Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- Only By Studying the Fa Well With a Calm Mind Can We Break Through Our Attachments
- Recurrence of Sickness Karma May Reveal a Lopsided View of Dafa
- Where There Is True Understanding of the Fa, There Is Real Letting Go of Oneself
- Breaking Through Individualism is also Not Acknowledging the Old Forces
- Base Our Thoughts and Actions on Fa Principles Instead of Human Emotions
- Living Beings Should Naturally Be Good
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the January 2010 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
We hope with the curtains coming down on 2009, we will come out of the recession and inflation and put an end to the scourge of terrorism.
Wish you a great 2010. Hope Master’s message will 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
This issue has a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom with Master’s comments. The articles 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 in Bangalore had visited a leading mall during the experience sharing conference to clarify the truth and demonstrate the exercises. Since then many people are visiting the practice site to learn the exercises.
The mall authorities invited the practitioners to visit the mall again on New Year’s Eve.
Practitioners in Hyderabad have booked a stall at a Fair which will go on through January and the first week of February.
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- 3. Only By Studying the Fa Well With a Calm Mind Can We Break Through Our Attachments
Mainland China Dafa disciples
(Clearwisdom.net) Whenever I read on Clearwisdom Net or heard about
fellow practitioners being arrested by the evil, I always felt very
sad, since all the persecution causes losses to Dafa to different degrees.
When examining the reasons, my personal understanding is that we failed
to meet the requirement of Fa-study overall, and thus the evil old forces
were able to take advantage of our loopholes. In order to achieve an
overall upgrade, we must truly act according to the requirements from
Teacher and the Fa, that is, doing well in Fa-study, sending forth righteous
thoughts, and clarifying the truth. Only when we truly act according
to that, can we improve.
Although I have kept up Fa-study every
day, I was unable to really settle down and study the Fa with a calm
mind--most of time I treated it like a routine. Some fellow practitioners
who are involved in various Dafa work, have little time for Fa-study
compared to others. Teacher said, "As a Dafa disciple, in order
to do Fa-rectification things well and to consummate everything of yours
well, you need to study the Fa a lot. No matter how busy you are, you
cannot skip Fa-study. This is what can best ensure your reaching Consummation."
("A Message" in Essentials for Further Advancement II)
How can we upgrade quickly as a whole?
In order to catch up with the overall Fa-rectification process, every
practitioner must start to do well individually. By focusing our minds
on the Fa, we must try to make every single thought consistent with
the Fa. If we notice fellow practitioners having problems, we need to
point it out in time, so that they can correct themselves.
I have noticed some phenomena among our
practitioners. Some practitioners who are not so diligent feel pressure
and dare not do any Dafa work upon seeing the evil still running rampant.
Some other practitioners always rely on an everyday person or changes
in ordinary society to end the persecution. When their ideas or hopes
are not realized, they are disappointed. Some other practitioners think
the persecution has been going on for too long, and they are even in
despair. All these ways of thinking negatively affect our upgrading
as a whole. Teacher said, "When you've been persecuted or been
under pressure in the ordinary society, it's hard to prevent your human
thoughts from having an effect, so some ordinary people's thoughts might
surface, but don't think too much of it. Fa-rectification disciples,
the persecution has already come to this stage, and Dafa has already
come to this stage in the Fa-rectification: what's there for us to still
be afraid of? Haven't you already seen your future very well? So when
it comes to those evil beings and their arrangements, as long as your
righteous thoughts are strong enough you can reject them, repel them,
and make them helpless. But being among ordinary people and facing these
things, although you've had different takes on things, and there might
even be more of us who've had different understandings and who've displayed
some human thoughts, it's not all that surprising. That's because while
you're improving yourself in cultivation, your path of validating Dafa,
of saving sentient beings, and of moving towards the final Consummation
is going to be a bumpy one. What's key is that you take every
step well after you come to realize something." ("Teaching
the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") In my
understanding, only by doing well in Fa-study with a calm mind, can
we break through all the attachments and walk every step well in the
Fa-rectification. Everything we are doing, and every step we are walking,
are rooted in the determined faith in our great Teacher and Dafa. If
every Dafa disciple can firmly believe in Dafa, and strive forward diligently,
it will accelerate our upgrading as one body.
