FALUN DAFA - INDIA 
TRUTHFULNESS - COMPASSION - FORBEARANCE 
Newsletter for May 2010

Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:

  1. Welcome

  2. What’s Happening?

  3. My Understanding of Selfishness

  4. Selfishness is an Attachment that Must be Eliminated in Cultivation

  5. Letting Go of Selfishness and Harmonizing with the One-Body

  6. Studying the Fa Diligently and Looking Inward to Find Our Own Shortcomings

  7. In a Few Words: The Effect of Studying the Fa

  8. Sickness Karma and Looking Within


1. Welcome

Welcome to the May 2010 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.

It is time to celebrate the eighteenth anniversary of the World Falun Dafa day. Let us look inwards and see how we can do better and show Master how we value and treasure what he has given us.

In this issue, we have a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom that always shine through because of their insights and fine quality of sharing. It is important to read the Clearwisdom, Pureinsight and other Dafa sites. We make an effort to select Articles from the Archives which people don’t go back to and are relevant even today. Contributions are welcome from practitioners.

Heshi! Hope, you like the selection of Articles and gain some new insights!

Note: "All the contents in this newsletter - except for quotations and excerpts of writings of the founder Mr. Li Hongzhi - are only ideas and experiences of practitioners and do not represent Falun Dafa in itself."

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2. What’s Happening?


Practitioners from Hyderabad met the Chief Minister and gave him the Flyer and explained about the practice. They also got themselves photographed with the Chief Minister.

The Bangalore practitioners are getting ready to participate in the marathon.

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3. My Understanding of Selfishness


(Clearwisdom.net) One day while I was thinking quietly to myself I suddenly came upon a deeper understanding of selfishness. I pondered, why do human beings have different feelings such as sadness, happiness, bitterness and ruthlessness? Why do people feel pained? Why do people worry so much? Why do people have different types of thoughts? I realized that selfishness was the reason.

Selfishness is like a sword tied to your body. It will hurt you if you touch it, make you feel either sad or happy, and separate you from your true self.

Selfishness will keep you from seeing the true state of things and it will not allow you to feel at ease. The process of eliminating selfishness is a process of becoming a better person. The strengthening of selfishness will cause one's life to sink and eventually lead to self-destruction.

The practice of Falun Dafa is based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. Through practice, one can eventually become a selfless, enlightened being who always thinks of others first. We can say that Dafa has no place for selfishness.

Once a life has selfishness, the life is no longer pure and moving away from the principles of the universe, Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. If selfishness isn't eliminated, it will permeate like a poison, slowly disintegrating and gradually destroying the person, and on the surface, this life will be moving further and further away from the standards set by the Fa.

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4. Selfishness is an Attachment that Must be Eliminated in Cultivation

By a Practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Selfishness is covered up by all kinds of attachments. For example, sometimes we prefer to be with someone or not to be with someone; we judge whether other people's speech is appropriate from our own standpoint; we get angry if someone disturbs our plans; we do not want to go out to do Dafa work, worrying that it may affect the atmosphere at home; we delay our work, as we worry about being seen by someone we know or being persecuted; we always try to finish ordinary people's work before doing Dafa work, and we want to have a companion to do Dafa work, as if it will make us more confident. When distributing truth-clarifying materials, my first thought is whether someone saw me, instead of focusing on saving sentient beings. I would only clarify the truth to the elderly or women and think it is safer this way; sometimes I would clarify the truth according to the plan in my mind, instead of the situation of the person. As a result, very few people to whom I reached out quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Sometimes, selfishness is buried very deeply. For example, when I eagerly tried to remove the attachment of fear and studied the Fa diligently, my actual purpose, subconsciously, was to protect myself from being persecuted and incurring losses. In taking on projects of saving sentient beings, my purpose was actually to avoid being left behind in cultivation and to feel good. A lot of my tears were shed, not for the sentient beings that could not be saved, but actually for myself. As a result, I did not exert my best efforts to save people and therefore wasted many opportunities of saving people.

