PureInsight | August 6, 2006
[PureInsight.org] (Washington, D.C. Fa Conference, 2006)
It is Master's coming and His Fa Rectification for which all beings
have wished. In "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles, 2006,"
Master said: "The Fa-rectification is rectifying all beings in the
cosmos and doing everything possible to save all of the original things
that were left here by gods. ... The Great Law that I am imparting is
the fundamental Great Law of the Cosmos that encompasses all." "Dafa
disciples, you are golden light in the mortal world, the hope of the
world's people, Fa-disciples who help Master, and future Fa-Kings. Keep
diligent, Awakened Ones that walk the earth: Everything of today will
be the glory of the future." ("Dec. 31, 2005 Congratulatory Message")
And so it has been in this context that we cultivate Falun Dafa, as Fa
Rectification Period Dafa Disciples.
Falun Dafa is a great way without form and people can cultivate in any
role in society. I am a doctoral student in law. Since beginning these
studies, I have struggled with the time commitment and level of
difficulty, and often used to think about discontinuing. However, after
taking a semester off to think about it, I returned because, as a
cultivator, whatever we are attached to or find difficult is what we
need to face, with dignity and righteous thoughts. Moreover, in
"Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles, 2006," Master said: "Dafa
disciples' cultivating in the diverse occupations is acknowledging the
beings in those systems, and it is saving all those lives."
In Zhuan Falun,
Master stated: "[T]he entire cultivation process for a practitioner is
one of constantly giving up human attachments. In ordinary human
society, people compete with, deceive and harm each other for a little
personal gain. All of these mentalities must be given up. Especially
for people who are studying the practice today, these mentalities
should be given up even further." There were several noble reasons why
I chose law school, and then there were some other reasons - the "other
reasons" being to walk a most gloriously difficult and important path.
Well, after all, we are humans cultivating to godhood, not gods
cultivating to godhood. Master graciously arranged systematic tests for
me at school to let go of these attachments to personal gain,
especially to superiority, reputation, wanting things, competition and
also the feelings of stress, anxiety, unhappiness and grievances. I
have also had numerous occasions to clarify the truth to high-level
government officials and other VIPs from the U.S. and other countries.
In addition to being responsible to their work and studies, family and
social activities, practitioners also have a duty to clarify the truth
and awaken more beings to Dafa. The large-scale Dafa projects, such as
our Chinese New Year Spectacular, require many practitioners' help, and
they have the ability to reach and save people far and wide. The
Spectacular, our highest-caliber arts performance, gives millions of
people, through watching the show, an opportunity to purify and awaken
their hearts to the goodness of the Fa.
However, such a group effort requires much more than simply personal
cultivation to reach the goal of saving as many beings as possible - it
also requires one-body cooperation and coordination.
Last year I danced in the Gala. Various problems surfaced in the dance group. For example, out of qing
among the choreographers and dancers, some of the inexperienced,
amateur dancers were given solos and our most professional dancer was
not being used well enough in the dance programs. It seemed that many
of the amateur dancers had the main roles on the stage, and they were
not willing to step down, even if it meant that more-experienced
dancers would take their place, and improve the quality of the dancing.
Often I was required to attend practice, which was five hours away by
bus, but my part was often that of an understudy if I had a part at
all. I concentrated on trying to eliminate the attachments to emotions
and wanting things for myself, and increased righteous thoughts for the
success of the show. However, even as I let them go, I felt the
situation was still not right because our most professional dancers
were not being used well enough and it seemed that many dancers had not
been taking steps to correct their shortcomings in this area. After the
Gala, I shared some thoughts with the coordinators on how to improve
for the next year's Gala, but I left it at that - I could not figure
out what more I could do. I felt hopeless in fixing a problem that I
realized was much larger than my own sphere of personal cultivation.
In "Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West
Fa Conference," Master said: "[Y]ou might think, "If I really cultivate
well in this regard, if I'm really not affected by emotion, I'll be
just like a big rock." No, it's not like that at all - cultivators are
compassionate."
Recently I joined the Tian Yin Orchestra, which is preparing to
accompany the dances in the 2007 Spectacular. Similar to my experience
with dancing the year before, although this was a group effort, I was
mainly concerned about things relating to my own cultivation - feeling
a sense of satisfaction when I overcame many difficulties and upgraded
my xinxing in order to make
it possible to participate in the practices. And similar to the year
before, a situation arose that could not be fixed merely by my personal
cultivation. During the first several practices, I sat at the back of
my section, but could hear clearly that there was someone at the front
who was playing wrong notes with the wrong rhythm quite loudly.
However, nobody seemed to correct her and just let her play on.
