(Clearwisdom.net)
Dear Respected Master and Fellow Practitioners,
It is an honor to be here today and to be able to share some of my cultivation experiences and understandings. It is my hope that we improve together as one body.
Over the past few months I had several opportunities to travel to different locations to clarify the truth, as well as meet and interact with practitioners in those areas. Although my experiences were uncommon, I understood that they were all Master's arrangements. For the past four years, my company has seldom sent me to any other location for technical support. Suddenly, I was asked by my supervisor to travel to Macallen, a city close to the border of southern Texas, for a few days. As a practitioner, I clearly understood that nothing happening to a practitioner is accidental. I should take things as they come since there must be reasons for me to go there.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,"
"From the day that a Dafa disciple takes up cultivation his whole life is rearranged. In other words, this life of yours is now the life of a cultivator. Nothing is by chance anymore, and nothing will happen just by chance. Everything on your life's journey is directly related to your improvement and cultivation."
While flying to Macallen, I constantly reminded myself that I am a Dafa practitioner. In areas where passing out flyers was not allowed, I wore a t-shirt with truth-clarifying information on it. I also brought some truth-clarifying materials with me. At highly populated locations such as airports and shopping malls, I always thought, "Sentient beings, I am here to assist Master and save you. Look at my shirt and understand the truth. I want to save you." In the airplane, the t-shirt generated great impact since passengers had almost nothing to do but stare at other passengers walking by. After arriving at Macallen, I found my hotel was very close to a shopping mall. After work, I liked to walk in the mall with my truth-clarifying t-shirt on and send forth righteous thoughts simultaneously. One day, I decided to walk to a beach. The road seemed endless and karma constantly poured thoughts into my brain such as wanting to take a break, or even stop completely. However, I persisted and arrived at a spot with many people around. I started to practice the exercises there, so as to let people watch the beauty of Dafa. I enlightened some time ago, that our existence in the human world has the effect of saving sentient beings. The more places that we go to, the more sentient beings we can save.
Master mentioned in "Energy Field," the third talk of "Zhuan Falun," 2003 translation:
"You might have this effect wherever you are, whether you’re walking down the street, at work, at home, or wherever. You might unknowingly adjust the bodies of people who are within the range of your field, because this field can fix all wrong states."
It is easy to draw people’s attention when doing the exercises outdoors. And the information on my T-shirt also attracted people. Therefore, I had chances to explain what I was doing. On this trip, I found that the majority of the population are Mexican in the Macallen area. Being a Spanish speaking Puerto Rican, I realized that the reason I could speak Spanish was to provide me more chances to save Spanish speaking people.
A week after returning to Dallas, my supervisor asked me to travel to another location. Therefore, I had a chance to meet with four other Dafa practitioners and share experiences and understandings together. On this trip, I realized that experience sharing could really help some practitioners who are stuck by some fundamental human notions and could not ascend quickly within the Fa. For example, one practitioner kept having problems in studying the Fa. He would tell me that every time he studied the Fa, it was like reading the same book repeatedly. He could not see anything else than what was on the pages. I shared my understanding with him that the problem was that he was trying to understand supernormal things with human notions. Based on my understanding of the Fa, I explained to him that this book was not an ordinary person's book. In school we had to go through many classes and different subjects to obtain a diploma. In the subject of Mathematics, we go through fundamental math, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Each course adds new content and brings us to understand a higher level of math. If we do not know geometry, then it will be difficult to understand trigonometry. Using the same example, I explained my understanding of Zhuan Falun, that it includes content at different levels. Every time we read the book, we can only understand principles at our current level. The next time we read it, we will be enlightened by the principles of another level, which is based on our previous understandings.
"You are cultivating at different levels, and later on after you’ve improved, if you listen to the recording again you’ll keep improving, and as you keep listening to it you’ll always have new understandings and enjoy new benefits, and that’s even more the case when you read the book. " (Zhuan Falun �"2003 translation)
While studying Zhuan Falun, we should read it as if we just picked up a new book. It is also very important not to read it with the attachment of searching for something different, since the principle of our practice is non-action. A practitioner has to improve his/her xinxing to be able to understand the Fa at the next level. Without upgrading oneself, one cannot see the principles of the next level. After sharing this understanding, I could tell that it really helped him understand where his shortcoming was.
A few weeks after returning to Dallas, my supervisor asked me if I could travel to San Francisco for a few days. My t-shirt with truth-clarifying information helped to save beings again. While I was boarding the airplane to California, I noticed a woman focused on reading the words on my t-shirt. Coincidentally, I happened to sit right behind her. Very shortly after sitting down, she turned around and asked what Falun Dafa was and where she could learn about it.
After arriving at the San Francisco area, I quickly met with the practitioners in the area, attended group study, and went to San Francisco's Chinatown to clarify the truth. As soon as I arrived there, I understood very clearly that the evil resided in that area.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,"
"Take San Francisco, for example. I've found that the environment of the downtown area and that of the whole Bay Area still isn't up to par; the evil factors here are still abundant. The fact is, you should make these places the focus."
I realized what it was like to really use our righteous thoughts, as the evil was constantly causing interference with the truth clarification. While passing out flyers on a street corner, three other ladies who were promoting their restaurant completely boxed me in. I would think in my mind, "I do not see you blocking me and you will not stop me from saving beings." The effect was amazing and I kept running out of flyers constantly. During this process all kinds of attachments to complacency, elation, and seeking fame manifested. The t-shirt that I wore during that time had the words "Falun Dafa is Great!" in English as well as in Chinese. I could see the effect that the shirt had with the Chinese people, as they were seeing a Westerner validating Dafa. You could almost see a happy and confused face as they walked by. One of the most important aspects I understood when clarifying the truth was the presentation and projection of my character towards the people. Thinking about myself as an ordinary person, I knew that smiling, being in high spirits, and dressing neatly would be important in creating a friendly environment for people to accept the materials.
I also managed to attend one of the work meetings. The most notable problem that I noticed, which seems to occur in every area that I visited, including my own in Dallas, is that our discussions were based on ordinary persons ideas, instead of on the Fa.
I’d like to review one of Master’s poems, "Solid Cultivation" from Hong Yin, translation version B,
Study Fa, obtain Fa,
Compare in studying, compare in cultivating,
Examine each and every deed,
Accomplishing is cultivating.
Overall, I went through many experiences and cultivation aspects. Along the way I understood many of the attachments that arose from these incidents and how to further improve myself. The greatest lesson learned was that Teacher has already laid down the path to walk, it is just a matter of basing what happens to us on the Fa and letting things unfold naturally.
I give my respects to our benevolent Master and everyone here for allowing us the opportunity to improve ourselves as a whole by sharing our experiences in Dafa cultivation.
Heshi.
