Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- Read the Fa Out Loud and Express the Holiness of Dafa
- Upgrading Xinxing
- A Record of Reincarnation: This Life Cycle and Its Karmic Relationship (Preface)
- It Is Really Wonderful to Look Inward
- The Consequences of My Failure to Cultivate Speech
- A Brief Message about Believing in Teacher and Dafa
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the July 2011 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
As we start July, the dark memories of 20 July 1999 come back to us.
Let us not be despondent but look at how Master has given us the strength in
the time of adversities. Master has shown us how to turn crisis into opportunity,
by clarifying the truth and exposing the lies. The world has seen for 12 years the
evil has not been able to crush the unflinching spirit of people of a righteous faith.
We should be steadfast in our path and do what Master expects us to do.
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.
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 clarifying the truth at various places like malls etc.
In Hyderabad a special cover story was done of Dafa in one of the leading Telegu paper’s Sunday magazine.
Practitioners in Hyderabad introduced the practice to a group of 40 students in a summer cricket training camp in Hyderabad.
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- 3. Read the Fa Out Loud and Express the Holiness of Dafa
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
On the Clearwisdom website, practitioners have shared a lot on how to eliminate distracting thoughts and focus on Fa study with a peaceful mind, such as sitting up straight, having a good mindset, staying focused, slowing down their reading speed, reading out loud, reading the Fa as if you are reading it for the first time, and so on and so forth. These sharings helped me tremendously. Recently, I also have some personal experience that I would like to share with fellow practitioners.
In 2005, we also set up a small group to study the Fa together. Under these circumstances, when we got together in the group, we would lower our voices. When we studied the Fa, one person read one paragraph in a low voice. If someone raised his voice, others would remind him to be quiet. My understanding at that time was that we should not add our personal feelings when we read the Fa, we should not read the Fa like a teacher in a class or as a student reads a textbook. Therefore, when we studied the Fa, our voices were very low, and our tone was very flat. Several years have have passed, and everyone can read Zhuan Falun very fluently and very fast. However, we all feel that when we study in the group, we don't feel that the Fa enters our hearts. When one person reads, others can be distracted easily, and even feel very sleepy, and the effects are not as good as studying the Fa at home alone. How can this happen?
A few days ago, I saw another practitioner's article. He was home alone and read the Fa aloud, and felt very good. So when I studied the Fa at home with my parents, I also read the Fa aloud, and slowed down my speed of reading. I suddenly realized that reading the Fa can be so holy, so magnificent, and so powerful!
I understand that one of the reasons we could not study the Fa with a focused and peaceful mind is that when we read the Fa, we didn't express the holiness and the power of the Fa. Thinking of the time when Master taught the Fa, his compassionate and solemn look filled people's hearts with respect. His voice was loud, and every word entered people's hearts. The whole field was filled with powerful energy, and Master's voice echoed in the air, and everyone could feel the beauty and holiness of the Fa. Their bodies and hearts were greatly changed and their xinxing improved and bad thoughts were eliminated. When they stepped out of the auditorium, they were changed completely.
I think that when we study the Fa, we should have the same feeling. When we read the Fa, we should also have a solemn manner and a respectful heart. We should also slow down and read out every word aloud and clearly, and demonstrate the holiness, greatness, magnificence, and powerfulness of Dafa.
Knowing this, my heart is filled with sacred feelings when I read the Fa. My eyes concentrate on each word, my mouth reads the Fa solemnly, and Master's teaching echoes in my ears--my mind is completely focused on the Fa. At these times, I am always so touched by how painstakingly compassionate is Master's grand salvation that tears run down my face and bad thoughts don't have a chance.
I think when we study the Fa in our small group, if everyone can read out the power of the Fa and express the magnificent holiness of the Fa, the whole field will be filled with powerful righteous energy that corrects all wrongful states automatically, and no one will be distracted or fall asleep again.
