Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- A Few Words on Gaining an Advantage in Cultivation and What Genuine Cultivation Is
- Tolerance and Respect for Others
- "It won’t do if you don’t hold yourself to strict requirements"
- Cultivation Issues That Should Not Be Neglected
- Cultivating to Attain Selflessness and Altruism
- My Understanding Regarding "Respect Our Teacher, Respect the Fa"
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the May 2007 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
On May 13 is Falun Dafa Day. Let us pledge to do well in our cultivation. This would be the best way to express our gratitude to Master for giving us the most invaluable gift of Dafa.
In this issue, we have 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?
Practitioners in Pune had successfully organized the "Truth-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition during the weekend leading up to Easter. It was in a large exhibition hall in the outskirts of Pune city. For more details read the Clearwisdom.net frontpage dated 18 April, 2007.
Two Indian practitioners had gone for the New York Fa conference.
With Mr. David Kilgour and Mr. David Matas visiting the different Indian cities the practitioners were busy organizing talks and making arrangements. More details will follow in the next newsletter.
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- 3. A Few Words on Gaining an Advantage in Cultivation and What Genuine Cultivation Is
By a Dafa Practitioner
Thoughts of Gaining an Advantage
After one has studied the Fa for a long period of time, thoughts of gaining an advantage should not arise. No matter if the thought is regarding an advantage in daily life or cultivation such thoughts are caused by various selfish pursuits.
If you were told that when studying the Fa, the advantages that you desire are not available to you, and the only benefit you will receive is that you will really be a better person who must first work hard would you still want to cultivate? Cultivation of Dafa is not for gaining an advantage; it is for striving for righteousness and returning to one's original true self. Cultivating in hopes of obtaining an advantage in the future is not a pure thought, as there is no such thing as trading one thing for another in cultivation. Cultivation is the awakening of our inborn qualities, and we should cultivate in order to be a really good and righteous person.
Is It Genuine Cultivation?
Some people think that they are in cultivation of the Buddha Law, but what is the cultivation of the Buddha Law? Master Li told us in "Lunyu" of Zhuan Falun, "In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking." Have we changed our human concepts? Do we really understand the Buddha Law? If we do not change our ordinary human concepts, we will have only our own understandings, as the Buddha Law is boundless. No matter what, we must continue to strive to advance diligently.
Some others think that cultivation is a type of insurance. Buddha saves sentient beings instead of just blessing and protecting them. If we cannot conform to the requirements, will that do? Teacher has said in "Solid Cultivation" of Hong Yin
"Study the Fa and obtain the Fa.
Share in learning and share in cultivating,
Following [the Fa] in everything.
Compliance is cultivation."
We must achieve this to be successful in cultivation. If we knew everything that is within the Fa, yet at the crucial moment we don't act according to Dafa's requirements, instead acting according to our various excuses, old habits, human emotions and notions, etc., then this is not cultivation. That would not be cultivation. That is only studying the principles and saying one thing while doing something else!
The above are my personal understandings. Please kindly correct any errors in my thinking.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 4. Tolerance and Respect for Others
Written by Xiaolian, a practitioner in China
Tolerance is having a broad mind, a great capacity to accommodate everything, a profound wisdom to see through everything and an ineffable realm of righteous and virtuous enlightenment.
In the eyes of enlightened beings, tolerance is an instinct, a nature. If there were only one person living in this vast universe, their existence would be bland. Only together with all other beings, will a life experience the joy and meaning of its existence.
Although we still have a lot of attachments and human notions that have not been eliminated in cultivation, this cannot be used as an excuse to abandon ourselves to them. Dafa requires us to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism, so we should be very strict with ourselves. As for our fellow practitioners, provided they are still cultivating, we should treat them as "fellow practitioners" no matter whether they cultivate well or not. We should respect others' opinions, treasure others and believe in others. This requires us to maintain our "one body" well together, especially when the environment is so complicated at this time.
The state of tolerance is attained through cultivation. It doesn't matter if others understand or not, but it is essential that we ourselves stick to the Fa. What every enlightened being has enlightened to is different from others, so it is impossible to get them to conform to each other. For example, in doing something, different people have different approaches. Thus the universe can be so rich and varied.
