By a practitioner in Liaoning Province

(Clearwisdom.net)

From obtaining the Fa, studying the Fa, and memorizing the Fa, to genuinely assimilating with the Fa, it is Master who arranges the cultivation path for each practitioner, eliminates the karma from our various previous lives, and guides us to maturity step by step. Master ceaselessly strengthens our righteous thoughts in the Fa and constantly reminds us to study the Fa more, and study it well. Since 2004, I wanted to memorize the Fa, but everything was difficult at the beginning. Initially, when I started to memorize "On Buddha Law," it took me more than a month to memorize these two pages. Despite all that, I still wanted to do it. After I had spent three days memorizing the first page, when I held the book in my hand, I thought to myself, "How long will it take me to finish memorizing it? Perhaps, the Fa-rectification will be over by the time I finished memorizing it." I though it might be better to memorize Hong Yin and "On Buddha Law." Once this thought appeared, my desire for memorizing the Fa instantly disappeared.

My desire to memorize the Fa was absent for quite some time, and not until I studied the Fa quietly, read articles from the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, checked myself with the Fa and searched my shortcomings repeatedly, did I see my mentality for seeking comfort and only wanting to gain something from Dafa, and not giving anything in return. How can this be the mentality of a true Dafa disciple? My desire to memorize the Fa welled up again when I detected my bad thoughts and attachments. I kept these words in my mind, "I'm a Dafa disciple and need to assimilate to the Fa unconditionally, and harmonize with the requirements of Master. Only when I keep the Fa in my mind, allow the Fa to merge into every cell of my body, will I genuinely assimilate with Dafa."

After my understanding was clear about this, nothing could stop me from memorizing the Fa. In order to lay a good foundation for memorizing, I first hand-copied Zhuan Falun, and then began memorizing. It took me one year and three months to memorize the Fa for the first time. Currently, I have memorized it up to "Lecture Four" for the second time. I know I'm far from the requirements of the Fa, and from diligent disciples. For example, some fellow practitioners can memorize Zhuan Falun in a month, while I needed more than a year. There is a great gap. In spite of that, I'm very much determined and confident in doing well the three things that Master requires of us, in steady and firm steps. I had a new understanding of the following:

"But actually, I think that whether it's hard depends on the person. A really average, ordinary person doesn't want to cultivate, and he'll feel that cultivation is just way too hard..." (Zhuan Falun).

After gaining this new understanding, I then genuinely melted into the Fa. Every day, I begin to memorize the Fa after I send forth righteous thoughts at 6:00 a.m. through to 8:00 a.m. In addition, I send forth righteous thoughts twice during this period of time. Then I start to do some household chores. I study at least two lectures of Zhuan Falun every day and then try to find more time to read Master's new articles, and/or the "Minghui Weekly," etc. Although I am a housewife, I am very busy and have no time to be idle. Where I live, there are various activities going on every day, including traditional Chinese folk dancing and singing. I loved boisterous activities before I started to practice cultivation. But now I'm not at all moved by them. I feel the urgency and lack of time. Each minute counts. During this transient time, we must seize the opportunity to improve ourselves in the Fa, and rectify every thought according to the Fa. I had a better understanding of Master's Fa:

"The regions that have done well saving sentient beings and validating Dafa, and where great changes have transpired, are always places where people have studied the Fa well." ("To the Australia Fa Conference")

Only by genuinely studying the Fa well can we lay a solid foundation for further cultivation and for improving ourselves as soon as possible during trials and tribulations.

When I read the article on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website about the morning exercises, I felt that it was almost impossible for me, a night person, to get up that early. My daily routine was that I went to bed after doing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts at 12:00 a.m. and I slept until about 5:50 a.m. and then got up and sent forth righteous thoughts. I have now changed my daily routine and participate in the morning exercises beginning at 3:50 a.m. Although the morning exercises were announced by the Minghui website, Master must have given permission to do it. Therefore, all the truly cultivating disciples must harmonize with it. At that point, I was very firm and strong-willed, so I got used to the new time schedule very quickly. Although sometimes I didn't open my eyes when the exercise music began to play, I was pretty sure I was doing something that a practitioner was supposed to. Now every morning, I do the five sets of exercises and feel fresh and energetic. This is a special group exercise environment that our great Master created for the Dafa disciples in China. This is something we are supposed to value and take pride in. This is also how our great and benevolent Master connects each Fa particle in China together and lets us cultivate and improve together, so we can fulfill our historic mission and duty together.

