Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- I gradually realize my Path
- Transforming from within from the origin
- My search within
- Being a practitioner is the best thing a human can be
- Only Master knows
- Being selfless
- My cultivation path
- Falun Dafa’s impact on different aspects in my life
- A constant sense of improvement and doing the three things well
- I find my Master
- Understanding karmic relationships
- Path of Cultivation
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the February 2010 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
We repeat Master’s message in this month’s issue to remind and inspire us to work hard to gain a better understanding of the Fa and be more steadfast in our cultivation and carry out our assigned responsibilities.
To the First Fa Conference in India
Greetings to the Dafa disciples attending the first Fa conference in India!
I hope that India's Dafa disciples may be like those of other nationalities, study the Fa well and abundantly--and do so frequently--become true cultivators of Dafa, and shoulder the responsibility of helping Dafa to spread widely and save sentient beings.
May your Fa conference be a resounding success!
Li Hongzhi
December 26, 2009
In this issue, we have experience-sharing Articles from the first Fa conference in India. They have been selected at random.
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?
A Dafa practitioner from Iran who is an educational psychologist presented a research paper and a workshop about Falun Dafa at the International Conference of World Council for Psychotherapy, Science and Yoga Traditions at Chandigarh, INDIA ( 5 to 8 January 2010).
In the workshop 5 exercises were demonstrated and taught and also a short movie on the introduction of Falun Dafa was shown. The participants were very happy to receive the exercise instructions CD and the lotus flowers. The practitioner from Iran also clarified the truth and told the participants about the situation in Iran and how they do not have the freedom to practice Dafa. She also used the opportunity to tell people about Shen Yun.
Practitioners in Bangalore organized the Art Exhibition at Kochi in a leading software organization’s campus where a practitioner is employed. The exhibition got a good response.
Practitioners in Hyderabad continue to participate in the month long Fair which will go on through January and the first week of February. The practitioner from Iran also spent some days at the Fair clarifying the truth.
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- 3. I gradually realize my Path
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I first came into contact
with Falun Dafa in March 2007. Now it has been over two and a half years
on this very difficult yet enchanting journey.
Right from a very early
age I have always pondered over the meaning of Life and feeling restless
that I had to do something but not knowing what. In the past I have
had a few spiritual experiences while pursuing various spiritual practices.
But never before did I have the faintest clue for the reason of my existence.
The spiritual practices did offer some vague insights and gave me a
lot of peace but the journey always felt incomplete - till I was guided
to Falun Dafa.
Now there are few questions
and a clear Path to walk down on.
After listening to the
first audio lecture downloaded from the website I was completely amazed
by Teacher’s clarity on everything. For the next 1 week I spent every
evening listening to the rest of the lectures though I did not really
understand everything. After that I learnt the exercises at Cubbon Park
and at the end of which realized I had tears in my eyes and a feeling
of extreme peace - it felt like I had finally obtained everything I
had looked for all my life.. and had intimately touched on the very
essence of my existence. Practicing and studying the Fa regularly I
have felt a guiding force constantly aligning and healing me at different
levels.
I have faced a few major
mishaps years earlier - 2 dislocated vertebrae, a crushed foot, were
the prominent injuries. These mishaps always seemed to spring under
the most normal circumstances while I was always quite safe even when
being very reckless. And each of these was accompanied by an extended
period of pain and suffering.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture One
“Due to karma
resulting from past wrongdoing, one has illnesses or tribulations; suffering
is repaying a karmic debt...”
I finally understood
why and now have completely healed from these injuries.
About two years ago I
spent the last days with my mother who was suffering till she finally
left. I was at peace seeing the end of her suffering but then I felt
another distinctly separate part of me cry out in agony which engulfed
me moments later. I was very surprised to recognize this huge split
within me at that time which was explained later when I came into the
Fa.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture One
“A person has
a physical body, yet a person is not complete with only a physical body.
One must also have human temperament, personality, character, and Primordial
Spirit in order to constitute a complete and independent person with
individuality.”
Touring North
America to Teach the Fa - March 2002
“Of course,
it also includes humans' three souls and seven spirits, and together
this forms a complete human body.”
Normally I experience
myself as a single entity but the realization that we are a very complex
amalgamation of multiple beings has led me to observe myself closely.
This is more evident during the sitting meditation when at times I experience
a great conflict within and have still not been able to reach a state
of Ding<.
Even though I have been fairly consistent in my cultivation, coming
to a clear fundamental understanding of the Fa took me quite a long
time which Teacher has explained so simply.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture One
“What is the
Buddha Fa, then? The most fundamental characteristic of this universe,
Zhen-Shan-Ren, is the highest manifestation of the Buddha Fa... As a
practitioner, if you assimilate yourself to this characteristic you
are one that has attained the Tao—it’s just such a simple principle.”
On the face of it the Path
is so simple but walking down the Path is extremely difficult as explained.
Essentials for
Further Advancement - True Cultivation
“You
must remember this: Cultivation itself is not painful—the key lies
in your inability to let go of ordinary human attachments. Only when
you are about to let go of your reputation, interests, and feelings
will you feel pain.”
Understanding the principles
so well I often wondered why was it still so difficult to improve my xinxing.
Essentials for
Further Advancement - Buddha-nature and Demon-nature
“When people
try to accomplish something, they encounter difficulty precisely because
the principle of mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition exists... Everything
has Buddha-nature. In fact, everything has Demon-nature as well.”
So I finally realized
that just the thought of cultivating itself creates a resistance within
me due to this principle. This has led to a greater knowing but I still
cannot always walk down the Path< successfully. I also could not understand why
each one has such a different perception of the world, oftentimes leading
to a conflict.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture One<
“As a matter
of fact, this is because the same Fa has different transformations and
forms of manifestation at different levels, and it can play different
guiding roles for practitioners at different levels.”
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture Two
“A practitioner
whose cultivation has reached a particular level can only see manifestations
at that level. He is unable to see the truth beyond that level, and
neither will he believe it. Therefore, he only regards what he sees
at his level as correct.”
So now each time I think
that I am correct this understanding quickly reminds me that I am being
blind to another persons point of view. This has gradually helped me
understand that the path to resolving the conflicts that lie within
me.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture Six<
“Any time some
kind of interference comes along in your practice, you have to look
within for the cause and find what it is you still haven’t let go
of.”
But it has taken much
longer to understand the fundamental reason for the conflicts and to
realize that we are only mirrors to each other.
Essentials for
Further Advancement - Dialogue with Time
“It would be
good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things
that they have been able to find in others.”
Having understood the
Fa through so many years now I find that almost every aspect of life
is explainable very rationally in the light of the Fa. But at the same
time so many questions still remain in this wondrous experience that
we are going through.. and then I remember these words with a knowing
that the complete Truth lies in its entirety within me - I just have
to wake up to it.
Zhuan Falun -
Lecture Nine
“You must practice
cultivation and become enlightened on your own. If I tell you everything,
nothing will remain for you to cultivate. Fortunately, Dafa has already
been made public, and you can do things according to Dafa.”
My entire life has been
arranged and every person in my life is actively helping me cultivate.
However I still cannot walk down my Path without slipping and falling flat on my face
ever so often.
But the light only brightens
ever so slowly as I understood much later.
Teaching the Fa
at the Conference in Switzerland
“Don’t claim
that you can immediately let go of everything today, that you can do
so instantaneously and be a Buddha. If that were the case you wouldn’t
need to cultivate—you would already be a Buddha. So cultivation is
done little by little, it’s a gradual process. ...I am telling you
to conform to ordinary people as much as possible, if you don’t strictly
hold yourself to the standards for a cultivator, you are just the same
as somebody who doesn’t cultivate.”
Teaching the Fa
at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference
“There are no
role models in cultivation... In cultivation you can't watch others,
you can only cultivate solidly on your own. How do you cultivate? Just
study the Fa a lot, and don't watch others... But while cultivating
you should have clear awareness, cultivate away your deficiencies, restrain
your shortcomings, and eliminate your shortcomings. You must have a
sense of constantly climbing up. That's cultivating.”
Teacher has laid down
the Truth
of the Universe out of Compassion for one and all.
Now I know that it is
within my reach to get up each time I fall and continue to do so till
the end - I just have to be strong consistently.
I do not know what life
has in store for me but I know that I am not alone on my quest.
Teacher, I thank
you from the very core of my being.
Thank you, fellow
practitioners, for giving me this opportunity to share my experiences.
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- 4. Transforming from within from the origin
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
Thank you for giving
me an opportunity to share my experience.
