(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to join the discussion of Form and Heart and how the two complete each other in harmony.
The previous two parts of this series considered looking at the heart rather than the form when addressing the relationship between the two. However, our path is narrow. We still need to balance other aspects between the form and heart before we can walk along a righteous path without deviation. Master says,
"I don't emphasize any specific approach; I use various means to expose your deeply-concealed attachments and get rid of them."
(Essentials for further advancement, Digging Out the Roots)
From Master's words I understand that Master doesn't care about the form. On the other hand, Master is fully utilizing the various forms and ways in the human world. Therefore, we shouldn't get too attached to form. Meanwhile, we ought to make good use of ample resources and forms created by Dafa for the human world to validate Dafa, save sentient beings, and harmonize Dafa manifested on this level of human beings.
The Great Way has no form. Dafa does not have regulations or fetters, nor does Dafa place too much weight on form. Dafa puts emphasis upon upgrading one's level and exposing one's attachments directly. If one's heart is not upgraded to high levels, the regulations and fetters merely exist in name. The greater the way, the fewer fetters there are, even to the point of there being no fetters. The heart is valued more than the surface manifestation. Hence, one is more able to grasp the truth instead of getting confused. Without the restraint of forms, one's character improves quickly.
"The closer the worldly side paths get to the fringes, the more requirements there are. Their devotional methods are complicated, and they can't grasp the essence of cultivation. When a person cultivates he concentrates on cultivating his character. But they don't realize that--they think hardship is enough for cultivation. So after a long period of time, after cultivating for hundreds of years or even, say, 1,000 years, they only develop a little bit of gong." (Zhuan Falun)
Along with the upgrading of one's realm, one might be able to experience the wonder of formlessness. The more one reaches to the state of formlessness, the better he can make use of all sorts of forms, sticking to the true nature of the matter and utilizing all different forms at will without any restraint.
For example, I used to be held back by human notions when clarifying the truth. However, as long as our hearts are improving and expanding, the regulations and human notions will be broken. As we strengthen our righteous thoughts to be benevolent to sentient beings and responsible to Dafa, we will be able to create many good forms to validate Dafa. When clarifying the truth, we have to balance different aspects of matter. For example, we must get rid of the attachment of fear. On the other hand, we still need to be cautious rather than assume everything was assured. We should keep a good state of mind, but also take into consideration the state of mind of the people to whom we are clarifying the truth.
Of course, right now we are limited by many imperfect conditions. Sometimes when we had just come up with a good idea, the police would knock at the door, or conditions suddenly changed and we couldn't obtain truth-clarifying materials due to interference. Hence, the idea was turned around improperly. Sometimes I wanted to clarify the truth under extremely severe circumstances, but found it really hard to get a proper way to do so.
Along with studying the Fa, I have a stronger and stronger mind of benevolence and a heart to validate the Fa. I have righteous thoughts with respect to other issues as well. I am able to make my way out even if there does not seem to be a way out.
Therefore, along with the upgrading of my heart, I keep on looking for new ways and proper forms to clarify the truth according to the changing environment. No matter how hard it is, we ought to create conditions and ways to give people opportunities to be saved.
Sometimes, I found a good way to clarify the truth, but I hesitated, worrying that other practitioners might not understand. Actually it was because I didn't really break away from my human notions. When studying the Fa, I came to the understanding that if Jigong focused more on form than the heart, he might have been restrained by the rule of abstaining from meat and would have starved to death. With his heart not attached to eating meat, he could break the rule under specific circumstances. If Shakyamuni was attached to form, he might be restrained by the rule of no killing and so he wouldn't have had the bathtub cleaned to take a bath. We don't regard the form as important. Instead, we look at his heart when he asked his disciple to clean the bathtub. He didn't mean to kill the bugs in the bathtub. He only wanted his disciple to understand that human beings have their living environment in this world so as to make his disciple better enlightened to the issue of no killing.
Saving the sentient beings is urgent. While balancing the relationship of all different aspects of matter, we shall break away from the restraint of surface form and focus on the actual effect. As I mentioned in my previous experience-sharing article, ample resources and forms are created for the spreading of Dafa.
"Everything through the ages has happened for the Fa."
(Just a Play)
Let us make full use of those forms to validate Dafa and save sentient beings. "Using at Will," we shall use any proper way and form. That's also how Dafa disciples harmonize Dafa manifested at the level of human being.
Let us clarify the truth in tens of thousands of forms, not just stick to one. Let the truth prevail in all forms and the lies be completely exposed.
These comments are just for your reference. Please kindly point out anything that is incorrect.
For Parts I and II, please see
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/5/28/36235.html
http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/5/29/36270.html