(Clearwisdom.net) I have been practicing Falun Gong for over a decade. Saved by Teacher's compassion and guided by the Fa, I have been transformed from being an everyday person. I have overcome my sentiments and emotions and gotten rid of all my maladies. I am a cultivator on the path to divinity, a practitioner during this Fa-rectification period. Nurtured by the Fa, I often brim with joy from deep within my soul. From time to time I get to experience the wonderful feeling of my body being infused with high energy matter. There is no telling how much Teacher has sacrificed to transform us into divine beings but I do know that I will never be able to repay Teacher, not even with my own life. Now, I would like to use the platform provided by Minghui.org (the Chinese version of Clearwisdom) to share my humble insights and experiences from my cultivation with my revered Teacher and fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
Studying the Fa; Obtaining the Fa and Improving Holistically
The process of studying the Fa is the process of continually elevating and upgrading one's realm. Since Teacher began imparting the Fa in the human realm, He has constantly advised us to study the Fa diligently. Teacher said,
"The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." ("Drive Out Interference" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
This paragraph points out to all practitioners that everything is attainable from the Fa. Once one deviates from the Fa, a practitioner will be left with nothing.
I started practicing Falun Gong when I attended Teacher's nine-day Fa lectures in 1994. On the first day of the class, my health was completely transformed. Every evening when I left for home from the class, I would walk very briskly because I was filled with such ecstasy. (At the time I didn't realize that Teacher was purifying my body.) I felt I was more fortunate and happier than anyone I came across on the streets because I had found the meaning of life and I had a purpose for being alive. A few years ago, I had tried different types of qigong, but none of them were what I was looking for. I had been searching long and hard and now finally I had found Falun Gong. How could I not be brimming with joy?
Since the publication of Teacher's Zhuan Falun in 1995, Teacher has been asking practitioners to study the Fa diligently and to put Fa study as a priority. At that time I didn't enlighten to the importance of Teacher's words. After all, all the other qigong schools just focused on practicing the exercises. I decided I should follow Teacher's requirements, so I studied at least one lecture of Zhuan Falun a day. Most fellow practitioners in the area also thought that was reasonable. I have been persevering in Fa study to this day. For more than a decade now, I have been studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the facts about Falun Gong. Be it at work, doing my housework, or looking after my children. Teacher said,
"Therefore, one must pay attention to xinxing. We stress holistic improvement and holistic upgrade." ("The Issue of the Celestial Eye" in Lecture Two of Zhuan Falun)
The prerequisite for holistic improvement and holistic upgrade is elevating one's xinxing and the key to elevating one's xinxing is to study the Fa more and treat the Fa as Teacher. I have found that whenever I study the Fa, my xinxing level elevates regardless of whether or not I am going through a certain test, tribulation, or problem. Each time I feel my spiritual realm expand as my body is transformed yet again.
Ever since I was little, I was never good at mathematics. I was also known to be very careless and forgetful. I consider myself to be most incompetent when it comes to tasks related to statistics or arithmetic. During a restructuring at work, my new job assignment was related to statistics and computation. I hated the job from the bottom of my heart. But then I remembered what Teacher had said to us about nothing in life is ever a coincidence. Everything that we encounter is arranged by Teacher to help us elevate our xinxing. Whether we like or dislike our jobs and other things in life or whatever sentiments we might harbor, they are all no more than secular feelings. As cultivators, aren't we supposed to get rid of these kinds of feelings? The moment I decided to let go of that attachment and told myself to do well what I was assigned to do, straight away I became equal to the job. Practitioners must behave well at work and in their day to day lives. The Fa will provide us with the wisdom and capabilities to perform any duties well. One day I was given several work sheets that I knew would take many days to compute. When it was all completed and I was ready to present it to my boss the following day, I spotted an error. I knew it would be a real challenge to find the root cause of the error. As it was almost time to finish for the day, I decided to take it home and work overtime at home.
Every day when I get home from work, the first thing I do is study the Fa. That evening was no exception. I still decided to study the Fa first even though I knew I had my office work to complete. I studied the Fa until 10 p.m. when my husband got home. Normally he wasn't this late. I just told him, "Don't interrupt me. I have to do some office work." I thought to myself, "I must finish it even if I have to stay up all night." When I opened up the file, all I did was take one look at it and there was the root cause of the error. It didn't take more than a few seconds. So I just put away the file and decided to correct the mistake when I got in to work the next day. My husband asked, "Aren't you working overtime?" "It's been done," I said. He was perplexed, but I knew it was due to the Fa's wondrous and miraculous manifestation. Whenever I elevate my xinxing through Fa study, everything seems to improve holistically, including my wisdom and capabilities. Everyday matters just become very simple. The Buddhas, Taos, and divine beings in Zhuan Falun will also assist us in doing our jobs well. Of course, Teacher is always there. I suppose this can count as an illustration of studying the Fa, obtaining the Fa, and improving holistically.
