Uncovering Xinxing Problems to Strengthen and Ennoble Our Fa-Rectification Work
In Zhuan Falun, Master says: "only by emphasizing xinxing cultivation
can your gong increase and your level be upgraded...What is xinxing? It includes
de (a type of matter), tolerance, enlightenment quality, sacrifice, giving up
ordinary people's different desires and attachments, being able to suffer
hardships, and so on. It encompasses various things. Every aspect of xinxing
must be upgraded for you to make real progress" (Chapter One). In my understanding, one of the factors that makes the cultivation of Dafa so
great is that it goes directly to the heart of the matter: xinxing. It is my
understanding that xinxing is what we truly are, and everything else including
our bodies, our speech, our thoughts, our actions, everything is a reflection of
our xinxing. Therefore, one could cultivate body, speech, mind, conduct, and so
on forever, but never achieve true change. Yet, if one cultivates xinxing
directly and makes a change there, it manifests throughout one's whole being.
Everything else stems from xinxing. Thus, by cultivating xinxing, we are going
to the heart of the matter and when a change happens there, it changes
everything...all manifestations. As Dafa disciples, our mission is Fa-rectification. Today, we have come
together for this precious Fa-conference during this critical time in Fa-rectification. What shall we share? What shall we discuss? I believe that, as is the case with cultivation, the solidity and
effectiveness of everything we do in Fa-rectification stems from our xinxing as
well. Therefore, if we truly go to the heart of the matter, identifying problems
in our xinxing and make changes there, it will have great benefits on all fronts
of the Fa-rectification. Our ability to truly meet the standard of a Fa-rectification Dafa disciple is
the primary factor that will ensure we can carry out our mission of Fa-rectification
well, manifest the mighty virtue of Dafa in the human world, and avoid following
the degenerate arrangements of the old evil forces. I would like to share with my fellow disciples some of the attachments and
problems I have uncovered in my own xinxing. I hope by sharing these insights,
such attachments and problems can be exposed and eliminated on a wide scale,
thereby no longer allowing them to cause interference in my path of Fa-rectification
nor the paths of my fellow disciples. Understanding Master's Fa of "Conforming to the state of everyday people's
society" In the 1999 Lecture in Australia, a student asked Master, "As a university
student who practices cultivation, how can I keep making progress with
diligence? Some disciples have suggested that not going to college and joining
the workforce may result in a better environment for cultivation." Master answered, "I'd say that this would be a horrendous mistake. I
understand that some people will become overly excited when they see the truth,
especially when I teach the Dafa Prior to obtaining today and have taught so
many heavenly secrets. Upon obtaining the Fa one will become excited and it's
easy not to balance well the relationship between cultivators and everyday
people. To cultivate while conforming to everyday people's society to the
maximum extent is not just a simple sentence, this is the Fa! It's
interconnected from every angle and perspective. I know that there will be more
people studying Dafa all over the world in the future, billions of people
studying. When I first taught this Fa, I already knew what the result would be.
With that many people all coming to study, if no one works or goes to school,
can this be allowed?! So, I thought about that stage before I began teaching
this Fa. The question of how to allow people to cultivate in everyday people's
society is of great relevance. So, neither your work, nor your business, your
school studies, or any other aspect of your life will interfere with your
cultivation. You need to go about your work and studies as usual. Your work and
your studies are absolutely not cultivation, but as a person who practices
cultivation, your improved xinxing will manifest itself in your work and
studies. This is the relationship. So, wherever Dafa students are, people will
all say that, as a person, you're just so wonderful. This is the state that's a
reflection of your cultivating while conforming to everyday people's society to
the maximum extent. If you can't achieve this, it means that you're not acting
according to my words, to Master's requirements. If you don't even listen to
what I say, then why do you still call me Master? I wouldn't teach you to walk
down a path that's not good. Since I've taught this Fa, I must be responsible to
it. In fact, I treasure you more than you treasure yourselves, because you exist
together with Master. You're the most magnificent Gods of the future, the
exemplary models of the new cosmos, and mankind's hope for the future. By all
means, don't, once you study the Fa, stop doing everyday people's things. As for
things that Dafa doesn't allow, if you don't do them, it shows that your
enlightenment quality is good. If you don't do an everyday people's normal job,
then there's a problem that's produced by the attachment of zealotry." I feel that Master's answer to this question carries profound Fa at realms
that, after over three years of cultivation, I'm still struggling to achieve.
