Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- Experiences in Looking Inward
- Cultivating Well and Eliminating the Old Forces Are Equally Important
- Tribulation at Home and the Seriousness of Cultivation
- Be Alert to the Attachment of Seeking Comfort
- On Studying the Fa with Our Hearts
- Genuine Cultivation Requires Simultaneous Cultivation of Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the December 2014 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
We have come to the end of another year and another stage in our cultivation.
Let us genuinely look within and take an honest stock of how diligent we have been in our cultivation and what are our shortcomings. Otherwise, we will just be going through the motions and not live up to what Master expects of us as True Dafa Disciples.
In this issue, we have 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 Pune had booked a stall at the Pune Book Fair where practitioners from Mumbai participated. There were enquiries from some organizations and Lion’s club to introduce Falun Dafa to their staff and members.
They have also introduced and conducted the Falun Dafa session in one of the corporate.
Practitioners from Delhi distributed fliers and introduced Falun Dafa to people at the Pushkar Fair.
Practitioners from Delhi have been participating every Sunday in the Health and Wellness Road Event organized by Times of India. It is a good opportunity to create awareness and interest in Falun Dafa.
Practitioners from Mumbai have also been participating since last Sunday in the Health and Wellness Road event organized by Times of India. It is like a carnival and draws big crowds.
Practitioners from Mumbai were invited by BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research) to give an introduction and exercise demonstration to a large Ladies Group on the occasion of Women’s Day where they had a Seminar on Stress Management.
Practitioners from Bangalore had booked a stall at the Bangalore Book Fair which will conclude towards the end of the month. Many people were aware of Falun Dafa and evinced interest to take up the practice. Many people were happy to buy the Kannada books. A practitioner from Pondicherry also helped and participated.
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- 3. Experiences in Looking Inward
(Minghui.org)
I would like to share with practitioners how a physical challenge reminded me that our bodies give us great clues about where to look within to find our hidden attachments or notions. One night, a toothache kept me awake. I originally thought that I could handle the pain no matter how severe it became. As soon as I had that thought and focused attention on it, the place where I had the pain felt as if a bomb had exploded. The impact of it kept expanding, and the pain became more and more severe. In the end, I could hardly lie down. I sat up, sent forth righteous thoughts, and looked within immediately. I realized that the toothache had something to do with my cultivation of speech. In the past, based on my interactions with fellow practitioners, I realized that many practitioners didn't pay much attention to cultivating their speech. As a manifestation of that, they either had toothaches, a tooth growing at an angle, or they would slip and fall, breaking a tooth, etc. When I sent forth righteous thoughts, I eliminated the persecution from the old forces in my mind: "I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. I am placing myself in Teacher's hands. I didn't cultivate my speech well, so I will correct it right away and pay attention to it. As for any test that is not arranged by Teacher, I will not recognize it." After a while, my toothache stopped. I once dreamed that my ears were full of dirt. I tried using a screwdriver to remove the dirt. After waking up, I began to think: It must have been because I listened to an ordinary people's new song more than once recently. Therefore I was infused with negative things of ordinary people and this is how Teacher enlightened me to the situation. I hereby would like to remind every practitioner: If you have pain anywhere in your body, please look inside for the root cause. Think about whether you have been places where you shouldn't have been, or done things that a practitioner shouldn't have done. If your eyes hurt, is it because you have seen things that you shouldn't have seen? This is not absolute, but looking inwards like this frequently may reveal attachments that can then be eliminated. Teacher said in Zhuan Falun: "As a practitioner, one should be this way. Whenever there is interference of one kind or another in qigong practice, you should look for reasons within yourself and determine what you still have not let go."
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- 4. Cultivating Well and Eliminating the Old Forces Are Equally Important
By a practitioner in China
(Minghui.org)
Only recently was I able to correctly understand the relationship between looking inward, cultivating oneself well and actively eliminating the old forces' arrangements. In this aspect my understanding had gone from one extreme to the other.
I started to practice Falun Gong before 1998, but did not genuinely cultivate back then, and stopped practicing when the persecution started in July 1999. I came across the Minghui website in 2002 and learned that the persecution was based on lies. I then decided to resume my cultivation. I did not know how to cultivate, and treated all my tribulations with human notions. As a result, my conflicts worsened and I could not overcome them. I had conflicts with my family, my husband had an affair, I did not have a stable income and fell into debt, and my husband also physically abused me. I could have mentally collapsed under such stress. Fortunately, I had held onto the thought that I wanted to cultivate.
