Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- "Being Selfless" and "Considering Others First" are Not Just Words
- Having a Correct Foundation
- On Fame, Gain and Emotion
- It Is Really Wonderful to Look Inward
- My Understanding of "Taking the Fa as Teacher"
- Searching Inward Is Real Cultivation
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the August 2011 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
July was a grim reminder of the persecution which began Twelve years ago and still continues, killing innocent men, women and children for their belief in the righteous way of life.
With Master's guidance, over the years we have helped clarify the truth and touched many hearts and changed the wrong notions and attitudes towards Dafa. But we should not be complacent and continue our efforts to eliminate the evil.
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 Bangalore have introduced Dafa to the Dignity Foundation. Many new schools have also invited practitioners to introduce the practice.
A leading school in Mysore has invited practitioners to hold the art exhibition in the School.
A leading Media House has agreed to have the Art exhibition in the Hall on their premises. They will soon confirm the dates.
Hyderabad practitioners introduced the practice to about 200 sub-inspector trainees in AP Police Academy for 6 days. This was reported in the press.
Practitioners met The Commissioner of Education (Schools) and explained about the practice and requested him for permission to introduce the practice in Government Schools in Hyderabad. Practioners are following up on that.
Practitioners in Pune introduced the practice in the IT company where they work.
There was an introductory session of an hour and exercise demo on the first day, attended by about 100 staff members. Exercises were taught to to the interested people on subsequent 3 days.
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- 3. "Being Selfless" and "Considering Others First" are Not Just Words
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
It was March 22, 2004, just after 5pm. All of a
sudden my legs and my heart were in pain. I knew that it was the evil forces
causing trouble, and I started sending righteous thoughts. A few minutes later,
a fellow practitioner came to my house, told me that another practitioner was in
a very dangerous condition, and asked me to send forth righteous thoughts for
him. I refused without thinking, because I was sending forth righteous thoughts
to save myself. At first, I did not think I was wrong. A couple of minutes
later, I realized how selfish it was that I didn't want to save others when they
were in danger. My selfishness was thoroughly exposed.
The destination of our cultivation path is to become selfless, always
consider others first, and thus reach consummation with righteous enlightenment.
This time a fellow practitioner was having trouble at the same time as me.
However, my situation was a lot easier than his. He needed my help but I
refused. At the critical point, the first thing I thought about was my self.
I have been cultivating for five years. How have I been doing? This test
showed my problem. If I continue to be like that, can I be responsible for the
positive elements in the universe in the future? Two minutes later, the
practitioner who had come to ask for my help left and I realized I was wrong.
Since I did not know who he was and where he lived, I missed the opportunity.
Two days later, I found out that the practitioner in tribulation was a 70 year
old military doctor who had skin ulcer on his back, which could have threatened
his life. I could imagine how big that tribulation was. Then I joined two fellow
practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts for him, three times in the
morning and twice in the evening, each time for a half hour. In between sending
forth righteous thoughts, we exchanged our understandings with him. He said that
due to his profession, whenever he felt uncomfortable, he would think he was
sick.
Eventually the elderly practitioner was sent to the hospital, and came out a
month later. He told us that he had been sending forth righteous thoughts in the
hospital as long as he had a clear mind. At the time when he had not felt so
clear minded, he thought, "It is no good. I am going to die." Then he
immediately thought, "I can't die. If I died, what would happen to the
beings in my universe?" At the key point, he thought of the beings of his
universe. That showed his righteous thoughts of thinking about others before
oneself. Teacher could see everything and save him from the brink of death.
Since the fellow practitioner was admitted to the hospital, my heart felt
very heavy and I felt sorry for him. It was we who did not do well, especially
in the beginning when I refused to send forth righteous thoughts for him. I did
not pay enough attention until I went to see him and saw his severe condition.
Through this incident, I learned a lesson. I did not have enough righteous
thoughts facing the great tribulation of my fellow practitioner. I did not play
the good role that I should play. From the Minghui Weekly Journal, I read
many stories that when a practitioner encountered the tribulation of illness,
there were always several fellow practitioners sending forth righteous thoughts
for hours, sometimes even over ten hours. Teacher said that everything we do
here is actually a big battle in other dimensions between the righteous and the
evil. Our fellow practitioner must have been surrounded by layers of evil,
demons and dark minions. We should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate
those evil demons and rescue our fellow practitioners. Now I understood this and
here I am bringing it up.
Through this incident, I understood many things. "Selfishness" is
the root of all our bad notions and attachments. I also realized that I was
still constrained by the standards of the old universe. Thinking back, I did not
pass many tribulations because I did not face them from the Fa's perspective.