To compensate I began playing very loudly at the back of the section,
without regard for the volume marking in the music. So our section was
very loud and sloppy sounding. A practitioner listened to the orchestra
play a song and then commented afterwards that we need to all
completely let go of ego and build one
sound, pure and full of Dafa's energy. Her words penetrated my heart
and I saw clearly that my approach of fixing the problem by competing
was flawed. I quickly corrected my mistake and let go of ego. I began
to play the music with the volume and style that it was meant to be
played in, and simultaneously strained my ears to hear the melody that
the other members of the orchestra were playing so as to best harmonize
with them. However, I was still slightly puzzled as to what to make of
that player who was still playing loudly and wrongly and whether it was
affecting our one-body sound.
That afternoon, we were told that the orchestra might not be able to
perform at the upcoming Spectacular if we could not pull up the quality
of our sound to meet a professional level. I was confused and looked
inside as to why we were not making steady progress when I felt that I
was improving my own xinxing
constantly, and then it struck me - this was a whole-body effort
requiring the whole body's cultivation, and I needed to be concerned
about this.
In his lecture in Boston in 2002, Master said: "[A] Dafa disciple
should consider others first in everything he does. If all of you can
do this, there won't be any of that stubborn arguing in your validating
the Fa; ... I think you'll be able to handle a lot of things well. ...
So as a Dafa disciple, you should try your best to restrain those
everyday people's attachments ... and try your best, in all
environments and with everything that happens, to conduct yourself in
an open and dignified manner, to be tolerant and broad-minded, to be
able to understand others, and to be able to consider all perspectives.
... Acting this way is not compromising!"
Over the next week or two, I thought of various ways to improve the
orchestra, and shared the suggestions with the other members. I thought
about the various strengths of the players in my section and the weak
points that needed improvement. Other members also shared their
understandings on the importance of our Spectaculars and the orchestra
in saving beings, that we should increase our group Fa study during
practice and add a group exercise practice after lunch. Since we were
going to miss the D.C. Fa Conference to attend orchestra practice, so
as to give our best to be up to performance quality by the time of the
Spectacular, someone suggested that the orchestra hold a mini Fa
conference at the same time since Master told us the importance of Fa
conferences for our cultivation. And the orchestra coordinators set a
schedule for sections to improve their musical technique. Some members
shared opinions that I did not agree with, that were spoken in an
absolute manner. However, I thought about what they shared and felt
that I should treat it with respect because it was their opinion and it
might be very relevant to certain members. I felt the field of the
orchestra was completely different - it was a cultivation environment
with the mission of saving beings with the pure and powerful energy
carried in the music. And I completely stopped worrying about that loud
player up front, because I knew we were all improving and that we would
all do our best.
At the next practice, I was asked to partner with that player who was
quite loud. She asked me to standardize the markings for our section,
including the volume - a completely supernormal occurrence.
What I learned from this experience in the orchestra is that group
projects are a one-body effort, and require focusing on our mission,
our improvement, and eliminating all personal attachments that hinder
our progress and the salvation of all beings. When I truly care about
others' improvement in cultivation and the saving of beings first and
foremost, in fact this is also what it means to cultivate and treasure
myself. In the article "Perfect Harmony" in Essentials for Further Advancement, Master says: "a complete sacrifice is a higher principle of non-omission."
Sometimes the orchestra accompanies the dancers in practice, and as I
look at the youthful and carefree dancers, I smile. I smile to
encourage them to take more responsibility on themselves to do Fa
Rectification Period Dafa Disciples' things because it is best when
everyone succeeds in cultivation. In Zhuan Falun,
Master writes: "All of what I have addressed in the lectures is for
guiding everyone to practice cultivation toward high levels. ... It is
primarily intended to enable everyone to truly obtain the Fa in the
future and ascend through cultivation practice - this is my intention."
And as long as we put priority on Fa study and keep our hearts open, we
will continually improve.
When I look seriously at myself, I find that there are always things to
improve. I am still unclear about all the ways that a true being should
behave and I still feel tied down by human thoughts in some ways I
cannot completely pinpoint. So I hope we can together improve, quickly,
in this moment, as we have been bestowed with a great mission of
cultivating alongside the Fa Rectification. I hope we can do better
together to let go of all final attachments, truly care for one
another, save all beings and forever honor our Great Master. That's the
extent of my understanding currently. The ceiling for our enlightening,
ability to save beings and becoming truly worthy beings is nonexistent,
but the time is limited. Let's seize each moment.
I would like to end with an excerpt from Master's poem, "Saving the
World:" "Righteous thoughts rescue the people of the world | I do not
believe conscience, when called, will not return"
