(Minghui.org) I wrote this article to share how I corrected my exercise movements after reading the article entitled “Rectify Our Cultivation State and Do the Exercises Properly” on the Minghui website. I completed it quite a while ago, but my cultivation state became unstable again, so I held back. My cultivation state is now back to normal, so I reviewed the article and sent it in, hoping it will be beneficial.
I am a female practitioner and have practiced Falun Dafa for over 10 years. I do the exercises almost every day, but I’m not sure when I started to become muddleheaded as I did them. Especially during the second exercise, I was conscious at first, but became muddleheaded after the the third movement, “Holding the Wheel Above the Head,” started. When I heard Master tell us to “overlap the hands in front of the lower abdomen,” I would still be “Holding the Wheel in Front of the Lower Abdome.” I knew this was not right. I wanted to rectify my cultivation state and tried many ways to improve, but nothing worked.
A practitioner suggested that I videotape myself doing the exercises. I was surprised when I saw the video. I leaned to one side, my head was not straight, and my hands were not in the correct positions. When I was doing the sitting meditation, my hands came down after one minute and my head drooped. When I realized it and wanted to raise my head, it felt like someone was pressing my head down again. The whole time my body was not in the correct position.
As this went on, I felt anxious but I didn’t know how to improve in my cultivation. I almost lost my confidence in cultivation and felt increasingly depressed.
I didn’t want to do the meditation for almost six months. What’s more, my cervical spine got stiff and I started to hunch over. It felt as if something heavy was pressing down on it, and I couldn’t raise my head. My abdomen became bigger. My husband reminded me about the situation many times, but I was unable to find the cause. I begged Master to give me a hint, but I knew that this was a test and a hardship that I must go through.
Master saw that I hadn’t enlightened, so he used an everyday person to give me hints twice. This forced me to pay special attention to this matter.
I read a practitioner’s sharing article that said that we need to reinforce our Main Consciousnesses if we find ourselves in this type of circumstance. I had realized that my Main Consciousness was not strong , but how could I strengthen it? I memorized the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts, but I didn’t dig out my attachments, so I failed to break through this issue. I then recited “On Dafa” and the paragraph “Your Main Consciousness Should Dominate” in Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun every night. My cultivation improved a bit but not much.
In “Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference,” Master said,
“When many of you are going through a test—be it what you call a test of “illness karma” or some other trouble—you can’t identify what your attachment is, and you can’t figure out what exactly the cause is, then let me tell you about something: Dafa disciples absolutely cannot fall short of the standard. When you are about to pass a test, when you’ve almost gotten through it, but there’s one attachment that you haven’t removed, then it will prevent you from meeting the standard and passing the test. If you cultivate well, you will be able to pass it, right? But you simply cannot pass it and so you remain there. That thing may not be something big, though—that attachment is not big, it’s quite small. But because you just cannot perceive it, you are unable to pass the test and you keep staying at the same spot. This is not to say that you have cultivated poorly. You just haven’t thought the matter over seriously and haven’t come to realize that that thing is not in line with cultivation! And if something is not in line with the state of a cultivator or with what a cultivator should have, then it’s a problem!” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)
The words “thought the matter over seriously” caught my eye. I realized that my problem was that I was not serious enough. I did everything in haste and finished things as quickly as possible so that I could move on to the next task. I studied the Fa as if I was hastily completing a task.
When I identified the reason, I calmed down and looked within to find my issues.
First, I didn’t respect Master and the Fa. When I studied the Fa, I was not focused. My mind would wander. I often got sleepy and dropped my book. When I did the exercises, I did not concentrate and often didn’t hear Master’s instructions. I was still busy doing other things when the exercises music started and didn’t get ready until I heard Master’s voice. This had been a long-term problem.
Second, I practiced Falun Dafa all by myself. Yes, I read online sharing articles, but I was sometimes lax in my cultivation and was not strict with myself.
Third, my attachments stayed with me for a long time. I had a long list of them (over 20), such as seeking comfort, jealousy, resentment, showing off, and do on. I decided to get rid of them but knew I needed to first strengthen my Main Consciousness. I realized that my cultivation state was caused by my karma. When studying the Fa, I didn’t put my heart into it and tried to finish it as quickly as I could. I didn’t evaluate my behavior with the Fa principles. How could I improve and pass tests?
I realized that all my tribulations were caused by my attachment to seeking comfort. I didn’t want to do the “Holding the Wheel Above the Head” movement because my arms got sore and numb. The karma saw my attachment and made me feel uncomfortable and didn’t let me do this movement. Every morning after I finished doing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts, I went back to bed and slept for a while.
I dug further into my attachments and found lust and desire. I had liked to buy new clothes in recent years with the excuse that they would give people a good impression when I clarified the truth to them. When a shop owner said I had a good figure, I felt very pleased. I liked to hear praise. The attachment gradually became bigger. Even when I was doing the exercises, I was thinking about what clothes and shoes I would wear that day. My attachment was reinforced and my Main Consciousness was weakened.
When I discovered these attachments, I became determined to recite the paragraph of “Your Main Consciousness Should Dominate” in Lecture Six of Zhuan Falun every night. I recited it during the day as well.
A miracle happened. I didn’t doze off when I was doing the exercises the next day or the next day or the next! Initially, when I was reciting the Fa, my cervical spine felt sore and my head drooped as soon as I raised it. I put up with the pain and raised my head again. I battled with the karma. Gradually, my cervical spine felt fine and I could raise my head. I knew the karma was gradually being eliminated. My abnormal state was eventually rectified. Thank you, Master, for your compassion and protection. No words can express my gratitude to Master. Without his strengthening, I could not have walked this far on my cultivation path. Thank you, Master! Thank you, Falun Dafa! Only by doing the three things well am I worthy of Master’s salvation and the expectations of the sentient beings in my world.
I’d like to remind elderly practitioners that when we have issues with our bodies or age more rapidly, it might be caused by doing the exercise movements incorrectly. We need to reinforce our Main Consciousnesses. I suggest watching Master’s exercise instruction video. Because there are no group exercises in China anymore, we can face the mirror when doing the exercises and try to do the movements correctly. That way our body won’t be in an incorrect state. This is another form of validating the Fa.
I hope this article can provide assistance to practitioners.
Please kindly point out anything that is not in line with the Fa.
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Category: Improving Oneself
