(Clearwisdom.net) In 2005 I was working full-time in a manufacturing enterprise. I worked eight hours a day, five days a week, leaving me a normal schedule to do Falun Dafa work in my spare time. Before long, my wife was transferred to the security department of the same company, as gatekeeper for the residential area. According to the company's rules, only one person was hired to watch the residential area gate 24 hours a day. The gate must be manned from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and also from 4:00 pm to 12:00 a.m. It could be closed between 12:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., but as soon as company personnel passed the gate, it had to be opened in time. The gatekeeper's main responsibility was to get people from the outside to register when entering and exiting, so as to prevent any incidents of stealing. The work discipline was relatively less strict; as long as the gate was manned 24 hours a day it would be fine, even if the employee were taking care of personal business at work, or a family member were substituting. But on the other hand, the job would leave the gatekeeper no solid sleep 24 hours a day.
The company where I worked was a 24-hour manufacturing enterprise. Besides the employees working different shifts, the service personnel, the on-duty officers, young men and women coming back late from their dates, as well as people having engaged in all manner of events would use the gate quite frequently. Even though the gatekeeper could go to bed late at night, as soon as the gate needs to be opened, one is awakened and thus would not have enough sleep before day-break. My wife's disturbed sleep schedule made it necessary for me to substitute for her daily for at least a short shift during the night so she could get some sleep and be able to take care of her day shift and the long night shift. In other words, after I got off work every day I watched the gate until 12:00 a.m. for her; otherwise, it was impossible for her to carry on with this job. This had indeed greatly interfered with my time for Fa-study, practicing the exercises and doing Dafa work.
What to do? Considering the nature of the gatekeeper's job in a residential area, I started to consider studying the Fa while watching the gate as long as security was maintained. A variety of people would pass the gate every day some of whom would stop by and chat for a little while. Police officers would frequently pay visits to handle cases in the residential area. But there was a big advantage with this arrangement -- I would have a great amount of time to study the Fa and would even have time to start memorizing the Fa. I had thought about memorizing the Fa for a long time but had never actually started doing it. I considered the matter repeatedly and asked myself, is it safe to study the Fa here? Is this arrangement the evil's interference? Should I look inside to improve myself in certain aspects, to break through the situation? Is doing so conforming to the Fa? After several discussions with local practitioners, I had decided to study the Fa and do Dafa work while manning the gate before midnight. I also had the Fa principle in mind -- that practicing cultivation and validating the Fa should be done openly and nobly.
I indeed started studying the Fa and memorizing the Fa while manning the gate. I felt fortunate that I had more time to study the Fa. I had many good opportunities to clarify the facts during that time, too. As long as someone would stop by and chat with me, I would find the opportunity to tell him what Falun Gong really is, and tell them about the tide of withdrawing from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organizations. When the police officers came to handle cases in our residential area, I followed procedures and had them register and do their paperwork while a Dafa book was lying on the desk; and nothing bad happened. I was able to finish memorizing Zhuan Falun for the first time then. It had been very difficult for me to memorize the Fa before doing this work for my wife. Even though I had three or four hours a day, I could only advance a page or two. Had the opportunity to watch the gate for my wife not presented itself, it would have been quite difficult for me to start at my slow speed; or it would have at least been difficult to guarantee three to four hours a day for memorizing the Fa.
The evils' interference regarding time initially seemed to be a bad thing, but I had turned it into a good thing. In everyday people's logic, doing Dafa work after a day's work at one job is quite reasonable, but doing two jobs a day would leave the person no energy/time to do anything else. But for me, through a reasonable arrangement, I had gained more time to study the Fa and clarify the truth about Falun Gong, and I also further removed the attachment to fear. I did not feel fatigue, but was more energetic and relaxed. In the past, if I had spent a little more time studying the Fa, my wife would complain about it and have me help her with housework. But now, as I was substituting for her after my full-time job in order to let her get enough sleep, she no longer complained. And I could study the Fa in the evening without distractions from her.
