My Understanding of "A Great Way Without Form"
By Huilian, a Falun Dafa practitioner from Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) Since the beginning of the year, persecution incidents
in our area have caused losses in validating Dafa as one body. There are four
main reasons for this, based on my understanding: First, we focused merely on superficial work and have not spent enough time
studying the Fa. Hence, we lost sight of recognizing the progress of
Fa-rectification. This is a fundamental issue. Master said in "To the
Australia Fa Conference:" "The regions that have done well saving sentient beings and validating
Dafa, and where great changes have transpired, are always places where people
have studied the Fa well. And the Dafa disciples who have improved quickly are
always those who have made Fa-study a priority." Second, we focused too much on validating ourselves. We had strong egos,
which created conflicts and separations among fellow practitioners. Sometimes we
even unintentionally formed factions and did things separately. We didn't follow
the Fa as teacher and deviated from believing in Dafa and Master. Some
practitioners have tried to maintain a superficial peace. Even when they noticed
the issues, they didn't take the responsibility to kindly point out what needed
addressing. This has created loopholes in coordination work and cooperating as
one body. Third, the responsible parties didn't do well. Fourth, our comprehension of the Dafa disciples' cultivation form is not at
the proper level. This is the main topic that I would like to discuss here--my
understanding of "A Great Way Without Form." Master said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles," "let me talk about Dafa disciples' cultivation form. Actually, I have
always said to you that the way today's Dafa disciples cultivate is one of a
'Great Way without Form.' Each of you is a part of ordinary society, each
performs his or her own functions in society, each is in his own social
strata, each has his own profession, and each has his own circumstances. In
other words, your cultivation is fully a part of society and doesn't take any
specific form." "In other words, the cultivation of a Great Way without form is really
a formless kind of form." After I studied this Fa I realized that the recent profound civilizations in
human history and the different professions are all related to the surviving
forms of the gods and lives in different spheres of the cosmos, the cosmic
bodies, and the immense cosmic systems. They correspond to and are reflected
differently in the human world, as represented by the principles of raising or
descending levels of their existence. No matter what kind of cultivation form
Master adopts, Dafa practitioners can always advance in cultivation, using Dafa
principles as their guide. For example, the improvement of music, art, technical
skills, or cultivating in the format of a king and his subjects, or cultivating
in any of the normal professions. But all of this [the use of different cultivation forms] is up to Master, to
make the choice based on the future cosmos' needs, including the Fa-rectification
itself. Master chose "A Great Way Without Form." Dafa disciples come from different social levels. They come from different
professions and different environments. Every Dafa disciple is making use of
his/her advantages or capabilities to cultivate himself/herself, validating Dafa,
and rescuing sentient beings. This, in fact, means that Dafa is rectifying the
forms and principles of how the gods and different lives maintain their lives in
the immense cosmic systems. It means that the existence of the lives in these
cosmic systems is being acknowledged and the lives living in these cosmic
systems are being saved. Dafa practitioners walking on a god's path reflect and
contain all paths of lives in different cosmic systems. From this standpoint, we
can understand the profundity of Dafa, the huge responsibilities of Dafa
practitioners during the Fa-rectification period, and the greatness of the
attainment status and levels Dafa practitioners achieve. What Dafa practitioners
achieve is reflected in everything in the thousands of millions of cosmic
systems. Most importantly, Dafa practitioners are assisting Master in Fa-rectification
and are "the most magnificent beings in the cosmos." Master said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles:" "Of course, it won't be possible for me to leave to mankind their
demonstrations in human society. What we are saving are the lives in those
systems. When anything gets to the place where human beings are, the level
[here] makes it become very bad and low, so of course Dafa and Dafa disciples
can't validate these low forms in and of themselves." After I studied this paragraph of the Fa, I realized that the family
environment, the work environment, the social environment, all of the normal
environments in human society are all environments for Dafa practitioners'
cultivation. We can't segregate ourselves from the human environment. Dafa
practitioners need to be good people in any environment. This is the path of
Dafa practitioners' cultivation. However, we should do things well. But we can't
over-do it. Overdoing it would become a new attachment, which would mean we were
going to extremes, something Master warns us of. We shouldn't rely too much on a human format. If we focus too much on format,
we will overlook things more important than making use of the format to reach
our ultimate goals of improving and uplifting. If we can't maintain equilibrium
in this cultivation form, we will create or form many attachments that will
interfere with Dafa practitioners' validation of the Fa, or even cause losses in
Fa-rectification. For example, to coordinate as one body in doing the three things
well and to accommodate the advancement of Fa-rectification, we had established
a contact and coordination method in different cities and districts in our area.
The intention was good. The direction was good as well. In actuality, fellow
practitioners unintentionally brought to cultivation the CCP work style or
leadership style, which formed new attachments. Master said, "There is no fame, self-interest, or official titles in Dafa, but only
cultivation practice." ("A Heavy Blow," Essentials for
Further Advancement) But after certain practitioners took over the work as responsible parties,
they developed an attachment to being above other practitioners and started
sticking up for their authoritarian notions and leadership style. Whenever there
are different opinions or things that touch on their attachments, conflicts and
distance arise. Sometimes segregated groups are formed to focus on their own
activities that directly impact the coordination and cooperation as one body. In fact, the gods never focus on format. The essentials the gods pay more
attention to are how to utilize these formats to reach the ultimate goal. Dafa
cultivation "... ignore superficial formalities and only look at one's
heart." ("Seeking Discipleship with Teacher" in Essentials for
Further Advancement) Master also said, "There are factors in the forms that affect a cultivator's
improvement." ("Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific
Students") All external formats will cause attachments. Therefore, we should do well the
three things that Master asks us to do to reach the standard of Fa-rectification
and walk on a god's path of "A Great Way Without Form."
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/4/12/152531.html
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