Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- I really believe that getting the Fa is predestined
- The Demon Called "Excuse"
- Paying Attention to One's Speech is Paying Attention to One's Heart
- When Human Notions Change, the Situation Changes
- Reciting Lunyu Over and Over Is Such a Joy
- Another Discussion on "Taking the Fa as Master"
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the August 2008 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
The Beijing Olympics is just a week away. As many practitioners have shared on Clearwisdom that they feel that the Old forces will use the Olympics to further the persecution. But the whole world will be watching the Olympics and surely the world will come to know the truth. Let us come above our human emotions and keep our righteous thoughts for the persecution to play out during the Olympics. It is important for us to keep our righteous thoughts and clarify the truth to the world.
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 Delhi had visited Aligarh to introduce Falun Dafa in some schools. There were requests from some more schools for introduction of the exercises.
Practitioners from Bangalore had been to Durg in Chattisgarh to introduce Falun Dafa in schools.
Practitioners from Mumbai introduced Falun Dafa and the exercises to some young priests in a Mumbai seminary.
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- 3. I really believe that getting the Fa is predestined
By an Indian practitioner
I am an Indian housewife who obtained the Fa sometime back but was not serious about cultivation till very recently. About a year back, I lost my father very unexpectedly, to whom I was deeply attached. It really made me think deeply about life and everything around me.
My husband has obtained the Fa in October 2002 and since then has been cultivating the Fa. Often he asked me to cultivate with him. Since I was completely new to the term cultivation and the concepts around it such as xinxing or mind-nature, I could not really understand what it really meant to obtain the Fa and cultivate diligently. Also, since I was educated in vernacular medium, reading and comprehending English was little difficult for me. My husband sometimes read me the Master's Fa lectures. I understood it deeply inside me, but still could not make the decision to begin cultivation.
Since my husband has begun cultivation, I had already seen some miracles around me. For e.g. in the last six years, he has never been to a physician/doctor! He has never taken a pill! He enjoyed good health and his temper had improved greatly.
So, finally after my father's death, at some point, I decided that I would begin seriously cultivating the Fa. Thus I started on my cultivation path! I began by reading Master's book "Zhuan Falun" and practicing the exercises by watching them being performed by Master Li on the VCD player. My husband initially helped me to correct my movements.
I started to slowly understand the Fa, bit by bit. My reading the Fa and re-reading helped me understand the Fa better and better, just like the Master said. As I read and practiced, the view of the world changed. My quick temper began to improve. What earlier would be an argument and a heated discussion with my husband over some issue now was a more toned down conversation and suggestion. I decided to improve further. I never looked back and went on and I never noticed that six months had already passed and I had become healthy and fit and had never had a cough or cold or fever and never had taken any pill! This was in the light of the facts and history that I had relatively poor immunity and had bad colds that lasted for 15 days at a time!
Also, till very recently I had mild pre-diabetic conditions of higher blood glucose levels, for which I was advised to take pills by the doctor everyday. After obtaining the Fa and beginning the cultivation at some point I decided on my own to stop taking the glucose lowering pills. Also, my husband readily consented. During a recent checkup, I was surprised to find my blood glucose levels returned to normal! This was a miracle and it could only happen with Master's infinite grace and mercy!
Thank you Master Li for your immense grace and mercy!
I understand that, I am lucky to have obtained the Fa and would continue to cultivate to higher levels more diligently.
Since my level is limited, please point out any mistakes or errors on my part in my experience report above.
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- 4. The Demon Called "Excuse"
By practitioners from Mainland China
Excuse is a very cunning demon, mostly hiding in our mind, thoughts, ideas and careless words and deeds. If we cannot capture and rid ourselves of it in every thought and idea, it will cause havoc, losses and damage in validating Dafa and saving sentient beings. The lessons which I experienced recently should be seriously considered.
While sharing experiences with practitioner "A," I said, "When I edited the characters in Dafa books, I often missed typing the 'enter' key." Practitioner "A" responded, "Me too." His answer made me relieved; it turned out that I am not the only one making such mistakes. As a result, I slackened when editing the characters. Even after I reviewed the document three additional times, I continued to miss this error.