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- 4. Upgrading Xinxing
A practitioner in China
(PureInsight.org)
When reciting Zhuan Falun today, I was reading the section, “Zhen-Shan-Ren is the Sole Criterion to Discern Good and Bad People,” and noticed the following sentence: “As a practitioner, if you assimilate yourself to this characteristic you are one that has attained the Tao - it’s just such a simple principle.” Then, when thinking to myself of how to assimilate myself to the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance, I felt lost. Several days ago, my son did something silly. I disliked it very much and even had some hatred towards my son. Then, I realized that there is no hatred in Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. Miraculously, with that thought, the feeling of hatred immediately disappeared. Now, I had a better understanding of how to follow the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance.
The mistake my son made brought a big loss to our family. On the surface level, he was deceived by others and had some misfortune. But on the other hand, it could not have happened by accident. In Zhuan Falun, Master talked about “no loss, no gain.” In fact, whatever happens in the everyday society does not matter much because after all, this is the lowest level of the universe. Also, many things we see are just superficial phenomena and it could be quite different from the real situation. As practitioners, we will eventually step out from the state of being human.
In Zhuan Falun, Master said, “I made a careful investigation once and found that humankind has undergone complete annihilation eighty-one times. With a little remaining from the previous civilization, only a small number of people would survive and enter the next period, again living a primitive life. As the human population increased, civilization would eventually emerge again. Humanity has experienced such periodical changes eighty-one times, and yet I have not traced them to the end.”
In the long journey of history, human beings have experienced generations after generations. Because of selfishness, human beings are doomed to degeneration, and in the end, elimination. Only very few good people were left and restarted civilization after the catastrophe. When thinking of these life cycles after life cycles, a human being is rather insignificant.
In Hong Yin - Volume II, Master said, “The firmament is being formed anew, and Heaven and Earth re-made.” Master’s sacrifices for Fa-rectification and the salvation of sentient beings cannot be described in any human language. We are very fortunate to have the honor of assisting Master with the Fa-rectification. Then why are we still holding on to some attachments and unwilling to let them go? In “Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005,” Master said “Whether [something is due to] Master's wishes or the old forces' control, isn't the goal behind it the successful cultivation of Dafa disciples and the disintegration of the evil?”
I had a dream recently in which I broke an egg. I put the broken egg on a plate, but it almost overflowed, so I changed it to a larger container. I think it is the same situation with my cultivation—that is, I need to increase the capacity of my heart. Everything around us exists for the Fa, and it is up to us to work out how handle them well.
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- 5. A Record of Reincarnation: This Life Cycle and Its Karmic Relationship (Preface)
Tongfei Tianyu
(PureInsight.org)
A Journey in the Winter
This is the first day of the year 2011, and three of us are dining in a restaurant. My brother Ahwen who is drinking and smoking says with frankness, “I haven't drank for a year and this wine tastes really good. Today, let us toast to our happy times and talk freely about life, society, and history...”
Soon afterwards, he sent the two of us to a train returning to my hometown. It was a snowy day.
My brother Ahwen is an interesting person. He owns a construction company and likes to read as well as think about life. One day, he talked to us with sincerity, “Tianyu, you are a boy of a high caliber and I respect you. How about you work with me from now on? I promise that I won't fight with others anymore and I won't end up in a labor camp again. Meanwhile, I also hope you could be more realistic. Needlessly to say, it is a good thing that you believe in Falun Gong. Still, you do need a basic means of making a living. After all, without feeding yourself first, how can you take good care of other people?” I smiled and said, “I will certainly live a reasonable life. More importantly, I will definitely take good care of other people at any price.”
About a year ago, before my arrest, I only had one hundred yuan RMB (about $15 US). To help an elderly person abandoned by his children and leave him with a positive impression of Dafa, I had no choice but to starve myself. Nobody and no torture could change my will. Why was it? It was because selflessness has no precondition. In fact, because of that, I almost died in a place far away from my hometown. Nonetheless, I have no regrets, since even if I had died, I would have passed away with happiness. Some time ago, I set up two rules for myself. One is that, on the path of pursuing selflessness, I must insist on financial independence and saving sentient beings with no preconditions. The second rule is that, any money I have, or anything I have, will go to someone who needs it. Selflessness is the goal of my life. To understand my past, present and future, is something I have been thinking over ever since I was young.
