Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What�s Happening?
- Beginning of a new Life
- Discern the Forms of Demons and Quickly Complete the Process of Transforming from Humans to Gods
- Some of My Experiences and Lessons Learned in Fa-Study
- My Realization Regarding Looking Within
- Back on Track
- What is Behind the Inability to be Tolerant
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the September 2007 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
In this issue, we have an experience sharing article by an Indian practitioner and a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom and Pureinsight 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?
Last month we had mentioned about the Bangalore practitioners being invited to Chennai to introduce Falun Dafa
to schools. A practitioner from Bangalore was joined by a practitioner from Mumbai at Thiruvanmalai where they introduced the exercises to a group of nature cure enthusiasts.
The participants found the exercises very good and requested for a follow up.
The practitioners then proceeded to Cuddalore, near Pondicherry and introduced the exercises in two schools.
A practitioner from Bangalore had organized an exercise-learning workshop for B.Ed students who were having a cultural program and a workshop in an ashram connected
with a temple in the outskirts of Bangalore. The Bangalore practitioner was assisted by practitioners from other places in Karnataka and a practitioner from Mumbai. The students who would be future teachers, found the exercises very invigorating
and requested for follow-ups.
For the first time Falun Dafa exercises were demonstrated as part of a school�s annual sports event. It drew a lot of applause from the parents and teachers.
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- 3. Beginning of a new Life
By an Indian Dafa practitioner
I am a Dafa disciple from the state of Kerala, India. I became a Falun Dafa practitioner when I was doing my engineering. I was very fortunate to obtain it at this age. I am proud to be a good person in the society, college and in my house by following Dafa principles. Falun Dafa has given a new meaning to my life.
I was born and brought up in a catholic family in rural Kerala. I have been taught religious principles from my childhood. I was an altar boy from fifth standard to tenth standard. I was always keen to follow religious rituals in church regularly. Later, I became obsessed with bad social elements such as pornography, bad movies & magazines. I tried to preserve my character through confession. But I gradually went back to my old ways after a few days. Also there were a lot of problems in my house. My tensions built up to a very high level.
I had always been searching for a way to overcome this situation. I was very fortunate that my classmate introduced Falun Dafa to me. This cultivation practice unveiled a new meaning in my life. Zhuan Falun is the first English book I have read completely. Later, I read it again & again. Now I have started to get rid of the bad thing whole-heartedly. Buddha Fa enables me to differentiate good and bad at my level .The religious belief from my childhood enables me to accept Falun Buddha Fa easily and understand the meaning of cultivation .A religious person can easily understand the Fa taught by Master Li Hongzhi.
I am always confused with principles and inventions in science and religious beliefs. In Zhuan Falun Master says "only through "the Buddha Fa" can the mysteries of universe, time-space, and the human body be completely unveiled. It is able to truly distinguish what is righteous from evil, good from bad, and eliminate all misconceptions while providing what is correct". Master says "Throughout the ages, only "The Buddha Fa" has been able to perfectly provide a clear exposition of humanity, every dimension of material existence, life, and the entire universe". It fostered my belief in god. It enables me to wake up from the illusion of science. I realized that I had actually believed in science partially. My state was like a frog inside a well. The Buddha Fa enabled me to get out of the well.
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- 4. Discern the Forms of Demons and Quickly Complete the Process of Transforming from Humans to Gods
A Russian Practitioner
A young practitioner told me something that struck me as quite important. According to her, at present, practitioners are all very diligent in their cultivation. They are able to recognize many different forms of demonic interference and send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate them promptly. But there is one kind of demon that is especially cunning. This kind of demon pretends to very enthusiastically push the Fa-rectification process forward, and actively participates in many activities with practitioners such as group study and discussion, spreading the Fa and clarifying the truth. It creates many different false impressions in an attempt to shake the righteous beliefs of practitioners. This demon focuses its attention on the areas where the practitioners have omissions and tries to damage the Fa-rectification process. Whenever we start to feel "irritable" because of the lack of apparent results from our efforts to spread the Fa, whenever human attachments arise which cause disagreements among practitioners, whenever our hearts are in a state of "unsteadiness," this demon will immediately take over and cause interference. As a result, we have ups and downs and argue with one other endlessly. The demon is then able to divide our collective power to rectify the Fa and eliminate the evil, thereby damaging the whole momentum of spreading the Fa. The small practitioner also saw that whenever we start to get worked up and feel "restless," the demon would drag our xinxing standard down rapidly. Whenever we use strong language and stubbornly hold on to our own opinions, an environment filled with strong demonic nature is formed around us. Because of our inadequate understanding of this kind of demon, we are not able to take the initiative to eliminate it. But some practitioners ignore this demon and walk away to do the things that they are supposed to do. The demon then becomes very angry and digs out the remaining, deeply hidden human prejudices inside of practitioners that cause them to point fingers at one another, blame one another, and even be angry at one another. As a result, everyone feels unsettled and does not know what to do. When practitioners have occasionally recognized the existence of this demonic nature and pointed it out, the demon would cover up its activities by saying, "I'm being responsible for the Fa. I am really worried because the practitioners have not been able to elevate themselves as a group." That is how this kind of demon has been able to escape punishment from the righteous forces.
