Click on the below-mentioned, numbered subjects:
- Welcome
- What’s Happening?
- After Looking Inward Efforts Should Be on Removing Attachments
- On How to Look Inward
- Looking Within, Attachments, and True Cultivation
- Overcoming Depression by Being Diligent
- What Does It Mean to Conform to Ordinary Human Society?
- The Seriousness of Practitioner's Commitments in Life and Dafa Work
- 1. Welcome
Welcome to the May 2013 Falun Dafa India Newsletter.
We come to another milestone – Our Revered Master’s Birthday and the World Falun Dafa Day.
On this occasion it would be appropriate to recall Master’s message for the First India Fa Conference:
... 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.
How many of us can put our hands to our heart and honestly say that we have been studying the Fa well and doing it frequently? Shouldn’t we wake up and become more diligent and fulfill our vows to Master?
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 got a free stall in the Millet festival organized by AP Agricultural University and Department of agriculture for 3 days. The agricultural minister of the state and high profile officers/political leaders and more than 20000 people visited. The exercises were demonstrated and many were eager to know about the practice.
Practitioners also met AP Chief Minister and other ministers and many leaders, police and public on Ugadi festival day celebrations at Ravindra Bharathi and distributed fliers and informed about the persecution in China.
Hyderabad practitioners attended the international stress meet in Ravindra Bharathi and gave fliers to doctors, psychologists, students and many others.
Practitioners also attended People for Better Treatment (PBT), a voluntary organization run by Doctors, Former principal AP Secretary, Former home secretary, present press secretary to central home minister and others. Flyers were distributed to doctors and other public including the Press.
Practitioners participated in Run for caste Free India. Distributed fliers to doctors, communist leaders, ministers and other leaders and general public and explained about our practice.
Attended a book release function in Accountant General office and distributed fliers and explained about our practice to many employees and general public and also to the main lady officer of the AG office in Hyderabad. Here, the EEnadu photographer took the picture of practitioner’s vehicle with Falun Dafa message and flowers painted on it which appeared on the next day in city edition.
Practitioners from Delhi, Gurgaon, Udaipur and Noida were invited by The Officer who was earlier in Rajasthan to introduce Falun Dafa to inmates at the Jodhpur Central Jail. Practitioners had a moving experience which they intend sharing on minghui website.
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- 3. After Looking Inward Efforts Should Be on Removing Attachments
By a practitioner in the USA
(PureInsight.org)
As we advance in cultivation we realize that everything happening in our life is an opportunity to improve our character. It does not matter whether we consider it good or bad. We should just look within ourselves to see what improvements can be made.
For a period of time my process of looking within was not carried out correctly. Whenever something happened I immediately looked within and found attachments. Compared with focusing on what had happened and believing that someone else was responsible for the incident, I had made a step forward. However, after a while in a different situation, I found the same attachments were still there, indicating that my character improvement was quite slow.
Later, I realized that I had covered only the beginning part of the looking-within process. The complete process calls for putting in a significant effort to have the attachments removed.
For example, if you found laziness is a problem you have to change that in everything you do: you must insist on doing the exercises instead of sleeping longer and you must attend to details in whatever you do instead of just getting by. Trying to do everything well is needed to complete the looking-within process. Hence, it really is a long and difficult process and you have to remain diligent to complete it.
Teacher said in “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,”
“The reason is, it takes more than one cold night to form ice three feet thick: the things that have formed are hard to purge in one shot, for you haven’t sufficient heat and haven’t reached the point of being able to melt it. So you have to make many attempts on it before you can melt it away. If you cultivate well today, that much will thaw; cultivate well tomorrow, and that much more will be melted away; cultivate well the following day, and that much more will melt. And it will continue, little by little, till the point that your righteous thoughts are truly sufficient. At that point the amount of heat you generate will have increased, and you will be able to fully melt it away.”
In the past one major reason why I did not complete the looking-within process is that I wanted to avoid anything that was painful. Many attachments are painful to remove, especially those that take a long time to eliminate. Hence, determination, perseverance, and willingness to endure hardship are called for, because many things cannot be accomplished with a single attempt.
I saw the same problem in other practitioners as well. Some said that after more than ten years they still had the same problem. They felt pretty helpless. There can be many causes but not trying hard to correct oneself can be one of them.
