(Shared at 2001 Washington DC Conference)
Good morning Teacher, good morning fellow practitioners
The title of my experience paper is "Only by Studying the Fa Well Can We Keep Up with Fa-Rectification"
1. Have a clear understanding of the principles of Dafa
As Fa-rectification continues, the Fa has higher and higher requirements for us. At the same time we must have a clear and deep understanding of Dafa. It's like driving a car. The road is full of bumps and curves. We must drive fast while steadily maintaining our direction. We need to constantly distinguish right from wrong. Some roads are very complex. Any delusion and any unclear understanding can result in loss. Corrupt human notions, human sentimentality and all kinds of apparently right but actually wrong thoughts can also affect our path. Not only do these corrupt human notions have a strong foundation in human society affecting every person, but also the evil is now trying to take advantage of even the smallest loophole.
For example, while sending forth the righteous thoughts to eliminate evil, sometimes, I mistakenly treat the tribulation caused by personal attachment as outside interference. Inside interference is different from outside interference.
Sometimes, after hearing what fellow practitioners saw in their dreams, I would believe immediately and without thinking that their dreams were true. I would not think from the perspective of Dafa.
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Teacher said in his article "Take the Middle Way," "Because of disciples' differences in understanding, some disciples always go from one extreme to the other. Whenever they read the Fa I have written they take extreme actions, thereby causing new problems. When I tell you to change your human understandings, I am not asking you to maintain a human way of understanding Dafa. Yet neither should you be irrational or eccentric. I want you to be clearheaded in understanding Dafa."
Teacher has corrected speaking of shortcomings as "dumping dirty water" in the article "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature," and in the article "Correction" pointed out "As a matter of fact, I was very explicit about reading the books in the article, 'Studying the Fa,' which I wrote on September 9, 1995. Besides, the meaning of 'meticulously read' has caused serious interference with 'Studying the Fa.' From now on you must pay attention to the seriousness of this problem."
Especially during the current stage of the Fa-rectification and cultivation practice, handling both personal cultivation and Fa-rectification cultivation well is very important. Teacher has said in the "Speech at the Western US Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference of Falun Dafa", " In the course of your cultivation, each one of you should understand correctly the relationship between your own cultivation and Fa-rectification. How should you view the trials and tribulations that you experience? I can tell you that if a person doesn't have that much karma, he absolutely won't have tribulations that severe. You should clearheadedly distinguish self-cultivation from evil's assault on the Fa. All of the arrangements that have interfered with Dafa, that have tried to forcefully impose something on me or the Fa, are absolutely unacceptable." In the previous period, some practitioners thought being taken away by the evil or detained in prison as the best cultivation way. Teacher has corrected this in his article. Now practitioners have a clear understanding of this issue.
Sometimes, I did not seek to understand the principles of Dafa thoroughly. Thus whenever I had the same problem, I repeated the same mistake. I sometimes ask fellow practitioners, "Why do you do things this way?" The reply is, "So and so asked me to do it this way," or "Practitioners in some area did it this way," instead of understanding why it is done this way. What I refer to are people, not the Fa. If something is done wrong, we give the responsibility to others, instead of coming to a clear understanding of why we were wrong. Although we found the problem on the surface, we did not find the real problem. What we often see when practitioners do not improve in their understanding of the principles of Dafa is that when we are not clear on some issues, we conclude that it is pre-arranged. This explanation seems to have become universal and works for all of the problems that have appeared. Teacher said in his "Lecture at the Great Lakes Conference in North America," " All beings in the cosmos have deviated from this Fa. In other words, their realms and purity, when measured with the standard of the original Dafa of the cosmos, are no longer adequate. So all of their arrangements and assistance have become the biggest obstacle to my carrying out this undertaking. This is because no matter how well they do, it won't surpass their realms." Fa-rectification completely denies all the arrangements of the old forces. If we do not distinguish based on the principles of Dafa, we can easily follow the arrangements of the old forces.