The young practitioner said, "The demons that are still around right now are all very powerful. One cannot discern that they are demons with just a glance. They appear like righteous gods and this makes it very difficult to identify them. Their true identities are only revealed when they get agitated. Whenever we act impulsively and are very attached to certain things deep inside, that is when we are being controlled by the demons. It is not your true self. The demons are only taking advantage of the side of you that has not cultivated well and still clings to some human attachments. The demons are very good at finding excuses for their actions, and also at using our "human attachments" to control us to do certain things. Therefore, we need to remember at every moment that they are right next to us. Regardless of whether we can see them or not, we need to send forth strong righteous thoughts and eliminate the demons that are waiting nearby to take control of us. Eliminate them group by group and do not give them a single moment to catch their breath. The demons sometimes also follow us to places where we have spread the Fa and put evil thoughts back into people's heads to increase the difficulty of our Fa-rectification process. They create many false impressions to make us waver in our righteous beliefs. In most situations, the demons attack in the places where the human attachments can be triggered. Once these human attachments are stirred up, the practitioner's godly side will not be able to play its proper role. The demons can then cause interference and damage at will. They even have made arrangements in practitioners' daily lives and other activities, and have used many kinds of ploys to entice them to give up their cultivation and Fa-rectification efforts. The demons consider Russia a place that is advantageous to them; therefore, they have all recently come over and gathered here. Practitioners will be dragged down immediately whenever they show even the slightest sign of not being diligent.
The young practitioner asked me to let everyone know about this matter as soon as possible, so we can send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate this kind of demon. I got on the computer immediately and wrote down her comments. Just as I was getting ready to end the article, my computer screen suddenly went blank, and everything that I had written down was erased. Obviously, the demon was behind this, as it was afraid of being exposed and thus eliminated. From this, it became obvious to me that it is absolutely necessary for us to be alert and eliminate this kind of demon--the kind that pretends to be a god pushing the Fa-rectification process forward, but who in reality is using deeply hidden methods to cause various kinds of
difficult-to-detect damage among practitioners.
This kind of demon hides among cultivators, and is trying its best to damage our Fa-rectification work. It causes more interference and damage to the practitioners who shoulder important Fa-spreading work, and this interference and damage sometimes even affects the general Fa-rectification process, causing delays in some areas.
These demons are engaged in their final struggle. They adopt various disguises and exhaust all means in a frenetic attempt to harm us. At the same time, they are also testing the righteous, diamond-like belief, and examining the mindset and level of each practitioner. In fact, for enlightened beings, the current environment could be changed completely with a single wave of the hand, and the demons have no way to compete. The reason they appear to be so rampant and powerful is that we have omissions ourselves, such as the tendency to become impatient or agitated, blame other people, or feel unfairly treated. The evil has taken advantage of our omissions to interfere with us, causing many problems as well as the loss of effective control over many situations.
When cultivators are in such a complete and thorough test, they should not linger in the realm of ordinary people, worry about personal gains and losses, or be moved by the evil. They should not use "we are still cultivators in the midst of cultivation" as an excuse to explain their human notions and behaviors that frequently surface. They should not acknowledge or indulge in anything that is merely human. We need to leave the state of being human as quickly as possible, and escalate the process of transforming ourselves from humans to gods.
