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What Motivates Our Diligence?

March 7, 2021 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner outside China

(Minghui.org) Ever since the outbreak of the CCP virus (coronavirus) and the U.S. general election, some practitioners have discussed various predictions and prophecies on the Minghui website. When I read these kinds of articles, I realized that time was pressing, and I should hurry to save people. But as time passed, I seemed to slack off again. My cultivation state made me think of a question: “What motivates practitioners to be diligent?”

Master said,

“If it’s a Dafa disciple who cultivates himself very well and who manages to rationally understand what Dafa is, he will surely work at it with considerable effort and not let up when it comes to this. On the other hand, those who are not diligent are likewise studying the Fa, and they know that the Fa is very good, but their thinking is not grounded in the Fa and they don’t have ample righteous thoughts. So, naturally their understanding is not high; that is, they can’t truly understand the preciousness of the Fa. That’s why they’re not all that motivated.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles”)

This was Master’s answer to a question from a practitioner who felt that his willpower to cultivate was not strong enough. I could understand some, but not all of Master’s words. For several years, I had the same distress as the practitioner who asked the question. I know the Fa is very good, but why couldn’t I cherish the Fa? Why didn’t I have strong righteous thoughts?

A few years ago, a fellow practitioner talked about how to study the Fa. What he said helped me improve my Fa-study. To put it simply, Fa-study is not a formality. It is not important how much time we spend or how many pages we read. What matters is if we learn the Fa with our hearts. It doesn't matter whether we read the Fa or hand-copy the lectures, it only counts when we learn it with our hearts. Even if we can only study a short section in an hour or only have half an hour to study the Fa, we will improve if we learn the Fa with our hearts. Otherwise, it is a waste of time.

After I study the Fa well, I feel the wonderfulness of the teachings and I notice my improvement. I had a hard time overcoming a tribulation last year. However, I could really feel that there was a very pure substance in my heart that was as solid as a rock. It was beyond the reach of any notions or attachments. I told my practitioner husband, “Even though I am frustrated now, I know where my path is. Nothing can shake the part in my heart that has assimilated to the Fa.”

I feel that the motivation for diligence should come from a true understanding of the preciousness of the Fa, rather than being attached to the end of Fa-rectification cultivation. Will I regret not being more diligent if the Fa-rectification ends today? On the other hand, if the Fa-rectification is still fifty years away, will I feel that I have gone to an extreme and spent too much time on cultivation? If I arrange my time based on the prediction of when the Fa-rectification will end, there will be corresponding interference. It is because the motivation for being diligent is not pure, and the root is not stable. Only the motivation generated by cherishing the universal Dafa from one's heart is unbreakable.

Master said,

“If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary—the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials For Further Advancement)