When sharing experiences with practitioner "B," I said, "It seems to me that the more I cultivate, the more attachments I have. Most attachments were immediately eliminated, but I realize now I am not as pure as before. Practitioner "B" responded, "Me too." His answer gave me something to fall back on. I even mistakenly thought that this is a common state after a period of cultivation, instead of considering this issue based on Dafa. Because of this, I slacked off further.
While sharing experiences with practitioner "C," I said, "I miss sending forth righteous thoughts at midnight most times since I cannot wake up." Practitioner "C" responded, "Me too." His answer made me feel steady and sure. I even suspected that most practitioners did the same thing. This excuse made me persist in my old ways and I did not think much more about the issue. As a result, this caused a great delay in eliminating the evil entirely.
From my experiences, it can be seen that the attachment of "excuse" subtly caused major problems for four cultivators and the work of Dafa. It caused us to become lazy and irresponsible, not considering the whole body of practitioners and all other sentient beings, and it resulted in our being selfish, relying on others, hesitating, and giving up diligent progress.
Sometimes I really hoped to do better in the things a Dafa practitioner should do during the Fa-rectification period (1). However, I was blocked by all sorts of excuses. When I prepared to write a letter to senior government officials to clarify truth about Falun Gong, the demon Excuse said, "Forget about it. There are many Dafa practitioners around senior officials in Beijing. It is not your turn to do that." When I tried to rescue practitioners in prison, Excuse said, "There are tens of thousands of practitioners detained, is it possible for you to rescue them all?" When I planned to write an indictment to sue the former head and his accomplice who are responsible for persecuting Dafa, Excuse said, "When the critical mass gets to that stage, everyone will write an indictment. Wait until then."
Thus Excuse obstructed and hindered us from saving sentient beings. What would happen if everyone accepts the thought, "If I don't do it, someone else will; it makes no difference whether I participate or not"? Because of this, we separated ourselves from Dafa. The dark hands behind the attachment observe, "Look! Dafa disciples are so selfish. How could they cultivate to selflessness and righteous Enlightenment?"
Although we do not acknowledge the old force's arrangements and trials, we really need to look inwards. Saving sentient beings is such a sacred issue. What would happen if we always depended on each other and Mainland disciples depended on disciples outside China, and at the same time disciples outside China depended on disciples inside China? Disciples detained would depend on disciples outside of prison, while other disciples would depend on Teacher and the cosmic plan. Because we're all depending on something outside of ourselves, we would be persecuted endlessly by the evil, since it can easily grasp our great weaknesses and constantly take advantage of us. Teacher warned us in Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference:"The evil takes advantage of the slightest gap and glares menacingly at every single word and action of yours. Whatever you're attached to, that's what the evil beings will strengthen, and when your mind is off they will make you irrational." (1) The three things Master Li asked practitioners to do are to study the Fa (the teachings of Falun Dafa), send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth of Falun Dafa and the persecution to the world's people.
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- 5. Paying Attention to One's Speech is Paying Attention to One's Heart
Written by a Falun Dafa practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) Since, I learned Falun Dafa I knew that I should pay attention to the cultivation of speech, but I did not always do well. Another practitioner told me that cultivating speech is like cultivating the heart. To me this made a lot of sense. How well you cultivate your heart is not seen by others, but whether you mind your speech well or not can be seen by everyone and may also create negative effects to the environment. I realized that I was cultivating neither my speech, nor my heart, very well.
On one occasion I visited one of my relatives. He was having his home renovated. My relative commented that the workers were too slow. I responded without thinking, "If they work slowly they can get more money." My relative then went right down and scolded the workers, which gave me no chance to make up for my thoughtless comment.
I often notice that once the words are released from my mouth, it is very difficult to take them back. Although I say things without intention, an ordinary person still listens very closely. Therefore, minding our speech is very difficult. One day during studying, I was struck by Teacher's words, "You know, Buddhas don't speak frivolously." (Zhuan Falun). I suddenly realized that as a cultivator I should not confuse myself with an everyday person and talk without purpose. If it is unnecessary to discuss something, then I should try to talk less. If I talk too much, it may bring additional troubles to ourselves and others.
When some practitioners in my area talked to others who had detoured and did things that practitioners should not do, their language was sharp and intolerant. In some cases, later, the practitioner who spoke sharply did not do as well as the person he ridiculed. When we do not take responsibility for our words and our behavior, first we hurt others, and eventually we harm ourselves.
