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My Understanding of "Maximally Conforming to the Way of Everyday People While Cultivating" By practitioner Sheng Lian from Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) Through recent sharing with fellow practitioners, I've
noticed that some practitioners do not have a proper understanding of
"maximally conforming to the way of everyday people while
cultivating," they have only paid attention to "conforming to the way
of everyday people" and ignored "while cultivating." This has led
to them thinking and behaving like everyday people and has become a significant
hindrance in their cultivation. For example, some practitioners say, "I go to clean up the house for my
daughter and wash clothes for my grandson. We are cultivating among everyday
people and we must conform to society and be good people. We need to let our
family members know that we are good." Some others say, "I cannot send
forth righteous thoughts regularly sometimes. When it is meal time and my
children have all come back home from work, it is not good if you leave the
table and not eat with others. Didn't Master say that we must conform to society
while cultivating?" Some other practitioners say, "I'm retired now and
I will find myself another job. Master said that we cultivate among everyday
people and should conform to society. I'll find myself a job and cultivate while
working." There are quite a few practitioners around me who think this way. I feel that if these practitioners only pay attention to "conforming to
the way of everyday people" and forget cultivation, then they have not
gained a proper understanding about "maximally conforming to the way of
everyday people while cultivating." My personal understanding of what
Master said is that while we cultivate, our words and actions should conform to
the state of everyday people's society so that they (including our family
members) will understand us, and we should not go to extremes or come across as
strange. For example, although we do not need to become monks or nuns in our
cultivation and we do not need to resign from work, and we also look after our
families, we must not confuse ourselves with everyday people. We are cultivators
who have elevated above everyday people and we must not forget cultivation. In
our everyday lives and at work, we must at all times cultivate ourselves while
maximally conforming to society. A fellow practitioner, after he retired, completely devoted himself to Fa-rectification
cultivation. He said, "I have a retirement pension. It's good enough, and I
will put all my time and energy in assisting Master in Fa-rectification."
He did not look for other jobs after he retired and let go of the attachment to
self-interest. On this matter, he has put into action the principle of maximally
conforming to the way of everyday people while cultivating. On one occasion, a
practitioner was expecting some guests. Before they came, he had prepared some
truth-clarifying materials. After the guests came, he clarified the truth to
them while cooking. While the guests went out for a walk after the meal, he went
out with the truth-clarifying materials to distribute them to households around
his area. On his way back, he bought some vegetables and prepared something
again to entertain the guests. I think this practitioner did well in
"maximally conforming to the way of everyday people while cultivating"
in this respect. Some practitioners say, "When I see everyday people chatting, I do not
join them. We are different from them and I will take a detour to keep away from
them." I think this is a forced action. A practitioner who has cultivated
well would walk over naturally, standing there with a smile on his face,
watching them talking about those never-ending everyday people's topics. But he
would find an appropriate moment to clarify the truth to those people to save
them. This way, he would have maximally conformed to everyday society and at the
same time saved people. Therefore, as Dafa practitioners, we should not just understand the meaning
of "maximally conforming to the way of everyday people while
cultivating" at its surface value as would everyday people. Instead, we
should discipline ourselves with the standards of cultivators. Dafa cultivation
is cultivation in everyday people's society. The great way is formless, and we
do not need to become monks or nuns or resign from work. Young practitioners
will also get married. No matter what social status one has, there is no need to
change it. We cultivate in our existing work environment and family environment
and let go of attachments to fame, self-interest, sentiment and human notions so
that we can elevate ourselves above everyday people, rather than understanding
the Fa from a narrow-minded point of view and behaving like everyday people. The
difference between a cultivator and an ordinary person does not lie in whether
what they do is the same on the surface, the difference lies in the inner realm.
It is our "hearts" that are not in everyday people's things, not how
we do things on the surface. Fellow practitioners, let us remember Master's teachings, study the Fa more
often and study the Fa with a calm mind. Let us regard ourselves as cultivators
and require ourselves as per the standards of the Fa at all times, and use the
Fa to guide our words and actions. We should not stop at being just good people.
Being a good person is the first step in our initial stage of cultivation, not
the end. Good people are still human beings at everyday people's level and they
cannot elevate from the earth or reach consummation to go to a heavenly
paradise. Master said, "The primary purpose of my coming to the public is to guide people to
high levels, genuinely guiding people to high levels." ("Lecture
One" from Zhuan Falun, March 2000 translation version) Let us diligently advance together and become gods in various heavenly
paradises. Please kindly point out anything improper.
Posting date: 11/10/2006 |