However, it wasn't the end of the evil's interference with my time. Waist drum troupes were then very popular. Every night a group of people would gather and play waist drums together. With another group watching, they were very noisy and this seriously affected my Fa-study. The more I found it annoying, the greater the interference became. The waist drummers eventually moved directly outside of the gatekeeper's office. I asked them, "Would you move somewhere further away?" They said, "There's a light here. We like it to be bright!"
I didn't say anything more, but I understood that it was the evil targeting my Fa-study. I maintained one principle: no matter what interference, nobody would affect my Fa-study. I asked myself, "Is this the evils' interference with my Fa-study? Is this raising the standard of my Fa-study?" I recalled then that it indeed happens once in a while that my mind drifts away while studying the Fa or memorizing the Fa. "In this case, I will use this opportunity to temper myself." I tried very hard to eliminate the interference and made it very clear that I would do nothing but Fa-study. I concentrated all my attention wholeheartedly on the Fa-study. Gradually, the waist drum playing could no longer affect me. Soon the trend faded; nobody played waist drums anymore, and my Fa-study environment became quiet again.
I have come to understand that if interference emerges to target our time, we should break through it immediately. The longer it lasts, the more difficult it is to break through it. If you forgive yourself this time, thinking it is an exception and plan to make it up tomorrow, then you will be more side-tracked the next day!
The path of cultivation practice is not smooth. Everyone encounters tests and tribulations. How to deal with and pass them well is extremely important! Our local practitioners often share understandings together about this topic -- how to walk well, walk better and avoid detours as much as possible on the Dafa cultivation path. Our experience sharing has led us to the following understandings.
Fa-study is first! Only when the Fa-study is done well can one be clear on Fa principles and see through the nature of problems as soon as they arise. With a firm understanding of the Fa, one will know what to do and one will improve. Otherwise, when the Fa-study isn't done well, one will unconsciously measure things with everyday people's principles and gradually become a common person. By the same token -- one who doesn't do Fa-study well cannot do the other two things well, either.
Second: Advance diligently! One must advance diligently in Buddha Fa cultivation practice. If one does not set a high standard for oneself and won't let go of human attachments, then it will be very difficult to advance. There is no such thing as "worse off than some, better off than many" in our cultivation practice. Advance diligently! As soon as one lowers one's standards, one has started to separate from the state of cultivation practice.
An article entitled, "How Should Practitioners Break Through Evil Interference Regarding Their Time?" (http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/5/7/85323.html) describes the level of a certain practitioner: "He has to work overtime daily until midnight, and the next morning he needs to arrive at work by 8:00 a.m. In addition the work takes up most of his weekends and holidays. He often has to give up his lunch break to study the Fa. ...The authorities made a notation in his employment records, saying he practices Falun Gong, ...He therefore encounters interference with his normal work and life." This shows that the practitioner is not very clear on the Fa principles regarding this problem and doesn't know what to do. This shows a lack of Fa-study. In addition, he thinks of himself and his everyday life relatively more, but less of Dafa and Fa-rectification. He has a low standard for himself and does not advance diligently enough. It is these issues that have prevented him from passing the test.
On the other hand, Dafa practitioners should practice cultivation openly and nobly. The labor laws clearly stipulate things such as workers' work time, overtime, accumulated weekly work time and accumulated monthly work time. Assigning overtime is a violation of the employer. If the work time is over the limit as written in the labor law, the worker can raise the issue to the company, or even appeal it to the Labor Department to have the company corrected. The Labor Law is applicable to all the enterprises in China.
However, we are cultivators. There is no coincidence in cultivation practice. A cultivator walking on the path to godhood is different from an everyday person. If one can measure things using the Fa more, then anything can be resolved, and even miracles can happen. Aren't there many reports on Clearwisdom.net about practitioners validating the Fa for an entire night and feeling no fatigue the next day at work? There are also many practitioners who sleep only three to four hours a day but remain energetic!
On the path of cultivation practice, every practitioner has good and not-so-good understandings on certain things, and ups and downs at certain times. Let's remind each other and share our understandings with each other so as to make up deficiencies by learning from each other, and walk our future path more solidly!