(Minghui.org) I have been reading the Minghui Weekly every week since the beginning of this year. It has really helped me and improved my cultivation state.
Being In My Own World Hindered My Improvement in Cultivation
I have always valued Minghui greatly. We bought a computer just for getting online to read Minghui in 2003, and a fellow practitioner helped us set it up. Since then, I have been getting onto the Minghui website every day. Each step on my cultivation path has been closely following Minghui.
However, in recent years, I discovered that I had been falling into an incorrect state: I could not sit down and read the Minghui articles with a calm mind. I still went through the process of downloading all the Minghui articles every day, but I only paid attention to the persecution news in my local area, and I only read those sharing articles that interested me. Gradually, even for the local persecution news, I would just skim through them; and sometimes I would not even carefully read one sharing article in several days. Eventually, downloading the articles became a formality.
I did realize that I was deceiving myself and my cultivation was hitting a bottleneck. Sometimes I tried to look for my shortcomings and then found relevant sharing articles on Minghui. But it seemed that my cultivation state was not getting better. How could I make a breakthrough?
Just then, a senior practitioner asked me if I could provide several copies of Minghui Weekly for the local practitioners in her area because many fellow practitioners could not get on the internet. I thought it was a great thing and I gladly agreed. I also realized that it was a hint by Master for me to read the Minghui Weekly.
When I made the first printed copy of Minghui Weekly and held it in my hands, I felt that it was very precious. My wife said that she would also read it carefully, even though she was already thoroughly reading all the Minghui articles every day.
I was also determined to read it with a calm mind. However, hindered by my notions, I only read the cultivation stories section. I was not interested in the overseas news section or China’s comprehensive news section, because I felt they were irrelevant to me. However, my wife told me that she had read it from beginning to end and it had helped her tremendously. She also said that she could not express herself well enough, and I must read it myself to experience it.
I was surprised and on the second week, I also read it from beginning to end, and I was then truly shocked at how much it benefited me.
Reading Minghui Weekly, I Truly Understood What Is Meant By “Compare In Studying, Compare In Cultivating”
Master said,
Study Fa, obtain Fa,Compare in studying, compare in cultivating,Examine each and every deed,Accomplishing is cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)
So what exactly is “compare in studying, compare in cultivating?” I had never really thought about it. There are only a few practitioners who I regularly get in touch with, so when I thought about “comparing,” I would subconsciously compare myself with these practitioners. After a while, I didn’t compare myself with these few fellow practitioners anymore. I even felt that I cultivated pretty well. Now looking back, I realized it was a dangerous situation. Wasn’t that demonic interference from one’s own mind? I had never rationally thought about how I concluded that I cultivated pretty well.
In my current cultivation state, my understanding of Master’s “compare in studying, compare in cultivating” is: First, we must know how other fellow practitioners do things and how they achieve things. At the same time, we look at ourselves and look for our gaps. If I live in my own world and never look at how other practitioners do things, then how could I “compare in studying, compare in cultivating?”
Besides, we should put ourselves into the big one-body, consisting of all practitioners worldwide, and do the comparison there instead of a small circle of a few practitioners. After I carefully read the Minghui Weekly, I suddenly felt as if I was touring in the ocean, and my mind became extremely open.
When we find gaps we have when compared to fellow practitioners, we should solidly cultivate ourselves and truly catch up.
Undoubtedly, Minghui is the best platform for all Dafa practitioners to share cultivation experiences. Each and every one of us should treasure it. The Minghui Weekly has the most important news, key persecution cases, and selected sharing. We should spend time to carefully read it all.
In fact, several years ago, I also carefully read every Minghui Weekly. I improved very quickly and was very proactive in validating the Fa. But later on my human notions appeared, causing me to slide down by quite a bit.
I again carefully read every Minghui Weekly over the past six months. I found many notions and attachments that I did not pay attention to, and I saw my gaps and shortcomings. Moreover, I felt that I gradually got into the one body of all practitioners worldwide, and I no longer felt isolated.
