PureInsight | July 8, 2007
[PureInsight.org] After
watching the video clip of the auspicious Udumbara flowers blossoming
in many Buddhist Temples and places in Korea
(http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/gb/2006/09/06/a_50650.html), we could never
imagine that one day we would be able to spot the Udumbara blossoms
right in the middle of the garden of our practice site in Singapore!
In late March this year, a fellow practitioner and I decided to take
the lead to come to this garden to study the Fa, send forth righteous
thoughts, spread the news about Dafa, and do truth-clarification
together with other practitioners. Feeling the necessity to communicate
with the police, we went straight to the police station and told the
officer that we would be starting our practice at this particular site,
a small but centralized garden bustling with passers-by.
We feel the need to step out to validate Dafa even more so now.
Especially after the interaction with many practitioners, I could feel
their sense of pessimism and helplessness in trying to turn the
situation around for Dafa here in Singapore, a feeling of being at a
loss, not knowing what best to do next in order to change the
perception of the everyday people here towards Dafa. Over the years,
the problems and troubles we encountered with the government here have
had a negative impact on the people here, the worst being last year.
This is a tribulation affecting Dafa practitioners here in Singapore as
a whole.
I, too, was caught up in this situation of conflicts, disappointment,
frustration, and went into a state of passiveness. However, this is
exactly what the old forces wanted us to be, entrenching ourselves into
conflicts and, thereafter, a passive state of mind.
Master talks in His Fa about the mutual promotion and inhibition. I
wondered, shouldn't I be clearheaded in suppressing my negative traits
that surfaced in juxtaposition to my positive attributes? Such negative
traits of arrogance and egocentricity are derived from the attachment
to fame and selfish benefits. I did a lot of soul searching, tried to
dig deep into myself to flush out my vanities, my ugliness and
relinquish these attachments. Doing truth clarification is one thing;
but cultivating oneself is the most essential aspect that I should not
overlook. How else can I elevate my realm of thoughts? Suddenly, I
truly realized Dafa's higher requirement of me, even more so now.
Fortunately, I've not forgotten that all my capabilities and wisdom
were given to me by Dafa solely for the use in this Fa rectification
period and solely to use it with rationality and wisdom. I decided to
extricate myself from the old forces' entrapment, a cruel arrangement
for Singapore and the practitioners here. I saw through the old forces'
trick in enticing and trapping us into such a precarious situation in
their cruel arrangement. I want to detach myself from all these now and
move forward to do more truth-clarification work, at the same time
cultivating myself.
Apart from this little practice site, we also started to Hong Fa via
one-to-one clarification at another location once every week. Our
strategy is simple. Before starting our Hong Fa, we went to clarify to
the Chairman of the Resident Committee in charge of the intended Hong
Fa site and the police in charge of that particular precinct. After
communicating with these two bodies, we then started our activity of
Hong Fa via one-to-one clarification. The response was overwhelmingly
good. Many everyday people stopped to watch and inquire about us. Some
complimented that we were very peaceful in our practice and have also
shown their interest in learning our practice. We took photographs of
this Hong Fa and saw many Faluns in the photos. I believe the
practitioners participated in this activity were encouraged by the
manifestation of the Faluns.
Surely the appearance of the Udumbara Blossoms and the Faluns are
clearly Master's encouragement to us. Attached are the photographs of
the Udumbara blossoms and the Faluns at our practice sites. I believe
if we were to do Dafa work with the purest of intention, Master will
always encourage us with instances of such mystical manifestations.
The discovery of the Udumbara blossoms was most amazing. Amongst the
garden's plants and foliage, the Udumbara blossoms have chosen a tiny
stem of a bushy plant that has such tiny, scanty leaves and many lithe,
long stems, helter-skelter all around that gives an impression of
unkemptness. This plant has little red bell-like flowers. The Udumbara
blossoms are so minute and tiny, tinier than this plant many times and
yet it was as if they want us to notice them. There are several garden
paths here. The garden's path is a long path with plants on both sides
and majority of the plants have big or medium size leaves.
It was our fellow practitioner who wanted to discuss something with me,
so I told her, "Let's not discuss here, let's go over there to talk."
So, I led her to the particular spot, unaware that we were about to
discover the mystical Udumbara blossoms in a matter of minutes! Our
fellow practitioner remarked in amazement, wondering how on earth I
could spot such miniature flowers amidst the unkempt, tiny, bushy
plant! I told her that nothing is accidental! It was meant for me to
spot it and meant for me to ponder over this. Thus, I realized that it
was time for me to write this article to all my fellow practitioners,
encouraging them to forge ahead together. Time is of the essence, as
time and tide wait for no man.
The other aspect of this phenomenon worth mentioning would be the
clustering of the flowers together in a bunch. What is the Udumbara
blossoms' message to us? I began to wonder. Is it trying to tell
us that only in cohesiveness and complementing each other well, can we
then do Dafa work successfully and turn the situation around in
Singapore? I believe so. Doing Dafa work is not going through the
motions or doing a procedure, as if we wanted to have flying colors on
our report cards to show to our Master or Dafa dizi all over the world.
It has to come from our innate sincerity and urgency to save the
sentient beings here.
In "Rationality" (Essentials for Further Advancement II),
Master states, "Validate the Fa with rationality, clarify the truth
with wisdom, spread the Fa and save people with mercy - this is
establishing the mighty virtue of an Enlightened Being".
So, let's put all those bad incidents behind us and forge ahead with
sincerity to save the sentient beings here, using rationality and
wisdom obtained from the Fa!