We all have the predestined relationship to be born during this period of Teacher's Fa rectification. We should treasure this precious predestined relationship by helping each other and making up for our collective shortcomings by learning from each others' strong points. Is it possible for anyone to not make a mistake? How could we feel such distaste toward fellow practitioners? What possible reason do we have to complain when we are before living beings? The mouth of the human being is the door that will measure whether the result will be fortune or misfortune. The tongue is a sword, which can destroy demons and eliminate evil. We should use our mouths to introduce the principles of Falun Dafa [Fa] to more people, which is showing mercy and benevolence to people.
On the path of cultivation practice, every practitioner has his or her own difficulties and confusion. We cannot pass every test easily. Sometimes it is necessary to stop and consider what we have been doing. This is the time to calm down and use the Fa to judge whether the path we have walked is righteous or not, and what we have done is correct or not. From a small mistake we need to get better at realizing the truth and solving the root problem. In this way we will correct ourselves thoroughly and become cultivators who are truly admired by gods and by all living beings.
It is the same for clarifying the truth. Not only we should pay great attention to the quantity, but we must pay greater attention to the quality and to the effect. For practitioners who stepped out later and who have a heavy attachment of fear, do not hold onto the fear of falling behind or not reaching consummation. We must know that to do the most sacred things in the universe while holding on to dirty human attachments is a blasphemy to gods. It is also being irresponsible to ourselves and to others. We should use our pure hearts to do everything that we should do--even small things--and do them well. If you feel it is difficult to clarify the truth directly to others, then you may send forth righteous thoughts more and consider how to use an alternate method to let others know that Dafa is good. So long as you have Teacher and Fa in your heart, there are always things you can do, and do well. Believe it! As long as you are studying, cultivating and looking inside, you are improving. Gain naturally without pursuit is what I have learned.
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- 6. When Human Notions Change, the Situation Changes
By Beilian
(Clearwisdom.net)
Recently, I have seen some senior practitioners who did not make progress getting over their illness karma. Some had sickness karma manifestations for months, some for more than a year, and there were even some who lost their lives. I have some experience with this issue and would like to share it with everyone. I hope this will help those practitioners who are stuck with illness karma for a long time.
April is the peak time when people in this area get flu and coughs. Many people got this form of sickness karma and so did I. I coughed for a long time and my throat was very itchy. My cough was really bad, especially when I sent righteous thoughts. Initially, I thought it was interference and I looked inside. I found that it was caused by overeating. I also realized that I was occupied with taking care of my mother (a Dafa practitioner), who'd been very sick, and did terribly in studying the Fa and clarifying the truth. The dark minions were using my attachments to persecute me. I sent righteous thoughts to eliminate them, and put in extra efforts to study the Fa and clarify the truth. I was very strict with myself. However, my health did not improve and I was coughing even more. My voice changed and I could barely catch my breath. During this time, I repeatedly thought, "What's the matter with me? I sent righteous thoughts and looked inside, how come I am still like this?" Later I thought, "Whatever, I need to totally give up my attachments and do well in the three things Teacher asks us to do." The cough continued.
One night I was lying in bed and couldn't fall asleep. I kept on thinking and all of a sudden something shook my mind and I enlightened to a principle: I have to change my thoughts. Teacher has told us that good and bad emerges from one thought. The difference in one thought is the difference between a human and godly state. Though I looked inward and sent righteous thoughts, the truth was that I still had pursuits. I did not clear my mind to study the Fa and send righteous thoughts. I did not use my heart to clarify the truth. I acknowledged the old force's persecution without knowing it. Though I had said to myself that I would not acknowledge anything, in my mind I did not really let go of the attachment. Teacher says in Zhuan Falun, "We emphasize one point: If you cannot relinquish the attachment or concern for illness, we cannot do anything and will be unable to help you." The reason why I could not get over my illness karma for so long was because I did not change my human thoughts. I did not truly relinquish my attachment of wanting to stop coughing, "Having humanly fostered the evil demons, you allow them to capitalize on the loopholes in the Fa." (Essentials for Further Advancement) When I let go of my human thoughts, I really felt that I had jumped out of my human side on this issue. My throat cleared up right then and my cough was gone the next day. Later, whenever I had a slight coughing symptom, I immediately thought, "It's nothing. Nobody can persecute me." That instant the symptom was gone. My cough was totally gone after a while. When I gave up my attachment to coughing, I felt like I never had coughed before. Through this incident, I realized, "Only when I can jump out of human thoughts and human notions will I be able to walk out of the human side. Only when I give up human thoughts will Dafa reveal its divine power to me."