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- 4. On How to Look Inward
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(PureInsight.org)
Seeing practitioners around me not look inward correctly has led to tribulations. Some practitioners even say that they do not know how to look inward. I feel very bad. I myself have finally learned how to look inward after going through so many troubles. I would like to describe my experiences in hopes that it will be beneficial to fellow practitioners. 1. Looking inward to examine one’s xinxing First, one “shouldn’t hit back when attacked, or talk back when insulted.” () Not only does one need to achieve this on the surface, but one must be entirely unaffected. Some practitioners have had tribulations caused by interactions with their families that they could not overcome, and the reason is often because they only looked inward superficially. One should check to see if one’s heart is affected when things happen, rather than entangling oneself in the matter itself. For example, our family members may blame us for not mopping the floor well enough, not cooking delicious food, not keeping the refrigerator door shut, wasting fuel, or not making enough money, or they may even berate us for no apparent reason at all. If we focus on the matter itself, we will see no end of it. For example, a family member of mine once exploded when I only cooked one dish in the morning. He slammed the door after he had berated me. Some fellow practitioners suggested that I cook more dishes. But that was not truly the issue. My family's finances were not that great. One dish was good enough to feed everyone. It all depended upon whether I was affected. I wasn’t, and I did what I had always done as usual and remained benevolent toward him. Things turned out okay. I saw many practitioners arguing with their family members, trying to explain things. Some were upset, and some believed that they were interfered with by old forces. As a matter of fact, whether or not the problems arose from one’s own tribulations in cultivation or from interference by the old forces, all we need to do is to regard them as good opportunities for us to elevate our xinxing when they appear. As long as we are unaffected, we will be considered as having met the requirement. Some practitioners have looked inward and have found many attachments, but their minds remained quite unsettled. This is not cultivation. If one’s heart is like a floating lily, no matter how many attachments one finds, it will not mean that one has cultivated. If one can be truly unaffected, then one will pass the test. “When a tribulation arrives, if you, a disciple, can truly maintain an unshakable calm or be determined to meet different requirements at different levels, this should be sufficient for you to pass the test.” (“Expounding the Fa” from Essentials for Further Advancement) 2. Being unaffected should manifest in every aspect In looking inward, we are to look for the attachments that we still have. With these attachments remaining in us, we are sure to be affected when things happen. Once they are all removed, then we will not be affected. For example, are we affected when we are faced with sentimentality, affection, friendship, or personal interests? When we are getting close to reaching consummation, are we truly calm and unmoved? Some practitioners say that they have hatred, sentimentality, or this and that attachment. This means that they are affected. Teacher said that only when one lets go of the attachment to sentimentality can one develop a heart of benevolence. One will not be affected by anything in the ordinary people’s world when one reaches the Arhat fruit status. We are affected because our attachments have manifested. I enlightened to the fact that if we can remain unaffected when we are faced with anything, our xinxing will have met the requirement. When an attachment shows up, first we need to recognize it and then eliminate it. In the meantime, one needs to study the more during cultivation. For example, if we have a problem somewhere, as long as we have the desire to improve and be focused when studying the Fa, the Fa will tell us where the problem is. Studying the Fa itself is a process of elevating, and it is the most important. 3. If we are truly unaffected and the tribulations persist, we should then look to see if a loophole of ours is being taken advantage of somewhere, if one is confused somewhere on the Fa principles, or if one’s notions are somewhere mistaken. One should examine oneself to see if one has problems somewhere. Teacher has taught us the Fa on this. Above is my realization at my limited level. Please point out my deficiencies.
