PureInsight | February 29, 2016
[PureInsight.org]
Greetings to our compassionate grand Master!
Greetings to fellow practitioners!
As a member of the Global Telephone Rescue Team, I have a chance to discuss personal cultivation experiences every Sunday with other Falun Dafa practitioners around the world. I have really benefitted from such discussions. I’d like to share some of my personal cultivation experiences that I have shared with the Global Telephone Rescue team.
I have been practicing Falun Dafa for more than 10 years now. I have learnt so much; I am full of gratitude and I simply can’t thank Master enough. Master says in “Zhuan Falun” that “the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid of human attachments.” Especially since the campaign to sue Jiang started, I have begun to feel that Master is pushing even harder to help us get rid of attachments; as soon as we realize our attachments and decide we don’t want to keep them; Master will take them away from us immediately. After reading Master’s Fa lecture titled “Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”, I came to realize that I still had far to go in catching up with my personal cultivation; I would have to look inwards without any conditions whatsoever. Recently, I found the fundamental reason that had prevented me from understanding the Fa at a higher level, which turned out to be nothing more than my own ego. This “ego” of mine is very subtle; it’s not easy to detect it all the time. I know that if I don’t try to get rid of my egotism, there won’t be any hope for me to develop “altruism” and I won’t be able to develop a compassionate heart either. In other words, if I can’t jump out of the old universe’s characteristics, I simply can’t completely assimilate into Dafa.
I had actually realized such an issue before, but my understanding then had been very shallow. Later, I noticed that this egotism was very strong; it was always dragging on me, and I found it very tough to completely get rid of. Now I realize that this egotism is actually my fundamental attachment. How did I come to such a realization? In my personal cultivation, I have always remembered the “magical tool” that Master has bestowed us with; that is, the ability to look within. Looking within has made it possible for me to realize my fundamental attachment.
There is a fellow practitioner in my local area and she started to practice Falun Dafa prior to July 20, 1999. She has a strong faith in Dafa and Master, and is also very determined in saving sentient beings. I have always felt that my faith and determination fell far short, when compared to this fellow practitioner. During the campaign to sue Jiang, I helped this practitioner write and send her letter. As a result, I got to know her better. I found out that she had encountered physical interference while helping to promote Shen Yun among mainstream groups. I decided to continue visiting this practitioner and help her out as needed. I talked with her and felt I was doing a good job.
One day, I was about to leave her house, when another fellow practitioner showed up. I said to the first practitioner, “Hey, another practitioner has come to look after you. I know her; she is very kind.” As soon as my words left my mouth, the practitioner said, “No, she is not kind, she is compassionate. Her compassion has moved me.” I immediately sensed the power of compassion. The newly arrived fellow practitioner treated this practitioner like a family member; her very simple actions touched me deeply.
After arriving home, I started to look inwards. I then realized my problems. I said to Master in my heart, “Master, I now understand. Kindness is not expressed by words, it is shown in one’s actions; it is shown in one’s cultivation.” I began to cry and I came to understand that it was Master who had arranged the incident. The next day when I was talking to the practitioner again, I told her that I had come to understand that my tone and kindness were not enough when interacting with others. I tended to focus solely on the principles, and as a result, it was not easy for others to accept what I was talking about. The practitioner replied, “Ok, now you’ve finally found out your problems.” I immediately understood that this problem had been with me for quite a long time; so what was the root cause of it? Well, it was my own “ego”. This “ego” of mine had already become twisted under the “Chinese Communist Party culture” of China; I had lost the tenderness and calmness that a woman should possess, and I had become very bossy. I tended to act in a condescending way without my realizing it, thinking that I was the only one who was right. The Chinese Communist Party culture as well as the old universe’s characteristics had all influenced me heavily. I didn’t want to change my way, and I only wanted to change others. So, if I didn’t get rid of such an attachment, the old universe’s characteristics would drag me down further and further. There would be no hope for me to escape its suppression, and even if I would try hard to improve my cultivation, I would find the progress too tough to achieve.