Thus those tribulations often became more severe. We should get up once we fall,
but we should not always fall. We should not let ourselves fall at all. At this
last period of validating Fa and saving people, I should walk every step with a
clear mind on the cultivation journey arranged by Teacher, and truly become
selfless, considering others before myself. I should meet Teacher's requirements
and complete my duty of being "in control of Heaven and Earth, rectifying
the human realm" (The Foretelling).
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- 4. Having a Correct Foundation
By a practitioner in Taiwan
(PureInsight.org)
For a long time, practitioners have had different views on how practitioners should harmonize with their families. When some practitioners stepped forward to validate the Fa despite their family members' opposition, other practitioners said that they did not harmonize with their families. I believe Teacher answered this question in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference:"
"Question: Many fellow cultivators have different views on how we should perfect and complete the Fa at this human level.
"Teacher: Perfecting and completing this human level? That's an incorrect statement. If you haven't done things well, that's a cultivation issue, and it doesn't involve any issue of "perfecting and completing."
Falun Dafa practitioners have the great missions to save sentient beings. They need to validate the Fa. However, all practitioners need to have a correct foundation for validating the Fa. If the foundation for validating the Fa is for self-consummation, then the foundation is selfish. With that foundation, no matter how much we do, we cannot obtain consummation. If the purpose of validating the Fa is to save sentient beings, the foundation is for others. Then, even if family members temporarily cannot understand, if practitioners continue to cultivate and become purer and purer, their family members will be corrected, and they may even help us to validate the Fa.
When we encounter problems in cultivation, we should ask ourselves if we have cultivated well. Did we treat ourselves as practitioners facing tribulations? Did we clarify the truth to our family members when they did not understand us? Did we do what Dafa requires? Did we not fight back when punched or insulted? Did we have compassion for our family members? All these are strict tests in cultivation.
Even if family members tried to block our stepping forward, we still should think of our family members' welfare. We can choose proper ways to save sentient beings. We are harmonizing with our own cultivation environment if we are able to attend to our family while we are saving sentient beings. We should not have the notion of "harmonizing with family." Yes, we should take good care of our family members and our children, but we should not have this notion. If you do not let go of this notion, the evil will strengthen it and make your spouse troublesome or make your children misbehave.
If we put Dafa first and make saving sentient beings our priority, and we have a good wish to do all things well, the result will be different. Your spouse will not oppose your stepping forward to validate the Fa, your problems at home will be solved, and your children will behave very well. The power of Dafa can do everything. We should also send forth righteous thoughts when facing interference. And we can only do things well if we study the "Fa" with a calm mind.
These principles are the same for our work environment. At our jobs, we should work with a calm mind and should not think that our jobs will interfere with our validating the Fa. Our paths of cultivation will be left for the future. We should do well at work. When you are not attached to your roles at work, Teacher will probably arrange proper ways for you to validate the Fa at work. Many problems can be solved if our foundations are correct.
Did we treat people as our family members when clarifying the truth? Did we have complacency when the other party accepted the truth? Did we feel upset when people disagreed with us? Did we have compassion capable of melting steel? When we clarify the truth, are we validating the Fa or proving our abilities? Did we correct these foundations?
Do not ignore cultivating oneself while clarifying the truth. If we are always compassionate, people's bad thoughts will dissolve when they pass by us. The energy field carried by practitioners can disintegrate the evil and can correct unrighteous elements. Therefore, we must have correct foundations and cultivate well.
Please correct me if I have said anything inappropriate.
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- 5. On Fame, Gain and Emotion
By Lianzi
(PureInsight.org)
Here is a story about Emperor Qianlong in the Qing
Dynasty. Qianlong once traveled incognito to the lower Yangtze valley. One day,
he stood on a hill with an eminent Buddhist monk, and overlooked the numerous
rowboats on the river heading south or north. Emperor Qianlong suddenly asked
the monk, "How many boats are there on the river?" The monk thought
about it for a moment, and replied, "Only two boats." "Why two
boats?" Qianlong asked. The eminent monk responded, "One is called
fame. The other one is called personal gain."
Emperor Qianlong might have wanted to challenge the monk with such a
difficult question. However, the monk was a cultivator with supreme wisdom. He
was not perplexed. Instead he ingeniously revealed the most essential issue in
the human world - fame and gain. He hinted to Qianlong that every day people
were lost in fame and fortune, including the emperor. As a cultivator, the monk
took the fame and gain lightly. He had a clear understanding of everyday
society, and was able to respond brilliantly.
