(Clearwisdom.net) (Continued from part 1 http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2006/3/25/71174.html)
3. Assimilate to Dafa; Enlighten to the Way and Return to My True, Original Self
Technical difficulties were trivial compared to xinxing tests, which presented the greatest barrier to me in terms of validating Dafa. While making truth-clarification materials, I constantly corrected myself according to the Fa, and step-by-step I matured. I became more and more virtuous and increasingly lived up to Dafa's standards.
In the early stage of the material production site's operation I saw many problems existing among Dafa practitioners in our city. I wrote three articles, hoping they could help correct these issues. I sent them to the Minghui/Clearwisdom website. I thought I would download them after they were published and then hand them out to fellow practitioners. I waited for one week but the articles were not published. I resubmitted them but didn't get any response. I remember that the previous articles I sent were published the next day. What happened? I couldn't understand. Later, to ensure Internet safety, I changed the system administrator's password, and I couldn't open the virtual encrypted disc. All of my Dafa materials were in the encrypted disc. I couldn't figure out how to open the disc, no matter how hard I tried. I was upset for quite a while, thinking that my articles, the fruit of my hard work, were gone. Why did I feel upset? Wasn't I too attached to myself and the petty things I had?
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A"
"Dafa disciples, in your cultivation in the ordinary human world you all have understood something clearly that's based on the Fa's principles, namely, not to be attached to the 'gain and loss' of ordinary people. So when things related to validating the Fa are involved, there too you shouldn't insist on voicing 'my ideas' or on having things done 'my way.' It's not like only then can you establish mighty virtue in the cosmos. If you've got a good idea, well, you came up with it, you're being responsible to the Fa, and it's not important whether your idea is adopted or whether your approach is used. If another person's idea can achieve the same effect and you aren't attached to your own idea and instead you go along with his, then whether you've shared your approach or not, Gods will all see this and think, 'Look, he isn't attached, and he's able to be so tolerant and broadminded.' What do Gods look at? Isn't this what they look at? When you're attached to emphasizing your things you are too caught up in it and the Gods watching above can't stand it. Even though you keep claiming it's for the good of Dafa, and that 'my approach is good' and can reach such and such goal--and maybe that really is the case--still, we shouldn't have attachments that are too much like ordinary people. If you can really do that, all the Gods will say, 'This person is truly remarkable.' It's not like Gods see that your idea worked and then they raise your level. Instead, they only raise your level when they see that your understanding of it has improved. This is a truth in the Righteous Fa. If you're thinking, 'I'll have XYZ happen to me if I've gained such and such amount of merit,' well, yes, that's how it works for an ordinary person, and it might be what's looked at as far as certain facets of the cosmos's Fa-truths go or in a particular situation. But true improvements come from letting go, not from gaining."
When I understood the Fa principle on my level, my mind cleared and I felt very light. I knew what to do. I downloaded the Compilation of Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions and printed more than 80 copies and distributed them among fellow practitioners. The Compilation includes articles about stories of Dafa practitioners in Heilongjiang Province cooperating as a whole body, acting with righteous thoughts and righteous actions and validating Dafa. Many practitioners were inspired by the stories and their righteous thoughts were strengthened.
Now that I look back, although the basis of my articles was correct, my desire for recognition and self-righteousness were mixed in; yet, I was unaware of these attachments and thought I was really righteous. No matter how much progress I have made in cultivation, I cannot get smug. I have to constantly study the Fa and assimilate to Dafa. I also realized that Master told us to "let go," but he is not telling us to give up our own opinions and follow other people's words in everything. I think that is not what Master meant. My understanding of Master's words is that we should not be thinking at all about our self-interest, but instead we should think about any problem from a larger and overall perspective, because at this time our mind is broader and nobler, and we would be able to think about and take responsibility for more beings. It is at these times that we can come up with the best ideas.
My notions during cultivation seem like a great barrier, brought on by interference and resistance from ordinary society.
I grew up in a poor family. My parents had always wanted to me stand out in society. I gave up these notions after I started practicing Dafa but my family did not, and these ideas prevented them from understanding and acknowledging Dafa. These ideas also interfered with their support for and righteous thoughts toward Dafa. I used to make 1,500 yuan a month. My rural family envied me. I had lost everything after the persecution began; as a result, they were unwilling to learn about and understand Dafa.
