Maintaining My Good Character When Facing Unpleasant But Sincere Advice

(Minghui.org) Even though I have been cultivating for many years, I am slow by nature. Because I did not cultivate diligently in the past, it would take me a few days to do all five of the Falun Dafa exercises. I mentioned this during a group sharing. A practitioner at our Fa study site, called San Jie, said to me in a very solemn tone, “What time is it already and you are still so slow?"

He continued, “How many practitioners do all the exercises every day? Look at the color of your face. It does not look good! Shouldn’t you think more deeply about this?” After hearing San Jie’s words, I did not feel good in my heart. I still tolerated it and used my righteous thoughts to let go of any bad feeling.

What San Jie said was correct, and I knew this might be Master Li (Dafa’s founder) giving me a hint. Before I heard this, I was not in a very good cultivation state.

My eyeballs felt hard and painful and I was frequently confused. Not only did my head hurt frequently, even worse, I sometimes felt as though I was going to faint at any time. I tried looking inward but I just could not find the reason. After returning home, San Jie's words were clear in my mind.

I immediately started practicing the exercises the following morning. Since then, I now wake up at around 3 a.m. It takes me about two-and-a-half hours to complete the five exercises.

By then it is time to send righteous thoughts at 6 a.m. During the day, not only do I not feel tired, my mind is no longer fuzzy, and my face now glows.

There Is Nothing Coincidental on the Cultivation Path

In the past, I had never been successful in sitting in the full lotus position when doing the sitting meditation. As a result, I had always been sitting in the half-lotus position.

I once went to visit a fellow veteran practitioner. When we were sending forth righteous thoughts, she saw that I was doing the half-lotus position, so she criticized me.

She said, “Look at you! How many years have you cultivated? No practitioner is like you! How can you still call yourself a cultivator?”

This was the first time a practitioner, with whom I was not familiar, criticized me. At that time, my xinxing was not as high as it is now, so I really wanted to argue with her. But, I did not know what to say. I was speechless and embarrassed.

Due to this incident, my heart was in turmoil for two days. I finally understood that although that practitioner’s words stung, she said those things for my own good, so I should improve myself. I knew I should thank her instead of wanting to argue with her. Since then, I started sitting in the full lotus position when I meditated and sent forth righteous thoughts.

Initially, I could only do it for 20 minutes and gritted my teeth in pain. Gradually, the duration increased to 30 minutes, 40 minutes, and now I can sit in the full lotus position for about 70 to 80 minutes.

As long as I persist in doing so, I will gradually be able to do whatever I am supposed to. Master said, “Those who are sincere about practicing will find it very much doable and not some impossible task.” (The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

After so many years, if you want me to say in what area I have cultivated better, it would be when facing criticism from fellow practitioners. Right or wrong, I am now able to listen quietly and not argue.

Although I may have felt uncomfortable at some time, and would even struggle very strongly internally, I was always able to understand the matter based on the Fa in the end.

Now, I have to strengthen my ability to be calm when I study the Fa, do the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts. When nothing is happening, and when I try to calm down, all sorts of messy stuff appears in my mind.

I understand that the level of our cultivation powers lies in whether we have strict demands on ourselves. We need to monitor our main consciousness to see if there are any attachments, righteous thoughts, and disturbances. If there are disturbances, what is the cause? If we have attachments, we should get rid of them.

If our righteous thoughts are not strong enough, we will need to strengthen them. With respect to disturbances, we will need to totally reject them, clear them and disintegrate them.

We should abide by the requirements of Dafa. Although there is nothing big happening, there have always been trips and falls.

I may be able to do well at a specific moment or on a certain matter, but to attain Dafa’s requirement for every matter will require me to have strict demands on myself.

Of course, in order to achieve all this, the precondition is to be clear on the Fa principles. I should not form my understanding based in the wrong direction.

Master said,

“This means that you will meet with all kinds of ordeals going forward in your practice. But just think, could spiritual progress be possible without them? Your character wouldn’t develop if everyone got along well with you, nobody quarreled with you for selfish reasons, and worldly attachments never preyed upon you.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

From this, I understood that maybe by letting me feel the pain from the falls would I be able to understand where I went wrong and how I should correct myself.

There is no small matter on the path of cultivation. After recognizing the correct situation, we will need to depend on our strong will to continuously persist.

Master said,

“Practicing by relying on faith while in this confusing place is extremely trying, yet it is also what makes a swift return to heaven possible.” (The Third Talk, Zhuan Falun)

If we believe in Master and the Fa completely, and follow what Master says 100% of the time, cultivation may not be so hard.