Dafa practitioners cultivate in ordinary society. We are different from
cultivators in the past who had to become monks or nuns. We do not distance
ourselves from everyday society. In other words, we are surrounded by fame, gain
and emotion every day. However, we have to gradually let go of the attachments
to fame, gain and emotion until they are completely abandoned. It is not easy.
That's why we are able to cultivate solidly, and improve rapidly. As Dafa
practitioners, we should not be moved by ordinary society even though we live in
the ordinary world. Our minds shall not be moved by emotion. Of course, it is
easier said than done. Without a heart-wrenching, agonizing process of removing
attachments, without such a painful process, how can we possibly break away from
the human shell that has formed over thousands of years? It's not possible!
In the last moment of cultivation, I've noticed that many practitioners are
still attached to fame, gain and emotion and cannot pull themselves out. Some
tenaciously cling to human attachments and human notions. Some are busy buying
houses, cars, and expensive furniture and electronics. They regard the illusions
in the human world as something real. Some work hard to accumulate wealth for
their children and grandchildren, to fulfill their obligations and hope to be
taken care of when getting old. In one word, they do not want to let go of their
human attachments. They even find excuses for themselves with Master's Fa,
claiming to maximally conform to the ways of everyday people's society.
Well, looking inside, I am also like that, to various degrees at various
times. As cultivators, when we calm down, we all know that nothing in the human
world can be taken to the heaven. We all understand that we can only reach
Consummation after we have abandoned all of our attachments and none of them
remain. We all understand that everything we acquire postnatally that is not of
our original nature must be removed before we can return to the heavenly
kingdom. However, we get lost when we are back to the reality of everyday life.
We become confused, get carried away, or even knowingly commit wrongdoings.
The cultivation of Dafa practitioners during the Fa-rectification period is
different from any cultivation form in history. In the past, if one could not
cultivate to Consummation in one lifetime, he would continue to cultivate in his
next lifetime. Dafa practitioners have only this lifetime to cultivate. The Fa-rectification
is moving forward rapidly, and there is little time and opportunity left for us.
Every minute or second wasted is an irresponsibility and a crime committed to
sentient beings.
Take measure of ourselves: how many human attachments and notions remain in
us? How well have we fulfilled our prehistoric vows? What is the level of our xinxing
(character)? How far are we away from the standard of Consummation? The
answers can be quite astonishing to many of us, including myself.
My dear fellow practitioners, fame, gain, and emotion have been imposed on us
in the thousands of years of reincarnation after we have descended to the three
realms. They are substances for human beings. They do not belong to us, as we
are Dafa disciples on the path to the divine. They are the biggest obstacles on
our path to return to our true selves. We can only return after we eliminate
them. Master teaches us,
"Fame, gain, emotion--cultivate each away,
And ascend to the Firmament at Consummation,
See the human world with eyes of compassion,
Then are you freed from the spell of delusion."
("Success at Consummation" in Hong Yin)
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- 6. Do Not Be Attached to Eloquence
By a practitioner in Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net)
Some fellow practitioners do not dare to clarify the truth face-to-face, not entirely because of fear, but because of the feeling that they are not eloquent enough to explain things clearly. They are usually practitioners who are introverted and not good at socializing with strangers. They envy practitioners who can talk well. However, they themselves are blocked by their mentality and cannot break through.
People's eloquence probably has something to with their temperament and the scope of their knowledge. I have seen that some practitioners have failed to clarify the truth effectively because they had poor logic and were not to the point.
While clarifying the truth, some practitioners are so easily affected by ordinary people that they lose their train of thought; they follow ordinary people's lead and forget their main subject.
Nevertheless, does an eloquent person clarify the truth more effectively? Not necessarily. For example, I have read an article written by a practitioner who used to be an elite intellectual in ordinary society and was able to talk sharply. When he started practicing cultivation and clarifying the truth, no one could defeat his points. However, those who were speechless after engaging in an argument with him not only would not understand the truth, but they also became furious. The practitioner later realized that he was very selfish and had vied for supremacy, lacked compassion, and simply indulged in talking sharply without caring about whether people could accept what he said. This example shows that being eloquent does not guarantee that one can clarify the truth well.
Mr. Zhong Quichun, who used to follow Teacher to practice cultivation in the early days, shared his experience in the CD entitled "Those Days When We Were with Teacher." When he started practicing cultivation, he had a rift with his wife and he felt wronged. He went to Teacher to complain. Teacher smiled and said this to him after listening to his complaint, "You must treat your spouse nicely after going home." Zhong immediately realized that he was wrong and felt ashamed.