I later met a practitioner who had cultivated very well, and he told me very clearly to "look inward unconditionally." That statement has been ingrained in my mind ever since. I started to search within myself for shortcomings when problems arise, and I also started to read . Before then, I just read articles on the Minghui website about magical stories or scenes from other dimensions, and did not pay much attention to how to cultivate myself. Now I read articles about how to rationally cultivate, and draw lessons from fellow practitioners' experience sharing. My has improved gradually, and my family environment and financial situation have also started to take a positive turn.
I came to understand many principles when I started memorizing the Fa. But I was not very clear on the principle of eliminating the old forces, and held on to the notion that a practitioner will only be persecuted if they have loopholes in their cultivation. So I tried hard to improve myself. When I heard some fellow practitioners' suggestions of going in close proximity to the prisons to send forth righteous thoughts to help rescue practitioners imprisoned there, I reacted in a negative way. I believed that the practitioners were there because they had loopholes in their cultivation, and thought that what was important was for them to search within themselves and improve their xinxing. I questioned whether our sending righteous thoughts for them really worked, and felt that my sending righteous thoughts did not seem to matter.
My thought karma often interfered with me, and other bad thoughts frequently came into my mind. A fellow practitioner told me that when a bad thought surfaced, I should consciously eliminate it. When I gave it a try, it was indeed effective. I gradually started to understand and realized that my righteous thoughts had also become stronger, as I really felt that one thought of mine could topple a mountain. I later also came to understand Master's Fa principle:
"'Tathagata' is what human beings call someone who's come with the truth and the power to do what he wants, whereas real Buddhas are guardians of the cosmos and are responsible for all righteous elements in the cosmos." ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. Fa Conference" from Guiding the Voyage)
By memorizing the Fa, I have gained a better understanding on what the old forces are, what the relationship is between the old forces and Master, and how the old forces come to test practitioners. I have also understood that only searching within oneself is not enough. We must actively eliminate the old forces, as they are not qualified to test practitioners. Our looking inward does not mean that we have acknowledged the old forces' arrangements, as we should follow Master's requirements and not let the old forces exploit our gaps. I have finally realized that we should unconditionally search within and cultivate well under all circumstances. We should use our righteous thoughts to eliminate everything that undermines the Fa.
I have noticed that some practitioners in my area experience many tribulations while they still use their human notions to determine right from wrong, and fail to unconditionally look inward. Some of them are making similar mistakes to what I made before, and are attached to searching externally. They do not have a clear understanding on negating the old forces, nor do they have a determined and powerful will to eliminate them. Some practitioners want to look inward but do not know how. There are also practitioners who still take this persecution as one that pits one group of humans against another. These practitioners keep encountering conflicts in their daily lives and work environments.
To walk well the cultivation path arranged by Master, Dafa disciples should study the Fa well. I have recited all of Master's Fa lectures once. Only after that have I felt that I have gained some understanding on what this persecution is, where the old forces have come from, and how to break through the old forces' arrangements. A practitioner must let go of the attachment to self, look inward unconditionally, and measure one's thoughts and actions with the Fa. Only in this way can we really improve ourselves, and live up to the title of Fa-rectification practitioners.
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- 5. Tribulation at Home and the Seriousness of Cultivation
By a practitioner in Mainland China
(Minghui.org)
I began practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. I'm
not interested in getting married, and my family has not been very
understanding. Consequently, it has been hard for me to clarify the truth to them.
The company I worked for was not doing well and started laying
off employees. My parents are not in good health and I need to take
care of them. I therefore decided to stay home and did not look for
another job. However, staying home with my parents all the time
intensified my conflict with them.
My mother has a bad temper. She has had a miserable life and an
unhappy marriage. She also has all kinds of illnesses. She thinks
very highly of herself yet she is vulnerable and fragile. She
dislikes everyone and scorns others all the time. She would find
something wrong with anything I did. The more work I did the more
she would criticize me. So I eventually stopped doing anything so
that I would not feel so wronged when she criticized me. I tried my
best to endure but I was not evaluating things from the standpoint
of the Fa.
She felt that just criticizing me was not destructive enough, so
she started criticizing Teacher. I could not bear it and started
fighting with her. Others suggested that I find a man and get
married instead of being scorned after helping out so much. Yet I
did not want to start a family, nor did I want to pretend that I
liked getting married. However I'm an independent woman with skills
that can help me find a job. So I moved away from home.