Right now, I have noticed that some fellow
practitioners are very busy and have very little time in Fa-study. Some
practitioners who make Dafa materials even think the more material they
prepare, the higher their xinxing (mind nature) level will be, etc.
Of course, I am not saying that we should do less Dafa work, but what
is more important is to have an upright mind. If we act according to
Teacher's requirements of the three things for us, and do them with
a calm mind, then we can effectively validate the Fa. Dafa work is sacred
and great, and no human notion is allowed to interfere; otherwise the
evil can easily take advantage of our omission. A while ago, I had a
strong attachment to accomplishing things, and unnoticeably many other
attachments also arose. Although I kept studying the Fa and sending
forth righteous thoughts, my mind was not calm, and I failed to truly
have good Fa-study results. As time went on and attachments grew, I
considered myself better than others. I always wanted to do more things,
and contacted fellow practitioners more. In this way, I paid less and
less attention to cultivating myself. The omission became more and more
severe, and finally, the evil took advantage of it. Although I left
the vicious detention center, I indeed have caused some loss to the
Fa.
The lessons we have learned should make
us more mature. I think that during the Fa-rectification, no matter
which fellow practitioners have problems, it can be a loss to Dafa--a
loss for us as one body. Thus, we must send forth righteous thoughts
to help them. Meanwhile, when seeing that others have a problem, we
should also look inward ourselves to see if there is something wrong
within us and therefore understand the Fa on the basis of the Fa. Teacher
said, "As I've said, everything that happens today in the ordinary
society is the result of Dafa disciples' thoughts. Even though the old
forces do exist, if you don't have those thoughts they can't do anything.
When your righteous thoughts are strong enough the old forces can't
do a thing." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference
in Philadelphia, U.S.A.") Thus, in my understanding, as long as
we act according to requirements of the Fa, and send forth powerful
righteous thoughts, the evil cannot do anything no matter how rampant
they are.
Teacher said, "The strength of the
righteous has tipped the scales in its favor as far as they go. Those
evil beings can't hold up now. The wicked people in the world might
seem so evil, but that's actually just arranged by the old forces."
("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
The Fa-rectification has proceeded to
this step; we Dafa disciples should all do even better in Fa-study,
strive forward without letting up, and do better in the Fa-rectification.
I would like to share Teacher's words with you to conclude this article:
"Your righteous thoughts and everything you accomplish come from
the Fa, so no matter how busy you are, don't neglect Fa-study."
"Dafa disciples' futures are certainly bright--they'll absolutely
be bright." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in
Philadelphia, U.S.A.")
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- 4. Recurrence of Sickness Karma May Reveal a Lopsided View of Dafa
By Dafa practitioners in Qinghai Province
(Clearwisdom.net) Recently
some practitioners have experienced recurrence of "sickness karma,"
which has caused an adverse effect in the environment around them. There
are different types, and we would like to share our view on a few such
cases in our region.
We believe that the so-called "recurrence
of sickness karma" some practitioners experience has something
to do with the way they clarify the truth and their understanding of
the Fa. Some practitioners often refer to themselves when clarifying
the truth, saying that they used to have very poor health and suffered
from numerous illnesses, and that all the illnesses disappeared after
they took up cultivation practice and now they enjoy very good health,
and so on and so forth. At the time, what they said had a good effect
in promoting the Fa, in clarifying the truth and validating the Fa.
However, their understanding of the Fa
has failed to keep up with the progress of the Fa-rectification, or
for some perhaps their understanding of the Fa has stayed at the level
of perceptual knowledge, or possibly they only use one way to clarify
the truth and have an attachment to the health improvements they experienced.