One the primary mistakes I've made is to pay attention to the second part
where Master says, "I know that there will be more people studying Dafa all over
the world in the future, billions of people studying... The question of how to
allow people to cultivate in everyday people's society is of great relevance,"
while overlooking the part when Master says: "To cultivate while conforming to
everyday people's society to the maximum extent is not just a simple sentence,
this is the Fa! It's interconnected from every angle and perspective." I was
understanding the principle of conforming to everyday society in a very
superficial way, as if it were just a requirement on our conduct alone, and not
a profound Fa that is "interconnected from every angle and perspective." Of
course, I was not conscious of this. I read Master's Fa, and thought I was
following the Fa, but many attachments and ways of thinking can lay hidden
before being exposed through further study and cultivation later on. How did my misunderstanding of this principle of Fa manifest? Over the past few years, we all have been very busy doing work for the Fa-rectification.
Because of omissions I carry at various levels, however, I have sometimes
understood "putting the Fa in the first place" to mean we can turn our backs and
ignore our families, our work place, our friends and other elements of our
environment that are -- at least on the surface -- not directly related to Dafa
and Fa-rectification. Again, this was not a conscious decision in most cases,
but through my actions I can observe this lack of understanding in myself
manifest. More recently, myself and many practitioners I have talked to have come to
realize this problem, and have made efforts to examine its roots, so as to
remove the attachments causing these problems. Still, I have noticed some
extremes in this area. As practitioners discuss the importance of spending time
with family, friends and other social environments, I have noticed some elements
of qing and superficial understandings of "conforming," which makes the
sacredness and the profound inner meaning of the Fa behind this principle not so
sacred. That is, rather than reflecting the sacred duty of truly validating Dafa
in all environments, it becomes more like a human thought of "spending time with
family and friends" or worse, a show or an act to present a good face to others
that is not grounded in Dafa. What is the root problem? I believe both the problem of turning my back on
matters of my everyday life as well as approaching matters of my everyday life
with the intent of showing a good face comes from a lack of understanding of the
Fa Master has taught regarding "conforming to the state of everyday people," and
these problems have become more pronounced amidst the current stage of Fa-rectification
because when faced with the immensity of our mission in the Fa-rectification, it
becomes more difficult to not cut corners in the fundamentals of cultivation.
But as Master said in the 2002 Lecture in Washington DC, "Those who do well will
change the environments around them, and those who do poorly will make the
environments around them change according to their states of mind." How did this problem manifest in my life? One of the most obvious indicators was that often times everything that was
not "Dafa work" in my life inevitably got put on the back burner, be it work for
my job during the day, doing chores around the house, making contact with my
family members, etc. Day in and day out, I would work tirelessly on Dafa-related
projects, only stopping to do work at my job when I had to, only stopping to do
chores around the house when my wife asked me to, only stopping to contact my
family when it had been so long that they might start wondering where I was. In
all cases, I was treating the issue of handling matters of my everyday life as
some public relations-type of side project that I did just enough with so that
people wouldn't think poorly of me. This behavior on all fronts of my life lead
back to my lack of understanding of "conforming to everyday society." Again, I
was treating Master's words as merely cultivation of conduct. First and foremost, a disciple should be able to manifest the benevolence and
goodness of the Fa in every environment. To not do this, indicated I was often
not truly being a disciple. Consequently, Dafa work and the matters of my
everyday life were constantly put in opposition to each other, where I had to
either choose to do Dafa work or choose to conduct the matters of my everyday
life. But Dafa is the great Fa of the cosmos. How could there not be a
benevolent solution to any situation a disciple finds himself in if the disciple
is manifesting the Fa in those situations? True, amidst all the difficulties, hardships and deviant arrangements made by
the old forces, this becomes increasingly difficult to do, but this is no excuse
for a Dafa disciple. The benevolence and goodness of Dafa must still manifest in
every environment, regardless of the pressures, regardless of the difficulties. Yet, time and time again, I did not reach the standard, and so, time and time
again, work for Dafa and the matters of my everyday life were put in opposition
to each other by my lack of understanding, where I had to choose to either do
work for Dafa or take care of matters around my home. Do work for Dafa or do a
good job at work. Do work for Dafa or handle matters and affairs with my family
well. Many times, I would look at it from the perspective of testing whether I
could put everything down for Dafa, and so I would just do the Dafa work,
leaving the matters of my life not settled or handled well. Occasionally,
however, I would do the opposite, putting off Dafa work to handle a matter of my