My relatives were worried by my action. Although they too could
not stand my mother's temper, they felt that leaving my elderly
parents alone at home was wrong. They suggested that I move back
home. I was out for a few quiet days and I was able to study the Fa
calmly. I studied "Energy Field" in Zhuan Falun,
"When an evil-minded person is thinking of something bad, this
person might change his mind due to the powerful effect of your
field; he might then no longer want to commit the wrongdoing.
Perhaps a person wants to swear at someone. Suddenly, he may change
his mind and will not want to swear."
I suddenly realized why my energy field was not capable of
restricting my mother and why I was influenced by her instead.
Although a cultivator should be able to endure, Teacher has also
stated, "The Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all
abnormalities." I have practiced cultivation for over ten years; I
should have demonstrated compassion and dignity. Why haven't I
earned people's respect? Why was my cultivation so awkward? That
was not a correct state. Was it because I had harbored loathsome
thoughts that prompted my mother to act like that? I should examine
myself based on her actions, instead of asking ordinary people to
comply with my principles. As soon as I realized this, my
grandmother was suddenly hospitalized. Wasn't this telling me that
I should not escape and should go back to harmonize my home
environment?
After returning home, I saw my Falun Dafa books scattered
everywhere, and some were even covered with scattered clothes. I
realized that the reason my mother criticized Teacher was because I
did not show respect toward Teacher or the Fa. When I woke up in
the morning I practiced the exercises with messy hair. I also wore
pajamas all day long. I did not care about my image when I was off
work.
A cultivator should not fight evil with evil and should handle
everything with a compassionate heart. I looked at my mother like a
mirror and realized that her actions reflected what was on my mind.
I made it a priority to look inside myself and not reject the
opportunity to elevate myself. I used the environment to sort
through myself. Consequently, my mother stopped being mean and
became friendly towards me.
I also discovered that most TV programs carry the Communist
Party's messages which have severely poisoned my mother. So I
guided her to watch other programs. I discovered that it was not
that hard to communicate with her. I had overlooked her in the past
and had never shown that I cared about her. We have been so close
and have been living under the same roof for more than thirty
years, and as result I had become numb to my family environment. I
felt that she was a lady with no class because she liked to
criticize people and was just so impossible to deal with all her
life. I loathed her and did not have affection for her. I did not
think about using the Fa to harmonize her. I was holding on to my
old notions, feeling that as a family we knew one another all too
well and therefore there's no need to act seriously or decently,
and instead we could act casually towards one another. I displayed
the worse side of myself in front of my parents. Yet, when I am
with others, I pay attention to keeping a Dafa practitioner's image
so that my truth-clarification efforts will not be affected.
After making changes, I improved greatly. All these troubles
originated from my not being compassionate and failing to treat
cultivation seriously. It is even more the case that my family
members are people I am to save. I was reluctant to communicate
with them because they were not understanding about my staying
single. I did not make an effort to show them that they could
benefit from my staying single. For a cultivator, you are evil if
you are not compassionate. Our cultivation process is the process
of creating a new cosmos. Clarifying the truth and saving sentient
beings is enriching and purifying the new cosmos.
When we are influenced and when our minds are affected by
something, it must be that we have exposed our human attachments.
To put it simply, it is our own attachments that restrict us, and
they are like locks that need to be unlocked by the Fa.
The above is my personal understanding. Please kindly correct me
if there's anything improper.
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- 6. Be Alert to the Attachment of Seeking Comfort
By an overseas practitioner
(Minghui.org)
The attachment of seeking comfort is taboo
for a cultivator. In the beginning, it is almost undetectable and
it expands gradually. If we don't act to eliminate it, it will
interfere with our cultivation or even cause our cultivation to
come to an end.
Looking back at what happened today, the attachment problem came
up for me at least three times. I arrange my days so that I can
grasp every opportunity to do the well in all
environments. Even when I was very busy with my work, I could still
arrange large amounts of time to study the Fa, send forth righteous
thoughts and clarify the truth. However, my complacency often
surfaced at night. Although I had planned to do many things, I
became less diligent and my righteous thoughts were not as strong,
because the environment was relaxing. I felt that I had finished
things that I planned for the day. The leftover time was "extra".
Therefore, I developed the attachment of seeking personal comfort.
Although I did not go to bed early, I often gave myself excuses to
rest. However, instead of simply resting, and I often fell
asleep.
This was exactly what happened today: After I finishing studying
two lectures of Fa, listening to two lectures of Fa, reading the
book "Essentials to Further Advancement" and new articles, sending
forth righteous thought at 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., it
was time to clarifying the truth over the phone, according to my
plan. I felt a little tired and followed my human notion - I should
lie down and take a power nap for five minutes, and make my calls
when I wake up. However, I fell asleep with the light on and doors
and windows open. When I woke up, it was 2:00 a.m. Over four hours
had slipped by. Unable to continue to sleep, I then sent forth
righteous thought at 3:00 a.m. and studied the Fa until dawn. I did
not complete doing all however, as I did not
clarify the truth today.