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- 7. Reciting Lunyu Over and Over Is Such a Joy
By a practitioner from China
(Clearwisdom.net) I asked some fellow practitioners and myself, "Which one of the Teacher's articles can you recite most fluently?" The most common answer was "Lunyu." (On Buddha Law) I then asked, "Which one of the Teacher's articles do you think is the most difficult to recite?" The most common answer was also, "Lunyu." Why? The reason is simple. We can recite Lunyu so fluently that it becomes difficult for us to stay focused when reciting it. Sometimes, we recite it while our imagination runs wild. Then is it truly us reciting it? Only each individual can know his or her own situation.
For practitioners who are imprisoned, what they recite most often is Lunyu. Before I was arrested, I had memorized Teacher's many articles and the first two lectures of Zhuan Falun. I know that Lunyu encompasses the meaning of the entire book Zhuan Falun. However, to me, it seemed like studying Lunyu was not as effective as studying Teacher's other articles, so I didn't pay enough attention to learning Lunyu.
One night, about two months after I was detained in a forced labor camp, I had a dream. In the dream, I picked up a book at a bookstore. It was a book on music. There was a picture in it, where a conductor was directing a very large band. When I took another look at the picture, it came alive. It was like a TV screen and I felt as if I was at a live concert.
It took some time before I understood the meaning of the dream.
Sentient beings in different dimensions at various levels have different ways and abilities of communicating with one another. Beyond the dimension where we live, the environment and the capabilities that the Fa created for other living beings change. That's why the picture that I saw in my dream carried sounds, images, and the live atmosphere within it.
Then what about the levels that are even higher?
Teacher said in Zhuan Falun, "When two great enlightened people meet each other, they can understand everything with a smile. This is due to soundless telepathy, and what is received is in stereo sound. When they smile, their ideas are already communicated." (The Third Talk, Cosmic Language)
I came to realize that one smile covers tons of changes in the firmament and thousands of years of history, and the levels below them had experienced countless jie (hundreds of millions of kalpa. Kalpa: a period lasting two billion years; here the term is used as a number) and transformations. All of this was communicated in that one smile. Those two enlightened beings' wisdom and abilities are beyond the imagination of the sentient beings below their levels.
Teacher is spreading the Fa in ordinary human society. It must be extremely difficult for Teacher to use the language of human beings to explain such profound Fa principles that even gods didn't know in the past.
"... it is very difficult to use human language to express the high-level, profound principles of the Fa." (from "Using at Will")
As I understand, the difficulty is not just for Teacher, but also for practitioners since the notions that we accumulated during the past thousands of years are all barriers preventing us from truly understanding the Fa principles.
For example, Teacher talked about the universe in Lunyu. When I saw, read, or recited this word before, I used to understand it based on my understandings of the universe. However, my understandings included the concepts formed by modern science, the feelings I gained from what I saw, and even the so-called "wisdom" formed over the many years of my lives in the past. It is hard to recognize this problem of using notions to understand the Fa since it has become a habit. When I recited Lunyu before, I could do it without thinking. That is because I used my notions to judge everything, including Lunyu. I know Lunyu covers Zhuan Falun in its entirety, but I only understood this Fa principle at a very superficial level.
I gradually came to realize what hard work Teacher has done for us! Teacher is using human language to explain the true situations of the cosmos. I started to have a totally different feeling when reciting Lunyu. Teacher said in Lunyu,
"BUDDHA LAW can allow people to thoroughly understand immeasurable, boundless worlds."
We have been shown everything, and now it all depends on us. The degree of Truth we can see is directly related to how many attachments we can get rid of. I thoroughly enjoyed reciting Lunyu again and again. It even made my days in the forced labor camp less difficult. Ever since I started to enjoy reciting Lunyu, I didn't seem to have so many troubles.