“If a person
can truly obtain Dafa, this person is simply most fortunate”- Zhuan Falun, Lecture 2. I always knew I had
something extraordinary in store for me and this was proved true on
April 14, 2009: the most fortunate day of my life-the day I obtained
the Fa. These eight months have had a radical affect on my life, my
thinking and I would like to share how I’ve matured as a new practitioner
in these past months.
I had my celestial eye
opened in the very first week of my practice; I saw magnificent sights
and this definitely encouraged my faith in the practice. When I had
my two month vacation, with a senior practitioner I would go to various
schools and colleges and help spread the Fa and teach the exercises.
I would diligently go to Kumara Park Practice site and do my exercises
every day. This is how my journey began.
My attachment to
Zealotry and Showing off
As time passed, and college
had begun, I shared with my friends about Falun Dafa, about how it had
brought a new meaning and purpose to my life; gradually I developed
the attachment of Zealotry- I would consider myself a class apart, not
talk with my friends and would completely isolate myself from the class
activities. I would ridicule them if they played music from their phones
or express my displeasure when they talked about everyday activities
or would want me to join them for a lunch or a movie. I would grab every
free minute in class and read the Fa. The only thing I would talk to
them about was Dafa and wanted to really convince them to join me in
this wonderful journey, not realizing the essence of a predestined relationship
that I cannot force anyone to cultivate. The situation at home was also
the same. I would refuse to go out with my family thinking I should
spend all my time just reading the Fa. I would consider every other
activity a waste of time. Even my sharing at the practice site would
be just with regard to how much I read, exercised or what I saw with
my celestial eye to show how even a new practitioner could be so diligent.
I was showing off. I thought I was really special and a cut above the
rest. This thinking was wrong and it lasted for quite some time. Master
says “Showing off is a very
strong attachment and a very bad attachment that a practitioner must
relinquish”
As I read I understood
the audacity of my mistakes. Master says in Zhuan Falun, “Due to human excitement, one will develop
unnecessary Zealotry. It causes one to behave abnormally in one’s
form of doing things, in interacting with others in ordinary human society,
or in the environment of ordinary human society... The majority of people
in our school will practice cultivation in ordinary human society, so
you should not distance yourself from ordinary human society and you
must practice cultivation with a clear mind. The relationships among
one another should remain normal” Zhuan Falun, (Lecture 8). Also Master
says in Fa teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa conference
“ If you think that we should live our lives like divine beings, and
you carry yourself differently just walking down the street, or your
demeanor in regular life changes into something else, then that is taking
it to an extreme… so you need to cultivate with rationality and in
a respectable manner.”
I understand now what
it means to cultivate amongst ordinary people and have learnt a great
deal from the above experiences.
How Things have
changed as I held on to the faith that I had in the Fa
Even as a practitioner
I always had my heart filled with resentment towards my family with
regard to various things- about how spontaneous we were with planning
our daily activities or how materialistic we were. I always thought
that they had brought me up the wrong way and had led me astray in life.
I always whined over this fact to other practitioners and they helped
me understand this in a new light. They are here for me to cultivate
and help me elevate in every possible way. Being the youngest in the
family they obviously expected me to show a great deal of the love they
showered upon me back and I have got to be really compassionate towards
them. Today, after gaining this perspective I understand the bigger
purpose of my birth here and do not whine over this anymore.
Truthfulness, this quality
has brought a whole new meaning to my relationships in life- friends
and family. It was not always this way, and now I realize how important
being able to confront people is and how this very quality can bring
about a host of changes between people. I now feel I am worthy of people’s
trust and can be relied on. Each day I am getting better and slowly
reaching the state where I am non-judgmental of people. I was always
reluctant about sharing and could not trust people easily; this block
is slowly wearing away too.
By keeping Fa study as
priority and studying without any pursuit with just a little effort
I have been able to get good marks in my recent final exams. This holds
great meaning for me, because Master asks us to be the best we can and
give attention to all areas of our life and as being a student, career
also forms quite an important priority.
Master says-“There is a saying ‘The great fa is
boundless’”. Cultivating it depends
entirely on your heart. As to how high your cultivation level can reach,
it all depends on your endurance and your ability to bear hardships”
I believe one should
make good use of limited time in this life and practice cultivation
to the best of our abilities, keep striving hard, always keep looking
within, take criticism in a positive manner and read the Fa with utmost
diligence.
Please feel free to correct
any misunderstandings or shortcomings in my sharing.
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
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- 5. My search within
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I have been cultivating
in Falun Dafa for the past two years. I would like to share some of
my experiences here.
My cultivation state:
When I start to think
about my cultivation in Falun Dafa for the last two years I can see
that the time has passed so rapidly yet it feels as if I have hardly
moved upward.
Master says in
Zhuan Falun, “In genuine cultivation practice one must cultivate one’s
own heart and inner self. One should search inside oneself rather than
outside.” (Lecture 9)
It makes me think, have
I kept the Fa in front of me to evaluate each movement even for a whole
day? It’s difficult to say. To keep up with the righteous state and
constantly evaluate each and every movement, every word that we speak,
every thought in our mind to be based on the Fa which Master has taught
us, should be the requirement to assimilate towards the Fa. I tried
to dig into the reasons and soon I reached the state where many questions
surrounded me waiting to be answered and thereby getting some enlightenment.
Am I ready to follow the path of cultivation with tests, hardships,
tribulations and elimination of karma? Am I enlightened to this requirement
while I am into a tribulation, setback or a test? Or have I considered
it as a coincidence or taken it lightly and superficially? What could
be the reasons behind this behavior? Am I studying the Fa well? Do I
believe in the Master and how much do I believe? Am I thinking about
my reputation or thinking about going awry? Am I afraid?
There have been times
when I haven’t been so diligent, cultivating on and off, getting carried
away in everyday matters of life. Always, it is Master who encourages
me and helps me to get out of the situation fast from where I have stumbled
into. In such situations I remember Master’s words – “if you’ve fallen, don’t just lie
there, get right up”. I open the
book, Zhuan Falun, with deep regret, ashamed of looking at Master’s
photo. Soon I get the confidence to start all over again, no matter
what had happened.
My understanding
towards Group Dafa activities:
I have participated in
some of the Dafa activities around different cities in recent times.
This has helped me a lot to improve my state of cultivation and I am
able to understand the importance of group activities. There is no doubt
that it helps to validate the Fa and to Clarify the Truth but also helps
to boost one’s cultivation state and the righteous state. Looking
at my own cultivation state, group activities have played a major role
in pushing me further and uplifting myself. While doing the activities,
one’s shortcomings show up and it helps one to improve. Whenever I
have been to any such activities I could feel the powerful energy of
Dafa flowing around continuously and I could feel its benevolence. Even
after reaching back home I could feel the same energy and my righteous
thoughts become more powerful. It generates in me a static electricity
and when I touch any metal or person I get a kind of shock as my body
gets charged and this lasts for weeks. I am sharing this experience
to help practitioners know the importance of group Fa activities and
to motivate those practitioners who have not involved themselves in
such group activities.
Also I have come to this
understanding that one should not think of the place or the people involved
in a particular activity, but just go along with the activity with the
focus only towards validating the Fa and Clarifying the Truth.
Some of my experiences
in the recent Dafa event at Calcutta, Nagpur & Mumbai:
The Divine land
Marching Band of a hundred practitioners from Taiwan performed at the
three cities, Calcutta, Nagpur and Mumbai in September, 2009.
The band activities at
these three cities were announced well in advance, so that I had more
than a month to plan to take leave from my job for this activity. I
had decided that there cannot be any better reason for utilizing my
vacation for this event and hence I applied for leave and got it approved
well in advance.
As a part of the Activity,
I had to undertake the task of flight bookings for all the 100 practitioners
of the Band for their domestic travel from Calcutta to Nagpur and then
to Mumbai. Till then I hadn’t done work of this kind and was totally
ignorant of the procedure for bulk bookings with Airlines. So initially
I did not know how to carry out this task. I could only understand that
the task was not easy and I was doing it for the first time. The task
was very complex as there had been constant changes in the list of names,
difference in pricing due to delay, coordination with the travel agency
etc. I started feeling the pressure when it came to the mode of payment
and payment terms and we were running short of money to make the final
payment. All kinds of thoughts were coming to my mind, will I be able
to complete it successfully, what will happen if something goes wrong
in-between, what will happen if the seats are not available for all,
what if the payment is not done at the right time, etc. I was put under
pressure each day, as the task progressed. I realized that my mind was
not right; I shouldn’t have negative thinking and should believe in
Master. I sent forth righteous thoughts every day without fail and built
up the confidence that the Master will be there for the practitioners,
under all circumstances. In the end, the task was completed well without
any problems. Even the travel agency said that, in spite of being a
big group booking, it was hassle free. They were very happy that all
the things were taken care of very well. With this, I came to the understanding
that whoever comes in contact with Dafa by any means could feel its
righteousness.
