My Reflections After Not Studying Fa or Practicing the Exercises for One Week

By a practitioner in the USA

(Clearwisdom.net) I have always been able to study at least one lecture per day during the past few years. Last week was the first time that I did not study much, nor did I practice the exercises for one week. I would like to share the experience with everyone as a warning.

I rushed out of town to do an urgent project a week ago. During that week, I handled my regular emails and urgent matters once I opened my eyes, and then I would spend the rest of my time on the project. I was working against the clock the whole week, even when I felt tired or sleepy. I could only study two lectures and was not able to practice the exercises at all that week. I felt very bad afterwards. The followings are some of my reflections on this experience.

Studying the Fa and practicing the exercises are Master's basic requirements for Dafa disciples. Master says the door of Dafa is open to everyone and he only looks at people's hearts. Everyone can come in to cultivate. In other words, people can leave on their own, and no one would stop them from leaving.

None of the formalities of everyday society can guarantee that one is within Dafa, regardless of whether one is a responsible person of the Dafa Association, a project coordinator, or someone who is often with Master. It is hard to know another's cultivation state, or even if he or she is still cultivating. As long as one does not do any damage, he or she would be welcome at the practice site or in doing truth clarification projects.

Practitioners outside of China are working on many projects, including some that require advanced skills and techniques. However, the effects of these projects within the Fa-rectification are not the result of our skills and techniques, nor are they the result of our contributions of time or physical efforts. This is particularly true with computer related projects, in which the surface results can be deceiving and make us think that they were achieved by our capabilities and efforts.

If we really want to make contributions to truth clarification projects, we should contribute our best. As Dafa disciples, our best is our righteous thoughts from our cultivation following Master's teachings, not the everyday human skills we possess.

I would like to mention practicing the exercises. Many practitioners outside of China do not practice much. Although Master said that we can make it up later if we do not have time to practice due to our tight schedules, Master did not say that it would be all right for us not to practice at all. Some practitioners look for excuses or compare themselves with others regarding how much they practice the exercises. They are deceiving themselves. I am not able to articulate any particular Fa principles, but I think that we should follow Master's words and do the exercises. If we practice often, our bodies will certainly be stronger.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/6/21/104535.html

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