FALUN DAFA - INDIA 
TRUTHFULNESS - COMPASSION - FORBEARANCE 
Newsletter for August 2013

Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:

  1. Welcome

  2. What’s Happening?

  3. Some Thoughts on Sending Righteous Thoughts

  4. Eliminate the Root Attachment

  5. Our Righteous Thoughts Will Be Strong When Our Fa Study and Cultivation Are Strong

  6. Break Through Loneliness and Forge Ahead

  7. Let's Not Forget to Cultivate Xinxing at Home

  8. What is Truly “Letting Go of Life and Death”?


1. Welcome

Welcome to the August 2013 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.

In this issue, we have a compilation of experience-sharing Articles gleaned from Clearwisdom that always shine through because of their insights and fine quality of sharing. It is important to read the Clearwisdom, Pureinsight and other Dafa sites.

We make an effort to select Articles from the Archives which people don’t go back to and are relevant even today. Contributions are welcome from practitioners.

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

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

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2. What’s Happening?


Practitioners from Hyderabad attended Doctor's day in honor of Doctors and distributed fliers.

Practitioners Introduced Falun Dafa to the Principal, doctors, staff and others (nearly 100) in the Nature Cure Hospital, Begumpet, Hyderabad. They distributed fliers and informed them about the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Practitioners from Bangalore met at the practice site on 20 July and did the Fa study, exercises and sent forth righteous thoughts to empathize with practitioners in China who have been peacefully resisting the persecution by their own government for 14 years.

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3. Some Thoughts on Sending Righteous Thoughts


(Minghui.org) Today I read Master’s article “Righteous Thoughts” again. Master said,

“At present, there are still some students who haven't really grasped the essentials of sending righteous thoughts. Some students are in the exact same state as when they do the meditation--even when they're just doing the meditation, some students are in a half-asleep state, are in a state in which their minds aren't alert enough, or are in a state in which they're severely interfered with by stray thoughts--so they can't achieve a very good effect. There are also some students who, when they send righteous thoughts, specifically target in their minds one or a few evil elements, and that prevents the gong and the divine powers they send out from having the maximum effect. Of course, if the circumstances are special and you target one evil being or a few evil beings as you send forth righteous thoughts, either by yourself or together, then that's something you should do, and the concentrated power is tremendous. But when you normally send righteous thoughts together on a daily basis you should chase down the evil on a larger scale. You shouldn't target one or a few evil beings each day, each time.

This is how to do it: (1) You should focus your attention and your effort, your mind has to be absolutely clear and rational, the force of your thoughts needs to be focused and strong, with an air of supremacy and of destroying all evil in the cosmos. (2) The disciples who for the time being aren't able to see other dimensions can focus powerful thoughts in saying the word Mie after they finish saying the formula(s). The Mie word needs to be so strong that it's as large as the cosmic body, encompassing everything and leaving out nothing in any dimension. (3) Those disciples who can see the evil beings in other dimensions can handle things according to the situations they are aware of. Their righteous thoughts need to be strong, and they should fully use their wisdom. One righteous thought itself subdues a hundred evil things. (4) Closing your eyes and not closing your eyes both have the same effect when you send righteous thoughts. If you keep your eyes open you need to reach a state where you don't take note of anything you see in the dimension of everyday people.” (“Righteous Thoughts” 2002)

As to how Dafa practitioners should strengthen the word “Mie” to make it as powerful and as big as the cosmos while sending righteous thoughts, I could not understand this in depth before. It is difficult to imagine with human thinking how big the cosmos is. Thus in the past, regardless of how I thought about “Mie”, I had been using human thinking. Regardless of how big I imagined the word “Mie” to be, I was still using human thinking, in a small scope of the universe. I often felt that it was not that big.

Today, I changed my thinking. I no longer thought of how big it was. Instead I thought of how small the evil is and that it is within the boundary of my body. Even if it was big, it could not be bigger than my body. This is because when it manifests in the human world, it is only as big as a pen point. Even if it is small, it would not be smaller than a practitioner's most microscopic particles. This is because the most microscopic particles of a Dafa practitioner’s body have assimilated and have been rectified by Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. In this way, it was much easier to clean them up. Later, when I sent righteous thoughts, I thought that I was very tall and the evil was very small and pathetic. When I calm down and steady myself, I should be able to freeze them. If I can control myself, I will be able to control them. This made eradicating them much easier.

This is my personal understanding: It is our own notions that are blocking our true selves, and thus we are not able to fully use our greatest powers.

This is my understanding, please point out anything inappropriate.

