Purity

[PureInsight.org] (Geneva Fahui 2006) I would like to share my experiences regarding the special circumstances of the January 2006 New York NTD-TV New Year's Gala.



At the same time I would like to thank our Teacher for this
immeasurable precious gift, which let me understand more clearly my
mission during this time period!



When I first read "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005", one part of this lecture really made me think.



"Then how many paths are there in the cosmos that can enable a life to
ascend, to return to a higher realm? There are countless ways. However
many sentient beings there are, that's how many paths there are. There
are that many. Then just how many paths are there? They, too, are
countless. You know that Buddha Shakyamuni validated and enlightened to
his cultivation discipline, which is summarized by the words "precept,
concentration, wisdom"; that's the path Shakyamuni validated and
enlightened to. There are so many Buddhas in the cosmic body, they are
simply immeasurable, incalculable, yet in the cosmos there is no second
Buddha whose validation and enlightenment consisted of "precept,
concentration, wisdom." In other words, every god has his own path, and
each god's system has for its sentient beings its own realm's unique
standards and its own criteria based on its Law for a life's rise or
fall. Then wouldn't you say there are many approaches to cultivation?
The number is enormous."



I thought to myself: If that's the case, then I also leave behind my
own path of cultivating within the Fa. At the time of Fa-Rectification,
then I as a Dafa disciple also validate principles through my own
understanding,  but unfortunately I couldn't come up with anything I
had specifically enlightened to. I think this thought certainly had
something human to it, because I can't see my whole state in the other
dimensions but after all, here, too, we are still within the three
realms. Nevertheless this thought motivated me to cultivate myself
better, to consolidate my own cultivation path more clearly. After a
while, however, I forgot about this and stopped thinking about it,
just like a short flash of thought.



A few weeks later I came to New York with the "Coming for You" European
choir to contribute to the NTD-TV New Year's Gala . I experienced the
whole trip as a journey with constantly rising requirements for us
cultivators. At the same time I got a more and more intense feeling and
I increasingly felt like a true human being, a true cultivator.



A practitioner from Austria and I planned a sightseeing tour and
shopping for the beginning of our trip, so I could tell the people at
home about New York and bring back some souvenirs. While doing this,
something strange happened: I felt very weak, tired, and on top of that
I felt like standing next to myself. Even the fellow practitioner
mentioned to me, that I usually act determined and straightforward but
here I was suddenly missing the capability to make a decision or make
up my mind about something.



The skyscrapers also made me think. I continuously thought about how
unnaturally cold the dreadful wind was blowing through the sharp edges
of these buildings. Although, from a human perspective, those buildings
also fascinated me. I quickly recognized that doing sightseeing wasn't
the purpose of the trip at all. I immediately felt like a different
person. My fatigue disappeared and I was motivated and happy, that I
was done with sightseeing.



The first day of the choir training was very hard for me. There were
just a few chairs in the hall where we practiced. Most of us had to sit
on the floor- me too. This situation has always been a test for my
endurance. It made my body tired, especially my legs. It also made it
difficult to sit in lotus position to send forth righteous thoughts. On
top of that a fellow practitioner suggested to the conductor team to
SFRT more often. The decision was made to SFRT every hour. From my
human perspective at that time I thought how he could have suggested
that…However very quickly, thanks to Master, my understanding changed.
Now I thought, at this unique and historical predestined opportunity,
how could we not SFRTs every hour and assimilate as much as possible to
the standard of Dafa. Now I could treat myself as a practitioner.



From that point on I entered a new realm. While SFRT I frequently saw
scenes in other dimension. I saw a very anxious thing, which I can
describe only as resembling a horse from behind, without a tail and
without a head, just very slippery. In a kind of rhythm it crashed into
one side of its small stable. I felt the incredible force it had. An
extreme uneasiness has been what I myself felt for the last couple of
days. Judging from its movements, I thought it must be the demon of
lust in me. So I fought it with knives and other things. I noticed this
didn't make a difference at all. It just kept going on with its
rampage. Then I thought I shouldn't let this affect me and just calmly
keep SFRT.



