done the exercises for over 20 years, and never appear to have aged. Some have maintained their strong righteous thoughts when facing the persecution. Others follow the requirements of the Fa and gained supernormal powers, while others are able to let go of various attachments. They keep a clear mind and have gained extraordinary wisdom.

Dafa is very profound, although I understand only a tiny part. However, I think as a practitioner, we should achieve a certain level of quality, even though everyone is different. Thus what everyone can achieved is different. As a divine being, one should achieve all that is needed for consummation. However, as a practitioner in the human world, we can't achieve everything, but we still have to try our best.

To gain the qualities of what is needed to practice cultivation is not our goal, the goal is to ultimately become enlightened, or divine. These qualities are necessary for a practitioner. With these qualities, we can overcome obstacles and improve until we achieve our goal.