Later, I was arrested and detained. Despite being at a detention center or labor camp, I always maintained my righteous beliefs and compassion, and played my role as a Dafa practitioner. In my spare time, or even when I was doing labor, my mind was not idle. Other than reciting the Fa or sending forth righteous thoughts, I was thinking over the issues of life, matter, and the universe.
In the face of a test of life and death, I was able to let go of myself and really put sentient beings at the front of my mind. Because of that, my mind was wide open, with an influx of the unlimited wisdom of the universe. At the same time, I was able to travel with various enlightened beings (Jade, Bilian, Biyuan, Biyun, etc.), to explore the boundless cosmos across various times and space.
One year has passed and now I roughly understand the origin of my life (at my current level). After reviewing the process of my birth in a heavenly mountain until today, I came to understand the karmic relationship behind those arrangements.
Therefore, today I would like to write about life, and the process of a sentient being's thinking. With that, I hope everyone will cherish Dafa even more. In other words, let us be more responsible for ourselves and be responsible for what we have experienced in the past.
This series is divided into four chapters:
1. Karmic relationships that started in the heavens
2. Descending from one level to another
3. Reincarnation in various life cycles
4. Thinking over our current incarnation
One thing I would like to point out is that, unveiling the “karmic relationship” is not the purpose of this series. Rather, it just serves as an introduction that brings us the truth of history. Right now, in this life, I have the determination and courage to explore wherever is needed. My life exists solely for validating the Fa. All things associated with that may ebb and flow accordingly.
If you do not believe in this record, you may simply consider it as a story.
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- 6. It Is Really Wonderful to Look Inward
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
I obtained the Fa in 1997. Before I obtained the Fa, I
had many illnesses. However, all my illnesses were gone within one year after I
started practicing Falun Dafa. I experienced how delightful it is to be without
any illness. I am not able to repay what Master has done for me. I am only able
to do the three things well and not let Master down. In what
follows, I would like to share several cases where I looked inward when I
encountered problems.
At 4 p.m. on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, I was studying the Fa when
my daughter-in-law came home. Usually, I go out to clarify the truth
about Falun Gong in the morning and study the Fa in the afternoon and night.
This day was a holiday. I thought that since most of the food was available or
half done, it would not be too late if I started cooking later after studying a
lecture. My daughter-in-law saw me not moving and felt a bit unhappy. She said:
"Other families make a lot of dishes for the holiday. Look at our family,
it's the same as it usually is. The atmosphere is not festive at all." I
was alert after hearing what she said and I looked inward immediately. Did I
have an attachment? When I encountered similar situations before, I also looked
inward and was tolerant. However, this time my heart revolted. At that time, I
was determined to look inward unconditionally, find the attachment, and get rid
of it from the root. I looked inward carefully. I found that although on the
surface, I was studying the Fa, I was actually thinking about myself and did not
consider my family's feelings. And also, I found attachments of concern and
fear. I realized that I had found those attachments and that I would get rid of
them. After having this thought, I felt relieved in my heart. My daughter-in-law
also felt happy and kindly helped me cook. It seemed she had never been unhappy.
Today, I finally know that looking inward is a powerful tool to improve
xinxing. I experienced how wonderful it is after looking
inward and upgrading my level. Looking inward is not just something to say. We
must take the Fa as our teacher, make strict demands of ourselves, and improve xinxing.
And also, we should have a solid base of studying the Fa. Since the persecution
started, I have persisted in studying one lecture every day. Besides sending
righteous thoughts at the four designated times, I send more as long as I have
time. Sometimes, I send righteous thoughts 11 times in one day, and at least
eight or nine times. I do things in an organized way.
