Reflections on "Always Cultivating as if You Were Just Starting"

(Clearwisdom.net)

Some time ago I introduced a person who has a predestined relationship with Falun Dafa to begin cultivation. One day she said to me that she had broken a few branches of a plastic flower while she was cleaning her house, so she asked me to get some white liquid glue for her from my company.

When I was doing the sitting meditation that night, Teacher's Fa, "That is why it's said that always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference") entered my mind and reminded me of what had happened that day. I thought about how this practitioner was a new practitioner. The fact that she did not have that high an understanding of the Fa was normal, whereas I was a veteran practitioner who has cultivated for more than 10 years, so how could I not know what to do? I talked to my daughter, who is also a practitioner, and we decided to buy her a bottle of white liquid glue.

This new practitioner came to our home to study the Fa with us a few days later. We studied this paragraph in Zhuan Falun:

"One practitioner works in a textile factory in X city of Shandong Province. After studying Falun Dafa, he taught other coworkers to practice. As a result, the factory has taken on a new look. He used to take home pieces of towels from the textile factory, and so did the rest of the employees. After practicing Dafa, instead of taking things home he brought back to the factory what he took home before. When others saw his actions, nobody would take things home anymore. Some employees also returned to the factory what they previously took home. This situation occurred throughout the entire factory."

Then I told her about buying her a bottle of white glue. I said to her, "From the day that we began to cultivate, we have been holding ourselves up to the standards of the Fa, otherwise, our gong cannot grow. It seems minor, yet it's a test of whether we are cultivating solidly or not. If we are not steadfast in cultivation, it's very easy for us to overlook small things." Teacher said before that, "on your path of cultivation there is nothing that is by chance." ("Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan") Therefore, with everything we run into, we should try to enlighten to it based on the Fa. Whether we should do particular thing or not, we should measure it against the Fa, as opposed to the standards of ordinary people. This is the difference between practitioners and ordinary people.

Enlightened by this incident, the following is how this practitioner passed one of her xinxing tests. One day as she was reading Zhuan Falun, her son came home, and as soon as he saw what she was doing, he went over and grabbed the book. In addition, he challenged her, saying, "Who gave you this book? I'll go to talk to her!" As he was saying this, he held the book in front of his chest and ran out of the house. She followed him outside and, as she tried to catch up to him, she shouted, "Give me my book back, or I will not acknowledge that you are my son anymore!" Hearing that his mother was really angry, he turned around and returned the book to her. He calmed down and said, "Mom, you should at least be considerate of your son who is a government worker. If you insist on practicing Falun Gong, then I can't keep my job anymore." Hearing this, she said to him, "You are right. What you have seen on TV, the propaganda about Falun Gong, is all staged to deceive people. Take a look at this book. Then you'll know what Falun Gong truly is. If you can behave as well as Falun Gong practitioners, then a government worker would truly become a servant of the people. That's for their benefit! I have personally witnessed that people who practice Falun Gong are not corrupt, nor do they deceive others, and they are the ones who do not take anything from work that does not belong to them." Hearing this, her son was speechless.

After this new practitioner talked to me about it, I was very touched as well. I didn't expect that what I said had any positive effect on her. I realized that only by cultivating myself well can I help new practitioners. Because new practitioners lack a deep understanding of the Fa, they pay more attention to veteran practitioners' behavior. Therefore, as a veteran practitioner, one carries a lot of responsibility. When running into things, one should not overlook one's behavior. One must start from doing little things well and rectify one's behavior. "He is full of great aspirations while minding minor details." ("Sage" in Essentials for Further Advancement) What often happens is that after having cultivated for a while, some veteran practitioners easily overlook the details, which might bring unnecessary damage to the Fa. We must walk our cultivation path well because this is something to be left for ordinary people for their future reference, so it is not a small issue.