Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- Getting Up to Speed in my Cultivation After a Slow Start
- Looking Inward but Failing to Find the Attachment
- Always Place the Fa First
- The Fa Has Saved Me
- Motivation and Acts
- My Understanding Regarding "Respect Our Teacher, Respect the Fa"
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the December 2008 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
November was a busy month with practitioners from different cities working and coordinating for the Art Exhibition in Mumbai city in the first week of December.
We wish all readers a Merry Christmas and hope they do not forget their less fortunate brothers and sisters and share the festive spirit with them.
This issue has a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom 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?
Practitioners from different cities have been working together for the Art Exhibition in Mumbai in the first week of December. Practitioners have also been holding introductory workshops prior to the exhibition.
Practitioners from Bangalore went to Hyderabad to introduce Falun Dafa to residents of a Housing Colony.
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- 3. Getting Up to Speed in my Cultivation After a Slow Start
By a Swedish Practitioner
I live in Sweden, and I have practiced Falun Dafa for almost two years now. I'm a 41-year-old software programmer. I have two teenage children.
I have practiced meditation off and on for about 14 years, and before I started to practice Falun Dafa I also practiced a healing method for 3 years. I was looking forward to doing the next educational "step" in this.
But two years ago I felt it was time for my 16-year-old daughter to start thinking of other matters than clothes, boys, and partying. I thought it was time for her to meet "deeper things" in life. So I grabbed her hand and took her to a Falun Dafa practice site southeast of Stockholm. I selected Falun Dafa since their website claimed that it was free of charge to learn it. This was important to my daughter since she couldn't afford to pay anything (being a student). I had no idea of what Falun Dafa was, except that it was some kind of qigong and that it didn't cost anything to learn it.
There, we learned the 5 different exercises for an hour, and afterwards a practitioner told us that Falun Dafa is more than just the exercises, "it is a cultivation practice!"
"Snap!"
At the same time he said this to us, I literally felt a "snap" in my head! I had never heard the expression "cultivation practice" before, but I instantly new that this was something for me. Knowing without knowing, I knew I now encountered what I had been waiting for the last 25 years. A very strange feeling indeed, I couldn't explain it. It was so overwhelming. I had found my "thing in life" without really understanding what it was. Sounds strange perhaps, but this was what my body and mind told me.
I felt at "home,"
Later, I downloaded the books China Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun from the Internet and started to read. The very next day I went to my usual weekly group healing session to practice. It felt really strange as I entered the practice room. I didn't know why. Very uncomfortable! It felt as if my body was "itching" inside during the two hours the group practice lasted. The day after I had made up my mind. I phoned my friends and declared that I would start practicing Falun Dafa instead.
Then I continued to read the books; I read both of them in only 5 days. On the 3rd or 4th day my back was aching with a pain I had never felt before. It was as if my spinal cord was cut right off by a pair of scissors or chopped off by an axe or something. I could neither stand up, nor could I sit or lie down, and the pain was absolutely terrible. But I instinctively understood that this was a "cleansing" process I was going through, and that the only way to pass this was to continue to do the exercises and read - though I almost couldn't move! This condition lasted for about 2 weeks and then slowly disappeared.
In the beginning, I practiced at home, learning the exercises from the instruction video and the once a week training session. Not really wanting to meet other practitioners, I practiced mostly alone at home.
Later I understood more and more about getting rid off attachments, and I quickly opened up myself more and more. I started to engage in the truth-clarification process to expose the gross criminality of the Jiang Regime and joined other practitioners. Today I want to say this: I have never met so many calm and goodhearted people as among Falun Dafa practitioners! When we meet, I really feel that we are one big family.
When the discussion came up regarding presenting facts about the persecution in China to the Swedish people, I immediately felt that my experience in this area could be useful. During my fifteen years of working with software programming, domestic and abroad, I have associated with company representatives in all levels and in different cultures. This has given me a good understanding of how business people may think and act. I also recognized that a huge effort was needed to put together an acceptable "Business information package," to get understanding and acceptance from the companies we wanted to reach. This required a thorough document that presented only facts without speculation. Facts, and more facts. Nothing, but facts.
Of course, I was not alone doing this. I had important help from other practitioners with writing and reviewing the growing material. This was - and is - definitely a team effort, and this would have been extremely hard without mature teamwork. This work has helped me in understanding the Fa.
For me, it was important that we, as a team, as close as possible reached full consensus about the content, and this as soon as possible.
