PureInsight | April 15, 2002
Master Li emphasized three important issues during his Fa-Lecture at the U.S.A. Florida Conference: Fa-study, sending forth righteous-thoughts and clarifying the truth.
At the beginning of his lecture Master Li pointed out the reasons for meeting with his disciples, 'I didn't plan on talking to you about anything in particular. Even less did I intend to teach Fa that's too far from what we're doing right now. The reason is, when there's something I have to talk to you about and I do talk to you about it, it amounts to my telling you what you should do. This time, since I haven't seen you for quite a while, I came to see you, for one, and I thought I'd also take this opportunity to stress the importance of the things we're doing right now and the overall situation. I don't want to say much about other things, as that could easily interfere with our overall progress right now in the Fa-rectification.' (Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida)
In my mind, all disciples are already diligent in their Fa-study, sending forth-righteous thoughts and clarifying the truth. Therefore, there must be a deeper reason why Master Li emphasized these three issues. I realized I had to search within myself to find where I was not diligent. Upon reflecting inside I believe I have identified why Master emphasized these particular issues.
We fully understand the importance of Fa-study, but in reality we do not follow through. We failed to remember that notions and habits are acquired post-natal and are human attachments that have to be eliminated.
Instead of acting from within the Fa while clarifying the truth, we're mostly governed by our past human experiences, techniques, precedence, and rote-behaviour. Furthermore, we may be anxious, worried of failure, shy or dislike approaching people. We might hold meetings to strategize, dividing functions and assigning different practitioners specific tasks. Discussions will go on for hours because we might get bogged down in the sheer enormity of the undertaking. Aren't we imitating the bureaucratic behaviour we've learned in this human world? Seldom do we begin our efforts as Dafa disciples; reading Master's books and scriptures, purifying our thoughts, transcending human notions and habits, cleansing the environment and becoming one with the Fa. I see now that only by practicing Dafa principles, continuously purifying the inner self and transcending human behaviour, can one return to one's original home. I now realize only changing from within and becoming one with Dafa will enable a disciple to clarify the truth to the human world with a pure heart.
I find that we have become accustomed to certain ways and have also standardized our ways in clarifying the truth. Only when we come across some type of interference do we send forth righteous-thoughts as a way to resolve a particular obstruction. Why not send forth righteous-thoughts not only when there is a disturbance but frequently? It also became apparent to me that we're not sending forth righteous-thoughts from within the Fa, but purely with human notions. This has become a habit. Why do we disregard Fa study? Why have we forgotten to look within? Why do we get back to Fa study only when righteous-thoughts fail, or when there are tribulations and interferences? I even believe there are practitioners who secretly think in their inner hearts that sending forth righteous-thoughts is futile. It occurred to me that what many practitioners face in their cultivation is the inability to be diligent with studying the Fa.
Master Li's compassion is clearly shown within his efforts to help disciples recognize and eliminate notions, habits and attachments. For example, Master's speech in Florida clearly demonstrates that disciples have to be more diligent in their Fa studies. To show Master's concern, here's an excerpt we chose from His speech in Florida.
'Of course, speaking of Fa-study, you have actually been persevering with it. But since you're now very busy with your truth-clarifying work--some of you write articles, some of you do things in the form of news media, some of you pass out flyers on the street, and there are also people doing all kinds of other work that's related to clarifying the truth, saving the world's people who've been poisoned by the lies--sometimes when you study the Fa you aren't able to calm your mind. This is a really, really serious problem.