The attachment of comfort derived from selfishness is a big obstacle to diligent cultivation. It manifests itself in addiction to sleep, addiction to food, laziness, slow reactions, hesitation, inactivity, making little contact with others, and evading burdens, etc.,resulting in purposely decreasing chances of saving people. Sometimes, right before I went out, a thought was suddenly produced: I'd better stay home and study the Fa more. This was using Fa study to cover all sorts of attachments. That thought is very dangerous, and I realized that it was time to get rid of it.

In addition, I realized that the attachment of showing off is also derived from selfishness, because showing off itself is a manifestation of being attached to oneself. From my childhood, I developed a habit of keeping tidy and neat, and received many compliments for it from others. Therefore, even now (I'm 36 years old), I always feel good about my healthy physique and good sense of aesthetics. It's an attachment of showing off my good figure. Now that I have recognized this very bad attachment, it's already eliminated for the most part. I also detected a post-natal notion from my attachment of showing off-- believing that my way of dressing is the only standard.

All these bad attachments are derived from "selfishness." I'm exposing it today in order to completely eliminate this, the source of all attachments.

Fellow practitioners, let's be diligent in cultivation! The Fa-rectification is close to completion. Only by letting go of all attachments, and letting go of ego, can we reach consummation and return with Master.

Please kindly correct any misunderstandings, as my level of enlightenment is limited.

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5. Letting Go of Selfishness and Harmonizing with the One-Body

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Huabei Region, China

(Clearwisdom.net) Master said,

"In the past, in whatever we were doing you would think: "How can I study the Fa well? How should I work for Dafa? How can I improve myself? How can I do better?" You always felt that you were learning Dafa, rather than that you were a part of Dafa. After this year I find that you've completely changed. You no longer think as you used to. No matter what you do for Dafa and no matter what it is you're doing, you are placing yourselves in Dafa instead of thinking about "I want to do something for Dafa" or "I want to improve myself in this way or that way" as you did before. No matter what you do, you aren't thinking that you're doing something for Dafa, about how you should do things for Dafa, or "how can I do things well for this Fa." Instead, you are placing yourselves in Dafa. Like a particle of Dafa, [you feel that] no matter what it is, you should just do it." ("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America", Guiding the Voyage)

I have always known that my biggest problem has been letting go of the attachment to self. However, my understanding of it has always been perceptual. From several things that happened recently, I have developed a more rational understanding on this issue.

There is a coordinator in our region who has done very well. She takes initiatives to help others, clarifies the truth well, and has strong righteous thoughts. Without my noticing it, I began to rely on her. When there was a problem I was not judging it based on the Fa. Though on the surface it looked like I was sharing with practitioners who have strong righteous thoughts, in reality I had the attachment of imitating other people instead of studying the Fa, as well as the attachment of looking for external help.

Recently, there was a rumor going on among some practitioners about this coordinator saying that she was in touch with CCP secret agents and we should not talk with her. When I heard the rumor, I went to share with her. Due to our different opinions, we were arguing very intensely and in the end, we were both very upset.

When I got back, I opened up Master's new article,

"It's a problem if all eyes are fixed on the assistants, and everyone is helping them cultivate while forgetting that they themselves are cultivators too. More and more problems will arise when that's the case, since you are looking outward, looking externally." ("Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference")

I realized that I was following others and not cultivating myself. When I ask others to agree with me, isn't that an attachment to self? Isn't it a strong attachment of validating self? Once I realized this attachment, the coordinator also saw her own shortcomings.

Our relationship was growing in a better direction. However, the evil would not give up. As the rumor was spreading, the distance between practitioners and the coordinator was obviously growing. The manifestation was that when practitioners needed to cooperate with each other and do things, there would be interference. At that time, I realized that it was the evil utilizing our human notions and creating spaces among practitioners, thus preventing us from forming a one-body.