When they get hold of certain truth clarification pamphlets, they tend
to focus on the pursuit that, "One can gain good health and turn
bad luck into good if they keep saying 'Dafa is good,'" and consequently,
they have failed to demonstrate the beauty and the solemnity of Dafa
through their own pure energy field.
With the same truth-clarifying materials,
other practitioners are able to achieve very good results in their truth-clarification
efforts, thus enabling everyday people to think of Dafa when in a critical
situation and to develop righteous thoughts. However, some practitioners
could not let go of the attachment they had developed after their illnesses
disappeared. Their understanding of the Fa has stayed at this level
for a long time and they have been taken advantage of by evil factors.
In recent years, some practitioners have
shown serious recurrence of sickness karma, which led to doubts in those
to whom they had clarified the truth. Some people even thought that
practitioners had lied to them. Because of this, these practitioners
developed a desire to ask Master to cure their "illnesses."
When the sickness karma became serious, they used their human notions
in their hearts to negotiate conditions for their cultivation with Master
and used all kinds of excuses to ask Master to eliminate their "sickness
karma."
They have failed to enlighten, and in
a maze of ordinary society and when the evil targeted their weaknesses
and enlarged their human notions, they began to complain about Master
and Dafa. Amid their family members' concern and pressure, they went
into hospitals for treatment. After they were discharged, they were
still not clearheaded and were confused about whether it was the power
of the Fa or the medicine that had cured them, or whether they were
helped by the righteous thoughts from fellow practitioners or the care
from their family members.
When they found it hard to "endure"
the "sickness pain," these practitioners who were surrounded
by evil could not remember Master and Dafa, and even if they thought
of Master and Dafa, all they could think was asking Master to eliminate
their pain and to save their lives. These practitioners did not have
strong righteous thoughts when the evil attacked them and they still
clung to their own human notions, and they failed to view the situation
from the perspective of the Fa. They treated what they were experiencing
as sickness, and when they found it hard to endure the pain and the
misery that were similar to the symptoms they used to suffer before
cultivation, their righteous belief became less firm. After they were
discharged from the hospital, they knew that their "illness"
was not cured and yet they could not find anything wrong with their xinxing or their understanding, so they began to blame
everything and everyone by themselves.
One practitioner encountered an unprecedented
attack from the dark minions just before he began to do some Dafa work.
He was in such pain that he rolled back and forth in bed, and the symptoms
were very similar to a type of disease of everyday people. During his
suffering, the dark minions cut him off from other Dafa practitioners,
to the point where he could hardly remember Dafa, and at the same time,
they kept sending everyday people's thoughts into his head, such as
how he should have the problem treated and how to arrange for things
around him.
Then a thought came to his mind: This
is not right. He was aware that the evil dark minions were interfering
with him so that he could not do any Dafa work. This meant that the
task was very important. Even if he still had shortcomings, the dark
minions were not qualified to test him or interfere with him.
At the beginning when he found it hard
to bear the pain, he called Master in his heart to help him, but the
pain did not diminish. He then found his selfishness. He had a desire
to gain when in a difficult situation. This thought was not pure enough.
When he endured extreme pain, he tried to keep his state of mind and
looked for the base for his righteous thoughts. Finally, Master's words
came to his mind. He kept reciting the Fa and let go of his desire to
reduce the pain. He sat up to send forth righteous thoughts, then, with
great pain, he got out of bed and began to do the exercises with a shaking
body. He tried to do every movement properly along with the music, and
gradually the pain subsided before he knew it.
After he finished doing the exercises,
he began to listen to Master's lectures, and the pain disappeared gradually
without him noticing it. The whole incident lasted four hours, from
the beginning of the attack until he completely recovered.
For fellow practitioners who still think
they are being bothered by "sickness karma" and are still
complaining, doubting and wavering, they should carefully check their
understanding of Dafa, realize what kind of belief and thoughts are
truly pure, and have no further omissions.