everyday life. Actually, it was my own short-comings that were putting Dafa work in
opposition to all these matters. How could Dafa be in opposition to anything in
a disciple's everyday life, such that there remains no choice but to choose
between doing Fa-rectification work and manifesting the goodness of Dafa in my
everyday life environment? Originally, I had not planned to come to this conference because my family
had scheduled a family reunion over the week of Thanksgiving. My father had even
bought plane tickets for all the children and their families. One day after chatting with other practitioners, however, I realized how
important and critical a Fa-conference is at this point during the Fa
rectification. How could I miss this Fa conference? Should I stay at the family
reunion for the entire week or should I come back a few days early so that I
could attend this Fa conference? Once again, it seemed from the surface that I
was in a position where Dafa was in opposition to manifesting the goodness of
Dafa in my everyday environment - in opposition to "conforming to the state of
everyday people." As I contemplated my dilemma regarding going to this conference or not, I at
first did not know what to do. As I calmed down to think about it, however, the
first thought that came to my mind is that I must put Dafa in the first place,
above myself and above even my being a Fa-rectification disciple. Changing my
vacation plans and going to the Philly conference could create a lot of
misunderstanding, and so I should just go and spend time with my family. This is
putting Dafa in the first place by not creating any misunderstandings amongst my
family members. But, as I thought about this more, I felt this was an unrighteous solution,
and one that even carried elements of fear. I was carefully tiptoeing around
plans with my family out of fear of creating misunderstanding. It carried the
air of appeasing the family rather than righteously validating Dafa to them. I contemplated this problem calmly and then a very righteous thought emerged
and I knew clearly what to do. I called my wife and said I wanted to change the flight arrangements and come
back two days early so that we could attend the conference. She immediately
became upset because I have so often in the past pushed aside matters of family
and my everyday life, and so when I told her what I wanted to do she thought I
was again going to push these aside. This time, however, my mind was clear, and
instead of arguing with her, as I usually did when I wanted to push something
aside so I could participate in a Dafa activity, I began, from the bottom of my
heart to explain...the words and ideas were simple, but they swelled tears in my
eyes and I told them to my wife. I explained that seeing the family is not some social obligation we do so
that they won't formulate bad notions about people who practice Falun Dafa - a
sort of, give-them-what-they-want approach to appeasing people so as to avoid
losses for Dafa. Seeing the family, like everything else a Dafa disciple does, should be a
magnificent manifestation of kindness and goodness, not because we go there with
some conscious intent of making a good impression, but because we carry the Fa
in our hearts and it manifests. In other words, it is not merely cultivation of
conduct, but true xinxing cultivation -- cultivating the heart of the matter
that then manifests in our environments. á I explained to my wife that I had enlightened to the fact that Dafa could
never be in opposition to family or any other matter of everyday life. If it
ever appears this way, it must be omissions we have and perhaps the old forces
are utilizing them to make matters worse. The true manifestation of Dafa is
beneficial to everything at all levels. If we are starting from the standpoint
that Dafa is at odds with the workplace, family or other elements of our
environment such that causing misunderstandings in these environments becomes
"inevitable" in order to do what is necessary for Fa-rectification, then the
starting point is not right. When I looked at it from this perspective, I knew this principle to be true,
and then immediately saw that me leaving two days early should not cause any
losses. It was the degree to which my cultivation state manifests Dafa that
would truly effect the environment and how my family viewed Dafa. Additionally,
it might even be an excellent opportunity to talk with my family about why I
chose to make the schedule change, thereby providing them with an opportunity to
gain a better understanding of Dafa. After all, what could be more wonderful to a family of everyday people than
to have a family member cultivating Dafa? If my family could see the true
situation, they would celebrate my departure, wishing my journey well. My
parents would remind me to listen well to the speeches, to compare how I
cultivate with the other practitioners and they would make sure I had written a
speech to share with my fellow practitioners. If they knew the true situation,
perhaps my father would go back to his office to brag to his co-workers how his
son cultivates Dafa and is headed back to Philadelphia for an experience sharing
conference. Of course, my family are everyday people so they can't see the true situation
and they can't know the true situation, but this is the true situation and I am
a Dafa disciple, so it must be the case that the benevolence and kindness of
Dafa can be exhibited to my family through this arrangement in a way that they
can understand. In other words, if I walk my path well, my family will see the goodness of
Dafa, and at the same time, I will attend the conference in order to strive
forward with my fellow disciples. This is the effect that a true disciple should
