(Minghui.org) I began to practice cultivation in 2010 during my first year in collge. Every Sunday, I joined other Falun Dafa practitioners to do the exercises at Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve. My legs would be in great pain during the last few minutes of the one-hour sitting meditation, but I gritted my teeth and persisted.
One day in the summer, it was very hot and I felt the sun’s rays burning the top of my head. I was in deep meditation, but the pain in my legs was agonizing. The hustle and bustle around me, although it was close by, seemed far away. Just then I heard a voice say: “Are you willing to suffer like this in order to save your sentient beings?” I replied in my heart without hesitation, “Yes.”
This voice continued to tell me that my world needs to assimilate to the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance, but I still hadn’t reached the standard for forbearance. As a result, my cultivation in the human world needs to temper and perfect this part of myself. This experience gave rise to a sense of responsibility that gave me power to continue to endure the pain.
I had just started to practice cultivation back then. The voice that I heard while I was in meditation astonished me. I was grateful to Master Li, the founder of Falun Dafa, for the test, as it instilled in me a sense of mission. We came to this world for a purpose. Although our human side is deluded and our true self is impeded by everything in front of us, our true selves know what is happening!
As Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period, our cultivation is definitely not for personal consummation! When we cultivate ourselves well, lives in our range will be able to assimilate to the new cosmos. The path we take in our cultivation is the process of gradually coming to meet the standards of the new cosmos.
Master said:
“The path each person is to take is different, because each person’s foundation is different, the sizes of their various attachments are different, the characteristics of their beings are different, their jobs among everyday people are different, their family environments are different, and so on. These factors determine that each person’s path of cultivation is different” (“Path,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
We exist together with the Fa-rectification! As Dafa disciples, we all have different origins but our ultimate goal of consummation is the same. The path everyone takes is different, however, we all have the responsibility to do the same three things. When we cultivate ourselves well, we save lives in our realms. Yet we also shoulder the responsibility of saving others. Therefore, the troubles and hardships we encounter in cultivation and clarifying the truth are caused by ourselves and the karma of sentient beings. The phrase assisting Master in Fa-rectification carries a certain weight. If you take on this responsibility, you will have to bear the burden.
In dealing with suffering, if we use our personal feelings as the starting point, then there is a limit to our endurance. However, if we think of it as suffering for the sake of others, there is no cap on the extent of our endurance.
Every day we spend in this mortal world, we will have to continuously reach for the sky and break through our limits. In order to fulfill our mission of coming to this world, we cannot be afraid of the suffering of living here or take note of how filthy it is. We did not hesitate to walk on this path full of thorns and danger with both eyes covered. We believe that we can return to our origin by following the rays of Dafa.
Whether it is the pain we go through while in the sitting meditation or the agony of having to get rid of our attachments or the hurt we feel in conflicts or when those who don’t understand abuse us when we try to clarify the truth to them, the suffering we endure in the human world may be magnified many times. But these will turn into rain after a long drought, nourishing sentient beings in the heavens.