(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I began practicing Falun Dafa in 2009, but because I’ve been unable to eliminate my fundamental attachments I’ve been stuck between comfort and diligence—I was unable to truly cultivate. Fellow practitioners said, “You’re still like a child, we can’t count on you.” Whenever I heard this all I could do was smile awkwardly. I didn’t know how to respond. After cultivating for so many years and studying the Fa a lot, I do understand the Fa’s principles—so why can’t I truly recognize the essence of cultivation? Trapped between comfort and worldly conflicts, endlessly wasting my limited time to cultivate. I failed to recognize my shortcomings from the Fa and I couldn’t move forward diligently—why was this?
Having Pursuits or Not
As summer approached I had the wish to go to tourist sites to clarify the truth. This thought kept circling in my mind. Finally, one day, I stopped delaying and went straight to the truth-clarification site after school. The practitioners at this site were a family from China who moved to Europe last year. For the entire year, it was their family who persisted at the truth-clarification site, regardless of the bitter cold, scorching heat, wind, or rain.
I asked them how they could keep this up for so long. The uncle practitioner shared a lot with me. In summary: “With no pursuit, there is nothing to worry about.” Aside from the single thought of doing the three things and following Master’s words, they thought of nothing else. And just like that, they persisted for over a year.
I was stunned. Could such a simple reason really be enough? Just as I was about to ask more questions, the practitioner encouraged me to help—either practice the exercises or introduce the petition to tourists. My social anxiety kicked in. Seeing a large group of tourists, I escaped by choosing to do the exercises. While I meditated three lines of golden words appeared before my eyes: “Born for the Fa, Come for the Fa, Fulfilled by the Fa.”
I knew Master was encouraging me to be diligent, but at the time I couldn’t fully grasp the deeper meaning. I could only understand the surface. I silently resolved to come regularly to the site during summer vacation.
Thus, with the intention of seeking answers I joined the truth-clarification effort at the tourist site. I sometimes felt embarrassed to speak to tourists, so I missed opportunities. Feeling helpless, I thought: After cultivating for so many years, how can I still be blocked by such childish attachments? I must break through. I gathered my courage and talked to those tourists who hadn’t yet signed. To my surprise, one already had some understanding of qigong and cultivation. Not only did he sign, he also asked where he could learn the exercises.
I looked at the practitioner next to me in confusion. He handled the petition and asked me to demonstrate the movements. So I practiced the fifth exercise with the man and briefly told him about Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I also showed him how to find practice sites in his country and how he could learn online. He was very excited, put his palms together in thanks, and then left with his companions.
I gradually understood. The Fa and Master are like the power source—the outlets and cables are already in place. When a practitioner clarifies the truth its simply plugging in the cord. There’s no need to overthink—just show up and do what we should do, and everything is there. Overcomplicating things only makes them harder. I felt this is the state of “gaining without pursuit.”
All my distracting thoughts faded in that instant. From then on, I happily went to the truth-clarification site every day. If it was cold, I brought tissues for my nose; if I was hungry, fellow practitioners shared their food; if it rained, I brought rain gear. I also studied the Fa. Every day I had new insights to share with practitioners, and through their sharing, I saw my shortcomings and corrected them. I joyfully passed the time that summer.
Trusting Master and the Fa, Harmonizing in Cultivation
Perhaps my cultivation state finally reached the minimum requirement for diligence, so Master gave me many hints when I meditated.
Once, during an hour-long sitting meditation, Master showed me the process of a barren, desolate world being repaired. One hour here equaled tens of thousands of years there. If I had broken off midway, that world would not have been completed, and would have failed to meet the standards of the new cosmos. I would not have met Master’s Fashen at the end of cultivation. I realized how important persistent practice is.
I also gradually came to understand that every long-term truth-clarification site is guarded by Master’s enormous Fashen—they are seated on lotuses and cover the entire sky. I enlightened to this: wherever practitioners persist, that place becomes a core. A great Falun turns at that core, pulling along other projects, gradually expanding to save local sentient beings. Outside of China truth-clarification frontlines truly benefit the entire region. Every being who comes is due to Master’s compassion. We should approach them with kindness, and offer them hope.
Another time, I saw jealousy manifesting as a thick black cloth covering the person who harbored it. Everything that person encountered was distorted by the black material, preventing them from seeing the truth. If it covered a practitioner, sometimes strong righteous thoughts allowed a bit of golden light to shine through, thinning the black cloth, allowing for gradual correction. But the harm of jealousy is immense. If attachments ruin the effort to save sentient beings, how could such karma be repaid? Cultivation, already difficult, becomes even harder—especially when those attached to fame and gain gather together, amplifying jealousy and magnifying attachments, making escape from illusion increasingly remote. This is truly one of the old forces’ most insidious tricks.
