(Minghui.org) For more than a year, I pushed myself to memorize the Fa and now I am memorizing Zhuan Falun for a second time. My priority is quality, not quantity. For example, I don’t think that memorizing one paragraph a day is too little. Instead, what is important is for me to understand the meaning or theFa principles contained in the paragraph.
The Buddhas, Taos, and Gods that guard the Fa have gradually revealed to me some deeper meanings of the Fa in Zhuan Falun. After a Fa principle becomes clear, I measure myself according to the Fa taught by Master. This has helped me find many gaps in my cultivation and improve my xinxing.
Memorizing the Fa
In a dream, I stood in a group of about 20 people under a towering tree looking up at the fruits on the branches. There weren't a lot of fruits, but they were ripe and beautiful. The fruits were shaped like a small gourd, twice the size of a jujube. Everyone wanted to try them, but no one could reach them because the tree was too tall.
Master suddenly appeared, floated up to the top of the tree and gently shook the branch. The fruits snapped off the tree and fell. Everyone scrambled to pick them up, and I picked up a yellow-orange fruit that also had red and green colors. We all started to eat our fruits. They were crispy, sweet, and tasted delicious, better than any fruit I’ve ever eaten.
After eating the fruit, I came upon another group of people and a practitioner I know well was among them. I told her about the fruit. She said, “Why didn’t you bring one for me to taste?” I was puzzled and replied, “Yeah. Why didn't I think of that?” At that moment, a voice told me, “This thing can't be brought.” Then I woke up from the dream.
I couldn’t go back to sleep. My thoughts were all over the place, wondering what Master was helping me to enlighten to? At last I realized that Master was encouraging me to accord with the Fa, melt into the Fa, and be more diligent. The practitioner who I know well began to recite the Fa with me but she did not persist, and basically she couldn’t recite the Fa yet. Master told us that cultivation or one's fruit status is up to oneself, it cannot be achieved by others. So how could she have the fruit that I’d got?
From then on, whenever I saw her I told her about my experiences of memorizing the Fa. I always encouraged her to memorize the Fa. However, I never told her about my dream, as I feared that it would put pressure on her and affect her cultivation. She finally started to recite the Fa because she witnessed the changes in me after I did it.
Under the guidance of Master’s Dafa, I now understand what genuine cultivation is. I’m ashamed of how I was before I recited the Fa. I didn’t know how to cultivate, and I had a strong competitive mentality. I often lost my temper with fellow practitioners and ordinary people. I didn’t behave like a practitioner, and I was also distressed about not being able to cultivate to a higher level.
Importance of Upgrading Xinxing
For most of my life before cultivation, I was ignorant, always struggling and fighting. Even the roughest people in my village tried to stay away from me. After I practiced Falun Dafa, the village secretary said that I had really changed. I was no longer the toughest woman in our village!
The secretary also asked his wife to practice Falun Dafa. Since the persecution of Dafa began, he has secretly protected practitioners in our village. After he resigned, he and his wife quietly practiced for a while.
Throughout the years of cultivation, I held Dafa’s principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in my heart but felt it was hard to follow these principles most of the time.
Master often gave me hints in my dreams that I didn’t cultivate “Forbearance.” Once, I heard the phrase, “We must attach importance to upgrading xinxing.” I knew that I was too far away from the requirements of the Fa in terms of spiritual cultivation. I was anxious, but it was difficult to break through this level.
Since I began reciting the Fa last year, I found the root cause of my not being able to cultivate to a higher level. The main reason was that I had not studied the Fa well. How can a cultivator improve if he does not study the Fa well? This is the most fundamental issue in cultivation.
This year I downloaded all the “Yi Shi En” radio broadcasts on the Minghui website. I listened to them when I was doing housework. Many fellow practitioners who participated in Master’s lectures recorded stories about Master’s greatness and compassion. Master’s kind voice and smile often came to my mind. Master’s lofty spiritual realm has always inspired me to improve.
Every time I listened to the broadcasts, I was eager to study and recite the Fa. I not only memorized the Fa during the day, but I also recited the previous day’s page after sending forth righteous thoughts every night.
Purifying the Soul
Through continuous recitation, Dafa’s extensive and profound Buddha Fa continuously purified my soul and washed away the layers of dirt that surrounded me. At the same time, Master opened my wisdom and I truly enlightened to some of the inner meanings of the Fa.
Several relatives were at my home and I said something wrong. One of them got very mad at me. My husband even hit me in front of the relatives. I didn’t fight back or say anything.
Master said:
“If someone kicks me while I’m walking down the street and no one around knows me, I can tolerate it." I say that this is not good enough. Perhaps in the future you may be slapped in the face twice, and you will lose face in front of someone whom you least want to see it. It is to see how you will deal with this issue and whether you can endure it. If you can tolerate it and yet it preys on your mind, it is still not good enough.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
While I seemed to have met Dafa’s requirements by not fighting or answering back, I didn’t really let go of it. Master also tested me in my dreams, and I didn’t pass the test. I was still furious about being contradicted, and the shadow of the desperate person I used to be, appeared again. I was stunned after seeing that my subconscious still had not let go of those human notions.