The understanding of "being one body" with the persecuted practitioners in China helped me a lot to overcome the moments of distress that sometimes came over me during the long and tiresome nights. My working experience definitely helped me through this 6 months long effort, since I knew that each small step would eventually bring us through this long walk (and it did).
As a result of this work, I am now also ready to provide seminars about the persecution and what Falun Dafa is all about, The importance of revealing the facts of what is happening in China cannot be emphasized enough. I realize that I am "fortunate" to live in a free and democratic country, and I often think that I may have been tortured to death had I lived in China.
We practitioners all over the world all do good deeds: some hand out flyers on the streets, some write letters to politicians and newspapers, some translate witness reports into local languages, and some make phone calls to China. I am impressed by them all, and feel fortunate to be part of the Fa-rectification process. It feels good to know that we all have the chance to reach so many. I will continue to do this as long it takes. Let's make this happen. The time is short. As Master said: "Hurry up to tell them."
But in some aspects I still feel like a beginner and that I have still many possibilities to improve. I am sure I still have attachments. Many times I have been disappointed in myself when I couldn't pass some tests. Starting in the middle of Fa-rectification, I also sometimes felt "deceived" in my individual cultivation that I was thrown into the truth-clarification process too early. I felt deceived since I never had the chance to establish a higher level solely from individual cultivation. In the beginning I just wanted to stay at home, "locked in" and practicing by myself. As I already mentioned, it didn't take long until I left my shell and started to help out.
Today I believe that it was not by chance that I started to practice Falun Dafa late--it was meant to be. I am like a locomotive, I start slowly but when the speed is up I do better. I hope I do well enough.
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- 4. Looking Inward but Failing to Find the Attachment
By an Overseas Dafa disciple
(Clearwisdom.net) A Dafa disciple has to look inward whenever problems are encountered, because as long as cultivation has not yet been completed, there is the matter of individual cultivation. No matter how sacred and important the Dafa work we are doing, no matter what level we are at in our cultivation, and no matter what understandings we have of the Fa, it is impossible for us to have clear sailing in everything during cultivation--and it is even harder for everything to be in accordance with our current understanding of the Fa. If this were not the case, the impurities in our lives could not be cleansed and corrected, nor could we make further progress in our understanding of the Fa.
When as practitioners we encounter problems in cultivation, it indicates that there is a gap between us and the criteria of "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance." As we need to catch up rapidly in this aspect, this is a good thing. A strong determination in Dafa, studying the Fa and looking inward--all these are the ABC's of cultivation. However, during the course of a tribulation, when we find we have certain attachments, it is because we are unwilling to follow the basic requirements of cultivation with respect to that matter.
Generally speaking, overseas disciples obtained the Fa relatively late, yet they started to carry out their arduous and complicated Fa-rectification duties even when some aspects of their individual cultivation were not solid. When they encountered conflicts during cultivation--especially those who were very accomplished--they tended to resort to a variety of everyday strategies, instead of calming down and looking inward. In fact, under such circumstances, we can very likely open ourselves to karma and notions. If we can truly consider ourselves as practitioners and be strict with ourselves at all times and under all circumstances, even a god will be amazed at the rapidity with which we ascend in Fa-rectification cultivation.
There is another situation that we often see, which is, despite looking inward upon encountering a conflict, due to busy schedules and an unwillingness to really calm down and study the Fa, nothing is found. Very often, it is then cast aside until the completion of the task at hand. I used to do this myself; however, the same problem would recur because I still held on to the attachment that should have been abandoned. And since Teacher is taking care of us, he wouldn't just let us do the work without helping us reach Consummation. Whenever a conflict surfaces, it always directly targets our attachments. Thus, if we can truly look inward without reservation or excuses, the attachments can always be discovered. In addition, Teacher will likely give a number of hints, depending on our enlightenment quality.
After cultivating for a few years, most (Dafa) students have a deep understanding of the Fa; therefore, they are unperturbed by many things. However, when a conflict suddenly surfaces and all we see are others' shortcomings, some students can no longer keep their hearts unmoved. This has become the kind of test we often come across during cultivation. When noticing others' shortcomings, we are still hesitant to look inward ourselves, thinking that if others do not change, the conflict will still remain. This reluctance to look inward is tantamount to not accepting Teacher's guidance in the cultivation process. As Teacher pointed out in A Brief Explanation of Shan, "With regard to Shan alone, when it manifests in human society some everyday people who are attached to everyday people's society might raise an ordinary human social question: 'If everyone learned Dafa and practiced Shan, how would we handle foreign invasions or wars against us?'" To have a clear answer, we have to transcend the level of everyday people's mindsets. Of course, when a problem comes to someone, without exception it is something that we need to cultivate. Therefore, we need to remind them with compassion, and ask them to also study the Fa, look inward, and not miss the good opportunity to improve during cultivation.