A week before the visit
of the Band, all of a sudden,
a crisis developed in my workplace. As Master has said in Zhuan Falun
“Of course, you will not be informed of a tribulation or conflict
ahead of time. How can you practice cultivation if you are told everything?
It will not serve any use. They usually occur unexpectedly so that they
can test one’s xinxing and make one’s xinxing truly improve.”(Lecture
Four)
This critical situation
which developed in my office demanded my presence and involvement at
work exactly during the period when I had to be in Calcutta with the
Band. The situation was genuinely so serious that, if not handled properly,
more than four thousand employees would be sitting idle without any
work for few days. Under the circumstances, the earlier sanction of
my leave could not be respected. As I was the only person who had the
experience to handle such tasks within my team, my presence became indispensable.
In my mind there was no doubt that my true place was to be with the
Band activity and validate the Fa. It was a matter of finding the right
way of doing it while conforming to the duties of my job. I was able
to keep my mind righteous and sent forth righteous thoughts and I asked
Master for help. I decided to talk to my manager. I told him that I
had to take leave on these days, my flights were booked and my trip
was important. At first he was upset but I continued to send forth righteous
thoughts while sitting in front of him. Finally I could convince him
as I assured that I will train my team in a week’s time so that things
will be taken care of by the team in spite of my absence. Thus the office
work got completed without any single mistake and the crisis was averted.
I was able to go to Calcutta to participate in the Dafa event as planned.
During the event at Calcutta,
the conditions were not so easy. There were interferences and all the
practitioners went through many xinxing tests and hardships. The climate
was very hot and humid. While sitting in the bus it felt like sitting
in a baking oven. It was harder for foreign practitioners to get used
to this climate conditions. It was inspiring to see that under such
conditions they established their mighty virtue, by playing the Band
all along with harmony. After finishing the day long activities we returned
to the temple where we stayed. When we were about to relax, we came
to know that there was no water in the taps. The practitioners had to
hand pump water from a well which was a few meters away in another compound,
carry it over a trolley cycle around many times which went on for the
whole night. Yet another incident happened while on our way to airport
to catch the flight to Nagpur. The truck containing our luggage had
a punctured tyre on the way and was not able to proceed. There was no
way of communicating with the practitioner in the luggage truck. This
caused a delay to check in at the airport. However in the end, the practitioners
managed to board the flight at the right time.
Looking back at the Band
event, in all three places where it played, the Band received a very
good response. In Calcutta, crowds gathered at the places where the
Band performed near the Durga pooja Pandals. In Nagpur, the Band performed
on the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people at the ground
who were awed by the performance and showed appreciation by clapping
and waving their hands with dignity. At the Gateway of India, Mumbai,
after viewing the Band perform, the audience were inspired to learn
the Dafa exercises when the Band members demonstrated the exercise movements.
I would like to mention
one incident which really moved me at the time of the band’s performance
at one Pandal in Calcutta. In the huge crowd gathered there was a person
who seemed to be mentally retarded. While the Band was performing “Falun
Dafa Hao”, he was very excited, dancing along the way with joy. When
he crossed me, he smiled at me and shook my hand; I also greeted him
with a smile and patted him. While many did not know what Falun Dafa
really is, this person with a simple heart was cherishing each and every
moment with joy as if he had found what he was looking for. It made
me recall what Master says about a ‘truly foolish person’ in Zhuan
Falun: “He may be foolish
in this life but not in the next- His Primordial spirit is not foolish.”
Thank you, Master,
for helping me to know the true value of my life!
Thank you, fellow
practitioners, for giving me this opportunity to share my experiences.
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- 6. Being a practitioner is the best thing a human can be
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I’m a 19 year old Dafa
Disciple from India. My younger sister and I were introduced to Dafa
when I was 11 years old (in 2001). I still remember how I used to practice
diligently every day. But I didn’t remain so as my family didn’t
like us to practice something that’s not derived from Hinduism. I
stopped practicing after one year but my sister continued. I didn’t
know at that time what made her continue. I realize it today.
My Fa study at that time
was not strong. Hence, I deviated. But I had a wish to cultivate to
higher realms from when I was young and was in search of a teacher from
a righteous practice who would guide me. In India, there are many such
teachers present, especially in the North. But I couldn’t go to them
as my family was not economically sound to send me far and my parent’s
spiritual base was also not strong. Hence, I left this on God, and whenever
I got an opportunity to listen to any spiritual guru in my city, I never
missed the chance.
I got many opportunities
to learn Dafa again but I missed them, until the last time-the starting
of 2009. It was very difficult for me to decide as Master writes in
Zhuan Falun-“If you step on two boats at the same time, you cannot
attain anything”, when explaining-‘Practicing Only One Cultivation
Way.’ I had hundreds of questions in my mind as to what to do? Is
this right? Will I betray my religion? Will my family approve my decision?
etc;etc... My sister asked me to read the book once without any notions.
I read it diligently, and after I completed it, I have been practicing
and studying and spreading the Fa as and when I get an opportunity.
All my questions were answered in the book, Zhuan Falun. I have now
read the book a few times, and every time I read it, I get a different
insight into everything. There is no question that is left unanswered.
I used to wonder when
I was in search of a teacher from a righteous practice of what would
happen to me. I was always waiting for a teacher to guide me. When Dafa
came into my life, I realized the predestined relationship and was very
happy. I studied a lot and practiced a lot. I also started spreading
the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. I understood at my level
of understanding, the truth of the universe. I realized the importance
of following Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance in one’s life.
I have been trying my best to follow these principles in my day-to-day
life, from the smallest thing to the biggest thing. My life has changed.
The way I see and evaluate things has transformed. The change of thoughts
from human to Godhood has indeed made a lot of difference even in the
ordinary human life.
I realize that I have
to really work hard as time is pressing. Lots of attachments have been
given up and many others show up every day. It’s not easy to give
up all of them and cultivate but this is what we have come here for.
Being a practitioner makes the most difficult hardships and tests easy
to overcome. The realization that it’s very necessary to comply with
the characteristics of the universe makes it easy to let go. Sharing
of experiences has also helped me a lot to give up a lot of attachments
and know my shortcomings. I read a lot of times that Dafa disciples
should become rational but it was only when I discussed with a fellow
practitioner I realized that being rational would mean to treat everyone
the same way. Let it be our parents, siblings, family, colleagues, working
staff, cleaner or anyone, everyone should be treated equally. And a
little more understanding told me that everyone should be treated the
best. It’s like treating everyone in the world with the grandest compassion,
with the love which we show to our dearest and most loved ones.
We all practitioners
know that we have to follow truthfulness, compassion and forbearance
in day-to-day life but most of us forget that in ordinary human society.
Again, it was only by sharing experiences that I realized however small
the situation we need to follow the principles of the universe. For
example, when I sit to study in the night after everybody at home have
gone to sleep, I chat instead and waste my time, and also cheat my parents.
When they ask, I could have easily told them that I was studying. But
when I realized the importance of speaking the truth, I told the truth,
however small the situation.
Master says: “You have to work and you have to study,
you have your family life and social activities, and at the same time
you have to take care of your family, do a good job at work, and you
have to study the Fa well and do the exercises well, and what’s more,
you have to clarify the truth. It is hard! It’s pretty hard both time-wise
and financially. It’s hard, so your mighty virtue is displayed; it’s
hard, and so it’s a good opportunity to establish your mighty virtue.
Since you are cultivators, even though it’s hard you should do even
better.”
I used to get excited
and do only Fa study a lot and neglect my college studies. But a friend
of mine who’s also a Dafa disciple shared her understanding that going
to this extreme is also like slacking off. Everything should be balanced
in life, in a cultivator’s life. I then realized and started balancing
everything out, but that did not take me away from lots of Dafa work.
Instead, it gave me more opportunities to cultivate and spread the Fa.
I thank Master for everything,
for have given us this wonderful chance to save ourselves and others
also. Thank you so much Master.
Everything looks harmonious
and in place when I look at things and try understanding them from my
understanding of the Fa. Being a practitioner is the best thing a human
can be.
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow
practitioners for giving me an opportunity to share.