Eliminating the Attachment of Being Complacent
One reason that I was not able to read fellow practitioners’ sharing articles with a calm mind was that I was too complacent and self-inflated. When I calmed down, I discovered that being complacent was actually being unaware of being irrational.
It was not that I did truly better than others. Being complacent made me always look down on others and not care what others do. For example, it led me to think that any Dafa activities overseas had nothing to do with me, and persecution cases in other parts of China had nothing to do with me. This kind of indifferent feeling and numbness was very similar to ordinary Chinese people who were brainwashed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Minghui Weekly has the news of overseas practitioners clarifying the truth and validating the Fa in different countries, as well as feedback from ordinary people in those countries. I was very moved after reading these articles and I truly felt that Dafa practitioners are a one-body no matter where they are. I also felt that people are all here waiting for Dafa and waiting for the Creator to come, no matter what countries they are in or what race they belong to. These positive factors have helped me become much more hopeful in my mind, and those numb and cold thoughts gradually were dissolved.
Through reading the Mainland’s Comprehensive News section, I learned that in many parts of China, the persecution is still severe and fellow practitioners are still being tortured. I realized that I could not be numb to it. No matter what provinces they were in or how far they were from me, I began to try to help them when I sent forth righteous thoughts by eliminating all the evil factors that were taking part in the persecution. I no longer felt they were irrelevant. I put myself in the one-body of Dafa practitioners, truly felt my responsibility and mission, and I realized that I must not be passive or get lazy. I also made a breakthrough in sending forth righteous thoughts. I would remember the regions under severe persecution and those fellow practitioners who were being tortured, and I would then aim at these areas and cases when I sent forth righteous thoughts.
The “Cultivation Stories” section has the selected cultivation sharing from the week. Every article comes from the fellow practitioner’s selfless sharing of his or her experiences and thoughts on cultivation. In the past, I was once troubled that I could not get in touch with more practitioners, and there were no people around me to point out my shortcomings. But through reading the articles, I could often see my issues and sometimes one sentence would precisely hit one of my attachments. Improving this way was much faster than trying to find my own shortcomings. Many times I regretted that I didn’t pay attention to the Minghui Weekly earlier.
Reading Minghui Weekly each week has been very encouraging for my cultivation, helping me progress each week and not getting stuck in one place. For example, I usually sleep for five hours and get up around 3 a.m. to do the exercises. In the past, I felt that I was doing so great, and I was really good at enduring hardship. However, after reading fellow practitioners’ sharing, I found that I was quite far off. Many fellow practitioners sleep only one or two hours a night and do the sitting meditation for three hours. All these made me feel quite ashamed and I didn’t dare to be complacent again. I also realized that, as Dafa practitioners, doing the exercises and enduring hardships are just things that we are supposed to do, so there is really nothing to be complacent about. Only the CCP does this kind of self-promotion.
I also understood that “compare in studying, compare in cultivating” with fellow practitioners isn’t that we want to be better than fellow practitioners or surpass fellow practitioners. As cultivators, it means that we need to look at others’ strengths and improve on our own shortcomings. The focus and point of action are both on ourselves.
Eliminating Jealousy
Once, I read an article on Minghui Weekly about a fellow practitioner taking the initiative to clarify the facts during the CCP’s “zero-out” campaign. Instead of waiting passively, she actively went to talk with the residential office staff. My thoughts after reading this article were really negative.
“What’s the big deal about that,” I thought. “Back when I was still a student, in order to rescue my wife, I had gone to the police department, public security bureau, province government, and standing committee of provincial capital, etc. As for resident offices and local police stations, my wife and I have gone to these places to clarify the facts and to give them materials 10 years ago. We also invited them to our home to clarify the facts about Dafa to them. She just went to talk with some residential office staff and thinks that’s worthy of a sharing article? Why was this article selected for the Minghui Weekly.”
