(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, Master and Fellow Practitioners,
I am a practitioner from Toronto. I obtained the Fa on May 20, 1997. On the day after tomorrow, I will have been a Falun Dafa practitioner for a total of five years. Recalling the past five years of cultivation, especially the last three years of Fa-rectification cultivation, I would like to thank Master from the bottom of my heart, "Thank you, Master!" I would also like to tell my fellow practitioners how lucky we are! Please cherish this precious opportunity that occurs once in millions of years
1. Keep up with personal cultivation while assisting Master in Fa-rectification
I obtained the Fa in May 1997. In August of that year, I attended a group Fa-study over a long weekend. During this Fa study, I began to truly understand the true meaning and purpose of cultivation. I decided that I would cultivate myself right to the end, reaching Consummation and returning home with Master. At that time, my cultivation practice was tranquil and serene. I always felt myself immersed in the state of returning to my true origin. Every practitioner was trying to upgrade him or herself and to get rid of attachments. Every practitioner was considerate of newcomers and tried their best to provide a good cultivation practice environment. It was really a peaceful and serene environment.
Along with the progress of Fa-rectification, clarifying the truth is gradually touching every level of our society, and it is also reflected in each of us practitioners like a mirror. Our various deeply concealed attachments are being revealed.
I started to work in the TV group last April. I joined the group because I thought it was suitable for me and I like TV work. As I became more skilled, and the workload increased, I seemed to forget the true meaning of cultivation in doing my TV work. When I came across difficulties or conflicts, I would very often forget to look within; instead I tried to figure out the reason and the result of the problem itself. Sometimes I was in such a poor cultivation state that I even shocked myself. Many attachments, such as showing-off, jealousy, fighting mentality and complacency, which I thought I had almost gotten rid of, all came out. During group discussions, I was always stubborn and pushy. Sometimes I even lost my temper. In the first half a year after I joined the TV team, my behavior often provided opportunities for others to improve their xinxing level. Yet, the superficial reasons for what I did were to do Dafa work better. I was aware that the cultivation state I was in was not good. But for a long time, I was only busy with my work and did not calm down enough to look inward. Master said in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa", "Mankind's history is like a play, and you played all the roles--from kings to common folk, from heroes to villains, from intellectuals, to famous people, to heroes." When I read these words, I felt I totally understood what Master was saying. I especially felt that I had been a villain. Once, while chatting with several practitioners, I told them about how I felt . No one said anything to the contrary. A Western practitioner with shining blue eyes even said with total agreement, "Yes, you must have been a villain!" All practitioners kindly laughed. But I was lost in thought.
Master said in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa", "When you are doing things with other Dafa disciples, it's inevitable that you have arguments, and it's inevitable that you have differences of opinion. Why? Your attachments have to somehow be displayed so that you can get rid of them." These words awakened me. Yes, there was no other reason for the differences of opinion among practitioners except for displaying our attachments. I should look within myself. When arguing with fellow practitioners, no matter what the surface reason, I must admit that at that time I was acting against "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance," because I was somewhat angry. As long as I did not have a pure heart when I spoke, the moment I spoke, I dropped to the level of an everyday person because of the attachments, and as such, I could not discern good from bad. Even if I did a good job, it was no more than an everyday person doing Dafa work. To put it more seriously, my stubborn attachments to my own opinions and to the imaginary effect I hoped to achieve showed that, in essence I did not trust Master and Dafa. "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master. It is good enough if you have this wish. It is the master who actually does this, as you are simply unable to do it." (Zhuan Falun, Lecture One, "Why Doesn't Your Gong Increase with Your Practice") These are the basics of cultivation. Teacher said at the beginning of Zhuan Falun, "To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments." All of these problems should be solved at the beginning of self-cultivation practice. However, today, when we are well into Fa-rectification, I still hide these attachments with various excuses, missing the opportunities to upgrade myself time and time again. I came to the understanding that we should not forget to cultivate ourselves in the process of assisting Master in Fa-rectification. 2. Take the Initiative in Fa-Rectification Cultivation
Master said in Zhuan Falun (Lecture Eight, "Whoever Practices Cultivation Will Attain Gong"), "In our school of practice, it is the Main Consciousness that obtains gong." "Everyone knows that our school of practice does not shun ordinary human society in cultivation practice, and neither does it avoid or run away from conflicts. In this complex environment of everyday people, you should be clear-minded and knowingly lose in terms of interests." I suddenly saw the three words, "take the initiative" in the sentences. They were so clear. When I continued reading "Heavenly Circuit," "Attachment of Zealotry," and "Cultivation of Speech," till Lecture Nine, and then I read back, these three words run through the whole book.
In Zhuan Falun, (Lecture Three, "Spirit or Animal Possession") Master said, "Here, we teach everyone to follow the righteous way, and at the same time explain the Fa to you thoroughly to let you become enlightened on your own. It is your own business whether you want to learn it. The Master takes you through the entrance, and it is up to you to practice cultivation. Nobody will force you or make you practice cultivation. It is your own business whether you practice cultivation."
Master said in Lecture at the First Conference in North America in New York, "Let me draw a most simple analogy: If a piece of sawdust drops into a furnace of molten steel, it will vanish in a twinkling. It would be effortless for an immense Fa such as ours to assimilate a person like you, to eliminate your karma, to remove your improper thoughts and so forth. Given that the Fa's power is so mighty, why don't we do it this way? We can't do that in the society of everyday people, because cultivating that way wouldn't be considered cultivation. Rather, it would be regarded as re-creation, which would mean discarding you completely and re-creating another person. So you have to genuinely cultivate in order for it to be you, yourself." I enlightened that the analogy clearly explained two completely different processes, taking the initiative to jump into molten steel or waiting for molten steel to envelop us.
