Shared at the Germany 2001 Conference
Dear Master, dear fellow practitioners:
During the past few weeks and months of Dafa work, I have recognized that I am partly responsible for certain difficulties. For instance, in speaking with politicians and other people I have sometimes attempted to win their approachability through psychological cunning and intellect. Prior to meeting them I would ponder and plan what would be the best strategy to speak with them and gain the best possible results. Utilizing this manner of thinking and planning, however, has seldom brought a good outcome. There was a certain nuance to my words that turned people off. Besides, by merely thinking about strategies I have never really found a sensible Dafa activity [to do]. I also experienced [the frustration of] having made wrong timing calculations and I was not prepared to act when I needed to, especially when there was a particular activity to do, for instance to inform the media. Those were all hindrances that came from me looking for solutions on the human level. All those impediments had influenced my work for Dafa, until I realized the fundamental reason is my lack of "Compassion and Tolerance."
Compassion alone should have been my guide in all these situations. Then I would have automatically found the right approach. When I realized this, compassion became the most important "advisor" for my Dafa work. When I no longer asked myself what the correct time line would be to contact journalists, and instead told myself, "hey, it's important for this guy to know this," I found that I had the correct balance of cordiality, courage and perseverance and could present the truth about Dafa in its correct form. During those moments it didn't bother me any longer what the other guy would think about me. That had become unimportant. That way of doing things, however, was harmonious and on an even keel only as long as I truly embraced compassion without self-service and held my heart in that way. As soon as compassion became a pursuit, as a means to an end, I was once again on the level of everyday people and my efforts were less successful. In connection with this realization I discovered something else: that cultivation during Fa-rectification is a higher form of self-cultivation, has a better cultivation-aura and more strictly requires us to conform to Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance.
Without these principles during Dafa work, the demons will jump in the breach and take full advantage. One then begins to make mistakes in one's cultivation, whatever or however much work we have done. This in turns brings about the curious situation where people are less likely to listen to us. In the present Fa-rectification phase our righteous thoughts become weakened.
Not long ago I had been invited to my aunt's birthday party. She arranged the seating order -- six persons per table. I was sitting together with senior people, all strangers. In the beginning our conversation was a bit stilted and revolved around small talk. But yet, in this situation I did not think furiously how I could stir the talk toward Falun Gong. I followed the tenets of compassion and decided not to pressure anyone into a conversation about Falun Gong. In some way I even felt a certain tolerance for their small talk. Once I acceded to their manner of conversing they became interested to hear about me. I followed the flow and then eventually began to tell one person beside me about Falun Gong. Pretty soon the others around the table wanted to hear more and in the end, everyone around the table knew what cultivation is about and what the principles for cultivation entail. A few flyers and newspapers rounded out the [informal] presentation. When I left, they let me know how valuable the dialogue had been and why Falun Gong plays such an important, good role to uphold people's morals.
Who would have guessed that at least five people obtained the Fa during this celebration? One can spread the Fa and rectify it in all kinds of life's circumstances, even during a family event. To do this job well, however, to master the situation within the framework of Fa-rectification, compassion is the most important factor that helps me to find the right steps, the right momentum and the right words. This selfless compassion, that only thinks of the well-being of others, is what differentiates Dafa work from other kinds of garden-variety missionary work.
Some other types of disturbances manifest themselves in my family environment; those that want to ferret out my buried cultivation loopholes or attachments. It could be that interests from the time before cultivation are rekindled or it could be that human values are close to the surface. I am being tested once more to find out if I can really let go of everything. Only after I looked upon that [subject] as interference was I able to push those human desires aside. I understood it to be a test to see whether I can put aside the last attachments and human values in this world. As Master Li had told us in the Fa-teaching session in Washington, D.C. that "it is guaranteed that attachments that are not given up are sure to be utilized and taken advantage of by the evil. Those evil beings zero in on your bad thoughts and reinforce them." And it is precisely that what I had experienced lately. At the same time I realize that as much as I am filled with the Fa in many ways, I am not solidly standing in the Fa. It is easy to blurt out that one uses every spare minute to work on Fa-rectification, but it is not so easy to really let go of everything for Dafa, for instance in the way the practitioners in China show us.
Many times have I experienced how our attachments are being taken advantage of [by the evil] to hinder us in our Dafa work, by weakening our resolve or by trying to keep other people away with our attachments or cultivation loopholes. Sometimes they are minor things, such as impatience or the notion for a fight, by interrupting others in a conversation, either practitioners or ordinary people, or to assume an arrogant, demanding demeanor in contact with politicians, that they are required to help us, or being overbearing and "high and mighty," because we are, after all, Dafa practitioners. For instance, once I hastily wrote an e-mail to another practitioner. This e-mail was so confusing that, as a result, our mutual [Dafa] work suffered for a certain time afterward. That was an outcome of my lack of compassion. When dealing with practitioners, sometimes we forget to act with compassion.
When my attachment shows as impatience with time constraints, when I have little time or consider my time too important, I am then especially inundated with tasks that require large blocks of time to complete, so that I can hardly find time for Dafa activities. The past few weeks I simply could not catch up and I asked myself how I was supposed to complete everything. Only when I gave up thinking about the dimension "time" and simply did that which needed to be done, the going got easier. The more I am able to restore the relationship between Dafa and the human world, the more I have been able to live according to the tenets of cultivation while living among everyday [people in] society, the easier it has been for people to be able to listen to me once again and I have been able to rectify the Fa.
During a conversation with another practitioner we both discovered that the easiest way to close all cultivation loopholes and get rid of attachments, especially lately, is to study the Fa. The more the understanding of the Fa improves, the faster one will elevate. It is exactly as Master said a long time ago in appealing to our hearts -- when we are firmly rooted in the Fa, Master is able to help us.
In closing I would like to share a small experience that showed me how an attachment almost prevented me from doing Dafa work.
I had an appointment with a councilor. I had the wish for perfection. Therefore, shortly prior to the appointment I decided I must certainly print another information flyer, in addition to the one I already had. The second I realized that it was only my addiction to perfection that I wanted to print this additional flyer I abandoned the thought. I sensed that this [additional printing] was going to push me toward my time constraint, and therefore I did not lose another minute and left immediately for the appointment. Although I had left with time to spare, I arrived punctually at the politician's office. That was important because the politician had to depart earlier than assumed and could give me only 20 minutes for an interview. But that worked to my advantage, because at the conclusion of the visit he assured me that he would further investigate with people from an international organization and then write an appropriate letter.
There is much to be done during the current phase of Fa-rectification. I told you a little of my present understanding from my own experiences. I hope to be able to do more for Fa-rectification in the future.
Many Thanks!