(Clearwisdom.net) Although the articles from the Fifth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China were published some time ago on the Minghui (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) website, they are currently being carried in the "Minghui Weekly." The articles are being read and discussed continuously.
Here I want to share my experience on how the Sharing Conference helped me get through difficulties and how important it is for every practitioner to read the articles.
The Conference helped me get through difficulties
Reading the articles from the Conference, fellow practitioners and I have all been moved and greatly inspired. We read every article attentively and often shed tears.
During the Conference, I had to work far away from my home in order to make a living. I often worried about what to do next to survive. Sometimes when I would think about my dilemma using human notions, it was very painful.
In one of the articles, the author described his experiences, saying, "I immediately encountered the calamity after I graduated in 1999. I didn't have any opportunities to experience and try different things in life and accumulate experiences, which made it harder for me to make a living. I don't have any friends and no family. Sometimes I had to sleep on the streets. I often feel I have nothing. However, on the other hand, isn't it a good thing? Dafa is in my heart. I'm immersed in the Buddha's light. What an honor and glory it is!"
I was moved deeply by that article. The author sometimes had to sleep on the streets but still firmly persevered in practicing. I'm not in such a predicament with no place to sleep. I should be able to handle the difficulties in my life. I put too much emphasis on living well. I was attached to finding a job and attached to the fear of losing a job after obtaining one.
In another sharing article the author said: "When I was released from the forced labor camp at the end of 2002, I had no food at home and not much firewood left to cook and heat the house. I could borrow rice, flour and cooking oil, but where could I buy firewood during the winter with snow covering the ground. The new year was approaching and life had to go on. How should I deal with this? I decided to put all my worries aside and deal with the issue when the remaining firewood was used up. The most important thing was to catch up with Master's teachings that I had missed because I was detained. No one expected the weather to change so suddenly on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month. It got warmer, and the snow on the ground started to melt. The warm weather lasted for a long time. By the 23rd of the 12th lunar month, which is called "small Chinese New Year," the snow had all melted away, and the firewood and dried grass were exposed on the ground. I worked for seven whole days to collect firewood and grass. Only on the eve of Chinese New Year Day did a snowstorm finally arrive. When I was collecting the firewood and grass, the neighbors all warmheartedly offered me their firewood. I told them what Master taught us about loss and gain and that I should guard my De in practicing Falun Gong. The neighbors commented, "Practicing Falun Gong sure gives one peace of mind." A close neighbor said to me, "Your life is so hard. Why is it that you are so happy whenever I see you?" I told her that when I am working, I recite Master's lectures in my mind, and thinking of Master's words comforts me. She said she would learn Falun Gong in the future when she was not afraid of the authorities. I cried when I heard her say that."
Reading this paragraph, I suddenly burst into tears. It may be easier to overcome hardships than to persevere and abide by a practitioner's standards while suffering. That practitioner strictly refused to accept her neighbor's grass while suffering hardship. She didn't feel she should accept others' help because she suffered the persecution. She didn't feel it was a hardship and always felt happy. An ordinary person cannot behave this way. This is the difference between a human and a divine being.
Soon after I read the two articles above, I encountered an event that really provoked my heart. An ordinary person would not have been able to endure it. When I was in really low spirits, I often thought of Master and those practitioners who suffered so much but still persisted in practicing. I am determined and I will trust Master and the Fa completely, and I will not let any hardships slow me down in following Master. During that time, there were no fellow practitioners to share with me and to encourage me. I just read the articles from the conference, which made me feel like they were sharing their experiences with me and encouraging me face to face.
Besides studying the Fa, I read every sharing article carefully. There is always something that a fellow practitioner has done better than me; there is always something that I can learn from fellow practitioners; there is always something from fellow practitioners' understandings to inspire me; and there is always something that fellow practitioners do in clarifying the truth that I can refer to. Master said:
"Study Fa, obtain Fa,
Compare in studying,
compare in cultivating,
Examine each and every deed,
Accomplishing is cultivating." ("Solid Cultivation", Hong Yin)
I started to seriously inspect my own cultivation.