When another practitioner also realized this, we sent out strong righteous thoughts - no matter what, we would not allow the evil to create distance among practitioners; we would disintegrate all the meddling deities and dark minions. At that time, Master arranged an opportunity for all of us to cooperate with each other - we all went to see a practitioner who was suffering from sickness karma. We studied the Fa together, shared experiences, and sent forth righteous thoughts. After about three hours, the practitioner's sickness completely disappeared. It made me more firm in cultivation and begin to use righteous thoughts in dealing with issues of cooperating with each other in the one-body.

As we constantly gained more and more understanding based on the Fa and continued to send forth righteous thoughts, the evil rumor gradually got quiet and disappeared. In this process, sometimes I encountered harsh words, but as long as I used the Fa to constrain my thoughts, I was able to pass the tribulations. It was indeed very painful when I was letting go of the attachment to self. However, once this attachment was eliminated, it really felt like "after passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead." Then if I tried to put attention on myself, I found that it was gone, and I could not be attached to it anymore. Perhaps the substance was eliminated.

These are just my current understandings on letting go of the attachment to self and harmonizing the one-body. Actually on this path of cultivation and validating the Fa, we need Master's care on every step.

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6. Studying the Fa Diligently and Looking Inward to Find Our Own Shortcomings

By a practitioner from Hong Kong

(Clearwisdom.net) Last month I resolved to myself that regardless of how busy I am every day, I must ensure that I study at least two lectures in the book Zhuan Falun, even if it means going without sleep. Only a month has passed by, but I feel that I have improved significantly in many respects.

First of all, when clarifying the truth I have been able to calmly concentrate my attention, so the efficacy of the truth-clarification has been quite good. For instance, while distributing the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in tourist areas, I can distribute many copies in a short period of time. On several instances, I finished distributing an entire box of the Nine Commentaries after an hour or two.

Secondly, I have been able to maintain a kind and peaceful state. Although Hong Kong's lifestyle is very fast-paced, my heart has actually been very calm and relaxed.

Thirdly, along with my xinxing improvement, I feel that the environment around me has changed. For instance, some tourists and tour guides have actively come to me to learn the truth and to ask for truth-clarification materials. In my home, my wife, also a practitioner, has diligently cultivated herself as well, while my father-in-law has started saying that Falun Dafa is good and my mother-in-law has also started reading Zhuan Falun. I can feel that people around me have started changing. Actually, after we cultivate ourselves well, everything in our righteous energy fields becomes good.

I have enlightened that cultivating oneself well can save sentient beings on a constant basis. While paying more attention to studying the Fa diligently, we should also pay attention to seeking inward for those attachments that we haven't yet given up, and then work hard to remove them. I hope that I can soon achieve complete abandonment of all my attachments, and meanwhile I hope that all of my fellow practitioners will study the Fa more diligently. When encountering difficulties, we shouldn't blame each other, but instead look inward to find our own shortcomings and remove them. We should diligently cultivate ourselves and together do well the three things that Teacher has requested of us. The sentient beings are waiting to be saved!

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7. In a Few Words: The Effect of Studying the Fa


(Clearwisdom.net) Studying the Fa is most important. Every cultivator knows this. But not everyone is able to really understand the reason and place importance on it. At least I did not.

I know Master's words, "When your mind isn't at peace, studying the Fa is not effective." ("A Heavy Blow" in Essentials for Further Advancement), but I frequently could not calm down and yet still continued to "study the Fa." Now I think that if I read Zhuan Falun with a troubled mind, the effect is not as good as reading just one word with a calm mind. At least I can understand the Fa behind one single word. If the Fa I read enters my mind, I will be able to "distinguish the righteous from the evil, obtain true teachings, lighten their bodies, enhance their wisdom, enrich their hearts, and board the boat of the Fa, sailing smoothly." ("Enlightenment" in Essentials for Further Advancement) What will enrich my mind? It is the Fa. When the Fa enriches my mind, what condition will I be in?