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- 5. Where There Is True Understanding of the Fa, There Is Real Letting Go of Oneself
By a Falun Dafa practitioner from China
(Clearwisdom.net) I knew in the past that I should act according to Teacher's words and not otherwise; but as time went on, when my righteous thoughts were inadequate, I still committed wrongdoings even when I knew clearly that they were wrong. I realize now that what Teacher has taught us is the Fa - not ordinary people's instructions or orders. Only when I understand the Fa well can I have sufficient righteous thoughts.
For instance, Teacher has taught us to endure. The leaders of my work unit often criticized me, and when it got to be too much, I couldn't bear it anymore. Actually they criticized me for two reasons: One was because of my competitiveness; the other was because of my reluctance to hear unpleasant things. I used to take some measures to please them and sometimes deliberately made them feel that I was not at all happy with them. The results often turned out to be negative.
I had a bad temper, with a reluctance to endure any test. I dealt with problems as if I was not a practitioner. Due to inadequate Fa-study, I was unable to view them as a practitioner. This was, in fact, my resistance to deal with my own tribulations.
I understand now that the reason the "True Insanity" method is applied to those who are lost in the maze but with missions in the human world, is to let them endure many hardships so that they can be purified and quickly return to their origin. In the eyes of gods, whoever endures more hardships and suffers more tribulations, is in fact being taken care of by gods, and the gods are actually good and kind to this person. Using everyday people's ways to deal with those who are unkind to me could not solve the problem, and even when it appeared solved, my own karma was still there, as I had neither upgraded my xinxing nor improved my understanding of the Fa, so the tribulation would occur again.
I read a story about Teacher before. Teacher once bought a bowl of noodles at a restaurant and found it too salty. Teacher then told the waiter very gently that it was a bit salty, but the waiter turned very angry and blamed Teacher. Teacher didn't say a word and ate his noodles quietly.
Before, I couldn't let go of my anger inside and complained about those around me who were unkind and treated me unfairly. I feel so light now, as I have a true understanding of the Fa at a certain level and anger has been replaced by forgiveness.
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- 6. Breaking Through Individualism is also Not Acknowledging the Old Forces
(Clearwisdom.net) The old forces have made many, many arrangements. From everyone's individual environment, family factors, from the time of our birth through adulthood, in the formation of our temperaments, thinking, concepts, and so on, there is nothing that is not arranged by the old forces.
Their motives in so doing are, firstly, their so-called offer to let us acknowledge, in this Fa-rectification period, their arrangements and their tests, in order to "temper" us to maturity. Secondly, within this period they could make use of the special characteristics that they had arranged for us to smoothly control us to completely follow the requirements that they had taken pains to meticulously arrange at every level so as not to throw into disorder what they had arranged; thus they achieve their aims.
As Dafa practitioners, we know that we must not acknowledge anything that the old forces have arranged. We do not recognize the old forces. This must be reflected in our actions and conscious thoughts. Because the arrangements by the old forces are so meticulous, they are not easily discernable. We can therefore easily become complacent and unintentionally or unconsciously conform to the arrangements of the old forces.
All of us have our own concepts and temperaments. Only those who cultivate like us are able to alter them. Because we are immersed in the midst of humanity, if we do not study the Fa well, we can easily utilize our concepts to deal with problems and adversely affect our work in Dafa. To do well, we must overcome them and alter them.
Sometimes we hear fellow practitioners say that they like this, dislike that, or that during the day they cannot study the Fa well and must study at night; or within a certain period, they do not feel like reading the books, but only wish to listen to the audio tapes, and so forth and so on. Is this the correct way we should be thinking? Can these be arranged by the old forces?
If we are blocked and restrained to the extent that we cannot even study the Fa diligently because of our individual sentiments, concepts of goodness or evil, etc., we will no longer be able to smoothly cooperate and coordinate with fellow practitioners in our Dafa work. This is to submit to the arrangements of the old forces. Dafa practitioners must "break through individualism," break through the individualism arranged by the old forces, see through them, not acknowledge them--then we can achieve a new life within the Fa. Our every thought and consideration must come from the Fa. When doing Dafa work and in the manner we treat Fa-rectification, we must have this clear and sober understanding.