Sometimes, I notice that, during the current Fa-rectification period, it seems difficult to tell the difference between an individual improvement opportunity and interference from the evil. As a Dafa disciple mentioned in a recent article: "For cultivators, external interference is in essence directly related to the internal, and is comprised of attachments, karma, notions, etc. With respect to the origin of a life, these things belong to the external; thus, looking within in cultivation practice is actually looking for these 'external' things that exist internally and eliminating them completely. If a Dafa disciple has become pure and upright on the inside, then all external interference will cease to exist." Looking back on my own cultivation, I realize this is indeed so. No matter if it is interference from outside evils or not, looking inward and purifying ourselves is always a process of eliminating outside interference or demonic hindrance. When we become purer by looking inward during tribulations, the righteous thoughts we send forth can effectively eliminate the evil influences behind the problems. At the same time, our pure energy fields will automatically transform the surrounding environment with compassion. In contrast, if this basic requirement of "looking inward" is ignored for a long time, and external resources are utilized to solve the problems, it will usually waste a lot more time, and at some stage, become impossible to proceed. This is because we will have reached the limits of our capacity, making it impossible to overcome greater external interference without further assimilating to Dafa.
By studying the Fa more and being strict with ourselves according to the requirements of Dafa, all problems and tribulations will become improvement opportunities during cultivation. Meanwhile, only by making continual breakthroughs can we keep up with the Fa-rectification.
Above are my personal understandings. Please kindly point out anything improper.
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- 5. Always Place the Fa First
By a UK practitioner
Sometimes I find that I'm too busy to study the Fa [The books of Falun Gong], practice the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts every day. Therefore, my xinxing problems become more and more prominent. Sometimes I enlighten to the problems, but I'm not willing to get rid of them naturally. When I encounter a conflict, my xinxing [moral standard, heart-nature] drops down. One day, while my mind was calm, I read Master Li's latest article "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A." and Essentials for Further Advancement over and over again. I then found that the attachment of pride, which prevented me from looking inside myself, was keeping me from elevating.
Actually, no matter what activities for Dafa we're undertaking, we cannot on the surface say, "I am responsible for Dafa" to cover up the attachments which need to be eliminated by every Dafa disciple. Everyone understands this point, but it's unavoidable to have problems when it is put into action. To enlighten to this is actually to put more emphasis on personal matters, and put Dafa into the second place imperceptibly. Take myself as an example; at the beginning I valued my opinions. Although I didn't say anything on the surface, I still would think to myself "Others' ideas are not as good as mine." Even worse, I made excuses deep down, like "This [my standpoint] is from the Fa," or "I can't affect the result of the one body." Later, although I realized my mistake and dared to admit it, I still felt uncomfortable in my heart. Looking inside deeper, it is the attachment of pride. I wondered if anyone had noticed my attachment, which was revealed earlier. Thinking about it, I feel it's really ridiculous. My mind was blocked all that time, and I had already forgotten Dafa. My thoughts were full of "What I am and how I am," etc. Recognizing that I have so many attachments, I immediately studied the Fa and sent forth righteous thoughts; eliminating the bad thought karma, bad notions and external interference. After this, my heart felt more comfortable, and didn't have the burden that I had before. What I began thinking was to walk a righteous path and improve holistically.
After this, when I discussed with a fellow practitioner and heard how he had to do a lot of activities for Dafa after doing his part-time job every night, my tears welled up. I was dissatisfied with others previously, but have I done very well? Then I thought, "Why do fellow practitioners complain to each other? We should all look at ourselves first." I felt we had good relationships, therefore we felt embarrassed to point out our shortcomings to each other. Perhaps we feel that others cultivate very well and can understand the situation by themselves; in that case I would only look inside myself. Actually it is not contradictory to look inside ourselves when pointing out others' shortcomings. Of course, we need to look inside ourselves first and recognize our own shortcomings. However, when others are stuck at a level, if we might know the reason, why don't we tell them in order to help them improve? I enlightened to the fact that the bad notions and karma exposed in ourselves are connected. The evil sees very clearly and will persecute us severely. They won't give up even if there's only one practitioner with insufficient righteous thoughts. However, Master Li has emphasized many times that we don't acknowledge the old forces, and we don't accept their arrangement. This requires Dafa disciples to form one body. Suppose that all practitioners can put others before themselves, think more kindly of other practitioners, and if they have shortcomings, tell them honestly instead of talking about them behind their backs. If this is the case, what excuse can the old forces find to persecute our fellow practitioners at will? Fa-rectification efforts will be done easier and sooner with better effects and our Xinxing will be upgraded.
