PureInsight | January 28, 2013
[PureInsight.org] I experience different feelings every time I watch Shen Yun. Before, I thought that performing the many ethnic dances, classical Chinese dance, and acting out the historical legends equated to presenting traditional Chinese culture and letting people understand and have a positive view about practitioners and traditional Chinese culture. Today I have a new understanding that this is also part of the Fa. Through the form of those cultures, we should lead people to create a new culture of the future. Every movement and posture of Shen Yun performers has deep meaning in it. Every performance is beautiful to the extreme, such that the group as a whole is beautiful and the individuals are also beautiful. Isn’t this the requirement of Master for practitioners?
For a long time, I separated personal life and cultivation and felt that I was improving slowly. I could not find the root of my problem. I was very busy; I did not only have to take care of Fa study, sending forth righteous thoughts (SFRT), and truth-clarification material making, but I also had to work, study, prepare for exams, go to different places, and balance well relations with other people. My heart was very tired. Today, after watching the Shen Yun performance, I suddenly realised: I have never done well at balancing things between cultivation and my work in ordinary society!
I found that I was always separating everyday people’s affairs and Dafa things. My usual behaviour was similar to that of ordinary people in the sense that I shopped online without limit, I chatted with friends without any restraint, I was not focused enough when studying, and I only thought about making money when I was working. When it was time to study the Fa, I would do it as if I was reading the textbooks of ordinary people; I did not compare myself with the Fa after reading and I always thought that since I read the book, it was counted as studying the Fa. Next, I would SFRT, then make truth-clarification materials or go out to send messages. It seemed that living like this was pretty substantial, but I felt uneasy in my heart. I felt as though I was always doing things, but that I was not in the Fa. In fact this is very dangerous!
Master said: “Dafa disciples are cultivating in this period, and the responsibilities they shoulder are that numerous and weighty. Now you have heard this clearly and realized it—so that is the purpose of man’s existence and the cultivation state that Dafa disciples have. You should thus be clearer than ever about the format of cultivating in this world, for only this is cultivation, and only this is truly the cultivation arranged for the lives within the Three Realms. Everything that appeared in the past was for the purpose of establishing a culture for mankind, whereas this is the final starting point by which human beings are to truly re-ascend, and that is why the requirements for the cultivators who are doing this cultivation are different. The three things that Master has taught you in the Fa to do well seem simple, but [things such as] whether you are diligent and the Attainment Status you will achieve are linked to it. Dafa has been established in human society, and your form of cultivation has you conform to ordinary society to the maximum extent. Many people think it’s about being lenient with and making things convenient for our cultivation, but diligent students don’t see it that way. It is, rather, the path that Dafa disciples must take as they cultivate. So everything that you do, be it your balancing well your family relationships while you live among ordinary people, balancing well your relationships in society, how you perform at your workplace, how you conduct yourself in society, etc., none of these are things you can just go through the motions on. All of these are part of your cultivation format, and are serious matters.”
“Many students understand only that doing the exercises and studying the Fa are cultivation. Yes, with those you directly engage the Fa. But as you go about truly cultivating yourself in your day-to-day life, the society that you come into contact with is your cultivation environment. The work and family environments that you spend time in are both settings in which you are to cultivate yourselves, are part of the path you must walk, are what you must handle, and handle correctly at that. None of these should be glossed over. When you have made it to the end, [a question would be]: How did you travel the path that Master arranged for you? When all is said and done, these things have to be taken into account. And in the course of your cultivation these things have to be looked at, too. So you shouldn’t neglect anything. As far as convenience goes, [in Dafa] a person can cultivate without having to enter a monastery, go to a secluded mountain, or leave the secular world. But from another perspective, all of this adds a layer of difficulty: If you are to make it through, you have to do well with things such as all of the above, and do well in every aspect of your life” (“Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006.”)
If I don’t have a lot of ‘humanness’ while doing everything, it is actually quicker for me to finish what I’m doing, and the quality will be very good as well. Take work as an example. If I don’t think about how much money I can make, what other people’s views of me are, and how much time I should spend in order to not lose money, my mindset while working is actually quite simple. I just do my best to follow the requirements of the company and substantially finish my work without thinking about anything else. When I am in this state, I am in the Fa and selfless, my wisdom comes from the Fa and my efficiency improves a lot. Also, take studying and sitting exams for example; I spent some time looking for shortcuts or knacks for studying. I would analyze data to consider the probability of studying well in order to pass an exam. I usually wasted a lot of my time on this. Those are all small tricks of ordinary people. Master never taught us to use this type of mindset to think about problems. On the contrary, these are all attachments that I have to give up.
When it comes to clarifying the truth, as long as I have the heart to do so, everything is prepared. Master has already arranged everything perfectly, all that is left is for me to step out and do it.
Everything exists here for Dafa disciples to use. Because of blockages caused by my human mind, many situations that should not have happened have taken place. Let us be more diligent!
Above is my current understanding. Fellow practitioners, if there is anything improper, please kindly point it out.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/113917
