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Dafa Particles: Letting Our Divine Side Truly Shine Forth!
Jared Madsen / St. Paul, Minnesota (Shared at 2001 Chicago Conference) Greetings Master Li and fellow Falun Dafa practitioners. My
name is Jared Madsen and I began practicing Falun Dafa over 5 years ago in
Beijing, China. When I first started to cultivate Dafa, it was purely
self-cultivation. I would simply read the books, practice the exercises, and do
my best to require myself with the standard of a Falun Dafa practitioner. After
the crackdown in China began though, many changes began to occur, and all of us
practitioners had new roles and more responsibility we needed to take on. We had
to protect this great Fa that had given us so much. How would we do this though
while still maintaining a practitioner's standard? In what ways would we protect
Dafa? These were questions that we were all trying to figure out by relying on
our enlightenment. Gradually after we started to figure out what we needed to
do, I found that I was being put into positions that I never had been in before.
I needed to do work that I had little or no experience in. The amount of work
that I had to handle was piling up. It finally then reached a point that I
thought I wouldn't be able to handle it. All this work and all these situations,
it was both mentally and physically taxing. I felt I couldn't think straight and
my body was getting more and more tired. I then realized that I needed to
increase my container size, that's to say that I needed to break through and
rise up out of the level of feeling restricted. It was all my human side that
was restricting me, telling me that I needed more sleep, it was too difficult,
and that I wouldn't be able to do all of this. After I calmed down and put down
these human notions, I noticed that these things really weren't that complicated
after all. As long as I could use my wisdom accumulated through cultivation of
Dafa, none of these things were that difficult, and I felt I could handle more
and more work. I could think through more problems, but my mind would be calm
and clear. Of course it wasn't that easy all of the time, there were still
countless attachments that rose up, but this is cultivation. I knew that I
needed to continuously increase the size of my container and continually get rid
of attachments so that I could do more and better work. Though it felt painful
and stressful at the time, looking back it wasn't anything, just my attachments. One lesson I have learned recently and continue to work on is
using rationality and compassion not just when introducing the Fa to ordinary
people, but also when working with other practitioners. In the past I would
organize a hongfa event or project and expect that everyone would understand why
I would want to do it this way or that way. I would expect practitioners to just
help out without thinking about it too much. Without clearly and rationally
explaining how I had enlightened and why I thought this activity was important,
some practitioners would not be willing to help out. In the article
"Clearheadedness" the Teacher says, "While working, your tone of
voice, your kindheartedness, and your reasoning can change a person's heart,
whereas commands never could! If others are not convinced deep down inside but
only superficially comply, they will still conduct themselves according to their
own will when no one is around to see them." Actually, it was myself not
taking responsibility. Responsibility is not just willing to do some work and
then following through with it; one also needs to use their rationality and
wisdom attained through Dafa. I understand taking responsibility to mean to help
everyone play their part to the fullest in Fa-rectification. It is not just the
individual will to do something, but it is including everyone and helping to
create an environment in which all practitioners can play a great role, while
improving and learning within the process. Sometimes I may find myself alone working on a project and
feel frustrated that others didn't come to help. One aspect may be that this
work is something that I have to do and should put down all attachments. Another
aspect may be that I did not fully play my part in explaining to others what I
realized on this project, and did not open it up for discussion thereby creating
an environment that we can all take part in and all improve. Instead, I may have
just expected people to help, even though they did not understand because I did
not explain it clearly. In a case like this, I may have actually dug a hole for
myself that is difficult to get out of. Each practitioner enlightens to different parts and to
different degrees of this great Dafa. I have found that cultivation during
Fa-rectification is not just doing work, but being able to rationally understand
from the point of Fa why this work is done. This touches on the question of
doing Dafa work without understanding why this work should be done. If one
practitioner just tells another practitioner to do something, and that
practitioner doesn't think about or understand the importance of it, the results
may not be as good, not to mention that this practitioner has not improved, but
just done some work. The practitioner that is organizing an event should take
the responsibility to explain how they enlightened to doing this job, and those
working on the job should also treat this as their cultivation, and enlighten to
just why this is so important. Zhuan Falun states, "In fact, it does not
matter who the person is--there is only one Fa. Only by observing this Dafa can
one meet the genuine standard." I understand this to mean that it doesn't
matter who tells us to do what, we need to understand it and do the work from
the point of Dafa, only then can we truly reach a Dafa disciples standard. In
"Cautionary Advise" the Teacher said, "If every one of you can
understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the
manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary--the reappearance of the
mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!" We have all seen that Fa-Rectification is rapidly changing
seemingly daily if not faster. My understanding is that as Dafa disciples we are
not passively standing around waiting for consummation, but that we are actively
stepping forward and the Teacher is leading us to be true gods. If we are to be
the greatest enlightened beings, then don't we need to be able to deal with our
own problems and protect all that is good within the universe? The Teacher has
said that his Fashen will protect us up until we can protect ourselves. At the
recent Canada conference the Teacher told us to clear our own bad notions and
