Reflecting Upon Myself After My Experience Sharing Articles Were Published

By a Falun Gong practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) The Minghui website published a notice calling for experience sharing articles from practitioners in China for the Fifth Internet Experience Sharing Conference for Practitioners in China. Many fellow practitioners from my local group Fa study encouraged me to write an article. I have been practicing Falun Gong for nine years, but I have never submitted an article to the Minghui website.

When I occasionally came to a new understanding about the Fa during my Fa study and cultivation practice, all I did was to share it with several fellow practitioners who were close to me. I actually didn't know where to begin when it came to reflecting upon my journey over the past nine years. I decided to compile my recent cultivation insights into five articles, and submitted them to the Minghui website. It turned out that three out of the five were selected and published. I also discovered hidden attachments that I hadn't seen earlier.

Zealotry

When I saw my cultivation insights published on "Minghui Weekly," my heart leaped. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was only after I had repeatedly read the article that I was certain it was indeed mine. I later calmed down and told myself, "Good or bad comes from one thought. It is important to govern the first thought when I encounter a test." Why was I so excited? Apparently I failed to let go of my attachment to fame. In my heart, I wanted to be acknowledged and I was attached to myself, but I hadn't exhibited this before.

Each day I downloaded articles from the Minghui website and I first looked for my articles. If I didn't find my article, I felt disappointed. If I did, I felt very happy. Why did I submit articles to Minghui in the first place? Was it about proving myself? I always thought about validating Dafa, but now I realized that those thoughts were about validating myself .

When my article was published, I felt it was encouragement from Teacher. Also, it was because fellow practitioners from the Minghui website helped me by editing the article to make it flow better and read more clearly. I shouldn't feel disappointed when my article is not selected. I will continue to submit articles to Minghui.

While I was writing down my cultivation insights, I felt that I had a clearer understanding of the Fa and developed a better understanding of the problems I faced. I realized that writing articles is also a form of validating the Fa and a great way to eliminate the evil in other dimensions.

There is only limited space on the Minghui website, and my personal insights might not adequately comply with the Fa. The feelings of joy and disappointment are secular. Once I expose these feelings, I should study the Fa, search inward, upgrade my cultivation level and eliminate these attachments. Isn't this what cultivation is about?

Looking back, I only took information from Minghui during the many years of my cultivation, and didn't give anything in return. I took it for granted and read fellow practitioners' cultivation insights every week, but never shared my own. Isn't this a sign of laziness and selfishness? It is a lesson that I have learned and I am writing about it now to remind fellow practitioners not to repeat my mistakes.

One day, I happened to notice a line in Zhuan Falun. Teacher said,

"This Fa can only be taught to this level. It is up to your own cultivation to attain what is at high levels." (Lecture Nine from Zhuan Falun)

Indeed, it is up to us to enlighten to the Fa, to dig out hidden attachments, to rectify ourselves and to upgrade our cultivation levels.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind fellow practitioners who find it difficult to write about their cultivation experiences. There is no need to use rhetoric flair. Just use normal expressions that you are comfortable with to describe your cultivation experiences and insights. If you avoid writing because you feel that your writing skills are poor, perhaps you might miss opportunities to identify hidden attachments.

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/10/7/187226.html

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