(Minghui.org) A practitioner wrote an article to commemorate World Falun Dafa Day and asked me to proofread it for her. She endured many hardships before starting to practice. Whenever I read about a practitioner’s misery before they learned Falun Dafa, I often found it difficult to continue reading. At times, I had to stop reading entirely.

As I stood before Master’s photo before doing the exercises, a thought came to me: “Why must the early parts of practitioners’ lives be so miserable?” A message came to me, “So they can obtain the Fa.” In that moment, I felt Master’s immense grace and compassion.

I have practiced Falun Dafa for over three decades. Every day I study and memorize the teachings, yet I still hold on to a lot of notions. After so many years, I barely understand the true meaning of suffering.

There is a cultivation story I once read called “Sacred Bitter Flower.”

An injured and disease-ridden beggar had a difficult life since he was little. He never had a place to stay and was always hungry. Sometimes he got angry, feeling that life was so unfair, and he accused the divine beings in heaven of being cruel.

One day he crossed paths with a monk and decided to listen to him chanting the Sutra every day. At one point, he admitted to the monk, “I have suffered (“eaten bitterness” in Chinese) every minute of my life, yet I don’t understand what it is exactly.” The monk extended his arm, and a colorful flower bloomed on his palm. The flower was incredibly beautiful and swayed lightly. The beggar was in shock and wide-eyed, thinking, “I never knew that bitterness looks so good.” The monk removed a petal and handed it to the beggar, “Have a taste, see what it tastes like.” Being hungry all his life, the beggar was used to wolfing down his food. He shoveled the petal in his mouth.

As soon as he swallowed the petal, he realized the beautiful petal tasted extremely bitter. The bitterness became so overpowering that his mind went blank. He dropped to the ground and struggled in discomfort.

The monk said to the beggar, “Stop moving.” Miraculously, the beggar instantly became immobile. Slowly, the bitterness infiltrated his every energy channel, bone, and muscle, and dissipated. He calmed down and realized, “All the suffering (bitterness) I experienced in life is nothing compared to the bitterness of this petal.”

The monk asked him to stand up. He noticed that his hunchback had straightened up, the frostbite covering his hands and legs had healed, and all his various ailments were gone. His body was clean and light from the inside out. He burst into tears, knelt down, and kowtowed to the monk.

The monk helped the beggar up and, with a wave of his hand, numerous flowers appeared on the floor, walls, and ceiling of the meditation room they were in. The flowers were in various shapes and sizes, shining in vibrant colors. The unique smell of the flowers was refreshing and soothing. The monk told him, “These are the Sacred Bitter Flowers. They came from the infinite tribulations I suffered life after one day. Every day, people can’t form this flower, no matter how much they suffer, because the flower will only bloom with the protection and help of a righteous Dharma. Every petal of the flower comes from immense suffering.”

The beggar asked, “Master, why did you want to suffer all the bitterness to cultivate these flowers?” “For the sentient beings,” answered the monk solemnly, “From now on, you will cultivate in bitterness, form your own Sacred Bitter Flowers, and offer salvation to the beings.”

Master Li Hongzhi said,

“So I am telling you that suffering is not a bad thing. Humans are the only ones who think that suffering is a bad thing, that a life of suffering is not a happy one. Yet for a cultivator, suffering will not only eliminate karma, but also raise one’s level and lead to Consummation. If you say you just want to be happy among human beings, and that you don’t want to suffer one bit, practicing in comfort, then you won’t have your karma eliminated, you won’t improve your xinxing, and you won’t achieve Consummation. That’s the idea.” (“First Fa Teaching Given in the United States,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume I)

When Master repeatedly and patiently revealed to us the relationship between suffering and cultivation, how many of us understood? When we study the Fa, we think like cultivators. As soon as we return to our ordinary lives and start to suffer, more often than not, we think we don’t have a choice, “I have to tolerate it and take the high ground because I am a practitioner.” We view the Fa as a constraint, instead of believing that tribulations are a good thing and actively assimilate us to the Fa. We don’t gladly accept the test and thank those who create trouble for us.

After we take up the practice and share our experience, often times we talk about how much we suffered and how sick we were before we learned the practice, and how the practice allowed us to be healthy again. We describe the blessings we received after cultivating, and focus on how happy we have become because of the practice.

If such sharing comes from a new practitioner, or when we clarify the truth to non-practitioners, it isn’t wrong. However, for the practitioners who have practiced for 20 or 30 years, it is not good if our understanding of the Fa remains at this level.

When we signed the vows to validate the Fa before we came to the secular world, Master had begun to protect us. As we reincarnated life after life, He protected us and arranged our paths. With this logic, weren’t the sufferings and bitterness we encountered before we obtained the Fa arranged by Master for the purpose of eliminating karma so that we could become practitioners? Remember that even in this life alone, we have accumulated enormous amounts of karma. The suffering we experience is paving our path back to our heavenly homes.

Now that we have become practitioners, will we still keep suffering in mind and constantly talk about it to show how happy we are to have been blessed in ordinary society? When we talked about the tribulations before we began the practice, the slightest hint about them being unfair is deemed as complaining about Master’s arrangement for us. The suffering we endured did not even pay off a scintilla of the debt we owed in our past lives, because Master has shouldered most of it for us.

Therefore, when we write about our experience prior to cultivating in Dafa, we should write with the mindset of a cultivator. We should express gratitude to Master for eliminating our karma, scooping us out of Hell, and cleansing us so that we are worthy enough to listen to the Fa. It is really worthwhile for us to reflect on how many of our thoughts are righteous divine thoughts, and how many are human notions.

Master said,

“As for you, disciples of Dafa, the closer it gets to the end the better you should walk your paths, seizing the day to cultivate yourselves well. After doing a whole slew of things, you might find, if you look back upon them, that all of it was done with a human mindset. When it is a human being doing human things, and things are not being done with righteous thoughts, there won’t be any Dafa-disciple mighty virtue in those things. In other words, as gods see it, that’s just fooling around—not mighty virtue, or cultivation—even though you did do it.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)

Some of us have been doing Dafa work with a human mindset. If we cannot decide whether to be "happy while suffering" or to pursue “blessings on earth,” we cannot transform from human to divine, as we fail to view things with righteous thoughts.

The above is based on my current understanding. Please kindly point out anything not based on the Fa.