By a Dafa practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) This morning, when I was reading articles from the Third Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference for Dafa Practitioners in Mainland China, published by Clearwisdom Weekly, I realized that I had always liked to see examples, and thought that I should be like this or that while checking myself against other practitioner's actions in those circumstances. It seems that I was making an arrangement for myself and I did not realize earlier that I had already deviated from the Fa -- My understanding is that "Compare in studying, Compare in cultivating" ("Solid Cultivation" from Hong Yin) does not mean to copy. It is because that in the period of Fa-rectification, Master has everything in hand. Every change is taking place according to the needs of Fa-rectification. Only Master knows what to arrange and what needs to be done. Isn't what I'm thinking about here, the so-called "what the future will be like," something close to "Demonic Interference From One's Own Mind" (Zhuan Falun)? We are fundamentally rejecting the old force's arrangements. Lives about to be weeded out are not in any way entitled to control Fa-rectification, and thus it is impossible for them to influence Dafa disciples' strides on the path of helping Master with Fa-rectification.

When we see many fellow practitioners facing different kinds of evils and pressures, we should be clear that they could come through with righteous thoughts and actions. What they rely on is Master's guidance and their righteous faith and thoughts about the Fa. It does not mean that we should all experience what other practitioners experienced since there isn't any effortless ride in cultivation.

I was very moved when I read about a fellow practitioner eating only bread and pickles. At the same time I imagined that if I were in such a situation, I would be like this or that, etc. Suddenly, I realized that there was something wrong. Every practitioner has a different path during Fa-rectification. Wasn't my thinking in that way conforming to the old force's arrangement? How could this be denying the old forces? What we are doing is the most righteous thing in the universe. What fellow practitioners have suffered is what the old forces forcibly imposed on them. But fellow practitioners have all denied different kinds of persecution and continue following their own paths of validating Dafa. The reason that they ate only bread and pickles was that they were not attached to food and they wanted to save more time and energy to do the three things that Dafa disciples should do. It is not because they should only be eating bread and pickles.

I had just married and was not balancing between my family and my cultivation very well in some daily activities. When I saw a fellow practitioner suffering from divorce because of the evil persecution, an indecent thought emerged in my mind. Luckily, at this moment, I thought of what Master mentioned in Lecture 4 of Zhuan Falun:

"Some couples almost get divorced because of disputes over qigong practice. Many people have not thought about why this situation takes place. If you ask your spouse later: 'Why do you get so upset if I practice qigong?' he or she cannot explain it and will really be out of reasons. 'Really, why did I become so angry and worked up at that time?' Actually, what's the matter? While one is practicing qigong, one's karma must be transformed. You will not gain without loss, and what you lose are bad things. You must sacrifice." (Zhuan Falun)

From this, I understood that in fact, the indecent thoughts that sometimes occur in our minds are also a kind of persecution from the old forces. It is easier for us to neglect this kind of mental persecution. Since mind and matter are one thing, after we realize this, we should eliminate the old forces from our every single thought. If we always think about something from the negative aspect, then the old forces will have an excuse to transform something which was originally not there. They will then have more excuses. So, my understanding of "Compare in studying, Compare in cultivating" ("Solid Cultivation" from Hong Yin) is to compare understandings of the Fa rather than comparing the tribulations one suffers. Similarly, after realizing this attachment, in our cultivation we can also eliminate the mentality of idolizing as "heroes" those practitioners who seem to do well.

Every practitioner's cultivation format is different. Master also mentioned and emphasized cultivation format in several recent articles. It's my personal understanding that Master once again emphasized that we should do well in doing what we should do, and there is not any model or example to follow. It is just taking the Fa as our teacher and walking our own path. Furthermore, Master already said in "Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference":

"And when it's Dafa cultivation--where people don't leave the secular world to cultivate, and the disciples are from all walks of life--how could the Master be the same as all his disciples? And why would he have to live like those of his students who have the most karma or the most hardship?" ("Teaching the Fa at the Western U.S. International Fa Conference")

Yes, we should have a heart of letting go of everything for the sake of Dafa and for the sake of numerous beings, but this does not mean that we will lose everything, because Master has everything in hand.

Master has already emphasized in his lectures a long time ago that we should learn from the Fa instead of copying our thoughts and actions from a practitioner. While writing this cultivation experience today, I more clearly realize that I did not cultivate well in this respect. I'll definitely do it well from now on.

I saw that many practitioners had written very good experience sharing articles, and what they did was even better than what they wrote. I had a mentality of self-abasement before I wrote this cultivation experience, but I still overcame it and wrote about my recent cultivation experience. Since we are practitioners walking on different paths in our Fa rectification cultivation, every fellow practitioner's experience is a manifestation of Fa-rectification in one aspect.

Please kindly point out anything that is inappropriate.

Posting date: 12/19/2006
Original article date: 12/19/2006
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Translated on 12/14/2006
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/12/8/144244.html

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