Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:

1. Welcome


2. What’s Happening?


3. Sharing with Fellow Practitioners Who Cannot Sit in Full-Lotus Position Until Now


4. Upgrading My Xinxing and Defeating the Sickness Demon


5. Look Inward and Eliminate the Root of Sickness Karma


6. Don’t Avoid Problems, Don’t Get Frustrated


7. Look Inward to Cultivate


8. Set a Fixed Time for Fa Study and Make It a Priority

1. Welcome

Welcome to the November 2014 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.

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 Nagpur had continuous activities from September 27 of introducing Falun Dafa to colleges and distributing fliers and correcting exercise movements which culminated with a Stall at the Deekshabhoomi where there was a large Buddhist congregation. Practitioners from other cities had also participated. A report had appeared on Minghui. Please click - India: Falun Dafa Practitioners Raise Awareness at Buddhist Congregation in Deekshabhoomi, Nagpur

These activities were followed by distributing fliers and introducing Falun Dafa at Chandrapur and also at Nagpur.

Senior practitioners from New Delhi had visited Bhutan to introduce Falun Dafa in schools and in a monastery. A report had appeared on Minghui. Please click - Introducing Falun Dafa in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan

Hyderabad Practitioners visited Service Mela 2014 in Hitex. They distributed fliers and explained about Falun Dafa to nearly 60 stall owners/representatives and many visitors to the exhibition. Many requested for introducing the practice in their service centers for deprived students, orphans, elders etc. A foreigner, who is a practitioner was happy to see the distribution of fliers.

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3. Sharing with Fellow Practitioners Who Cannot Sit in Full-Lotus Position Until Now

A Dafa disciple in Heilongjiang

(PureInsight.org) Some time ago the local puppet court illegally put a foreign fellow Dafa practitioner on trial. Many Dafa disciples came from out of town to send forth righteous thoughts, disclose the evil, share experiences, clarify the truth and save sentient beings. We sent forth righteous thoughts at every hour, and I found some fellow practitioners sitting in the half-lotus position when sending forth righteous thoughts.

When doing the morning exercises, half of the people sat in the half-lotus position when doing the fifth exercise. Half of the people seemed unable to bear the pain in their legs and stopped practicing after half an hour. Only a few people could meditate with double crossed legs for one hour.

I discussed with fellow practitioners about why they could not sit in the full-lotus position. Some practitioners gave up practicing in the first few years after the persecution by the evil communist party and had just come back; some slacked off in practicing and felt pain whenever they crossed their legs. However, these practitioners could all sit in the full-lotus position for over an hour in the past. How could they be unable to do so now?

Master has taught Fa about the full-lotus position:

“Let me explain the half-lotus position. This position can only be used as a transition, as a last resort, when you can’t manage to sit with both legs crossed… We don’t have many requirements for the half-lotus position since we actually require the full-lotus position, not the half-lotus. But there are people who can’t cross both legs yet, so I will take this opportunity to speak a little bit about the half-lotus position. You may do half-lotus if you can’t yet sit in full-lotus, but you still need to work to gradually put both of your legs up” (Falun Dafa The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection).

Master has said very clearly that it is understandable for new practitioners to sit in the half-lotus position temporarily, but veteran practitioners who have obtained the Fa for many years yet cannot sit in the full-lotus position cannot be justified. They have not worked hard on crossing legs. Many practitioners who can sit in the full-lotus position for a long time all worked hard in the beginning period after they obtained the Fa. At the time, most of them could not even sit in the half-lotus position. Some even endured great pain when just sitting loosely cross-legged. By steeling their will to endure the pain and reduce the karma, only then could they break through and sit in the full-lotus position. They also gradually increased the time they could sit in the full-lotus position from several seconds to a few minutes. Now some practitioners can sit in the full-lotus position for several hours without moving. This is definitely not a day's effort! It is the result of many years of hardship, hardworking and accumulation on a regular basis.

On the contrary, some practitioners were originally poor at bearing hardships. With the addition of the evil persecution, they lost the cultivation environment for many years. Out of fear and a desire to seek ease, they slacked in their cultivation and could not ensure practice everyday. Originally they could cross their legs for one hour, but they stopped once they felt pain. Gradually the length of time they could sit in the full-lotus position decreased, making it harder to persist. In the end they completely changed to sitting in the half-lotus position. Their standard continually lowered, and some people even feared crossing legs.