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- 5. Looking Within, Attachments, and True Cultivation
By a Dafa practitioner in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province
(Minghui.org)
From Teacher's I realize that true cultivation does not mean that the person has no attachments or does not do anything out of his attachments. On the contrary, he cultivates himself to get rid of his attachments. That's the process of true cultivation. This means if I see that some practitioner does well in cultivation, it is to encourage me to cultivate. If I see that some practitioner has some attachments, it is a mirror for me. It is to let me see the gap in my own cultivation. I should keep this in mind: it is a mirror to show me my gap. It is for me to cultivate myself. Teacher is giving me an opportunity to get rid of my attachment, and it is not to let me talk badly about other practitioners. I must be clear not to look for others' shortcomings. From the Fa we know that we need to look within. Then we can cultivate faster. But looking within is not something we just talk about or recite, we have to actually do it based on our understandings from the Fa. Teacher said in “A Dialogue with Time” (Essentials for Further Advancement), “It would be good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things that they have been able to find in others.” In daily life, we should use our strong determination and righteous thoughts to control our thoughts. It might be hard, but we can do a bit every day and continue doing it until it becomes a natural habit. Thus a mechanism is formed. Otherwise, we will keep looking at others' faults whenever we have a thought. A fellow practitioner's level increases through true cultivation. It is not done by being looked at or criticized by me. If we often just look at the shortcomings of other practitioners instead of comparing them against ourselves, it will generate substances that will accumulate in our thoughts over time. It will form a very bad field in our group of practitioners. This field severely separates practitioners, and makes it hard for us to come together as a whole. It also impacts our ability to work together to save sentient beings, and more seriously, it makes us unable to fulfill our prehistoric vows. As long as we are cultivating Dafa, Teacher will expose each person's attachments. We don't have to worry about it. But we should worry if we can't use this true cultivation opportunity to get rid of our own attachments and we should worry if we have the thought to look at others instead of ourselves. When Teacher started teaching the Fa, he faced very complicated human hearts. Teacher used his boundless benevolence to wake us up. Practitioners still have attachments. We should use our understanding of the Fa to restrain ourselves and treat fellow practitioners with tolerance. For each practitioner who continues cultivation today, he has certainly cultivated well in some areas and has validated Dafa in certain areas. What he does not cultivate well is for him to cultivate in the future. Before we reach consummation, we will be cultivating all the time and we will have shortcomings. Having shortcomings does not mean that a practitioner doesn't truly cultivate. I believe each practitioner is trying hard in cultivation. What is shown to me in others is to help me cultivate myself. In almost every Fa lecture, Teacher repeatedly states the phrase “looking within.” So when we run into any situation, our first thought should be to look at ourselves. Throughout the numerous incarnations of lives, karma has buried me a lot and lowered my enlightenment quality and the ability to look within. It has formed a strong concept in my mind. I was led by this concept unconsciously and thought it was me. This concept is a live substance that confused me. If I did not eliminate it and did not cut the link between it and my true self, it would have led me to do incorrect things. It would make me to look externally at the shortcomings of fellow practitioners. Its purpose is to protect itself. If I look within, it will die, so it keeps pouring wrong ideas into my head: “You are right. It is him who does not cultivate truly and does not look within.” It may even bring other practitioners to strengthen this idea to me: “You have a higher level of understanding. You truly cultivate. He does not cultivate.” Teacher's Fa woke me up and let me recognize this. As I am writing, I know that my attachments are being truly eliminated, as I feel headache and as if I cannot write this out. But I know that writing it out is a process of eliminating it. It is disintegrating right now. Another thing: We should not be afraid of having attachments. Though we can't get rid of them all at once, we should at least know they are attachments and keep trying to get rid of them. We should never say that we don't have attachments. Otherwise, it will be the same as acknowledging the attachments as ourselves, which means that we want to protect them and keep them. Then we won't be able to get rid of them. Keeping the attachments to the very end will make us fail the sentient beings who have put their unlimited hopes in us.
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- 6. Overcoming Depression by Being Diligent
By a practitioner from China
(Minghui.org)
Depression is a negative feeling. When a person is dominated by this kind of sentiment, he or she may become lethargic or absent minded when working on projects. Unable to talk with anyone and feeling downhearted makes it easy to believe that no one can solve their problem and nothing can make them happy. This state is caused by strong unrealized attachments that are coming to the surface during cultivation.
Before cultivating in Falun Dafa, I had these kinds of negative feelings. Whenever I felt that way, I slept for a long time and upon awaking I had forgotten everything. After I started cultivation, this kind of feeling gradually disappeared. Yet for some reason, about two months ago it started appearing again. I wanted to figure out what is causing this depression.
To non-practitioners, depression is human sentiment coming from an unfulfilling life, or from karmic reasons. Co-existing with depression is the human sentiment of excitement, making one feel that life is interesting. To Falun Dafa cultivators, it is the demon of sentiment, trying to disturb a cultivator by weakening their determination in cultivation, with the goal of eventually ruining cultivators. Depression is an internal sentiment, so in that regard it may be hidden from others.
Depression is caused by prolonged attachments that one has been unable to resolve. When cultivators encounter tests or hardships, they may judge the facts with human notions, defend self-benefits, and focus on what they want. This kind of mentality makes one feel more and more desperate. The person may become upset due to being in a dilemma, instead of proactively eliminating these attachments. During the Fa-rectification period, if depression is not eliminated in a timely fashion, the old forces will definitely interfere, thus making it even more difficult to eliminate the attachment.
