Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What�s Happening?
- My Experiences of �Cultivation� in India
- The Relationship Between Work and Cultivation
- Thoughts on Breaking Through Old Force Arrangements
- Base Our Thoughts and Actions on Fa Principles Instead of Human Emotions
- Improve Together During Conflicts
- Science Can Never Validate Dafa
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the April 2007 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
In this issue, we have an experience sharing article by a foreign practitioner living in India and a compilation of experience-sharing Articles culled from Clearwisdom and Pureinsight that always shine through because of their insights and fine quality of sharing. It is important to read the Clearwisdom, Pureinsight and other Dafa sites. We make an effort to select Articles from the Archives which people don�t go back to and are relevant even today. Contributions are welcome from practitioners.
Heshi! Hope, you like the selection of Articles and gain some new insights!
Note: "All the contents in this newsletter - except for quotations and excerpts of writings of the founder Mr. Li Hongzhi - are only ideas and experiences of� practitioners and do not represent Falun Dafa in itself."
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- 2. What�s Happening?
In Bangalore, two practitioners from Switzerland joined the local practitioners to visit the schools and introduce the Fa. Some priests from a catholic missionary school moved by the concepts of Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance have shown keen interest in spreading the Fa.
The practitioners from Switzerland have moved to the nearby state of Kerala and already established a practice site there. They will soon share their experiences in Kerala.
The Delhi practitioners distributed truth clarifying material at the Annual Flower Show. Some people showed keen interest in learning the exercises.
A UK practitioner was in Aurangabad for a few weeks and a practitioner from Mumbai visited to assist in some hongfa activities. They also visited the Ajanta and Ellora caves
and distributed fliers to the tourists visiting the Buddhist caves. For both practitioners, the Buddhist caves were a revealing and enriching experience after having come into the Fa.
There was a sense of dejavu when they visited the ancient meditation halls in the caves.
The Pune practitioners are busy organizing the Art exhibition to be held in the Easter week. They are coordinating with the Mumbai practitioners to collect the paintings and get some advice and pointers since the Mumbai practitioners had held an Art Exhibition in Mumbai in February.
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- 3. My Experiences of �Cultivation� in India
By a foreign practitioner living in India
Many tourists from all over the world visit Sarnath where I live, since the Buddha or Sakyamuni gave his first teachings here to five disciples. I generally�go around distributing flyers in�English, Chinese, Korean, Singhalese, Thai, Japanese and many other languages which the tourists do accept readily. I put up the Falun Dafa posters in prominent places which draw attention and keep a steady supply of truth clarification materials.
Recently when I distributed a�truth clarification flyer to a person who was part of a tour group and who also happened to be the organizer - she asked me to talk to the whole group and explain to them about Falun Dafa and the persecution. Some�people from the group wanted to see the exercise demonstration so I made the group do the first exercise with me, and they had several questions about the practice and the persecution in China.
Sometimes we have guests and visitors from many countries and I have to stay home and take care of them, but it gives me the opportunity to
introduce Falun Dafa to them and talk about the persecution, etc. There is a Falun Dafa signboard in our place,�and many information materials for reading such as books, leaflets, magazines, etc.
On�Saturdays we often go to a school for underprivileged children, and teach them the exercises. It is always a rewarding experience because the children with innocent minds pick up the exercises pretty fast. Sometimes for some family gatherings in a nearby village I am invited and the children know about the exercises and ask me to teach them and the village elders.
I feel that in the holy places like Sarnath and Varanasi a lot of people are waiting to receive Dafa. Sometimes I wish there were more practitioners here to go out and spread Dafa.
But I firmly believe that Master has a plan for everyone and I am here from another country, placed in this remote place to reach out and save as many sentient beings with whom I have a predestined relationship.
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- 4. The Relationship Between Work and Cultivation
By a UK practitioner
I have often wondered about the fundamental difference between non-practitioners people doing Dafa work and cultivators doing Dafa work. Especially after experiencing an incident in which a phony practitioner pretended to enthusiastically take so-called "proactive actions," I further realized the importance of discerning the difference between work and cultivation.
