PureInsight | October 21, 2012
[PureInsight.org] Studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth are the three things that Dafa disciples must do well. Of these three things, only genuinely studying the Fa can fundamentally ensure that one is truly cultivating. “Whatever the case, you must not slack off in your Fa-study, as this is the biggest problem, it’s a fundamental issue,” “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa.” With the encouragement of fellow cultivators, I will share with everyone some Fa principles that I enlightened to during the process of true cultivation and as a result of my recent increase in Fa-study.
Using the truth in Fa-rectification to pass the ordeal of life and death
Master started mentioning other dimensions from Lecture 2 of Zhuan Falun, which says: “Sakyamuni also spoke of the theory of three thousand worlds. He stated that, in our universe and our Milky Way, there are three thousand planets with living beings that have physical bodies like our human race. He also stated that there were three thousand such worlds in a grain of sand.” Master has gone to the trouble to use these same terms time and again during the many Fa lectures. Why does Master place so much emphasis on this principle? According to my own imperfect understanding, the intent is to have us better enlighten to the concept of other dimensions.
One time during a sharing, I heard that a fellow practitioner had employed Master's Fa-principle of a benevolent resolution upon having a “toothache,” using righteous thoughts concentrated at the being in another dimension existing behind the “toothache” of this dimension to explain the truth of Master's Fa-rectification to it. The toothache disappeared immediately. This sharing impacted me greatly and made me enlighten to the boundless principles and massive power of Dafa. Afterwards I also utilized this means and underwent a concrete personal experience, verifying the Fa-principle of clarifying the truth in other dimensions.
Once, when on a business trip I attended a social event and ate seafood. At nighttime, I woke up to find myself feeling nauseous and then began vomiting. I immediately recalled the practitioner's experience with the “toothache” and realized that it was a sign that those lives had come to me for help, and that it was time to clarify the truth of Fa-rectification to them. At that moment, as if facing them and looking at those beings, I compassionately told them from my innermost thoughts, “The entire universe is undergoing Fa-rectification; our Master is rectifying the Fa for the whole universe. Hurry up and seize the opportunity to assimilate with the universe's Dafa; hurry up and search for Dafa in your dimension.” Right after saying this, the vomiting and nausea disappeared into thin air. I realized that they understood the truth of Fa-rectification and that their existences were harmonized. I sincerely felt glad for them.
Some days later, again at nighttime after eating seafood, I suddenly felt incredible discomfort, which became increasingly severe. When doing the sitting meditation, I experienced sudden, unprecedented intense pain in my heart area, which after five minutes expanded to my lungs. After ten minutes, it was as if my internal organs were falling apart.
It was exactly at this critical moment that I once again enlightened to the importance of explaining the truth of Fa-rectification to these beings. With the assistance of Master, I diligently and with grave solemnity clarified to them Master's bringing salvation to all beings and saving the fate of the firmament, level by level, until reaching the human plane and spreading Dafa.
It was about one minute after I had talked to them that a miracle occurred. The torturous, heart-twisting pain dissipated, truly as if nothing had happened. In the time to come, occasionally I would feel mild “pain” in my heart area, but simply by having righteous thoughts and compassionately clarifying the facts of Master's Fa-rectification, in less than half a minute the painful sensation would vanish without a trace.
It was only in hindsight that I realized this was a test of my xinxing in the face of life and death. Were it not for Master's arrangement and groundwork allowing me to immediately utilize the righteous Fa-principle to pass the test, the consequences would have been unthinkable. Being a truly cultivating disciple of the Fa-rectification period, when our bodies encounter discomfort, naturally we cannot think of it as illness. If we only think of it as dissolving karma, it is only an understanding of the Fa within the scope of individual cultivation, and amounts to undervaluing ourselves. In fact, behind that phenomenon of so-called discomfort are precisely the universe's innumerable lives calling out to us for salvation. If we truly place ourselves in the positions of cultivators in the Fa-rectification period, we will be able to save even more sentient beings.
Overcoming the test of family level by level
My husband and I were classmates in high school and knew each other incredibly well. We were both fairly kind, simple people. We got married at the end of 1999. In that year, due to the enormous pressure from family as well as society, I could not help but give up against my will the practice of Falun Dafa, in which I had already cultivated for four years. In this way I effectively lived an ordinary person's life with my husband and mother-in-law for ten years. Our family got along harmoniously.
In 2009, a job change allowed us to move to a place where Falun Dafa could be practiced freely. It was at that time that I became aware of Dafa's spread outside of China and the extreme persecution endured by the practitioners in China, of which I had had no idea previously. Thus, just like a small caged bird freed from its bars, I eagerly consumed the nutrition of Dafa, making haste to compensate for the loss of the last ten years.
As I began to return into the midst of Dafa, I read through all of Master Li’s lectures. Thinking I had fully understood Dafa's inner meaning, I began to clarify the truth to my husband, declaring that I wanted to save him.