Master said,
“Selfishness is a fundamental attribute of the cosmos of the past. Because of that attribute, formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction and birth-aging-sickness-death are inevitable.” “The fundamental attribute of the cosmos has determined the fundamental state that the cosmos is in. The impurity of beings, and even the dropping down of beings that have gone bad, have been caused by formation-stasis-degeneration-destruction.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume V)
Why are attachments so hard to remove? Because we protect ourselves. Why do we protect ourselves? Because we don’t want to be hurt. Why do we view difficulties as suffering instead of taking joy in them? Because our righteous thoughts are insufficient. At the first sign of hardship, one gives up, clinging to comfort instead of actively removing human attachments. It often takes karma accumulating into a painful blow, like a brick on the head, before one is forced to improve. It looks like progress, but really it only protected selfishness again. Such cultivation only scratches the surface—our root attachments remain untouched and resurface later.
Cultivation without rooting out attachments is like practicing qigong to heal illness—it only postpones the tribulation. If we don’t dig out the root it means attachments will keep sprouting. When fellow practitioners point them out, we excuse ourselves by saying it’s like peeling an onion layer by layer. It sounds reasonable, but in fact it protects the attachment. That being breathes a sigh of relief: “I nearly got eliminated!” Meanwhile, we still think we cultivated well. I felt so ashamed when I had this realization!
Many attachments can’t withstand even a few rounds of “why?” Asking “why?” repeatedly digs out more than half of the root already. The unwillingness to keep digging shows we’ve nearly touched the core attachment, and that being resists, making us recoil. Thinking about this, I felt so embarrassed—after so many years of cultivation, I still hadn’t mastered looking inward. Like the story of the kitten fishing—distracted by every passing thing, wasting effort with little result.
Actively Cultivating and Escaping Passive Traps
This period of cultivation forced me to reflect deeply on my path. I realized my cultivation had always been passive. I studied the Fa, understood certain standards, and thought: “Okay, I know,” but then made no effort to live by my realization. I was always passive—only when matters confronted me would I reluctantly act, and even then, inconsistently, half-heartedly. I wasted so much time.
But that summer was different. Every day I proactively assimilated to the Fa, and I actively cultivated myself. I increasingly felt Master’s presence. Once, when I wanted to slack off and was almost asleep, I closed my eyes and saw Master’s Fashen appear. He turned, donned Daoist robes, and produced a staff with a flick—instantly I was wide awake and rushed to the truth-clarification site.
Yes, just as the Shen Yun song says, “Having obtained the Fa, break through delusion and ascend to the heavens.” Since we’ve obtained the Fa, shouldn’t we break through delusion and rise upward—why do we linger in the human world? Always blocked by obstacles—we should break through them! Sometimes I could even sense heavenly beings feeling weary over their king and lord lagging behind. Feeling the weight of their disappointment, I could only apologize.
I recalled the three sentences Master imprinted in my mind that first day at the tourist site and gained a deeper understanding. Born for the Fa — Life originates from primal matter, and innately carries Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. At first glance, all beings seem the same, but some were born from the Creator’s thought to save the cosmos at its inception. These lives became Falun Dafa practitioners—not only by their wish—they were chosen by Master and the universe. Our cultivation is less about building from nothing than about awakening—returning to our most fundamental nature, a particle of Dafa. The difficulty lies in the weight of our attachments and how far we’ve degenerated.
Come for the Fa — This encapsulates our journey with Master, descending through layers, incarnating lifetime after lifetime, until today when we obtained the Fa. The meaning is simple but profound: Cherish! As Master said,
“I hope that you all cherish yourselves, cherish others, and cherish this environment that you have. Cherishing the path that you travel is cherishing yourselves.” (“What a Dafa Disciple Is,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)
Fulfilled by the Fa — Our cultivation is selfless, rooted in saving others. Unlike any past cultivation method, ours is based on selflessness. Because of this, we bear the mission of saving sentient beings. Any excuse not to clarify the truth or save people is baseless. Saving people is what Master wants us to do. On the surface it seems we are saving them, but in reality, Master is fulfilling practitioners through this form—lifting us out of the old universe’s cycle of formation, stasis, degeneration, and destruction.
Fellow practitioners, let’s be diligent!
Heshi
(Selected article presented at the 2025 Nordic Fa Conference)
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