"When you're compared with those Dafa disciples who have strong righteous thoughts and have done well, [I have to ask,] can you really not raise your ultimate understanding of Dafa beyond this human plane? What are you really cultivating for, then? To achieve something for human society? To achieve something for China? To achieve something for the side of Dafa disciples that's in the human world? Or to merely have the world bring justice to Dafa disciples in the human world? Did I impart the Fa to you to accomplish something for human society? What I am doing is leading you toward godhood in cultivation, leading your understanding, little by little, out of humanness and beyond that of man, and the goal is to lead you to Consummation and the ascension of your being." ("In Fa-Rectification Your Thoughts Have to be Righteous, Not Human")
"A cultivator's goal is to go beyond the human world and achieve the Consummation of his being. When he is attached to getting worldly things or to self-interest he can't reach Consummation. When a cultivator cultivates in this world he is to get rid of all sorts of human attachments, and only then can he become a divine being." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Manhattan International Fa Conference")
Now besides studying the Fa and clarifying the truth, I spend all my other free time reading the sharing articles and Minghui Weekly and watching the DVD of Divine Performance Arts. When I get up in the morning, Master's teachings flash through my mind; when I go to bed, the Dafa music plays in my brain. I just want to have all righteous things in my brain and to catch up to the Fa-rectification progress.
Why we should treasure the Internet Experience Sharing Conference
A fellow practitioner discovered that, although many fellow practitioners have Minghui Weekly or the Special Edition on the Sharing Conference, they don't read the articles inside. He suggested that I point that out in my article and remind fellow practitioners to treasure this opportunity for practitioners in China to share their experiences through the Internet. Writing articles for the conference is one way to participate in the conference; reading others' articles is also a way to participate. It is also very important. Since the Fa Experience Sharing Conference is the cultivation platform that Master taught us, every practitioner should participate in the conference by reading and writing articles.
Master said:
"Dafa disciples' Fa-conferences are the Dafa disciples' environment in ordinary human society in which to learn from each other. Owing to the fact that so much time is spent amidst the reality of ordinary human society, the time Dafa disciples have together is all the more precious, and Dafa disciples' Fa-conferences are furthermore an excellent opportunity for Dafa disciples to come together and improve as a whole. Master is confident that through this experience sharing conference you will be enriched, and I would like to wish the Fa-conference success." ("To the Israel Fa Conference")
This opportunity only occurs once. The Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China only happens once a year. It is a platform for all practitioners in China to break through the evil blockade and to be connected. It is a grand event for us to share our experiences and to compare in study and cultivation. The sharing articles published on the Minghui website are precious treasures from fellow practitioners all over China. Comparing ourselves with them, we can find the gaps we have in our cultivation so that we can better cultivate ourselves and validate Dafa.
My impression is that the editors carefully select articles for the Sharing Conference that describe different ways to clarify the truth in different environments. I have read about all kinds of ways, such as truth-clarifying letters, emails, short cell phone messages, phone calls, written materials, printed materials, posted materials, face-to-face, writing truth-clarifying articles, and so on. All types of practitioners were involved from different age groups, different social statuses, different working environments, and different family situations. It also covered practitioners clarifying the truth in jails, at a large material-distribution sites, in a small material-distribution sites, at work, in public areas, and among friends and relatives. Practitioners talked about their understandings from different angles. It is indeed gratifying. Based on their own understanding of the Fa, every practitioner found his or her own path in clarifying the truth. We can use what they have done as a reference since each practitioner has his or her own path and we do not have to copy anyone. We should learn from their proactive deeds. We are witnessing the future enlightened beings that Dafa creates, the different paths for a person to become a divine being, and Master's mighty and vast benevolence.
We must be open minded so that we can see the bright points in fellow practitioners' articles and see the mighty vastness of the Fa. Treasure every opportunity to study and cultivate so we can expand our thinking to clarify the truth, validate the Fa, and save sentient beings.
Please point out anything improper.