You all know what state of mind a person must be in to see the Fa's principles. You know it without my having to say much. When your eyes read the Fa and yet your mind isn't on the Fa, think about it, aren't you reading in vain? Who are you reading for? You yourself aren't really studying the Fa, then. Haven't I told you to make sure that you yourself truly obtain gong? Then if your mind isn't on the Fa when you're studying the Fa, whom are you studying it for? This isn't to criticize you--I'm just telling you that this is a really critical situation. So, no matter how busy you get, when you study the Fa you have to set aside all other thoughts--don't think about other things at all, just study the Fa. Maybe as you study the Fa the issues you've been thinking about will be resolved, since behind every word are Buddhas, Daos, and Gods. How could they not know exactly what you want to resolve and what you're anxious to get done at that time? Then how could they not tell you? But there's one thing: you must achieve the state of studying the Fa without any pursuit. You understood this a long time ago--you can't read the Fa with an attachment to solving your problems. Just read calmly, and the effect is sure to be excellent. So when you study the Fa, don't just go through the motions. You have to calm your mind when you read it, and truly study it. Don't let your mind sneak away from you. Once your mind wanders off, you'll be studying in vain. If we look at it from another angle, when you study the Fa and your mind isn't on the Fa, it's not only a problem of just going through the motions, but also that the person studying the Fa is actually not being very respectful of the Fa. How could the Fa reveal itself, then? So from this angle, I think that you have to calm your mind when you study the Fa, and remember to keep your mind steady during Fa-study when you're busy.' (Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, 5th and 6th paragraph)
The tribulations, as an outgrowth of our own behavior as discussed above, were clearly pointed out by our Master. Are we able to understand Master's message? Can we eliminate our notions and habits? Shouldn't we stop wallowing in emotions and recognize Master's compassion towards us? Why not let go of our stubbornness that prevents us from letting go of our post-natal acquired notions and habits? Is it so difficult to move forward in our cultivation? We need to realize, as Fa-rectification disciples we can and must affect the cleansing of this world. Did Master Li not tell us that long ago we signed a contract stating that we would assist him with the Fa-rectification of the human world?
Daily Fa-study has to be the driving force in our life. How else can we eliminate all those post-natal acquired notions and habits? Slow down, calm your mind and study the Fa. Become one with the Fa while studying the principles of the Fa. As Master says: "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master." (From "Why Doesn't Your Gong Increase with Your Practice" in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun) Let go of all intentions, purpose, goals, and cleanse your mind. Let your actions be governed from within the Fa and be a true Dafa practitioner. Only thus can you move forward, rise above all humanness and affect the world around us.
I clearly see that once we have become one with the Fa through diligent cultivation, our righteous thoughts will be effective and success will be certain. Righteous thoughts should be a natural outgrowth of our adherence to the principles of the Fa. We should melt into the Fa and thus demonstrate righteous thoughts in our behaviour and every one of our actions. Only then can every disciple's cultivation state be calm at all times along with Fa study done well. Once a disciple is able to act from within the Fa, any doubts with respect to sending forth righteous-thoughts will gradually decrease and finally disappear.
My thoughts discussed above reveal a natural progression towards clarifying the truth. They clearly showed me that once a disciple reaches the cultivation state where all actions are governed from within the Fa, clarification of the truth would be successful. Master Li said in one of his lectures that (not a direct quote) once a disciple explains the truth from within the Fa those who are listening would be moved to tears. Given that, I strongly believe that should a disciple tell the truth from within the Fa, he/she can break through all post-natal acquired views, notions, experiences and education of those being exposed to the Fa. As a disciple, I know talking from within the Fa is far beyond the ways of ordinary humans, because it radiates power, harmony, serenity and the truth of the Universe. Once a practitioner reaches the cultivation state discussed above, that is, all of his being is assimilated into the Fa and saturated by its Truth, Forbearance and enevolence, all human attachments, notions and habits will no longer have the ability to govern the disciple's behaviour and actions. The clarification of the truth and the spreading of Dafa will be pure, that is, no impurities will contaminate the message. Thus, the message of Dafa will not be distorted or altered and the ordinary human will not be misled.
We believe that practitioners due diligence with respect to their Fa study will not only allow for a pure environment in the clarification of the truth and spreading the Fa, but also for the practitioners Fa studies and experience-sharing gatherings. Practitioners will be able to learn from other Dafa disciples beneficial ways of clarifying the truth and awakening people's conscience. Disturbances when clarifying the truth will no longer exist, as the Fa will govern all practitioners actions. The Buddhas, Taos and Gods behind the Fa will be able to support us in our Fa-rectification activities and awaken us to what we need to know.
Let us clarify the truth from within the Fa!
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/3/18/14323.html
