PureInsight | August 17, 2006
Morning Group Exercise
[PureInsight.org] Taiwan Falun
Dafa Association held a three-day assistants' experience sharing
conference starting from July 7, 2006. Over 200 Taiwan Falun Dafa
assistants attended the conference.
At the conference, the assistants told each other their cultivation
stories. They talked about how to look inside and improve oneself, how
to help each other in cultivation, how to help and coordinate the
activities of practitioners within an area, and how to do the "three
things" well.
Holding group exercise and Fa study is the path that Master has left
for us to cultivate. When practitioners meet at practicing sites, they
can discuss with each other the problems they have encountered and,
together, find a way to settle these problems. But many practitioners
found that during the past years, many group study opportunities are
not well used. A large percentage of Taiwanese practitioners started to
practice Falun Gong after the Chinese Communist Party started to
persecute Falun Gong on July 20, 1999. These practitioners directly
entered the Fa rectification period without going through a personal
cultivation period. So, during group study the practitioners often
talked mostly about their work for Dafa, and rarely mentioned
cultivation issues, such as how to look inward and let go of
attachments.
The conference started with group discussions, during which each attendee had the chance to tell his/her own story.
Many practitioners shared their experiences in handling family
relations. One practitioner said she used to think there would be
little conflict in her family as her husband and kids are all
practitioners. But she found that when conflicts did occur, both she
and her husband always measured the other with Fa, and required the
other party to improve, but both forgot to look inward and measure
their own thoughts with Fa. For example, she said, as they both worked
on many projects for Dafa, none of them were willing to spend more time
on housework. They quarreled over who should cook, and who should do
the laundry or cleaning. She realized later that it was a deeply hidden
selfishness that kept her from considering her husband and kids more.
Then she started to view the whole thing from another perspective: if
she shared more house work, her husband would be free to do more work
for Dafa.
Another practitioner talked about her experience in passing the test of
sickness karma. This practitioner has been clarifying the truth through
phone calls to people in Mainland China. She said her sickness karma
test lasted for one month. During that month she looked inward for her
attachments and she did find many, such as an attachment to hearing
praise, an attachment to watching Korean soap operas, and an attachment
to staying comfortable. These attachments, she said, gave the old
forces opportunities to persecute her. She realized during the test
that the old forces were waiting all the time to drag Dafa
practitioners down. She completely denied the arrangements of the old
forces, and followed only the path Master arranged for her. So, despite
the sickness, she attended group Fa study and practice and passed the
test.
An assistant from Northern Taiwan told the stories of local elderly
practitioners clarifying the truth through the internet. They started
to learn to use computers and the internet step by step. Those who knew
a little bit more would teach to others. It was easier this way because
they knew better than younger people how to teach an elderly person to
operate a computer, and had more patience and understanding. Very soon
these elderly practitioners became a major force in teaching more
practitioners how to use the computer. They even traveled to other
areas to share their experiences and knowledge.
An elderly couple from a mountain area, both over 70 years old, came to
the group practice site and asked to learn how to clarify the truth
through internet. Knowing how urgent it is to clarify the truth and
save the sentient beings, they were very eager to help. The husband
worked hard to learn computer operation, and kept asking questions
until he mastered the skills while the wife learned to make phone calls
to the mainland China to clarify the truth. At the beginning she did
not dare even to hold the phone, but after persistent effort, now she
can explain the truth to Chinese people and even persuade them to quit
the Chinese Communist Party.
Some practitioners expressed the criticism that some assistants are not
nice and considerate enough to elderly practitioners. For example,
during a large group practice to celebrate Master's birthday, an
elderly practitioner heard an assistant telling the camera man to shoot
young practitioners to make the picture look better and more
attractive. This senior practitioner felt hurt, and said to himself,
"Why should we old people come here then? We should not attend such
activities next time."
This topic elicited more discussion on how a careless word from the
assistant may push practitioners away. The assistants reviewed what
Master said in "Clear-headedness", Essentials for Further Advancement,
"It is time to make a few remarks on the current methods of work
employed by assistance center coordinators in different regions. It is
correct to implement the requirements of the Research Society, but you
should mind the way you do it. I often say that if all a person wants
is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest
personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move
the listener to tears. I have not only taught you Dafa, but have also
left you my demeanor. While working, your tone of voice, your
kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person's heart,
whereas commands never could! If others are not convinced deep down
inside but only superficially comply, they will still conduct
themselves according to their own will when no one is around to see
them." They realized that as a cultivator one should always think of
others and consider whether what one says might hurt people's feelings.
