Suggestion: Overseas Practitioners Should Reinforce Outdoor Group Exercises

By a practitioner in Toronto, Canada

(Clearwisdom.net) When spring comes, I am always reminded of Teacher Li Hongzhi's lecture in New York in March 1998, “Falun Buddha Fa – Lecture at the First Conference in North America.” In the early days when Falun Dafa was spread in North America, practitioners seldom gathered together outdoors to do the exercises as a group. Usually, we met once a week during weekends to study the “Fa,” share cultivation experiences and do the exercises. At that time, we thought it was not easy to set up practice sites all over the place, as we all lived far away from each other, we had busy schedules, and there weren't as many practitioners as in China.

In March 1998, Teacher's lecture woke up the practitioners in North America and overseas like a heavy hammer. Teacher said,

“Of course, in China there are instances where they come out to perform the exercises in both the morning and evening. They come out at four o’clock in the morning and six o’clock in the evening after dinner to do the exercises collectively twice a day. They find that doing the exercises like this is very good. Yet people in many areas of other countries aren’t doing the exercises like this, using various excuses. Let me tell you that if you do as I’ve taught in this practice system, it’s guaranteed that there won’t be any harm, only benefit.” (“Falun Buddha Fa - Lecture at the First Conference in North America”)

After studying Teacher's lecture, practitioners in Toronto actively set up practice sites near their homes, even though there may not be as many practitioners at each site as there were in China. The practice sites also may not be as close to practitioners' homes as in China, however, the sites were still quite convenient for practitioners to do the exercises collectively, and group practice plays a very positive role in improving the practitioners as a whole body.

Teacher also taught us in the Fa,

“One’s environment is created by oneself. It’s indeed very good to have more people practice cultivation together. People can exchange views, learn from one another, help one another improve, and talk about things that have happened in practicing cultivation. This will heighten one’s confidence in cultivation practice. At the same time, there is a very strong energy field when the exercises are done in a group, and this definitely benefits practitioners—that’s for sure. If a person practices cultivation by himself, he may forget it when he gets busy or do the exercises irregularly at earlier or later times. Anyhow, he is undoubtedly more sluggish.” (“Falun Buddha Fa - Lecture at the First Conference in North America”)

The group exercises helped the practitioners' sharing and improvement and spreading the Fa in a very positive way.

Since the persecution began in China on July 20, 1999, as we “clarified the truth” in more and more comprehensive ways and started more and more Dafa projects, we have been more sluggish in doing the outdoor group exercises. Although many practitioners have indeed continued outdoor group exercises, some others almost forget about outdoor exercise practice. Although they have been very busy and very hard-working, compared with the requirements of the Fa, they were actually sluggish and not diligent enough, and relaxed the requirements for themselves.

Today, the Fa-rectification process has entered the three realms and has reached the final stage. In some areas, a few practitioners have experienced extreme fatigue, and some have even given up their human bodies. This had to do with not paying enough attention to personal cultivation and practicing the exercises. There are many advantages for overseas practitioners to doing the exercises collectively outdoors, including the following three:

(i) Teacher told us, “We should persist in doing the exercises daily, but we should persist in studying the Fa every day just the same.” (Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa) Finding time to persist in studying the Fa and doing the exercises every day will ensure that practitioners keep an energetic cultivation state to validate Dafa and save more sentient beings, and not leave any excuses for the old forces to persecute practitioners or interfere with the Fa-rectification process.

(ii) The outdoor group exercises also provide a good opportunity for sharing. We are now involved in many projects and often we don't have enough timely communication and sharing among the various projects. When practitioners, working on different projects, do the exercises together, they can share good experiences after the exercises. This will help to improve all projects.

(iii) The outdoor group exercises demonstrate the beauty of Dafa. The site can play a very positive role in clarifying the truth and spreading the Fa. With our efforts to clarify the truth, and the rapid diminishing of the evil old forces, many people who understand the truth will look for Dafa. The outdoor practice sites will be convenient for them.

I sincerely hope practitioners in North America and overseas take action and reinforce the outdoor group exercises. If we have difficulty doing the exercises together on weekdays due to different work schedules, at least we should guarantee the collective exercises on the weekends.

This is my personal understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.

Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2007/3/21/151187.html

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