We all know about Teacher's eloquence. Yet, Teacher did not use his eloquence in this matter. He just said something very simple. Think about it. Would the practitioner change if an ordinary person said the same thing to him? Obviously not. What about if an eloquent person gave him a long lecture, would it have the same effect? I think not even a psychiatrist could guarantee it. What then can change people's mind? I think it is Teacher's energy field with immense compassion and selflessness that is capable of rectifying anything that is not right and fundamentally changing disciples. It is "the Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities." ("Harmonizing with Fa," Hong Yin)
Teacher said,
"I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears."("Clearheadedness" in Essentials for Further Advancement)
If we reach this realm and have compassionate and selfless hearts that persist in saving people, their bad sides will be restricted in our energy field. How can people's knowing sides not be moved and not accept the truth? At that time perhaps just saying one sentence is enough to save a person, and it doesn't matter if you are eloquent or not.
Therefore, being able to clarify the truth well has nothing to do with being eloquent or not. It actually has something to do with whether one has an upright mentality. If we over-emphasize people's superficial eloquence and neglect our state of mind, we have gone too far. Teacher has left us the most righteous path with his words and his actions to guide us to do well. As long as we do what Teacher has told us to do, we will certainly do well.
I hope fellow practitioners who are blocked by concerns over being eloquent or not will be encouraged to break through this superficial situation, let go of all attachments, assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification, save people, and fulfill their prehistoric vows.
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- 7. My Understanding of "Taking the Fa as Teacher"
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
I would like to share my enlightenment with fellow practitioners. I have been through wind and rain in the past years, and truly felt the seriousness and solemnity of what cultivation really is. My past experiences have allowed me to clearly understand the meaning of "Taking the Fa as Teacher," and I am especially moved by Teacher's grand compassion and infinite grace.
Teacher has earnestly told us to "Take the Fa as Teacher," and I have already inscribed the words into my heart. But when our human emotion is impacted by the complexity of modern day reality, we may unconsciously move away from Teacher's teaching and use the reality principle to deal with our thoughts and actions. I nearly destroyed myself by walking the path that the old forces had arranged. The environment I grew up in, from my childhood to adulthood, made me develop a "critical self-esteem" and I paid great attention to what others thought of me. I especially loathed those people with an imprudent behavior in their sexual relationships, and I always paid great attention and restricted my own conduct in that aspect. After I started practicing Falun Gong in 1997, and after learning from the Fa's guidance, I reduced some of my critical self-esteem. However, the fundamental problems that have resided inside of me have covered up my selfishness, which is still not eradicated. Subconsciously, an incident had happened, which almost lead me to an evil path from a tribulation test.
I get along well with the majority of practitioners in our area, and we often study the Fa and do the exercises together. We also coordinated well in Fa validation after the persecution started in 1999. We encouraged and helped each other when practitioners suffered through this persecution. Together, we walked through many dangerous situations in our Fa validation. Using everyday people's words, it was like, "The friends who shared life and death." But an unexpected matter occurred. A practitioner accused me of enticing her husband. That behavior is exactly what I most loath in others, and now I had tasted my own bitter medicine, especially from a practitioner whom with I had shared life and death. At that moment, my human sentimentality got the better of me, and my deep-rooted "critical self-esteem" resurfaced. I felt my anger rising and it surpassed my self-control. The feelings of shame, grievance and resentment, one after the other, all came out. I was very sad and pledged not to have any more communication with that practitioner again.
My enlightenment was that when using my human thinking to deal with matters, it is often controlled by human principles. Thinking back, some of the not so righteous things practitioners had said in the past, they are just like movie scenes being played back in my mind. In the end, these unexpected human principles formed the following crooked theories: "Dafa cultivation can't change a person. No matter how long you practice, you still can't eliminate your selfishness and human mindset. Why do contradictions still exist between practitioners? Looking back, after cultivating for all these years, why do I still have so many shortcomings? Sometimes, I feel that some of my notions are even worse than the good behavior of everyday people." My thoughts had seriously deviated from the Fa principles and had fallen into the crack of evil theories, making me sadder and sadder day by day. Worse yet, I started having some doubts about Teacher and Dafa.
Some practitioners felt extremely worried about my situation. They came to visit and tried to persuade me not to give up the practice. They also cleared up the evil in my surrounding environment and all the unrighteous thoughts that I had. Finally, one day I started studying the Dafa books again and realized what had just happened to me. I had walked into an evil trap, the exact opposite of a righteous path. The basic reason was that on my cultivation path, I didn't take the Fa as the Teacher. Instead, I took human thinking and matters as my Teacher. I was using a everyday people's conduct to measure the Fa and not using the Fa to measure human behavior. What kind of logic was this? It was simply absurd. Recalling this time, I thought my actions were "righteous thinking" but it was actually a laughable and pitiful mindset.
