Young Practitioners Need to Be Mature

By a Falun Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net)

This year, I will be 20 years old and I will have spent half of my life growing up with Dafa. The purpose of my article today is to share my experiences with other practitioners, and to encourage and remind myself to save more sentient beings while walking the final path of Fa validation. I also hope that other practitioners of my age will shoulder the same responsibility.

I started my cultivation together with my mother when I was still a child and have continued uninterruptedly until today's Fa-validation period. I am not too old, and not too young, perhaps in the prime of life according to one saying. People my age are easily pulled in all directions. In addition, society nowadays is such a big melting pot, with many distractions like the Internet, that at times I am tempted into bad behavior as if I were an ordinary young person, yet I am completely unaware of it. In fact, we are no longer young Dafa disciples, completing our personal cultivation period. When we exchange insights with adult practitioners, we should try to understand the Fa from a rational standpoint rather than judging with our own notions. Since we are Dafa disciples, we are also responsible for the sentient beings that populate our world, and we should therefore shoulder our responsibility, rather than being attached to pop songs, internet games, and gossiping with our friends. As Dafa disciples, our every movement may determine whether a person can be saved or not.

Actually, I still considered myself to be a little disciple until very recently. Although I do work related to Fa-rectification, and I say that I am grown up, I felt uncertain. I knew I had a problem, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt a lot of pressure until other practitioners pointed out to me that, fundamentally, I have not switched to Fa-rectification cultivation, but was still stuck in the previous, personal cultivation state. The Fa-rectification has already lasted for seven years, and I do not dare to think about how far I have fallen behind.

Even at my age we should be able to think about the Fa-rectification, think of sentient beings, and think of becoming part of the whole body. A few days ago, when it was time for group Fa-study, I decided that I'd rather stay at home and read by myself. I did not want to go. I knew that not attending group Fa-study was wrong, but I just did not want to go. Then my mother said, "Our improvement is not completely for our own sake, it also benefits the sentient beings in our worlds." After hearing her words, I was startled. Although I still did not want to go, in my mind, righteousness and evil were fighting each other. In the end I had only one thought, "For the sentient beings, I'll go." After arriving at the Fa study site, people were studying the Fa, but my mind was not idle. I kept thinking, "I am really selfish, I did not think of the Fa-rectification, or of being part of the whole body. Look at the other practitioners, they can give up everything for Dafa; what great virtue! Look at myself, I am so tiny in comparison. I have cultivated for such a long time, where is my benevolence?" At that moment, Teacher's words appeared in front of my eyes:

"It's not done just for the Consummation of your own being--it is also about fulfilling the hopes that have been placed in you by sentient beings, by more beings!" ("Teaching the Fa at the 2005 Canada Fa Conference)

Teacher was encouraging me, strengthening my understanding of the Fa.

Once, I became tired after studying the Fa and wanted to go to sleep without doing the exercises. When I lay down on my bed I saw the following scene: Two rows of people were kneeling down to the left and right of me. They wore the grey-blue clothes worn by ancient village people. They all had their heads bowed. A long time passed before I wrote this down. I just hope those practitioners who ignore Fa study and exercises can pay attention to this and be diligent, because it's not solely about your own level in the cultivation. It also determines how many sentient beings in your world will be saved.

Practitioners, we are no longer little children guided by adults. We have also followed Teacher to this human world. We have also come, step by step, from the heavens above; we also reincarnated many times; we also waited tens of millions of years. Do not think of yourself as a child. To better save sentient being, and to not slow down the Fa-rectification progress, we should really be mature. Today, I'm using this opportunity to write to the Minghui website, to exhort practitioners my age to publish more articles, and encourage practitioners who are lagging behind, or practitioners who put Fa study and Fa validation second due to a busy schedule at school. Of course, it is our responsibility to study well in school, but we should not forget our true purpose in coming to this human world. We should balance well the relationship between school and the Fa and thus improve together as one body, truly follow the Fa-rectification progress, and shoulder our own responsibilities.

This is my recent understanding. Please kindly point out anything improper.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/1/14/146823.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version