They also reminded themselves that, as assistants, they should do
better in communicating with other practitioners.
A practitioner named Chen is a school principal. He said during a group
Fa study and experience sharing conference five years ago, the leader
of a discussion group made the criticism that what Chen had been doing
in his local area was not Fa rectification. Chen was very upset and
left in tears. Since then he had always believed that the coordinator
was wrong, and he himself was right. So he refused to attend any
activities held by the association. Upon notification of such
activities, he would still inform other practitioners, but always
adding, "I'm not going to attend." Under his influence, very few people
in his area would attend those activities. Even if they did attend,
they would separate from other practitioners, wearing their own
traditional costumes, and singing their own songs.
Chen said he had realized that people from the Falun Dafa Association
were not necessarily wrong and that his resentment against them stemmed
only from his own attachment. When he let go of the attachment, he
said, he found those people were not bad guys. Now when the association
organizes activities, Chen always attends and invites other
practitioners in his area to go with him. During the activities, they
no longer separate themselves from others by wearing special costumes
or doing different things.
An assistant from Southern Taiwan also talked about how he improved
himself in cultivation and assisting other practitioners. After he
realized he was not doing well enough in helping practitioners follow
the pace of Fa rectification, he and a couple of other practitioners
traveled to many group practice sites, and talked to those who had
stopped attending group practice or stopped cultivation. The
communications were frank and selfless and brought many practitioners
back to Dafa.
An assistant said that a lot of memories were brought back to her by an
item in the Fa study schedule saying "encourage practitioners to talk
about their own stories and experiences in looking inward and improving
in cultivation." It reminded her that it had been a long time since she
last had such talks with other practitioners. This conference, she
said, brought her back to the days before the persecution when
practitioners often shared their cultivation experiences with each
other and benefited from such sharing.
Another assistant's story was also moving. In the practice site in his
area, there used to be scores of regular attendees. But, gradually, the
number of attendees declined and was eventually reduced to fewer than
ten people. He thought that was not right, so one day he found the
practitioners and told them his story: he used to think it was unfair
that he alone carried the tape player to the practice site every day
and so he got sluggish. One morning he arrived at the site late. When
he approached the site, he saw someone was already there practicing.
When he went near, he found it was Master's law body that was
practicing. He was deeply touched and tears blinded his eyes. When he
wiped his tears and looked again, Master's law body had disappeared.
Since that day, he was never late for practice, because he realized
Master is watching over every practice site. Hearing his story, the
practitioners were also moved. They resumed the group practice. Now
over 30 practitioners regularly practice at that site.
After two days small group discussions, all the practitioners got together for a large experience sharing conference.
During the conference, an assistant gave a speech about her experience
in passing the sickness karma test. When the test happened, she tried
to find what was wrong with her thoughts. One day she thought about how
she had been using the funds practitioners had donated for truth
clarification. Once when she printed fliers for an activity, she got
the title of a guest wrong. After a practitioner pointed it out, she
decided to re-print with her own money. She realized the way she
treated the matter was not that of a real cultivator. Her decision was
based on the sense of obligation of an ordinary person. She could have
corrected the mistake on the fliers by taping the correction over it so
that there would be no need to reprint. But she decided to reprint the
whole thing thinking that she could do whatever she wanted with her own
money, not realizing that she should not waste any little bit of
resource for Dafa. When she realized her fault, she found that her
tumor had started to bleed, and totally disappeared the next day.
Another practitioner reminded everyone that the attachment to political
parties is not a problem just for those who have such an attachment. He
viewed it as a problem for all practitioners as a whole. He suggested
that to let go this attachment together, practitioners should look
inward all the time and get rid of their own attachments. He reminded
practitioners that only when practitioners all have a benevolent heart
and clarify the truth to sentient beings can they fulfill Master's
expectation.
The three-day conference gave the practitioners a chance to bravely
speak out their thoughts and experiences, and look inward for their own
shortcomings. The assistants who attended the conference benefited a
lot from the experience sharing, and know better how to be a
responsible assistant, and how to help create a more stable cultivation
environment.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2006/7/12/38518.html