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2. Fa study, genuine cultivation and Fa-rectification strengthen each other
Teacher has more than once emphasized that we must study the Fa, study the Fa, study the Fa. In the past, I often could not balance the relationships of Fa study, genuine cultivation, promotion of Dafa and Fa rectification. Teacher said at "the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference," "You have to work and have to study, you have your family life and social activities, and at the same time you have to take care of your family, do a good job at work, and you have to study the Fa well and do the exercises well, and what's more, you have to clarify the truth." It is truly difficult to handle all of these well. Sometimes, these things got mixed together. I did not integrate them well and created all kinds of conflicts. Because I was busy, I did not have time to study the Fa. Since I did not study the Fa well, the results were not good. My heart got worried. Then I tried to work harder and that gave me even less time to study the Fa. I was thinking about work while reading the book and worrying about Fa study while trying to work. Such a contradictory mentality has caused me to stay on one level for a long period of time. I could not improve, could not have in-depth understanding of the principles of Dafa and could not use what I have learned. There were layer upon layer of human notions and attachments that hindered me.
Looking at the surface and from the perspective of time, these things are opposed to each other. Based on higher principles of Dafa, they perfect and harmonize each other.
If you use the human way, the human state and the human realm, you will get half the result with twice the effort. All we are doing is supernormal and cannot be done or endured by the human mentality.
After experiencing the perfection and harmony of Fa study, genuine cultivation and Fa rectification, my cultivation state changed. The principles of Dafa that I have learned can be used to guide my genuine cultivation and Fa-rectification and problems can be solved while studying the Fa. By this kind of perfecting and harmonizing, my level continuously improved.
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3. Wisdom, ability and realm
Teacher told us the heavenly secret of supernormal abilities in his article "What Are Supernormal Abilities" and in Zhuan Falun talked about the realm of the Buddha, which is one of great ease and great wisdom. He says, "How powerful a Buddha is, and he could wipe out all the human illnesses by waving his hand just once." In the article "Rationality," Teacher said, "Validate the Fa with reason, clarify the truth with wisdom." The realm and the ability of the Buddha are inseparable. During Fa-rectification, I came to understand that we should not just improve our xinxing. We must also increase our wisdom and ability. By looking at what manifests in the human dimension, we see that while doing Dafa work, practitioners with the strongest abilities seem busier and take greater responsibility. On the other hand, some practitioners have been hindered by a lack of human ability. Because of this lack, their response is, "I don't know how to do it," "I've never done it before," "I've never learned it before."
During Fa-rectification, my own abilities grew very quickly. As long as Dafa needs it, I will learn and do and never be hindered by the limitations of my current abilities or current conditions. That I have increased my abilities has enabled me to do much more work with greater and greater ease. My confidence has also grown and I can handle more and more things. Even my ordinary friends admire me very much. This is the wisdom and ability that has grown from the cultivation of Dafa.
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4. Improving while improving as a whole
In article "Take the Middle Way," Teacher said, "This is because whether we can take the right way does not depend only on disciples' cultivating righteously; whether Dafa's overall form is righteous is also a key factor." In "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)," Teacher said, "If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstances, evil is bound to be afraid of him. If every practitioner is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist." We don't simply do personal cultivation, but the Fa-rectification of the whole universe. If one practitioner has a careless omission, the evil will try to take advantage of this practitioner's omission, and if there is omission as a whole, the evil will take advantage as a whole.
Improving as a whole requires greater mind and capacity and a higher basis. Sometimes, practitioners would get entangled in some small details and could not get beyond them. In fact, if you truly think from the perspective of Dafa, the conflict presented by these problems will not be that big. Only if you view the scene from a high level can you see the whole picture. Teacher said in the article "What Are Supernormal Abilities," "In different historic times of the future, if in the cosmos damage to Dafa occurs or when beings perform differently, how Dafa will rectify the Fa and make everything perfect and indestructible is extremely important." If we can learn to allow others' strong points to offset our weaknesses, if we see something, which others did not do well and immediately fix it, and make up for each other, then there will be no omission as a whole.
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