(Clearwisdom.net) Mr. Zhang, a fellow practitioner, lives in my home town. He is a coordinator among local practitioners. He has cultivated in Dafa diligently and does the three things very well, especially in his truth clarification. On open market days he goes to the market to clarify the truth about Falun Gong to people there and ask them to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its affiliated organizations. Due to his efforts many people have come to understand the true facts about Falun Gong.
As a Dafa practitioner Mr. Zhang always conducts himself according to the principle of compassion in everything he does. He never argues with people out of his personal interests, and lends a hand whenever there is a need. He is recognized as a kind person in his locality, and because of this people are very willing to work with him. When the season comes to graze cattle people put their cattle together out in the pasture and take turns guarding them. To avoid delays in his truth clarification Mr. Zhang always finds someone to take his place to care for the cattle when his turn comes on the market days. In this way he never misses any opportunity to clarify the truth about Falun Gong on market days.
On a marketing day last summer it happened to be Mr. Zhang's turn to graze the cattle. The person who was to take his place was too busy, and he couldn't find anyone else to help him. Having no other choice, he put the cattle out on the hill. He was very anxious when he saw the torrents of people in the market on the hill. He thought, "If I stay here I will miss the chance to save so many people, but if I leave, the cattle will be left alone." At that moment he thought of a story in the famous Chinese novel A Journey to the West, in which the Monkey King Sun Wukong safeguards his master Tang Monk on their journey to India for Buddhist scriptures. One day on their way Tang Monk was hungry. Sun Wukong was about to find some food for his master, but he was worried that his master might be attacked by some devils without his protection. He then came up with an idea. He scratched a circumference around his master with his golden cudgel and asked his master to stay inside no matter what happened outside. After he left a devil tried to attack Tang Monk but it simply couldn't approach him because it could not go across the circumference. Mr. Zhang thought, "I am a Dafa practitioner in the Fa rectification era. I should far surpass Sun Wukong in terms of divine power." He then picked up a stick and scratched a big circumference around the cattle on the slope. He said to the cattle, "Cattle, we are blessed to be born in the Fa rectification era. I am leaving to save sentient beings. You must do me a favor by not going around rashly. I will be back soon after my mission to save sentient beings is done." He then left the cattle to go to the market for truth clarification. In the afternoon, when the market closed, Mr. Zhang returned to the hill in haste, only to find that all the cattle were there grazing on the grass. He checked the circumference he scratched and found it was still clearly there. There were many hoof-prints close to the inner side of the circumference but non of them stepped on or outside the markings.
From that day on Mr. Zhang knew he could utilize his divine power and he was very happy. One day when it was his turn to graze the cattle, he thought of something that needed to be done at his home. Then, like the last time, he scratched a circumference around the cattle and said to them, "You just graze here and don't go around rashly. I will be back soon after I finish my work at home." He then left to complete his work at home. When he finished his work in the afternoon he returned to the hill for the cattle but found that they were all gone. He looked for the cattle all around the hill anxiously. After an hour of searching he found the cattle in a valley far away from the hill.
As we can see, Mr. Zhang scratched circumferences two times while his cattle were grazing, but the results are quite different. My understanding is that his experience gives a live interpretation of a profound principle about sticking to the righteous starting point in our cultivation. That is to say, are we doing things from the starting point of Dafa or for our personal interests? In Mr. Zhang's first cattle grazing he scratched the circumference out of his will to save sentient beings and Dafa bestowed him the divine power. In another dimension the circumference he scratched appeared as a golden wall and the cattle could not pass it. On the second occasion he did the same thing for his personal interests, and as a result his intention failed, and the cattle simply ran away.
From this story we can see how serious cultivation is. As cultivators, we can do things as divine beings if our starting points are righteous. On the other hand, if we do things out of our personal interests we are nothing more than everyday people. This is especially true as the Fa rectification pushes forward rapidly and our time becomes more limited. Every single slowdown in our cultivation results in misunderstandings about the Fa and delays in saving sentient beings. The divine powers of Dafa practitioners are bestowed by Teacher and we can utilize them to resolve some obstacles in our cultivation. This is good for our cultivation and our Fa validation and saving sentient beings.
Teacher says,
"Walk the last steps of your path well and with determination, study the Fa well, and, with a foundation laid by your having cultivated well, your righteous thoughts will naturally grow stronger and you will surely do well with what Dafa disciples are supposed to do." (Greetings)
As Dafa practitioners in the Fa rectification era we have the divine mission of saving sentient beings, and it is naturally our obligation to study and validate the Fa well and cultivate well in Dafa. To make our starting point righteous we need to have strong righteous thoughts and do everything for the sake of saving sentient beings, with no thought of personal interests. Only under such conditions will we acquire divine powers and will miracles happen.
This are my personal understandings, please kindly point out anything improper.
Written on January 23, 2010
