(Clearwisdom.net) When I saw Teacher lecture for the first time, I felt a kindness I had never felt before. Everything in the universe consists of the Fa. Even though, I experienced many years of suffering, my yearning for the universal truth deep within my heart never changed. Furthermore, it became deeper the longer it took, and I realized that this was the whole meaning and value of life.
In suffering, puzzled in the maze, in the false reality of ordinary society, in the old cosmos, humans have become further and further away from their original good and true nature, further and further away from the universal characteristic of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance", and they are perishing in ignorance. Especially in human society today, morality is sliding downhill fast, and people treat each other as enemies. While morality is close to completely collapsing, our merciful Teacher came and brought us the universal truth - Dafa. Without Dafa human beings would not be able to enter into the future, and this is the hope that every living being should truly cherish! As Dafa disciples, we have the historical mission of validating the Fa and saving sentient beings in the Fa-rectification period. Therefore, it is very serious whether we can strictly follow Teacher's requirements, whether we can regard ourselves as Dafa disciples at all times, and whether we are responsible for sentient beings.
Under the protection of our compassionate Teacher, I made it through seven years of persecution, only because I had faith in Teacher and Dafa. The responsibilities of Dafa disciples are becoming more difficult and we need to be stronger and stronger. I deeply feel the importance of studying the Fa. Teacher is responsible for all practitioners and Dafa is omnipotent. By studying the Fa thoroughly, no matter what happens, I shall walk firmly and be stable on my cultivation path that is arranged by Teacher.
1. Persistently studying the Fa with concentration, always judge everything according to Dafa, "Compliance is Cultivation"
Dafa has given us all wisdom and capabilities, and all righteous thoughts of practitioners come from Dafa, and we always have to use Dafa as guidance. Only when we have righteous thoughts and act according to the Fa at all times, are we walking on the path arranged by Teacher. Only when we constantly study the Fa will strong righteous thoughts emerge and our cultivation be solid. It is essential that we study the Fa well and never deviate.
Every time I study the Fa, I feel as though I am directly facing Teacher and Dafa, and that Teacher is at my side. We must respect Teacher and Dafa, study the Fa with a respectful and pure heart, without any attachments, and in the entire process, we have to be focused, righteous, without any other thoughts, and entirely concentrate on the Fa. I enlightened through Fa study that no matter what kind of interference I had before, when I study the Fa with concentration, I can clearly realize which deeds of mine fall short of Dafa's requirements. I am able to discover my hidden attachments and bad notions, get rid of interference, gain a new understanding from the same sentence, and be clear-headed and rational after Fa study.
When I read articles of fellow practitioners who described their experiences when memorizing the Fa, I decided I should memorize it too. Even if I had to memorize it paragraph by paragraph, I knew I had to memorize and study attentively. It took me over two months to completely memorize Zhuan Falun. Now I use all my spare time at work and when handling affairs, and any other time I can utilize to memorize Zhuan Falun or Teacher's other lectures. I also send forth righteous thoughts the best I can. Therefore, other thoughts cannot enter into my mind. Every evening, after finishing housework, I again read the Fa at a fixed time to deepen my impression. In this way, I was able to memorize and study the Fa at the same time. The result has been very good, my righteous thoughts are getting stronger, and I can remain calm when facing difficulties. I can discipline and watch myself every day to see whether I can place the Fa first and whether I've done everything according to Dafa's requirements.
During these past years, everyone has been studying the Fa. I think that while we remind each other the importance of Fa study, we also need to look at the actual effect of studying. Have we made studying the Fa a priority? Have we truly studied attentively and not just gone through the motions? Have we demanded high standards from ourselves and not only acted like we were completing a task? When we exchanged our views, we talked about our recent experiences of studying the Fa. For every matter we meet and every situation we face, we all understand them based on the Fa. Therefore, we can clearly distinguish matters, stabilize our righteous thoughts, and regard the Fa as our Teacher. A while ago, someone wanted to undermine the Fa by collecting funds among practitioners and spreading this everywhere. We did not provide a market for such people, and seriously pointed out and eliminated the evil elements behind that person. For those practitioners who have returned from illegal detention, when we meet with them, we mainly talk about our experiences while studying and memorizing the Fa. Those practitioners then also attached importance to Fa study. Some also memorized the Fa and this had very good effects and the gained stronger righteous thoughts. They then published solemn declarations that they will do the three things well.
What we must achieve is to value everything based on the Fa. It is essential for Fa validation to study the Fa well, and to do the three things well. Along with the process of Teacher's Fa-rectification, there is a higher requirement for us to study the Fa. We can't always be interfered with. We should be aware of everything in advance, study the Fa well, improve and be more solid.