There are not just a few Dafa practitioners with this problem. I’d like to discuss my personal understanding about this.

Since I started cultivation, I never slacked on exercises. Everyday I experienced aches and pain. Year after year, month after month, day after day I persisted doing the morning exercises like this.

Here are my calculations. As an example, take sitting in the lotus position for one hour each day, which is doing one exercise each day. If you sit in the lotus position for half an hour before you feel pain and uncross your legs after forty minutes, you will be practicing twenty minutes fewer every time. In a month you will have practiced 600 minutes less than the requirement of the exercise tape. Then in a whole year you will have 7200 minutes less of karma elimination through meditation, which is 120 hours. If you sit in the lotus position once every day, then 120 hours less would be equivalent to 120 days less of practicing in a year. Now that the Fa-rectification has gone through fifteen years, one will have practiced 1800 days less in fifteen years, which is equivalent to five years!

What does this imply? Practicing twenty minutes less per day would be practicing a third less in fifteen years of Fa rectification! This is still the case for fellow practitioners who insisted on practicing everyday. There were many fellow practitioners who slacked in practicing for many years. They would go fishing for three days and dry netting for two days. Some could hardly even practice a few times in a month. The result is obvious.

Recently I came across several fellow practitioners who had severe illness karma. Some passed away, and some are still suffering. To my knowledge, most of the fellow practitioners who were persecuted by the old forces and had illness karma, or more seriously lost their flesh bodies, were those who could not ensure the time and quality of practicing (of course we do not acknowledge the persecution imposed by the old forces). As such, the karma that should have been reduced and transformed through practicing was not reduced. As a result, very difficult tribulations were formed due to the accumulation of karma. As time passed by, the accumulation formed an insurmountable hardship.

Master has told disciples very early that “

Falun Buddha Law also includes cultivation of the body, which is accomplished by performing the exercise movements of the Great Way of Spiritual Perfection—a great high-level Buddhist practice. One purpose of the exercises is to strengthen a practitioner’s supernatural abilities and energy mechanisms using his or her powerful gong strength (gong-li), thus achieving ‘the Law (fa) refines the practitioner.’ Another purpose is to evolve many living beings in a practitioner’s body. In high-level cultivation, the Immortal Infant or Buddha-Body will be born, and many abilities will be developed. The exercise movements are necessary for transforming and cultivating these things. The exercises are part of the harmonization and perfection in our Dafa. So Dafa is a comprehensive mind-body cultivation system. It is also called ‘The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection.’ Dafa thus requires both cultivation and exercises, with cultivation taking priority over the exercises. A person’s gong won’t increase if he merely does the exercises and fails to cultivate his character. Meanwhile, a person who only cultivates his character and doesn’t perform the exercises of the Great Way of Spiritual Perfection will find the growth of his gong strength impeded and his innate body (ben-ti) unchanged.” (Falun Dafa The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection).

Personally I think as long as one normally does well in everything and cultivates firmly in the long term, the big tribulations will shrink to small ones, and the small ones will vanish. If one big tribulation vanishes, several tribulations can be resolved in a year. When one can really achieve this in solid cultivation, the loss will be reduced. On the contrary, several tribulations will accumulate to a huge tribulation.

Master has told disciples in the Fa:

“You claim that you’re too busy and don’t have the time. Actually, you are afraid that you don’t get enough rest. Have you ever thought of the fact that practicing cultivation is the best form of rest? You can obtain the kind of rest that can’t be obtained through sleeping. Nobody would say: ‘The exercises are making me so tired that I can’t do anything today.’ One would only say: ‘The exercises are making my whole body relaxed and at ease. I don’t feel sleepy after a sleepless night. I feel full of energy. It doesn’t seem to bother me at all after a day’s work.’ Isn’t this the case? So if someone who doesn’t come out to do the exercises says that he has no time or uses other excuses, I’d say that it’s completely because he doesn’t have a deep understanding of the Fa and lacks the will to make painstaking efforts.” (Lecture at the First Conference in North America).

