Cultivate Every Thought

(Minghui.org) “Pay attention to cultivating every thought” has been repeatedly stressed, and cultivators know every thought is important.

I was inspired by a practitioner’s cultivation experience sharing article. She said she knowingly ate grapefruit that was spoiled because she did not want to waste food. This should have been a small matter. But when she had the thought of not wanting an upset stomach she developed illness symptoms. She was able to look within in time and found the cause of the tribulation—a loophole in her cultivation gave the old forces an excuse to persecute her. She was able to deny the false symptoms and overcame the tribulation.

I know the only way to save people through making phone calls is to improve my xinxing. I need to pay attention to every thought and make sure its based on the Fa.

I’ve been making phone calls on the platform for almost four years and the other practitioners said I did well. But I’ve felt troubled because I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t persuade more people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its youth organizations. Some days, I wasn’t able to help a single person quit the CCP.

Looking Inward Is Important

I felt I didn’t clarify the truth well. I thought about how to persuade people of different ages to quit the CCP, but whatever approach I tried didn’t work. This was looking outward, so of course it wouldn’t work.

I knew I needed to look within, but I didn’t. My cultivation was stagnating but I felt I was doing fine. My cultivation hadn’t improved for years and I only had a superficial understanding of the Fa (teachings). When I read the Fa principles, I thought that I already knew about all these things.

Every time there was a cultivation experience sharing session, the practitioners who were good at making phone calls talked about their personal understandings and kept emphasizing the importance of having a good cultivation state. I knew this, so why couldn’t I attain it? The fundamental reason was that I did not truly understand the Fa, so I was not able to reflect on myself based on the Fa to improve my cultivation state. I was not able to discover my shortcomings by examining my every thought.

For a period of time, the same scenario occurred while I was on duty: Either a phone call could not go through or the other party hung up immediately after accepting the call. After my shift was half over I was able to finally persuade some people to quit the CCP.

After this repeatedly happened I felt a lot of time had been wasted. What should I do? One day, I recalled a practitioner said that when she studied the Fa while waiting for the number to go through the results were good. I did this and it worked. I felt I finally made a breakthrough in persuading the sentient beings to quit. However, during my next shift it did not work—the calls didn’t go through, or people hung up.

I suddenly understood that I had a non-righteous mindset, and I felt ashamed. As soon as I had this thought and I focused on making phone calls, the results were immediately different.

One Saturday afternoon, some friends came before I was scheduled to go on the phone call platform. They knew that I was not available after 3 p.m. so they were preparing to leave. However, I told them that it was fine as I was not the leader that day so I could chat for a while.

I entered the platform late. After I entered the platform, all the phone calls I made during the first hour did not go through, or people hung up, or the sound was poor. I did not manage to help anyone quit the CCP.

I read the Fa while I waited for the calls to connect, but things did not improve. In the end, I apologized to the practitioner I was working with and suggested our session should end. I found another practitioner to work with. Although I managed to persuade some people to quit the CCP and its youth organizations, the calls were made with a lot of difficulty. I wondered why I was doing so badly.

I later realized that it must have been my own cultivation issues that caused the problem. Although I tried my best to correct myself the effect was limited. Through this experience I understood that my every thought must be righteous. Only then can I do well and make good use of every opportunity to save sentient beings.

Our Cultivation State Affects Our Surroundings

In the past, when my mother-in-law’s health was still good, my husband (a non-practitioner) usually went out with his friends so that he didn’t disturb me when I made phone calls. However, two years ago, my mother-in-law’s health declined, so my husband started spending more time at home. He likes to play musical instruments. Whenever he has nothing to do, he plays music loudly. As we live in a mountainous area with few residents, the loud music does not affect the neighbors. However, this seriously disturbed me making phone calls. Even when I closed all the doors and windows, the music could still be heard. My heart was moved and I started complaining. It was even harder to control myself when the phone calls were not getting through and his music came pressing in on me.

I later changed my thinking. I reminded myself that this was caused by me. I decided to ignore him and just continued making phone calls. With this one thought, which was based on the Fa, I no longer heard the music. After I eliminated my attachment, he stopped playing music when I was on the platform.

Master published a series of articles last year. When I read them I had a better understanding of our role in Fa rectification. I was able to further understand Dafa’s principles and how to cultivate myself. Only by having the Fa in our hearts can we access the power of Dafa. The confusion that used to block my sight has been gradually removed.

I now understand that my main shortcoming in my cultivation is in my thoughts. I’m now able to identify those thoughts and can correct them based on the Fa. Although I’m still unable to guarantee that I can be in a good cultivation state all the time, I’ve begun adjusting and correcting myself. The results have been good. Only by cultivating every thought, continuously finding attachments, and getting rid of them can I do well in the life-saving project of making phone calls.

As my cultivation level is limited, kindly correct me if there are is any room for improvement.

(Presented at the 2024 RTC Platform Annual Experience Sharing Conference)