(Minghui.org) In Chinese, just like in English, the word “cherish” means to value and dearly treasure something. People attach great importance and love and care for rare, priceless things. In fact, only those who know how to truly cherish things are able to possess and have real happiness.
But for Dafa practitioners, what is truly worth cherishing? Below is my personal understanding of this.
Without a human body, one cannot become a divine being no matter how hard one might wish for it.
Why did we give up being a divine being to descend to the Three Realms? It was so that we could attain human bodies and help Master rectify the Fa, and that only. Wealth and sentimentality in the human world are meaningless to cultivators.
The human body is of great value if used to obtain an Attainment Status; otherwise, the human body will just accumulate karma. Only by devoting it to validating the Fa and awakening sentient beings will the responsibility of a human body be fulfilled.
The Fa is spread only once, so it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to encounter Dafa with a human body.
Knowing that Dafa is an unparalleled treasure will help us study the Fa attentively and cherish every word, which in turn will show us the Fa's inner meanings.
We have the responsibility to cherish and protect our Dafa books once we know the preciousness and solemnness of the Fa. Our true xinxing standard will be shown by how well we protect the Fa against people who wish to harm it.
We are Dafa disciples and have the responsibility of safeguarding the Fa since we exist alongside the Fa-rectification.
Hypothetically, if only 30 years have been left for Fa-rectification in our history of 200 million years, this means that nearly 20 years have passed and that there are only 10 years left – equivalent to just over 3,000 days. When given such limited time, what could be more important than Fa-rectification?
In Fa-rectification, we have to fulfill our responsibilities of sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil and also clarifying the truth.
Silently caring, selflessly giving, and bearing everything without complaining–Master's compassion is everywhere. From scooping us up from hell, to giving guidance to us in the illusory world, to encouraging us after we fall and forgiving us after betrayal, Master cherishes us in omnipresent ways.
It is because of Master's cherishing that we avoid misfortunes, return after getting lost, and are awakened. Without Master's cherishing, we would be struggling in hell, suffering endlessly. Therefore, we have the responsibility to treasure Master's salvation and constantly bear it in mind, for only then can we be self-disciplined.
In this huge world, it is not easy to meet, cultivate in the same Fa, be under the same Master, and save the same group of sentient beings. We should help and support each other as we walk this path together.
Master said,
“What this means is, a large portion of the Dafa disciples came with those cosmic bodies, and everybody formed karmic relationships. Once you've reached Consummation and returned it'll be almost impossible for you to see each other again, even if you want to. So, you should treasure this part of your karmic relationship.” (“Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference” in Teaching the Fa at the Conference III)
We could be close together today and be scattered everywhere the next instant with no promise of ever meeting again. Thus, everyone has the responsibility to let the practitioners around us feel our warmth and the warmth from the Buddha Fa, and encourage other practitioners to have stronger righteous thoughts and compassion with our presence.
We are responsible for disintegrating resentment and eliminating barriers; we should have mutual understanding and mutual tolerance for each other and cultivate diligently together.
On the path of cultivation, interference from the old forces, obstacles from the rotten demons, sabotage from the evil party, and obstructions from sentient beings can present themselves at any time. However, with help from Master, encouragement from practitioners and determination from ourselves, we can (and have) overcome these obstacles.
We will only be able to cherish the future by cherishing the past as well. We have to try not to go to extremes or follow notions blindly as we continue on our path and mature.
Time is merciless. Time is deliberate. Whoever cherishes the time to cultivate will prolong his life; whoever cultivates diligently will be able to Consummate.
In this critical period of history, every moment is of crucial importance, and we should utilize every minute fully. Whoever wastes this time is neglecting himself and destroying his future.
We become unconscious when we are asleep, making every waking moment that much more precious. One will sorely regret it if one relaxes and does not seize the day.
Opportunity knocks but once. It is rare to have a human body, Fa-rectification, Master, fellow practitioners, and time simultaneously gathered together before us. We would regret it eternally if we missed this golden opportunity. If we still do not know how to cherish it now, we really cannot be saved.
Cherishing our time is to be responsible for ourselves. We'll only deeply appreciate every word of the Fa when we treasure Dafa, and we will only keep the Fa in mind constantly when we value Fa-rectification. Our hearts will be linked together as practitioners when we treasure each other–we will be able to go all out only if we truly value this time deep down.
Life has no return ticket; the world has no medicine to cure regret. Do not inadvertently miss the opportunity and predestined connection with the Fa.
For Fa-rectification disciples, this time is used for sentient beings to be awakened and for us to achieve success in cultivation.
Time will neither stop nor wait for anyone. Only when we cherish everything around us, walk every step steadily and sincerely do our best can we have more happiness and less regret.