Fellow practitioners, we have cultivated for so many years, and the Fa-rectification has gone through fifteen years. How much longer on earth do we still have to meet Master’s requirements? Master has repeatedly and painstakingly told disciples to “cultivate as if you were just starting”, but even now some disciples cannot insist on doing the morning exercises everyday, and they cross legs at their own will and comfort. How worried must Master be when he sees us like this! Personally I suggest fellow practitioners should read more Falun Dafa The Great Way of Spiritual Perfection.

In conclusion I would like to encourage fellow practitioners by having the honor to read Master’s Fa:

“Pause for a moment of self-reflection, and increase your righteous thoughts. Thoroughly analyze your shortcomings, and progress with renewed diligence.” (Hong Yin Vol. II: “Rational and Awake”).

I wrote what was on my mind. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

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4. Upgrading My Xinxing and Defeating the Sickness Demon

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Hebei province

(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Dafa in April of 1996. In June or July of 2005, one side of my head suddenly became very painful. I also started to cough. The symptoms became more severe in October. I had difficulty breathing, and I was completely winded after climbing the three levels of stairs to get to my apartment. My family urged me to go to the hospital for tests. Seeing how worried they were for me, I succumbed to my qing. To keep them from worrying for me, I agreed to have an exam. However, my going for this exam was actually following the old forces arrangements, instead of walking a righteous path.

A CT scan was performed first. The doctor said that the results were unclear, so he needed to inject me with some medicine to increase the clarity of the scan. I agreed, thinking that the results would show that there was nothing wrong with me. I didn't ask about the results of the examination, but my family members looked very worried, so the results must have been bad. Later, I learned from other practitioners that I was diagnosed with "late stage lung cancer." I was not affected by this news, nor did I acknowledge it. I believed that it was evil interference. My family contacted the hospital and found a specialist for me, but I refused to go. My husband was so worried that he tearfully said, "Our family will be finished without you." He called our son home early from his business trip. My husband also called our nephew to come to our home from another city. The whole family rallied together to try to persuade me. My nephew said, "It is normal to go to the hospital when sick!" I said, "Yes, for everyday people it is normal." He asked, "Aren't you an everyday person?"

At this time, my 8-year-old granddaughter who was playing nearby said, "Let me have my say: "If everyday people score 80 out of 100, my grandmother can score 90. Although she can't score the highest, she is not an everyday person, either." My nephew said, "Then let's compromise. You can go to the hospital, and do the exercises at the same time." My granddaughter said, "That would be like trying to step on two boats at the same time. You can't progress at all like that. Going to the hospital means that you don't have confidence in your health." As her mother tried to continue her persuasion, my granddaughter was so anxious that she burst into tears. She said to the entire family, "Why don't you give a free rein to my grandmother? Why won't you let her decide her own affairs? How can you know her physical state better than she does?"

I was deeply moved by my granddaughter's quick words. Although she had been living in a cultivation environment, memorizing Lunyu and Hong Yin, and listening to stories about Falun Dafa from me, she had never really cultivated. Yet she was able to speak such words based on the Fa. I instantly realized that it was merciful Teacher helping me. Teacher was giving hints to me through the child's mouth. It was Dafa's power. Teacher said,

"Every test or tribulation is related to the matter of either progression or regression in cultivation."(Zhuan Falun)

Several fellow practitioners were also very concerned about whether I could maintain my xinxing. They kept sharing with me and strengthening my righteous thoughts. They also clarified Dafa principles to my family. When my family members saw that I was very firm and determined, they gave up the idea of sending me to the hospital, and began to fully support me in doing the three things. Other practitioners suggested that we form a Fa-study group, as this was the cultivation form left by Teacher. They continued to help me strengthen my righteous thoughts and deny the old force arrangements.

As I had already had wrong thinking in allowing the hospital exam, I was taken advantage of by the evil. After the examination, my symptoms worsened. I kept coughing and spitting, and my head pain was so severe that I couldn't lie down to sleep at night. For two months, I had to sit on a sofa and try to fall asleep while sitting up. During this period, the article, "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005" was published. Teacher said,

"The principles of cultivators and those of ordinary people are opposite. Human beings believe that a life of comfort is a good thing, while Dafa disciples believe that having everything be so easy is a bad thing when it comes to their improvement and that discomfort is conducive to improvement."

Teacher's words enabled me to reevaluate my suffering correctly, and gave me the strength to overcome the persecution.