Unexpectedly, my husband failed to understand my drastic change in behavior, telling me that even though he recognized “Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance,” he was unsatisfied with my household conduct, even saying that I had changed, that I was getting involved in politics and so on. Whenever I spoke to him about Dafa-related things, he would always become incredibly antagonistic or simply not listen; he even ripped up the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and broke truth-clarification CDs.
I also remember that since 2010, we were constantly bickering, and even when there was no argument on the surface, the atmosphere in the home was always very tense. At the time I also faced pressure resulting from a massive workload. Every day I came home exhausted in body and spirit, and on top of that I had to think about how to deal with him. This always pained me to the point of tears and, and due to not having studied the Fa in depth, I always thought that I had not made any mistakes and that I was saving him, but I didn't know how to look inward. I couldn't find any effective solution and each day felt like a year.
Things continued like this until one day the conflict between the two of us escalated to a certain point. It was only when I heard him abnormally flip out and curse at me, provoking me extremely, that I gradually became aware of my attachment. Around this time the words of a fellow practitioner helped hint at my lack of compassion. Only then did I discover that it was precisely my proud and conceited attitude that was hindering my validating the Fa and saving sentient beings. When I found that my will to save him was impure, I began to actively purge those impurities, and put myself in his shoes, and when I did some things that would make him happy, he even agreed to my taking part in group practice and Fa-study. This can really be considered a major breakthrough.
The second breakthrough occurred this year in March when I went out to do a Shen Yun related project. I came back home to suddenly find that my husband had ruined Master's portrait. I wept sorrowfully, feeling miserable and very sorry towards Master, not knowing what to do. For the next couple of days I was emotionally very depressed, and didn't want to talk to my husband. A fellow practitioner read Master's short article “Digging Out the Roots” to me. Master said, “I don’t emphasize any specific approach; I use various means to expose your deeply-concealed attachments and get rid of them.” This touched me deeply, reaching the bottom of my heart.
At this juncture, I had this one thought; I had to carefully dig out the roots. When I calmed down to truly look within, I indeed slowly found various filthy attachments hidden in my heart, such as arrogance, hatred, a fighting mentality, thinking myself to have been treated unfairly, etc. In the ten plus years of marriage, I always harbored a deeply buried sentiment of dissatisfaction toward my husband, thinking him to be not as good as me in various aspects and unable to match me well. In the past, this mentality was not obvious. But when major changes in my workplace and home occurred, in addition to relearning Dafa, it expanded and became reinforced. Without letting go of this attachment, he would have always misunderstood my cultivating Dafa, not supported it and even fiercely opposed it. It was exactly this mentality of mine that led him to express himself rather antagonistically. I was always grounded in a state of blind attachment and yet never realized it, not knowing to look inward and even used Dafa to cover up my incomparably malevolent heart.
Additionally, with the hinting of fellow practitioners, I enlightened yet one step further that it was Master's arrangement for my husband and I to form familial relations in this Fa-rectification period, it was definitely not a coincidence. He was precisely arranged by Master for my cultivation. His mission was to help me cultivate step by step, to walk correctly my path of cultivation. Before coming down here from heaven, we mutually expressed our wish. In order for my cultivation to reach accomplishment, he sacrificed everything, even confronting lethal danger. Isn't this alone enough to make me recognize my own mission, truly awaken, and wholeheartedly face everything Master has arranged?
After I had cleared up these matters in my head, I found that in my personal field there was formed immediately a heaven-piercing feeling, with an overflowing sort of joyousness. I knew that this joy came from having truly risen in level and the enormous amount of sentient beings gaining salvation.
Afterwards, I again actively put myself in my husband's position and did some things to make him happy; this time, he did not even say anything about my going to the Fa conference. This can be seen as yet another breakthrough.
The third breakthrough came this May while listening to and studying Master's “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching.” Master said, “Beings that have not been rectified by the Fa will, on the other hand, use the principles of the old cosmos to go about things, and use those to evaluate Dafa disciples. They will only feel okay with it when you meet the standards that they acknowledge; only then will they let you progress upwards free of interference; and only then will they think that you are qualified to save them.” I reviewed this portion again and again in my mind, trying to discern its inner meaning.
Gradually, I discovered even deeper aspects of my attachments toward family. I found that in the past I had used various excuses to mask my attachments, such as doing tiring work to support the family, being too busy, under too much stress, with the lazy mentality additionally mixed in, etc. In fact I was just finding excuses for not giving up my attachments. Sometimes I even used my work on Dafa projects as an excuse to neglect my household responsibilities.
But no matter how busy, no matter what kind of things I do, I have the role of a wife and mother in my family. If even in this capacity I can't do well, then the idea of saving sentient beings amounts to just empty words. Originally we had all been living with my mother-in-law. At that time, the household tasks and childcare were mostly taken care of by her. The conflicts were not so apparent back then. Had it not been for us moving, my mother-in-law would have had no way of living together with us, and my aforementioned attachments would not have been unveiled. Finally, step by step, these long-hidden attachments started to reveal themselves.