One of my relatives is a young man in his early 20s. He only started practicing Falun Gong a few years ago. The moment he started studying Zhuan Falun, he developed supernormal capabilities. Each time he finished studying Zhuan Falun, he would experience some form of supernormal capabilities, many of which were those described in Zhuan Falun: for example, the celestial eye (he can see via different meridian points), the abilities of precognition and retrocognition, and the ability to enter different dimensions. When he practiced the exercises for the first time, he saw a large golden Buddha in front of him. In no time, he was experiencing exactly what Teacher described in Zhuan Falun. For example, he saw the three placements of the Mysterious Pass. I, on the other hand, could not see it when the Mysterious Pass was placed, but I did feel the discomfort during the placement process. He could also see that many fellow practitioners had already completed the process of the Mysterious Pass placements and had reached the state of "three flowers gathering above the head (sanhua juding)." (My mother could feel and touch the three flowers.) He could also see the srivatsa symbols on many practitioners, including the number of those symbols on their bodies, the size and height of the three flowers, and the height of their gong columns. During that period of time, he experienced more miracles on his body than he could ever describe. Teacher said,
"By July 20th of 1999 I had already pushed all of the pre-July 20 students to their positions-I pushed you to your highest positions." ("Touring North America to Teach the Fa")
When the Fa lecture was first published, I couldn't accept it wholeheartedly because most of us couldn't feel what Teacher talked about. When my relative saw it, we were all in awe of Teacher's magnificence and the miraculous Fa. We knew we must do well what we were predestined to do, with divine beings' righteous thoughts and actions. We must cherish everything Teacher has bestowed upon us and not ruin anything on account of our attachments or human thoughts. That's when the old forces can exploit our shortcomings.
One day my relative came to visit and remarked, "There is a guard outside." I said, "You must be referring to the security guard arranged by the property management company." He said, "No, it's the one standing just outside your door. He is about 6' 2" and his uniform is of an ancient Chinese military general. He is carrying a big sword. He's just to the right of your door (in a different dimension)." That was when we realized he must be a Fa guardian that Teacher has assigned to protect practitioners. When we settled down and started watching the video "Teaching the Fa to Australian Practitioners" my relative saw the Fa guardian come into the room and watch the video with us. He was to our right and sat in a full lotus position in front of the television. I remembered reading other practitioners' sharing articles in which they mentioned sentient beings from other dimensions joining us for Fa-study. From this experience, I have learned that when we study the Fa, it is not just we that will improve holistically: all lives and matters in our corresponding dimensions will improve as well. With this in mind, what excuse do we have for not making the most of our time and studying the Fa diligently?
Every practitioner is a particle of the Fa and each one of us shoulders sacred responsibilities and missions. If we all follow Teacher's requirements and do well and attain consummation, wouldn't that be the very result of the Fa-rectification that Teacher wishes to achieve through his compassion and salvation?
Eradicate the Evil Beings with Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions
Teacher requires practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts, clarify the facts of the persecution, and eradicate the evil beings in other dimensions. In my opinion, this is not just for Fa-rectification to succeed but also for practitioners to establish their mighty virtue when they are saving sentient beings. When we send forth righteous thoughts, we must first eliminate the evil elements in our own dimensions. This will guarantee that we will be able to stand against the persecution in the adverse environment existing in China and ultimately be able to cultivate diligently. Only when we are able to eradicate the evil beings in our dimensional space will we be able to utilize our righteous thoughts and have them work beyond our own dimension. Then we will be able to effectively eradicate all the evil beings and elements that persecute practitioners and interfere with Teacher's Fa-rectification. This will also allow us to save sentient beings and assist Teacher with Fa-rectification. Teacher said,
"There should be a loss for every gain" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York")
Teacher said,
"[...] however much a cultivator puts forth in cultivation, that much he will gain when he reaches Consummation." ("Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
I believe Teacher will give us opportunities to elevate our levels, establish our mighty virtue, and develop our capabilities.
Some practitioners have slacked off in sending forth righteous thoughts. One can say it is mainly because they are unable to see the effects of their righteous thoughts in the other dimensions. The root cause is fundamentally their lack of faith in the Fa. If only they knew what those practitioners with their Celestial Eye opened can see, they would might have a different view of sending forth righteous thoughts.