Top
- 7. Only Master knows
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
It has not been easy
to write this article. There have been problems of all sorts, in the
internet shops with computers, and interference from people around me
and my own state of mind which was not absolutely calm. I have attended
several experience sharing conferences and read so many experience sharing
articles on ClearWisdom but never seriously considered to write an article
myself. Any how, it has been a process of giving several thoughts that
have been crisscrossing my mind a semblance of order and also being
aware of my many attachments and reaffirming many of truths Master talks
about in Zhuan Falun. I truly believe now that writing your experience
is a cultivation process.
I am married to an Indian
and live in Sarnath (near Varanasi) since many years, and go every summer
for several months to Ladakh.
My spiritual journey
has been a long-winded one including everything from traditional to
new age and all kinds of alternative therapies. I often felt very inspired
and deeply touched, but noticed that after a few days these "highs"
disappeared, and I was again my normal self.
I was always in search
of just one true and simple cultivation way. One day a person suddenly visited
me, who had kind of supernormal abilities, and I showed her all the
various books, and she clearly mentioned that Falun Gong (which she even
didn't know herself) would be the best and quickest for me. Having met
so many people and studied so many practices over so many years, I was
not so easily convinced. I read Zhuan Falun here and there, as there
was no one around to tell me to read it from the beginning to end continuously.
I must have been so full with all the other ideas and information that
the deep principles of this book couldn't reveal themselves to me. As
Master says in Zhuan Falun Lecture One
“And this is especially so when we have a lot of practitioners who
learn one practice today, then go and learn some other one tomorrow,
and they turn their own bodies into a big mess, which makes success
just impossible. Others take the main road and cultivate upwards, while
they take all kinds of side roads. When they cultivate in one practice,
the other ones interfere, and when they cultivate in the other ones,
the first one interferes—they’re being interfered with all over
the place, and they can’t cultivate anymore.”
Later in Delhi, I asked
again a Tibetan Rinpoche, whether Falun Gong would be my final path,
which he also clearly reaffirmed. I clearly remember when I started
to do the exercises, there was something like an invisible protection
around me, and I was not any more very sensitive to everything around,
as I had been most of my life.
All my life I was quite
independent, and often went to new and difficult places in the world
to work and live, without any salary, income or securities of any kind....
such as 6 to 7 years in Africa and 6 years in South America, but never
felt lonely or missed other people.... yet with the practice of Falun
Dafa, I often from the bottom of my heart missed other practitioners
and felt very lonely.
As I spend several months
in Ladakh every summer, I introduced Dafa there. We practice daily the
exercises. As there are no parks, we practice on the rooftop of a local
Ladhaki’s house or sometimes in a room. Hardly anyone has ever refused
to put up a poster in his or her shop, restaurant, travel and trekking
agencies, guest house or hotel, internet cafe, etc. Many encouraged
in many ways, collected signatures (Persecution and Organ Harvesting...)
from friends, tourists and many others, distributed flyers, made copies
of VCDs, and showed to family and friends, teachers informed their students,
and principals to teachers, etc. There have been many moving stories
over the years: a tourist visited a local shop, saw the Dafa poster
and said to the shopkeeper: this is very bad, the shopkeeper then asked
"How can truthfulness, compassion, tolerance be bad?" He had
nothing to say and left the shop.
With Dafa everything
is possible, as we all know, nothing is impossible anymore. There have
been countless situations which I thought I could never handle alone,
but I realized again and again that with a sincere and selfless wish
to help others, and to contribute a little for the spread of Dafa, many
doors open, and new possibilities appear, and Master has already arranged
things in detail, we just have to do our part....
There have been times
of confusions, not knowing what to do, when to do, how far to go, and
many challenges are still ahead.
Sometimes tears run down
my face and I ponder what wrong have I done that I am the lone practitioner
here. I feel very lonely.
In the recent Fa Teaching
at 2009 Fa Conference in New York what Master said was a real revelation
for me. To quote Master “
As I just said, this kind of cultivation setting, where one cannot see
what lies ahead and one is immersed in prolonged loneliness, is the
hardest to endure, and it is most apt to lead a person to slack off.
This is the greatest test in cultivation.”
It is not easy to be
disciplined in practice and cultivation, doing Dafa work, especially
when one is the only practitioner. At times one really has to push oneself,
and just go ahead and do things, usually after that, things just happen
by
themselves. Often, in
spite of not feeling so good, tired or even in pain, one is miraculously
filled with new energy, inspiration and often deeper understandings and
new insights..... Of course there are countless little stories of the
many different encounters with the many different people over the years.
I often find so many
reasons why I didn't do well enough and where I could improve, that
I tend to blame myself and run around in circles. Yet I then anyhow
try to be persistent, just continue doing as much as I can, feeling that
Master is with me, and that "Only Master knows" our true heart
and all our sufferings. Even just knowing Dafa is good, can bring good
things in this or future lives for all beings, and whatever people do
or contribute towards Dafa might appear small in this dimension, but
be much bigger in another one.
Thank you Master for
clearly make me understand the purpose of my existence in this life and
on this planet, my duties and responsibilities as a Fa Rectification
Dafa Disciple.
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
Top
- 8. Being selfless
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I am a practitioner from
Bangalore. Each day I evolve as a better person than what I was a day
before and the principles of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance just get
deeper.
I realized the need to
be selfless at each point, however realizing it in action I failed several
times. It was even difficult to make out. As each layer was peeled another
layer was ready to be peeled and sometimes many layers at a time too.
There were several attachments that traced its origin to the attachment
of self. Through diligence in Fa study it became an automatic process
of discerning each thought and action. Most of the times a word spoken,
a thought or a deed was measured against being selfless. It helped me
immensely to do better in cultivation as Master writes in Essentials
for further Advancement: “Cultivation
Practice is to cleanse you from your life’s origin.”
My family was at odds
with me practicing Falun Dafa. However everything settled down slowly.
They had gradually come to accept Dafa. But later as my brother took
up Dafa they could not accept it and things became worse. There was
a lot of disharmony. This was one conflict wherein I always failed to
look within, until I read in Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan: “There is another issue. Remember that
you do your cultivation in ordinary human society. All along you haven’t
done well dealing with the issue of having family members who don’t
cultivate. The expression that I used earlier holds true here, too—a
three-foot block of ice doesn’t form overnight. After you fail to
handle things well at first, the resentment starts to pile up until
it grows serious, and it will become, over time, a rift that seems completely
irreconcilable. This kind of situation will bring difficulty to Dafa
disciples as they attempt to validate the Fa. In every instance, however,
the problem lies with our Dafa disciple. It is because you didn’t
handle the situation well initially that it has turned into what it
has. With many things, it turns out that if you can balance things well
and arrange your affairs correctly, there won’t be any delays brought
to the Dafa things that you do. [The problems] stem precisely from your
not handling things well and overlooking what I just described.”
I was compassionate once,
twice maximally thrice and the fourth time I would think it doesn’t
work. They can’t be saved and give up. But once I read this I enlightened
to a very new scenario. For almost a month and a half since I read this
I took looking within very seriously and at each point when criticized
I saw a problem in me. It helped me break through several attachments.
And very slowly and gradually harmony flowed in the family. Now everything
is fine. One night while having dinner I saw my grandmother’s human
side going to sleep and her knowing side awaken and she told me that
everyone was just there to help me go back to my original true self.
Even a person who passes by me, or speaks just a sentence to me, every
person’s actions and all those incidents I come across all are just
to help me cultivate and upgrade. I was very deeply touched and for
the first time realized that everyone has a knowing heart and a good
side that acknowledges Dafa. Master writes in Explaining the Fa during
the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference: “In clarifying the truth, when you hit
upon a person’s fundamental issues, and at the same time he feels
that Dafa disciples are truly saving him, then I think the side of him
that’s clear about things will show itself.”
Trying to be selfless
has made me detached towards my results at work and academics too. I
give personality excellence training to school students. I had gone
to buy a book that I had to go through to give my training session and
since the book store was closed and would take time to open I went to
meet one of my friends who lived nearby. Through a sharing he made me
look within myself and revealed an attachment deeply hidden that I could
just not let go. My thoughts were deeply revolving around the same and
since I had to teach I bought the book but was unable to concentrate
and didn’t find the means to travel. Thus I was late and at a point
to test me further there was a huge traffic jam and I actually panicked.
It felt like being amidst an ocean of troubles where I was unable to
find the way out. While there were several reasons to get worried there
was just one reason to stay calm and that was I am a cultivator. I chose
the latter one. I closed my eyes and called Master for help. At first
I saw the 8 guardian gods coming down and indeed clearing my mind away.
Two of them became very small and pulled my cheeks and made me smile.
