(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I’m a young practitioner and I left China in 2013. I always knew about Falun Dafa because my mother is a practitioner. But I didn’t truly begin to practice until I started high school. I later had an opportunity to travel outside China and I was able to cultivate with other practitioners, take part in various truth clarification projects, and help Master rectify the Fa. I would like to talk about some of my recent cultivation experiences. Please kindly point out anything that is inappropriate.
Cultivating Away Notions
I joined the local media full-time after I graduated from college in 2018. A local practitioner invited me to help since the media needed more people. I never really thought about my plans for the future, so I agreed. I was happy to help with a Dafa project and felt it was a great opportunity. I also wouldn’t need to spend time looking for work.
In the beginning, I only planned to help manage finances, but the director asked me to become a local reporter. I was the only full-time reporter in our local media branch. I had an introverted personality, and felt I wasn't good very outgoing. Becoming a reporter exposed my flaws. Not only was I required to establish a good rapport with members of the local community, I needed to go out and conduct interviews. My schedule changed constantly following changes in current events. This meant that I barely had time for even a short break. I began to feel that this work was exceptionally challenging and hard to endure.
I thought about giving up. When I was confused, I remembered last year's online media conference, in which a practitioner shared his experience of using Falun Dafa's principles, “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance” as a criterion to determine whether to lead the work in the print factory. I decided to let the situation unfold naturally. I realized that although entering the media seemed to be a coincidence, in fact it was Master’s compassionate arrangement. My job at the media outlet is to help Master with Fa-rectification, so the obstacles I encountered were also opportunities for me to cultivate and save people.
By analyzing my “personality traits”, I realized that my so-called personality was actually made up of acquired human notions. For example, my strong desire to protect myself and my desire for fame and fortune made me very introverted and afraid of openly communicating. The old forces arranged for me to grow up in an environment – communist China - that shaped these notions.
Master said,
“The truth is, anything that is not consistent with Dafa or the righteous thoughts of Dafa disciples results from the old forces’ involvement, and that includes all of the unrighteous elements that you have. And that is why I have made sending righteous thoughts one of the three major things that Dafa disciples are to do.” (“On the Response to the Piece about Assistant Souls,” Team Yellow translation)
From then on whenever I began having negative thoughts, I reminded myself that I should not be polluted by everyday society. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate this interference, and although it was difficult when I didn’t feel any change, I remembered what Master said,
“"When it’s difficult to endure, you can endure it. When it’s impossible to do, you can do it."” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Through steady breakthroughs I enlightened to what Master said, “"After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!"” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun )
Letting Go of Emotion Amid Conflicts
The CCP virus (coronavirus) pandemic is a hot topic worldwide. My local area is also one of the places where Chinese who returned from Wuhan were temporarily quarantined. I began to follow up on the local epidemic situation and remembered Master’s teaching, “Seize the day, and take the media to the next level. I’d like to see your work have a powerful impact when it comes out.” (“2018 NTD and Epoch Times Fa Conference”). I tried my best to follow up and get first-hand reports.
As the epidemic turned into a global pandemic, a few young local practitioners wanted to clarify the truth by producing songs and videos clips, and they invited me to join them. After initially helping I decided to quit. Even though I tried not to affect them, my leaving created conflicts. This resulted in my gradually drifting away from them.
This was only the beginning of a series of events. One practitioner who worked full time in the media resigned soon after. She was the main driving force in our local media, and she was the one I tried my best to cooperate with. Her resignation worsened the staff shortage, which made running the local branch even more difficult under the economic impact of the pandemic.
I became depressed and felt trapped in a whirlpool of self-blame and emotion. I frequently felt like weeping.
Master always reminds us to look inward when we encounter conflicts. I began examining myself for my attachments. I found that my initial agreement to join the other practitioners in the video production was based on my human wish of wanting to fit in. My impatience and my excessive explanations when I decided to quit had intensified our conflict.
While I was meditating at the exercise site the other day I could not calm down. My thoughts were distracted and my heart was agitated, but I suddenly remembered Master’s teaching, “If you are free from this sentimentality, nobody can affect you. An everyday person’s mind will be unable to sway you. What takes over in its place is benevolence, which is something more noble.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
The moment I remembered this sentence from the Fa, I realized that all the feelings I had actually came from my human emotions. The only way to step out of and eliminate the troubles brought on by these feelings was to be “free from this sentimentality” (Zhuan Falun) and remember to have compassion.
This was the first time I really felt compassion. I was shocked when I realized that Master had already taught the principle, and was only waiting for me to put it into practice. In fact, the other practitioners may not have paid too much attention to this matter. I was the only one who took it too seriously. No matter where we are, no matter what project we are involved in, we are all working together to help Master and we should not be hindered by superficial conflicts.
After I let go of my human sentiments, I was soon contacted by the other practitioners, and everything went on as usual. I am extremely grateful to Master for His compassionate care and insight, and I will continue to progress diligently. Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2020 International Falun Dafa Young Practitioners’ Online Fa Conference)
