(Clearwisdom.net) Ever since I started practicing Falun Dafa, I have often felt gloomy when everyone else was preparing for the Chinese New Year. This was because my regular schedule was altered during the holidays. As a daughter-in-law, I am expected to spend the holidays with my parents-in-law. In addition to the reunion activities, I have to help them do chores. As a result, I felt I did not have enough time to study the Fa. While I could usually use the computer to clarify the truth, I could not do so at my in-law's home. Instead I had to configure my home computer to automatically send the truth-clarification information. I felt that during the holidays I did not do well the three things I was supposed to do as a practitioner. This often frustrated me.
As I was preparing for the Chinese New Year this year, my spirit again fell, believing I would not be able to practice well in the coming days. As a result, I was not happy and I was hopeful that the holidays would be over soon so I could get back to a normal routine. Of course, this was a strong attachment, because I was looking outside instead of looking within. The night before I left for my in-law's home, I read "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York." I was deeply touched, as if Master was talking to me personally.
Master said,
"What I said just now basically summarizes the difference between the cultivation method of today's Dafa disciples and the cultivation of people in the past. If a person wants to be saved, he must transcend the fact that he is in and experiencing firsthand a tough environment where there is adversity, self interest, emotions and desires. Everything will involve a cultivator's self-interest, and anything can affect you as a person, your thoughts and emotions, your xinxing, and the things that you are attached to inside. If you manage to take a certain path and make certain choices, then you are extraordinary. Otherwise, you are an ordinary person. If you are able to step out of the reasoning and attachments of ordinary people, then you are a god." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York")
In the same lecture, Master also taught us,
"People in the past went to temples and monasteries or into the mountains to cultivate while avoiding the world's people. Those people didn't physically endure too many xinxing tests or have their attachments directly tugged upon, and didn't have the most direct test of material things. So for the person's main body it is as if he didn't cultivate. Even though the person gave up a normal life during his lifetime, for that person it was nothing more than taking up a different lifestyle." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York.")
Indeed, everywhere is a good environment for practitioners. Everywhere there are sentient beings to be saved. Since family members and relatives rarely get together, isn't the holiday reunion the best opportunity to validate the Fa and to clarify the truth? Why did I purposefully select the location and target of my cultivation practice? There is no time off in cultivation practice. Wherever we go and whenever it is, we should practice Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and we should let other people experience practitioners' compassion. The cultivation path that Master left for us is not for us to cultivate in remote mountains, but for us to practice by keeping to the ways of ordinary people as much as possible, and to demonstrate the great virtue of practitioners in the ordinary world.
I suddenly realized how I had missed the greatest opportunities to cultivate myself and to validate the Fa in the last few years. This time I was determined to tell the greatness of Dafa to my friends and relatives wherever I would be, at my parents' home or with my in-laws. More importantly, no matter how noisy it is or how busy I am, I must study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts, recite Lunyu, and maintain a pure and clear mind. As a result, I prepared some truth-clarification brochures, some Dafa bookmarks and calendars, and a VCD of the NTDTV Gala. I was hopeful that the Chinese New Year would be the chance for my relatives and friends to experience Dafa's compassion and splendor.
After letting go of my attachment, I was able to calmly face every person, every event, and every material thing. There were certainly many tests for me, especially when there were some fun activities, delicious food, and interesting stuff in the holidays. As Master taught us in Zhuan Falun,
"In our discipline, for the portion that cultivates among ordinary people, it's required that we cultivate in the ordinary world, and keep to the ways of ordinary people as much as possible. We're not asking you to really lose any material things. It doesn't matter how high your official rank is, and it doesn't matter how rich you are: the key is whether you can let go of that attachment."
During the holidays, I kept reminding myself to be a genuine practitioner without attachments. When I did not do well, I reminded myself that it is through learning from mistakes that practitioners awaken to the Fa and that I must do better next time.
Cultivating ourselves is the core of our practice. No matter where we are and whom we are facing, we should be able to cultivate ourselves. There is no time off in cultivation practice.
Finally I would like to share the following teaching with all practitioners. In "Teaching the Fa on Easter, 2004, at the New York Fa Conference," Master taught us,
"You still need to consider the image you project in society and to everyday people, because a Dafa disciple needs to be a good person wherever he is, right? So out in ordinary society, at work, in the family, or in whatever interactions it may be, you should leave people with a positive image of Dafa disciples. Your resources are limited, and that's why it is so trying and hard to do. But even so, we still need to make our Fa-rectification path a straight and upright one and we cannot go astray. If we're to make it a straight one, then, well, you know, there's only one path that is straight, and just one step off the path means going amiss. We cannot go astray, and this means our path is none too wide or easy to walk, it seems. You can't do as you please or do whatever you want--if that were the case, the Fa wouldn't be righteous. You need to make your path of validating the Fa a straight and upright one. Every single step, every single thing, including a Dafa disciple's words and actions, and your conduct in every respect out in society must be upright."
Since my level of cultivation practice is limited, please point out anything incorrect.
