PureInsight | March 23, 2017
[PureInsight.org]
Dear Master,
Dear practitioners,
I would like to share with you on this special occasion, about my cultivation tests, experiences and understandings.
Before practicing cultivation, I used to fear drunk people. I avoided them and felt disgusted by them. During cultivation, I understood that this issue stems from my uncultivated emotions and attachments and that, sooner or later, I will need to get rid of this attachment.
The first test on this issue came while I was doing Hongfa in Rome.
I arrived a little later than others. I began sending forth righteous thoughts and sensed that I was part of a strong field of practitioners. My body was almost immediately covered in some kind of substance and I did not feel my legs or my body. In this state, I sent forth righteous thoughts for over half an hour for the first time. We distributed materials, clarified the truth and I started doing the exercises. At that time, two drunkards started shouting and circling us, and the military officers who were standing nearby immediately pushed them away. We were exercising in the metro exit, in an area that was guarded by the military. Even though the military pushed them away, I felt it was a test for me and that something more would happen. As I opened my eyes, I saw that one drunkard was standing in front of me with an aggressive stance. I closed my eyes and in my mind emerged myself into Master's words in Zhuan Falun, Transforming Karma, The Fourth Talk, “While karma is being transformed, if we’re going to handle it well and not make a mess of things like ordinary people, we need to always have a compassionate heart and calm mind. Then when you suddenly run into some problem you’ll be able to handle it well. If your mind is always that peaceful and compassionate, when problems suddenly come up, you’ll usually have a buffer and room to think it over.”
I said to myself, "I don't know what level you came from, but I know that you came for Dafa and that I am standing here today for you, to help you get a chance to be saved. I hope you make the right choice to give yourself a beautiful future."
I opened my eyes and saw that his attitude had changed. He looked at me in a very gentle way. He silently turned around and went to take a leaflet from another practitioner. He kept looking at it as he listened to the practitioner clarifying the truth.
It was a very important test for me. I realized how important it was to have a compassionate heart and strong righteous thoughts in saving sentient beings.
Master said in Zhuan Falun, Energy Field, The Third Talk, "When people who have bad thoughts think about wrong things, under the strong effect of your field they might change their thinking, they might stop having bad thoughts for the time being. Maybe someone wants to badmouth somebody, but out of the blue he changes his mind and doesn’t want to talk badly about him anymore. Only the energy field from cultivating a true teaching can have this effect. That’s why there used to be a saying in Buddhism, ‘Buddha’s light shines everywhere, propriety and righteousness harmonize everything.’ That is what it means."
Another time, I was folding paper lotus flowers while other practitioners were exercising or distributing leaflets. A drunk man appeared and sat in front of my fellow practitioners, yelling and throwing nuts at them. I started to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the bad elements that prevented him from having a positive attitude towards Dafa. I also wished him a good future from the bottom of my heart. I continued to fold the paper lotus flowers. Then the man was suddenly standing in front of me with money in his hand. He said that he wanted to buy a lotus flower from me. I told him that we did not sell the flowers but that he could have one if he signed the petition. Immediately, he went to sign the petition and then tied a flower to his backpack.
Thank you compassionate Master; my righteous thoughts have become stronger and I was able to pass these tests.
Fortifying One Body of Practitioners
On my cultivation path, I am still learning about practitioners forming a ‘one-body’ and how to be a positive member that helps this one-body. I have struggled with this issue before, because I tend to look at it with human thoughts and not from the viewpoint of someone who is walking the path to godhood.
Master reminds us in Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference, "Of course, you need to do well at personal cultivation if you’re to do well at those things. So this means cultivation is fundamental for each of you. With any project to save people, if you stray from cultivation you will find that you become more and more like a non-cultivator and tend to think about matters and do things in an increasingly ordinary way. But if you can stay on the Fa all the way through, and not let up in your personal cultivation at any point, you will find that everything you do is truly befitting a cultivator. That is simply essential if a Dafa disciple is to complete his mission, and what ensures it on a fundamental level. So you cannot stray from the Fa, and at no point can you let up in your own cultivation."
I understood that I had to look at things as a Dafa disciple of the Fa-rectification period. Once, in a group meeting of Slovak and Czech practitioners, I was allowed to see the beauty of all practitioners on the path to godhood. They were all so beautiful that I was hardly able to speak. I was in a state where I had no thoughts towards other practitioners and I perceived only the greatness of our shared mission. This is the state that I desire to be in from the bottom of my heart and that I want to maintain, so that I can help the one-body of practitioners.
I realized that any thought that I have towards a fellow practitioner can be a serious obstacle in our shared mission and in the one-body. I should put our shared mission first and gradually let go of all thoughts that stem from human emotion.
As practitioners, we may have a lot of misunderstandings among ourselves, such as things from the past, and these hinder cooperation. Different opinions and understandings on some particular questions can divide practitioners. Instead, we should search for our positive sides; look at what connects us and why we are here. The path I see is in our mutual support and righteous thoughts for one another, in respecting others’ understanding of the Fa and their cultivation paths. This understanding acted like a big mirror and when I looked inside, I realized that a lot of such attachments had moved me and the negative things I had heard about others had been interfering with me.
Our Master reminds us in Pass the Deadly Test, "As your Master, I have never kept account of the wrong things you have done in your cultivation; I remember only the good things you have done and your accomplishments."
These negative things were able to interfere with me, because I was not able to elevate myself above human emotion and sentiment. This issue is much clearer for me today and I understand that I should always put our sacred mission that we have as Dafa disciples above all else.
We as practitioners meet each other not to make friends or enemies like ordinary people. Our predestined relationship is sacred and we have to form one body, cooperate together and support each other, be it in actions or with righteous thoughts.
I had two experiences at work that helped me improve my understanding.
Once, when I was looking at the instant chat software that we use on our workplace computers, one of the emoticons caught my attention. It was a face with hearts above its head; when he closed his eyes, the hearts covered his eyes. I realized that when we allow different emotions to interfere with us, our eyes are covered and we do not see things in a rational manner or as they really are.
The second experience was also at work. When I turned my computer on, my archive of old emails was gone. I called a technician and he said, "It looks like you should forget about the past and concentrate on what’s in front of you." We then immediately found all my lost emails.
I started to cleanse and eliminate everything that was preventing me from becoming part of the one-body of practitioners. I realised that I have to open my heart much more. Thanks to Master's poem as follows, I deeply understand that we should lighten and clear our hearts. Only if we all stand on the same boat that Master is guiding and support each other, perceiving things from the Fa and not from human emotions, will we be able to save all sentient beings.
The Knowing Heart:
“With Teacher guiding the voyage, the Fa saves all beings,
One sail is hoisted, one hundred million sails follow.
With attachments left behind, the lightened boats sail swiftly,
With a preoccupied human heart, crossing the ocean proves arduous.
The wind and clouds suddenly change, and the heavens seem to crumble,
The mountains shake, the seas churn, and the ferocious waves billow.
Follow Teacher closely, steadfastly cultivating Dafa,
With attachments too strong, bearings are lost.
Some flee for their lives, deserting capsized boats and torn sails,
As the mud and sand are completely sifted, gold shines forth.
Grand talk counts for naught when it comes to life and death,
Actions reveal what is true.
When the day of Consummation arrives,
The great disclosure of the truth will leave the world in amazement.”
This is just my understanding at my level, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
I wish all practitioners a successful cultivation and good cooperation.
Thank you, Master!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Chinese version: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/155676