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4. Eliminate the Root Attachment

By an overseas practitioner

(Minghui.org) I grew up in a city and am the only daughter in my family. I didn't experience difficult times when I was young; the only thing that made me unhappy was when my parents quarreled, which was quite often. As a child, I decided that I would never marry someone with a bad temper. However, things didn't turn out that way.

I was waiting to marry someone whom I could trust and who could understand me. I had a boyfriend for a long time who treated me quite well, but I didn't think that I'd marry him. Later, I met my future husband. However, he was hot-tempered, impetuous, amenable to coaxing (but not coercion), and didn't understand how to back off. We had many arguments following our marriage. The thoughts “leave him” and “divorce him now” occurred to me regularly. I understood the Dafa principle of needing to look inward for the cause of tribulations, but I couldn't figure out the root cause. I felt really bad and like I was being mistreated.

I lived far from all of my relatives and felt that there wasn't anyone around to help me, which also hurt. I cried a lot. I asked myself frequently, “How long can this marriage last?”

Whenever my husband thought that I did something wrong, he'd use strong language to criticize me, and I usually reacted negatively to his comments. He also lectured me in front of other practitioners, showing no respect for me. This caused me to fight back. At first, I thought that our problem was due to our differences in background, education, character and habits. I thought that he was ingrained with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) culture, so I wanted to help him to correct this. I thought that he had a bad attitude, and always looking down on people. I didn't think that I needed to change.

We had another argument recently, and I felt really bad and helpless. Why was marriage so different from my expectations? I wanted to calm down and think carefully about the problem. Then, I read the section in Zhuan Falun about Han Xin, who didn't mind being humiliated. I realized that I'd failed to practice forbearance, and that I always wanted to win. I wanted to protect my name and dignity. During my school years or in an office environment, I put in a lot of effort to make sure that I was ahead of others. I did everything necessary to earn other people's respect. This strong desire for respect hasn't changed, and now I'm really ashamed that I didn't see this earlier. I might also have held on to the same pursuit in my Dafa work, which could be the cause for my not getting along well with other practitioners.

Teacher said,

“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 of these mentalities must be given up.” (Zhuan Falun)

I was hoping for a harmonious and happy relationship. I now realize that this was my root attachment. I recalled that the reason I had decided to practice cultivation was because I couldn't handle my emotions. I was disappointed with all of the standard problems facing every human being, such as illness, old age and death. I was looking for salvation. Things became better after I began cultivation practice, but gradually, I lagged behind in Fa study. Then, I began hoping for a good marriage and a life without pain. I was also attached to the belief that I was right and didn't have to change. I forgot about the true purpose of cultivation.

Now, I know that I should keep looking inward to identify my attachments and apply the Fa to wake myself up. I can't make progress if I don't find my attachments and remove them. This would also mean that I'm still holding on to human notions and attachments, making it difficult for me to deal with tribulations. Although I know there are more attachments to uncover as I continue to look inward, I wrote this article to share with fellow practitioners and as a reminder for myself.

Please point out anything inappropriate.

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5. Our Righteous Thoughts Will Be Strong When Our Fa Study and Cultivation Are Strong

By a practitioner from China

(Minghui.org) In "Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference," Master gave a response to a practitioner's question:

"Some people who used to have illness did recover as soon as they started cultivating Dafa, and they really were cured. But, in order to remove your attachments and test whether or not you have what it takes, the old forces cause you to have pain wherever the focal point of your former illness was, or have a relapse, with the symptoms even being the same, all to see whether you believe in Dafa."

I have not taken any medicine for many years, nor do I have any illnesses. So I often use myself as an example when I talk to people about Falun Dafa. Recently, I also had similar symptoms mentioned in Master's lecture. I did not believe they were illnesses, and sent righteous thoughts to eliminate them. Sometimes it was effective and sometimes not. Is it because I have not cultivated well? After studying Master's recent lecture, I enlightened to the fact that my righteous thoughts are not strong enough.

I started practicing in February 1999, and have just turned 70 years old. After the Chinese New Year in 1999, I had many health problems, such as high blood pressure, problems with my upper spinal column, and heart disease, plus I suffered from vertigo. I could no longer take care of myself and went to various hospitals in Harbin for medical treatment every year. But the medicine I took was not effective at all.

My younger sister and local practitioners urged me to practice Falun Dafa and brought me a copy of Zhuan Falun. I tried to study with them and listened to Master's lectures. No matter how uncomfortable I felt, I continued to listen. Soon, my head didn't seem so dizzy. I saw hope and gained a bit of self-confidence. When my sister took me to see Master's lectures on videotape, I saw four to five hundred people there. This was how I learned that so many people were practicing in our local area. I felt very comfortable while I watched Master, and a thought flashed through my mind, "This is what I have been looking for."