At first when I encountered these conflicts and difficulties, I didn't want to participate too much. That was irresponsible to Dafa, fellow practitioners and myself. I should think about how chances have been arranged over and over again for us to save sentient beings, eliminate the evil, let us constantly get rid of the bad substances in our bodies as well as establish our mighty virtue at the same time. I should be thinking about those sentient beings that have been deceived. Shouldn't we hurry up to save them? We are practitioners from the same school, and we all consummate our path of rectifying the Fa together. We should help each other do better.
Above is only my personal enlightenment, please kindly point out the shortcomings and correct them.
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- 6. The Fa Has Saved Me
By a Western practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net)
I'm a 23-year-old practitioner from northern California. Before obtaining the Fa in March of 2003 I was completely lost. Since the age of thirteen I used drugs and alcohol. I was kicked out of every home I stayed in and moved many times, living all over the country. I was put in rehabilitation programs and went to many psychologists. The years before I obtained the Fa were the hardest years of my life. My uncle and brother had committed suicide, my grandma died of cancer, and my mom died from drinking. My drug problem got worse with my depression and it was as if I hit rock bottom and was trying to dig down further.
I've always had a spiritual side though, and instead of going to high school I would buy any kind of book on those types of subjects. I spent hundreds of dollars and never found anything I wanted to practice. After studying those books I realized that qigong was a powerful way to work with energy. I bought a book or two on qigong but could only hold them in my hand. I couldn't get myself to read them. I thought there must be something better so I went to the store and searched. I came across Zhuan Falun. I picked it up and began to read. After looking at the table of contents I knew the book was special so I wanted to read it. I didn't have enough money on me so with my poor character, I stole it. After reading by myself for a couple of months I began to realize what this book was. I tried to contact other practitioners but there was no one else in my area.
After a while a practitioner who was usually in the area but happened to be busy in another place for a few months came back and called me. He helped me with everything he could and never hesitated, answering all my questions that he could answer according to his understanding. He introduced me to other practitioners and drove me two hours to the consulate many times and without asking for gas money. In this environment and with this Fa I was able to quit drugs and alcohol, among other things. I went back to the store to confess and pay for the book, and I got rid of all my other books, since I had found what I was looking for. My depression went away and I understood why all this had happened. Master showed me the way.
That practitioner has moved, and now I take the responsibility to drive and help people in my area to learn. I take it upon myself to clarify the truth because, in my area, if I don't, no one else is around to do it.
I remember some great things that would happen when I read Zhuan Falun. One time a practitioner and I were sitting in my apartment and reading the book. I had some store bought flowers in a vase. They were pretty much closed and far from mature. When the practitioner and I read the story of how plants have emotions and can think, we looked up and the plants had bloomed. Sometimes when I'm reading and I get tired, the lights in my room will get brighter.
I realize now many things Master has done for me. I was heading towards hell and elimination when he scooped me up and taught me to be good, saving me. There is nothing else in the cosmos capable of doing that, and I am forever grateful.
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- 7. Motivation and Acts
By a Dafa Practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) At Fa conferences, practitioners often ask Master specific questions about how they should do one thing or the other. Master has always said that he only teaches the Fa and practitioners should decide what to do for each specific issue, and that if he tells us everything, there would be nothing left for us to cultivate.
While I understood what Master said at that moment at a superficial level, I now have a deeper understanding.
For a specific matter, several people may do it in different ways but may have the same motivation. For example, in clarifying the truth, some people use words, some set an example by conducting themselves with high standards in daily life, some distribute flyers and some donate money for buying printing equipment. All of them act in different ways but they all have a benevolent heart and the wish to save sentient beings.