Through this tribulation, I also gained deeper understanding about "Dafa Disciples' Righteous Thoughts Are Powerful." Before this tribulation came, whenever I sent forth righteous thoughts, the evil would appear and laugh at me in a defiant manner. The evil dared to be so arrogant because my righteous thoughts were not strong enough. After we set up the Fa-study group, my righteous thoughts progressively became stronger and stronger. Once, when we began sending righteous thoughts together, I saw myself sitting at a high altitude, as high as a big building, with my hands folded in the jieyin position. When looking down, I saw a middle-aged woman trying to look up, but she couldn't see me. Then I rose higher and flew to a more remote place. It felt extraordinarily wonderful. The middle-aged woman I had seen was actually the evil manifesting with a different image. It had intended to interfere with me. However, as my righteous thoughts were now very focused and strong, it couldn't reach me. Several days later, when we sent righteous thoughts together again, I felt a young man trying to approach covertly. I realized it was another manifestation of the evil, coming back to interfere again. When I saw him, he was already retreating, and was more than ten meters away from me. While retreating behind a wall, he shook his hand and said to me smiling, "We are going, and will never come back." I said, "If you come again, Dafa will disintegrate you." I had previously been cultivating with my third eye closed. Seeing these scenes greatly encouraged me to strengthen my righteous thoughts at all times. It was just like Teacher said,

"As soon as your thoughts are righteous, the evil will collapse."( "What Is There to Be Afraid Of" from Hong Yin II, provisional translation)

While feeling this constant encouragement from Teacher to defeat the sickness demon, I tried to understand why I was being interfered with so intensely, despite the fact that I had been cultivating for ten years. Though I had not been very diligent, I had been persisting in studying the Fa, doing the exercises and doing the "three things." Teacher said,

"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."(Zhuan Falun, official translation)

Then what hadn't I let go of? I started recalling the process of my cultivation. I hadn't encountered any huge tribulations in the past ten years. My cultivation had been very smooth, and I had never really needed to look deeply within. Some of my attachments were still deeply buried. My fundamental problem was that I hadn't let go of my attachment to illness. Sometimes my lower back felt so uncomfortable that I could not move without pain. There was also a period of time when the corner of my right eye glowed abnormally. Some people said that this could be the retina separating from my eye and that I would probably lose my eyesight. I became very afraid. After my head pained me for several months, and my righteous thoughts failed to improve the situation, one thought came to my mind: "Has anything bad grown in my head?" I felt frightened; but I knew I should not go to the hospital to check. I was often in a perplexed state. This situation showed me that my faith in Teacher and Dafa was not firm enough. I only wanted to eliminate the interference by sending righteous thoughts. I didn't search for the reasons why I was interfered with, nor did I cultivate my xinxing. Because I didn't let go of my attachments, the tribulations came one after another. Teacher said,

"When you meet with a little bit of hardship or a little something here and there, you can't make it through. And when eventually it accumulates to a very large amount, it becomes a major test, and that test is one you can't pass without letting go of [the attachment to your] life." ("Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005," official translation)

My situation was just like this. Because I didn't do well, the evil took advantage of me and created this huge tribulation for me.

After enlightening to these Fa-principles and discovering my fundamental attachment, I felt light-hearted and clearer. My faith in Falun Dafa was strengthened. As I still couldn't fall asleep at night, I woke up at 3 a.m. to do the exercises, send righteous thoughts and study the Fa. When reading Zhuan Falun again, I felt a kind of warmth which I had never experienced before. Every sentence and every character in Zhuan Falun was so precious and comforting. I didn't want to put the book down after picking it up. Although I didn't sleep well during those days, couldn't eat much, still suffered bad headaches, and felt so dim and faint everyday that I didn't have strength and could hardly walk for more than several steps, I persisted in going out to deliver truth-clarification material. I felt that deep within I had a store of endless energy.

Teacher said,

"Once you upgrade your xinxing, your body will undergo a great change."(Zhuan Falun, official translation).