I still have many things to write down. What I have done is still far from
what Master requires us to do. I also urge fellow practitioners to look inward
and hurry up to save more beings. I could not read and write before. I was able
to read Zhuan Falun in one year after I obtained the Fa. I
wanted to write down my sharing a long time ago, but I was always blocked by the
thought that I did not know how to write. Today, I have summoned up my courage
to write. It can be counted as a report to Master after practicing many years.
Master, I will strive forward wholeheartedly and follow you to return home.
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- 7. The Consequences of My Failure to Cultivate Speech
(Clearwisdom.net)
Thanks to Master's compassionate arrangement, my
cultivation environment is quite good. However, I failed to cherish it. Instead,
the evil took advantage of my need to preserve my notions and my attachment to
selfishness. For a long time, a barrier existed between me and Practitioner A. I
was not able to coordinate with her. Even so, I didn't discover the selfishness
that has been hidden deep in my mind.
We worked in the same company, and she was even the one who introduced me to
the company. Over time, though, we developed problems. Since I looked outward
instead of looking inside, the problems became worse.
When other practitioners came to share experiences with me, I always
complained to them about Practitioner A. I felt I was better than she was and
didn't realize that every incident was to help me cultivate. I didn't cultivate
my speech and caused other practitioners to have negative opinions about
Practitioner A. I didn't realize my selfishness was protecting my notions.
Instead, the attachment grew worse, to the point that I felt sick of her.
One night in a dream compassionate Master gave me a hint. I saw how my
attachment had fostered a demonic animal. It looked like a gray mouse about a
foot and a half tall with a wide mouth. The mouth was like a big pair of sharp
scissors that kept opening and closing in an attempt to harm others. I pushed my
hands hard to cover its mouth to prevent it from harming others. I asked Master
to help me. When I had such a thought, the demonic animal immediately vanished
like smoke.
When I woke up, I felt both my mind and body were clear. I realized
everything Practitioner A did in front me was actually helping me to get rid of
my notions and attachments. I was grateful to her and no longer felt sick of
her. I also realized that I had caused the unwanted divisions among
practitioners when I failed to cultivate my speech and complained to other
practitioners about her. I had generated that demonic animal so that it could
harm others. It was Master who eliminated it for me, helped me to see my
attachments, and taught me how to look inward.
Master's compassion made me realize that nothing that happens around me is
accidental. It's all arranged for me to improve, so it targets my attachments.
In order for me to get rid of my attachments and my postnatal notions, Master is
looking after me every minute. Thank you, Master, for saving me. Now I have a
deep understanding of why looking inside is the key to cultivation.
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- 8. A Brief Message about Believing in Teacher and Dafa
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net)
After sharing with fellow practitioners I came to understand the at a new level and wanted to use the Clearwisdom website to share my understanding with you. We were dealing with a problem: not believing in Teacher and the Fa.
A lot of people might not believe this. They would argue: "If we do not believe in Teacher and the Fa, how is it that we have come so far over the years of cultivation?" We indeed understand the Fa in theory, but it seems that when we encounter a concrete matter we do not always remember that we are practitioners and Teacher's disciples. Is our first thought when we need help to ask Teacher or to ask some kind of official? This actually shows us if we have complete belief in Teacher and Dafa.
One day I learned that the police had arrested eight local practitioners. One young woman practitioner had just one thought, which was to ask an everyday person to help us rescue the practitioners. This unrighteous thought led her down an evil path. She found an everyday person she had met not long before. She had given him a copy of the to read. He reacted positively, as if he agreed with the Nine Commentaries, making this practitioner feel very happy. When her complacency emerged, she asked this person to help to rescue the eight practitioners. She wanted to use bribery and back door kinds of methods to rescue the arrested practitioners. By the end of the day, she not only failed to rescue the practitioners, but that person took control and coerced her to have sex with him, and she got pregnant. Feeling she had no other alternative, she married him. As a result she did not have the kind of happy life she had thought she would but instead carried a heavy burden. Her husband even punched and kicked her from time to time. Eventually she suffered physical persecution, was forced to have an abortion, and she almost lost her life. Finally, the marriage that should never have happened ended in divorce.