Take my case as an example. I have an easy job, but I am not happy. Several workers who I do not favor and are close with each other do not like me. I feel quite lonely and this is caused by my attachment to being liked. I was worrying about this instead of thinking about how to save them. Digging deeper, I found the attachment of protecting myself. I wanted to get along well with them so that there would be no danger to me when I to them. I wasn't placing saving sentiment beings as the most important, and was only thinking about my personal feelings, and my selfishness.
The more I thought with human notions, the more depressed I became. By looking at the current situation from the perspective of a cultivator, I can always treat it as a good thing and an opportunity for self-improvement. Then how could depression continue to exist?
When focusing on saving sentient beings and diligently doing the well, there is no depression.
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- 7. What Does It Mean to Conform to Ordinary Human Society?
By a Western practitioner
(Minghui.org)
What does it mean to conform to ordinary human society? As Dafa practitioners, we know this is Master’s requirement. But have we put adequate thought into what it means and its practical application to our lives on our respective paths?
Ordinary human society is incredibly diverse. There are scholars, drunkards, politicians, soldiers, scientists, etc. Some are the privileged elite of a first world country, while others just struggle to survive. So what does it mean to conform to ordinary human society?
Some practitioners use it as an excuse to justify their attachments, particularly those of us in prosperous Western countries. Many of us are so spoiled by the lifestyles we grew up with that we have no concept of how the mass of humanity lives, and have taken our opulent, indulgent lifestyles as the meaning of conforming to ordinary human society.
I work in one of the media projects started by practitioners to clarify the truth. Those of us involved have sacrificed a lot. Many of us live in dorms shared by sometimes a dozen people. And of course, money is always a concern. Everyone working in these projects wants them to succeed and to become financially stable. But the goal of financial success should be to create a better environment for clarifying the truth, not to live a wealthy, comfortable life among everyday people. As practitioners, we should not pursue these things or be attached to them.
In regards to the media projects, Master said in the “Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting” in 2009,
“What I want to see is you turning this thing into a real, solid entity; figuring out how to run things well; allowing the Dafa disciples who participate to make a living, thus being able to put their whole hearts into this; and making it more powerful for validating the Fa and saving sentient beings.”
Recently, I was speaking with another practitioner I work with, also a young man. He was talking about how he felt he needed to start thinking more about his career and what he was doing with his life, how to make money, etc. When I suggested that wealth and comfort are things we should not pursue, he shot back with practitioners need to conform to ordinary human society and said, “I can’t keep living like an animal.”
While I understood his frustrations, I believe this thinking was off. This practitioner felt as though he were living like an animal, but at the same time, never had a shortage of food, often wore suits to work, and had a warm and comfortable place to sleep every night. And while none of these things might be to the level he would find most pleasing, he’s still, by far, better taken care of than a large chunk of “ordinary human society.”
What I realized was that even though a lot of us in the media projects have sacrificed a lot to do this work, it doesn’t mean the attachments to material things have necessarily been removed.
In , Lecture 4, “Loss and Gain,” Master says, “In our school of practice, those who practice cultivation among everyday people are required to practice cultivation precisely in ordinary human society, and to fit in among everyday people as much as possible. You are not really asked to lose anything materially. It does not matter how high your position ranks or how much wealth you own. The key is whether you can abandon that attachment.”
Whether or not we have something isn’t the issue, it’s whether we can give up that attachment. A practitioner can be rich, but they must not care for riches. In the same way, a practitioner can be dirt poor, but if they still have the attachment to material things, they haven’t really given up anything.
As an example, let's think about how much China has changed in the last 60 years. Back then, you weren’t allowed to own anything and entire villages were forced into communal living. Now people in China have access to just about any material item they can dream of. But have these “things” that so many long desired brought salvation to the Chinese people?
Some practitioners talk about the apartments and all the other nice things they’ll buy when the media projects become financially stable. These are just attachments they cover up with excuse of conforming to ordinary human society.
But many billionaires in the West spend vast sums of their fortune on charitable works, bettering their communities, and investing in the future. There are also those who choose to live a simple, modest life, having seen that the over indulgence of the past few decades has caused tremendous damage to society and the environment. Isn’t this also conforming to human society? As practitioners, if we become wealthy, shouldn’t we use our wealth with virtue?
