(Clearwisdom.net) Looking at everyday people, with their desire for fame and material pursuits, then looking at myself, empty-handed and without a penny, I became depressed and dejected when I ran into financial hardship and was unable to resolve it. I was later able to put down this kind of thinking, strengthen my belief, and once again feel that I was advancing diligently each day. But maybe because we cultivate one piece to completion, then move onto the next piece, I would at times suddenly feel lacking in strength once again, as if I was again not being diligent.
I remember the early years of my cultivation, in the days leading up to July 20, 1999, my teacher at school made me choose between my future studies and subsequent career, and cultivation. Faced with a choice between the one thing I was most attached to and the Great Law, I chose the Great Law. At that time I said to fellow cultivators, "Cultivation is all about choices. We just need to choose the Great Law every time it's one of two things, and keep going to the very end--that's Consummation." After cultivating for such a long time, it seems as though I have forgotten this simple principle that I enlightened to in those early days--"Keep going to the very end--that's Consummation." Whenever I see flashbacks or photos of Dafa practitioners validating the Great Law on Tiananmen Square, I can't help but shed tears. I'm among those who have done it, and at that time I was just so diligent. Think how good it would be if we could all be as diligent as when we first started. There was one day when I said to myself, "I know it's not good to be depressed and dejected, it's just that I feel like I can't see any hope".
When "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference" was published, I read Teacher's words: "That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank." My heart was shaken: Teacher knows everything that his disciples are thinking. So many times while teaching the Fa, Teacher has continually awakened us. Only Teacher truly cherishes us.
Regardless of what hardships we run into, even if we can't understand them, even if we can't find the cause, we still can't forget to "keep going to the very end." We just need to listen to Teacher's words, do well the three things, be unmoved by the ever-changing wind and fog outside, and every day refuse to accept the interference and do well. If we can handle ourselves this way day after day, and keep going to the very end, everything that is the most wonderful will be awaiting Dafa practitioners.
In history, lifetime after lifetime I experienced it all. So in this life, if I miss out on a few things, what's there to regret? What's there that can't be given up? In this life, the final act of mankind's grand play is being played out. In this life, the gifts I've been given have prepared me so that I can quietly validate the Fa in mainland China. Teacher himself prepared this life to allow me to save sentient beings.
Looking at the articles in the Sixth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China, one practitioner wrote: "Looking back at the road behind, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy have all dispersed into the past, but it's not worth recollecting, as Teacher's intricate arrangements and painstaking salvation are still unfolding before me. When I want to relate all the specific things I've experienced, one by one, I find I don't know where to start writing, and can only reflect on everything without having the words to express it." I couldn't hold back my tears when I read this. Before, I couldn't relate to why a God's consummation and returning to his true place is like awakening from a dream, but now I understand it a little better. Honor and disgrace, gain and loss, everything of the world has already dispersed into the depths of the past, and now it's only the responsibility towards sentient beings that fills my heart. I can't express it using human language, I'm unable to express the pressing importance of sentient beings in my heart. What a great honor it is that I can use the history and experiences gained in every lifetime I've been through to validate the Fa today and save sentient beings. In this life, this is my greatest fortune.
November 12, 2009
