(Minghui.org) The Ninth Experience Sharing Fa-conference for Practitioners in China began on November 8, 2012 and ended on November 30 [Note: Experience-sharing articles continue to be translated for overseas Minghui websites]. In about three weeks' time, local practitioners read the Fa-conference articles every day, feeling grateful to Teacher and marveling at fellow practitioners’ selflessness, as well as their righteous thoughts and actions in saving sentient beings. The Fa-conference allowed practitioners to find their gaps and correct any deficiencies, thereby becoming more diligent in saving sentient beings.
1. Becoming More Diligent While Seriously Facing the Attachment to Comfort and Ease
A practitioner said, “When I visited the Minghui website on the night of November 8, the line of words – 'Minghui Fahui | I Am Willing to Hold Sentient Beings in the Palm of My Hand' appeared in front of my eyes with powerful energy. Reading one Fa-conference article after another, I was shaken by practitioners’ truthfulness, frankness, and selflessness in saving sentient beings. No matter which way they used to save sentient beings – writing letters, using cell phones, or talking face to face, practitioners put to use all their capabilities and heart at their individual levels. They looked upon the sentient beings as dearer than their own family members. Various golden paths that practitioners walked in saving sentient beings emerged in front of my eyes while I was reading the articles. Only Dafa disciples created by the great Teacher could perform such noble and benevolent acts of validating Dafa in this world.”
I had a dream that night. Every practitioner had a tall pile of homework notebooks in front of him. The book on top of my pile was marked only 47 points, which was below the passing grade. I anxiously examined all my other books. I always did well in the past, how come I failed this time? Right then, a notion appeared in my mind: It is because I have been taking it easy and have been lazy.
Teacher talked about practitioners’ attachment to comfort and ease in “Fa-rectification Period Dafa Disciples” in Essentials for Further Advancement II:
“Master’s heart has always been pained by those who have fallen, and the majority were ruined by that pursuit.”
Teacher also said:
“Cultivation and Fa-rectification are serious. Whether you are able to treasure this period of time is, in fact, a matter of whether you can be responsible to yourselves. This period of time will not last long, but it can forge the mighty virtue of magnificent Enlightened Beings, Buddhas, Daos, and Gods of different levels, and even Lords of different levels. It can also destroy overnight a cultivator who has reached a really high level but who has become less strict with himself.”
Examining myself, I have been doing the three things. But did I devote all my effort? How much? Finding my deficiencies, I corrected myself. I began to do the morning exercises again. I studied the Fa, and worked hard on Fa-validation tasks. During this time, I met numerous customers in my work. I prepared the “2012 Minghui Weekly Special Edition” and other Dafa informational materials and gave each of them a copy. I found that as long as one’s main conscience is strong and is determined to do well, one will feel that Teacher is standing by and helping.
During the Fa conference, we happened to be rescuing several local practitioners who had been illegally arrested. In cooperating with other practitioners, I let go of my own opinion and followed other practitioner’s arrangements, but deep in my mind I had prejudice and complaints against them. Reading “Unselfishly Help Fellow Practitioners and Elevate Together” (English version not posted) and “Eliminate Isolation While Looking Inward” (English version not posted) and comparing it with my own behavior, I found that I had a deeply rooted attachment of “validating myself” and “seeking fame.” The practitioner wrote in the sharing article: “On the surface it was that this other practitioner should not have done it that way and was not adhering to Teacher’s requirements, in reality it was because of my attachment. In “The Great Victorious Rescue” (English version not posted), the author says, “The failures in the past were often because practitioners did not cooperate fully. They all complained about other practitioners’ deficiencies. In reality it is a true reflection of their not looking inward. Behaving that way is actually following the principles of the old cosmos.”
After I had identified these attachments and eliminated them, I found that I had no more dissatisfaction toward fellow practitioners. I only quietly helped them and did what I needed to do. A week later, the practitioner who coordinated things said to me, “You've had a big change. Last time I could strongly feel your self-centered substances, but now it's all gone.” I think it must have been Teacher encouraging me via another practitioner’s mouth. The time left is short. We do not have time to correct our inadequacies at a leisurely pace. As long as we have the will and determination to change, we will feel that Teacher is helping us remove the bad substances.
Now everyone in our area cooperates very well. All participating practitioners and the family members of those being rescued have resolved their disagreements and have been working together well. In the process, many people in the police station were saved, and the practicing family members also increased their Fa-study and have improved their cultivation state.