When every single cultivator has cultivated oneself into a pure particle with no omissions and is as solid as a diamond, all the particles will join together and form an incomparably powerful force. To dissolve into the Fa is to consummate ourselves. Only when we consummate ourselves can we better utilize our power to suffocate the evil and assist Teacher to rectify the Fa. When we spread the Fa and participate in Fa-rectification with human mindsets and methods, we not only cannot consummate ourselves, but we will also be taken advantage of by the demons. When we have not cultivated ourselves well enough and carry too many human attachments, we are instead helping the evil sabotage the Fa and cause losses to Dafa. Therefore, we need to rectify ourselves first in the Fa-rectification process. We need to use pure righteous thoughts when performing every single task of clarifying the truth and spreading the Fa. We should absolutely not mix human thinking into this process. We should not concentrate on the tasks themselves and place ourselves outside of cultivation. In the face of each and every single Dafa particle who is as solid and unshakable as a diamond and who has no omissions, the demons will not be able to come up with any strategies or find any places to cause damage.
We must realize that we should greatly cherish this great historic opportunity to reach Consummation that will not be encountered again. We need to examine our every thought, every word, and every deed, and check to see if they are at the level and state of mind of a god. We need to examine ourselves to see if we have truly been able to step forward from humanness, to see if our hearts have truly stepped forward, to see whether we have truly broken through the states of everyday people and are elevating ourselves continuously. A human being is in a completely different state from that of a god. A Dafa particle should be able to display his godlike state and endless mighty virtue with every single word, every single deed, and every single wave of his hand. If that happens, the demons will disappear spontaneously everywhere he goes. In order to help the disciples reach such a high state of consummation, Teacher has personally come down to the human world and prepared the best road home for us. The times when the demons run most rampantly are the moments when we elevate the fastest. Take great care and watch the road ahead carefully! Take each step well, my fellow cultivators!
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 5. Some of My Experiences and Lessons Learned in Fa-Study
I know that a lot of practitioners have placed great emphasis on Fa-study. And although Teacher has talked about this matter in several lectures, I think that our effort in this area is not enough. In other words, we have not truly placed enough emphasis on this matter. Since the Fa has different manifestations at different levels, what a person sees before reaching that level may not be the truth; instead, he only sees the manifestations of the Fa that is supposed to be seen at that level. It's the same with Fa-study. Before one's own Fa-study reaches a higher level, he feels that his state of Fa-study is good and proper. Only when one goes beyond this level can one realize that this is not the case.
Here I would like to talk about my experiences and lessons regarding Fa-study over the past few years.
When I first started cultivation practice, my mind often wandered off when I read Falun Dafa books. I often thought about nonsense for quite a while before I would put my mind back on the book. At that time I also paid great attention to the time spent on Fa-study, but I always felt as if I were completing a chore. Moreover, when my eyes were on the book, I often failed to discover that I had misread the words because I was reading the words based on a presumption of the contents that I had in my mind. Afterwards, when I read aloud with other practitioners at Fa-study sites, I felt good at the beginning. But the more we read, the faster the reading-speed became, and I had no impression of the surface meanings in the book after reading. I felt that this was not normal. The normal condition should be at a slow speed -- at least the brain should understand the meaning. When I studied the Fa by myself, I often changed from reading aloud to reading silently. I found reading silently to be not as effective as reading aloud. It was easier to focus on Fa-study when reading aloud. Having studied the Fa like this for a while, I discovered that what I understood of the Fa was quite muddled.
I saw that it was an incorrect state, so I started to memorize the book instead. It was difficult when I first started to memorize it, and it took me a long time to memorize the content of a single paragraph. After memorizing it for a while, I discovered that when the content of a paragraph is linked together as a whole, there are hidden meanings behind it. Moreover, when a paragraph is linked with other paragraphs, there are even more profound things inside, and it is revealed naturally. Actually, there were various attachments that interfered with me in order to stop me from memorizing the book. The most serious situation was that in my mind I felt very lonely. I would feel bad and want to go out for a walk. This kind of thinking tried its best to make me do something else. I was able to remember the Fa easily after I had memorized the book, and this had never been the case beforehand.
After July 20th, 1999, I lost contact with other practitioners, and I did not have access to the Internet. I was completely isolated and due to various forms of interference, I could not calm myself down to study the Fa. It became quite evident that various forms of communication from overseas are so important to practitioners in China.