Yes, looking back from the first day of our cultivation to today's Fa-rectification, every step is a choice of being a cultivator or an everyday person. I know most of us have a lot of Fa-rectification work to do, and wish we could have 36 hours a day. We often work until midnight, struggling to keep our eyes open, and we really want to drop into bed to sleep, until we remember that we have not done the exercises! Master said, "Practicing cultivation is the best form of rest. You can obtain the kind of rest that can't be obtained through sleeping." (Lecture at the First Conference in North America) Should we go to bed or do the exercises? When facing conflicts, should we calm down and look inward to find the attachments or go along with our demon nature?
Master has taught us the Fa clearly, but how to act will always be the choice of cultivators themselves. The decision-making process is a cultivation history, marking the footprints of every Dafa practitioner. It decides our future and reflects the righteousness and dignity of Dafa, at the same time, during Master's Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings, our choice also enables people to feel Dafa's righteousness and boundless mercy. Jiang's regime of gangsters has poisoned countless people with their vicious rumor-mongering media, and the resentment and even hatred of Dafa are forced into many people's minds. These people who are committing crimes in ignorance are also victims of deception. The process of clarifying the truth is the opportunity the great Fa has offered to people, which clarifies to them the truth of Dafa and allows them to make their own judgment on righteousness and evil, on truth and falsehood.
3. Strive forward together for a bright future lies ahead
In September last year, I participated in an SOS walk from Toronto to Ottawa. The distance was 450 kilometers and we walked for 20 days. Our state of mind was very good at the beginning; news media and governments all responded positively. People we met along the way were also very understanding and supportive. However, as we walked further, fatigue, laziness, the mentality of doing things and other kinds of human factors got in the way and we ignored studying the Fa. As a result, xinxing conflicts appeared within the group. The situation was just like a practitioner described, "The sky changed, so did the land, people also changed and nothing seemed right." Just as we approached his office door, a mayor who had scheduled a meeting with us suddenly declined. He told us that he had to go to another meeting. When we left city hall after being rejected, we found that the blue sky of earlier that day had suddenly become windy and the sun was covered up by dark clouds. The usual supportive horns, waving of hands from the typically friendly Canadians, and people stopping for flyers along the way, all disappeared; instead we saw people in black clothes on motorbikes whizzing past, shouting abusive words. All these things woke us up with a start. We understood that whenever there was a conflict among us cultivators, we give the evil a loophole to exploit. They would make trouble and create obstacles to prevent us from assisting Master in Fa-rectification. Once we identified the problem, we intensified Fa study and experience sharing, adjusted our state of mind, and set demands of ourselves by the standard of a cultivator. Once that was done, everything went back to normal, and a similar incident never happened again.
This incident greatly inspired me. We, Dafa disciples, are high-level beings from different celestial bodies, which are extremely far away. Our life characteristics also differ significantly from one another, with each disciple having a different mission, yet we all have the same purpose. This is why Master said that Dafa disciples are one body. Dafa practitioners all over the world are one body. At the same time, Dafa practitioners in each country, each region, and each city or even in a small group are also one body. Tens of thousands of Dafa particles form a large Falun, of which the swastikas and Taijis are different entities at the same time. Each particle of us has his own position, each with individual motion and path spinning at the same time at a high speed with the huge Falun. The role of each particle is equally important. However, within the same entity, harmonious coexistence among the particles and synchronization with the huge Falun bear more extraordinary significance.
I'm very fortunate to be in an environment like Toronto, where I can constantly feel that we cultivate and advance as one body. The advancement of one body is closely related to our consistent group Fa-study and discussion over the past several years. I started my cultivation at a weekend Fa-study five years ago, and this tradition has continued to this very day. Intensively studying the Fa together over long weekends or during the Christmas holiday has also become part of our life together. It is this healthy and persistent Fa-study environment that melts us together, and enables us to stand together through thick and thin when facing the evil tests and to be where we are today with steady steps. One thing worth mentioning is about the practitioners in assistance centers and Falun Dafa Associations. They are also practitioners with different personalities, who have different ways of doing things, and their understandings of Fa also vary. However, what I have seen is that they are always able to show understanding and tolerance towards each other. They are able to put the overall situation first and think of Dafa first. This has played an important role in our advancing as one body. Many fellow practitioners share the same feeling as me. We feel extremely fortunate to be in such a cultivation environment. In this community, there is no lingering grievance; people may argue with one another and the arguments can get heated sometimes, but they can always look within themselves as a result. In this place, each fellow practitioner is like a mirror; anyone who cultivates well will be our example and inspiration; anyone who does not do well will enable us to check if we have the same attachment in ourselves. It is just like what Master wrote in his poem, "In Harmony with the Fa," "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere, Propriety and justice rectify and harmonize everything, Strive forward together, A bright future lies ahead."
The Lord of Buddhas is merciful and compassionate, and Buddha's benevolence is vast and immense. Our respected Master has been rectifying the Fa and saving the firmament continuously. Sentient beings can never imagine the suffering he has endured for us all. We can only redouble our efforts and fulfill the pledges we made ages ago. Let us truly cherish this precious opportunity that occurs once in millions of years.
