(Minghui.org) After reading the Minghui special report “Our Master” and the Epoch Times article “A Glimpse Into the Daily Life and Work of Falun Gong’s Founder,” I have mixed feelings. I think most practitioners would be moved to tears, and the word “Master” would have new meaning for them after reading them.
Master spoke publicly to clarify the misunderstandings about him and Shen Yun. I felt as if he was “taking a bullet” for the practitioners who had not done well. I felt ashamed. We always claim that we assist Master in rectifying the Fa, but do we? It seems like it may be the other way around.
“Our Master” depicts Master’s incredibly simple lifestyle, how he leads by example, and does all the hard work with everyone at Dragon Springs Temple. I am most impressed by what a practitioner said about Master having “extraordinary strength of will, a simple life, and clear goals.” This practitioner has been around Master for 20 years.
I wondered if we practitioners are demonstrating our strength of will. Do we persistently work to save people? Have we pushed forward in difficult situations and faced problems with a compassionate and firm attitude, despite being mistreated and misunderstood?
Many left messages after the article, “A Glimpse Into the Daily Life and Work of Falun Gong’s Founder.” I believe most of them came from practitioners. One of them said, “I knew Master lived a simple and frugal life when he taught in China. I thought he would lead a better life after coming to the U.S. Never did I expect that he still lived the same way…” This made me realize that I lacked the ability to follow a clear goal with perseverance from beginning to end.
In my opinion, strength of will is the ability to remove interference and difficulties, and continue to move toward a clear goal, believing that goal is absolutely achievable. Master has already told us what the goal is: “Fa-rectification is sure to succeed,” (“Greetings,” The Essentials of Diligent Progress III) If we do not have faith that the goal is absolutely achievable, then we will not have the extraordinary strength of will to move toward it.
I searched within and found that I did not have absolute faith in Master and the Fa. That lack of faith had me agree that the goal could be altered with time and place. In this mysterious society, as time passes, a cultivator’s determination can be worn down and he can lose sight of his goal, which leads him to slack off in saving people, and to want comfort. These notions might have contributed to the tribulation [referring to the lawsuit against Master and Shen Yun].
Master shows us with his actions that a divine being will not alter what he vowed to do. Only by keeping the vow in mind can we have the extraordinary strength of will to fulfill our mission. An ordinary person is bound to forget his vow because of all the distractions of ordinary life.
Master has not changed with the passage of time, nor has Falun Dafa changed; it is we who are slowly getting comfortable in our cultivation.
Do we remember our goal when we first started the journey? Do we remember how Master helped us become healthy, and protected us from danger and encouraged us when we lost hope? I suggest that we pick up our pens and write down our answers to those questions. Our stories can show the world who we are and tell them why over 100 million people practice Falun Dafa, and how we let go of everything and followed Master’s guidance ever since. Every account would be a knife that could help people cut through the CCP’s slander and see the truth. Writing these accounts can help us find out if we still “cultivate with the heart you once had.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XII) When we use our righteous thoughts in cultivation, we will possess extraordinary strength of will, and be able to stride forward on our path.
We can print out the two articles about Master and give them to former practitioners, to remind them how Master put us on the path to return to our true selves, and to wake up their righteous thoughts. We should take this opportunity to bring back former practitioners. For me, “Our Master” is a lecture Master gave us during this tribulation. Every word Master says is the Fa.
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Category: Cultivation Insights
