(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, revered Teacher! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I used to think that technology and cultivation don't go together. I thought that I'd never accomplished anything extraordinary and had nothing to report. After I read the article calling for papers, I searched inward and broke through my original barrier. I want to share with Master and my fellow practitioners my experiences working on technical projects.
Several years ago while I was traveling, I thought of Master's words,
"You are one body, just like Master's gong. Of course you and gong aren't the same thing, I'm just giving an example. It's just like my gong, which does different things at the same time." ("Teaching the Fa at the Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference" from Guiding the Voyage)
I thought that since other practitioners perform various tasks, what should I do? How can I best contribute? I thought that I could provide some technical solutions to protect the practitioners' safety and provide stronger security for them. I wished that I could find the best protective technology possible for practitioners. At the time I hadn't come to a good understanding. I didn't understand that the righteous thoughts of practitioners were their strongest protection, but Master looked at my thoughts and provided a way for me to use technology to validate Dafa. When I look back, there were a lot of difficulties on the path. It seems to me now that I was walking across thorns. With Master's protection, however, I made it smoothly.
The Great Way Has No Form; Working on Technical Projects Provides Opportunities to Upgrade One's Xinxing
Working on technical projects isn't cultivation on its own, but since technology supports practitioners in validating Dafa, working on technical projects can provide a practitioner with the opportunity to upgrade xinxing. In the beginning, I thought that technology and cultivation were two separate things. Technology is technology and cultivation is cultivation, so I believed that the accumulation of technology was the only method to solve technical problems. Whenever I had a problem, my thoughts, my solutions, and my implementation of them were all the same as an ordinary person's. Therefore, after encountering difficulties and wasting a lot of time, I still couldn't make real progress.
Gradually I understood that I should handle technical problems with righteous thoughts instead of using human notions; I could do better if I cultivated myself first. Working on technical projects is for getting rid of rigid mentalities buried deep in the mind. At the same time, many human notions and attachments, such as fear, jealousy, competitiveness, zealotry and showing-off can be exposed while working on technical projects. All of these have to be eliminated. Only after eliminating our attachments can we use our pure hearts to validate Dafa, and our creations will be more pure and effective as a result.
Before, whenever I had a technical problem, I always tried to find the cause from a technical point of view, but the following experience changed my fundamental understanding.
Once I was working on a computer infected by a virus. After I cleaned it up, the computer still wouldn't run. It looked like that the operating system had a serious problem. The next day I needed to re-install the operating system, but I was supposed to meet someone to talk about quitting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I didn't know when we'd meet again. I felt very bad in the evening and asked Master for help. On the morning of the second day, an amazing thing happened. The computer worked on its own! I really felt thankful towards Master. From this experience I realized that I couldn't use ordinary people's methods to handle technical problems. Using technology to solve technical problems is how everyday people do it. If I use that method, I won't be able to achieve a breakthrough. In that instance, I actually was restricting my own ability.
After that, whenever I had a technical problem, I wouldn't immediately try to find solutions from a technical point of view. I would ask for Master's support first and clean myself up. When I found hidden attachments, I would eliminate them. Then I would start my work with a clean and pure mind. With Dafa as a standard I could easily decide whether I should keep investigating a technology, how to introduce a technology to fellow practitioners, or how I should put my knowledge into articles.
Righteous Enlightenment is the Key to Improving Skills and Solving Problems
Master has already given us the capabilities of great enlightened beings, but if our minds aren't pure and clean enough, we can't use them. I had a deep understanding about this issue. If I look at a problem and search for solutions with human notions, the problem is very difficult to solve, even with a lot of time and effort, but if I use righteous thoughts to solve the problem and my righteous thoughts are really strong, most problems are easy to solve.
From past experiences I've found that the improvement of skill occurs after the upgrade of xinxing. After my skills improve, the capacity of my heart is increased. In the beginning I didn't understand why this happened. After reading Master's teachings, I realized that this was the manifestation of the Fa at different levels. Just as Master said,
"So in other words, whichever field you might be in, when you are able to improve your skills, that is a reflection of your having continually risen in realm. And people can see that you are a good person and someone who cultivates his or her heart and mind. From the vantage point of human beings, you are becoming a good person. As a result of studying the Fa and cultivating your inner self, you do better and better, and gods give you the wisdom you deserve and give you inspiration so that you can come to realize a lot of things while you study, create better things, improve your technique, and reach beyond." ("Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles")
While working on technical projects I found that many practitioners have these capabilities, but if the mind isn't pure and clean, the solution can't be found. It seems that the separation of problem and solution is as thin as a piece of paper. I experienced a learning process, first recognizing a technique, looking at it from a complicated viewpoint, and then returning to the simple. The improvement of skill level is based on the level of the practitioner. Only when our own level is upgraded can we create better things.
