(Minghui.org) After Master’s new scriptures “Stay Far Away From Peril” and “Cultivation in Dafa Is Serious” were published, I read them once and then put them down. I felt that although I didn’t cultivate well, I would never think that way, and so the scriptures referred to someone else and had nothing to do with me.

I used to selectively read scriptures related to me, because I thought that the others were not related to me. After practicing for a period of time, I found that I had many of the problems mentioned in the scriptures, or had encountered them. Only then did I realize that the reason I felt the new scriptures had nothing to do with me was because I had studied the Fa too little and didn’t understand how to cultivate.

I read the two new scriptures again recently, and one paragraph touched me. Master taught us:

“Don’t think that just because you’ve clarified the truth, attended some Dafa activities, or participated in Dafa projects that you’ve done something for Dafa or for Master. That’s Master telling you to mutually save and help each other, to save others while saving yourself—this is sentient beings saving each other at the end times. This is not done for Dafa’s sake.” (“Stay Far Away From Peril”)

It suddenly occurred to me that I often heard words like these among fellow practitioners, “This person has done a lot for Dafa and sacrificed a lot,” or “This person originally had a high-paying job among ordinary people and had a superior lifestyle, but he gave it all up to do Dafa projects, and has sacrificed a lot for Dafa.” I used to think that I was doing things for Dafa when I participated in projects to validate the Fa.

Now that I have studied Master’s new scriptures, I realize that this idea was wrong. By doing projects, I can cultivate myself and save the sentient beings from my world at the same time. I am indeed doing it for myself. I felt it was a bit hard to accept this understanding at first, because it had suddenly overturned my previous understanding.

In the two weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September, the customer service department and the company each organized outings, and I signed up for both.

I had a great time during the first outing. When I went rafting during the second outing, I had a lot of fun, but my left arm started to hurt very badly on the way back. I wondered if I had too much fun over the prior two weeks, but I still felt that I rarely enjoyed myself like that, so it must be a lack of exercise that caused the pain.

On the second day, not only did my arm hurt, but my whole body felt uncomfortable, as if I was experiencing sickness karma. I had to think again whether I shouldn’t have had fun like this. While other people take one or two weeks of vacation, I just had two days of fun. Was it too much? It suddenly felt it was very unfair.

A picture suddenly appeared in my mind. I saw a woman in an ancient costume, but I couldn’t see her face clearly. I could only hear her saying, “I quit. I want to have fun, I want to have fun.” A man’s voice said, “This is the vow you signed yourself. So what do you want to do?” I was stunned to hear this. Obviously, this was meant for me.

I used to think that everyone has different karma and different blessings, so I should not compare myself to others. Other people may have some good things, but if I don’t have those blessings, I won’t have them. Now I understand that practitioners signed different vows, so they have different jobs and different lifestyles. It’s better not to look at others. It’s important to walk your own path well. I thought that I had understood.

The man’s voice saying “This is the vow you signed” repeatedly rang in my mind over the following days. I realized that the sentence had other meanings.

There are no accidental things in cultivation. I think that participating in a Dafa project is an opportunity arranged by Master, that allows us to encounter the people we want to save, complete our missions, and fulfill our vows. Therefore, it is not that I am doing something for Dafa, but that the Dafa project has given me an opportunity and a platform to fulfill my mission, and has helped me do what I want to do.

I looked back at the previous statements with this understanding, and it became clear where the problem was. “This person has done a lot for Dafa and has sacrificed a lot” actually means that he did a lot to fulfill his vow, rather than doing a lot for Dafa. “That person gave up his high-paying job to work on Dafa projects,” in fact meant that he chose a path that he felt could better fulfill his vows, not that he sacrificed anything for Dafa. He did a lot for his world and his sentient beings, but not for Dafa.

I think we should at least be grateful to Master when we encounter some difficulties that we have trouble getting over for a while, and when we feel angry or resentful.

If I clarified the truth online alone, how many people could I save? But through the media, we reach millions of people every day, amplifying our efforts by thousands or tens of thousands of times. So this is not about me helping Master and the project. It is clearly Master and the Dafa project helping me.

A coordinator told me a few years ago that there was a person in their group who was always late, and it affected the work of the other people who followed. The coordinator asked him to be on time, but the person said, “That’s just me. You are short of people anyway, so you don’t dare to let me go.” I was very angry when I heard that, and said, “Why do you keep such a person? Tell him to leave!” The coordinator said, “He’s right. I really don’t dare to ask him to leave, because we are really short of people.” Hearing this, I felt that it was really difficult for Dafa disciples to do things. Not only was there interference from the CCP and the old forces, but some of our own people were also uncooperative. This person was simply not acting like a cultivator.

Now that I think about it, I realized that this person and I actually had a common problem, in that we both treated the project work as other people’s business.

Master said:

“In the past, your mentality as you went about whatever you did was: “How can I study the Fa well? How should I work for Dafa? How can I improve myself? How can I do better?” You always felt that you were learning Dafa, rather than that you were a part of Dafa. After this year I find that you have completely changed. You no longer think as you used to. No matter what you do for Dafa and no matter what it is you’re doing, you are placing yourselves in Dafa instead of thinking about “I want to do something for Dafa” or “I want to improve in this way or that way” as you did before. No matter what you do, you aren’t thinking that you’re doing something for Dafa, about how you should do things for Dafa, or “how can I do things well for this Fa.” Instead, you are placing yourselves in Dafa. Like a particle of Dafa, [you feel that] no matter what it is, you should just do it. Even though you aren’t conscious of it or expressing it clearly in words, that is in fact how your actions already are. This is the biggest change I see in you after this year. In other words, you are completely in the Fa already.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America,” Guiding the Voyage)

I always felt a bit confused and didn’t quite understand when I read this teaching in the past. Only now do I realize that doing something for Dafa and putting yourself in Dafa are two completely different mentalities.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)