Because I studied the Fa diligently and dug out my fundamental attachment, my righteous thoughts were strengthened. On the morning on January 9, 2006, I suddenly felt that everything was fine with me. The disease which had been torturing me for two months had disappeared without a trace. I could eat and sleep normally again. It was just like what Teacher said,

"When disciples have sufficient righteous thoughts, Master has the Almighty power to turn the cosmos around." ("Grace between Master and Disciple," Hong Yin II, provisional translation, subject to improvement)

It is thanks to Dafa's mighty power and magnificence, and merciful Teacher that I have a second life now. From now on, I will do the three things well and not let Teacher down.

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5. Look Inward and Eliminate the Root of Sickness Karma

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from China

(Minghui.org) Master told us,

"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." (Zhuan Falun)

Some relatively young practitioners have passed away over the years. One, on the surface, seemed to do the three things pretty well. However, after she passed away, we saw that she had long ago written her "last words," with a clear explanation of how to divide her family properties, cash, and other goods.

As for another example, a fellow practitioner was tortured by sickness karma for a long time. Everyone shared with her and tried to find the root of the problem. We talked about what her first thought was after the symptoms appeared. She said that when she felt the difference in her body, she got worried and went for an exam at the hospital. The doctor told her that it was breast cancer. As a practitioner, she realized that it was not illness and she must not acknowledge it. She sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it, remembering to do the three things Master asks of us. This way, her health was sometimes good and sometimes bad, and she did not think about it too much. Several years passed and she wondered why she was still feeling it. She felt very uncomfortable and it was very painful to have to bear. One day she said to a fellow practitioner, "I do not want to bear it anymore." She passed away two days later.

Another practitioner was handing out fliers and exposing the persecution in the rural area near his hometown. After he came back, his body was all swollen and he could not breathe well. It appeared that heart problems, lung problems, as well as a number of different conditions all came up. It was very scary. He stayed home and studied the Fa while looking inward. He realized that one thing he had not done well was to study the Fa persistently. Another thing was that he had developed the attachment of showing off. When he explained the facts of the persecution to a group of people, two people expressed that they were interested in learning Falun Gong immediately, and thus he had also developed the attachment of zealotry. In short, without noticing it, he began to validate himself instead of validating Dafa. This was caught by the old forces. He began to study the Fa day and night, and also began to increase the time spent doing the exercises. It didn't appear to be working. Late one night, he was studying "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005", and he saw the following part,

"When students exhibit severe sickness karma, it undoubtedly has two goals. One is to have that person display such a state and then see how people around him or her look at it."

He realized that the old forces had made this false appearance to let other practitioners see it. Indeed many fellow practitioners were very worried about him and were sending forth righteous thoughts for him. The situation had moved their human mindsets. As soon as he realized this, he told fellow practitioners, "Please put down all your worries. Everything will be arranged by Master. I will not pass away." The next morning, he went to send forth righteous thoughts with fellow practitioners, and everything was back to normal.

I feel that when a practitioner suffers sickness karma and passes away, the practitioner is complying with old force arrangements. We must clearly distinguish between arrangements made by Master and those made by the old forces. We must completely deny old force arrangements. If we keep studying the Fa, keep looking inward, look for and find the root problem, and give up our human mindsets, we will be able to turn the situation around completely. These are just my personal understandings. Please point out anything that is not appropriate.

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6. Don’t Avoid Problems, Don’t Get Frustrated

Xiaoyue, a Dafa Disciple in China

(PureInsight.org) I am a Falun Dafa practitioner. I work as an employee disciplinary officer in a company in China. As the moral standard spirals downward very quickly in today’s society, people are becoming more and more difficult to manage. Prior to my employment as a disciplinary officer in my company, there was not much emphasis on this particular disciplinary role at all. As a result, some people had got used to being slack at work. These people simply did not care too much about discipline and they had become very difficult to manage.

Right after I started to work, I immediately took notice of those who had been slacking in their responsibilities at their positions. I decided to talk to these people, asking them to please correct their behaviour. However, most of these people didn’t listen to anything I said at all, and instead made all kinds of excuses for themselves. They even started to fight with me, which then placed me in a very difficult position.

For a short period of time, I felt that there was nothing I could do to change the situation. I felt helpless and was very confused, to the point that I even wanted to quit. I said to myself, “These people are tough to discipline, why should I bring trouble upon myself? I don’t want to hurt people; I’d rather be a nice person to everyone. Society has already degenerated to such an extent, what else can I do?” Later, I realized that my initial reaction was not right; I had been hired to work as a disciplinary officer, it was my duty to discipline people. If I didn’t do a good job, things would only get worse, due to the ever declining moral trend in society. Master has always taught us how to live righteously in the degenerate society of this world; a Dafa practitioner should always try his best at work.

In Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Yanji, Master said,

“Practitioners should be good people in every situation, and when we are working, we should do it well, for this is not an attachment. Why do I say this? Because you are contributing to the benefit of others and creating value for more people in society. At the very least you are doing it for your workplace, not for yourself.”

So I came to realize that I should do a good job, otherwise I would fall short of the requirements placed on every Falun Dafa practitioner.
I then started to work very hard to perform well in my disciplinary work. I began to push for disciplinary rules that everyone had to obey. I myself set an example and took the lead in following the rules. As soon as someone broke the rules, I would punish the individual without any leniency. A certain group of people in the company got very mad at me as I began to touch upon these people’s interests. Some of these people began to fight with me a lot for no reason. At the very beginning, I managed to keep calm and talk to them nicely; however, I later found that it didn’t seem to work. I then began to lose my patience. I became bad-tempered when I ran across people who just didn’t want to correct their mistakes; I would yell at them and slam my office desk. In short, I had resorted to using brute force to control people. In the end it did seem to work, people started to yield to me under my forceful control. I came to understand why Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun that

“People will be sarcastic and cynical, and so it is not easy even to be a good person.” In today’s China, the moral standard has declined so much that it is quite difficult just to be a good person.

I then began to reflect on myself. Yes, my hard-line approach did seem to work, yet I had lost my temper on numerous occasions and I had become very temperamental. Falun Dafa practitioners are supposed to follow the principles of “Zhen Shan Ren”; I was not showing any sign of “Ren” at all. Master said in Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Guangzhou,

“Practicing Ren doesn’t mean you practice Ren after you have become upset; rather, you should not become upset in the first place.”

I immediately understood that I was failing in this regard. I was not practicing Ren at all. I was hurting others as well as myself when I lost my temper.

I decided to change myself and my approach. I began to ask people to come to talk to me about their concerns. From those conversations, I gradually came to understand some of the problems that had existed all along in the company. I would look at things from other people’s perspectives; I would try to help find solutions that would satisfy both the company’s requirements and the employees’ situations. I stopped yelling at people, and noticed that people were beginning to accept my opinions willingly. People also began to acknowledge their own shortcomings, and promised that they would correct them. The overall morale in the company began to go up. I felt very relieved as if a brand new world had just opened up in front of me.

From this particular experience of mine, I have realized that frustration and anger can only block one’s rationality. Only through exercising “Ren” can one think wisely. In Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Guangzhou, Master said,

“If you have the Fa in your heart and show compassion towards everything around you, you may be better able to handle the things you encounter.”

In today’s society, there are definitely many tough issues. An ordinary person might just avoid facing such an issue, but we are Falun Dafa practitioners, we should try not to avoid such issues. In the end we have to face up to the problems anyway, because such an issue is a test for us, and we have to pass the test. How can we succeed in the midst of going through such a test? My understanding is that we need to study the Fa a lot, especially whenever we are confused. We have to look inside ourselves and read the Dafa books again and again, and then we can definitely make our way through the ordeal. Master said in Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Europe,

“I’ve written into this book everything that I can give you and everything that can enable you to improve and transform yourselves—all these are compressed into this work of Fa.”

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7. Look Inward to Cultivate

By a Jiangxi practitioner

(Minghui.org) When I did the exercises this morning, suddenly my thoughts poured out like a spring. I did not concentrate as I practiced, and this is where I need to improve. Many problems in my cultivation became clear in my mind.

When I came across conflicts and problems, I would look inward, but it was only limited to the surface or I regarded all mistakes as belonging to others.

Several fellow practitioners and I have been studying the Fa at Practitioner A's home for a long time. One of the practitioners felt guilty about this--a human mentality--and brought some napkins to Practitioner A. A said bluntly, "I do not need these things. Take them back!" At the time I felt that A overreacted. The other day another practitioner brought some plastic bags to A because they are often needed. A again had an intense reaction: "Do not bring me these garbage bags! I have the necessary things here!" So this practitioner was embarrassed.