In the past, I only partially understood what Teacher Li mentioned about the relationship between personal cultivation and cultivation in the Fa-rectification period. I thought that we had begun cultivating completely within the Fa-rectification period, and that my cultivation would be no problem as long as I actively participated in Fa-rectification activities and totally denied the evil's interference, because Teacher Li has never arranged any tribulations for our personal cultivation after the July 20, 1999 incident. As a result, I thus ignored the improvement of my personal xinxing. I had an especially strong mentality of doing things with pursuit, and the mentality of competition. I was also conceited, not noticing that I always thought I was right while others were wrong. Furthermore, my mood often remained in a state of excitement. As a result, I often went to extremes, and focused only on superficial achievements. In particular, when seeing some fellow practitioners slacking off in their cultivation, I always wanted to urge them to step forward and do something. Therefore, most of the words I uttered were irrational.
During that period of time, my excuses were: "Time and tide wait for no man. As the practitioners who have reached a high xinxing level should do the Fa-spreading and Fa-rectification work, so should those who haven't reached a high xinxing level and have attachments. Having attachments will still happen, because we can improve ourselves while doing Dafa work. Doing something is always better than sitting there and doing nothing." With these excuses, I could neither study the Fa deeply nor sincerely listen to other practitioners' opinions. I only considered how to deal with one thing today, and another tomorrow. Therefore, I was overwhelmed by the things around me.
Now that I look at things from another perspective, I find that the principles are quite simple. Teacher Li has repeatedly stressed that cultivation is to cultivate our hearts, and other things are not as important. No matter how much Dafa work has been done, if it were being done only by people who were not cultivating well in Dafa, then how magnificent would it be? In retrospect, it was really silly for me to focus on the superficial and neglect the essentials. Were those excuses I used in the past simply barriers arranged by the old evil forces to hinder my improvement?
When comparing a cultivator's ways of doing things with those of non-practitioners, the difference is obvious. The minds of people in society tend to be volatile and sentimental; they long for fame and fortune. However, a cultivator's mind is peaceful and unaffected, exuding gentleness and kindness. What we need in the course of Fa-spreading and Fa-rectification is not the worldly heroic stories like those of Liu Hulan [the "Joan of Arc" of the ruling Party], but true internal firmness, rationality, peacefulness, and harmony.
I still remember a minor thing that took place not long ago. I worked for a company, and tried very hard to squeeze in some time doing Dafa work through the Internet. My workload was almost twice that of others, but the pay I received was not much more than others. Theoretically, the management should have been satisfied with my performance; however, my manager always found fault with me, and repeatedly stressed that I was not supposed to do personal business during office hours and that I should take the initiative to help others more actively. At that time, I regarded the criticism as evil interference, and took some actions to counter it. The situation came to a deadlock. Later I realized that as a cultivator, I am supposed to be a good person wherever I am, and I should volunteer to do more work. Seemingly I had less time to do Dafa work, but my xinxing level was improved. Since I looked at things from others' perspectives, and took others' situations into consideration, I was able to realize twice the results with half the effort when I did Dafa work later. In the past, I couldn't understand why Teacher Li once mentioned that our studying for degrees would not affect our cultivation, and that our dedicating time to Dafa would not affect our studies. Now I finally realize that everyday people's ways of thinking are invalid in higher dimensions. As a cultivator, only after we fundamentally change our conventional human notions can we upgrade our understanding of the Fa.
Certainly, cultivation is a process of continuous improvement. If we are able to step forward to take part in Fa-rectification activities, then we are making progress. Nevertheless, while we are doing Dafa work, we must continuously improve our own xinxing level at the same time. The more we cultivate the righteous Fa, the more our personal cultivation can catch up with the progress of Fa-rectification. Otherwise, the situation will be tantamount to everyday people doing Dafa work.
The above is my personal understanding, and your comments are appreciated.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 5. Thoughts on Breaking Through Old Force Arrangements
A Western Practitioner
A couple of days ago, I realized that my attachment to waiting for changes was having a big impact on my cultivation and Fa-rectification work. I would like to share my understandings with fellow practitioners.