My relative has a girlfriend who also practices Falun Gong. Her Celestial Eye has been opened since she was a little girl. A few years ago, they saw a red dragon in one of the rooms in my house. Red dragons are manifestations of the Communist Party in other dimensions. Its head was 60 meters in diameter and the body was in the shade of light translucent red. It bared its teeth and waved its claws, looking most ferocious. It taunted them and challenged them to a battle. So my relative had to go to another room to rehearse how he could fight with the dragon. Those battle movements were in fact arranged by Teacher for him. When the battle started, in no time at all, the red dragon was defeated and destroyed. In this dimension, all we ever witnessed was like he was tearing something apart into small pieces. One day when we were sending forth righteous thoughts together he said, "I just saw Earth. It is shriveling. It is now the size of one of those stars that we can see from Earth. It has just disappeared. Instead what I just see is an even bigger celestial body." I think when we send forth righteous thoughts, we start with the Earth and then it spreads out to other spacial dimensions with bigger heavenly bodies.
Teacher said,
"At present, as the Fa-rectification constantly forges ahead, the surface dimension has the look of something that would be punctured from just a little poke. There is little of it left. The evil beings are being decimated in large quantities, and right now, as long as Dafa disciples keep strong righteous thoughts, the evil beings can no longer mount any resistance." ("Fa Teaching at the 2008 New York Conference")
One night I had a dream. I was in a large abandoned factory and there were black bugs crawling all over the floor. They were about an inch long and just disgusting. As I stepped forward, with each step I took, some of the bugs got squashed. With that, the bugs just disappeared and an area of the floor was revealed. The faster I stepped, the more bugs I destroyed. So I just charged full-on ahead. When I woke up from the dream, I enlightened to what Teacher must have been hinting to me. Evil beings are being destroyed in large numbers at high levels, and those remaining ones are no more than low-level dark minions, rotten demons, and the evil specter of the Communist Party that are incapable of changing the tides. However, as Fa -rectification practitioners we need to hasten our steps to eradicate those remaining evil beings as quickly as we can. It is just like what Teacher said,
"Righteous thought, righteous action
Advance wholeheartedly, do not stop
Purge the ghosts that disrupt Fa
Treat all beings with kindness"("Righteous Gods" in Hong Yin II)
Compassion and Righteous Thoughts Are Needed to Save Sentient Beings
When practitioners came down to the human realm with Teacher to save sentient beings, we had made a pledge to assist Teacher during this Fa-rectification period to save sentient beings. We have learned that even those with the best predestined relationship with the Fa or with the greatest inborn quality are only but one of the sentient beings to be saved by Teacher. Teacher has now given us the responsibility and capabilities to save sentient beings. If we can complete our mission, just imagine how high our "fruit status," mighty virtue, and glory will be! On the other hand, if we fail to do well or fail to do it at all, we will simply just diminish at the end of it all. In order to fulfill our grand pledge to save sentient beings, we must study the Fa and cultivate our compassion.
One day this summer I distributed truth-clarification materials during my lunch break and went to the post office to mail two letters containing truth-clarification materials. On the way back to work, I ran into an older female practitioner whom I often exchanged cultivation insights with. When asked what she was doing that day, she said she had just come from the post office. "Me, too," I said. We smiled at each other knowingly. She was nearly 70 years old, but she looked very young for her age. She also looked very elegant. Despite the hot weather, she was out there validating the Fa. Sometimes when I looked at all these people on the streets, I wondered whether one of them might be our fellow practitioners, saving sentient beings. If all practitioners have steadfast faith in Teacher and the Fa, saving sentient beings with compassion and righteous thoughts, we will then be growing from the Fa and letting go of our attachments. We will be harmonizing our own worlds while saving sentient beings. With Teacher watching over us and protecting us, everything will go smoothly and the results will be miraculous. It is like what Teacher said,
"It is good enough if you have this wish. It is the master who actually does this, as you are simply unable to do it." (Lecture One of Zhuan Falun)
Often I would feel the beautiful realm described in Teacher's poem. Teacher said,
"With no attachment to anything
The path underfoot is naturally clear"("No Obstacles" in Hong Yin II)
Time flies by very quickly. As practitioners during this Fa-rectification period, we must make the most of this transient time. We must treasure every opportunity we have to cultivate our each and every thought, word, and deed in order to elevate our xinxing level and to assimilate to the Fa. Teacher has asked us to search inward when we run into obstacles. We should do well the three things Teacher requires of us and complete our prehistoric grand pledge.