In the sky was displayed a scene that was an answer to all the questions
in mind that were restricting me to let go the attachment and made me
think so much had all gone from their roots. It felt so light. The traffic
started clearing. Yet I reached 25 minutes late and I was reported to
the boss. I was so short of time that I was unable to prepare. Before
I entered the class I was reminded as a cultivator everyone must say
you are a good person and thus asked Master to help me… words just
flowed, each and every part of the session was so much better than it
would be if planned. The students were more cooperative than ever. Everything
was in place. And as I completed the class I had to face my superiors.
My boss told me that not being punctual is something he just doesn’t
tolerate. Yet instead of being annoyed with me he told me “there was
something very important for you to learn from whatever happened so
it’s just ok.”
Coming to academics they
are just too well balanced by ONLY MASTER’S GRACE. I had my final
exams and was not so well prepared for my first exam which was a language
paper and decided to study just a day before the exam. And I was informed
that I had to go to a school for an introductory workshop on Falun Dafa
while my hall ticket was also being issued on the same day and I had
to also go for work and in spite of all study for exams…. Swoosh I
had a clear thought of Dafa being my priority come what may. I managed
to make it to the introduction class. It was blissful. And I arrived
in college and the principal and teachers were engaged in a meeting.
I got delayed to reach to my workplace and stayed calm and asked Master
for help. Then one official cleared all due signatures which would take
about 20 minutes with just one seal and asked me to just meet the principal.
Once the principal finished the meeting I went to him and he just refused
to give me the hall ticket for no justifiable reason. I took it as a
test and remained unmoved and he changed his mind with transformation
in my thoughts. At home while my grandmother asked me I had no fear
and with clear pure thoughts told her that I had gone to take a Falun
Dafa class and she never scolded me in fact didn’t comment at all.
And now was time to study. I had a lot of concentration and energy to
sit through for long hours to study. The question paper is generally
easy while this time it was very difficult comparatively and if I hadn’t
sat up through the night to study I would be unable to do well. It was
all too well arranged. During the course of the remaining exams the
pressure kept increasing and staying calm even more difficult. But once
detached and unmoved several miracles took place.
I always had this strong
wish of doing the three things well irrespective of how busy I got.
But during exam time along with work it just got difficult and yet the
wish wouldn’t fade though laziness would try its best to interfere
as long as the wish was strong. Somehow the time would be made wherein
a fellow practitioner would ask me to send forth righteous thoughts
along and practice the exercises too or Masters Words would just be
flashing while I would be going to sleep and only after I did would
I be able to sleep. And as for truth clarification people would come
looking to get it clarified.
I saw shortcomings in
a fellow practitioner and was worried for him. I don’t like pointing
out as I feel everyone has the Fa and they will enlighten on their own
and I should just look within. I watched the eternal story where it
said that we came down one after another and before parting we urged
each other that when the Fa-rectification starts, when the Fa is wide
spread, be sure to wake up the one lost in desire and tell him the way
back home. I realized my responsibility as a fellow practitioner and
made up my mind that I will talk to him. While I was again stuck as
to what I would tell him, would he feel offended, is it alright for
me to point out… As I studied the Fa I got my answer. Master writes
in Explaining the Fa during the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West
Fa Conference: “When you truly look at things from the perspective
of being responsible to the Fa and truly have a heart that can melt
steel, I just don’t believe that things can’t be handled well. And
don’t insist that another practitioner is no good based on some rigid
concept you have—I, your Master, believe that he’s fine. And don’t
think that it’s hard to communicate. Neither side has lived up to
“great compassion” when doing things. If you can truly embody great
compassion, I think those things that aren’t right will definitely
be rectified.”
“When you lack
wisdom it’s usually caused by your being anxious, being anxious in
your mind to do something, giving it too much importance, and thereby
developing a different type of attachment. Actually, with a lot of things
if you calmly and gently talk to people and handle those things rationally,
you’ll find that your wisdom will flow forth like a spring, and every
sentence of yours will get right to the point, and every sentence will
speak the truth. You should try your best to use righteous thoughts
and try your best to be in the state of a cultivator, and the results
will be excellent.”
While I spoke to him
words just flowed and I was unaware of their origin and each word spoken
was directed where he was falling short. He awakened and overcame his
short comings. I enlightened that purity and compassion is always met
with purity and compassion in return.
Trying to be selfless
has developed in me the art of giving with no motives. It has made me
forget that I need to get in return for what I give. It came to a point
that sending forth righteous thoughts became like a job to me instead
of it being my responsibility. Once my grandmother was sharing with
my mother about how a certain spiritual organization who were sending
prayers are responsible for preventing so many calamities that would
befall and are thus saving lives. It was a clear reminder to my responsibility
towards sending forth righteous thoughts. From that moment I take sending
forth righteous thoughts as an honor for only we practitioners of this
period have this opportunity and indeed it helps reduce a lot of unnecessary
obstacles and keeps one clear minded in cultivation.
Along with being selfless
I have realized to follow the course of nature. Each and everything
is too perfectly arranged and while we
are not attached it is at its best. Master writes in Lecture two of
Zhuan Falun: “In cultivation and practice one should be in a state
free of intention.”
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow
practitioners.
Top
- 9. My cultivation path
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I am from Gwalior and
presently working at Pune.
I have been practicing
Falun Dafa for the past 3 years
In Zhuan Falun, Master
has said:
“As a practitioner,
you must cultivate and temper yourself in the environment of everyday
people and gradually abolish attachments and various desires.”
I have been trying to
conform to Dafa standards in my day to day behavior, sometimes succeeding,
sometimes failing and sometimes gaining the understanding of how to
improve. Here are a few instances from my life to share with you.
I was expecting an amount
of Rupees 50,000 to be deposited to my bank account. But there was an
error in the last 2 digits of the account number and the amount was
by mistake, deposited to another person’s account. This is not a small
sum and on knowing this I felt quite perturbed. I was restless thinking
whether the mistake would be rectified or not. But soon I realized that
nothing happens accidentally in cultivation. By the help of this incident,
I am able to see that I should not get too much attached to money. I
felt much better after this thought. Now I know that irrespective of
my recovering or losing that amount, my mind is stable now and I am
feeling lighter. I understand Master’s words:
“In the community
of cultivators, the relationship between loss and gain is frequently
brought up. Among everyday people, it is also discussed. How should
our practitioners treat losses and gains? It is different from ordinary
people. What everyday people want is personal gain and how to live well
and comfortably. Our practitioners are not this way, but exactly the
opposite.” - Zhuan Falun, Lecture Four
In my workplace, there
is an appraisal system to evaluate employees for promotion or salary
increment. In earlier times I used to prepare painstakingly for the
appraisal to receive good reports and anxiously wait for salary hike,
promotions etc. After becoming a Dafa practitioner, I view this in a
different light. This time during that phase I was not too much worried
and completed that process from my side as it is normal phenomenon and
I m no longer worried about the results.
“We simply treat
the issue of personal, vested interest with indifference, while in other
areas we are wise. In terms of conducting scientific research projects
or carrying out assignments from our supervisors or other duties, we
are very clear-minded and perform them well. Only terms f our personal
benefits or our interpersonal conflicts will we care less.” Lecture Nine,
Zhuan Falun.
Prior to obtaining the
Fa, I used to be vulnerable to the surrounding and behavior of people.
Anything unpleasant could make me unhappy and sad very easily. Interpersonal
conflicts and mind games of people made me wonder why these kinds of
incidences are happening with me. Now I know that these things are results
of my own karmas and they are helping me to repay it.
“In cultivation
practice, there may be two scenarios when dealing with specific conflicts
or when others treat you badly. One is that you might have treated this
person badly in your previous life. You feel in your heart that it is
unfair, ‘How can this person treat me like this?’ Then why did you
treat this person that way in the past? You might claim that you actually
did not know it at that time, and this life has nothing to do with the
other life. That does not work. There is another issue. In conflicts,
the issue of transforming karma is involved. Therefore, in dealing with
specific conflicts we should be forgiving instead of acting like ordinary
people.”
After practicing Dafa
I realized that during such situations, when one applies such principles,
by practicing compassion when we really forgive others, I experienced
that I really feel better and lighter.
Also sometimes I felt
that there is only opposition from family or from my relatives when I
want to go for Fa study or for Dafa exercises. They try to stop me a
lot. Whenever I go for any other thing there will not be more questions
and arguments. Also I felt some times that people are becoming unhappy
when we do the Dafa exercises or study the Fa, though we are not disturbing
them. I was thinking why unnecessarily people are becoming angry? I
got the answer when I remembered the Master’s words that “....whoever has acquired the karma
feels uncomfortable.” “While
one is practicing qigong, one’s karma must be transformed. You will
not gain without loss and what you lose are bad things. You must sacrifice.”