karma, and also to clear the evil of the Three Realms. Isn't this a big step
towards an enlightened being to be responsible for themselves? The Teacher has
already eliminated much of our karma and has given us everything needed to
cultivate to high levels, I understand that now we are in the necessary stage of
learning how to use what we have cultivated out to deal with problems. This is
similar to the growth of a child, first their parents give them everything and
are always there watching over and protecting them. They will then go off to
school where they meet with all kinds of troubling situations, but they can
still come home every night to the protection of their parents. After reaching a
certain age, the child is expected to take care of themselves; their parents
will be watching in the background giving a few words of advise every now and
then, until the child has grown up and is able to use their knowledge and
experiences to completely take care of themselves and be a responsible member of
society. After a being has reaches consummation, would they still rely
on their Master to help them any time a problem arises? The way I see it, the
Teacher is guiding us to not only be able to take care of ourselves, but also to
take care of the universe. Not to mention that after we reach consummation, we
will not be ordinary gods, we will be gods that have cultivated the Dafa of the
universe. In Zhuan Falun the Teacher said, "There was an elderly
woman in the past who had her feet bound to make them smaller, but she could
still jump effortlessly over a wall of two or more meters. When her family saw
that she was insane and always ran out of the house, they would lock her up in
the house. Once her family members left the house, she would unlock the door
just by pointing her fingers at the lock. Then she would run off. Later, they
would restrain her with iron chains. When everyone left home, she would shake
off the chains with ease. It was impossible to restrain her." On
Clearwisdom Net we have seen many practitioners that have been able to jump out
of buildings and over walls; open handcuffs, prison cell doors, and other locks.
All of these were obstacles set by the evil forces to keep these practitioners
from going out and doing work for Fa-rectification. With a clear understanding
of the Fa and maintaining righteous thoughts, these practitioners escaped with
ease; it was impossible to restrain them. Outside of China, though we don't
usually have the need to jump over walls or unlock doors, the evil forces have
still set up many obstacles and other "locks" that we need to get
through. Often times though, we might not see that the obstacle was placed by
the evil forces. The evil forces will find attachments of ours, and then try to
take advantage of that by setting up an obstacle. Due to our attachment and not
being able to see that it is the evil forces taking advantage of this attachment
to stop us from doing Fa-rectification work, we may use human notions to
recognize this problem, therefore being trapped by our own attachment. Once we
are able to recognize our attachment that the evil forces are using to block us
from doing what we need to do, often we can easily open this lock, and it will
be impossible to restrain us. This makes me think of one day when we were going
to have a group practice in the park. I looked outside and saw that it had
started to rain. My first thought was, "Oh no, if it is raining, even if we
do go and practice, no one will be outside to see us, and we will not be able to
hongfa." I then thought, "This is the evil forces trying to stop our
practice and hongfa efforts. They know that by making it rain they can take
advantage of some practitioners' attachments of not wanting to practice in the
rain, and therefore not so many people will come out and practice. At the same
time, ordinary people will not go out to the parks if it is raining, and they
won't be able to see our righteous practice." I was recognizing this
obstacle more clearly and thinking of ways to deal with it. "Didn't the
Teacher say that 'Dafa Disciples Righteous Thoughts are Powerful'? Don't we all
have capabilities?" After that thought, I knew needed to use my
capabilities to stop the rain that is preventing us from doing what we are
supposed to be doing. Not long after, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and we
had a great afternoon of hongfa and group practice. Through this experience, I have come to realize more clearly
that everything that happens around us has to do with our cultivation in
Fa-rectification. Even things that may seem to be natural like rain. The
Teacher's article "Expounding on the Fa" said, "You should also
be clear that 'natural' does not exist, and 'the inevitable' has reasons behind
it. In fact, 'natural' is irresponsibly used by everyday people to make excuses
for themselves when they are unable to explain the phenomena of the universe,
life, and matter. They cannot imagine what 'nature' itself is. Under the
influence of this kind of notion you think that all these tribulations are
inevitable and that this is just the way it is, thereby developing a passive and
pessimistic attitude. So your human side must stay aware. More importantly, your
side that has attained the Fa must be clear." If the Fa of the universe is
being rectified, wouldn't that include the Fa of the earth? In this
Fa-rectification process, doesn't everything that happens have a reason, and is
in some way connected to Fa-rectification? Even things that seem out of our
control, aren't they all within Fa-rectification and therefore within our
control? If we can recognize the real factors behind everything that happens,
then wouldn't we be able to recognize the parts that are not in sync with or
have deviated from the Fa? Once we recognize the situation, isn't it our jobs as
Dafa disciples to not develop a passive and pessimistic attitude, but to rectify
the situation, thereby achieving one more step in the Fa-rectification? This makes me think of how we use righteous thoughts when
dealing with evil. If every time we meet with a troubling situation, we just sit
back and say, "I will send forth righteous thoughts to deal with this
situation." Then we are not really improving ourselves within this problem,
and we are not closing this loophole that the evil has exploited, we are just
looking and trying to solve the problem externally, without a clear
understanding of the situation. On the other hand, if we meet with a situation
and just sit back and think what we have done wrong and passively tolerate, then
we won't be playing a complete role of a Dafa disciple during Fa-rectification;
we won't be eliminating the evil, we won't be stopping it from poisoning others.