I asked for ten copies of Zhuan Falun, CDs of Master Li's 9-Day Lecture in Guangzhou, and the exercise tapes, so I could hand them to my close friends and relatives. After watching Master's lectures for 10 consecutive days, all of my symptoms disappeared, and I have not taken any medicine since then. There are no words to express the joy I felt in my heart. I was enveloped in compassion because my view of the world changed. I told people, "Falun Dafa is good" and tried to encourage them to practice. My home became a practice site, and I got up every day at 4 a.m. in order to prepare everything for my fellow practitioners to come and do the exercises.

During the last ten years, I have done the three things to validate the Fa, but I have not been diligent enough. The meanings of Master's words did not penetrate my heart when I studied the Fa. The principles of the Fa were not clear to me. The old forces were able to interfere and persecute me because I did not raise my xinxing. I had a pain in the heel of my left foot in 2006. It felt as if a thorn was piercing into it when I walked. I was not able to go out to talk to people about Falun Gong because of this. By studying the Fa and talking with fellow practitioners, I decided that it was interference from the old forces, as I sought ease and comfort and was indolent. I sent righteous thoughts and realized that I should go out and clarify the facts. I distributed fliers in a few villages, and when I had finished, my foot did not hurt anymore. A fellow practitioner said, "You look exuberant! You've scared off the old forces."

After a period of time, the back of my right knee hurt so much that I could not walk. It swelled up so much that my right knee was much larger than the left one. I looked inward and discovered my attachments of zealotry and showing off. During group Fa study and sharing, I found out that two other practitioners also had pain in their legs or similar symptoms. We found our attachments and removed them by collectively sending righteous thoughts.

Towards the end of 2009, I was carrying a bag of Falun Gong materials as I left a practitioner's home. A fellow practitioner offered to carry the materials for me, but I refused out of my attachment to competitiveness. I had not walked far when my right leg collapsed and I narrowly missed falling down. I quickly called my son to collect me. My leg hurt so much that when I practiced the exercises, I could not cross my legs. I continued to send righteous thoughts and eliminated the interference.

Another time, my right arm went numb and I didn't dare turn my neck. I felt my head was spinning so much that I spent the whole day lying down. I recited, "Falun Dafa is good." My children wanted to take me to the hospital and feared that I had a cerebral hemorrhage. I said that I did not want to go. All of my previous illnesses had disappeared, and I knew that this was just interference. I kept reading the Fa and doing the exercises. That day I heard that there would be a Fa conference in another country and I wanted to attend.

Master said:

"The ancients have a saying, 'Having heard the Dao in the morning, one can die in the evening.'" ("Melt Into the Fa" in Essentials for Further Advancement)

I hesitated at first, and then thought, "I am on a divine path, I am definitely going to attend the conference." I felt good throughout the whole trip, and when I returned home, all of my symptoms were gone.

When I practiced the exercises or sent righteous thoughts during the first half of this year, I was easily distracted. I wasn't thinking about personal matters, I was thinking about how to validate the Fa, and who would I clarify the truth that day, and the next. Through talking this over with other practitioners, I learned that the old forces will transform our thoughts in order to interfere with us. It is very subtle, but sometimes interference appears even when we send righteous thoughts to eliminate it.

I will definitely cultivate well and diligently study the Fa. My righteous thoughts will then be strong and I will do the three things well.

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6. Break Through Loneliness and Forge Ahead

By a Practitioner from Heilongjiang Province

(Minghui.org) Today, I studied Master Li's lecture, "Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference". Master said,

"When I teach the Fa infrequently though, what worries me most is not the hardships or ordeals you face, which you know to be plenty hard. They are not the hardest thing; after all, however trying hardship may be, it's over after you get through it, and at that point things are clear to you. Rather, to quietly cultivate in bleak loneliness, unable to see hope, is the hardest of all. Doing any form of cultivation entails undergoing a trial such as this and a path with such features. Only if one can persevere and continually forge ahead does it amount to true diligence."

While reading this part, I cried. I recalled my past cultivation experience in which I had really struggled with my loneliness. Sometimes I overcame it successfully but sometimes I lost. There were no other practitioners in my area and I basically had to cultivate all by myself. After daily work and study, I studied the Fa, practiced the exercises, sent forth righteous thoughts, read the Minghui website, printed truth-clarifying materials and posted them.

In the beginning, I was very diligent. However, gradually, the loneliness started to interfere with me. I became unwilling to study the Fa, do the exercises or send forth righteous thoughts. Even when printing or posting truth-clarifying materials, I had the attachments of completing the tasks and the attachment of pursuit.