Often when doing anything - be it studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, clarifying the truth, doing the exercises or doing everyday work - I realized that I often had this mentality of finishing what I was doing quickly and going on to the next thing. As a result, I was not putting in my best effort and was not focused in what I was doing.
A couple of days ago, I realized that there was something wrong with my mentality. Why was I always uncomfortable with my present conditions and what I was currently doing? Why was I always eager to "get over with it" and rush to do something else? For instance, while studying the Fa, I often couldn't concentrate, and I would think, "Oh, let me finish Fa-study quickly, since I am not good at it, and let me do Fa-rectification activities well." As a result, I would concentrate even less on Fa-study. When I did do Fa-rectification work, I would be thinking, "Oh, I have so much Fa-rectification work and everyday work to do. How can I do it well? Let me do this quickly and go on to everyday work." While doing the exercises, I would think, "Let me finish the exercises quickly so that I can go to study the Fa well."
When I finally looked within, I realized that hidden deep within me was an attachment to perfection. I wanted everything to be perfect before I put in my best effort. The old forces must have arranged this for me. Even though I was trying to do my best on the surface, deep down, I was passively waiting for changes in external conditions and myself. I was thinking, "Oh, if my friends and family are more open, I could clarify the truth to them better." "If my work and home conditions are better, I could do a better job at Fa-study and Fa-rectification." �If I was more calm and clear-minded, I could do a better job at everything I do�. "If I had no fear, I could clarify the truth to the Chinese students I meet with more confidence"; etc.
Thus, whenever I was doing anything, I was always passively waiting for external and internal changes so that I could do better. Once I came to understand my mentality, I realized that I should not wait for any changes, but rather do the best with what I currently have. Waiting is the old force arrangement. Stepping forward and breaking through that arrangement is my responsibility as a Fa-rectification Dafa disciple.
Soon after realizing my attachment and how to solve it, I tried to put it into action. That evening, my mind wandered much less than usual during the exercises, and I was finally able to study almost one whole lecture of Zhuan Falun without any interfering thoughts! I was also more confident when approaching Chinese students to talk to them, even though I was still as 'imperfect' as before. While sending forth righteous thoughts, I was much more focused.
I believe that whether we are perfect or not, or whether our external conditions are conducive or not does not matter very much. We should step forward and do the best we can with what we have. We must deny the old force arrangements and step forward to save sentient beings without delay.
Above are just a few understandings at my current level. I request fellow practitioners to compassionately point out anything inappropriate.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 6. Base Our Thoughts and Actions on Fa Principles Instead of Human Emotion
Dafa practitioners view things according to Fa principles rather than their emotions.
An ordinary person does things based on his emotions, so there is love as well as hatred. When he considers someone to be a person good, he will like that person. When his viewpoint does not agree with someone else's, he will dislike that person. An ordinary person will even take their friends or relatives as his enemies just for a minor disagreement or point of view. This is the limitation of the human emotions for emotions are selfish. Love and hatred have the same root. Love is the happiness when one's emotions are satisfied, while hatred is the anger when one's emotions are not satisfied. So both love and hatred do not aim for the wellbeing of others. They are for satisfying one's emotions, so both are selfish.
When one views things according to Fa principles, one will not judge a person or matter according to his own likes and dislikes, instead he uses Fa principles to judge right or wrong. Only in this way can one truly treat others benevolently. A person is simply supposed to be righteous and kind, regardless of his relationship with others; in this way, he can be able to always treat others kindly and always act benevolently. Our Dafa practitioners should treat others even more kindly and be good to others no matter whether other people conform to our own idea or standard. Only when one views things according to Fa principles can one be truly good to others unconditionally. When one views things according to one's emotions, he will not be able to be truly good to others for one does it that way because he is happy. If he does not feel happy, he will not do it. So doing things based on one's emotions has preconditions. Because of this, cultivation requires one to give up human emotions and to restrict oneself according to Fa principles, so as to be truly good to others.