Another incident is,
in the past, I used to give fake medical bills, LTA bills to get tax
benefit on that part of salary. I used to think that everybody in organization
is doing the same and more or less management is also aware of that
then it is a common thing. Later I realized that may be it is a common
thing and everybody is doing the same, but the majority is not always
right. I am doing wrong and not practicing truthfulness. This year I
didn’t repeat my mistake.
Once I saw a message
in my mobile: ‘If you answer this question you will get pearl
set free!!’ I answered the question and it turned out to be correct.
But again I got a message: ‘your answer is right and you are eligible,
if you answer the next question right, you will get the prize’. I
remembered the incident given in Zhuan Falun that once a practitioner’s
child won a luxury junior bike then he donated the money to his workplace.
Suddenly I realized that this is a test for me to check whether I can
give up my attachment. I should not go after these things.
Another incident I would
like share, is what I came across when I went to Nagpur last year for
the Band event. It was a celebration event of particular group of people
in India who left Hinduism and accepted Buddhism. At the end of that
event, some people started taking an oath. The words of the oath were
against Hinduism and an appeal to accept Buddhism. At that moment I
felt very bad and I was just waiting for it to end. My heart was unable
to bear the criticism against the religion in which I was born and brought
up. After many days I realized that it was also my attachment and that
I should let go off it.
I try to understand about
cultivation by Fa study.
“Many different
attachments must be discarded, for the loss we discuss is one in a broad
sense. During the entire course of cultivation, we should lose all everyday
people’s attachments and various desires.” - Zhuan Falun
When we start giving
up our attachments our everyday life becomes easier and we do not have
unnecessary tensions resulting from our worry for the future which is
again an attachment.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow
practitioners!
Top
- 10. Falun Dafa’s impact on different aspects in my life
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
Firstly, How I changed
my mind about getting things without pursuit.
I am from a middle class
orthodox Christian Family in Kerala. From my childhood I had developed
many desires and pursuits to become an engineer, become a wealthy person
and have good fortune. I said my prayers regularly. My prayers had two
sides-- one for my own selfish interest and the other which seemed less
selfish,(like heal illness for my family members, get good fortune
for relatives and friends which in fact was selfish too).So I usually
got what I wanted through prayers or putting money in the Donation box.
When I had exams I usually prayed to God "please give me good marks
in the exams. Make my exam easy and I will put money if it so happens".
When my family members were suffering I would pray “Please heal my
relatives’ illness then I will put money in the donation box”. Sometimes
I would cry while praying. According to my prayers things were happening.
So I would put money in the donation box. Looking at the results I would
go to that particular church and pray again for some other thing. Then
when I got what I wanted I would put more money into the donation box
again.
I thought things were
going well
From Zhuan Falun, Master’s
discourse on Consecration corrected my thinking and praying style. How
selfish my kind of praying was! Thus my selfish praying style changed.
But I had one doubt that as a practitioner if we remove our pursuits
and desires how will we get a job or good career?
I was in my final year
engineering. Many companies come to college for campus recruitment.
Many interviews I had appeared for but I was not successful. There was
pressure from family and friends since a lot of my friends had got job
placements. My family is not well to do. I had taken education
loans but I did not waver a bit. I held on to Master’s Words in Zhuan
Falun :
“When a person is born,
a profile of his whole life will exist in a specific dimension. In other
words, where he is in his life and what he should do are all included
in it. Who has arranged his life? It is obviously done by a higher life.
For instance, in our ordinary human society, after birth one belongs
to a certain family, a certain school, and upon growing up a certain
workplace; various contacts in society are made through a person’s
job. That is, the layout of the entire society has been planned this
way.”
Master’s words have
given me wisdom to go forward. I committed my mind that I will go through
the path which is arranged for me. I am ready to face anything happening
in my life. So I was not at all worried about my future. I thought to
myself “Something is arranged for me. Time for it is not yet ripe.
I am ready to face that”.
Thus I didn’t pray
for getting a job. I thought to myself let it happen according to Master’s
arrangement.
Later, in an interview
with a software company I got the job
Thus Falun Dafa has given
me such wonderful principles to live with and greater freedom of thinking
and peace of mind when facing everyday life problems.
Through FA STUDY and
applying these principles in real life situations we can cultivate our
mind and elevate to higher levels of thinking.
Secondly, How I
got a chance to cultivate selflessness.
I work for a software
company. My colleague has 5 years experience and has good relationship
with the client. But he is not proficient in the technology we are using.
I am good in technology but poor in communication with customers. I
usually help him resolve the technical issues and I give tips to solve
the problems he is facing. One day I made a mistake. When the client
asked him, my colleague tells the client “he is not fit to do that
work”. He covers himself well. But that problem resolved smoothly
and my onsite member told me the client has a bad impression about me
due that person. When I came to know about it I became a little nervous
and thought I should get even with him by not helping him. But I remained
calm and Master’s words from (2004 Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago
Conference) came to my mind…. "Exactly because you people have
those attachments, there exist factors that hit on your attachments;
and exactly because those attachments of yours are stirred up, you get
irritated; when all of you have those attachments, the situation where
everyone is irritated by the person who hit on their attachments comes
about. If you can all keep a calm and steady state of mind while being
assaulted by strong words, and you’re not at all affected, then see
if those factors still exist.” I looked within and found that in my
mind selfish thoughts about fame and saving face were there. But I had
acted according to the Fa. Next day, I didn’t tell anything related
to this issue to him. I continued to help him. When I face tribulation
two kinds of thoughts come to my mind. One originates from attachments
which contain anger, hatred and feeling that my self interest is lost.
The other thought is from the Fa. I had committed to follow according
to the Fa. So I was able to work and help him the next day too. Thus
we need to evaluate the situation according to the Fa . To get the thoughts
from the Fa when we are facing tribulations we need to Study the FA
well. And in Tribulations we need to put the Thoughts from the FA into
action. Thus we can cultivate away the human shell of attachment and
notion.
Thirdly, How I cultivated
away the interference from my religious belief:
Since I am from an orthodox
Christian family whenever, I did anything bad, in my mind some feeling
of wrong doing would come. So I usually go to church for confession.
But a day or two days or a week later I would commit the same mistake
and go for confession. This cycle was repeating. Confession became a
convenient consolation tool for doing the wrong. But when I started
cultivation in Falun Dafa I could overcome and remove many of my wrong
thoughts and actions immediately. Through Falun Dafa I could remove
those wrong notions and attachments which religious texts wanted me
to remove. Thus through Falun Dafa I became capable of reaching the
standards of what was given in the religious text.
Master says in (Lecture
at the First Conference in North America March 1998) “People nowadays
are indeed degenerate. Gods don’t look after them anymore. No religion
is being looked after by gods, since gods see that humankind is too
depraved and they no longer regard human beings as human.”
Master says (Teaching
the Fa at the Eastern U.S. Fa Conference March 1999) “The religions
in human society have gone through a time period of about a thousand
years plus, and over the course of time, they have lost what’s most
fundamental and essential to a religion. In other words, they can no
longer accomplish the goal of returning people to heaven by elevating
them to meet the standard for Consummation. This is to say that in modern
times they can no longer serve this purpose, and that people are only
living in their own imaginations. That’s why I chose to teach Dafa
now.”
Later through FA study
I realized many of the supposedly miracles and healing happening in
today’s religion were through Low level spirits. And no high level
Gods are taking care of religion.
Thus I understood why
I was not able to remove my attachments through my religious beliefs
but able to do the same through FALUN DAFA.
In Cochin, Kerala with
other practitioners we started doing exercises and distributed flyers.
One middle aged Christian couple got the flyer and asked me about my
religion. The next day they came to me and said during their prayers
they got a MESSAGE that asked me to stop the practice. And they added
why was I going through the Hindu style of belief? But I firmly believed
in Dafa and was able to recognize it as interference to my practice.
When you look from outside you may think that they were trying to help
me but actually why would any God hinder a person who practices Truthfulness,
Compassion and Tolerance? So it was interference from low level spirits.
If I had not studied the Fa very well then I would have failed this
test. Later I understood unlike other practice Dafa Practitioners should
not be driven by or dragged by any kind of external Messages. Master
has already given all the Fa to us. So we need to handle every situation
by evaluating according to the Fa.
Thank you Master! Thank you,
fellow practitioners.
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- 11. A constant sense of improvement and doing the three things well
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I obtained Dafa in the
year 2000. When I look back at my journey of cultivation, I find nothing
extraordinary. Yet as a person I have constantly felt a sense of improvement
– improvement in endurance, understanding others, being less concerned
about losses and gains, being less selfish and being less fearful of
uncertainties of life.