Hours went by, the choir trained hard and we constantly cultivated
ourselves. My legs were getting more and more tired and hurt a lot. I
felt my mental state improving every hour. It was like taking off a big
jacket of karma.



While once again SFRT I had another insight regarding this being. I
suddenly realized, I shouldn't try to quickly solve this problem on the
outside. I should rather detect the principle behind it. When I have
attachments, then in the other dimension I'm connected to the
substances that compose this attachment. At that moment I am identical
to their structure of particles and therefore they can attach to me.
They feed off my bad thoughts and I have their characteristics in me.
Then I saw this scene very clearly: That being wasn't the demon of
lust. This being was the manifestation of my human instinct of self
preservation, a human prehistoric instinct, a part of my human flesh
body, which, at that time, was controlled by the demon of lust.



I came to this conclusion, because I wasn't able to eliminate this
being before and it didn't seem to care that I fought it. I realized
that my own supernormal abilities can't do any damage to myself,
therefore it survived the knives and bombs. In other words: Gong is an
intelligent substance. If this being is a part of me, a part of my own
cosmos, then it's impossible to eliminate a part of it (this instinct).
It just works when, as a cultivator, one cuts it off from everything
controlling it from the outside and then keeps this being under control
with a strong main consciousness. Everything became clear to me. If a
person, enveloped in lust and all the other desires of this world, lets
this drive just control himself, then, in another dimension, it looks
like this dull being, in its incredibly anxious fashion, crashes
against the wall of its stable. With my insight to treat this as a
cultivator from now on, immediately the situation was easy to handle.
In this scene I took a pair of scissors and just cut off the demon of
lust from this human instinct, the instinct of self preservation. The
demon of lust flew away and the being immediately became quiet and
rested on the floor, acting very calm and tamed. Given this incidence,
I made an enormous step in improving my inner peace, and coming closer
to the desired purity.



That day was instrumental in opening a deeper understanding and solemn
heart towards this historical task with the choir. How could I not hold
this situation in high regard, try my best to walk this magnificent
path? I feel more and more the deepest gratitude towards Master and the
enormous trust he has put in his disciples.



I felt that Master raises me from one level to the next with the
fastest speed, gives me the chance to understand everything extremely
fast, and points out my deficiencies, so I can discard my thick karma
jacket of the most microscopic levels during this life and can play my
part in the splendid performances.



The following evening I diligently read "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting
on Writing Music" in 2003 with members of the New York orchestra before
rehearsal. There, I found the matter that was the key to my mission as
a musically talented Dafa disciple.



"Because any person in this world, however great his abilities, however
great his natural gifts, if you were to ask him to walk a path that is
pure and clean, he couldn't. Merely having superb technique or mastery
of a skill doesn't do it. Dafa disciples have become very pure in the
purifying process of cultivating themselves and validating the Fa, and
their realms of mind, or the ways they look at things, are different
[from ordinary people]. And that is why you are able to do it, why you
are able to truly steer the "modern" people onto a path that's truly
for humans, so you can make such a difference and lay such a foundation
for mankind."



All the thoughts I held fast to for years became nothing in comparison
to this realization. It is the "Purity" that differentiates the secular
world from us practitioners. "Purity" is the most valuable attribute
that helps me fulfill my duty. I often thought to myself, "Can I really
achieve what will be left for hundreds of generations and what will be
an exemplar for humans for an endless time. That is the key! Besides
the tremendous improvement in my technical abilities and composition
methods I have to bring my lifestyle into conformity with that of a
Dafa disciple. If I cannot achieve this, everything will come to
nothing.



It was as if I understood "Purity" as the fundamental principle and
that this was meant to be one of my own principles that would bring me
along on my path to godhood. I could see at different levels and
through different situations that "Purity" is the key.