2. Let Go of self, always put Dafa first , truly be responsible for Dafa
Dafa is compassionate toward people because humans still have a good heart in this maze. Dafa's dignity is due to its standards; it is unshakable and solid like a diamond, and it will exist forever. The Fa principles on different levels must be obeyed by lives on those levels. Dafa has created, contains, harmonizes, and restrains everything. It is Dafa's mighty power that pure and unselfish enlightened beings form through cultivating in the Fa. The more I learn, the more I realize its solid existence and omnipresence. Dafa is so wonderful and profound, and only by truly complying and assimilating to the Fa, are we lives within the Fa, and able to know higher Fa principles. The lives that melt into the Fa are the happiest lives.
Lives in the old cosmos are selfish; lives of the future are selfless. Dafa practitioners must cultivate to become a righteous enlightened being of a righteous Fa that lives for others. This is the requirement of the Fa-rectification, the future cosmos, and for saving sentient beings.
Before I practiced Falun Dafa, I never considered issues from other people's angle. Whatever I did, I only wanted it to suit me, and never thought about others. My first thought was that I can not be harmed. I always felt others should not be like this, or should not be like that. I always felt that I was correct, and my mind constantly thought about who treated me well or who treated me badly. If someone was not benevolent to me, and if someone was bad to me, I simply could not tolerate that. I regarded manipulating people as a skill and accumulated karma due to my ignorance. I understood from the Fa that everything in the human world has its causal relationship; practitioners have no enemies, and only save sentient beings. Previously, I used to judge others due to my human notions. Actually that was all selfishness, and I must now abandon my selfishness and bad thoughts.
Dafa is the best and most righteous. We are now explaining the truth to sentient beings, and everything we do is good for them. We are cultivating compassion; therefore we cannot treat others with human notions. This is a fundamental issue depicting whether we are responsible for the Fa and sentient beings, or whether we let our individual sentimentality directly affect our efforts of validating the Fa and clarifying the facts. Only compassion can truly save people!
The same is true for fellow practitioners. Only tolerance and compassion can form one body that is formidable, unshakable and solid like a diamond. I often felt practitioners did things wrong, always regarded my understanding and methods as being correct, and wanted to prove who had a higher understanding and had cultivated better on every matter. Through Fa study, I realized my selfishness, such as always considering myself as being correct and having jealousy. My personal sentimentality created a gap between myself and fellow practitioners. Without Teacher's mercy and Dafa's salvation, I am nothing. I often am so touched by Teacher's mercy and fellow practitioners' feats that I burst into tears. Teacher has so many good students, and I have so many good fellow practitioners, and every genuine practitioner is kind. I am also Teacher's student, but far from those diligent practitioners. What I must do now is to be a harmonious Dafa particle and cultivate well. I have seen various truth-clarification flyers and disks that were made by fellow practitioners. I also heard different formats for telling the facts, and actually they all had respective reasons. Some practitioners made very good truth-clarification materials with paper money. We can all learn from each other, aren't we doing our best for one goal?
When I see something among fellow practitioners that needs to be improved, I point it out with compassion. I wish to be responsible for the Fa, but I also need to consider what fellow practitioners can accept and do things well. When practitioners tell me some thing I have not done well, I am also able to deal with it correctly, as I know that nothing is accidental. Sometimes I am not thoughtful when doing things, have attachments, or experience interference. Isn't it great when fellow practitioners point things out? Everything is an opportunity for us to harmonize and improve.
We gained a lot after every experience sharing, as we all talked about how to do the three things better, how to harmonize our environment better, and also cherish our sharing more. We must constantly increase and improve our compassion, tolerance and our hearts. Dafa practitioners' broad and great minds can embrace everything, this in itself is a formidable might, and will enable us to save more sentient beings, and disintegrate all negative elements.
Only by truly letting go of self will we no longer be attached to anything in the human world. When we make Dafa our priority and always have Dafa and sentient beings in our mind, will we still consider individual gain and loss? Will we still feel unbalanced in our mind? Will we still be puzzled by illusions of this human world? Aren't these exposed bad notions and attachments that need to abandoned? Despite everything, if I still feel pain when my selfishness is being touched, I know this is not me and I must conquer this attachment, because this is cultivation. I shoulder the mission of validating Dafa and saving sentient beings. Nothing can stop me. After I truly have conquered this and reflect on it, I realize that this test and tribulations was nothing. With the guidance of Dafa, everything can be overcome and everything will turn out for the best.
3. Strictly follow the standards, cherish the Time, Do the Three Things Well, be Responsible for Sentient Beings
Today is the most precious time in history, as the old cosmos and all its elements will soon disintegrate along with the past history. A new future is about to begin. Sentient beings today have been waiting for salvation for hundreds of millions of years. Teacher has taken on so much for sentient beings, and still gives sentient beings more chances to be saved. Falun Gong practitioners are facing sentient beings in the whole cosmos, and this is the great responsibility we must undertake.