My cousin was a manager in a large company. Two years ago he asked me to work for him. I turned him down because I wanted to validate Dafa in my city. For a long time I worked jobs that permitted me lots of free time but paid very little. My family couldn't understand me and said some disrespectful things about Dafa. I felt it was really difficult to balance and even out these things.
If I didn't get a good job, none of my relatives and friends would understand me, and their misunderstanding toward Dafa and me would deepen. Didn't we come to rescue sentient beings? Shouldn't they also be saved? I knew that Master chose me and let me shoulder this great responsibility. If I didn't fulfill my responsibility, I would be letting Dafa down, the same as giving up Dafa and giving up my life. What should I do? I thought, "Why did the heavens give me such a tough problem? I wish I could split in two." [That is, have two of me to do different things.]
Master requires of us to practice cultivation while maximally conforming to the state of ordinary society. One of the reasons is to make it possible for more people to understand and learn about the Fa, so more people can be saved. I had not reached this standard and had not achieved this requirement, why? I carefully analyzed it: the persecution from the old forces was the main reason. Dafa will never cease to be harmonious simply because the old forces started the persecution; Dafa is always solid like a diamond, harmonious and indestructible. It's not that Dafa is not capable, but this situation is brought about by our numerous attachments and notions, which prevent us from reaching the standard Dafa requires.
When I look back, if the evildoers had not destroyed the truth-clarification materials production site I would be working at a good job now. Back then, I had a job referred to me by a practitioner from another city, and I was making more than 800 yuan a month. I was also able to validate Dafa well at the same time. After the materials production site was destroyed I had no choice but to stay here. The problems I faced were not just my own problems but also problems concerning the whole body of practitioners. Those problems could only be fixed through the joint efforts from all of us and could not be solved through my efforts alone. Problems would not exist if all of us would do well.
It's obvious that each Dafa practitioner shoulders tremendous responsibility. If we don't fulfill our responsibility, or if we push our responsibility onto others, we cause a great loss to the whole body. If one practitioner is persecuted, the whole body is persecuted. Looking at things from this perspective, we have the responsibility to help other practitioners if they encounter problems. We cannot allow the evil to magnify our problems, take advantage of our omissions and persecute us.
Why was the materials production site in our city destroyed? Wasn't it because we deviated from the righteous path, and practitioners fought for self-interest? Sometimes I feel terrible when I see practitioners accusing each other and complaining about each other. Why don't we think about it? All of us are Master's disciples; why can't we tolerate and understand each other? If all of us are considerate of others, and each practitioner thinks of the other person before himself, would those things still happen? Would the evil elements still have a place to play tricks? When we don't let go of attachments and guard ourselves, that is precisely the instant when we don't want to assimilate to Dafa and could then actually destroy countless sentient beings. The realm of selflessness and altruism cannot be achieved through talking; it has to be achieved through suffering and giving up attachments during solid cultivation. We must first of all have a deep understanding and knowledge about Dafa. With Dafa in our minds, we have to correct every single one of our thoughts and actions at all times. Master has repeatedly told us to read the Dafa books and study the Fa more.
Regarding the difficult problems I have encountered, I also found hard to detect, deeply hidden notions. Because of my past experience, I learned how to protect myself in a complex environment. To be more specific, I learned to analyze other's thoughts and deduce the troubles I might soon encounter by considering others' thoughts and changes in the surrounding environment. In this way I would avoid potential trouble and not let myself get hurt.
However, heaven's plans always supersede men's calculations. Unexpected things always occurred, no matter how much analysis I did. Even if my predications were accurate, I still cannot solve the problem. For example, I predicted the problem mentioned above long before it took place. I delayed it for one year with human methods. Although the immediate problem was solved, the fundamental problem was not. In the end, I saw that after all of my tactics and plans, I had wasted all my energy and time. What do I assume to be the source of this kind of thinking?
Master said in "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be":
"Because human society is a place in which suffering goes hand-in-hand with enjoyment, life does abound with suffering, however wealthy you may be or however high your status. Because pain is hard on people, they try to, consciously or unconsciously, ward off suffering in hopes of leading a more pleasant life. And so it is that in the pursuit of happiness people form ideas about how to avoid harm, how to live well, how to get ahead in society and achieve fame and success, how to acquire more for themselves, how to come out on top, and so on."
