By Shan Guo (a disciple residing outside China)

(Clearwisdom.net) The Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net) is soliciting articles from Mainland China disciples for the third online Fa conference. Many practitioners are writing of their experiences for this event. Recently collected articles made me aware of a problem - we should avoid writing about issues simply to expose them or writing articles that are purely for self- improvement. The purpose is rather selfish if the goal of writing is only one of the following: 1) to expose one's problems or shortcomings, 2) the writer thinks that it is easier to cultivate and cultivate well as long as problems are exposed, or 3) one thinks that it is all right as long as he or she can improve after they have written the articles. The mission for submitting Dafa articles for publishing on the Minghui website should be for validating Dafa! Articles should not aim to publicize those areas where a cultivator as an individual hasn't done well, or even discussing filthy matters that have not been removed, nor sharing only one's own achievements.Of course, there is no restriction on writing about problems or shortcomings. They should be addressed first, because one has to realize the attachment first before one can eliminate it. Nevertheless, as Dafa disciples during the Fa-rectification period, we need to take offering human beings salvation and validating Dafa as our responsibilities. No matter what we do, we should not forget our historic mission.

Three types of readers visit our Minghui website: Dafa fellow practitioners, everyday people and the evildoers. So, in order to effectively validate Dafa, we have to be careful when we write sharing articles for a Fa conference, or non-specific articles for the Minghui website. If the article deals with persecution exposure, then we need to write clearly why this kind of persecution is evil, whether such persecution can stop Dafa practitioners from cultivating, and describe the negative influences that the persecution has brought on society and so on. If it is an article about exchanging opinions among disciples, one can't just list lots of problems and issues without any suggestions or conclusions and let everyday people and evildoers view it as is. The right way is to clarify the understanding of the Fa from a positive angle and propose specific plans and actions to solve or improve situations. If it is an article about sharing cultivation experiences, it should be clearly stated how, from the beginning, Dafa is the purifying factor and has raised one's physical and spiritual states. Thus other practitioners, everyday people and generations of future human beings can see clearly the hope that Dafa has brought to mankind. They will be able to see how Dafa has saved us in such an extremely wicked and troubled world. People can then realize that Dafa has truly opened a path for human beings' enlightenment. In addition, many more sentient beings can be rescued through the process of Dafa disciples' cultivation. These sharing articles collect evidence of individual Dafa disciple's performance during the unique (not seen in the past and won't happen in the future) historic Fa-rectification period. Such evidence validates the purity, the compassion, the unselfishness and the mighty power of Dafa.Another point worth mentioning is that cultivation sharing should not be written as a business report/memorandum; for example, letting fellow practitioners and Master know what one did, and that is it. Doing so doesn't fulfill the proper mission for holding a Fa conference. The main purpose of a Fa conference is to be a testimonial of how one cultivates in the Fa. Only by doing it this way, sharing each other's understanding, can we have a fundamental impact by learning from each other and comparing self-cultivation with others so that everyone improves together.

For example, you have done something. If you only write about what you did and how you did it, it easily comes out as a "work report." In addition, everyday people can do plenty of things after they receive an order or assignment. They can overcome many difficulties in order to finish that task as well. So, we Dafa disciples carry out some projects and the formalities of those are very similar to everyday people's projects. What is the real difference then between us and ordinary people? This needs to be clearly stated in our sharing articles. Some practitioners' articles have simple structures. They briefly write what they did to validate Fa. In the meantime, the emphasis is on why they did it and how they established righteous thoughts through Fa study. In their papers they also focus on how they realized their shortcomings while doing things, what kind of attachments they eliminated, and finally how they increased their level of understanding of Fa principles. Writing articles this way will ensure positive effects for clarifying truth, validating Dafa and exchanging understandings among fellow practitioners.

In summary, one must put down one's self-centeredness and think of the whole group, and when writing an article, keep in mind the sentient beings and the future. Only in doing so can the article truly have the effect of validating Dafa.

This is my personal understanding. Please kindly correct any inappropriate points.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/9/20/138194.html