Modern science's degenerate notions
The first benefit from reciting Lunyu was uncovering and eliminating from my mind the degenerate notions of modern science. I am a computer engineer. Before I began cultivating Falun Dafa, I liked to read books on science to keep up with the latest developments. In fact, I became interested in cultivation from reading an experience-sharing article by a practitioner who is a scientist. I knew I had a lot of thought karma from my notions based on modern science. Every time scientists attempted to smear the Fa, my thought karma would agree with them. I made a feeble attempt to fight back and I was constantly on the defensive.
In Lunyu, Teacher directly talked about the essence of modern science,
"The ideas that guide today's science are only able to confine its development and research to this material world, as a subject won't be studied until it is known--it takes that approach."
Basically, the notion that seeing comes before believing is drenched in the pursuit of unlimited physical interests, and completely opposes Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance, the principles of the universe.
"Believing comes before seeing." (Falun Buddha Fa - Lecture at the Canada Fa Conference)
No sentient beings can see principles and scenes above their own levels since they would already be in that higher level if they were able to see the true manifestations at that level. Only by believing in Teacher, believing in the Fa, setting higher standards for ourselves according to the Fa principles, and getting rid of the degenerate things, can we move up and see greater truths. Viewed from this perspective, the directions given by modern science are fundamentally wrong.
Reciting Lunyu, I also came to realize the origin of modern science, the history of aliens, and the relationship between the old forces and other things.
"... as advanced as computers may be, they can't compare to the human brain ..."
Lunyu
I came to know that no sentient beings can create other beings at their own levels, even a great enlightened being that can create a universe with one thought. This is because the wisdom and the abilities needed to freely create lives come from more microscopic elements. Aliens wouldn't be able to create such advanced modern science by themselves. Could an everyday person improve his or her gong level by simply practicing some movements? Would the aliens be able to break into other dimensions and acquire the ability to control time and space by doing some scientific experiments while opposing Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance? No. Without higher-level beings' protection and involvement, aliens wouldn't have been able to achieve that. They would have been eliminated long ago.
The technology developed from scientific experiments that we use is an illusion similar to the "supernormal abilities" gained through simply practicing some movements, or wealth acquired through "hard efforts." They are actually the results of the interactions among the microscopic elements shown in this superficial dimension.
"During the long-drawn-out thousands of years, how many people were not lost in illusion." (Zhuan Falun, Volume II, provisional translation)
After digging out the root cause of my thought karma, I started to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it every day. In just a few days, those bad things were nearly eradicated and could no longer affect me.
Dig out the origin of atheism
The second benefit was completely eradicating the poison of atheism in my mind. I had been receiving education based in atheism for many years. How much influence does atheism have? Actually, many people gave in to the old forces or even "enlightened" along an evil path because of deep-seated atheism. At critical times, the notion of atheism broke their will. Atheism essentially denies human nature, since our lives were granted by gods and came from pure compassion. A denial of the existence of gods is a denial of one's origin and a betrayal of our original good nature. I believe that the notion of atheism comes from some high level degenerate beings. Unable to see, they don't believe the existence of higher-level Fa principles, and thought what they saw and owned were absolutely perfect and correct. They became so arrogant. The manifestation of this notion in ordinary human society is atheism. I came to realize that atheism also has its physical existence. How many of these things are still residing in my dimensions? It's terrible not to totally eradicate them. We need to hurry up to send forth righteous thoughts to completely eliminate them.
Every day, I enjoyed studying and reciting Lunyu. Every day, I had new understandings. The "pleasure" that I got by assimilating my life to the Fa from inside out and from my origin to my superficial body is beyond words. I think many fellow practitioners can understand.
What prevents me from striving forward diligently?
After some time, I found that I didn't have new understandings no matter how much I recited Lunyu and studied the Fa. I couldn't keep up with my previous state of quickly improving myself and striving forward diligently. Before, when I had similar experiences, I thought it was normal because I recognized that the part of me that had obtained the Fa was separated. I could regain my spirit of striving forward if I kept studying the Fa and practicing the exercises. I shared my experiences on this with many fellow practitioners. Many of them had similar problems. We felt helpless and we would act passively when we got stuck in this kind of situation.
I finally felt I needed to think about this issue more seriously. What is the thing that prevents me from striving forward diligently?