This has happened to me several times recently. There must be
hidden attachment and deviant factors behind them. I found the
fundamental cause - notions. My notion is that I don't get enough
sleep. This is the source of my attachment to seeking comfort. When
analyzed further, I always considered myself very diligent in doing
the and eliminating attachments by constantly
decreasing my sleep time. I always calculated how much time I
slept, hence constantly strengthening my notions. The notion of
"not enough sleep" led me to expand my complacency. Many times I
was unable to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to send forth righteous thought.
Even three alarms could not wake me up. Although I felt bad
afterwards, I could always find the excuse - I did not have enough
sleep.
I believe that this notion is built on our nature of
selfishness. That is the nature of lives from old universe. We want
to protect ourselves and avoid being hurt. This is fundamentally
different from the nature of enlightened beings, and from the new
universe that is selfless and always puts others first. My notion
of "not enough sleep" is formed out of my notions for
self-protection, fear of being harmed and attachments to my
physical body.
Of course we cannot go to extremes in cultivation. Our actions
need to conform to the status of ordinary people. However, we need
to have strong righteous thought. In fact, if we have strong
righteous thoughts and keep practicing the exercises, four hours of
sleep is enough. My level is limited at present and I could only
achieve this. However, I found my attachments and notions through
these incidents.
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- 7. On Studying the Fa with Our Hearts
By a practitioner in mainland China
(Minghui.org)
After reading the article "Studying the Fa with Our Hearts," I was immersed in deep thought. In almost every lecture, Master has told us to "study the Fa more" and "study the Fa well." From my understanding, Master's repeated talking about studying the Fa well indicates that practitioners have serious problems in this regard. In addition, I think failing to truly study the Fa wholeheartedly has become a widespread phenomenon.
As far as I know, some practitioners study the Fa every day and manage to finish the dedicated amount they set for themselves daily. They also tell others how much they read. Nonetheless, very often they cannot handle things from the Fa's perspective when they are faced with problems. They feel uneasy and upset when they are in conflict with others. Some practitioners encounter one conflict after another, and they are surrounded by interference and trouble, creating difficulties in their cultivation. When told to study the Fa more, they claim that they study the Fa every day. In fact, although they know the importance of Fa study, they read the Fa every day like they are doing a mundane task, instead of really studying the Fa wholeheartedly. I think the main reason for this is that they are unable to attain tranquility. With many attachments to the everyday world, one cannot concentrate on studying the Fa. I also feel that after reading the Fa many times, practitioners are very familiar with the surface wording of the Fa and can read very quickly. When reading one sentence, we know what the next sentence is and can read even without having to concentrate. Without a tranquil mind, we will not know what we are reading and the effect of Fa study cannot be achieved. Under this circumstance, I think reciting the Fa is a good idea. Reciting only a few paragraphs a day, inscribing it into our hearts, has a much better effect than reading several lectures a day without truly concentrating. Then I realized that when I can recite very fluently, sometimes I also lose concentration. As a result, I'd finish reciting a whole lecture very quickly without knowing what I was reciting. Under this circumstance, we need to keep a clear mind and recite sentence by sentence, so that every word will be displayed in front of our eyes, thus fusing our entire mind and body into the Fa. This feeling is so mysterious and profound that it's beyond description. If we study the Fa more and do so with every particle of the Fa entering our hearts, our minds will be filled with Dafa and we will naturally do the well, thus encountering less interference. In the past several years I have been studying the Fa in such a way. Since my mind is always filled with the Fa, I have kept a very good cultivation state.
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- 8. Genuine Cultivation Requires Simultaneous Cultivation of Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance
By a Falun Dafa Practitioner in Mainland China
(Minghui.org)
I am a relatively new practitioner who began
practicing Falun Dafa in early 2007. Recently, as I studied the Fa,
I realized a mistake I have made in my cultivation. I would like to
share it with fellow practitioners.
Since I am a new practitioner, and we have to do the , my personal cultivation and Fa-validation are
intertwined. I felt that I didn't have enough time and energy for
everything, so I unwittingly took a "discount" on Fa study. I
joined group study less often, spent less time studying the Fa on
my own, and only scanned the Fa quickly, emphasizing speed and
quantity when I studied the Fa. As a result, my mind was not
concentrated when studying the Fa, and the Fa principles did not
manifest to me. My was improving slowly; and I wandered
at the same level for a long time.