We must pay close attention to our every thought and consideration. We must be aware of breaking through the forms of base thoughts, sentiments, concepts, laziness and desire for ease and comfort and so on. It is crucial that we are not only cultivators in society, but we must have correct expressions of righteousness, as these are of utmost importance to our being clearly and consciously assimilated into the Fa, and in the validation of the Fa.
In " Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference" Teacher stated: "Speaking from another angle, my disciples, when the old forces are able to do what they want to do, isn't that because you've silently consented to what they want to do?" "Now since you're practitioners, if in this tribulation you can manage to not acknowledge the old forces' arrangements, then you've made it through. And those who haven't done well, in essence, aren't you acknowledging the old forces' arrangements? Once you acknowledge them isn't it like you're part of their group? Because you haven't done well amidst the persecution it's caused instability among the practitioners and aggravated the persecution, so aren't you, too, adding fuel to the fire and helping the evil? Negate them, completely negate everything of the old forces!"
Let us be more steadfast and wiser in the last portion in our path of Fa-rectification.
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- 7. Base Our Thoughts and Actions on Fa Principles Instead of Human Emotions
By a Falun Dafa practitioner
(Clearwisdom.net) Dafa practitioners view things according to Fa principles rather than their emotions.
An ordinary person does things based on his emotions, so there is love as well as hatred. When he considers someone to be a person good, he will like that person. When his viewpoint does not agree with someone else's, he will dislike that person. An ordinary person will even take their friends or relatives as his enemies just for a minor disagreement or point of view. This is the limitation of the human emotions for emotions are selfish. Love and hatred have the same root. Love is the happiness when one's emotions are satisfied, while hatred is the anger when one's emotions are not satisfied. So both love and hatred do not aim for the wellbeing of others. They are for satisfying one's emotions, so both are selfish.
When one views things according to Fa principles, one will not judge a person or matter according to his own likes and dislikes, instead he uses Fa principles to judge right or wrong. Only in this way can one truly treat others benevolently. A person is simply supposed to be righteous and kind, regardless of his relationship with others; in this way, he can be able to always treat others kindly and always act benevolently. Our Dafa practitioners should treat others even more kindly and be good to others no matter whether other people conform to our own idea or standard. Only when one views things according to Fa principles can one be truly good to others unconditionally. When one views things according to one's emotions, he will not be able to be truly good to others for one does it that way because he is happy. If he does not feel happy, he will not do it. So doing things based on one's emotions has preconditions. Because of this, cultivation requires one to give up human emotions and to restrict oneself according to Fa principles, so as to be truly good to others.
During clarifying the facts about the persecution, emotions can be a major stumbling block. When we hear other's viewpoints or suggestions, we often do not consider whether these suggestions comply with Fa principles, but instead we look to see if they comply with our own human notions. This is one reason why there is disharmony in cooperation among practitioners. When one piece of Dafa material is finished, we do not pay attention to whether others can understand it, instead we emphasize how we can show ourselves off and pursue the happy feeling of speaking out; thus the article cannot move the readers' hearts.
On the path of Fa-rectification, there exists no loopholes in one's cultivation if one always views things according to Fa principles and do things objectively and by strictly following Fa, since what we follow is the principle of the cosmos. The things that comply with the principle of the cosmos are the things that can essentially exist in the cosmos, as well as the things that all beings can acknowledge. What can prevent us from viewing things according to Fa are usually human emotions.
Abandon emotions and view things according to the Fa. While one is diligently learning the Fa and cultivating oneself, one will be constantly enlightened to high-level Fa principles, which can then be used to guide one's future actions. If we can keep having new understandings while continuing to do Dafa projects, we are actually walking steadily toward Fa-rectification in the human world. Our own attainment of Consummation is also within the process.