"...'natural' does not exist ... "
(Expounding on the Fa)
I started to calm down, keep my main consciousness clear, and peacefully look inside. My main consciousness quietly watched the whole situation. Then I found there was another "me." When I studied the Fa, "he" was also studying the Fa and he tried very hard to find higher and newer understandings from the Fa. However, where is the true "Me?" Rendering a judgment based on the Fa, I realized that the Fa created all the elements and all the microscopic particles at different levels of my life. What else do I need from the Fa? No matter, which level I enlightened to, or how much wisdom or how many abilities I acquired, viewed from a higher level, I am still "...just like grains of sand, and they're granular and in motion ..." (Zhuan Falun, The Second Talk, About the Third Eye)
Where am "I"? Didn't the Fa create everything of mine?
"The space of the universe is inherently good, and its nature is to be True, Good, and Endure, and when a person is born he has the same nature as the universe."
(Zhuan Falun, The First Talk, Truly Guiding People Up to High Levels)
The true me, is one body with the Fa and doesn't pursue what I think I need from the Fa. The Fa enabled my main consciousness to uncover this attachment. When reciting Lunyu again, I completely threw myself into it. Like a wood chip dropped into molten steel, I gave my whole self, whether it was righteous or unrighteous and whether it was from my nature or from what I learned later, to the Fa, without holding anything back and without any pursuit. At that moment, I felt how happy one could be when truly "assimilating to the Fa!" Later, when sending forth righteous thoughts, I no longer tried to concentrate on reciting the Fa-rectification verses that Teacher gave us. Instead, I felt myself transforming into those verses, "The Fa rectifies the cosmos, the Evil is completely eliminated." My righteous thoughts were countless and boundless, covering the whole firmament, encompassing all of it and leaving out nothing.
I have undergone so many huge changes by learning the Fa!
I could feel huge changes every day. When I looked back to the past, I could hardly recognize myself. It was as if I had started a new life, yet the huge changes happened in just one month. I couldn't help but sigh, "I have experienced so many huge changes by learning the Fa!"
In my past Fa study, I had known that all the things that we saw through our eyes are false illusions. Then what are the true situations?
"...when your Third Eye is open you can magnify things to look at them ..."
(Zhuan Falun, "Why Doing Cultivation Exercises Doesn't Increase Gong")
For example, a malicious person in this dimension might be an evil rotten ghost when seen with our Third Eye, while actually in a more microscopic dimension there was a higher level being controlling the ghost. The higher level the Third Eye is, the more "true situations" can be seen. Then how do we deal with the following issues? First, What if my Third Eye sees nothing? Secondly, even if we can see through our Third Eye, who's to say that what we see is the true situation? The great gods in the old forces have many supernormal abilities. They can see and manipulate things below their levels, but do they see the true situations?
Teacher has told us to view all problems with righteous thoughts.
"Everything in the cosmos is created by the cosmos's Fa-principle of Zhen, Shan, Ren. All matter and every factor of a living being are brought into being by the characteristic Zhen, Shan, Ren."
(Falun Buddha Fa, Lecture on the Fa at the U.S. Midwest Conference)
What are the true manifestations of what we see in front of us, what we feel, or don't feel? Aren't they simply Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance? Though Teacher didn't carve these three words into our eyes, if we can truly render judgments based on these three words, wouldn't we be able to see the true situations of everything? And that is the most righteous of the "righteous thoughts!"
That winter, I was locked up in the coldest cell in the forced labor camp because I refused to be brainwashed. Because of long-term persecution, I was extremely weak and had a very painful stomachache. One day, the temperature suddenly dropped. Cold winds combined with unbearable pain made me feel miserable beyond belief. But when I calmed down and viewed the situation with righteous thoughts, I came to realize that no matter how hard the environment appeared to be, nothing could go beyond the control of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance.
Indeed, anything that goes against the characteristic of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance will ruin itself since all lives and materials, and their wisdom and abilities, are composed of microscopic particles brought into being by this characteristic. Going against the principles of the universe is to ruin oneself. When those malicious people smeared the Fa and Teacher, when those people who didn't know the truth held hatred against the Fa, and when the old degenerate high-level beings started the so-called "test" of the Fa, they were betraying the Fa and were about to destroy themselves since their lives were supported by the Fa. However, the Fa and Teacher are still maintaining their lives, giving them one more chance. What a great compassion! No human language or any words can describe the immense benevolence!