Now that I’d finally realized the seriousness of my own egotism, I decided that I must get rid of it completely. When I visited that fellow practitioner again, I started to change my attitude, as I wanted to let go of my selfishness. I would do anything that needed to be done, I didn’t develop any thoughts in my mind and whatever my fellow practitioner asked me to do, I would do it right away. I didn’t want to change or blame others; I wanted to use my kindness to care for others, and I wanted to cultivate myself. A couple of days ago, this fellow practitioner approached me and said, “I have been looking inwards these days. I have so many attachments; I am trying to getting rid of them one by one.” I was so happy to hear such words, and the practitioner laughed as well. We all sensed the power of compassion.
From this incident, I noticed that as soon as I had let go of ego, compassion had started to develop in my heart. I also began to notice that things were changing in other dimensions. I sensed that I was indeed elevating in my cultivation. I realized that I just wanted to be a particle in Dafa; nothing else.
Later, with the help of a hint from Master, I did one simple yet very important thing. One fellow practitioner had been undergoing tribulation and was hardly able to make it through. I hadn’t known anything about this, but I just had a feeling that I wanted to visit her for no particular reason. So I went to see her together with another fellow practitioner. When we arrived, the practitioner immediately started talking about what she was going through. Unlike what I used to do in the past, this time, I didn’t forcefully try to impose my own views onto this practitioner, but quietly listened to her. I felt her pain from the bottom of my heart. I calmly offered my thoughts and we left soon after. The next day, the practitioner we had visited approached me and asked me why I had gone to see her the day before. I said that I didn’t know; perhaps it had been Master’s arrangement, as I just felt that she may have something to tell us. She then said that she had completely changed her wrong decision yesterday after seeing us, and as a result, nothing serious had happened. After we had left, she had stood in front of Master’s image, crying and thanking Master for His compassion. Master had been taking care of her all the time and at a critical moment, Master had arranged her fellow practitioners to meet her. She had known that she was wrong and had gone through such a tribulation, but suddenly, everything had changed as if nothing had happened to her.
I have now come to realize that it is one’s responsibility to improve oneself and to know one’s own problems. Once our egotism is diminished, we will develop a compassionate heart for others. When we achieve a certain level in the Fa, Master will arrange tasks for us to undertake at that level; if we can’t meet the requirement of that level, we won’t be able to do things properly.
In my personal cultivation, I am trying hard to continuously let go of my own ego and other attachments. Now I can really feel the ease that a selfless heart brings to me; I can feel the power of compassion. I have come to realize that one’s improvement in cultivation is one’s sole responsibility; I have come to realize the meaning of “selflessness”. Looking inwards has already become automatic in my cultivation. Whenever I run into problems, I will look inwards; whenever our local group runs into problems, I will look inwards as well. Looking inwards always yields the best result. I have also come to realize that once our cultivation level elevates, Master’s Fa principles at that level will be shown to us.
In the “Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”, Master said, “You know what? Just on the one issue of cultivation alone it's so complex at the cosmos's lower levels. But it becomes simple at higher levels, where there's no longer any concept of cultivation but only the concept of karma elimination. At levels higher up, all troubles are to pave the way for ascending to Heaven. And at even higher levels, concepts like eliminating karma, enduring hardships, and cultivation no longer exist, and it's just a choice! This is the principle at high levels of the cosmos: you think someone is good enough, so you choose him--that's the principle.”
After reading this paragraph, I suddenly enlightened to yet another level of the Fa, as my wisdom at that level was rapidly unlocked. I felt that I knew everything about cultivation. I couldn’t help laughing out loud from the bottom of my heart. All those so-called tribulations, all those so-called conflicts, unhappy encounter, this attachment, that attachment… they all brought tears to my eyes, because I felt so grateful. I want to offer my thanks for Master’s compassionate salvation, and many thanks to Master’s arrangement of my cultivation path.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/150607