While on the Minghui (Clearwisdom.net) website, I only looked for the articles I thought were interesting. Sometimes, when there were no new articles from Master, I didn't want to continue reading anything.

I knew this was not right, and felt sad. But I could not lift up my spirit and forge ahead diligently. After reading Master's lecture, I realized that I was not able to overcome loneliness and didn't believe in the Fa firmly enough. Because my thoughts on cultivating diligently were not strong enough, I was too lax.

Master told us the Fa on loneliness at his "Lecture at the First Conference in North America".

"Unendurable loneliness is most dangerous to humans, and it's also the greatest tribulation in practicing cultivation."

And,

"You have no idea that loneliness can ruin everything for a person. In the past, what did monks depend on in their practice of cultivation? Why were they able to succeed in cultivation? Their greatest hardship was loneliness. What hardship did they have to endure? It was the hard-to-endure loneliness. Why could a person who went up to a mountain to practice the Dao succeed in attaining the Dao? Worldly people were enjoying glory, splendor, wealth, and rank. Even poor people, who weren't enjoying glory, splendor, wealth, and rank, also had kith and kin, and enjoyed earthly pleasures. The monks cultivated hard in the mountains by themselves. Without any contact with other people, that loneliness, which is hard to endure, can wear away a person's many attachments and various desires."

This lecture was given during the period of personal cultivation, before the persecution began. In those years, I could go to the exercise site every day and join group study. There were practitioners around all the time. Thus I did not pay attention on cultivating away this attachment and did not fully understand Master's words at that time.

I understand now that since everyone's path and situation is different, the trouble each of us runs into is different, and each person's difficulties are also different. Relatively speaking, everyone will face the test of loneliness. When it comes, it will test whether we have a strong will, if we can hold up our xinxing and righteous thoughts, if we can walk our cultivation path well, and if we can diligently do the three things.

In fact, as long as we practice, Master is always beside us. But there will be tests of loneliness along our cultivation paths nevertheless.

I hope all practitioners can enjoy the fruits of "always cultivating as if you were just starting will surely result in achieving your ultimate rank." ("Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference")

My understanding is limited, please point out anything inappropriate.

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7. Let's Not Forget to Cultivate Xinxing at Home

By a practitioner in China

(Minghui.org) I consider myself a cultivator, so when I come into contact with everyday people in society, I know to search inward and cultivate xinxing; yet I seem to forget this when I am at home, because I take it as a place of relaxation. This attitude is even more pronounced, since some of my family members are also cultivators. Subsequently, I haven't maintained righteous thoughts at home, saying and doing as I pleased without regard for xinxing.

For instance, I endure workplace conflicts that were intended to elevate my xinxing, but once I'm home, I began to complain to my husband about this or that person being so bad, just for the sake of conversation. In reality, it is no different than scheming against an ordinary person. When I'm outside, I know to treat others with goodwill and with a kind attitude. But at home, I often yelled loudly at my husband. When he didn't do things the way that pleased me, I even sarcastically criticized him. My son is a child practitioner. I strongly exerted my adult authority over him. I failed to adhere to Teacher's standards to educate my son with reason, and I constantly raised my voice to criticize him. My child's behavior was just a reflection of my own. He also learned to raise his voice when talking to me, which was something I really didn't know how to respond to. As a matter of fact, I couldn't cultivate my own xinxing while educating my child.

Oftentimes, I did not cultivate my speech at home. I had a serious attachment of showing off in front of my husband, along with a terrible temper. I thought that my husband was weak and incapable. I even felt that I was a little too good for him. In reality, these are all manifestations of human feelings. I believed that gains and self-interests were things I could let go of, but I would go to extremes in arguing with my husband over my interests at home. I thought that there shouldn't be any problem with this, because it was between family and fellow practitioners. Therefore, I would act as I pleased over the slightest bit of self interest. On a day when I verbally offended my husband, Teacher pointed out to me that I should maintain the same harmonious and compassionate heart when engaging with my own family. However, it's only now that I have realized that I should take this matter seriously.

Now I understand that true compassion is the product of cultivation, and is not something that's simply expressed, much less pretended. Compassion is not something that changes with a change in environment. My behavior was good outside the home, but at home it was completely different. In reality, I was just doing false cultivation, not fundamentally changing myself. I didn't actually cultivate compassion, but rather I pretended to be compassionate; since it was pretended, once my environment changed my true nature was revealed. A piece of gold is still gold no matter where it is placed. If there's anything else inside or outside of me, then it means that I did not truly, fundamentally change myself. What a frightening thing it was, to see that all that time cultivating back and forth, it all turned out to be false.