In Essentials for Further Advancement, “Wealth and Virtue,” Master says, “No virtue, no gain; the loss of virtue means the loss of everything. Thus, those who seek power and wealth must first accumulate virtue. By suffering hardships and doing good deeds one can accumulate virtue among the masses. To achieve this, one must understand the principle of cause and effect. Knowing this can enable officials and the populace to exercise self-restraint, and prosperity and peace will thereby prevail under heaven.”
As practitioners, a side effect of our cultivation is the improvement of human society. The day may come when many of us will have fortunes. Should that day happen, will “conforming to ordinary human society,” mean overindulgence and materialism?
In Zhuan Falun, Lecture Three, “Reverse Cultivation and Gong Borrowing,” Master says, “Seen from a high level, while you may think you are advancing forward, you are actually moving backward. Humankind thinks that it is developing science and making progress; it is, in fact, only following the law of the universe. Zhang Guolao, one of the Eight Deities, rode backward on his donkey. Few people know why he rode backward on his donkey. He discovered that going forward is moving backward, so he rode the donkey the other way around.”
Our media projects must become financially stable because that is the end result of ordinary society embracing it. “Cause and effect.” However, does that mean as we are now, we aren’t conforming to ordinary human society? I don’t believe this is the case. I’ll give an example.
The Founding Fathers of the United States were once ordinary subjects under British rule. They had families and lives that they sacrificed the moment they decided to rebel against what was, at the time, the largest empire on Earth. But because they had a cause and principles they believed in, things they were willing to sacrifice anything for, they fought for what many considered a hopeless cause. They had everything to lose, but through enduring tremendous hardships, they forged a new country founded on principles of liberty and equality that the great thinkers of their time had only dreamed of on paper. Years of loss were followed by staggering gain. Wasn't the sacrifice of their ordinary lives for a cause they believed in “conforming to ordinary human society?”
So when some Dafa practitioners move away from their homes, sacrifice the lives they knew and the jobs and relationships they could be having, to work for the media projects—for a cause they believe in—isn’t that also conforming to ordinary human society? Not even taking into consideration the bigger meaning behind what we do, looking just at the most surface level, isn’t it something that the people of the world will look at in awe and admiration?
For me, and the path that I am on, this is what it means to “conform to ordinary human society.”
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- 8. The Seriousness of Practitioner's Commitments in Life and Dafa Work
By a Dafa practitioner in China
(Minghui.org)
Ancient Chinese people attached great importance to fulfilling their commitments. There is an old saying, “A commitment is good as gold.” There are stories of people, who throughout history have fulfilled their commitments even if it cost them their lives. But in current Chinese society impacted by the poisoning effects of Chinese Communist Party “culture,” people frequently lie and say superficial things. Nowadays, Chinese people are accustomed to flip-flopping after making a decision, and they don't take keeping their promises seriously.
Dafa disciples strictly cultivate their hearts, with particular emphasis on improving morality. Compared to ancient people we should strive to do even better, so there should not even be a question of a practitioner keeping promises. But I have encountered cases where fellow practitioners have failed to honor their promises.
There are a number of reasons for these instances, mainly due to our still evaluating things with a human mindset, and habits formed before we became practitioners, as well as going along with society's degenerated moral standards.
Failure to keep promises can affect other people's views, resulting in lowered trust, which can become an obstacle in coordinating projects. It could also become a problem in cultivation and affect our Consummation. It can even form an omission and be taken advantage of by the evil, in the form of persecution. Therefore, we should not take this matter lightly.
In fact, it may not be difficult to solve this problem, because this is an issue of how to meet the basic standards of being a human being. For example, we must first understand the importance of a promise. We should not casually make a promise and then not take the commitment seriously. When we later find that we can't keep a promise, we should let people know in a timely manner, in consideration of others. If we ignore it, on the surface it may seem like a good strategy, as it may fade away with the passage of time. But in other dimensions, it may form unsolvable knots. You might not have to face it now, but you may have to face it some day in the future.
Having said that, as with anything we should not go to extremes. Follow-up communication, negotiation, and adjustments may be needed among practitioners with respect to keeping our commitments, because our environment is constantly changing and our thinking is also constantly being adjusted. Cultivation is a process of constant sublimation and self-correction. What we did or thought about in the beginning may not be absolutely correct. We have to correct and make adjustments when we make mistakes. It is critical not to use the old cosmos's corrupt methods and standards to handle things. Instead, we should handle everything in an unselfish, rational, and mature way, based on the Fa.
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