PureInsight | July 4, 2005
[PureInsight.org] A young Falun Gong practitioner in our group has a lot of fear and negative perceptions of grownups because he grew up in a very negative, abusive environment. He once told us, "I have decided to improve my cultivation state. I don't want to live in a dark, solitary world or think negatively about everyone any more. At first, I attended the group Fa study regularly to step out of darkness. The group Fa study provides an important opportunity for me to interact with other Falun Gong practitioners."
Because of the effect of his past education, at the beginning he was very negative, confrontational and verbally abusive during the cultivation experience sharing session following each group Fa study. [Note: people with fear usually attack as a defense mechanism.] He brought a lot of negativity to our environment and made himself unwelcome to some individual practitioners, but fortunately he did not become withdrawn again. Despite his negative behavior, the practitioners at the group Fa study would search inward after each conflict eventually. Everyone would eventually follow the Fa, overcome the mental tribulation and thus upgrade his respective cultivation level.
The young practitioner told us that, when he skipped group Fa study, his cultivation state would deteriorate. He would sneak out of work, play video games or waste his time on other meaningless things. When he attends the group Fa study on the regular basis, he leads a more meaningful life. When he skips a group Fa study, he loses discipline and self-control.
After having attended the group Fa study for a period of time, he has gradually reduced his fear of grownup Falun Gong practitioners. At first, he kept picking on other practitioners. For example, he would count heads and check which practitioners were absent from the group Fa study this time. After having many conflicts with fellow practitioners in the Falun Gong club at school, he saw disparities between practitioners and realized the importance of personal cultivation. Next he wanted to be diligent in his personal cultivation because he felt fellow practitioners looked down at him as a terrible cultivator. He made up his mind to become a good cultivator to win other practitioners' respect. Lately he experienced a few incidents at work and realized that he had been very passive in his personal cultivation practice for a very long time. In other words, in the past he would strive to cultivate better only when he felt he was falling behind or when he felt fellow practitioners looked down on him. He confessed that he had wanted to cultivate for all kinds of wrong reasons because he did not truly understanding the meaning of cultivation.
His story truly illustrates the importance of group Fa study regardless of its size. Group Fa study is an important form of cultivation that Teacher has given us. The environment of the group Fa study is truly forging each and every cultivator.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2004/7/7/28033.html