Obtaining Dafa
As a child I was always
attracted towards spirituality. I understood early that the purpose
of life is not to live like an ordinary person but to realize higher
knowledge. Yet I knew that to pursue higher knowledge while living in
secular world is not easy. Soon I forgot my higher aspirations lost
in everyday life.
Even though I used to
practice yoga and meditation regularly, my health was not good. I had
low immunity from diseases and was diagnosed with high blood pressure.
I did not want to depend on medicines for the rest of my life. I tried
some qigong techniques also but results were not satisfactory. Then,
in the year 2000 I read an article about a spiritual system called Falun
Dafa in a health magazine. According to the article, this system became
so popular in China since its introduction in 1992 that it was being
practiced by 70 – 100 million people by word of mouth publicity. Then
the Chinese government banned it in 1999 and started persecution. I
became curious as to why such a good system was being persecuted in
China.
A few months later I
came to know that my brother had learned Falun Dafa exercises from a
few foreign practitioners who were on visit to India. He gave
me Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa, and also taught me the
exercises. I started reading Zhuan Falun and immediately understood
that it was not an ordinary book. Master had explained high level topics
clearly and directly without relying on other classical texts. As I
had some knowledge of other spiritual systems, I came to understand
that they cultivated ones assistance consciousness. Only Zhuan Falun
taught the way of cultivation of main consciousness. I also understood
that reading Zhuan Falun and doing 5 sets of exercises can actually
lead to a disease-free life and cultivation of body i.e. conversion
of cells of body in to high energy matter. I was highly fascinated by
these topics and thought that I had got what I was looking for. A few
days later I also felt body purification process after which my body
felt very light. After that I understood that I had no diseases.
On the one hand I was
overjoyed by benefits from this new system such as lightness of being
and clarity of mind, on the other hand my external environment became
increasingly difficult. I was transferred to another city. Living conditions
and job environment became harsh. My wife also did not support the practice
as she felt I was taking time away from family for doing Fa study and
exercises. This was as Master said, “Why
are there suddenly so many problems? Everything goes wrong. People mistreat
him, and his boss also does not favor him. Even the situation at home
becomes very tense. Why are there so many problems all of a sudden?
This person himself might not get it. Because of his good inborn quality,
he has reached a certain level that brings about this situation. Yet
how can that be a practitioner’s final criterion for completing cultivation?
It is far from the end of cultivation practice! You must continue to
upgrade yourself. Because of that little amount of your inborn quality
you have reached this state. In order to ascend further, the standard
must be raised as well.” -(Zhuan Falun, Lecture-4).
Meanwhile, a practitioner from another city informed me about subsequent
lectures of Master such as- Changchun Lecture, Lectures in United States,
Lecture in Switzerland, Lecture in Beijing, Lecture in Singapore etc
and e-mailed the same to me. I read them non-stop and felt the profoundness
of Dafa. As I continued to practice further, the situations changed.
My work environment became stable and seeing changes in me, my wife
and parents also started to practice.
Improving by participating
in Dafa projects
As I was the main contact
person for Dafa activities for my city, I used to get attention of foreign
practitioners as well as practitioners of other cities. I had also helped
in translation of Falun Gong and Zhuan Falun in Hindi for which other
practitioners used to praise me. Due to this I developed feeling that
I was a superior practitioner. It covered up many of my attachments
such as attachment to comfort, attachment of feeling important etc.
Meanwhile, a practitioner from another city shifted to our city. We
participated in various group Dafa activities such as distributing flyers
at public places, organizing introduction workshops, participating in
book fairs etc. He was very blunt in pointing out my attachment to comfort.
He also pointed out that as coordinator I should not only tell others
to work but do the physical work myself also. He reminded Masters teaching
that, “But a junior monk
who cooks meals might not be of poor inborn quality. The more the junior
monk suffers, the easier it is for him to achieve the Unlocking of Gong.
The more comfortable the senior monks’ lives are, the harder it is
for them to reach the state of Unlocking Gong since there is the issue
of karma’s transformation. The junior monk always works hard and tirelessly.
It is quicker for him to repay his karma and become enlightened. Perhaps
one day he achieves the Unlocking of Gong all of a sudden.” -(Zhuan
Falun, Lecture-7). This was difficult
for me to hear these words but in my heart I was thankful to him.
Master used many other
settings to expose my various other attachments such as not following
course of nature, attachment to money and selfishness etc. As said by
Master, “Do you realize
that as long as you’re a cultivator, in any environment or under any
circumstances, I will use any troubles or unpleasant things you come
across—even if they involve work for Dafa, or no matter how good or
sacred you think they are—to eliminate your attachments and expose
your demon-nature so that it can be eliminated, for your improvement
is what’s most important.” -(Essentials for Further Advancement).
Fa Rectification
period cultivation
Initially we were content
in doing exercises and studying the Fa. When practitioners from abroad
used to visit our city and used to tell media and people about brutal
persecution going on in China I used to think that this would scare
the new people away. I used to think that we should only tell about
goodness of Dafa and not about persecution as this was not relevant
to India. Then a foreign practitioner kindly pointed out to me that
truth clarification is responsibility of each Dafa practitioner. She
also gave me a copy of Masters Lecture of Washington D.C. International
Fa Conference (July, 2002). At that time I could not fully grasp the
concept of Fa rectification period cultivation. However, my understanding
improved gradually as I continued to read other recent articles of Master.
In recent years we have
participated in various truth clarification projects such as distributing
information material to media and V.I.P.s, Truth-Compassion-Tolerance
Art Exhibition, activities for exposing organ harvesting in China and
inviting Divine Land Marching Band to Indian cities. These projects
have give opportunity to Indian practitioners to work in group and improve
as one body. Overall, I feel that Indian practitioners have matured
as a whole. We have larger projects in front of us such as Shen Yun,
Epoch Times and NTDTV. A few years back these seemed impossible to us
but now look reachable.
I would also like to
point out that we have to overcome many obstacles in our personal cultivation
and group working. We can take guidance from Teacher’s words in this
regard:
“There are also
some people who think that since they are project coordinators, they
should be immune to criticism. And then some people who have special
talents in some regard or other won’t take criticism from people.
Another group won’t hear anyone out on account of having a negative
opinion about the other person. It comes in all shapes and sizes. Being
unwilling to listen to others’ remarks stems from a range of attachments.”
(Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan-2006).
Quoting from Fa
Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference:
“Real-life experience
has shown that the human style of management is quite effective, so
why don't you use it? Perhaps that format for doing things is to be
left to the future. But if you're telling me that with your managerial
process nobody listens to anyone, then could that format be passed on
to the future? No, that wouldn't work. If people don't want to listen
whenever you assign something and they just want to do whatever suits
their fancy, and each does things his own way, could that ever work?
It's just like when this fist goes out--it's strong when everyone is
clenched together. (Master makes a fist.) But if you're saying that
this one wants to do this, that one wants to do that, and the next one
something else (spreading the five fingers apart and pointing to each
finger), then that's weak, and as soon as it goes out, it will be repelled,
right? You need to have a plan and organize things, coordinate well,
and cooperate with each other.”
With this I’ll end
my sharing. Kindly point out anything not appropriate.
Thank you, Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
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- 12. I find my Master
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
For me the most wonderful
thing in life is obtaining the Fa. I feel I waited thousands of years
for this opportunity and our benevolent Master has welcomed us to rise
above the painful environment we are languishing in.
It all started in January
2001 when some practitioners from Singapore came to India to introduce
Falun Dafa in Bangalore city. My back pain was a blessing in disguise
to obtain the Fa. Right from a very young age I have always pondered over
as to why I am here and where I have to return. So I looked for various
spiritual practices and momentarily I would feel peaceful inside, but
the search within continued till I obtained Falun Dafa. As Master writes
in Zhuan Falun: “When ones
Buddha-nature emerges, it will shake the world of ten directions”
Whoever sees it will come to give a hand and help this person out unconditionally.
I admit I had come looking
for something to relieve my pain, but as I continued doing the exercises
and reading Zhuan Falun I realized I was suffering because of my own
karma. Master says in Zhuan Falun: “In
order to cure illness or eliminate karma these people must practice
cultivation and return to their original true selves”
Then the question arises
what is cultivation? Master writes in Zhuan Falun:
“To tell you
the truth the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of
constantly giving up human attachments. In ordinary human society, people
compete with, deceive and harm each other for a little personal gain.
All these mentalities must be given up.”
I realized my search
ended and I had found my Master. As I progressed in my cultivation I
knew in my heart that I have to share this wonderful practice with others.