During clarifying the facts about the persecution, emotions can be a major stumbling block. When we hear other's viewpoints or suggestions, we often do not consider whether these suggestions comply with Fa principles, but instead we look to see if they comply with our own human notions. This is one reason why there is disharmony in cooperation among practitioners. When one piece of Dafa material is finished, we do not pay attention to whether others can understand it, instead we emphasize how we can show ourselves off and pursue the happy feeling of speaking out; thus the article cannot move the readers' hearts.
On the path of Fa-rectification, there exists no loopholes in one's cultivation if one always views things according to Fa principles and do things objectively and by strictly following Fa, since what we follow is the principle of the cosmos. The things that comply with the principle of the cosmos are the things that can essentially exist in the cosmos, as well as the things that all beings can acknowledge. What can prevent us from viewing things according to Fa are usually human emotions.
Abandon emotions and view things according to the Fa. While one is diligently learning the Fa and cultivating oneself, one will be constantly enlightened to high-level Fa principles, which can then be used to guide one's future actions. If we can keep having new understandings while continuing to do Dafa projects, we are actually walking steadily toward Fa-rectification in the human world. Our own attainment of Consummation is also within the process.
This is just my personal and limited understanding.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 7. Improve Together During Conflicts
By a practitioner from Taiwan
At this moment I feel extremely relaxed and pleased because the long-term friction between a fellow practitioner and I has been resolved. Previously, neither this fellow practitioner nor I wanted to face the conflict between us. Instead, we always tried to get around it. But there are no accidents in what happens to practitioners. As long as we don't let go of our attachments, the friction will strengthen and enlarge. It will even be taken advantage of by the evil and affect our overall environment of validating Dafa.
Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore:"
"I've often said that when two people have friction between each other, each one should examine him or herself. Not only should the two people with the friction examine themselves, but also the bystanders who happen to observe the incident should. That's when you'll really improve by leaps and bounds."
When there is friction, if we don't look within but just blindly look at the other person's shortcomings and insist on our own point of view, then that will become a fatal obstacle in cultivation. Thus, we will be unable to make progress in cultivation.
We often see the cultivation state of fellow practitioners from our own viewpoint, and conflicts will arise when we cannot share openly. As time passes it will even affect the overall environment in which we validate Dafa. In the past I always had the attachment of fear when I shared with fellow practitioners because I was expecting or wanting harmony among us! My thinking was: "Why cause conflict and make everyone feel uneasy?" Actually, this was an attachment that needed to be eliminated. Non-practitioners hope to be in harmony. We are cultivators who should allow these attachments to be exposed and fundamentally eliminated, creating an environment in which all of us will learn and cultivate together. This is the nature of cultivation!
Master also said in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore:"
"Having you expose your weaknesses during frictions with each other is how I enable you to improve most rapidly. And yet as soon as you encounter a problem, you push it aside and point out others' shortcomings instead of examining yourselves. How can you cultivate, then? This is precisely the best way for me to have you improve."
I openly shared with the fellow practitioner face to face, and we came to respect the each other's understanding. When we tried to let go of self, the friction suddenly and completely vanished. We improved together during this process. It must have also been vigorous in other dimensions because the energy field on which the evil relied was completely disintegrated.
Master said in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference:"
"At present there are some frictions among students, and you all need to watch out--you can't let minor things affect the important things that Dafa disciples are supposed to do. I'm going to tell you that no matter what kind of conflicts arise, or what kind of situations emerge, it's bound to be that we have gaps in ourselves. That's for sure. If there weren't a gap nobody could exploit it."
We should cherish the predestined relationships among fellow practitioners, work together and coordinate to do the three things well in validating Dafa. There is no need to worry when there is conflict, but it should be a concern if we cannot share in an open manner.
Please kindly point out anything improper in the above. Thank you Master! Thank you fellow practitioners!
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 8. Science Can Never Validate Dafa
By Zhangdong
Dafa created everything in the universe, including all lives. No matter which level sentient lives are at, they can only know the cosmos' truth at and below their levels. They are not able to get to know the cosmos' truth beyond their levels. For example, at the level of human beings, hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms combine to form water. Water turns into ice at zero degrees Celsius [32 �F], and turns into steam at 100 degrees Celsius [212 �F]. This is the physical characteristic of water, and reflective of the Fa at this level. Also, mammals know how to suckle their mother's bosom to feed themselves at birth. Who taught them? This is also the manifestation of the Fa at this level. How does one validate it? Roots grow into the ground, and flowers bloom upward. This is also the manifestation of the Fa at this level. There are hidden reasons that humans don't know.