I thought then that I would not have been so abrupt and ungracious, that others' feelings have to be considered. I also thought that my character could be described as gentle and easygoing and that I get along well with others, so my cultivation in this respect was quite good. I recalled that I often reciprocated a kindness, be it with ordinary people or fellow practitioners, and I felt good about that. I thought that I understood courtesy.

In ancient times people said, "A man of honor returns the favor for as little as water." As a cultivator, I felt good about this, so there must be something I needed to cultivate inside.

When I looked inside, I found an attachment: I like to get things, to acquire things. Isn't that a heart of seeking self-interest? Isn't it a dirty, selfish heart? I thought I could put down self interests calmly, because when I faced tribulations, I did not care for positions and titles. I could pay out tens of thousands of yuan for Dafa. But in the depths of my soul, the attachment still existed and had just become very hidden, very natural, very customary. At present, with the deviation of society and under the influence of the CCP Party culture, the custom of feasting and giving presents deluges us. Isn't the purpose of giving presents to satisfy others' desires to pursue profit? But I, too, like to acquire, I like to gain. Isn't this a heart dipped in sentiment? I should dig out this heart and remove it! I felt the sublimeness of life and the happiness of cultivation when I identified this attachment.

When these things happened, at first I thought that I cultivated better than A on this issue. However, when I looked inside, I saw that A cultivated better than I did on this issue, because she did not have this desire. It was a little unexpected.

Of course, we must cultivate in accordance with the status of ordinary society as much as possible. We should be responsible to Dafa in whatever we do and harmonize the Fa in ordinary human society while cultivating our hearts. Whatever we do, we should be solid and rational and without zealotry.

Whenever I feel the great burden that Master bears, I burst into tears. My heart is full of unlimited gratitude to Master!

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8. Set a Fixed Time for Fa Study and Make It a Priority

(Minghui.org) As a Dafa practitioner, studying the Fa well is the key to one's improvement. It is a prerequisite for sending righteous thoughts and for clarifying the truth well. I would like to suggest that all practitioners set a fixed time for Fa study, as we have done for practicing the exercises. For people who work, you can choose a time between 7:10 p.m. and 8:50 p.m. For people who don't work, you can read some time between 7:10 to 8:50 a.m. If we persist in doing this, we will achieve very good results.

I would like to share with fellow practitioners how I spend my day.

I get up at 3:43 a.m. and start practicing the exercises at 3:50 a.m. At 5:55 a.m., I clear my mind for sending righteous thoughts from 6:00 to 6:10. Then I prepare breakfast for my family and take my child to school. At 7:00 a.m., I send righteous thoughts before doing some housework. At 8:00 a.m., I send righteous thoughts, and then listen to Teacher's Fa lectures on my way to work. I work in sales and marketing, and clarify the truth to everyone I meet through my job. I also distribute truth-clarification materials at any time and location as practicable. At 12:00 noon I send forth righteous thoughts, and then study and memorize the Fa during my lunch break. In the afternoon, I use every free moment to memorize the Fa, as long as it doesn't interfere with my work. This routine is already my habit.

In general, I get home before 5:55 p.m. After sending righteous thoughts I cook dinner. Usually, I finish the housework before 7:00 p.m., at which time I send righteous thoughts again. At 7:10 p.m. sharp, I begin studying the Fa. I usually finish one lecture by approximately 8:30 p.m. I then go out to make or distribute truth materials. I go to bed at 12:10 a.m. after sending righteous thoughts.

On days that I don't go to work, I start studying the Fa at 7:10 a.m., stopping only to send forth righteous thoughts at 8:00 a.m., and by approximately 8:30, I have read one lecture. I then go out to clarify truth, make truth materials or help other practitioners with some technical issues. The rest of my day I follow the same schedule as I do on my work days.

I am grateful for Teacher's arrangement. After following this schedule for several years, I often hear Teacher's voice when I study the Fa, as if Teacher is there lecturing us. Sometimes I will see Teacher as he appears in the Fa lecture videos. Whether I study alone or in a group, as long as my heart is calm, I have such experiences. Therefore, I am rarely affected by the environment or others.

I know that many practitioners are doing very well. Every practitioner is in his own state. The above is only my shallow understanding. Please point out anything inappropriate.

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