Working on Falun Dafa Projects Can Never Replace Our Own Cultivation

(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, practitioners from the Jincheng Area were illegally arrested or harassed. It was said that the police got a list of practitioners and used it to investigate each of the names on the list. Some malicious people in the community reported them to CCP authorities in Beijing. As practitioners we need to deny this with righteous thoughts and eliminate the persecution. We also have to truly reflect on this to discover the underlying root cause in ourselves and in the whole body of practitioners.

For a long time, practitioners in Jincheng seemed to be doing very well. For example, up and down the streets and on buildings were banners that said "Wonderful Falun Dafa" or "Heaven Is Eliminating the Evil Chinese Communist Party." Practitioners in the Jincheng area went to the nearby countryside to explain the facts about Dafa and help people quit the Party and its affiliates. Coordinators often called upon practitioners to visit forced labor camps and government offices to send forth righteous thoughts and demand the release of practitioners who had been arrested.

All these activities made it seem to those who did not study the Fa very well that those in the Jincheng area were doing very well, and they even admired the practitioners in this area. They blindly followed what the Jincheng practitioners did and stories about them were repeated far and wide. The Jingcheng practitioners also thought they were doing very well. From far and near, practitioners came many times to Jincheng to learn from them.

However, when we sat down with the Jincheng practitioners to share experiences, some practitioners from other areas saw a problem: Jincheng practitioners would talk about how they clarified the truth, how they demanded that practitioners be released from forced labor camps, and how they distributed truth-clarification materials. However, they seldom talked about how they cultivated themselves when doing those things and how their xinxing level was improving during the Fa-rectification process. They didn't talk about how they used the Fa to understand and eventually resolve conflicts among fellow practitioners, between practitioners and coordinators, and among coordinators.

What was their mindset when they worked on Dafa projects?

Most of them, including the coordinators, thought that, since it is now the Fa-rectification cultivation period, that practitioners had passed the individual cultivation stage. They believed it was no problem for them to reach consummation and therefore looking inside would cause delay in saving sentient beings, which is a deviation from what the Fa-rectification period Dafa practitioners actually need to do. They thought their major task was to save people, and therefore they only needed to look inside while doing the three things. This would naturally resolve the separations and conflicts among fellow practitioners. They said it was a waste of time for them to sit down and look inside.

From this, we could see that they focused on doing things. Even when they said they would look inside while doing things, they only looked for superficial reasons instead of their own attachments that were actually exposed during their work. Few of them cultivated themselves in their daily lives.

I don't agree with the Jincheng practitioners' thinking as set forth above. Here are my reasons.

1. Cultivating ourselves well is a prerequisite to saving people. While doing the work, we need to be Falun Dafa disciples instead of everyday people. When we practice well, what we say will carry the power of the Fa, which can eliminate evil and save the sentient beings.
2. Teacher told us that it is not a problem for Dafa disciples to reach Consummation and we have very important responsibilities and missions to save sentient beings. However, this doesn't mean that it is not important for us to cultivate ourselves. In fact, Teacher explained to us in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa," "... that gigantic cosmic body is below you, it's almost like your body, because that's how gigantic you are. There are countless sentient beings and countless cosmic firmaments inside there. Your cultivation determines whether those gigantic groups of beings are good or bad, and whether they can be kept or not!" Teacher has told us exactly why we should cultivate ourselves well.
3. It is not enough for us to simply emphasize cultivating ourselves only while we are working on Dafa projects. This is because, first of all, it is not enough for us to only look inside when saving sentient beings while paying less attention to it in our daily lives. We are also validating the Fa and helping people learn the truth by how we act at home and at work. Our actions need to accord with the high requirements of the Fa. Also, not looking inside in our daily lives will make us lose the opportunities that Teacher has arranged for us to remove our attachments. We wouldn't be able to improve ourselves and melt into the Fa. Secondly, without a solid base of self-cultivation, it won't be easy for us to keep righteous thoughts when we do encounter issues when clarifying the truth or working on Dafa projects. Then we won't be able to cooperate with each other well, which will impact Dafa work and cause losses when saving sentient beings.
4. Ignoring self-cultivation for a long period could bring danger to both themselves and fellow practitioners. The old forces could take advantage of their omissions to persecute practitioners.
5. I felt a heavy heart after watching Teacher's latest Fa lecture to Australian practitioners. We are far into Fa-rectification, yet Teacher still had to repeatedly answer simple questions from practitioners that are not diligent enough. I felt so guilty and embarrassed when I heard Teacher saying, "Some people really will leave you disappointed by not fulfilling their potential and not living up to expectations." Teacher once again gave us kind reminders and he seemed to be reluctant to leave. Therefore, I hope practitioners in Jincheng and other areas with similar issues will truly reflect on what happened. We must not let Teacher down. There were deep meanings when Teacher gave us this lecture. We must not forget to cultivate ourselves since that is essential for us. Working on Dafa related projects can never replace our cultivation!

The above are my personal understandings at my current level. Please correct me if I said anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/10/11/164256.html

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