The mind of understanding, the heart of tolerance, and the realm of treasuring others are the direct reflection of our Xinxing (mind nature). Every cultivator should be responsible to himself and herself. What will we get if we don't want to tolerate and treasure others? Only if we do everything with such a tolerant heart and really treasure other people, will our own existence become meaningful. Only if we tolerate others, will we able to return to the forever-beautiful and forever-lasting new cosmos.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 5. "It won’t do if you don’t hold yourself to strict requirements"
There are practitioners who at some point of time slack off in their cultivation and find it difficult to make an effort to rise and cultivate again. In an effort to help these practitioners, we have selected excerpts, answers from Teacher to questions related to problems and hurdles in cultivation. Hope practitioners who have gone a little wayward will be inspired and get back on the path of cultivation.
In a Fa conference in Switzerland in 1998, this is what Teacher said in reply to a problem of being steadfast in cultivation.
Teacher: Practice cultivation openly and in an upright manner. On the other hand, you have to hold yourself to strict requirements. Every one of you will make mistakes in the course of cultivation and will have trials that you can’t pass. If you were able to get over every trial, then I as your Master wouldn’t have arranged it well. So every trial is difficult to pass. You will either pass it well or pass it poorly. But when you pass it poorly, you agonize over it and know that you haven’t cultivated well and regret deeply; you determine to cultivate well next time. Then the next time you will try again to pass it. It’s precisely in this state of being able to pass it, not being able to pass it, examining yourself, and doing this continuously that you are practicing cultivation. If you were able to pass every trial well, you wouldn’t need to cultivate; if no trial were able to stop you, you would be about to reach Consummation. On the other hand if you think, “Teacher said that no matter whether we pass it well or not, it’s fine as long as we cultivate,” and from here on out, you relax and don’t mind when you don’t pass the trials well, then you are no longer practicing cultivation. That’s the relationship. It won’t do if you don’t hold yourself to strict requirements.
Question: Recently, I often have a very bad state of mind, my thoughts aren’t good and my thinking is messed up. Have I really fallen that much?
Teacher: Karma will attack like crazy when you allow yourself to slack off. If you are strong on this side, you can suppress it. At the same time as when you’ve suppressed and controlled it, if I see that you are really good and are indeed a cultivator, I will have to look after you and eliminate those things for you. It’s this kind of relationship. It won’t do if you can’t manage it yourself. You might say, “Oh, as long as I suppress it, Teacher will eliminate it for me; so I will start to suppress it.” Just as I was saying earlier about the kind of thinking that people with illness have: it won’t work if you practice only because you want me to eliminate karma for you! Anyway, you shouldn’t be attached to anything. You must have righteous thoughts.
Question: Can we completely eliminate through cultivation each and every kind of weakness we have during the course of cultivation?
Teacher: You have to. Some of our students think: “Teacher, we’re so bad in ordinary human society. When we have cultivated up to the realm of a Buddha, will we really forget everything about when we were living as humans?” [You think this way] because you’re thinking about what Buddhas are like while you are living among ordinary humans. All of your human thoughts will change, and this includes the structure of your thoughts and the way you think. When you’re free of the constraints of emotion at this level and the constraints of other various kinds of matter in this ordinary human realm, you’ll disassociate from this environment and cease to be the way you are. When you have cultivated up there, this little superficial form of yours will only remain as a memory, whereas your thoughts will have already elevated to the realm of a Buddha, God or Dao; they will be the best part of you. You won’t want to touch this most superficial human part [of you] – you won’t even want to recall the memory of it.
Question: I was not diligent in my cultivation practice and was not able to pass the sex test several times. If I mend my ways now, will you still take me?
Teacher: Let me tell you this, do not think that you cannot practice cultivation anymore because you could not pass a test once or twice. Actually, this is how you practice cultivation. Some people who are doing well in their cultivation practice passed the test, some people who are not doing well did not pass the test well enough, or even did not pass the test at all. However he can pass tests in other aspects. Struggling through it in this manner and passing tests adequately or not—this is how cultivation practice is. If everyone could pass every test, you wouldn’t need to practice cultivation and would become a Buddha right away. Isn’t this true? However, you should take it seriously when you cannot pass a test over and over again. Would you still be considered as practicing cultivation if you let this go on for long?
