(Minghui.org) Over the past years, many practitioners have studied Master's lectures by memorizing them. Some have shared how good the effect was.
However, some shortcomings arose, such as some practitioners pursuing the speed and quantity read, but rarely looked inward based on the Fa. Some rarely read Master's other lectures, or rarely got involved in clarifying the truth about Dafa. Others paid special attention to how many times certain words appeared, or counted the punctuation.
Before the persecution began in 1999, there were lessons learned by practitioners at our local group practice sites. Some practitioners saw a given practitioner as the role model and copied him – studying three lectures a day. Other practitioners competed with each other as to whom had read more. There were some practice sites that organized intensive Fa study sessions and read nine lectures a day.
Many practitioners studied the Fa as a formality and did not truly cultivate. Some coordinators quarreled or pointed fingers at each other, and eventually reported their problems to Master. Master had to ask the coordinator of other provinces to relay his words to help resolve the issues. However, these coordinators still could not cultivate well, and their conflicts were not resolved for a long time.
After the onset of the persecution, these coordinators were instrumental to those who renounced Dafa. Some even were “transformed” and aided in the persecution. Some of those have not returned to Dafa.
One practitioner could accurately recite long paragraphs of Master's lectures during sharing. Many practitioners understood that he was studying the Fa well. When I was imprisoned, a guard told me that this particular practitioner could memorize Zhuan Falun accurately, yet he still renounced Falun Dafa. I told this guard that Dafa is for cultivation, not just for memorizing. It would be useless for anyone to simply memorize the Fa, and then not cultivate.
Master talk about memorizing the Fa several times:
“Since they began to memorize the book, instead of measuring themselves [against the Fa] after doing something, the students know beforehand whether they should do something. This is excellent.” (“Talk in Guangzhou to Some Assistance Center Heads From Around the Country,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)
“What’s the purpose? It’s to deepen their understanding of the Fa, which really helps the students improve. With such a deep impression [of the Fa] in their minds, whenever they do something they’ll be able to hold themselves to a practitioner’s standard. It really makes a difference.” (“Suggestions Given at the Beijing Falun Dafa Assistants Meeting,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)
“Study the Fa and gain the Fa,Focus on how you study and cultivate,Let each and every thingbe measured against the Fa.Only then, with that,is it actually cultivation.”(“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)
No matter how we study the Fa, reading it, copying it, or memorizing it, the purpose is to study the Fa better, so that we are guided in our cultivation by the Fa and improve our xinxing. We need to ultimately let go of our attachments, improve our levels and achieve consummation.
Let's study Master's teaching again:
“Before, when I discussed enlightening, I expounded on a heavenly secret nobody had disclosed: “Cultivation depends on oneself, while gong depends on one’s master.” For thousands of years people have thought that they themselves were cultivating and elevating. Actually, you can’t achieve anything cultivating [on your own]. Nothing can be resolved if you don’t have a master taking care of you. That is, the real issues are resolved by your master—they’re resolved by the factors behind the Fa. Your own enlightening is only about your continuing to cultivate after you overcome difficulties in your practice. That’s what we mean by “your own enlightening.” As for truly enlightening to something from the principles, if this Fa doesn’t let you know it, you can’t enlighten to it no matter how you try. So you have to meet one condition: You must genuinely practice cultivation.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe)
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Category: Improving Oneself