When I was unable to study the Fa well for a long time, I tended to like to read what other practitioners had seen in other dimensions and read stories about reincarnation. When I read the novel The Cosmos' Calamity, my heart was moved even more. I felt that I got from reading these articles was better than reading the Fa. I even admired these stories and looked up to them as good examples. But shouldn't practitioners' righteous thoughts and actions come from the Fa? I had put the cart before the horse. This was not good for myself or for the writers of these articles. To put it even more plainly, I was harming them [by admiring their stories instead of studying the Fa].

Recently I have this understanding of studying the Fa: When I can quiet my mind to study the Fa, in almost every paragraph and almost every day I come to new understandings. The more I learn, the more greater the Fa manifests. I also have a greater interest in studying the Fa. Of course, I pale in comparison with those practitioners who can see the heavenly secrets behind every word .

Sometimes the interference is huge and I cannot quiet down. I look intently at each word and try to understand the meaning of it. Slowly I am be able to calm down. It is like getting a screw in the right groove, and it turns easily. When I study the Fa I have the feeling of my mind being enriched by the Fa. I also feel my energy being replenished.

Once while studying I suddenly felt very ashamed. I was embarrassed to face the Fa that I was reading on the computer screen. I actually bowed my head, looked inward and realized that I was trying to get something out of the Fa. This is a selfish wish. After letting go of it, I could face the Fa again.

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8. Sickness Karma and Looking Within

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Fa-rectification has reached its final stage; however, some practitioners are still bothered by sickness karma. In some serious cases, practitioners have even lost their lives, which is a big loss in our efforts of saving sentient beings, and has also caused negative effects among non-practitioners. The following are my experiences about a recent reaction of sickness karma, which I want to share with fellow practitioners.

I am in my 30's and I have been practicing Falun Dafa for 15 years. Before 1999, I rarely experienced sickness karma. Sometimes it happened in my spare time, but disappeared when I went to school or to work. After the evil persecution started, in the second half of 2000, something similar to a kind of skin disease developed. It was very uncomfortable and, except for my face, my whole body was covered with it. I did not take it seriously nor did I know how to use righteous thoughts to eliminate it. It was very serious for half a year, but did not affect any of my activities. Since then, I have rarely experienced sickness karma, not even a cold. Under the evil persecution, I lost my original job and moved to a new work environment. My colleagues all believed that I was very healthy since they had never seen me "sick." This lasted for 3 to 4 years.

However, this April, I started to experience a toothache, and the more I sent forth righteous thoughts, the more painful it got. It was so painful that I could not even sleep. I felt that this was the most physical pain I had ever suffered from. In the past, when I tried to eliminate sickness karma, the pain penetrated deep into my bones; however, I could still find some sort of comfortable feeling amidst the pain. This time, it was totally different. It was so painful that I had nowhere to hide. Since I could not relieve the pain by sending forth righteous thoughts, I started to look inside myself, to see where I had gone wrong thus allowing the evil to persecute me. I found that the more I looked inside, the less pain I had. I remember a practitioner mentioned that once we look inside, the evil will be frozen. Since I could not fall asleep at night, I used the time to study the Fa, do the exercises and send forth righteous thoughts. In the process, I found many of my shortcomings, corrected them, and thus the pain was no longer as strong.