Another case also involved a practitioner who wanted to rescue the detained practitioners. Since this practitioner was not thinking righteously, he also used human methods, which included inviting the people he sought help from to dinner, giving them gifts, and asking an everyday person to get directly involved in the rescue project. The result was that this everyday person had a car accident. Maybe the old forces would rather cause this person to be injured in an accident than let him be successful in helping us rescue the practitioners. This incident exposed an impure heart that did not "believe in Teacher and the Dafa." We actually brought harm to this person simply because of unrighteous thoughts. The result was just the opposite of what it was supposed to be.
Even today practitioners in many places still have these kinds of thoughts. Whenever anything happens they will consult with everyday people, which actually puts us below them. As a matter of fact, entertaining the wicked CCP officials with lavish dinners and giving them generous gifts are the customs of a warped society as well as the residual influences of party ideology. Bribery encourages evil trends. This not only fails to eliminate the evil forces to save the sentient beings, but it inflates their arrogance and we fall into their traps. We must totally negate our unrighteous thoughts and disintegrate these thoughts.
Seeking everyday people's help is actually an attachment of fame, gain, and social status, which is so prevalent in society. Being an official or a policeman gives people the aura of power and/or wealth, but this is a false phenomenon. No matter who they are, they are, first and foremost, people who need to be saved. We must be higher than they are. to them is an act of great compassion and the basis for a solution to any issue. A life that has learned the truth will certainly know how to behave as a human being. We must therefore be clear-minded and not be fooled by false phenomena in human society. One local practitioner walked out of detention with righteous thoughts. However, there was a rumor among his fellow practitioners that he got out of detention because his family's connections helped him. Actually, it was not like that. The most important reason was that he found his fundamental attachment. Teacher said,
"Remove your human thoughts and evil will naturally die out"
("Don't Be Sad" from Volume II)
Practitioners from other places clarified the truth and wrote open letters to the governments at all levels to let the people know the truth and let them know that doing good deeds is met with good rewards and being evil is met with evil returns; to let them get to know and believe "Falun Dafa is good" and "Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance is good;" and to let them understand that treating the practitioners kindly is treating themselves and their families kindly. These were the real reasons that the practitioner was released. It was also the result of the elevation and cooperation of the one body. How could we say that the practitioner's release was the result of entertaining CCP officials with lavish dinners and giving them generous gifts or bribery? As practitioners we must first validate Dafa and Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. How can we validate the things that do not belong to this Dafa of the universe and ignore the great compassion of Teacher and the mighty power o Dafa? Coming to this stage in our cultivation we must all become mature. It is very dangerous for practitioners to have such thoughts. We must improve our understanding on the issue and let go of this attachment through our cultivation.
I heard in some other places that the practitioners even asked some everyday people to directly join Fa-validating projects. This is also the result of having no faith in Teacher and the Fa. Getting everyday people involved in our projects stems from practitioners having a fearful mentality. They were afraid of being arrested or persecuted. However, such practice might bring harm to these everyday people. The Clearwisdom website published some articles citing cases in which these people confessed to the authorities about the practitioners they met when they were faced with persecution. In some other cases the everyday people were detained and persecuted. We must draw lessons from these cases. We are here to save sentient beings. We should not seek help from everyday people, only their understanding. It is Dafa that really saves sentient beings. Without Dafa we would not exist anymore.
We must dig deeper to look for our fundamental attachments and cultivate ourselves well on this issue. The closer to the end we are, the more clearheaded we should be. Only by believing in Teacher and the Fa can we really navigate through this persecution. We must walk our own cultivation path well and totally negate the persecution arranged by the old forces.
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