Cherishing Every Opportunity to Improve and Fulfill My Vow

(Minghui.org) Greetings revered Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!

This past year my cultivation hasn’t been smooth sailing. But fortunately, we can still charge forward with compassionate Master Li’s (Falun Dafa’s founder) help. It’s all possible so long as we look within, get rid of attachments, improve our xinxing and strengthen our righteous thoughts.

Cherishing the Group Format of Fa Study and Exercise Master Gave Us

Master said,

“Group Fa study is what I left for everyone, and group exercise is what I left for everyone. Other than in situations of severe persecution, it should be done this way in other areas outside mainland China.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)

I struggle to get up early—I have to go to work and afterward help with a truth clarification media project. I had difficulty finding time for Fa study and doing the exercises.

About two and a half years ago, in order to overcome this bad state and have a breakthrough in cultivation, I decided to read Dafa books with practitioners online at 5:30 a.m. every day. After studying the Fa, I meditate or do the standing exercises and then head to work at 8:00 a.m. I also attend local group Fa study on Tuesdays and Sydney’s larger group Fa study on Saturdays. By insisting on starting my day with Fa study and exercises, I feel fulfilled and solid.

I can balance my work and cultivation much better now. After finishing work at 5:00 p.m., I have dinner, complete my chores and then work on a media project. I felt more stable, and the result at my work was much better. In the past, I would obsess over the fact that I hadn’t read or exercised yet and I was worried. I usually finish this program after 10:00 p.m. Even though this left me 5 hours to sleep, I felt more energetic than in the past.

Since the pandemic started last year, I couldn’t clarify the truth at tourist sites anymore. So, on my days off and on weekends when I didn’t have other Dafa-related work to do, I did the exercises at a park with local practitioners. This may seem simple, but the experience is also a cultivation process, and a good opportunity to improve my xinxing and remove my attachment to comfort.

For example, you endure the cold winds of winter and the heat of summer. Pests like flies, mosquitoes, and ants disrupt you as you exercise outside. All these little things interfere with your righteous thoughts and stir your mind. But when I remember that we exercise outdoors to spread the truth for Dafa, and not for ourselves, I persevere. 

During outdoor exercises, sometimes predestined people come to learn. Others sit and watch, or sign the petition. Some passing-by cars beep their horns in support. Outdoor practice can indeed display the beauty and the peace of Dafa and lay a good foundation for people to learn the truth about Dafa.

Seemingly Bad Things Are Good Things

In August last year, my right leg suddenly became very painful, as if the entire tendon was twisted. I couldn’t bend my leg. The first thought I had was a human thought: “The limestone floor I stand on at work is very cold in the winter, this must have damaged my leg.” So, I would warm up my leg with a hairdryer and wear thick socks and pants. However, it didn’t alleviate the discomfort, and crossing both legs to meditate was very painful. 

I became so anxious that I bought two covers to help me recover. However, my only remaining righteous thought told me not to use them. Using them would be an act of admitting I was sick, so I may never be able to cross my legs again.

I tried to reflect on why this bothered me so much. First of all, I regarded it as a sickness, and thus dealt with it like an everyday person. After I denied these improper thoughts, I examined my xinxing, and realized that I still have many attachments. I needed to improve my xinxing and send righteous thoughts to deny all the interference of the old forces.

I started reading Dafa books with my legs loosely crossed, until both of my legs were numb. Then I tried to pull my legs up. Soon, it gradually became better, as I could double cross my legs for half an hour. However, this came with great pain that would cause me to sweat all over. The problem wasn’t resolved as I was still focused on the pain.

Seeing my efforts, compassionate Master gave me a hint.

Master said,

“Whatever you experience during your cultivation—whether good or bad—is good, for it comes about only because you are cultivating. A cultivator cannot achieve Consummation when laden with human thoughts, laden with karmic debts, or laden with attachments.” (“To the Chicago Fa Conference,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III)

That’s right! Why did I always regard it as a bad thing? Maybe I should change this notion and consider it a good thing. Being afraid of hardship, I hardly ever completed the one-hour meditation in the full lotus position (both legs crossed). I guess the pain I had to endure was making up for what I avoided in the past.

Master said,

“Cultivators look at things in just the opposite way. They see tribulations and suffering as good opportunities for improvement. [To cultivators] these are all good things, and the more there are and the faster they come, the faster the improvement.” (Teaching at the 2005 Conference in San Francisco)

Master’s words awakened me. I was no longer focused on the cause of the pain and how to stop it; I took it as a great thing and continued to do what I should do and do it well. Dafa is so miraculous and transcendent, and gaining without pursuit is the principle. After I improved my xinxing and no longer paid attention to the pain, it miraculously stopped! I was able to meditate for an entire hour in the double lotus position. 

I often think of how lucky we are to have a compassionate Master to take care of us. If we are not diligent, how could we face Master and the sentient beings in our own world? Through this tribulation, I learned that practitioners really can’t slack off. Daily Fa study, exercises, and sending righteous thoughts are ways to cleanse ourselves in this big dye vat of everyday people. 

The Workplace Is a Cultivation Opportunity

I envy those who don’t have to work and can devote all their time to truth clarification. Since I don’t have much time, I must make good use of it to compensate. There are many Westerners and young people at my work, so it is relatively easy to clarify the facts there. Most people accept it. The staff members at work have lunch at different times, so I clarify the facts to those who have lunch when I do. Many people have signed the petition. I also clarified the facts to my boss, and he signed it.