Since each of our Dafa disciples is at a different xinxing level, for a particular issue, Practitioner A may do it in one way, which conforms to the requirement of the Fa for him, so what he does is correct. Now if Practitioner B does it in the same way, if it does not conform to the requirement of the Fa for him, what he does would be wrong. For example, say a policeman beat Practitioner A, who had just become a practitioner recently. He firmly believed that he had Master's fashen [Law body] to protect him and so he shouted, "Help me, Master!" Then the policeman stopped his brutality and this practitioner would have passed this test since he firmly believed in Master, which conformed to the Fa's requirement for his xinxing level. But suppose Practitioner B has cultivated for a long time, and his mission is to help Master to rectify the Fa and save sentient beings, but he still has human thoughts. When a policeman was beating him, he also believed that he had Master's fashen to protect him and shouted as well, "Master, help me!" This might not work and the policeman might say, "Isn't your Master a god? Why did he not come to rescue you?" What he thought and did would not conform to the Fa's requirement for his xinxing level. This test was not to see whether he believes in Master or not. If he thinks that he is a Fa-rectification period disciple, he is a protector of the universe and he should eliminate the evil beings in the policeman's body; or if he has the benevolent heart to save the policeman who will be eliminated from the universe for foolishly persecuting Dafa, he would pass this test.
In fact, Master has clearly stated these principles in the article "Expounding on the Fa."
Why has Master told us that there would be nothing left for us to cultivate if he tells us everything? Let us think about it. When a certain matter occurs in front of us, it is to help us to upgrade our xinxing level. If Master told us what we should do, the disciples would have nothing to enlighten to--then how could they improve their xinxing? In the same way, if a practitioner's xinxing level is high, he has good enlightenment quality and his capability is high, and everybody listens to his opinion when things happen, then only he is cultivating, and others are not cultivating.
Thus when Dafa practitioners are doing things together, there should not be any arguments. A single matter can be done this way, but could also be done in another way. As for xinxing, you are at this level and he is at that level. Arguing indicates that we have not studied the Fa well and do not understand well the relationship between improving xinxing and doing things.
The above is my personal understanding. Please correct me if there is anything improper.
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- 8. My Understanding Regarding "Respect Our Teacher, Respect the Fa"
By a Chinese practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) For a long time I have been in the following state: I can stay focused when reading Teacher's new articles and new Clearwisdom stories, yet I often lose my concentration, skip over words or phrases, and become stymied without remaining alert when reading Zhuan Falun. I have tried to strengthen my concentration, purge the evil that interferes with my Fa study, even practiced "reading out loud" as recommended by fellow practitioners. Each of these methods helped for only a short while, and then I would revert back to my old condition. I felt really miserable and became distressed in my failure to improve my understanding of the Fa, and I did not know how to break through this state.
One day another practitioner recited what Teacher said in his article "Fa Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.": "When you study the Fa and your mind isn't on the Fa, it's not only a problem of just going through the motions, but also that the person studying the Fa is actually not being very respectful of the Fa. How could the Fa reveal itself, then?" This was really a wake up call for me. I remembered reading Teacher's "Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference." Teacher deeply regretted those practitioners who fit the category as "some people are already half way out into thin air," as well as those practitioners who did not respect Teacher. I was startled this section of the Fa was sounding the same alarm to me. How could I detach myself from this issue? Teacher said, "Usually your Master doesn't teach you the Fa on an individual basis. That's because if I were to point out someone's problem to him individually, his mind would be hit really hard, and this might in fact affect him. That's why I rarely speak to someone individually that way. But when I bring up these problems in a large forum, don't think I'm not referring to you." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
We usually maintain eye contact with others during a conversation to show our courtesy and respect. When we are reading Zhuan Falun, we are facing the Fa of the universe and our compassionate Teacher, who provides salvation to all; what kind of mentality should we have? Teacher had stated over and over that we must study the Fa with a rational and sober mind. Teacher also told us, "If you don't even listen to what I say, then why do you still call me Master?" ("Lecture at the Australia Fa Conference") Wasn't the state that I was in when reading Zhuan Falun a serious manifestation of not respecting Teacher? How dangerous, serious, and solemn it is? I could feel a shock in my heart as I thought about this, and suddenly my body felt as light as air. I was no longer muddled when reading, and I could calm down when sending forth righteous thoughts.
Previously I had merely copied Fa study approaches from others because of my attachment to seeking new things, but I ignored and overlooked the connotation behind the methodology -- truly seek from within our heart, sincerely respect and solemnly face Teacher and Fa from the deepest part of our life.
What I said earlier was only my own understanding and I hope it will be of value to my fellow practitioners. Because I am limited by my understanding, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
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