The Teacher has been teaching us how to clear evil, but has also said "Dafa
Disciples Righteous Thoughts are Powerful." If we have a good understanding
of the Fa and can clearly see why the evil is evil, and why Dafa is good, and
how we should handle the evil as a Dafa disciple, then we are not just
righteous, we are gods that have enlightened to this great Dafa. One test that I have felt within this process of sending
forth righteous thoughts and using capabilities is not just when and how to use
them, but a fundamental question of "Will it really work? Do I really have
capabilities?" I see this as a fundamental question of ones true faith
within Dafa. We all know Dafa is good and we all want the world to see and
understand the truth, but can we truly step out of our human mindset and treat
ourselves as gods? Can we come to the realization that we are Dafa particles; we
have given up everything to come to this most vile place of the universe to help
the Teacher in Fa-rectification all the while completely filling ourselves with
the fundamental Dafa of the universe? We are different from all other beings in
the universe because we have a direct connection to Dafa. Since we are linked to
the Fa, then shouldn't we be able to use all that is within the Fa? To put it a
different way, don't we possess and have access to everything, from the highest
level to the lowest? If the particles of the Dafa of the universe command that
all the evil be eliminated, then won't all the evil be eliminated? If we have
doubts, then isn't that just the same as saying, "I don't believe I'm a
particle of Dafa." If you don't treat yourself as a particle of Dafa, then
who will. If your heart doesn't change, then everything else won't count for
anything. The Teacher is giving us the greatest opportunity of all the lives in
the universe, but if we can't take this opportunity and truly fulfill this
responsibility by changing our heart to understand this, then I say we are not
worthy of the title of Dafa particle. If I can't make this fundamental change in
my heart, then I won't be worthy of being a Dafa disciple, and I'd be washed
away with all the other useless trash of the universe. On the other hand, if I
can make this fundamental change and step out of the human mindset and become
one that truly is fulfilling the greatest responsibility given to any being in
the universe, then won't this life truly have value and be worthy of being
called a Dafa particle? In Zhuan Falun it says, "Those with superb inborn
quality are usually here on a mission and come from high levels." And in
the recent Canada lecture the Teacher said, "So, as Dafa disciples, you
have been entrusted with a great historic mission." In Zhuan Falun it also
states, "Because she suffered much and quite harshly, she would soon repay
the debts from her wrongdoing. It would take three years at most, and usually
only one or two years, as that suffering was quite tremendous. Afterwards, she
would understand at once what had transpired. Because she completed her
cultivation, she would have her gong unlocked right away with a variety of
divine powers emerging." I understand that this passage can be related to
our situation now. It has been two years of tremendous suffering, and the
Teacher at the recent Canada conference said, "The connecting and opening
up of the Great Heavenly Circuit is a manifestation at this level. But students
have long since passed this level, only they're locked. From now on, one after
another our students will experience different states in cultivation."
Isn't it time now for us to unlock these locks and let our divine powers emerge.
The Teacher has already talked about using our capabilities that all disciples
have. The Teacher's picture has even been posted on Clearwisdom showing us the
hand positions for using our capabilities and the Teacher has given us two
verses to use. Now it's just a matter of breaking through the locks of human
mentality with righteous thoughts, and letting our divine side truly shine
forth. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Master Li, and thank
you Dafa particles. |