(Minghui.org) Greetings, esteemed Master and fellow practitioners:
Some questions have lingered in my mind throughout my 20 years of cultivation. For example, I have wondered what cultivation is, and how one can break free of the human shell that has formed over thousands of years. I hoped that I could find the answers to these questions through constant Fa study and cultivation, and I also hoped that I could truly help people understand Falun Dafa.
I started practicing Falun Dafa in China in July 1995, and arrived in the United Kingdom in September 1997. I had practiced cultivation in China in a peaceful environment. I spent about five hours daily doing the exercises and studying the Fa.
Overcoming the pain during cross-legged meditation made me realize that enduring suffering is part of cultivation. It was a period during which practitioners were laying a foundation. Practicing cultivation with mainland Chinese practitioners prior to the persecution, I witnessed their forbearance and dedication to the Fa.
Soon after I came to the United Kingdom in 1997, I set up a Falun Dafa association at my university and started a free practice site. Thus, I clarified the truth overseas. I attended the Frankfurt Fa Conference in 1998 and was fortunate to hear Master's Fa lecture. The immense energy released by Master helped me let go of the human way of thinking. This is when I realized that the human way of thinking is the shell that a cultivator has to eventually let go of.
“Cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master.” (Zhuan Falun)
Human Notions Root of Tree, While Attachments Are Branches
My younger brother drowned when I was 10 years old. His death made a great impact on me. The unpredictability and uncertainty of fate made me pessimistic about life. Therefore, I looked for the meaning of life and different cultivation ways at an early age.
By the time I began to practice Dafa, I already took many things in life quite lightly and did not have too many attachments. However, sentimentality was an attachment that was difficult to let go of.
One time, I failed a test because of sentimentality and felt despondent.
“I have cultivated for several years but I am still failing sentimentality tests. What shall I do? Am I a very bad cultivator,” I told Master in my mind.
After I fell asleep, I dreamed that I stepped onto green grass in a garden. All of a sudden, my body became light as a feather and I slowly began to levitate. As I was flying, I felt that a layer of a microscopic substance, which was part of the sentimentality that had wrapped up my whole body, had dissolved. I felt I was surrounded by a kind of sacred and warm energy.
Human thoughts had left me. I knew where they still existed, but I did not have to touch them. Eventually, I arrived at a place, where I saw a god who resembled a Westerner.
I woke up but the dream remained remarkably clear in my mind. I knew that Master hinted that sentimentality is a substance that could be eliminated through cultivation.
I am grateful to Master for his revelations, which have helped me to remind myself to constantly look within for my human notions.
Through constant Fa study, I came to understand that every attachment is a substance, and that every attachment is attached to a human notion. Eliminating human notions is especially important to a cultivator. Human notions are like roots of a tree, while attachments are just the branches and twigs above ground.
Breaking Through Notions
As a coordinator and a reporter for the Epoch Times’s coverage of Shen Yun performances in Europe, I followed Shen Yun around Europe for a month in 2009.
I had an irregular work schedule and the immense pressure took a toll on me. I was in a constant state of karma elimination throughout the trip. For the first time in my life, my cough was so bad that my chest bones were aching and it was difficult to fall asleep. I knew it was evil interference, and made sure I practiced and sent forth righteous thoughts every day. The good thing was that the symptoms disappeared when I was doing the interviews.
The continued physical suffering became a bit too much. One week before it was time to pack my bags and return home, I asked myself if I should cut the trip short and go home early for a rest. But then I thought that I could not disrupt the Shen Yun coverage and affect the quality of reporting, especially since I was one of the most experienced reporters.
At home, I thought I could finally take some time off and recuperate and my wife agreed. However, I got an email from the Edinburgh Shen Yun coordinator, who asked if I could help with the coordination for their Shen Yun. Though I was still in a lot of pain, I did not hesitate and said yes.
When I got to Edinburgh, my physical pains continued, but I did not tell anyone. All the symptoms disappeared by the time Shen Yun arrived in Edinburgh. I realized that, when going through karma-elimination, if one does not think that it is an illness, one can end the interference.
All through the years, I always reminded myself not to slack off in my Fa study and exercises. Fa study is something a practitioner must do on a daily basis in order to purify his thoughts. And the exercises are also an important part of our cultivation. As a Dafa disciple, one cannot overlook any part of our Dafa cultivation because of the attachment to comfort.
Remove All Human Notions
Thanks to Master's immeasurable compassion and care, I could eliminate my human notions one by one after I went through numerous trials and tribulations. When I sent righteous thoughts, I could completely separate the thoughts from my daily job. I could clearly sense that the human notion is dispensable.
In one of my dreams, I meditated with a group of practitioners in a high level dimension. I received a message that said that the Fa is rectifying the human world. I saw thunder, lightning, wind and rain in the human world, which stopped after about 20 minutes. Another message came through that the Fa had rectified the human world. Some practitioners were worried about their families and therefore looked downwards to the human dimension and I could see one after the other falling down to the human world. I shouted not to look downward and woke up.
I clearly recalled the scene and understood that Master hinted that human notions should not be kept by Dafa disciples. One would consequently be kept in the human world instead of consummating.
While facing constant pressure and tests, I can break through it by thinking this could be the final day of the Fa-rectification. In recent months, when I did the exercises in the morning, I could soon enter into the emptiness. There is no mind or my body, but only me and the emptiness.
The Fa-rectification is a rapid process. The trials and tribulations are an opportunity to improve. I feel that I haven’t studied the Fa enough as my human notions are sometimes coming out.
I hope I can live up to Master's expectations. I will try my best to fulfill my mission and duty as a Fa-rectification period disciple.
Thank you Master!Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2015 UK Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference)
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