(Clearwisdom.net) A practitioner recently mentioned to me that he is pressed for time and feels drained at the end of the day, and has regrets for not being able to do any Fa study. I realized something from this. Aren't we all slaves of time, programmed by the physical clock that tells us the time of day or night and what to do--it is time for lunch or dinner, or time to go to bed?
In the back of my mind I know time is also a god in its own right and the old forces use it to deter my progress in cultivation. Since we are all "time bound" and since the clock rules over our lives, it is a constant battle against time. We race against time and fill up every moment with activity which is often not productive, or we are bored stiff and lethargic about the long hours we have on our hands! We get tensed up trying to meet deadlines; we also get stressed not knowing how to pass time; we wish for more hours in a day and long for more hours of leisure.
If at the end of a workday that gets stretched to its limits we are totally beat, then there goes another day without Fa study or exercises or sending forth righteous thoughts. Sometimes, the clock tells us we have missed sending righteous thoughts by a few minutes, and that becomes an excuse to skip it. The clock tempts us to snatch those extra 5 minutes of snooze time as the alarm goes off in the morning, which eventually makes us late for group practice. The clock tells us it is way past bed time, so we put off Fa study for another day.
I realized that if we cultivate well and give more importance to our body clock than to the man-made clock or wristwatch, we won't be limited or restricted by time. Of course, in the everyday world we need to give importance to the physical clock to keep appointments or meet business schedules. But in cultivation, we should stop being "clock watchers." So, if we stop measuring our cultivation by the clock, we can probably spend more time sending righteous thoughts, practicing the exercises, on Fa study and on truth clarification.
Another insight gained recently which has helped me tremendously is that I imagine Master in front of me during the hour-long meditation. I feel I cannot be disrespectful to Master by not sitting through the full hour in a tranquil state. This has helped me every time to sit for an hour with a stronger resolve. When any distracting thoughts come during the meditation, I just think of what Master said,
"My fashen in another dimension knows everything on your mind. Because the concepts of the two time-spaces differ, in another dimension the formation of your thoughts is seen as an extremely slow process. It will know everything even before you think it. Therefore, you should abandon all your incorrect thoughts."
(Zhuan Falun, Lecture 2)
Yet another insight or revelation I had was related to the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts. For instance, in SFRT we first clean the karma within and then with the hand movements we eliminate the evil, "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the evil is completely eliminated."
I feel that the hand movements in the sitting meditation communicate with the divine, and also help in transforming our karma and rectifying the Fa. So do the hand movements in all the four standing exercises not only strengthen and reinforce the energy mechanisms and other things Master has planted in us, but also help in Fa rectification.
It would be nice for practitioners who are lethargic or have a mental block or resistance towards exercises to make a note that by doing the exercises they contribute towards Fa rectification. Of course, we always need to be diligent about the three things Master has asked us to do because each one is complete on its own and contributes towards Fa rectification, and together they work as a potent combination.
We need to realize, as Fa-rectification disciples we can and must affect the cleansing of this world. Did Master Li not tell us that long ago we signed a contract stating that we would assist him with the Fa-rectification of the human world?
The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
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Category: Journeys of Cultivation
