(Clearwisdom.net) I would like to thank the Minghui Website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) for providing practitioners throughout the world such a good platform for sharing experiences with fellow practitioners as well as non-practitioners. Through reading the articles, we can find our shortcomings so that we can improve faster.
I was sentenced to a 7-year prison term in 2005. Although I was released before the term was served, I was unable to recover from the setback. Therefore, I began to memorize the Fa and read the articles published by practitioners on Dafa websites. I improved daily and finally could shed my passive state. I passed tests and tribulations and became a truly steadfast practitioner.
In the past when writing articles for an experience sharing conference, I always wrote my article at the last moment. This time, because of a hint from Teacher, I wrote the first draft of my article before September 15. I could review and make 9 important changes before submitting it on the September 25 deadline. I read my article after having done the three things daily. Every day, I found that there was room for improvement in many parts of my understandings. I discovered that writing an article is a process of summing up experiences, searching for gaps, sorting out thoughts and addressing my weaknesses. During this process I could see the remarkable improvements I had made. I could let go of a lot of attachments and notions in the process. Therefore, the article became purer. My train of thought also became very clear so I was able to write very quickly.
I knew Teacher looked after me and protected me. No words can express my gratitude toward Teacher. Therefore, I can only cultivate more diligently to pay the debt of this gratitude.
I became a genuine practitioner in May 2003. I am 28 years old and have practiced Falun Gong for more than five years. I truly benefited a great deal from practicing Falun Gong. I'm certain that every practitioner can write a book about the path they walked on and every page would become a long story. For this article, I only wrote anything that left a deep impression on me during the past year. My sharing expresses everything at my own cultivation level. However, words cannot fully express what I truly had enlightened to. I could see different understandings whenever I looked back.
Upgrading Through Memorizing the Fa
I began to practice Falun Gong in 2003. At the time I did the three things very well even though I was a new practitioner. Everything was accomplished with great ease. But, I did not have a solid Fa foundation, as I was a relatively new practitioner. I still held too many human notions and the evil forces also eyed me menacingly. Therefore, I was persecuted several times and took a lot of detours. In the process I also held onto a lot of bad notions, especially the fear mentality. I was very depressed for a period of time. Although I had never wavered in my belief in Falun Dafa, the notions and attachments hindered me from doing the three things well.
I thought about memorizing the Fa, but was not successful. I tried three times, but stopped half-way through. In 2005, when I was taken to a detention center I held one thought: "If I should get out, I must memorize the Fa so that I can truly be immersed into the Fa after being released." Because of this thought I walked out of the detention center several hours later. Unfortunately I did not keep my promise. Every time when I thought about my promise, it would be like a warning stick, "Isn't that lying to Teacher?" What a sin it is to lie to Teacher. This motivated me! It took about ten months to finish memorizing Zhuan Falun. Now I am memorizing the book for the second time.
When memorizing Zhuan Falun the first time around, I had many tests to pass and the tests were all provoking my heart and soul. They were really excruciating. However, as long as I persisted in memorizing the Fa there was no test that I could not pass. Whenever I encountered anything I would instantly think of what the Fa taught me, and I was able to pass the test. After passing these tests and looking back, I found these to be minor tests, just like Teacher said,
"What is given up is not one's self. It's all foolishness in the maze." ("Discarding Attachments" from Hong Yin Volume II)
When memorizing Zhuan Falun for the second time, I realized that a problem would be resolved in an instant if I treated it without notions. At that time I knew that I was using the Fa to guide my thought and rectify my conduct. Only then did I realize that I had formerly understood the Fa perceptually and not rationally. I treated a lot of things with human notions and not with righteous thoughts. Therefore, I accomplished much and I escaped a lot of danger because of Teacher's compassionate protection and not as a result of my cultivation. Honestly, I failed to reach the standard of the Fa, so I could not establish that great mighty virtue.
Now, after letting go of human notions during Fa study I could achieve a different realm when looking at things. I could see through the mortal world and the karmic relationships, pass through life and death experiences and was able to eliminate evil instantly. When encountering a problem I would automatically think of what the Fa taught me and the problem would be resolved. The danger was removed as soon as I looked within. It was as nothing had happened and it was just like a dream. When looking inward and having eliminated an attachment, it was as if I suddenly awakened from a dream and entered a brand new realm. I knew all this came from the Fa. Without Dafa and Teacher I would be not the same "me" today and it would be impossible for me to achieve the mighty virtue of the enlightened beings in the new cosmos. Therefore, I will continue to memorize the Fa. I know the Fa is immense. No matter how I memorize, I will not reach the end. However, I can continue to elevate myself in the Fa.
Letting Go of the Attachment of Lust
The first test for a practitioner is the test of lust. I am certain that I genuinely cultivated in Falun Dafa for five years. Looking back on the path I had walked I saw my past lives. I realized that the old forces had forced upon me great tribulations as far as lust was concerned.