achieve. This is the righteous solution. This is the path I should walk. In short, if my family cannot see the benevolence and goodness of Dafa, then
it is exactly like what Master said in his answer to question I read above from
the Australia lecture: "If you can't achieve this, it means that you're not
acting according to my words, to Master's requirements. If you don't even listen
to what I say, then why do you still call me Master?" As I explained this to my wife, she was very silent. She could tell I had
taken Master's Fa as Master in my heart and had enlightened to a principle at my
level. She could tell that, by embracing the Fa, I was embracing every aspect of
my life and being responsible to every aspect of my life. She quietly said "ok" and then I made the arrangements so I could be back to
Philadelphia in time for the conference. Of course, as Master has also emphasized many times, there is the issue of
people's notions and attachments. There is an issue of what is reasonable from
the perspective of everyday people. If I had to cancel my entire trip to see my
family, that might be another story. That is, would this act so stir their
notions that it caused a negative affect? These issues need to be carefully
considered in every situation. We can't just enlighten to a principle and then
blindly follow it without considering how our words and our actions might affect
others. We must have a broad perspective and see things from many angles because
our responsibility as Fa-rectification disciples is not solely to our own
cultivation and enlightening, but to validating the Fa. According to my
understanding, manifesting the goodness of Dafa must come before anything
related to our own cultivation and enlightening. Looking at this situation from another angle, however, wasn't this an
arrangement? It was not the case that the entire family reunion overlapped with
the Fa conference. It was just a few days at the end, and these few days were
enough to give me an opportunity to encounter this tribulation and enlighten. According to my understanding, letting go of humanness does not mean turning
our backs on our affairs in the human world. It means removing the attachments
in our hearts to these human things, while still cultivating amidst them. In
Chapter Four of Zhuan Falun, Master says, "Our school of practice
directly targets one's mind. The key issue is whether you can take lightly and
care less about the issues of individual gain and interpersonal conflicts.
Cultivation practices in temples or in remote mountains and woods completely
sever your access to ordinary human society, forcing you to lose everyday
people's attachments and denying you any material benefits so that you can lose
them. A practitioner among everyday people does not follow this path. This
person is required to take them lightly in this everyday human environment. Of
course, this is very difficult. It is also the most crucial aspect of our school
of practice. Therefore, the loss we refer to is loss in a broad sense instead of
a narrow one." I have read these lines countless times, and yet judging from my
understandings and actions, it seems I am still struggling to achieve this realm
and truly follow this Fa. What is the root problem of why I casually understood "Conforming to everyday
people society?" I feel the real root of the problem is fear, which itself stems from a lack
of faith in the Dafa that I have discovered in my Xinxing. When I first obtained the Fa, I had been living a simple, and relatively
secluded life. After obtaining the Fa, I would read constantly and in those
first few months, I could see very clearly the almost endless trappings of the
big dye vat that is human society in this day and age, and I was very much
afraid of it. I absorbed so much of the Fa in the first few months, and yet it
seems like I overlooked what Master teaches in terms of how we cultivate in the
world and that with such a great Fa, this is possible. It is very difficult
because we are cultivating amidst the dye vat, but with such a great Fa, this is
not only possible, but presents a tremendous opportunity. I overlooked the
teachings related to this area, or perhaps more accurately, I failed to really
believe it to some degree. Therefore, it seems I often brought into my work for Dafa impurities, as if I
were grasping the Dafa work to sustain a connection to the Fa. This is using the
Fa as a crutch, and not true cultivation. Assimilating one's heart to the Fa
principles is the only true way to emerge from the great dye vat, rising above
and beyond like a Lotus flower emerging from the muddy swamp untainted. As
Master said in the article, Determination, "If you take up this path out of some
interest, your mind will definitely not be firm and you will definitely forget
the fundamentals while living in human society." Of course, the true problem here is a lack of faith in Master's Fa and the
power of the Fa. When I examine all the difficulties I've had in cultivation, Fa-rectification
and my everyday environment, almost every time it boils down to cultivation
issues. And, at the root of almost all these cultivation issues, is one problem:
lack of faith, to some extent, in Master and Dafa. With true diamond-like,
righteous faith in Master and the Fa, no tribulation can stop us. Of course,
these are words. To actually achieve such righteous faith, Fa study is the key. As Master said in the article, Drive Out Interference, "Now you can see why
I've often told you to read the book more, right?! The Fa can break all
attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the
Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." These are a few of my experiences and understandings. Let us help each other
and strive forward together amidst the Fa-rectification. Thank you.
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