Question: I’ve repelled my thought-karma, but sometimes it takes a long time. How can we eliminate it more effectively?
Teacher: “How can we eliminate it more effectively?” Your words indicate that you want to find a shortcut, a simpler way. No situation is isolated. You brought about the karma yourself, so in your cultivation you have to suffer to eliminate it. In the midst of suffering, you improve yourself and are tested as to whether you’re unwavering. If it were removed all at once, you wouldn’t have much left to cultivate. It’s absolutely unacceptable if you don’t concretely and genuinely change yourself. If you couldn’t reach that standard, when you got to a heavenly paradise and saw those great majestic Enlightened Beings sitting there, your heart would tremble: “Oh, I haven’t cultivated enough, I can’t stay here.” You would know on your own that you couldn’t stay there. So we have to cultivate firmly and solidly every step of the way. If you don’t reach the standard, it absolutely isn’t permitted and you can’t make it.
What if you can’t get rid of thought-karma? Let me tell you that a person’s notions are formed not only in one lifetime, but accumulated life after life. They even exist in extremely deep parts of your body; they ‘re not just on the surface. What to do about them? As you continually practice cultivation, you’re weakening them and getting rid of them—you’re already doing that. Then before you reach Consummation, your thinking still produces karma and this thing still exists. So you should find a way to restrain and overcome it—this is practicing cultivation! You aren’t practicing cultivation if you let yourself slack off. Thought-karma’s interference with humans is extremely severe. When a person’s thought-karma is strong, it can even disturb him to the extent that he’s unable to practice. Read the book more—the Fa is in the book, and everything I can help you with is in the Fa- so that your karma can be eliminated.
Question: I feel that I don’t have enough time, so I often cut my sleep time short. Does this count as an attachment?
Teacher: No, it doesn’t. If you want to find some time in the evening to do the exercises because your time is really tight and you’re busy during the day, I’d say that’s excellent. The condition of your body won’t deteriorate any because of your doing the exercises, nor will you suffer from lack of sleep. These things won’t happen. On the contrary, you’ll sleep more soundly after doing the exercises, and you’ll feel more energetic. It’s bound to be this way.
Question: Does a person’s strong will power and ability to endure come with him at birth?
Teacher: They don’t come with a person at birth. Let’s talk about human beings and take our superficial, human body as an example. If a person has tempered himself through many tribulations in the society of everyday people, he might care less about things. Or, if he’s been through a lot, he will becomes strong and he cares less about things. A person can also become stronger through practicing cultivation. When one’s realm is raised, one’s ability to endure also increases.
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- 6. Cultivation Issues That Should Not Be Neglected
By Jing Lian, a Falun Dafa practitioner in Gansu Province
1. Doing the Exercises is a Serious Issue
Although it is important to cultivate our "xinxing," we cannot neglect the seriousness of doing the exercises. Some practitioners' exercise movements are not accurate, and some people even add other movements during the exercises. This is often common in more rural areas where practitioners do not see each other frequently.
Cultivation is a very serious matter. We must be responsible for ourselves, and we have to take these things seriously. Hence, I believe that we must strictly follow our Teacher's exercise movements. The movements should be generally consistent without too much variance. It's almost the end of the Fa-rectification, but our exercise movements are still inaccurate. How is it that we cannot do well on this fundamental issue? I suggest all practitioners read The Great Consummation Way of Falun Dafa. We haven't shared regarding this particular issue for quite some time, and no one seems to have thought much about it. Even though I was aware of this problem, I didn't pay attention to it. Several days ago, while reciting the Fa, I was suddenly aware of the seriousness of this issue.
Teacher said in Zhuan Falun:
"Anyone who tries to change the Falun Dafa exercises is undermining Dafa and this school of practice. Some people have turned the exercise instructions into rhymes, and that is absolutely not permitted. A genuine cultivation way is always passed down from a prehistoric time. It has been preserved from quite a remote age and has successfully cultivated numerous great enlightened people. No one dares to change a bit of it. Such a thing can only take place in this Dharma-ending Period of ours. These things have never occurred throughout history. Everyone must be very careful with this issue."
