(Clearwisdom.net) When the persecution began in 1999, Falun Gong practitioners in Changchun (like the rest of China) lost our group study environment. We were unable to form a powerful and strong one-body, affecting our cultivation progress, our clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings. We re-established our group Fa study at the beginning of 2006, allowing us to do better at doing the three things, improving our cultivation as one-body and helping us to keep up with Teacher's Fa-rectification.
Exchanging Cultivation Experiences and Identifying Shortcomings
Because of regular group Fa study, everyone improved their xinxing greatly. This is something unattainable without a group Fa study environment. We study the Fa as a group twice a week. We mainly study Zhuan Falun, but sometimes we study Teacher's other articles. In addition, we send forth righteous thoughts at every set hour during group Fa study. Studying the Fa and exchanging cultivation experiences enabled us to discover attachments we never knew existed. We identified fellow practitioners' merits, as well as shortcomings.
Fellow practitioner A shared their understanding, "I am a small business owner with a very busy life. I have to get new inventory every few days, watch the store and look after my husband and my son who is going to high school. In addition, I have to do the three things well. It is difficult, but I have no complaints because this is my responsibility. As cultivators, we are supposed to balance well between cultivation, family and work. We are supposed to treat everything with a peaceful mind."
I was touched by her sharing. I have more spare time than A, but I procrastinated. I failed to cultivate well at home. I begrudged it when I had to do more housework. Sometimes I tried to get away with doing housework with the excuse that I have to validate the Fa. I failed to fulfill my responsibilities for my family. Instead, I used the Fa as an excuse to escape my responsibilities towards my family and to justify my attachment.
I harbored a strong attachment. My husband looks after his side of the family in the most meticulous way, but his family has always been very cold to me. I was very jealous, so I often argued with my husband about it. Sometimes I lost control and threw tantrums. I knew jealousy was an attachment I must let go of, but it always got the better of me. I was overcome with jealousy repeatedly for years. It really bothered me. When I confessed my problem during a group Fa study, a fellow practitioner told me, "You have regarded jealousy as part of you. It means you still want to keep it. That's why jealousy would not part with you and why you have failed to eliminate it. Jealousy is an acquired degenerated notion and is not an inborn quality. Differentiate jealousy from yourself. You must tell it that it is not part of you and you don't want it" When I identified that jealousy is not part of me and that I don't want it, it became weak. As I continued to tell it apart from me, it kept weakening. Now I feel better and no longer am overcome with jealousy.
I appreciate fellow practitioners' help. I appreciate the group Fa study environment Teacher has arranged for us because it released me from this demonic tribulation.
Practitioner B used to be overcome with fear. She dared not keep any Falun Gong materials at home. She was nervous and feared being arrested during political sensitive days. Because of the group Fa study, B realized that she had been acknowledging the Old Force arrangements and that she should deny them completely. After all, the Old Forces are not entitled to "test" us even if we have attachments or loopholes in our cultivation practice because our form of cultivation exposes and allows us to eliminate attachments and rectifies us according to the Fa. The Old Forces, dark minions and rotten demons are bound to be annihilated.
As Teacher's Fa-rectification continues to progress, we must seize the valuable time to save sentient beings. We have been distributing truth-clarification materials by mail and by other forms of distribution, but we should clarify the truth face to face as well. To help everyone do better, we invited two practitioners that have been doing well when clarifying the truth face-to-face to share their experiences. After each sharing, we made improvements. Practitioner A, for example, started to clarify the truth face-to-face at her store and persuade people to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its two affiliates. Every week practitioner A persuaded 30 to 70 people to withdraw from the CCP.
Memorizing and Respecting the Fa
In the past we didn't persevere in memorizing the Fa. Because of the group Fa study, we decided that we must memorize the Fa so that our each and every thought assimilates to the Fa. Memorizing the Fa will guide our cultivation better, prompt us to eliminate attachments more quickly and help us save sentient beings. Now everyone attending the group Fa study is memorizing the Fa.
When we first restored the group Fa study, we slouched. Some did not sit in the full Lotus position, while some leaned against the wall and some cupped their jaws while studying the Fa. We all knew that it was disrespectful to study the Fa like this, but we failed to correct ourselves. One day I mentioned this and we immediately admitted that we did poorly in regards to respecting the Fa. The Fa is capable of rectifying the entire universe, scooping us from Hell and elevating us to godhood, but we were disrespectful. We felt ashamed. Nowadays we all try out to sit in the full Lotus position with our backs straight throughout the entire Fa study.
Not long ago we realized that we must be tranquil when studying the Fa. We should study the Fa, not simply read it because it's on our schedule of things to do. Since we are studying the Fa, we must sit in a respectful posture and study in tranquility so that we know what we are studying and we enlighten more to the content of the Fa.
Facilitating an Environment to Search Within
Before we restored the group Fa study and at the beginning of the new group Fa study, we focused on finding faults with each other whenever a conflict arose. Over time, we realized that we failed to search within and cultivate ourselves. Cultivation is about cultivating ourselves. When a conflict occurs, we are supposed to look within.
When we discover an attachment in a fellow practitioner, we will point out the attachment to him/her and search within for the same attachment. One day practitioner B complained that practitioner C had an strong attachment to fear and failed to produce truth-clarification materials diligently. I immediately saw that C was anxious and expected others to change. I told B that she shouldn't complain about C and that she should search within to identify the reason why C always gave her only few truth-clarification materials. "Isn't it time for you to solve this problem through cultivating yourself?" I asked B. But, B did not accept my advice. She became somewhat excited and emotional and then gave all kinds of excuses. Next thing I knew, we started to argue and we both lost our composure.
It was then practitioner A appeared. She listened to us for a while, but didn't say a word. I realized that I should stop arguing, so I stopped talking. It was the same day Teacher published "Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capitol" on the Minghui website. Teacher said,
"When a problem occurs, it is because that person is stubbornly going against the Fa principles. Go and find where the problem lies, let go of that stubbornness, and sort things out. When you encounter something, the best approach is not to charge forward and contend with others, push your way to the front, and rush forward to chase down the solution. Let go of your attachment, take a step back, and then resolve it." ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capitol")
I immediately realized that I wanted to force practitioner B to admit her problems instead of looking within. In the meanwhile, practitioner B also recognized her attachment. We both could let go of our attachments.
Our group Fa study has become an environment where we look within for our own attachments when a conflict arises. If it is our own problem, we will rectify ourselves right away. If it is the other person's problem, we will not only point it out in a kind manner but also be tolerant of and understand the other person. We won't be drawn into an argument. Instead, we will jump out of the argument and look within based on the Fa principles. So, we are cooperating with one another increasingly more.
I am confident that we will persevere in having our group Fa study and rectifying this environment with the Fa, making it more refined and pure. We hope that all fellow practitioners will also create a pure and harmonious group cultivation environment because this will guarantee our improvement.
This concludes my personal understanding. Please kindly correct anything erroneous in my understanding.