For example, a colleague of mine at my current workplace has a good impression of me, so he left me two technical books. Because the books were published a long time ago, most of the graphics in the books are pictures of the Chinese Communist Party's evil leader. I wanted for a long time to burn them, but I did not do so because of human sentiments (my colleague was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution, and is quite afraid of the CCP. I told him about quitting the CCP; however, he was a little afraid to do so.) The day after I realized this problem, I went to my workplace and tore all of the pictures of this evil leader out of the books, brought them home and burned them. After they were burned, my toothache improved, although it did not totally disappear. I was finally able to sleep at night. I also found another attachment. Because I rarely experience sickness karma, I did not sincerely help those practitioners who suffered from sickness karma or other interference. I rarely considered others, nor did I really help them. Since I realized this, I knew that I had to cultivate this part (not for getting rid of the toothache). At that time, we received news that the evil was going to persecute a certain practitioner. After hearing about this, I sent forth righteous thoughts and found an opportunity to visit his home and share experiences with him. The day before my toothache had started, my son was naughty and I was a little angry while punishing him. Because of my anger, I slapped him twice on the face. Two days later my son saw that I was in pain and asked me, "Is it because you hit me?" There were also other issues. For example, when it was very painful and I could no longer find any cause, I tried to neglect it. I thought, "Let it be painful, I will give all of myself to Master and let Master arrange it." After another 2 or 3 days, the toothache was almost gone. However, another tooth was also quite sensitive and ached when I touched it. Once when I was eating, I felt something pressing against it and then I no longer felt that tooth protruding or moving. I enlightened to the fact that Master had taken care of it for me.

During this experience, I enlightened that when veteran practitioners experience sickness karma, we cannot treat it the same way as we do during the stage of personal cultivation, nor should we only try to solve the problem by eliminating persecution factors. The most important thing for us is to look for our shortcomings, but we cannot look for the shortcomings solely for solving the problem of sickness karma. This kind of relationship is hard to handle for those practitioners who are in extreme pain. It all depends on our daily Fa study and belief in Master and the Fa. Master said in Zhuan Falun,

"So why is it okay to do that for cultivators, then? Because nobody is more precious than a cultivator. He wants to cultivate, and that's the most precious thought. In Buddhism they talk about Buddha-nature, and that when a person's Buddha-nature comes out the Enlightened Beings can help him."

and

"When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn back the tide" (Hong Yin II)

From the Fa cited above, I enlightened that Master can help us to solve the problems, because we want to be cultivators. If during the interference of sickness karma, we lowered ourselves into the level of a non-practitioner, then it would be hard for Master to help us, because we would be restricted by the law of the universe.

There is another issue here. Most of the elderly practitioners came to know about Dafa and started cultivation in order to cure their diseases and improve their health. Therefore, they have a special kind of feeling towards "sickness," including some fear. Recalling Master's Fa, when gong appears it might not be comfortable. Why do we, when we experience something physically, think about it being sickness or sickness karma, instead of gaining gong? I think we should look deep inside regarding this issue. This is how I understand this. The old forces, dark minions and rotten demons need to first shake the belief of practitioners in the Fa before they can persecute them. Once practitioners have lost their righteous belief in Master and the Fa, they can then use this excuse to conduct a persecution.

Also, we know that the evil beings are not qualified to test practitioners, so when we face persecution, most practitioners send forth righteous thoughts thinking, "Even though we have loopholes, we will not allow this persecution." My understanding is that this is what the Fa displays on one level, which is that we do not acknowledge the existence of the old forces at all. Therefore, there is no reason for the existence of this persecution; however, we cannot use this as an excuse for not looking inside. As long as we cultivate in Dafa, we should always look inside unconditionally. We do not need any outside driving force or factors, nor is there any factor that is qualified to do something like this (to have us improve through persecution), so the old forces have no reason to exist, nor any excuse to persecute us. On one hand, we disagree with the so-called "help" from the old forces; on the other hand, we should look inside. Because looking inside is required by Master, it should be the fundamental nature of our life.

Also, we sometimes do not know the real reason for something, nor do we know the excuse the old forces use. For example, the evil destroys Dafa books with the excuse that we do not cherish them; the evil brutally tortures practitioners because they called out "Mom" instead of "Master" at critical moments; etc. Before Master disclosed these issues, I had not enlightened to them. I then realized that if we cannot find the true reason, we should give up and submit ourselves to Master. We do not make decisions anymore and only follow the arrangements made by Master. This way, any excuse used by the old forces becomes invalid and Master will make the best arrangement. However, this is not something superficial, it needs to come from deep within our hearts.

These are my personal understandings. If there is anything incorrect, fellow practitioners please correct me and share your understanding with me.

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