Regarding Non-action

By a practitioner from Yanbian Prefecture, Jilin Province

(Clearwisdom.net) I believe that non-action means being free of notions, human factors, the sense of self, and so on.

When I first started cultivating in Falun Dafa, I did not understand well the deeper meanings of non-action, and my understanding of Dafa was based on human notions. At that time, I studied the Fa and practiced the exercises to benefit myself. I indeed had given up a lot, but it did not make me improve, and I developed a lot of attachments. I wanted to be diligent, but I had a lot of obstacles. On one hand I wanted to let things happen naturally, but I then felt as if I was falling behind. I got stuck and was not able to put things into perspective. After pondering deep and hard, I came to realize that the root cause was because I practiced cultivation to benefit myself. For a long time I did not understand the Fa-principle in Teacher's words:

"Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)

Out of ignorance, I relied on myself to practice cultivation.

Whether one is able to obtain the Fa or practice cultivation is arranged by divine beings, and it is useless for humans to try to make arrangements for themselves. There are many Dafa practitioners who have unconsciously looked at Dafa based on human notions and taken the path arranged by the old forces without even realizing it.

For example, sometimes there is nothing wrong with what we are doing, but rather our mentality while doing it: wanting to show off, believing in human concepts, or being only concerned with benefiting a small group of people instead of the whole body. However big my human notions are, that's how big of a tribulation the old forces will arrange for me according to the principle of "mutual-generation and mutual-inhibition." Teacher told us:

"The old forces don't dare to oppose our clarifying the truth or saving sentient beings. What's key is to not let them take advantage of the gaps in your state of mind when you do things." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")

The principles of cultivation are often the opposite of human notions. A practitioner believes that he should only focus on cultivating, without paying attention to obtaining gong. Accordingly, a practitioner should do his work quietly, peacefully and without thinking about how it benefits him personally.

The three things should be a Dafa practitioner's focus. We should put our minds on the Fa, ignore our own personal gain, and let go of human thoughts--only when we are able to do this can we not give the old forces excuses to persecute us. Humans live in delusion, so they can only sense what they can see on the surface, which is actually as unstable as the superficial appearance of clouds. Nonetheless, they cling fast to it and seek recognition from others. That is not the state of a Dafa practitioner.

From now on, we should no longer strive forward for the purpose of gaining recognition from others. Instead, we should truly assimilate into Dafa from the bottom of our hearts and ignore superficial phenomena.

The above is the understanding at my level. Please correct me if there is anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/10/31/165640.html

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