(Clearwisdom.net)
Part 1: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2004/11/6/54248.html
In order to obtain Dafa, to cultivate and achieve Consummation during Fa-rectification, we have traversed many lifetimes over so many years. A God who is completely assimilated to the Fa never ought to have the mentality of doing anything to obtain certain things, or to accumulate merit. Everything is his responsibility and mission. In plain words, everything would be the manifestation of the abilities and wisdom of a Lord or King at a certain level, created by Dafa.
- From the author
3. Improving xinxing in the process of making truth clarification materials
The "self-immolation incident at Tiananmen Square" staged by Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan has deeply and adversely affected the general public in China. When I returned to my hometown, other practitioners and I talked about buying a speedier press to print truth clarification materials, and I quickly agreed. Afterwards, another practitioner and I began studying the instruction for this press and gradually learned its structure and functions. The press could produce several thousand copies of regular-sized newspapers for truth clarification. Even with the accelerated printing speed and support from other printing methods, the amount of truth clarification materials was still not enough because there were many practitioners clarifying the truth. Furthermore, we sometimes had to supply the needs of other areas, so we had to keep printing truth clarification materials from early in the morning to very late at night.
I got so busy during that time that I felt a huge mental pressure. What's more important, I did not keep up with Fa (1) study and practicing the exercises. Consequently, the state of my xinxing [mind or heart nature, moral character] varied greatly. When my xinxing was stabilized and I truly had the compassionate mindset to offer salvation to all living beings while printing truth clarification materials, I found that the printed materials were both very clear and neat. In contrast, when my xinxing was not good and was confused and uneasy, the printed materials were both unclear and messy. Later, when I reviewed my experiences, I found that everything is completely dependent on how one sets one's mind. Even if only one copy of truth clarification material is printed, it should be done from our most inner, purest thoughts. If we only do it to finish the assignment or do it unwillingly, it will be the same as ordinary people doing good deeds and would not have any of the effects of offering salvation to all living beings.
With the aid of the high-speed press, our material supply center operated very well. Innumerable copies of truth clarification materials were distributed to the public through practitioners' hands, and have changed the notions of the public to a large degree and helped them to understand the truth about Falun Gong and the persecution.
When flyers to expose the evil deeds of the perpetrators were seen everywhere, personnel from the local "610 Office" and the Political and Security Section were badly frightened. However, because practitioners did not have enough wisdom while making the materials or because they did not have a sufficiently good mental state, resulting from not keeping up with Fa study and coordinating as a whole, some practitioners who frequently distributed the materials were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms.
Facing these forms of interference, I kept searching inward. Teacher once said, "Always searching inwards whenever experiencing problems and conflicts is the fundamental distinction between Falun Dafa disciples and everyday people." ("Dafa Assistance Center at Shandong") [Unofficial translation] I was greatly shocked to discover that I still had many ordinary peoples' mentalities such as jealousy, competitiveness and aggression, and did not behave better than some ordinary people. I kept searching inward to dig out the roots of those warped notions I still harbored. Sometimes I wrote down my experiences in this process, and submitted them as essays to Minghui. In the process of searching inward, I forced myself to eliminate all the interference that prevented me from studying the Fa. I then studied the Fa more, studied the Fa well and practiced the exercises more. Gradually, my heart and mind began to develop compassion, more consideration for others, and I truly treated "Validating Dafa" as a life duty. I no longer behaved as before, with the incorrect mentality of routinely doing work just for the sake of completing the work.
4. Righteously handle the relationship as an individual and the coordination as a whole for validating the Fa, and comprehensively counter and oppose the persecution without letting up
Many practitioners in our area who could step forward to clarify the truth were arrested and heavily sentenced, one by one. This has greatly dampened the enthusiasm of practitioners to clarify the truth. I then took on some tasks to foster coordination among practitioners, in order to counter this negative impact. The coordination sometimes went very smoothly, and at other times conflicts occurred when practitioners had different opinions. Whenever I experienced these types of conflicts, I would once again ponder our mission and its significance.
I wrote in my diary, "In order to obtain Dafa, to cultivate and achieve consummation during Fa-rectification we have traversed many lifetimes over so many years. A God who is completely assimilated to the Fa never ought to have the mentality of doing anything to obtain certain things, or to accumulate merit. Everything is his responsibility and mission. In plain words, everything would be the manifestation of the abilities and wisdom of a Lord or King at a certain level, created by Dafa."
Every great enlightened being has his or her own principles that he or she is enlightened to. Although they all originate from Dafa, they are all different. Judging from a person's appearance, clothing, and the manifestations of their mighty virtue, their differences are enormous. Therefore, the way they do things and how they think about things will not be the same, either. Each enlightened being is "a lord, entrusted to manage both heaven and earth" at his own level and state, and it is the power of the Fa that brings us together and dissolves all lives into a whole. From the immense universal view, each enlightened being is like a tiny particle, a tiny portion of a far wider range of the universe or the cosmos. But in the microscopic view, wouldn't each enlightened being be a complete universe or cosmos?