Master's article made me realize that my thoughts were odd notions formed in ordinary society. These thoughts, however, are very similar to those of the old forces. The old forces saw that the firmament would disintegrate at a certain point. Out of a being's instinctive thought not to venture near destruction, they made what they thought were the most perfect plans. In the end, however, their arrangements brought them destruction and are causing them to be completely eliminated.
As true Dafa cultivators that assimilate to Dafa, we really cannot keep these bad notions; if we do, we would act the same as the old forces. So what should we do then?
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference"
"If a person can't resolve those fundamental problems of his in cultivation, then you can't say that he's cultivating. What is cultivation? What is the ultimate goal of cultivation? It's to emerge from among ordinary people. When you're no longer one of them, can ordinary people's various conflicts, attachments, and different factors still have an effect on you? Absolutely not. But whether you can emerge from it and cultivate out of it, whether you can forge ahead diligently, whether you will progress quickly or slowly in cultivation--all of that depends on you, yourself. I, as your master, will absolutely be responsible to you. But whether or not you can move forward diligently is still up to you. Could a divine being be swayed by all kinds of human attachments? Not a chance, of course it's impossible. So anything can be resolved. It just depends on how you cultivate. If you're just cultivating with your mind focused on solving that problem, then you're not truly cultivating. Cultivation has to be completely unconditional."
"And with strong righteous thoughts, everything becomes clear. When a person doesn't have clear thinking, that's always when he has attachments that he can't let go. When he feels uneasy inside he doesn't think clearly."
After studying Master's Fa I also understood one of the principles, which is that Dafa created living environments and ways of living for beings on different levels, and beings on a certain level cannot live outside this environment. This environment inevitably restrains them, but they would not be restrained if they went to a higher level. Correspondingly, in ordinary society, the tribulation would perhaps cease to exist if our levels improved. From this perspective, the only way to solve our problems is to assimilate to Dafa, improve our xinxing and raise our level. We cannot look for problems and solutions outside of ourselves. If we always use ordinary people's methods to solve problems and always try to change others and not ourselves, wouldn't we be the same as the old forces?
When I became acutely aware of the Fa principle on my level, I felt incomparably gigantic, and I felt as if no difficulty could stop me. All of my questions dissipated. Later, when practitioners came to my home with greetings and blessings, my mother was really touched. Practitioners studied the Fa, exchanged understandings and experiences with my mother, and her understanding improved and she became clear on the mission and responsibility of Dafa practitioners. She no longer pressured me to get married. The problem that previously seemed like a deadlock is no longer a problem. All problems dissipated. This is the result of our improving as a whole body.
The more I study the Fa, the more I realize the profundity of the Fa principles and their boundless power, and the more I feel Master's infinite compassion and wisdom. The higher I cultivate, the clearer the Fa principles become and cultivation becomes easier. Problems no longer appear as complicated as they did before, and many of them are clear on first examination. Some people think that I do lots things, but I feel that I haven't done much at all, because I have treated the things I did as commonplace as eating and sleeping. Who would think that eating and sleeping are outstanding accomplishments? Maybe this is the realm of non-action!
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003"
"But for Dafa disciples who came to validate the Fa and for beings in the greater cosmos, it's just a matter of making the Fa's salvation a concrete reality. In other words, this Fa was here long ago, and it's just a question of how sentient beings act according to this Fa, or as I put it, how they assimilate over--it just involves this process, that's all. I've said before that nobody can damage this Fa. It's not that I'm creating some new Fa while I'm doing things. The Fa has existed since a very long time ago. It's just a matter of how sentient beings are assimilated to the Fa, that's all."
From this section of Master's Fa I also realized that, as Master had said, He has prepared for us the best things a long time ago; it's just up to us whether we can understand and accept everything that Master wants to give us. In fact, Master created everything and does everything. What can we actually do on our own? The only thing we can do is to thank Master for His boundless compassion and mighty virtue and cherish everything great Master has created for us! Let us do our best to harmonize all that Master has chosen.
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