I have now made up my mind to memorize the book again, and I've improved my method. I now memorize it by reading it slowly: I let my eyes read the words and my mouth voice the words one at a time. With my ears being able to take in the meaning, I try hard to memorize it with my mind. I think that in our daily lives our thoughts are the most polluted. But it is the eyes and ears that transmit the polluted thoughts after they themselves have been polluted. The eyes and ears must also participate. My mind is now a lot clearer than it used to be.
I'm writing this for everyone's reference. Using the method of memorizing the book, we can discover obstacles that we fail to discover when we use other methods to study the Fa. We also have a clear sense of directly participating. Isn't this the Primordial Spirit studying the Fa? Any time we fail to persist in memorizing the book, we'll realize it, and we will be fine as long as we can break through the difficulties.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 6. My Realization Regarding Looking Within
By a Dafa practitioner in China
Teacher points out in lecturing on the Fa that cultivation practice is to cultivate one's heart. When conflicts arise, one needs to look inward and constantly discard attachments. I realize that as a practitioner, looking inward for attachments is as important as our daily bread. We practitioners need to take it as something important that we must do conscientiously everyday. People in ancient times are said to check their conduct three times a day. As practitioners, we should be even more so to make it our daily assignment to look inward to see what attachments we have not yet abandoned.
For the last six months, I paid more attention to looking inward whenever I had some free time (e.g. on the way to and from work) to see if I still had attachments not yet discarded. Because I was conscious of myself looking inward everyday, during Fa study or reading articles in Clearwisdom.net, I was often being reminded of what kind of attachment I had. After I discovered the attachment and discarded it, I experienced the jubilance of the upgrading of my xinxing level, and felt so blessed to be practicing cultivation. It is exactly like what Teacher said:
"Cultivation practice itself is not difficult, and neither is upgrading one's level itself difficult. It is because they cannot give up the human mind that they call it difficult." (Zhuan Falun)
But half a year ago, I did not have that kind of joyful feeling because I did not actively search within myself for attachments on a daily basis. Instead I looked inward only after I encountered some conflict. It was passive, and it was challenging to let go. I experienced the meaning of
"Toiling the body does not count as suffering, Cultivating the heart is most excruciating." (Hongyin)
Later I realized that I should not be this passive all the time and must actively search within. After putting this into practice for half a year, the situation changed radically. There was no pain now as looking within has become part of my daily routine.
"For cultivators at different levels, the Fa has different requirements"("Non-Omission")
I start to realize that even though each practitioner is at a different level, the Fa requires of him to abandon all attachments at that level without omission to meet the requirements of that level. If every practitioner could meet the requirements at his level, there would be no loophole for the evil to exploit. We would be able to save the sentient beings better and fulfill the mission as Dafa disciples.
Around July 20 this year, the evil once again stepped up their persecution of Dafa practitioners. Some practitioners informed me that the evil had already been following me only that they had not yet taken any action, and that I needed to be more careful. During Fa study later, Teacher hinted to me that the evil would not come. I also realized that by having righteous thoughts and actions, abandoning the attachments, and meeting the Fa's requirement at my level, the evil would have no hole to exploit.
Fa-rectification has reached the final stage, every practitioner needs to pay attention to searching within for attachments, and see if we have "cultivated until no attachment left." If tomorrow the Fa rectifies the human world, have we met the standard for consummation? Have we saved all the sentient beings that put their hopes in us? (Even if we still have only one attachment, there will be many lives in our corresponding cosmic body that get eliminated.)
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 7. Back on Track
I live in the Inland Northwest where there are only a few practitioners, and when I can meet with other practitioners I always gain new insights. Master graciously arranged a small gathering of his disciples for a weekend of intensive reading and discussion. I would like to share a few of the insights that were revealed to me in the hope that it may help others.
I found that I had a very large attachment of complacency. For the past several months I figured that as long as I read a lecture a day, did the exercises when possible, and told more people about Falun Dafa and the persecution in China, that would be enough to reach Consummation. I maintained this status quo and began to find more and more excuses to not do the exercises on one day or all of the reading on another. On this special weekend I came to the understanding that I was not obeying some of Master's most fundamental teachings. He tells us "You must be strict with yourself. In cultivation of the Buddha Fa, you should strive forward vigorously." These demons of complacency, laziness, and tiredness must all be eliminated if I am to take that step from human to divine being.