2. Change Notions and Emerge from “Selfishness”
Another practitioner said, “While reading articles in the Fa-conference, I was wondering why other practitioners can be so fearless, confident and benevolent in their saving people. I am saving people too, but my mindset is far inferior.” The article he was referring to was written by a 63-year-old retired auditing official. He wrote, “On the way to tell people the facts about Falun Gong, I saw from a distance a police car with lights flashing. I felt that it was Teacher signaling me to approach them.” In “The Storm Cannot Stop My Saving People” (English version not posted), when the practitioner was ready to go and tell people the facts, her child said, “It is raining. Maybe you shouldn’t go.” The practitioner said, “You do not stop going to work when it rains. I am saving people, which is much more important than your work.”
Reading these pure and righteous sentences, a layer of my shell was broken. “Helping sentient beings” is the purpose of my existence in the cosmos. In the past I felt that cultivating myself and telling people the facts was quite tiring, and I had become complacent. It was because I had not dissolved in the Fa and I made a distinction between saving myself and saving sentient beings. The bottom line was still about myself. When I put my whole heart into saving people, I suddenly emerged from selfishness. With this change of notion, my Fa study and sending righteous thoughts are now in a completely new state. My angle of looking at things and cooperating with other practitioners have all improved dramatically.
The practitioner said that he tended to procrastinate in the past. In telling people the facts and cooperating with other practitioners, he had a deeply hidden attachment of trying to protect himself. Now he made it simple and eliminated all various thoughts. When practitioners needed to print calendars, he helped them very quickly. When they were short of materials, he went to buy them right away instead of waiting for other people’s actions. When the office machine was out of order, he fixed it quickly. He no longer waits for others to move first, and no longer uses “safety” as an excuse not to act. He only uses the Fa to examine his speech and conduct, and evaluates things in terms of the big picture. He will continue this way as long as it is needed for validating the Fa.
3. Read Fa-conference Articles Promptly and Correct Oneself Upon Realizing Deficiencies
A practitioner said that on the first day of the Fa-conference he thought, “It would be good if those practitioners who do not usually have Internet access could see these articles.” The next day was Friday and he did not see the “Fa-conference Special Edition” when he was downloading the Minghui Weekly. He thought that the Fa-rectification advances daily, so he delivered a memory stick with Fa-conference articles stored on it to Practitioner A’s house. Practitioner A said that from then on he read every article from the Fa-conference. His biggest lesson was that “it is urgent to save people” and he had been too lax, not attending Fa-study regularly and not telling people the facts diligently. Now he is establishing a Fa-study group at his home, and works hard in saving people along with other practitioners.
Another practitioner said that he attended a group Fa study a few days after the Fa-conference had begun. He read an article from the Fa-conference for the practitioners in the group who usually did not get on the Internet. Practitioner B was shaken, and copied the articles right away. From then on he insisted on reading the Fa-conference articles carefully. Practitioner B said, “It moved me a great deal, especially reading the article 'Practitioners Play the Main Role Wherever They Go' (English version not posted). Seeing the state of purity and wisdom of practitioners’ large-scale acts of saving people, I saw my own deficiencies. Because of my own attachment to fear and laziness, I missed many opportunities in saving people. I decided to correct myself right away.” She and other practitioners in the Fa-study group researched a new cell phone that could access the Internet in order to clarify the facts to people. Practitioners also passed on safety instructions and technical information. She said, “I will buy the cell phone right away and use it to inform people of the facts on the way to and from work.”
One practitioner was kept very busy due to work. She took the time to read the Fa-conference articles that another practitioner copied for her. She said, “I used business as an excuse for the attachment to ease and laziness. After reading the sharing articles in the Fa-conference, I set up my computer and began printing calendars before I went to work, and went home to change the side. By the time I finished work, the printing was done. Learning from practitioners in the Fa-conference, I started from every little thing, and cherished every moment of Fa-rectification cultivation.”
A practitioner who was very strict with himself said, “After the Ninth Fa-conference, I am more sure of one thing; that is that we are here to assimilate ourselves with the Fa and save sentient beings. Aside from the three things, everything else is meaningless. A Fa-conference stimulates practitioners to cultivate themselves more and save people more devotedly. It allows us to cherish this wonderful historical moment and accomplish our sacred missions.”
Our thanks to the Minghui Fa-conference in China. Thanks to every practitioner who wrote articles.