Teacher said:
"This is what the Dafa disciples are facing today, and it is a form of cultivation brought about by interference from the old forces and company. So during your cultivation process, as long as the side of you that has been fully cultivated goes over and is partitioned off, everything that you haven't fully cultivated will still manifest. Human attachments will still show themselves, just as will bad elements." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S Capital")
So it will create a contradiction between practitioners. Once the tension or conflict emerges, it will be displayed to others and they will discover it and make matters even more noticeable. After that, the practitioner who had the conflict will eventually discover their own problem and be able to look inward to find the self-insufficiency and eliminate the attachments.
I felt ashamed for not comprehending Teacher's lecture sooner, for his lecture couldn't have been more clearly stated. It took me so long and I walked many detours to rectify the situation. In group discussions, I still discovered individual practitioners, who instead of looking inward and practicing diligently, examined other practitioners to find some bad conduct, and used that as an excuse for their slacking off in the practice. This perception is very dangerous. Fellow practitioners, please use my prior mistakes as a mirror image and rectify your unrighteous thoughts. And remember to use the "Taking Fa as Teacher" approach in every respect. No matter what the circumstances, please use the Fa to measure all things and use the Fa to reform ourselves and fellow practitioners. Thus, walking our own righteous cultivation paths, raising our and upgrading our levels together.
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- 8. Searching Inward Is Real Cultivation
By a Falun Gong practitioner from Guangdong Province
(Clearwisdom.net)
My mother and I used to live together. Last year, my mother moved into my younger sister's home to help her take care of her children. Recently they had a lot of conflicts, and it also manifested in both the printer and the CD-ROM maker for preparing materials being out of order. Every time I came to their home, my sister always complained about our mother's shortcomings. I discussed this with her from the viewpoint of the , encouraged her to look inward and to upgrade her . I thought that I was good in cultivation and was not affected by their conflicts. However, after reading an article from a fellow practitioner, I sensed that I also need to improve. Master said, "But that said, I'm also thinking about the people who, when problems arise, give no thought to their own cultivation state and focus solely on how bad this or that person is and who he or she might be. But in those instances, have you considered this: why does someone like that exist among Dafa disciples, and why would such a thing come about? Isn't that person's presence meant to target certain people, or certain human attachments? For sure. Nothing happens in cultivation without a reason. When incorrect states and bad human conduct surface among us, those things have come to target human attachments. We don't acknowledge the old forces' arrangements, but, when we fail to do well they will exploit our gaps. So, perhaps it was that a particular place needed to be targeted in that manner, and that was why an incident happened." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference") I started to search inward and immediately found my attachments. When my mother lived with me, we also had conflicts. My sister (not a practitioner back then) blamed me for not being respectful of my parent. However, I did not treat her blame of me with a practitioner's righteous thoughts. I understood that I was passing a tribulation, but just behaved the same as Master's words, "To endure with anger, grievance, or tears is the forbearance of an everyday person who is attached to his concerns." ("What is Forbearance (Ren)?" in Essentials for Further Advancement ) I thought at that moment, "You will understand how difficult it is to live with an old person. It's not just a problem of whether I am respectful towards a parent or not." I did not realize that this thought was based on my attachment to selfishness, and I did not take the opportunity to get rid of it right away. Therefore this kind of impure element could still exist in my dimension. The year before last, my sister started to practice Falun Gong. After our mother moved in with her last year, the conflicts gradually emerged. As their fellow practitioner, I deeply understood the situation during the cultivation process. Sometimes we pass tribulations well, but other times we don't. Without conflicts, our attachments cannot be exposed and our cannot be upgraded. Therefore, when they had conflicts, I tried to maintain a peaceful mind, to not blame any one of them, and to not be affected by emotion. However, these behaviors just covered up my attachments. It's not real cultivation without searching inward. I started to looking inward and found that in my subconscious I wished that some conflicts could happen between them, in order to let my sister feel the pain that I had experienced. How terrible a state of mind this was! I was shocked and sat down immediately to send forth righteous thoughts. I would not allow the evil forces to take advantages of our loopholes, separate us, and interfere with our work in validating Dafa and saving sentient beings. I would like to thank Master's arrangements, in order to let me realize my own problems. I also greatly appreciate the fellow practitioner who wrote the article and provided a mirror for me to look at myself. Heshi
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