The wisdom of all lives is tiny in the vast universe. What we would know would be extremely limited and restricted if we try to explore the universe using the modern scientific techniques of humans. Only when we have understood this clearly, can we not "dig into the bull's horn" [ancient Chinese saying implying a situation that leads to a dead end]; can we avoid detours and get out of the situation of "not being able to see the forest for the trees."
Then, how do we validate Dafa as disciples? Even we have only a rough understanding of the cosmos' truth from the macroscopic view. Compared with others, our thinking is sharper, wiser, and broader. Sometimes our thoughts are simple but deep. When we do something, design something, or do some research, we should be able to do better than others. We can understand and grasp a problem better, and this is our validating Dafa. Then, by combining pre-historic cultures, scientific explorations, medical reports, Chinese culture, cultivation legends, etc, with the principles of Dafa, we can explain profound theories in simple terms and explain it to others, thus helping them change their blind belief in modern science and narrow-minded notions. This would be validating Dafa further. It is also good if we can make some scientific breakthroughs, and use them to validate Dafa. But we should be careful not to be attached to that. We should also know that even if we make some breakthroughs, they might not validate Dafa, but might just validate the truth about cultivation.
The direction of science's development could be something for Dafa disciples to think about, which is, what kind of scientific direction will be left for future human beings. Personally, I think it is necessary to re-establish the scientific direction of the Chinese culture. Why? Chinese culture was brought to humans by gods, and was created by Dafa disciples under Teacher's guidance. It followed the principles of the Fa, developed in a perfectly harmonious way, and was centered on the theory that man is an integral part of nature. For example, there weren't things such as garbage pollution or environmental damage in the ancient times. Its science was developing in a deeper and broader way, and considered the connection and relationship among dimensions. Everything was balanced and developed via the handling of the relationship of the five elements, and the growth and decline between Yin and Yang. Nobody used to force anything. More importantly, ancient science could maintain humankind's morality. For example, the ancient people would always pick a good date and time for sending troops to battle, for beginning a construction project by digging the foundation, or for weddings and funerals. They had their reason, which was to consider whether a certain act was feasible in other dimensions, in a certain condition, and at a certain moment.
Modern science is only developing on the surface dimension. It is isolated, and not perfectly harmonious. The development of modern science has caused many side effects, such as environmental pollution and damage to nature. I believe that the chemical products were created after changing the arrangement of molecules and atoms in other dimensions. But humans are not able to recover the original state and reuse them. Thus, they become the pollution in this dimension. As for opening the other dimensions through modern science, at the very least this thinking has to change. It won't work if we merely follow modern science. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"The flying saucers of extraterrestrials can travel back and forth at an inconceivable speed and become large or small. They have taken another alternative method of development, which is another scientific approach."
Teacher also said in "Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe",
"So if you want to understand other dimensions, you need to conform to the ways of thinking and state of things in those dimensions before you can comprehend them."
In fact, ancient science had already opened other dimensions. But this was only for those who had high xinxing [moral principles, heart nature]. For common people, it was still a dimension of illusion. This really conforms to the principle of the Fa. From Teacher's Fa lectures, I enlightened that mankind should return to the ancient Chinese culture. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun,
"After the Celestial Eye is open, one can see from one side, simultaneously, four sides of a human body. One can see the rear, the left and the right from the front. One can see one layer after another or see beyond this dimension the fundamental cause of an illness. Are modern medical means able to do that? Far from it. It will take another thousand years!"
"Without television sets, people would have them in their foreheads, and they could watch anything they want to see. They would also have supernormal abilities. Without trains and planes, people would be able to levitate into the air from where they sit, without using an elevator. It would bring about a different state of societal development, and it would not necessarily be confined to this framework."
I believe that Teacher has pointed out the direction for the future development of mankind.
This is just a little rough understanding that I would like to share with practitioners.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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