In the past, I didn't pay enough attention to sending forth righteous thoughts, and thought to myself that I have been cultivating for several years, but haven't seen anything in other dimensions. Thus I thought that I didn't have any supernormal power or divine abilities. Although I sent forth righteous thoughts at the four required times, sometimes I did it only as a formality, especially the one at midnight. At times, I sat there and fell asleep without knowing what I was thinking about. So the thoughts were not righteous at all. How could they eliminate the evil in the universe? This went on until one day when I read the Fa in which Master talked about this issue. I thought to myself, usually we say that we would always follow Master's words and do everything accordingly. However, sending forth righteous thoughts is one of the three things Master asked us to do. How important it must be! But I didn't take it seriously, and at the same time, thought I cultivated well. Thinking about it now, I feel ashamed of myself. I want to apologize to Master and Dafa. From that time on, I began sending forth righteous thoughts at 7:00 and 8:00 p.m., in addition to the four required times, and continuously reminded myself that righteous thoughts must play powerful roles in eliminating the evil and wiping out the demons, and they can by no means be simply a matter of form. Later, in order to send forth more concentrated righteous thoughts and not to be interrupted by the sleep demon, most of the time I don't go to sleep until I've finished sending forth righteous thoughts.

With the rapid progress of the Fa-rectification, time has been becoming ever tighter, and the responsibilities we shoulder are getting heavier and heavier. The biggest barrier for me is clarifying the facts about Dafa face to face, and I did especially badly when trying to persuade people to renounce the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). I felt very sad because of that. One time, as soon as I got into a taxi, I thought that I needed to clarify the facts to the driver and save this sentient being. I thought and thought and finally started to talk. When I talked, it seemed as it was not my voice. I talked in a disorderly way and was not to the point. So finally when I got out of the taxi, the driver still wouldn't quit the CCP. Later, I encountered several similar cases where I didn't do well. It seemed that my ability was not at the level I had expected. I had been studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts diligently. Then why couldn't I break through this barrier? I was angry at myself and lost confidence. In the process of breaking through this barrier, I was thinking about how to send forth righteous thoughts well and distribute truth-clarifying materials. So now no matter where I go, to the markets, or in the streets, I always send forth righteous thoughts.

When I began distributing flyers, I had a strong attachment to fear and to what other people thought. So every time I picked up truth-clarification materials from a fellow practitioner, I only asked for a very few materials. Once I got them, I passed them out as soon as possible and then thought that I had fulfilled my task. With my improvement in the Fa, I gradually realized that distributing flyers was a very important part in saving sentient beings. I decided to do it better and not carry it out like an ordinary task.. The attachment to fear gradually disappeared once the base point was right for saving sentient beings. After that, every time I went to take flyers, I always wanted more. But sometimes the materials were limited and in short supply. So I had the idea that I could start my own home-based truth-clarification materials production site. Articles published in the "Minghui Weekly" stated that materials production sites should spring up everywhere, which is what Master wants. At that time, due to lack of funds, I put this thought aside. By chance I told my thoughts to the coordinator. Very soon the coordinator asked a practitioner with technical skills to help me set up a materials production site, and before long I could do everything by myself. Usually, every day, I can make almost a dozen copies of the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party and some flyers and brochures, and I distribute this amount every day.

Because I now had more truth-clarification materials, I needed a plan to distribute them systematically. In the past, I passed out flyers once a week. Now I distribute four to five times every week. In the summer, I pick the buildings with anti-theft doors (because of the heat, these doors are open during the summer. In the winter it is hard to enter these buildings). I take ten copies of the Nine Commentaries with me each time for two buildings. I only give out one copy of the Nine Commentaries on each floor. For the other households, I just place some brochures or informational CDs or DVDs at the doors. I think in this way people will value what they receive. I usually go to remote places in the evenings and try my best to avoid duplication. In this way the truth-clarification materials are well under my control and can reach those people with predestined relationships.

Today, I can eliminate all kinds of notions and conceptions to write this article and to sum up my experiences. I hope that I have done well in the "exam" and that Teacher is pleased with my performance. I'll continue to do my best to requite Master's benevolence and great work in saving us.

My level is limited, and my understanding could be very superficial. Please point out anything inappropriate.

Posting date: 4/4/2008
Original article date: 4/4/2008
Category: Practitioners' Insights
Chinese version available at http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2008/3/12/174046.html

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