But I also gained an understanding that I should not be driven by the
attachment of pursuit. I truly believe if one really wants to cultivate,
Master arranges everything for us. Due to Master's benevolent arrangement
Falun Dafa started spreading in various schools and some schools are
regularly practicing the exercises and making an attempt to start studying
the Fa on a regular basis. Some principals learnt the exercises first
and were relieved of their long standing ailments and introduced Falun
Dafa to their students whereas others were touched by the universal
principles of Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance and wanted the
students to make it their way of life. It hadn’t been easy for me,
whether it was introducing to a new school or organizing any activity
for truth clarification. I used to suffer from extreme physical pain
and often thought I may not be able to make it another day. Then I used
to be reminded of Master's poem
“Physical pains
count little as suffering
Indeed cultivating
the mind is hardest
Each and every
barrier must be broken through
And every where
does evil lurk
Abundant troubles
rain down together,
All to see can
you pull through ”
During the process of
organizing activities I came across many practitioners from foreign
countries who did Dafa work with a complete heart of Compassion. I was
very touched by their compassionate nature, although they are used to
a very high standard of living. When they come to India it was very
different. We sometimes were not able to cater to their basic needs.
But they always had a practitioner’s mindset and were very forbearing.
I realized that most of the time that I organized activities, it was
with a human mindset. Master gave me an opportunity to attend the Taiwan
Fahui. Here I saw the magnificent way in which practitioners organize
activities. I learnt a lot from this experience and from here on, I
believe we should not have a single human thought while doing Dafa work.
Activities in Dafa actually help us let go of various attachments. If
we always have the thought of saving sentient beings we can do better.
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow
practitioners.
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- 13. Understanding karmic relationships
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I am from Bangalore.
I was doing Pranic Healing for 3 months before learning DAFA. Initially
while my friend introduced me to Falun Dafa, he told me that this is
the ultimate. I didn’t believe him, rather I would say some forces
were stopping me from learning it. My friend gave me Falun Gong to read.
As I started reading I could feel something revolving in my lower abdomen
continuously for many days but didn’t know what it was. Later I realized
it was the Falun rotating in the lower abdomen. One fine day my friend
took me to his friends place and she was teaching exercises to practitioners
who came to learn DAFA. I too joined them instantly. I was feeling comfortable
with the exercises. While doing the last exercise, the sitting meditation
I felt a very huge eye like an eye of a horse staring at me deeply.
As Master writes in lecture
2 of Zhuan Falun:
“As a person
practices, he may suddenly see a large eye before his eyes, scaring
him abruptly. This scare is unusually great, and he will not dare to
practice qigong after that. How frightening! A blinking eye that is
so big is looking at you, and it is vividly clear. Consequently, some
people call it a demon’s eye, while others call it a Buddha’s eye,
and so on. In fact, it is your own eye. A number of our practitioners
will be able to feel or see this eye.”
Because it embodies the
same nature as the universe, it is very innocent and also curious. It
looks in to examine whether your Celestial Eye is open and if it can
see things. It looks inside at you as well. At this point your Celestial
Eye is open. While it looks at you, you will be scared upon suddenly
seeing it. In fact, this is your own eye.
I realized that my celestial
eye opened as I was practicing.
It’s been 3 months
now that I am practicing DAFA diligently. I make it a point to practice
for 2 hrs in a day. This helped me in several ways. I had vision problem
and I got rid of my spectacles on the 2nd day of my practice.
Now its 3months since I have not used spectacles even while studying.
I even lost a lot of weight. I seem to be bubbling with energy throughout
the day in all the activities I do and don’t feel tired anymore.
As I studied the Fa I
realized the importance of practicing only one cultivation way. I was
a very religious person; visiting temples regularly, doing pooja daily
at home and so on. Fa study made me understand the truth of the universe
at different levels. Now I have transformed completely. Even my family
members are a bit disturbed. However I try to explain to them. I also
got rid of gemstones I used to wear and had faith in.
I healed a few of them
while I practiced Pranic healing. The patients whom I healed had a relapse
of their illness and I didn’t know why… I looked for the answer
and I got it as I read it in Zhuan Falun lecture 1:
“Some people
think that treating patients, curing their illnesses, and improving
their health are good deeds. In my view, they have not really cured
the illnesses. Instead of removing them, they have either postponed
or transformed the illnesses. To really dispel such tribulations, karma
must be eliminated. If one could truly cure an illness and completely
remove such karma, one’s level would have to be quite high. One would
have already seen a fact: The principles of ordinary human society cannot
be casually violated. In the course of cultivation practice, a practitioner,
out of his or her compassion, can do some good deeds by helping treat
diseases and heal others’ illnesses, or maintain their health—these
are permitted. However, one cannot completely heal other people’s
illnesses.”
I understood the karmic
relationship and I got the answer to my question and my faith deepened
and realized this is the path I wanted to follow.
As following the principles
of Zhen-Shan-Ren required me to give up my anger I became determined
to let it go. There would be several things that would come all together
to trigger me to get angry. For instance, while riding someone would
simply keep honking, or would come my way, while I would study a lot
of times unnecessary phone calls would keep coming. However I could
manage to remain calm from within.
Studying the Fa further
made me clear on so many complicated things that seem to be so simple
now. I am now able to follow the course of nature and have developed
acceptance. I have realized the need to let go and the importance of
looking within.
Sending forth righteous
thoughts has made my determination firmer and faith deeper. I mostly
see some bad things while I send righteous thoughts but as I continue
to send forth righteous thoughts without being affected they get eliminated.
Thank you Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
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- 14. Path of Cultivation
Greetings Teacher! Greetings fellow practitioners!
I have been practicing
Falun Dafa for the past four years and two months approximately.
The practice has helped
provide good health and also temper my will. Earlier when I started
practicing I had many problems with my health. A major one was chronic
sinusitis that troubled me every now and then. It was tough sometimes
to even move with friends and relatives, it was very embarrassing. After
the start of the practice my Sinusitis disappeared. With regular Exercises
I saw that the body was getting toned and sculpted as though when I
was going to the gymnasium regularly.
In the beginning when
reading the Fa it used to be reading at the surface level, but with
continuous reading of "ZHUAN FALUN" & "Master’s Fa conference Lectures" everyday, it went
deeper and deeper. The path of cultivation though sometimes difficult
feels that it was made easy by "Master".
Two particular things
I still remember about what transpired in my subconscious or a dream
state. In the beginning just a few days after I started the practice,
I heard "ZHUAN FALUN" with a bell-gong going off in my head
for three times repeatedly. Another one I saw myself walking on mountain
ranges with few people who were wearing yellow robes and we were following
one Master. And we were calling him out as Lao Zi. These incidents further
strengthened my faith and I started to put more efforts in cultivation.
Each time incidents arising
out of either conflicts or emotions, I started to put the Fa directly
.I tried to analyze whether I was wrong or right and improved my Xinxing
. Every time I got an answer without fail. Constantly reading the Fa
and diligently following what "Master" says helped me overcome
any problem, be it conflicts with my parents, friends circle or my workplace,
it was duly resolved when I took a step back as "Master" says.
Initially it was hard to forbear because I used to mix emotions at times.
But resolutely letting it go resolved whatever crisis I met very easily.
Every time I could easily see the difference in my behavior, even my
state of mind and heart had changed tremendously.
When I make mistakes,
"Master's" words always guide me to do even better. The more
firm I am getting and diligently following the requirements of the "Fa"
taught by the "Master" the better person I become. Sometimes
it feels that I am not cultivating at all but then after a while the
void that is present passes off and I understand even that was a test
to find out whether I firmly believed in "Fa" and what "Master"
has taught us.
Each time after the improvement
I think I have done well enough, just to see that I have fallen short
in so many places. Each passing day now is filled with "Fa"
without which I feel incomplete. I sense "Master" telling
me to correct and giving me hints every-time I fall short of the requirements.
Sometimes I stubbornly hold on to human thinking a lot just to find
myself wallowing in it, then when I make effort to come out I feel so
refreshed and completely free of any emotions or thoughts.
Tribulations I thought
earlier were hurdles but now it seems as though the tribulations are
helping me understand the "Fa" taught by "Master".
It feels as the clouds of illusion that are enveloping my mind are getting
cleared. Clarity of my mind & heart is emerging. I am able to pinpoint
the mistakes even in my thoughts and sense that I am being freed constantly.
I am now able to distinguish between being in human state & being
in a true cultivator state.
It is as "Master"
says it is not that Cultivation in itself is difficult but it is Qing
that we are attached to that we are supposed to let go off.
I think we all are truly
blessed by "Master".
Thank you Master.
Thank you, fellow practitioners.
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