(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher said,

I remember these words and often think of them, but it was not until today that I attained a better understanding of Teacher’s reminder to "cultivate solidly."

Yesterday I met with a fellow Falun Gong practitioner, who practitioners in our area agreed was cultivating well and to be very capable of eliminating evil [from other dimensions.] However, I felt his cultivation state lately had been unstable. We discussed with each other and both identified a critical problem of not cultivating solidly.

This morning I started to write this article as a way to reflect upon my cultivation practice. When I quoted Teacher’s Fa at the beginning of the article, I suddenly burst into tears and started to sob.

I have always been a very determined person that would finish whatever I set out to do. When I first obtained the Fa, I had a feeling that this was going to be incredibly difficult. But I encouraged myself, "I shall climb up to a mountain of spiky peaks and I shall cross a sea of fire if that is what it takes to complete my cultivation practice." When I first started to practice the Falun Gong sitting meditation, my legs were in unbearable pain after 30 minutes. Yet I would persevere through the sitting meditation for one-and-a-half hours by counting the tempo of the exercise music. I had my share of enduring physical pain. I also put in a lot of time and effort on studying and memorizing the Fa. Back then, I was very busy at work, but I would spend my lunch hour memorizing the Fa. However, I stayed up every night, so I fought to stay awake when I memorized the Fa during my lunch hour. Later I developed a pattern. Every day at noon I would repeatedly doze off for 30 minutes almost as soon as I opened up Zhuan Falun. After 30 minutes of battle with sleep, I would become very clearheaded and highly efficient in memorizing the Fa. In one and a half hours, I could memorize the same amount of the Fa that I can memorize now in about three to four hours.

I used to have a lot of momentum at the time. I am sure I had a lot of inadequacies at the time, but I had a very high level of diligence and perseverance that I have been lacking for quite some time. I don’t understand it. For the past few years, I have even let go of the thought of life or death. Why did I become complacent and lethargic? It’s not because I cannot do it, but because I am neglecting my cultivation practice.

Teacher taught us,

The Fa-rectification has progressed to the present stage and has much higher requirements for practitioners. If we want to prevail over the persecution and to save sentient beings, we must cultivate solidly. It simply wouldn’t do if we should neglect our cultivation practice and even drop below the levels we had reached before the persecution started.

Teacher has repeatedly reminded us,

We must enlighten to Teachers’ words! We have no excuse whatsoever if we have become complacent or have failed to cultivate solidly.

A while ago, I actually made a breakthrough in memorizing the Fa and upgraded my cultivation level quickly; however, zealotry would get the better of me from time to time. Every time zealotry surfaced, I became complacent with my cultivation practice until I stumbled, fell, and came to my senses again. In addition, I had not had time to practice the exercises for a very long time. I increased the frequency of sending forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes I would even send forth righteous thoughts at every set hour. However, I was not able to overcome internal or external interference while sending forth righteous thoughts. I even created an excuse. I thought, "I have increased the frequency of sending forth righteous thoughts anyway, the increase of quantity will make up for the lack of quality." When I clarified the truth, I did it more or less to enhance my cultivation practice. Although I made daily plans for my truth-clarification work, I often failed to accomplish them due to my problematic state of studying and memorizing the Fa.

Generally speaking, I have been making more rapid progress lately, but I am still haunted by the aforementioned problems. I have decided that I must become clearheaded on the Fa and I must not be nonchalant about my cultivation state any longer. I must not wait until my cultivation problems become severe before remedying them. I must cultivate myself solidly in order to rectify myself as soon as possible.

I met a fellow practitioner yesterday and one subject we talked about is particularly memorable to me. When fellow practitioners shower us with praise, we will often become very pleased with our cultivation practice. Judging from a higher level of the Fa, such a mentality is always considered a sign of being sluggish in one’s cultivation. We also talked about Fa study. The fellow practitioner said, "I spend just as much time on my Fa study, but I am not as tranquil as before." This must be the root cause. We must study the Fa solidly if we want to study the Fa well! Otherwise, how would we be able to be diligent in our cultivation practice? In terms of eliminating attachments, the practitioner said, "I can feel I am not very determined in eliminating my attachments, especially my attachment to sentimentality. Once sentimentality prevailed upon me for one full week." Teacher said,

Solid cultivation is the very prerequisite to cultivating one’s xinxing. Our thoughts may be invisible to the human eye, but they are tangible matter in other dimensions. They are critical to our cultivation practice.

Sometimes we do the Three Things in haste. Today I studied the Fa for several hours and clarified the truth to people. I must be diligent enough. I have even sacrificed some sleep. It appears that I am very diligent. However, I may not be truly cultivating my xinxing solidly. I may not be able to look for my attachments when I encounter conflicts and obstacles. I may be doing the Three Things like I was just getting things done. I may have a very casual attitude towards the Three Things. Or I may be reluctant to part with my fundamental attachments or selfishness. In that case, am I truly cultivating myself? Am I solidly assimilating myself to the Fa and the characteristics of the universe, Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance? I have only myself to blame for my lack of solid cultivation practice. All the problems accumulated from my lack of solid cultivation practice will ultimately be exposed [before the end of the Fa-rectification.] Any of these problems might cause me to stumble and fall, resulting in damaging my efforts to save sentient beings.

By writing this article, I hope to encourage fellow practitioners and myself to cultivate solidly. Teacher often offers us encouragement and we know what we will achieve in the future, but we must not lose our heads. Cultivation is a most serious matter. No matter how close it is to the advent of the Fa-rectification in the human realm, we must not neglect the fundamental principle of our cultivation practice. We must cultivate solidly and be truly diligent, which should be our correct attitude towards our cultivation practice as lives that cherish the Fa.

Upon finishing this article, I feel my heart has become more tranquil, mature and strong. I have become more aware of my responsibilities. It is as though each and every cell in my body, as well as all the lives in my space-dimensions, have become energetic. I must cultivate solidly, steadily, and determinedly on the path ahead.