My Understanding Regarding Respecting Master and the Fa

By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Many practitioners have talked about the issue of respecting Master and the Fa in "Minghui Weekly." However, I had not seriously considered this issue. Recently, when I attended a group Fa-study, a practitioner brought it up again for a serious discussion. I then started to contemplate it.

After returning home, I carefully examined myself to see how I was doing regarding this issue. I would not have realized it had I not examined myself. I was shocked once I used the standard of the Fa to examine myself. Respecting Master and the Fa is something all cultivators should do as soon as we start practicing cultivation. Yet, I have done so poorly at the final stage of the Fa-rectification. For instance, when I studied the Fa, I didn't care about the way I sat at all: I did not sit up straight, I reclined on the bed or crossed my legs. I didn't care about my appearance either: sometimes in the morning, I grabbed the Dafa book and started reading it without washing my face and hands or without combing my hair, thinking that I was making the best use of my time to study the Fa.

When I faced our great, compassionate Master and the inconceivable, profound Buddha Fa, I had behaved like that. If Master were to stand before me, could and would I behave like that? In Essentials for Further Advancement Master said, "'Seeing is believing; no seeing, no believing.' This is the view of an inferior person." Master also said,

"Can you truly practice cultivation by worshiping the Buddha? You are very reverent and dare not even lightly touch that Buddha statue for which you burn incense daily, yet you dare to ruin the Dafa that can truly guide your cultivation practice." (Zhuan Falun, Lecture Nine)

This is the manifestation of my poor xinxing and enlightenment quality. I study the Fa every day, yet I do not show respect for Gods or Buddhas; could the Buddha Fa's principles be displayed to me? Can my xinxing level elevate?

I still have a lasting impression of a small incident that happened when I was a small child. After waking up late I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat. The adults in my family said, "You are going to scare the God of Hearth away without washing your face and combing your hair like that." There was also a story about a great scholar named Xiao Deyan who attended the Hongwen Imperial College during the Zhenguan Era (627 - 649 A.D.) under Emperor Taizong's reign in the Tang Dynasty. When he was in his eighties, he would always take a bath, put on a clean outfit and sit up straight before he read a sacred book by a sage. I searched, checked and compared, and I discovered that as a practitioner, I was no better than an ordinary person regarding showing respect toward sages. I felt ashamed of myself.

Whenever I clarified the truth to people, I told people to respect our Master and to bear in mind that "Falun Dafa is good" so they can have a wonderful future. Why have I done such a bad job regarding respecting Master and the Fa? I carefully looked deep inside myself and found two problems. First, my faith in Master and the Fa was not as solid as rock, and I was all talk and no action. Secondly, I only wanted to get something from Dafa and didn't want to give much for Dafa. I thank fellow practitioners' compassionate reminder. From now on I will be sure to respect Master and the Fa. I will not let down Master's merciful, arduous salvation. I will follow Master's guidance to "attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism." ("Non-omission in Buddha Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement) I will do well the three things and follow Master to return to our original home.

From another perspective, if you do not truly respect Master and the Fa, the old forces will not leave you alone, thinking that you have such a compassionate Master and you have gotten so much from Dafa, yet you do not respect Master and the Fa. "Are you a Dafa disciple or not?" If you do not clearheadedly realize how serious and solemn this problem is in a timely manner, the old forces will destroy you because of this problem and make you fail in your cultivation practice.

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