The attitude of sentient beings towards Fa-rectification is the true manifestation of their xinxing and position. The old forces interfere with Fa-rectification, attempt to waver Falun Gong practitioners' righteous faith, and move sentient beings away from the Fa, thereby destroying practitioners and sentient beings. Currently, we must do the three things well. I study the Fa every day, try to send forth righteous thoughts at the scheduled times or do more when I have time. I feel if I study the Fa well, then it is easy to calm down when sending forth righteous thoughts, and I am able to do it longer, and it has a good effect. It is the same when clarifying the facts. Sometimes I thought how to make the time and how to do it, but the outcome was not the same as I had expected because my base point was not correct or I had pursuits. Teacher has arranged the best path for us. When I mix in individual elements, I artificially create obstacles or resistance. When my thoughts are on the Fa, whether I make truth-clarification material, hand out material or do other things, then the effect will be good, smooth and pleasant.
We are now clarifying the truth to people, making us responsible for their lives and eternity. This is compassion that surpasses the human realm. It is truly good for others, because Dafa will bring those benefits forever. We are then able to feel the aspiration of "Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance" from deep within ourselves. Diligent practitioners are cherishing their time while doing the three things, and using the wisdom and special skills given to them by Dafa in order to explain the facts.
Previously, I handed out information materials made by fellow practitioners. When I only had a few material left, I produced them myself. Two years ago, I set up a materials production site in my home with the help of other practitioners, made truth-clarification disks and materials, and distributed them. Although I have never stopped for several years, sometimes I slacked off and did not pay attention to the effects. Especially when I saw that practitioners were arrested while they clarified the facts, I thought I had done a lot of things and did not want to do things continuously. When I looked inside, I discovered that I did not make the salvation of sentient beings my priority. I discovered fear, the pursuit of comfort, laziness and other selfish attachments that had emerged. Being faced with large numbers of sentient beings, it does not matter how much we do, it is never enough. Do diligent practitioners think they have done too much? Only the ones who are not diligent will encounter such interference, and need to think about the many opportunities they have missed.
I've found the more I relax, watch TV, entertain, and talk about everyday matters, the more I feel that time is slow, and I am actually wasting my time and life. However, we have such a big mission to fulfill. If we are not diligent, then how many lives are we not saving, how many losses are we causing for Dafa? Nevertheless, when we truly arrange and cherish our time, instead of feeling that time is compact and precious, we need to compare ourselves with those diligent practitioners who have done so much within the same time period.
As long as the persecution continues, we must keep going, always maintain strong righteous thoughts, and do even better in selecting information, editing information, producing, distributing, and clarifying the facts.
4. Walking Every Step well while validating the Fa
Everything Falun Gong practitioners do is to create a future, and their behavior will also remain for history. Teacher has set a good example for us everywhere, and if we are not doing well or not well enough now, this will have an effect on the future. When I study the Fa, I am in a good state, and I also know that I am a Falun Gong practitioner when I am doing the three things. However, in the social environment, I often act like an ordinary person, sometimes even worse than everyday people. When I had to deal with certain issues, I was always impatient, wanted to speed things up, and avoid responsibility. However, the more I wanted to avoid things, the more troubles and conflicts arose. After studying the Fa I realized that Teacher has arranged such cultivation formats for us, and everything we do is for validating Dafa. We need to display good manners, so others can see the goodness of practitioners, and the wonderfulness of Dafa. Now at work and at home, I try hard to deal with everything earnestly, consider others, take fame and fortune lightly, maintain a peaceful mind, and thus my environment turned around and has become good.
We should rectify all things that are not righteous, and not be afraid of making mistakes or facing anything. Yet the key is whether we are able to deal with things correctly. We are not pursuing everyday people's things; we are doing things in an open and honorable way. As we assimilate into the Fa, it is our historical mission to validate and protect the Fa. This is our eternal responsibility, and being a good Dafa practitioner is our eternal wish.
I often hear people around me say something like: "In our working unit, we all fight for the opportunity to earn money, but Falun Gong practitioners give the opportunity to others." Someone said: "Falun Gong practitioners are so brave, we have new truth-clarification materials in our building." Another one said: "I have a few new disks about Falun Gong, do you want to see them?" Yet another one said: "I admire Falun Gong, Falun Gong is good, and Falun Gong practitioners are all good people!" Upon hearing this, I am so touched. Dafa created everything, practitioners' sincerity, kindness, and diligence are changing the environment, influencing human beings, therefore more and more people have come to know Dafa in positive way.
Teacher accomplished the new cosmos and everything in the new cosmos with a huge sacrifice and incomparably mighty power and virtue! Fa-rectification has reached its final stage. Teacher as well as sentient beings expect Falun Gong practitioners to shoulder heavy responsibilities. Therefore, let's do the three things well, be more rational, mature, wise, and be diligent on the path of validating Dafa.