I have since rededicated myself to my cultivation. Now I can see Master urging us on in many of his writings like in the very last line in Zhuan Falun "I hope that after going home everyone will make the best use of his or her time for genuine cultivation practice." Master reminds us again on 15 August 2001 in "Fa-Rectification Period Dafa Disciples," "If during the evil's persecution a Dafa disciple doesn't do well or slacks off, it's very possible all his previous efforts will have been for nothing." I have read these lines many times but never before with as much importance as now.
All of the activities of validating the Fa that I have delayed with the excuses of not having the time or not being in the right place, are now even more important for me to complete. These activities may help other people obtain the Fa, clarify issues for other cultivators, and help eliminate attachments in my own cultivation. It is so important to cultivate and eliminate all attachments as quickly as possible and to be ever vigilant.
The most important thing that I truly began to understand is how fortunate we are to have a predestined relationship with Master. Every one of us who is a Fa-rectification disciple can reach Consummation. If Master did not know this we would not have such a tremendous opportunity.
Thank you for this opportunity to share.
Heshi
(Clearwisdom.net)
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- 8. What is Behind the Inability to be Tolerant
Written by a Practitioner in China
ATeacher keeps telling us in recent lectures that we have to be tolerant and compassionate, but sometimes I still fail to do well. I summarized the reasons why I fail to be tolerant, and I found that when practitioners that are generally thought to cultivate well don't behave well in certain aspects (maybe it is just my subjective notion), I was not able to be genuinely tolerant to them, especially when it was related to me. Though it appeared to be nothing on the surface, my heart was indeed moved: How could I behave like that? I really should do better! Teacher said,
"Some students show their attachments, but some students don't, they keep them inside and they are incredibly attached." (Explaining the Fa During 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
When I dig to the root, I find that this is a manifestation of my attachments of jealousy and selfishness. When I point out the problem to other practitioners, I feel I am responsible for them and trying to help, but in fact there are already too many impure things mixed into it. The attachment is so deeply hidden that I am not able to feel it from the surface if I don't dig deeply to the root. When I stick to things that I don't want to be touched upon, I react even more strongly. When I noticed this, I started to consciously eliminate it.
When some practitioners show such obvious attachments and don't pay much attention to it after I kindly point it out to them, I would think, "How can you be like that? Master Li has made it so clear, why couldn't you just follow Master's teachings?" Even my words and tone become not so polite and rather intolerant. The reason is that I always use Fa to check others, rather than to check myself. I didn't think why his attachments had been shown to me. Even if I don't have this kind of attachment, do I have other kind of attachments? When I point out other practitioners' attachments, do I really look at issues from their perspectives? Do I speak completely out of compassion and free of any personal notion? Do I use the Fa-principle that I understand at my own level to require others? Master Li said,
"A God isn't affected by anything." (Explaining the Fa During 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Why is my heart always moved?
In addition, every Dafa disciple cultivates under the watch and protection of Teacher's law bodies, and Teacher has said,
"I have no other requirements for you. I have never said that you have to do well in such and such extent. It's always been you yourself handling things." (Explaining the Fa During 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference)
Then what reasons do I have to tell other practitioners what to do? How well have I myself done? Teacher tells us to look inside ourselves. When a problem emerges, how much effort have I spent to look inside myself? How much effort have I spent to check others? Teacher tells us to be tolerant and compassionate. How well have I followed this teaching?
After I experienced some things and fell down several times, I reflected on myself.
To be genuinely tolerant is a natural reflection of one's cultivation realm. Sometimes I didn't do well, but I knew I should act according to Master's requirements in the Fa. I have already been more and more able to see the shining aspects of every practitioner and also feel at ease with my wishes after letting go of various attachments and bad thoughts.
I am a Dafa disciple in Fa-rectification, and Teacher has told us what kind of magnificent honor this is. The important work that we are doing to offer salvation to all sentient beings and the perfection of our own paradises all have high requirements for upgrading our mind states. With the Fa, with the help of fellow practitioners' articles published on Clearwisdom and help from practitioners around me, I realize some of my own deviations and impurities and get the chance to rectify myself. Thank you!
The above are just some understandings of mine. If there is anything inappropriate, fellow practitioners please kindly point it out and rectify me.
(Clearwisdom.net)
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