After I calmed down, Master’s Fa appeared in my mind, “It can evoke one’s jealousy, for if someone is doing well, instead of feeling happy for him or her, people will feel uncomfortable. It can lead to this problem.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that was exactly the issue I had. Facing the harassment, when a fellow practitioner finally made a breakthrough on the fear mentality, and righteously went to clarify the facts with the people involved in the “zero-out” campaign, wasn’t that her improvement in cultivation? Wasn’t that a great thing? Why didn’t I feel happy for her? Why did I feel indignant about her sharing? My reaction was exactly the same as the example that Master gave in the “Jealousy” section (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
“If this happens in China, it will be a disaster. “I’ve scored a hundred, I’ve scored a hundred.” The child runs home from school. Even before opening his door, a neighbor already begins to curse from inside his house, “What’s so great about getting a hundred? Show off! Who hasn’t scored a hundred?” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I felt really ashamed and I sincerely said from my heart, “Fellow practitioner, you did so great and I’m so happy for you! You have made another major improvement in cultivation!” At that instance, my body was filled with energy. All my jealousy and the feeling of looking down on fellow practitioners were gone.
Later on, I read more articles about jealousy on Minghui Weekly, and I realized that jealousy would also be annoying, especially whenever he sees anyone better than him. Then he would feel resentment toward that person, and this resentment is completely irrational. Just like the child who scores 100; he got a good grade through his hard effort and is happily showing his emotion. He doesn’t hurt anyone by doing so. Even if the Chinese neighbors don’t feel as happy for him as the foreign neighbors would, they shouldn’t go so far as to hold resentment toward him and curse at him.
Looking at myself, even though I felt that I had achieved what that practitioner did a while back, why was I feeling annoyed by the fact that she wrote about it in the sharing article? Then, do I really hope for the best for others, or for the worst? I was shocked when I thought more about it. Not only did I have strong jealousy, but also a strong resentment. It was the kind of resentment of the evil CCP spirit. If everyone were like me, then who would dare to show anything good and be willing to share their personal experiences with others? Everyone would be worried because there would always be someone better. The outcome would be that no one dares to show good things.
In my current understanding, when not being jealous, one would have a state of always being calm and friendly and feel neither arrogant or inferior. For the aspects that he does well, he would not purposely hide them or be overly humble about them. He would be happy to share those with others, not to show off, but just hoping that everyone would improve together. For his shortcomings, he would also not purposely hide them or make himself look better than he truly is, and he can accept criticisms from others. When he sees good people and things, he would sincerely praise them from his heart and try to look up to them. When he sees people or things that need to improve, he would kindly help to make the situation better, instead of having strong negative thoughts toward them.
In order to eliminate jealousy, other than studying the Fa a lot and reading fellow practitioners’ sharings, I feel that Chinese practitioners in mainland China should also spend more time to read or listen to the Nine Commentaries, Disintegrating the Communist Party Culture, The Ultimate Goal of Communism, and The Devils Are Ruling Our World. I have found that the evil spirit of the CCP has added many substances of jealousy and resentment in our bodies and mind, and we should eliminate these bad substances.
Jealousy hurts both ourselves and others. With jealousy, one cannot have compassion and cannot coexist peacefully with others, not to even mention cooperating with others. I am very thankful to those fellow practitioners who are not afraid of being misunderstood and still share their personal experiences with much trust from fellow practitioners. I have really benefited from fellow practitioners’ sharing, which helped me find my attachments and understand how to eliminate them.
Final Remarks
I have also benefited in many other aspects from reading the Minghui Weekly. I remember one sharing that talked about how Minghui Weekly helped him to not have blind spots in his cultivation. I think that said it really well, and I also have the exact same feeling. In the past, I would pick articles that interested me, which created lots of blind spots in my cultivation, and I would miss a lot of cultivation issues that I had. Now I read through all the articles and it is slowly filling back those blind spots. I feel like this is truly a process of cultivation and a process for all fellow practitioners to “compare in studying, compare in cultivating.”
Thank you to all the fellow practitioners who have submitted sharing papers to Minghui!
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Category: Improving Oneself