Upon enlightening to something, we must then act without delay. For the first time in my twelve-year marriage, I spent a whole day from dawn to dusk doing household tasks such as doing grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, and cleaning (carpets, tables, bathrooms); I spent a Saturday doing all kinds of work.
In this way, I continuously worked for two weekends. My husband happily said to me, “Your behavior makes me very satisfied. If you persevere like this, maybe I'll even start to practice Falun Gong.”
This is the greatest test, the test of family that Master arranged for me during my cultivation. Step by step, after increasing my level of Fa-study, truly cultivating, and looking inward, I cultivated to this current state reflected in this sharing.
With a sense of fulfillment, I saw that it was after I had genuinely read and understood Dafa, and after his having seen my changing behavior after having begun to employ the principles, that my husband felt the truth and splendor of Dafa. Even though he has not yet totally come about, I see that I have finally begun to slowly walk correctly the path of my individual cultivation, and have seen hope of sentient beings gaining salvation. But what can ultimately let me advance and elevate is my truly understanding the inner-meaning of Fa and changing myself in a practical sense.
Before, I was always frustrated over never being able to clarify the truth clearly to my family members. The reason is that I had not yet been able to fully understand Master's Fa-principles. Only when I understood Master's Fa-principles and employed them when encountering real-world problems to rectify my behavior did I recognize Dafa's immeasurable power.
Taking Fa study seriously and passing the great test of sleep in three days
Oversleeping was once a great obstacle that hindered my life and cultivation. Before practicing Dafa, I was incredibly prone to sleeping; I would slumber as soon as my head hit the pillow, and could even sleep while standing. In middle school, I was often late because of not being able to get up in the morning. After cultivating Dafa, on the occasions when I was clear-headed, the situation was pretty good. But for much of the time I was still hindered by oversleeping. Many times before I had written down my resolutions in a diary, yet still did not see any substantial effect. Especially having reached the last few months and because of having to deal with all aspects at work, in life, and cultivation, time became particularly tight. I really hoped to resolve this sleep problem and manage my time well.
Just recently, a random opportunity came when I took part in a group Fa-study. The Fa we read that time had me suddenly realize that, having cultivated for many years, I still had never really placed such great importance upon studying the Fa. I had not allotted Fa-study a systematic, scheduled time. Thinking about how people live and work, in order to fulfill some goal one normally plans around a certain systemized time, with a suitable time arranged for tasks every day. Though with my mouth I claimed to value Fa-study and stuck to it every day, I studied less than an hour every day, showing that I obviously did not place enough importance on it.
Finding the crux of the problem, I immediately increased the time devoted to Fa-study. Every day after getting home from work and dealing with household tasks, I would forget everything else and take part in group Fa-study and sharing for at least two hours. In the morning after waking up, I would participate in small group study of Zhuan Falun, one lecture each day, and then go to work.
In this way I was able to persevere a few days. Now I find that in fact that so-called test of sleep that had caused me to waste spirit had become inconsequential, just as if it didn't exist. Now I only sleep three hours a night, and in the mornings I get up miraculously and automatically, without an alarm clock. Also, my work life has become highly organized and energetic. Moreover, I slowly saw hope in balancing work, living and cultivation.
Walking the righteous path of cultivation
There is a sport called mini-golf, played on an18-hole miniature golf course. Each ‘hole’ on the course contains various obstacles preventing the ball from reaching the hole at the end. For example, there may be a round stone wall in the center—the ball must first go up a slope and then travel along a very narrow tunnel in order to get into the hole. Or at the beginning and end, to the left and right of the course, may stand walls in close proximity through which the ball must be aimed. The key to success lies in the initial and terminal strokes. Only when the first strike's power and direction (the starting point) are apt can one ultimately overcome obstacle after obstacle and pass through.
Cultivation is an extremely serious matter. Paths in our cultivation during Fa-rectification and personal cultivation all have Master arranging things for us. Every time upon elevating a level, we must undergo a test before ascending. Passing test after test in cultivation is just like playing mini-golf; we have to walk the path very precisely. Only then can we reach the standard for saving sentient beings.
Master also said before, "I ask every Dafa disciple to do well in walking his own path independently in cultivation, to establish his own mighty virtue, and to have himself truly reach Consummation and become a King who presides over his own domain. How could you not walk your own path, not study the Fa well, and not establish your own righteous thoughts?” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference”)
I came to understand the colossal power of this universe's Dafa that Master imparts to us. But this power only manifests when we take it seriously and attach the greatest importance to it from the bottom of our hearts. Only then will the power of the Fa be allotted to us and ensure that we endlessly continue on the path of righteous cultivation, thus truly bringing the magnificence of Dafa to the human realm.
This is my individual enlightenment. Regarding any questionable portions, may fellow cultivators point them out with compassion.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/111563