However, I discovered that it wasn't just me. There are many fellow practitioners around me who have similar issues, and who are not cultivating their xinxing when dealing with members of their own family, or each other. Husbands and wives are both practitioners, but treat one another with attitudes worse than with ordinary people. Some women practitioners would treat their husbands rudely with un-ladylike tempers. They behaved slightly better in front of other practitioners, but at home it was the same old attitude. It's really just like performing one way in front of people, then another way behind their backs. There are also some husbands who act the same way toward their practitioner wives. Some daughter practitioners would talk anyway they pleased to their mothers, even verbally wounding them at times. Mothers would in turn point out the faults of their daughters without maintaining a compassionate attitude, resulting in more sarcastic responses from their daughters. This is really a sign of the lack of xinxing cultivation at home. There are other cases where both parties were equally obsessed with money and kept heavy attachments to self-interest. Many of my fellow practitioners have these sorts of issues at home. These people are not new practitioners who just started cultivation, but seasoned practitioners who weathered the storm for many years. Some are veteran practitioners who have been cultivating for well over ten years. It wouldn't be appropriate to say that these practitioners don't know how to cultivate, but perhaps they simply neglect this issue!

In reality, our human family isn't a part of our real home. We shouldn't regard it as a safe harbor to take shelter from the everyday storm. We shouldn't relax our requirements for ourselves just because we're at home, for it is also a place for us to cultivate our xinxing. This should definitely not be overlooked.

This is my personal experience. Please point out any shortcomings.

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8. What is Truly “Letting Go of Life and Death”?

By a practitioner from China

(Minghui.org) Teacher said:

“If he is able to let go of life and death, he is a god; if he isn’t able to let go of life and death, he is human.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia”)

“If a cultivator can let go of the thought of life and death under any circumstance, evil is sure to be afraid of him. If every student is able to do this, evil will of itself no longer exist.”(“Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)”, book Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Every Dafa practitioner must believe in Teacher and Dafa and let go of the attachment of life and death. As many veteran practitioners may know, once we achieve this, the tribulations and difficulties on our cultivation path will be easy to pass.

Then, what is truly letting go of life and death? Is it the same as not being afraid of death?

In ordinary society, some people couldn’t find the meaning of life, lost hope, and committed suicide. Were they afraid of death? No. Then, did they let go of the attachment of life and death? Certainly not. On the contrary, they wanted to give up and escape from reality. It was a cowardly action. Their Main Consciousness was not in control. The misery they felt resulted from enormous thought karma. As a result, they were surrounded by layers and layers of deviated substances, which were derived from sentimentality.

Other people in society risk their lives to fight and engage in violence. Have they let go of the attachment of life and death? No. They are being controlled by their demonic side and have become irrational. Once they calm down or get punished for their behavior, they may regret it because their actions were irrational and not from their true self.

Some practitioners who experienced sickness karma were eventually hospitalized. When fellow practitioners told one such practitioner to let go of the attachment of life and death so that she could pass this test, she replied, “I can let go of the attachment of life and death, but I am afraid of pain.”

Some practitioners who were tortured by evil agents of the communist regime and eventually yielded to them also said, “I’m not afraid of death if I die instantly, but I just can’t bear the suffering.”

If death was as comfortable as tasting delicious food or as easy as walking on the beach, who would be afraid of death? Thus, being afraid of pain is actually a manifestation of not being able to let go of the attachment of life and death.

An everyday person's suffering is endless and may seem unbearable because of his enormous karma. But for Dafa practitioners, all of the suffering is within our limit of tolerance. Although sometimes we may feel that we've reached our limit, we can still bear it. If we can’t tolerate it, it must be because we fall short in believing in Dafa and Teacher. Of course, if we could walk our path righteously all along, the evil would be unable to take advantage of our loopholes; thus, such suffering would not happen in the first place.

Since ancient times, people have feared death yet for another reason. There are many things that people are attached to in this human world. For example, they worry about their children, money, spouse, etc. Death means that they have to give up all of this. Because they don’t want to let it go, they are afraid of death.

Truly letting go of the attachment of life and death doesn’t mean one has to die. For practitioners, it means that we can let go of all of our desires and attachments, including attachment to our human body. Once we achieve this, we will be calm and peaceful. Then, the interference from sickness karma and evil persecution will count for nothing on our cultivation path.

In order to achieve this, the fundamental requirement is 100 percent belief in Teacher and Dafa, without any reservation.

The above is my understanding of letting go of the attachment of life and death. Please point out anything inappropriate.

Heshi! 

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