Once, while I was investigating an important technique, it seemed that I fell into difficulty that couldn't easily be resolved. I didn't know what to do and felt helpless. A fellow practitioner had just started to learn to use computers, and he told me that he wanted to be in charge of maintaining the computers in his area. He spent an entire week studying the maintenance process and had an initial understanding about it. I thought, "I'm in charge of the current project. If I stop, nobody else will understand it like I do. No matter how difficult it is, it's my responsibility." Matter and mind are one thing. That evening, by upgrading my xinxing, I broke through the technical barrier. After completing the documentation I introduced the new technique to my fellow practitioners in an easy-to-understand way. Looking back now, I realize that my breakthrough was simply a combination of two existing techniques, but until I upgraded my xinxing the new method remained undiscovered.
Since I practice cultivation while working on technical projects, Dafa is continuously enlightening me. Many times, when I wanted to write something or solve some technical issue, inspiration came on its own. Since the core concepts were normally obtained effortlessly I really felt the all-encompassing confident ease of following the energy mechanisms. I understood that everything is given by Dafa and is for assisting Master. We have to purify ourselves before we can use them.
Cooperating as One Body Holds Great Power
Among the articles on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom), many examples can be found of practitioners cooperating and doing amazing things. If an article is posted on that website and practitioners around the world can all read it, isn't it good for communication and coordination? It's the same for working on a technical project. Working on a technical project also requires cooperation as one body. A discussion between two practitioners is coordination. These discussions make up for our individual shortcomings and help us better coordinate our work. If we can achieve these goals, Dafa will manifest miracles. Master told us,
"For Dafa disciples as a whole, in the process of validating the Fa, when you work together in concert, the Fa power is great." ("Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
It's impossible for ordinary people to develop some of the technology that we need. I was working on such a project. There was nothing available for us to learn from, and we had to do it by ourselves. Where did our wisdom come from? It was from Dafa. When we cooperated, our ideas came out continuously. When you didn't have the time, he did. When I didn't know something, you made it up. Finally we achieved our goal. When we didn't coordinate well, our personal limitations restricted the development of the new technique. Even if it could be accomplished, it might take a long time to achieve. As a result of cooperating as one body, we didn't have to spend an especially long time and the results were good.
I've seen a technical project where many practitioners communicated with each other, but the amazing thing was that while they were cooperating as one body, great ideas came out continuously. In a very short time many problems concerning security settings were resolved and several practical techniques were developed. This was because practitioners worked as one body and Dafa enlightened everyone. There isn't anything that Dafa can't achieve.
Everything Starts from Ground Zero, Validate Dafa with Skill
Master said,
"So Dafa disciples, you must not get bigheaded if you've acquired some little human skills. They're nothing to get bigheaded about. The fact is, you've learned what you've learned because you had that wish and accordingly arrangements were made for you back in the past since it would be needed in validating the Fa, that's all." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference")
What I feel the most is that we shouldn't think about how capable we are, since this is special work. The reason for working on technical projects is to fulfill our wish. No matter how capable we are, Master has given us everything and we've done very little, so we must not get too cocky.
Once upon a time, I thought that I was doing what I should for technical projects. I felt that my cultivated side was excited and I shed tears right away. But on second thought I wondered, "As a practitioner, is this thought from my attachment to zealotry and will it block me from making further progress?" I really don't know if I achieved the requirement of the Fa in working on the technical project, but I know that all I did was given by Dafa. I really didn't achieve anything by myself. All I did was lay a stable foundation for the future.
Master said,
"Your accomplishments reflect mighty virtue gained through sound Fa study and the solidifying of righteous thoughts, and your shortcomings tell of the things that you need to work on along your cultivation path." ("To the Chicago Fa Conference", 2006)
Master also said,
"Credit and honor are not what is on my mind" ("In One Thought", Hong Yin II, English Translation Version A)
As a practitioner, when we do Dafa work, we shouldn't be selfish or think about accumulating mighty virtue. After I realized this, whenever I did Dafa work, my mind was very peaceful without trepidation; I just do what a practitioner should do.
Then how should a practitioner behave? While doing Dafa work, we don't have to think about our past achievements. We shouldn't compare our performance with what we did in the past. What we should do is follow the requirements of the Fa, cultivate ourselves and do better in the future.
The above is my understanding. If there is anything incorrect in my thinking, please kindly point it out.
Thanks for Master's merciful salvation and Buddha's infinite grace! Heshi!
(Paper for "The Third Mainland China Falun Dafa Practitioners Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference on the Internet")