"Under no circumstances and for no reason can anyone alter even a bit of the movements with which we are to reach Consummation. Otherwise, this person is undermining the Fa, regardless of whether his motives are good or not." ("Immutable," Essentials for Further Advancement)
If our exercise movements are incorrect, will that be okay? If we add other movements, doesn't it alter the exercises? Furthermore, when doing meditation, some people sway back and forth, like a Chinese tumbler. When some practitioners legs slip down during the sitting meditation, they put them back up. This may occur several times during the exercise. If both one's hands and legs are changing positions, doesn't this interfere with the qi mechanism? A disciple asked Teacher about this issue:
"Question: If we're bitten by a mosquito while doing the meditation, is it okay to scratch the bump?
Teacher: If you've scratched it, you've scratched it, but it's best if you don't. When you scratch while practicing, your qi mechanism will be fouled up." ("Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Jinan," Zhuan Falun Fajie - The Law of Zhuan Falun Explained)
Yesterday, we held a small-scale Fa conference and all who participated were veteran practitioners. Eight or nine of them did the exercises inaccurately, and some had problems performing them. Has performing the exercises improperly over time warped the qi mechanisms? We have to truly take responsibility for ourselves!
2. Sending Forth Righteous Thoughts
Sending forth righteous thoughts is one of Teacher's three requirements. There are many experience sharing articles about this issue. However, a number of practitioners still ignore the importance of sending forth righteous thoughts. Many practitioners have decreased the frequency of sending forth righteous thoughts and neglect doing so every day at the four set times. Also, some people's righteous thoughts are not strong enough, they become sleepy, or their hand position is not correct. The ability to send forth righteous thoughts is an important tool Teacher bestows on us. Hopefully, practitioners who have these problems can correct their wrong states as soon as possible, eliminate the evil, and fulfill their pledges!
The above is just my personal understanding. Please correct me if anything is inappropriate.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 7. Cultivating to Attain Selflessness and Altruism
By Wenhua
Recently many Dafa disciples discussed on websites how to handle our family situations well while balancing daily life, work, and clarifying the truth as a part of Fa-rectification. I felt quite inspired after reading these articles. Non-practitioners will invariably consider their present losses and gains above everything else. However it is the attachments to fame, profit and selfishness that our Dafa disciples need to get rid of. Especially during the Fa-rectification period, putting the Fa as the first priority and saving as many sentient beings (including our own family members, relatives and good friends) as we can, is the responsibility of every Dafa disciple during the Fa-rectification period. At the same time, it is required of us that we should cultivate and conform ourselves to the ordinary people's society, and should cultivate as harmoniously and completely as we can. Looking from this perspective, if we encounter many problems with our families, this might remind us of the places where we should upgrade ourselves--whether we have enough kind-heartedness, understanding and compassion in treating our family members? Whether we are strict with ourselves in every single word and behavior as practitioners are supposed to be in our daily lives? I wanted to share my understandings regarding handling our family situations harmoniously, especially for overseas practitioners. Please help me to correct anything that is improper.
First of all, we should understand from the Fa's perspective that "selflessness and altruism" does not mean that we can give up cultivation so that our family members will not endure hardships, nor can we take it as an excuse not to fulfill our responsibilities as Fa-rectification disciples. Cultivation is very serious. When we are stopped by our sentiments, why do we not cultivate and rise above it? What does it truly mean to be kind to family members? Our family members who do not cultivate, no matter how much they understand, if they share our sufferings in some way, they have laid a good foundation for their future. On the contrary, if they stop us from cultivation, aren't they doing something terrible? And how can they ever pay back the karma that they have caused in forcing a practitioner to give up cultivation? Of course, the responsibilities lie mainly in the practitioners themselves if they do not cultivate well enough. However, if we do not have strong righteous thoughts, we will implicate them and also many other sentient beings that have predestined relationships with us. In fact, we are destroying their future.
