(Minghui.org) We are grateful for Master Li’s compassionate care and enlightenment, which helps us understand the importance of group Fa study and the responsibilities and missions of Dafa disciples. Our study site was established more than 10 years ago. During these years, my fellow practitioners and I have continued to study the Fa together and distribute Dafa fliers, even in the worst years of the persecution.
Most of us are middle-aged or elderly. We typically distribute Dafa fliers and brochures during the day and study the Fa at night.
We've distributed Dafa information to more than a dozen villages, totaling about 3,000 to 4,000 households. We do our best not to miss or duplicate a single household in any village.
Every practitioner who studies the Fa at our site is diligent. What we do may seem trivial and ordinary, but it requires righteous thoughts to be able to do trivial things. For example, we all have our own fields to farm. But whether we are busy or not, or how the weather is, we always get to Fa study on time. It is easy to do this for a day or two, but it’s not easy to do it for 10 years.
We study the teachings together in a house a practitioner-couple owns but is not using. It is always nice and clean. The lights were replaced with high-wattage ones so that we could study the Fa at night. The couple installed an air conditioner, so we would not perspire and soil the Dafa books.
One practitioner had symptoms of an ear infection and couldn’t hear when we were reading. But he insisted on attending our group study. Other practitioners sent righteous thoughts for him. He didn’t regard it as illness and kept studying the Fa and doing the exercises at the site. In two months, his infection was gone. He passed the test. He said he truly experienced the power of the Fa and the effect of group study.
Two of us never attended school and were illiterate. After those two joined the Fa-study group and began to study with us, they were able to read Zhuan Falun. They were able to read all the other Dafa books and new lectures after some time.
All the practitioners at the Fa-study site once used reading glasses. After they began cultivation, they all got rid of their glasses. At first, the text was blurry, but gradually they all could read the books without glasses.
One practitioner’s family member operated a branch office for the credit union in the village. Relatives and friends deposited their money through him. The manager of the credit union later embezzled funds, and people lost their money. Many of them went to the practitioner’s home to demand their money back. Some threatened him and his family. He was petrified.
We studied the Fa with him and discussed the situation with him. He gradually realized that it was not he, himself, who was frightened, rather, it was the old forces that caused the fear. His attachment to fear suddenly disappeared when he realized this.
Later, the credit union sold some of the real estate it owned and repaid part of the debt. The practitioner and his family paid 10% of it. All in all, people got 80% of their money back. The issue was thus resolved rather satisfactorily, and it was a miracle given the situation.
Through this incident, the practitioner found many attachments. He also realized that the family member was in an abnormal state because he, himself, didn’t do well.
Another practitioner’s family planted corn in their field. At harvest time, an operator mishandled the machine and destroyed many piles of corn that had been picked. The practitioner took the loss herself and did not ask the operator for compensation. Another time, someone mistakenly steered a tractor into the practitioner’s cornfield and destroyed many crops. She did not ask that person for compensation, either.
One practitioner was over 80 years old. Her husband was paralyzed and bedridden. But she came to our group Fa-study in the evenings and then helped her husband to wash up and get into bed after she got home.
For over 10 years, those of us in our Fa-study group have encouraged and helped each other to improve together. We now do the three things with ease. When we go out to clarify the truth, people who already know the truth will greet us as if we are related. They ask for Dafa information, Dafa calendars, and sometimes copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. There were also people who asked for Zhuan Falun and began to cultivate.
Master said,
“As you know, from July 20 of 1999 up through the present we have witnessed society as well as people’s hearts changing, bit by bit, just as we have witnessed changes in people’s perceptions of and attitudes toward Dafa disciples and the wicked CCP. If you had not taken action in the face of those evil circumstances, nobody would have taken action on your behalf, for people have all been waiting for you to save them. The true victims of persecution are the world’s people, not you.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI)
Now the environment is relaxed, and we are mature. People know the truth about Dafa and are less afraid. They dare to openly listen to us clarify the truth to them. The Fa-rectification process is coming to its end. Those practitioners who didn’t think much of group Fa-study might be advised to talk more with fellow practitioners who did and who stepped forward earlier. They will then realize how important and wonderful group Fa-study is.
Master said,
“Since this is the form in which our Dafa spreads, this form has been left to you, and future generations will do it this way, too. That’s excellent. This isn’t to say that those who go back to practice at home aren’t good anymore; many of them have already cultivated quite well.” (“Teaching the Fa in New York City,” Lectures in the United States)
There are practitioners in our neighboring village who do not participate in group Fa study. Some villages even don’t have a Fa-study site. Practitioners in our Fa-study group are worried about that and do not know how to help them. We are sharing our experiences of group Fa study here and hope they can see its importance.
We cited some of Masters lectures related to group Fa study to share with fellow practitioners, hoping to awaken those who do not participate in group study:
“Question: After a long while of conforming to the state of ordinary human society, it’s very easy to drift with the current, isn’t it?
Teacher: That’s true. That is why I’ve said all students should go to practice sites to exercise and attend group study regardless of whether you’re beginners or veterans. That environment will cleanse you, and constantly cleanse your language, conduct, and notions that have been contaminated by everyday people.” (Teaching the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference)
“Also, during the course of cultivation you have all come to know that this environment of ours is very good. At the practice sites everyone can open his heart and say freely what he wants to. This isn’t possible anywhere else in human society. That’s why every student can feel that upon arriving at the practice site he has entered into a pure land and has stepped into a place that is most sacred. People all care about each other in a way that “you care for me and I care for you.” This can’t be found in any other human setting.” (Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference)
“If you cultivate at home, truly conduct yourself as a practitioner, and cultivate solidly and steadily, then you aren’t worse off than cultivating outside. But human beings usually have laziness in them—you can’t deny it—because your thoughts haven’t yet elevated to that level. When you stay away from the group practice environment, it’s as if you won’t be spurred on, and you lose an external condition that drives you in cultivation. For example, when we do the meditation, if other people are enduring the unbearable pain yet no one takes down his legs, you’ll feel embarrassed to take yours down. This compels you to increase your exercise time. That is, an environment like that pushes you forward in many respects. Without that environment, if you don’t handle yourself well, you won’t be spurred on by that external factor, you might slack off, and you won’t manage to be diligent. Although you’re still practicing, your progress might be much slower. That’s the relationship.” (Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
“The cultivation practice form that I have left for Dafa disciples ensures that disciples can truly improve themselves. For example, I ask you to do the exercises as a group in parks in order to form an environment. This environment is the best way to change the surface of a person. The lofty conduct that Dafa disciples have established in this environment--including every word and every deed--can make people recognize their own weaknesses and identify their shortcomings; it can move their hearts, refine their conduct, and enable them to make progress more rapidly. Therefore, new students or self-taught disciples have to go to the practice sites to do the exercises.” (“Environment,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Thank you, Master.