This is just my personal and limited understanding.
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- 8. Living Beings Should Naturally Be Good
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) When I first started cultivation in Falun Dafa, my goal was to obtain the Tao and reach consummation. While I was striving toward this goal, nothing could stop me from cultivating, not even the suffering I experienced during karma elimination and getting rid of all kinds of attachments. I was determined in my righteous thoughts and in giving up the attachment to life and death. Even though it was not perfect and sometimes I fumbled through the tests, eventually, I made it through.
In due course, I found out that the goal I had at the beginning of my cultivation was also a deeply hidden and an easy to overlook fundamental attachment. In order to reach my goal of consummation, I was willing to give up all I had in this human world, even my life. My xinxing indeed was improved. However, would I still have been able to do the same without this goal? Would I still have been able to put down the attachment to life and death just for the positive elements in the universe and the salvation of other beings without thinking about my own salvation? Could I still do things for others regardless of the personal price and in any situation? When I discovered the fundamental selfishness hiding in my initial goal, I put down that goal.
In the beginning, when I first abandoned the goal of self-cultivation, I often reminded myself that as a living being I should be good by nature because I am a life created by Dafa whose nature was originally assimilated to the characteristic of the universe. Therefore, my basic nature was good from the beginning. Since it had turned bad over the course of countless lifetimes, now I should become good again without any conditions. Even though my original goal was to join Fa-rectification cultivation, actually I was still doing it for selfish reasons and had not really given up selfishness. My cultivation was still from a basis of attachment.
When I finally let go of this fundamental attachment, I no longer had the mentality that I had before. I started my cultivation over in a different state. In this condition, I felt that the Fa had higher requirements for me than before. Those notions that I had developed during my cultivation in earlier years kept reappearing and I had to identify and eliminate them one by one. While cultivating without selfish goals, I still needed to improve my xinxing. Some other human notions that I had initially suppressed with force also often re-emerged and they also needed to be cleaned out. Under such a condition, I was able to look at my own dimensions with righteous thoughts and distinguish and eliminate all kinds of human notions without being affected or overwhelmed. I felt my true self starting to become more revealed and my mind becoming clearer.
Before that, when I encountered issues, I would remind myself that I was a practitioner and that I should do this and that. Now, when I encounter problems, I no longer use the human way of thinking. I just use the Fa to evaluate those human notions occurring in my own dimensions and I'm not affected by them. I just negate their existence and maintain my own pure righteous thoughts. Once I was able to do this, it seemed like I was always able to understand some principle from the Fa. Perhaps it was the natural manifestation of the Fa when my xinxing met the requirements of the Fa at different levels. After a while, when the human notions in my own dimension became less and less, my true self started to become strong and I gradually understood that the previous thoughts in my mind were actually all human notions. Then, when I read Teacher's lectures, my heart was pure and I had a feeling that worldly things could no longer affect me. It was as though I kept liberating myself from human notions.
Looking at our fellow practitioners illegally detained in China, some of them are dying due to the persecution. Are those practitioners not firm? They are very firm practitioners. But why does the evil still dare to persecute them? Is it because one's fundamental attachment has not been recognized and the situation has become a deadlock? Here, I am not questioning those practitioners' firm hearts toward Teacher and Dafa. But, if we could put down the fundamental attachment to ourselves, could the evil still find excuses to persecute us? Would the persecution still exist?
A living being should naturally be good. To do good with a human objective, one can never reach the realm of Gods and Buddhas because that still has a selfish goal. It would be best if we could put down the fundamental attachment of doing things for ourselves, correctly position the relation between Fa-rectification and self-cultivation, and always have the goal of perfecting everything for Fa-rectification while continuously upgrading our own xinxing standard. It's not right to only focus on self-cultivation and to disregard our responsibilities in this Fa-rectification period. It's also wrong to ignore the fundamental xinxing improvement in one's individual cultivation.
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