(Clearwisdom.net) Are some of our young practitioners not treating cultivation truly seriously? Here I'd like to share my experience with fellow practitioners.
1. Practicing the Exercises
I am in my twenties. I started studying the Fa in 1996 when I had just graduated from middle school. I considered myself a "child practitioner" and subconsciously wished to be treated specially by my parents and other practitioners. Under the attachments of showing-off and zealotry, I looked for excuses for not applying the strict requirements to myself. The gaps between myself and adult practitioners were: rarely attending group Fa study and group exercise under the excuse of being busy with school study; not spending enough time doing the exercises every day; and even the skipping exercises some days. This bad situation continued for a long time. I felt that I was "special." This wrong thought deviates from a cultivator's standards and was a big omission for me! I used the excuse that "improving my xinxing is more important than doing the exercises every day." This delayed the transformation of my benti and breakthroughs in levels, and developed an attachment to comfort.
2. Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts
After realizing the seriousness of my problem, I measured myself against the standards of a Dafa disciple and discovered that I was way behind. Although Teacher has stressed the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts many times, I still couldn't meet Teacher's requirements of doing so four times a day. Quite often I fell asleep when doing that. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, I couldn't concentrate and my mind wandered off. But I felt it was OK and didn't pay enough attention to it. That basically gave the evil lives a place to live and escape, causing our group as a whole to not eliminate evil most effectively. After realizing the problem, I immediately changed myself and sent forth the righteous thoughts diligently.
3. Relationship with Parent Practitioners
Many young practitioners started studying the Fa when they were children and followed their parents well. Our parents' cultivation has played a very big role for us. But that also leads to an issue, that we young practitioners tend to have strong attachments to and dependency on our parents. We have not found our own position, which created certain conflicts and situations that are not from the Fa. The real relationship between ourselves and our parents is the relationship of cultivators. We should be more diligent and advance together but not interfere with each other's cultivation. I should apply stricter requirements on myself not to be moved by qing, and to clearly understand the meaning of "Dafa practitioner." In that way, we can truly be responsible for our lives and do well on our own.
Incorrect notions that were formed at very early age made us think that school study can't be compromised and our work must be completed well. We forgot to put Dafa in the first place in our minds and actions, missing our true mission and the most important thing of our lives. Teacher said in ("Gaining the Fa," Hong Yin, Translation A)
"Cultivate Dafa with all your heart,
Nothing could be more important.
Become one with Dafa,
And Consummation is, in time, certain."
I can't excuse myself for not being diligent any more. I must remember to put Dafa at the first place and make sure all my thoughts and actions are based on Dafa's requirements, using Dafa to decide whether certain words should be said or certain actions should be taken. That's the basic manifestation of a true Dafa disciple. We should treat cultivation seriously and complete well, with no compromises, the three things that Teacher asked us to do.
Please point out my gaps.
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