After studying Master's article "Pacify the External by Cultivating the Internal" (Essentials for Further Advancement), I realize that the Fa-rectification should start within ourselves and also from our families. When I met difficulties in clarifying the truth to my family members, I always tried to stay away and even escape from the difficulties. The idea to give them up always occurred to me. My mind kept on thinking what methods I should use to free myself from this entanglement. After I calmed myself down, I realized that for me to retreat from the difficulties is not the attitude that a practitioner should have. It shows that I am not thinking of others first. If I truly want to think for the others' future, I will have every single word and behavior of mine show the tolerance and compassion of a cultivator. After seeing our behavior day after day, our family members will understand that Dafa cultivation is beautiful and pure. In "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston", Master said: "If we don't pay attention to our own behavior in our daily lives, everyday people will see our actions and, since they can't get to know you at a deep level such as by studying the Fa, they will just look at how you act. And it's possible that one sentence or one action of yours will make them unsavable or create a bad impression of Dafa. We need to think about these things." Our family members understand the criteria of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" and will unconsciously use this criteria to judge us. It might be just because we are bothered by our sentimentality, some of our daily actions are not pure and righteous, or do not even reach the standard of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" in our family members' eyes, and this will make our family members fail to understand Dafa. This has caused some of us to suffer in family conflicts for long periods of time.
The foundation for cultivation is to cultivate our hearts, which should be constantly improved. In handling family conflicts, the biggest mistake that I have made is trying to separate cultivation from our daily lives. I thought it was cultivation when we were studying the Fa, spreading the Fa and doing things related to Fa-rectification. I thought that the trifles that we have in our daily lives were not a part of cultivation, so I failed to use the criteria of a cultivator to strictly conduct myself in my words and actions. We did not do well in some aspects, and this led our family members to fail to show respect for cultivation. On the other hand, sometimes we only ask our family members who do not cultivate to agree with us and neglect the care that they need in their ordinary people's daily lives. Here I refer not only to the care taking of their daily lives, but also achieving some level of harmony on a spiritual and emotional level. I remembered that for a period of time, I was so busy in spreading the Fa that I could find no time to talk to my husband and educate my child. I could only say a few words to him before we started to quarrel. He said I was selfish and always tried to stop me from going out to spread the Fa. When I started to send forth the righteous thoughts at the top of the hour, my child would often ask me to do this or do that. In the beginning, I took it as interference and resisted it firmly. However this problem kept occurring, and I realized that this was due to my own shortcomings -- this was caused by the fact that I was lacking compassion for my own family members.
Compassion will replace sentimentality when we go beyond sentimentality. Then what is compassion? My present understanding is that it is unconditionally giving from oneself. Dafa disciples can give up all they have in rectifying the Fa and clarifying the truth. However sometimes we forget that our family members are also among the sentient beings that are waiting for our saving. They do not cultivate and they do not have the same understanding of the Fa-rectification as Dafa disciples. If some of their reasonable requirements are "sacrificed" because of us, they will naturally think that we are selfish when we neglect to find common ground with them with compassion and understanding. At the beginning of my cultivation, since I did not have a deep understanding of the Fa and went to extremes, I did not take my family members' thoughts into consideration and neglected them. As my cultivation progressed, I've understood the importance of giving up selfishness and the importance of always caring for and understanding others.
I remember a story about a cultivator in ancient times who read the scriptures all day long, and he never wasted his time to do any chores in the temple. Afterwards an older monk pointed out to him that cultivation is meant to cultivate one's own selfish heart. Only when you always think for others first can you complete cultivation. This awakened him to his selfishness and gave him a whole new outlook.
Master also taught us in "Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston",
"You probably remember something I've said to you often: a Dafa disciple should consider others first in everything he does. Whenever something happens or whenever a situation comes about, even if it's a minor thing, my first thought is of others, for it's already become natural for me--I just think of others first."
If we can do this, then our family conflicts will be resolved and we will upgrade our xinxing (moral character) in the processes. Only on the foundation of better xinxing will we be able to fulfill our historic responsibilities. On the contrary, in facing family conflicts, if we are not willing to look inside and discover our shortcomings, and we cannot overcome the obstacles proactively, if we keep hoping to change others, hoping that our family members will improve, then we will forever be passively reacting to the old forces' interference. In fact, our family members who do not cultivate may just be waiting for us to improve ourselves so that they will be able to better understand the truth of Dafa.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 8. My Understanding Regarding "Respect Our Teacher, Respect the Fa"
By a Chinese practitioner
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.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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