[Minghui Fahui] Improving My Cultivation while Coordinating a Minghui Website

(Minghui.org) Greetings Revered Master! Greetings fellow cultivators.

I started practicing Falun Dafa in 2013 and I began coordinating one language version of the Minghui website a few years later. I would like to share some challenges that I encountered on my cultivation path and the understandings that I was able to enlighten to.

Breaking Through the State of Not Seeing Higher Truths while Reading The Fa

I’ve cultivated for several years. I never thought I would be able to cultivate for so long, for which I’m very grateful to our Master. Even though I’ve practiced Falun Dafa for many years, I felt that I could not see higher truths in Zhuan Falun. Reading the main text of Falun Dafa seemed to me a duty to be fulfilled every day and I could not see the deeper truths behind the meaning of the words in Zhuan Falun.

I knew that this state was not correct. I wanted to change it, but I could not make a breakthrough. One time while I was thinking about this problem, I remembered something Master said in Zhuan Falun.

Master said,

“In qigong practice, those of you whose qi cannot go through a pass or come down should look for reasons within your xinxing to determine if you are stuck at that level for too long and whether you should improve your xinxing! When you truly improve your xinxing, you will find that the qi will be able to come down. You keep pursuing transformation of gong in the physical body without emphasizing improvement of your xinxing. It is waiting for you to improve your xinxing—only then will you make a holistic change.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

I realized that only when you improve xinxing can a holistic change occur. I knew that removing attachments is the main focus of our practice. So why was my understanding of Zhuan Falun superficial? Why couldn’t I see higher truths in the Fa? There could be only one answer – I was stuck at one level for too long. Or perhaps I hadn’t removed my attachments that I should have at that level?

But what was stopping me from identifying my not yet removed attachments? When I began practicing, I was very enthusiastic. I actively looked for and found many attachments. I worked on eliminating them and saw my cultivation improve. But the longer I practiced, the harder it became to identify my attachments.

When I was thinking about what caused this situation, I realized that over the years I developed a deceptive understanding. It grew quietly and subtly, so it was hard to detect. I felt that what was blocking me from seeing my attachments was a kind of arrogance.

I felt that after so many years I shouldn’t have major attachments and whenever I was moved by some situation, I didn’t always see the attachment behind it. I felt that if I noticed an attachment, then I would have to admit that I didn’t look inside enough in the past. This in turn would be like telling myself that I had wasted all those years of cultivation. So, I remained at the same level, not being able to detect my attachments at this level.

I understood that one needs a lot of humility in order to, after many years of cultivation, still look inside for one’s shortcomings and find one’s attachments. I hope this understanding will help me elevate in cultivation and will enable me to see more higher truths when I read the Fa.

Eliminating the Attachment to Time

From the very beginning of my cultivation, I felt that “the end is near.” Even before I began practicing I had this feeling. This feeling accompanied me throughout my cultivation, sometimes benefiting me and sometimes creating obstacles on my path.

Master said,

“I am bringing this up to let you know that we have now reached the final stage. I can tell you explicitly that early on I had planned on ending the persecution this year (warm applause), at the twenty-year mark. Although it has turned out that the old forces have changed things a bit, the furnace is running out of coal, and the flame is no longer sufficient. So this affair will soon conclude.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference”)

After I read this, my feeling that I did have not much time increased. I think it started to be an attachment which caused troubles in cultivation and truth clarification.

Soon after the “Minghui Report: The 20-year Persecution of Falun Gong in China,” was released our translation team decided to translate it into our native language. I felt that we did not have much time left, and we must hurry with the translation.

This attachment to time made my editing the report quick and superficial. I felt that what was most important was to finish the work before the Fa rectifies the human world and I didn’t pay enough attention to details. The translation and editing were done pretty quickly, and the report was ready to be printed. When one practitioner asked if I wanted her to double check the report, I said that there was no need and that we would soon print it.

To print the report, I needed to find a practitioner that would be willing to finance the printing. I asked two practitioners that usually helped finance our projects, but I didn’t receive an answer for a long time. This was odd, as they usually answered quickly. It was a difficult period as I had the Minghui report ready to print, but I couldn’t do it. I thought that if I had more money, I would print it myself.

Along the way I started to help another media as an editor. I thought that I had good editing skills, but after being trained I realized how much I still needed to learn. I saw that I was checking the text superficially without paying enough attention to details.

Sometime later I read a practitioners sharing titled “Don’t Blindly Follow Prophecies”, which helped me to shed a portion of the attachment to time. I usually liked to read prophecies and also practitioners’ visions regarding the end time. The article talked about another practitioner’s vision that the Fa rectification could end on such and such dates.

After reading the article I felt it didn’t matter when the end would come. Moreover, I felt that I’m free of this attachment and I can live normally while in this world. My heart became calmer. There were so many predictions and all of them failed. Maybe these new ones would become true, maybe not. It didn’t matter anymore as I felt I didn’t attach too much importance to it.

One practitioner told me that she felt our translation of the Minghui report should be checked again. This time I agreed. If we want to awaken the consciences of society’s elites, we should give them a high quality product. Coincidentally, soon afterwards a practitioner that usually helped financially with our endeavors contacted me and said he had the funds to print the Minghui report. I was happy to hear that, but said that I changed my understanding and I believed that we should check the report again thoroughly with my improved editing skills.

Prioritizing Practice and Cultivation

From the beginning of my cultivation, I struggled with doing the full set of exercises every day. I always emphasized truth clarification rather than doing the exercises. Finally, I felt that if I did the exercises for more than one hour, I was wasting my time, which could be better used for truth clarification.

I knew in my mind that this state was not correct, but I kept saying that this would change. Somehow, I couldn’t make a breakthrough. I was thinking that if the Falun is working all the time and changing virtue (de) into gong after we elevate our xinxing, then why exercise each day? Isn’t it enough to fortify the mechanisms by doing less than 2 hours of exercises each day? In the morning I preferred to spend more time on translations and other truth clarification activities, rather than doing all five exercises.

Master said,

“I think that as cultivators, you should put Dafa first, but you should also do your job well. You should try your best to do things well. As far as how to balance this, when it comes to the specifics you still need to prioritize things yourself. If you say, “I’m too busy, so I won’t read,” then that’s equivalent to not cultivating. Say, “I’ll just completely devote myself to my job,” and then you will just be an ordinary person. Could it just be that you’re not balancing these things well? Then just prioritize and plan things well. It’s really simple. Actually, I have discussed this very clearly in Zhuan Falun. Studying the Fa well definitely won’t affect anything of yours in your cultivation, and on the contrary, it will help you get twice the results at your job or with your schoolwork with half the effort.” (Teaching Given on Lantern Festival Day, 2003)

From what Master said, I understood that studying the Fa will help practitioners to get more results with less effort. I also understood that this refers to the exercises too, as they are an integral part of the practice of Falun Dafa. And only when we can be true cultivators, our work in Dafa projects will bring wonderful results and we will be able to save sentient beings. Otherwise, the impact of our efforts is low, we get interfered with more easily and in the end is not that effective.

I still struggle to do all the exercises every day, as this attachment hasn’t been fully erased yet. Also, laziness plays its role. During those times when I’m able to do more exercises each day, I feel calmer during the day, more focused and energetic and more creative at work. All these helped me to do better at truth clarification projects. Also, after doing the exercises, I feel that I can see the reasons behind cultivation tests and I can detect the root attachment that the test is pointing to, which is good for my cultivation.

The above is just my understanding at my limited level. Please compassionately point out anything that falls short of the Fa.

Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners.

(Presented at the 2021 Minghui Website Fa Conference)