Whilst sending righteous thoughts, I would clear my competitive mentality, jealousy, resentment, and other bad attachments. Once when I was falling asleep, I heard a clear sentence: “Let go of myself because Master said, ‘After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!’” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
This was Master telling me that I did not let go of my selfishness. Throughout my life, I was always self-righteous and felt that I was better than others. Everything was centered around me, and I had the final say. Master woke me up in time. Thank you Master.
Later on when I sent righteous thoughts, I added: “Disintegrate the bad substance selfishness and let this evil die.” Once my husband said something very bad about me. I immediately answered back sarcastically and even threatened him. After a few minutes, I realized that I was wrong. I told Master: “Master, I was wrong. Perhaps those bad words from my husband were a hint from Master. I missed this opportunity to improve. I will do better next time.”
Master arranged opportunities for me to cultivate when I wanted to improve. One morning, I didn’t unlock the door for my husband by the time he got home from working the night shift. He knocked on the door and yelled at me. My heart was not moved at the time but after he scolded me, I secretly cried. I wondered: why was I crying? One reason was that I felt bad that he was frozen by the cold weather. Another reason was that I felt that I should do better at enduring and maintaining my xinxing after more than 20 years of cultivation.
Master said, “Only when you are about to let go of your reputation, interests, and feelings will you feel pain.” (“True Cultivation”, Essentials for Further Advancement)
Seeing that I didn’t argue with him, my husband also changed his attitude and took the initiative to help me with my chores as if nothing had happened. I truly realized the beauty of dissolving in the Fa.
I am ashamed that I suffered from sickness karma every year during my 20 years of cultivation. I asked Master to save me every time. Starting last year, when I felt uncomfortable, I recited Master’s Fa: “When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Master Endured Karma for Practitioners
A few months ago, I had a bad cough during the day but not at night. Not only did I not cough, but I also fell asleep peacefully and slept soundly. I wondered why I didn't cough at night? “When you went to bed at night, it was Master who endured it for you.” This sentence hit my mind instantly. I was very surprised and so grateful! I said to Master, “Master, you are too great. I really don’t know how to thank you!”
From then on, I understood my duty as a Dafa practitioner, what I should do, and how to cultivate. When I feel uncomfortable, I take it as a good thing as Master is purifying my body, eliminating my karma, transforming my karma into virtue, and increasing my gong.
My husband works all year round, so I have to take care of everything at home. Master asks Dafa practitioners to do the three things well so I diligently study the Fa, practice the exercises, and send righteous thoughts every day. I also prepare truth clarification brochures, write articles to validate the Fa, and go out to save people.
As I was going out one day to hang truth-clarification banners on trees, I felt tightness in my chest, difficulty breathing, coughing, and weakness. I asked Master to bless me, and give me strength. With the help of Master’s compassion, my physical discomfort disappeared. I rode over 10 miles on an electric bicycle and hung all the banners on trees without any problems.
This was on the day of the farmer's market, so I stopped to take a look. I bought a few fish and paid the seller for my purchase. Then I bought some chicken drumsticks but the seller said I still hadn’t paid for the fish. I said that I did use two 10-yuan bills with truth-clarification messages written on them. The seller took out his wallet found a few 10-yuan bills in it for me to see. He said, “There is nothing written on these,” meaning I didn’t give him any money. I thought, I practice Dafa and maybe I owe him from my last life. I took out another 22 yuan and gave it to him.
Master said:
“Everyone knows that our school of practice does not shun ordinary human society in cultivation practice, and neither does it avoid or run away from conflicts. In this complex environment of everyday people, you should be clear-minded and knowingly lose in terms of interests. When your self-interest is taken by others, you will not go to compete and fight for it like others. With different xinxing interference, you will suffer losses. In this difficult environment, you will temper your will and upgrade your xinxing. Under the influence of different ill thoughts from everyday people, you will be able to reach above and beyond.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that this is a good thing. It is an opportunity for me to refine my will and improve my xinxing.
Master said:
“Think about it, everyone: Isn’t it you who suffers knowingly? Isn’t it your Main Soul that sacrifices? As to what you have lost among everyday people, haven’t you knowingly lost it? Then this gong should belong to you, as whoever loses, gains.” (Lecture Eight, Zhuan Falun)
I have not experienced any physical weakness since then because, after breaking through this level, the characteristics of the universe are no longer restrictive.
When one dissolves in the Fa, the Fa will manifest its miraculous nature. During the autumn harvest this year, bones in my fingers and feet were injured. I strengthened my reciting the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts. In the process, I heard a “click, click” from the bones in the areas of injury. Master healed those injuries within 10 hours, and I went back to work in the field.