Then, for practitioners who display the mentalities of an ordinary person, why do we always impose our own ideas onto others? For example, sometimes when I proposed certain ideas and others did not agree, my mind would be uneasy. I would think, "Is this mentality right? Could it really be that the principles I have enlightened to are the most comprehensive and the wisest?" Furthermore, sometimes my own ideas contain many notions and impure factors. Teacher once said, "Nobody should treat Dafa as his own exclusive thing. Get rid of that thought that you've been treated unfairly!" ("Further Elimination of Attachments," Essential for Further Advancement)
Teacher also tells us,
"How should Dafa disciples deal with having arguments? Do you deal with it with upright thoughts? Especially when there are intense conflicts due to differences of opinion, you should look at yourself and see where your heart is positioned. Is it 100% in the Fa? What is your insistence on holding onto your own opinion based on? You must look at the root of this thought." (Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference) [Unofficial translation]
I realized that Teacher is so compassionate as to bestow on us the great and magnificent title, "Fa-Rectification Dafa Disciples." What kind of qualifications do we have to choose how to cultivate and how to let go of attachments? Only when we actually do it, can it be considered "genuine cultivation."
Afterwards I started to take on a more active role. As long as I understood the importance of validating Dafa and clarifying the truth, I would take an active role in doing so. As a result of all sorts of predestinated relationships, I bought a well-equipped computer and a printer. With practitioners' help to overcome some technical difficulties, I was able to provide some materials in limited amounts to other practitioners, to play a supporting role in supplying these materials to practitioners and in doing so reduce the pressure on some of the major material producing centers. One's own cultivation path has to depend on one's own effort to walk steadily through trials, surrounded by all sorts of tribulations. This is a practitioner's path to becoming a deity. Furthermore, in the process we have to completely let go of all sorts of degenerated notions and impurities on different levels, formed over the years in ordinary people's society.
Sometimes when I used my celestial eye to look at those great enlightened beings, I found that though both the principles they are enlightened to and their attire they wear are infinitely different, they are created and established by the Fa at that level. Moreover, the degree of purity, compassion and tolerance in their relationships are beyond words. The state of being that Dafa has created for living beings is incomparably prosperous, rich and colorful. It is impossible that there is only one way to show an existence and only one way for all beings to live. Practitioners have very precious and great predestinated relationships with each other, as we come together in the world to do these great and sacred tasks. Imagine: at the time the truth is revealed, that we remember how we were so attached to other practitioners' mistakes then. We will surely regret being so attached to them and unable to let go of the concerns of ordinary people at that time.
During the process of validating Dafa in the past several years, in particular for practitioners who made truth clarification materials and took on coordination tasks, they were sometimes unusually busy and oftentimes neglected their family life. This has occasionally caused some difficulties for them, to the extent that they relied on other practitioners' help and support. The more a practitioner became this way, the worse their family environment became. In the end, this situation leads to a vicious cycle which fosters the development of many attachments for these practitioners, and these practitioners then use "doing Dafa work" as an excuse to ignore many opportunities to solve issues in leading a normal life. All of these have imperceptibly created additional and intensified tribulations in certain practitioners' personal cultivation, and have seriously affected their own cultivation as well as the completion of Fa-rectification tasks. On the path of Fa-rectification, we must have righteous thoughts and righteous actions to clarify the truth with a sober and rational mind. We also use the divine power bestowed upon us by Dafa to eliminate evil and persist in practicing the exercises. Thus, our bodies are transforming toward high-energy matter and any evil interference is very easy to break through.
I would also like to say that the standard that we need to attain is the standard set by Dafa for the new cosmos. We are not here merely for the purpose of countering the persecution or eradicating the arrangements the evil old forces have made.
Finally, I hope that Dafa disciples in China, together and with overseas Dafa disciples, will advance even more diligently on the path of cultivation.
I would like to bow and heshi once again to Teacher, and heshi to my fellow practitioners.
(1) Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.
Afterword
The "Experience Sharing Conference" is one format within the cultivation method that Teacher created for practitioners. Thus, as Dafa disciples, it is our duty to provide articles to these conferences. Moreover, the process of writing down our experiences is a process to improve ourselves, as well. How do we handle ourselves when writing about issues that we have cultivated well, without attachment to zealotry, and how does one face and handle the things in which one has not cultivated well yet? All of these require righteous thoughts on the part of a practitioner. The persecution has been going on for over five years! Every genuine practitioner has gone through so much. Therefore, a genuine practitioner in no way does not have anything to write about and share.
Therefore, I hope that more practitioners in our area and throughout China will write down their experiences to share with others, and through doing so let us advance together diligently in Fa-rectification cultivation!
Category: Improving Oneself