I feel incomparably happy when I think of this with righteous thoughts. Everything, including the bitter winter, the scorching summer, the sunshine, green trees, good people, vicious persons, even the prison cells and instruments used to torture Falun Dafa practitioners are all simply stage props or roles in a play. Nothing is separate from the Fa. To me, "Fa" is no longer those few books. Instead, myself, the layers upon layers of elements around me, all the matter everywhere, and the boundless and countless firmaments that are beyond my imagination, are actually all particles of the Fa! Looking at all these things, I was moved to tears.
"The truth is, BUDDHA LAW is not limited to the little portion in scriptures, which is only BUDDHA LAW's initial-level Law. Instead, there is nothing that BUDDHA LAW cannot explain--it thoroughly unravels all mysteries, from those of particles and molecules to those of the universe, from small things to great things. It is a different discourse at different levels on the nature of the universe--to be True, Good, and Endure--at different levels, what Daoists call 'the Dao,' or what Buddhists call 'the Law.'"
(Lunyu)
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- 8. Another Discussion on "Taking the Fa as Master"
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) Since the beginning of our cultivation, Master has told us to "take the Fa as Teacher," and even until now Master has mentioned in almost all of his lectures the need to study the Fa (1) more and more, and has repeatedly talked about the importance of studying the Fa.
But, I have discovered some fellow practitioners who until now still cannot truly achieve the state of consistently studying the Fa, practicing the exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. They only place clarifying the truth and offering salvation to people, and reading the Clearwisdom website of uppermost importance. Fellow practitioners, Clearwisdom.net is extremely important, clarifying the truth and saving people are also extremely important, as they are what Dafa disciples should do. But, we also need to study the Fa; when we are negligent in studying the Fa, we are not going to be as effective at sending forth righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth. We may even regard clarifying the truth as a kind of job or everyday peoples' work.
Dafa is sacred, cultivation is great, Fa-rectification is unprecedented since the beginning of time in the cosmos, and thus our attitude toward Dafa and Fa-rectification is crucial. In the process of Fa-rectification, whether we can truly comply and do well with the three things Master required (2) depends, in my opinion, on our understanding of the Fa. If we are not able to really understand the Fa from the Fa, and fail to realize the quality of our own cultivation, this not only affects ourselves, but also affects whether the sentient beings in the huge cosmos can be saved. It will also have an impact on the great significance of sending forth righteous thoughts, the duty of a Fa-rectification Dafa disciple, and our ancient vows. At the same time, this is being un-steadfast towards Master and Dafa, and having insufficient righteous thoughts. Everything of ours comes from Dafa, and therefore, we must remain steadfast towards Dafa.
We constantly discuss determination, and believe that we are truly steadfast towards Dafa. When I read the article "Golden Buddha" and Master's comment of it, I only thought, "Oh, those two Buddhists were not very steadfast," but I failed to relate the content of the article to my own cultivation. However the next day while studying the Fa I suddenly realized, and I found the deeply hidden attachment inside me. Despite what one says, what matters in the end depends on what one can truly achieve. I thought about my past. When I was studying the Fa, I occasionally had doubts about a certain sentence. When sending forth righteous thoughts and doing other Dafa work, I also had doubts such as, "Will this really work? What if something goes wrong?" I never felt that I lacked faith in Dafa, but on that day I was shocked. In all my cultivation up to today I still wasn't as steadfast as I should be to Dafa. How, then, am I any different from the two Buddhists mentioned in "Golden Buddha"? I feel that this is a very dangerous situation.
Fellow practitioners, let us seize these last precious moments of Fa-rectification, and make good use of this time. Every day of the current time is created by Master for us Dafa disciples. We should live up to Master's expectations and the hopes of all sentient beings. Let's advance diligently together, truly do well the three things Master has told us to do, and fulfill our ancient vows.
Notes
(1) Fa: Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.
(2) The three things Teacher has asked practitioners to do are to study the Fa, send forth righteous thoughts and clarify the truth about Falun Dafa and the persecution to the world's people.
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