PureInsight | November 18, 2002
Cultivating Falun Dafa is truly a process of reconstructing one's life.
Prior to practicing in Falun Dafa, every year I would travel to Taoist temples located in the famous mountains around my hometown. Often, I would meet the people that lived in the temples, to find that they had left their families to become monks so they could spend their lifetime cultivating in the mountains. Whenever I encountered this, an indescribable feeling of sadness mixed with loneliness and a little confusion would well-up in my mind. Isn't reading ancient scriptures under an oil lamp an honorable way to spend one's lifetime? Some people, such as the monks, keep themselves aloof from worldly affairs, while others are motivated by their sentiments and strive for profit and gain from their everyday lives. Does the true meaning of life lie in the end of one's time in this mortal world, or the freeing of oneself from worldly worries through studying the classical scriptures? I would then wonder where my spiritual home was.
After obtaining the Fa, I came to understood that, on a very deep level, I longed to return to my original self and this is why I could not get rid of the feelings of profound sadness and loss that I had experienced for so many years. Shortly after obtaining the Fa, I looked like a completely different person, and fulfillment and happiness accompanied me constantly. I knew that the process of reconstructing my life had just begun, as well as my spiritual journey home.
I listened to Master's lecture in Switzerland in 1998. When Master mentioned that modern science was a religion, I felt that my whole thought process, based on empiricism, were greatly challenged. I had already been practicing Dafa for several years at that time, but my deeply rooted ingrained human notions had not been completely eliminated. But, I felt that my postnatally acquired framework of human thinking was collapsing. This was a painful process; however I knew that this was a process that had to be done. During this period of time, although I lived my life and studied as usual, I often felt that I was standing at the verge of a universe that was only half complete and going even one step further would mean unfathomable emptiness. I often felt that my body and mind were at overhanging precipices and steep cliffs. When I was walking, the earth under my feet seemed unreal. This state lasted for a period of time. When I again felt completeness deep in my heart, I knew that I had broken through this barrier. A new framework of thinking began to be established in my life.
Yet later, I realized that my ways of thinking were quite different from before. More thoughts came from an instant response rather than from reasoning. More and more I am at the state where my mind is tranquil without any thoughts, random thoughts no longer enter into my mind, and my heart is no longer moved by words. I know that the old me has been reconstructed. I am a Dafa cultivator who is embracing the new characteristics of my being.
I came to understand that my experience is part of a metabolic process, that my new cosmos replacing the old one. The human body, as Master Li tells us, is a small cosmos, and worldviews established on the basis of modern science represent the makeup of our cosmos. All these must be replaced by views of a new cosmos that is being cultivated in Dafa. Nevertheless, all human notions, personalities, and characteristics also represent the characteristics of the old cosmos. Likewise, they all need to be eliminated during Dafa cultivation because Dafa would give the new cosmos completely new characteristics and meanings. We are in transition from leaving the old cosmos behind and advancing to the new one, and are thus gradually returning to our original natures. Dafa disciples are involved in Fa-rectification and sending righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil. These are all unprecedented events in the history of the world, making the cosmos that our Dafa disciples possess genuinely all-encompassing and eternal.
Never has anything like this happened before, nor will it ever happen again in the future. Dafa remakes, reshapes and renews its disciples in the Fa-rectification era. We are new beings, reconstructed by this cosmic Dafa. Our mighty Master, and he alone, is the one who makes all of this possible. We will be the eternal guardians of the colossal firmament. We need to be worthy of this great name.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/7/18/16854.html