In one instance it was the "Purity" in relationship to composing. In
another instance it showed the role "Purity" plaid in holding righteous
thoughts. For me, the sentence, "…and think about eliminating bad
thoughts, thought karma, and bad notions or external interferences. One
just thinks that they are dying, and they will be eliminated," relates
to the desire to achieve purity. This should become the permanent state
of a Dafa disciple. I think that one is unable to send righteous
thoughts without purifying one's body.



Purity contains: complete emptiness, being calm like a still pond, Ding
is absolute concentration, being free of all attachments, bad notions
and external beings and interferences.



During the first day of our performance, I had an experience regarding
"purity." I never experienced anything like this before. Already the
entire day, I prepared myself for the sacred moment of the performance.
I again saw a scene, wherein there was a celestial body with three
single stars, something like a triangle. The first star of this
triangle was somehow swollen or gleaming light reddish in colour. This
symbolized for me the redemption of the predestined relationship of
this first performance. We now have reached this time and I will act as
righteous as possible. According to my current understanding, I will
fulfill my mission. I was able to keep a state of extreme concentration
and during the entire afternoon was able to focus on the choir as the
only priority.



Shortly before our performance a situation occurred which was extremely
shattering for me. Master helped me to recognize a deeply rooted
attachment of mine. The conductor team informed us that part of the
choir would represent the choir at the end of the Gala. This statement
made my heart rate increase from about 50 beats per minute to 120. It
pumped very hard and felt very painful. Because at this very moment I
saw the mirror, which Master had put in front of my eyes. How could
such a minor matter throw me off? I thought it had to be the attachment
of greed, because I am a professional musician and therefore I can
represent the choir better than other singers can. I tried to calm down
by thinking: If they need me then it is my destiny and I should not
pursue it and follow the natural course. This calmed me down a little
but not entirely. While I was still hoping that they would call my
name, I already felt thoroughly ashamed. The ten singers were then
chosen. They only chose women because there were already enough men on
the stage and therefore they only needed women from the choir. Besides,
they were not supposed to sing anyway but only be present on the stage
with everyone else during the grand finale.



Only then did my pulse begin to return to normal and I recognized how
strong this attachment still was within me. I sincerely asked Master
for forgiveness and asked him if he could help me to get rid of this
attachment. I tried to return to the golden state of purity while I
stopped accusing myself of my attachments. I finally tried to get rid
of it and it worked with Master's help.



With this additional cleansing from Master, I felt unbelievably light
and pure. I then stood in line with the group while we were waiting for
our performance. While we had to wait about 20 minutes in front of the
stage elevator, I assumed the Jieyin-Position. I never before in my
live felt this calmness, just this "purity." A gift and at the same
time a foundation stone for new standards.



Then it was time for the performance. I have been in many performances
and yet never experienced such a degree of concentration. It appeared
as though I could tell the audience about Dafa and the truth about the
persecution with my eyes and my voice. I was full of energy and had
permanent Goosebumps, a truly elevated moment. A fellow practitioner
described it as: "We shook the world of the ten heavenly directions." I
agreed and thought that this was a very accurate statement.



I recognized that exactly this "purity" makes all this possible and for
practitioners, this should always be the basis for all activities.
After we learned that Master was in the audience that day, I became
even more aware why everything had been so intense.



The next day, number two star followed in a scene. The second star was
swollen and gleaming. According to my feeling, this performance was not
as powerful. Yet it was felt by others that it was even better than the
evening before.



Nevertheless, I was not satisfied and wanted to concentrate again on my
"shiny state of purity," especially since I thought that Master was
just showing me the standard and now had to protect it in every
situation. In addition, the thought that Master is with us every moment
gave me strength. The third performance for me felt similar to the
first one. I again could feel this sacredness, this supernatural power
of the choir.



I thank Master for the numerous chances he gave me. For the many
opportunities to recognize things, for the chance to stand up again and
for the possibility to truly cultivate myself in Dafa towards Godhood.
I no longer want to disappoint you but to continue on my path without
slacking off until the very end.



Revered Master, I will always be eternally grateful for this time. Greetings to you!