In addition, I did not position myself correctly in my Fa study
group. Because I am reading Minghui Net almost every day, I have
more updated information than a lot of other practitioners. In
particular, I thought I should share information on the persecution
and practitioners' safety in order for the group to improve
together. Although the goal was good, because I didn't study the Fa
well and was only chasing speed, I did not understand a lot of the
Fa-principles. As a result, often my good intentions resulted in
something bad. I realized that in my personal cultivation I had
only focused on Truth, but neglected Compassion and
Forbearance.
My personal cultivation and our group's cultivation state
lingered at the same level for a long time without improvement. It
was like a handful of sand slipping with no direction. The evil
took advantage of this loophole. In about one month, four
practitioners were abducted, and one person's home was raided. A
lot of loss was incurred. Two of the four practitioners were sent
to brainwashing centers, and one remains there now. After the
initial shock, I realized that I needed to look inward and become
clear-headed.
Once, as I was reading , I noticed the
following passage,
"Broadly speaking, the Fa is very immense. From the perspective
of the very highest level, it is very simple, for the Fa resembles
a pyramid in form. At the highest point, it can be summarized in
three words: Zhen, Shan, Ren. It is extremely complex when
manifesting at different levels."
Something in that passage touched me, and I felt that I
enlightened to something. A few days later, as I was reading
Zhuan Falun again, my eyes lingered on one sentence,
"Our Falun Dafa is based upon the highest standard of the
universe, Zhen, Shan, and Ren, all of which we cultivate
simultaneously. The system that we cultivate is enormous."
Have I truly cultivated Truth, Compassion, and Forbearance
simultaneously? I had read the book over 100 times. Why had I never
noticed the words "cultivate simultaneously"?
In my view, as cultivators, we need to do much better than
simply speaking the truth and being honest. Sometimes that approach
may even be wrong, as it may mean being inconsiderate of others'
feelings. Although truthfulness is one basic characteristic of the
universe, it's only a starting point for our cultivation. More
importantly, we need to also cultivate compassion. Master said,
"The greatest manifestation of shan is compassion, and it
is an expression of tremendous energy. It can disintegrate all that
is not right." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC
International Fa Conference")
If we do not cultivate compassion, our efforts could backfire.
In my personal cultivation, I only sought Truth but neglected
Compassion. I did not treat fellow practitioners kindly, and was
not very tolerant. My relationships with fellow practitioners had
been a bit tense. This was a lesson for me. Actually, everything my
fellow practitioners do is a part of my cultivation environment. It
helps to eliminate my attachments. It just took me a long time to
realize it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my
fellow practitioners.
Forbearance is something that we must have as cultivators and
Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples. Sometimes Forbearance is
related to Compassion, and other times to Truth. Practicing
Forbearance can help magnify the power of Truth and Compassion.
When it comes to invoking kindness and saving sentient beings,
Forbearance/Tolerance is often very effective. Master said,
"Tolerance is a powerful thing, and it surpasses Truth and
Kindness. Throughout the entire cultivation process you are asked
to tolerate, to mind your character, and to exercise self-control."
(Falun Gong).
As I was finishing this article, I remembered the other meaning
of "cultivate simultaneously." My fellow practitioners are those
who are cultivating at the same time as me. Master has said that we
need to "cultivate [Truth, Compassion and Forbearance]
simultaneously." As fellow disciples in the Fa-rectification period
in the same school, shouldn't we help each other, remind each other
to do well, and cultivate well together to return home? If we only
cared about our own well-being and neglected others, could we still
be considered fellow disciples? Can we reach consummation while
leaving behind other practitioners? Master said,
"When you have all become mature, the next stage will begin."
("Don't Be Self-Indulgent and Draw Demons to Ourselves *With
Master's Commentary")
My understanding is that we all need to improve as a group and
return home together. Aren't we all looking forward to the next
stage, when the Fa rectifies the human world? Master has said it
very clearly, and the standards have been clarified--we should all
"become mature." When we are faced with the Final Judgment, if we
are asked,
"Did you fulfill your responsibilities to the utmost degree?"
[during Fa-rectification] (Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York
International Fa Conference)
how would we respond? If we want to reach consummation, we must
all mature through cultivating together. Only then are we genuine
practitioners; only then are we able to assist Master in the
Fa-rectification. It's not just going with the group's momentum or
paying lip service.
These are just my understandings. Please point out anything
inappropriate or lacking. Heshi.
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