At Christmas time, a boss of an important customer especially came to my workplace to express his gratitude for my work. I am responsible for packing their company orders. Every month, there are tens of thousands of orders; my role is preparing the paper packaging with their respective products and organizing the quantities. The monthly work report shows that I have a very low error rate, just one or two, with no errors in my August and September reports. Since this customer was particularly satisfied with my work, I took the opportunity to clarify the facts to him and gave him a lotus flower and truth-clarification materials.

My work unit established a social media group where the daily schedule of staff members was posted, along with some notices. I invited my work colleagues to be my social media friends so they could see the truth-clarification articles and videos I posted on my account. I also took care to alternate this content with photos from my daily life, so my colleagues could see that practitioners aren’t monks. Our daily life is happy and colorful, although we are not obsessed with these things.

On Mother’s Day I placed about 50 to 60 lotus flowers and some materials in the lunchroom to celebrate Mother’s Day. I also took a picture and put it on my work unit’s social media page, telling everyone that they could give the beautiful lotus flowers to their mothers, family members, and friends. The lotus flowers were gone in a flash, and colleagues who hadn’t gotten them or wanted more came to ask if I could bring more.

Recently, a new computer engineer joined our company. I took the initiative to talk to him and add him as my social media “friend.” After that, I chatted with him on the Internet and helped him withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party and its related organizations. He left the company after a short time as he told me the job was too stressful. I knew Master led this predestined person to me. Thank you Master!

Although I was quite attentive in clarifying the facts, I sometimes didn’t prioritize my cultivation. I realize that I need to rectify every thought of mine at work. My workplace is a cultivation environment. I need to cultivate and improve myself there so I can save people. I need to put my heart into my everyday job and always remind myself that I am a Dafa disciple who thinks about others. My words and actions are to validate the Fa.

Becoming Altruistic

Every person and thing on earth came here for Dafa. Fellow practitioners are speeding up to save more beings. I feel I should spend more time saving people and not slack off. In order to reach more people, some practitioners go to popular beaches to collect signatures on the petition. At first, I only collected signatures on streets with shops on them, but they were empty on Sundays. With restrictions in place in front of some big malls, I couldn’t collect signatures there. I wondered if I should also go with other practitioners to collect signatures. 

But my human notions were stopping me. I thought to myself: people are sunbathing and relaxing at the beach, wouldn’t I be disturbing them? I looked within and dug deeper. I saw I had an attachment to saving face. 

From the point of view of saving sentient beings, I was not asking them for signatures, instead I was offering them the chance to be saved. After breaking through that notion, I was able to collect signatures without feeling embarrassed and the result was quite good. One thought can determine if one is a human or a divine being. Only through strengthening the divine thoughts and eliminating human thoughts can we improve.

In order to clarify the facts better over the phone, I participated in the training run by the RTC phone team a few weeks ago. This has benefited me greatly. I am grateful for this precious cultivation opportunity that Master gave me. Thanks to the coordinator and trainers’ selfless contributions, I saw many shortcomings in my own cultivation.

I realized that I was unable to persist in making phone calls to China in the past due to an attachment to self. While clarifying the facts to people, if they didn’t agree to quit, I would think, “Well, I told you. There is nothing I can do if you don’t quit.” I wouldn’t focus on improving the quality of my clarification. Through the training, I understood that the effort I put in determined the result I’d get. Only through more reading, memorizing, practicing, speaking, and truly thinking of the person we are talking to, can we improve our effect of saving people.

Through the training, I also realized that although I did the three things, sometimes I did it as if I was doing it for myself. Though I was busy doing things every day, the first thought I had was: “Oh I haven’t clarified the facts today. I want to clarify the facts; I want to do it in a certain way…”

Whether it was participating in a media project, distributing newspapers, collecting signatures, clarifying the facts through social media or doing it face to face, I always had a full schedule every day. However, my first thought still revolved around myself.

In order not to fall behind, I overcame all kinds of difficulties to participate in various truth-clarification activities. I knew that as a Fa-rectification-period Dafa disciple, I had to complete the three things. I knew my mission was to clarify the facts to save people in order to fulfill my vow, or consummation wouldn’t be possible.

But all this was rooted in selfishness—I was trying to do the three things in this frame of mind. As I hadn’t stepped out of “selfishness,” I was not able to have compassion. I felt that I often viewed making phone calls as a pressure, as something that I had no choice but had to do. Sometimes, I was happy that I had already done other truth-clarification work and didn’t have to make phone calls that day.

I realized that I wasn’t seizing time to save people or considering the countless predestined beings waiting for us to save them, freeing the celestial bodies they represent from the tragic end of being eliminated and destroyed.

In fact, these sentient beings are really pitiful. Like us, they left heaven and dared to descend to this filthy world to save the heavenly bodies they represent. It is just that they are arranged to play the role of sentient beings who don’t know the truth in this grand show. How lucky I am to be a Dafa disciple! It gives me all the more reason to fulfill my mission and truly cultivate to be a righteous, selfless being who puts others first. 

Master said, 

“Dafa disciples are humankind's only hope for salvation.” (“To the Fa Conference of Europe”)

When I thought of the pitiful Chinese people who waited millions of years to hear the truth today, my righteous thoughts became stronger. As I picked up the phone again to clarify the facts to them, I cherished every number, and every predestined relationship, and Master’s painstaking compassionate arrangement. I stopped being attached to the number of people I helped quit the Party. Instead, I focused on helping sentient beings to truly understand the truth. 

Thank you Master for giving me the opportunity to assist you in Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings, and for the honor of being a Fa-rectification Dafa disciple!

These are my experiences. My level is limited, please kindly point out anything improper.

Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!

(Presented at the 2021 Australia Online Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)