Every practitioner has his/her own fundamental attachment. In the past, I did not know my fundamental attachment. When reviewing my cultivation up to that time, I found that my fundamental attachment was lust and saving sentient beings was a way for me to get rid of all the factors related to lust.
Everyone would, from birth to death, indulge himself/herself in the mortal world, live in a maze and be soaked in emotion. Lust is something of demonic nature derived from sentimentality or emotion (qing). During the times when the human moral standards were high, the demonic nature was suppressed by benevolence. However, during the Dharma-ending period, people hold no benevolent thoughts any more and the old forces purposely controlled human society. Their goal was to have human morality slide down. They used the notion of lust to destroy people and put lust above everything else. Therefore, people are interfered with by lust. As for a practitioner, if his/her thought has not been rectified by the Fa and if his/her thought was that this was the nature of the cosmos, then whenever he/she made mistakes he/she gave the old forces the excuse to destroy him/her.
Since I practiced Falun Dafa, every time when the evildoers wanted to persecute me, I would have the test of lust in my dreams. Fellow practitioners who failed to pass the lust test would have another opportunity to do better the next time. But, with me, when I failed to pass the lust test I would be arrested within a few days' time. It always was like that. Later, when I was able to be diligent in the Fa, the lust test was reduced and I knew how to negate lust in my daily life.
Ending the Persecution from the Angle of the New Cosmos
I think every practitioner wants this persecution, which has lasted for nine years, to end as soon as possible. Then how can we end it? Recently I enlightened that as long as we have done what we should do, the persecution would not exist any more. I think that the fundamental issue is the angle from which we look at this persecution. There are two totally different outcomes, depending on if we look at it with divine or human thoughts. During our cultivation, we are trying to let go of the old cosmos's nature, which was based on selfishness, and become a divine being of the new cosmos, which is selfless. The old cosmos was progressing toward the last stage of formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction. The new cosmos will be perfect and harmonized and will never perish. Therefore, positioning our understanding in this persecution is a decisive issue. Ending the persecution is imminent, however, why did Teacher postpone it again and again? This is because we still have not reached the standard set by Teacher. If the persecution ends tomorrow how many lives would be eliminated? I will not go into detail, as many practitioners have already shared on the issue.
I enlightened that we failed to look at the issue from the perspective of a divine being of the new cosmos. The birth of a divine being needs mighty virtue and many other factors. The same is required of Falun Dafa practitioners. Looking from the surface, practitioners walked into Dafa, but in reality, we were the lives chosen by the cosmos. Teacher only needs one thought to arrange for someone to be a practitioner. On an important issue like this, Teacher would arrange all details. Every life wants to become a Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioner, then why did they fail? We all know that each one of us would walk our own path, which will be of vital importance to the various aspects of the new cosmos. Teacher chose us because he saw our qualifications and various other factors, and therefore made arrangements a very long time ago. Teacher gave us the best of everything and created our abilities so that our origin of matter fostered in the Fa would play the best role in the Fa-rectification period, as to lay the best foundation for the new cosmos. Teacher knew we were able to assist him to rectify the Fa and to fulfill the mission and create mighty virtue. Teacher also knew that we would be responsible to the lives of the new cosmos. These were the reasons why Teacher had chosen us. If this is the case, think about it, when we fail to do well, will it be simply the issue of our own cultivation?
Many people have found that all predictions were not accurate any more. They saw that the natural disasters and human errors, which were to happen, did not happen, and as the persecution during the Olympic Games had reached unprecedented heights, they gave up their cultivation. Then for whom do you cultivate? Didn't the great storms eliminate those who were not genuine cultivators? Didn't this provide the evil forces the excuse to extend this persecution? All this showed that we ourselves were not doing well. As a matter of fact, we failed to correctly treat our cultivation. We treat the persecution with human thoughts instead of measuring it with the Fa.
During the nine years of persecution weren't there a lot of practitioners who were doing very well and were not persecuted? If we all can reach Teacher's standard would the persecution still be possible? Didn't Teacher say a long time ago that we have the ability to end this persecution? Didn't Teacher say we were the principle actors in the play? Then wasn't it a simple matter of whether the principle actors could do a good job in the show and how they could establish their mighty virtue during the show and what they would leave behind after the show? Could "just about right" be counted? Shouldn't we do better? That is to say, each one of us practitioners must check our own cultivation to see whether we reach Teacher's standards. When practitioners reach the standard as an entire body, then an individual practitioner must do even better. At the time when the Lord Buddha rectifies the Fa and recreates the colossal firmament, practitioners should not just simply reach the standard, but should do it better to establish our virtue, to perfect the Fa and obtain what Teacher has prepared for us. Only by doing that would we be the principle actors and that will be really a great Consummation!
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