Cultivating Yourself at all times and in all places
By Singapore practitioner Eva
Greetings to compassionate Master! Greetings to fellow practitioners!
I obtained Dafa on May 4, 2024. It was the compassionate Master who awakened me from deep delusion and led me on the road of returning to my original, true self. Fellow practitioners said to me that “At these last moments, among 7 billion people, you were really lucky to be able to walk in.” After listening to this, I felt very happy. I am grateful for Master’s compassion and I know how difficult it is for Dafa disciples to validate the Fa and to go through ups and downs during the cultivation journey. Besides, I have transformed from an ordinary person who drifts with the crowd in delusion to a cultivator on the path to Godhood. Every Dafa disciple is deeply aware of this huge difference in personal destiny and the meaning behind it. I was very worried about whether I could be worthy of the title of Dafa disciple. I can only cultivate hard and do the three things diligently.
After practicing for a year and a half, looking back, I noticed that every step of my improvement was under the care of Master. I often wonder what I did right in my previous lives to be so lucky to become what Master called “the happiest life in the universe”. With such an opportunity, all the suffering are worth it.
Master Was Just Right Beside Me
I once lamented how stupid was I to obtain the Fa so late, and only realized it during Fa study that it was arranged this way. I met a friend because of our fondness in tea, and she had given me the precious book “Zhuan Falun”. Later, I also met more practitioners, and we worked together to validate the Fa. Everything was predestined. From the reason for obtaining the Fa to the arrangement of the cultivation environment, to the opportunity to participate in projects, and the difficulties in improving xinxing during the cultivation process, to the bit by bit of settling grudges and reducing karma, it was all the cultivation path painstakingly arranged by Master for me.
The miracles I witnessed during collective Fa study made me even more convinced that Master is by my side. No matter what I encounter, or even when I am unaware of my attachments, Master will definitely provide enlightenment during Fa study. When I feel entangled and in pain, I always look at Master’s portrait. His compassionate eyes are full of encouragement and sometimes serious. When I struggle, I don’t understand why I am arranged like this? What’s the right thing to do? When I watched the video, Master’s eyes seemed to look at me and say, “That’s your own karma. It has already helped you eliminate a lot of it. It is unacceptable if you don’t bear some of it yourself.”
I eliminated all worries and made up my mind to go out to spread the Fa for the first time. I was once again pleasantly surprised to realize that Master was always by my side. I got lost when I transferred to the bus and was very worried about being late, so I had to rush to the subway. As soon as I rushed into the door, someone smiled enthusiastically at me. I suddenly remembered that it was the fellow practitioner I had met while distributing Epoch Times newspaper the day before. She enthusiastically led me all the way around the complicated transfer gate and boarded the bus. We arrived at the site on time and felt very happy. In order to encourage me to practice, Master also allowed me to vaguely see my home in heaven, which is my true home.
Once when I was doing the exercises, my mind was driven by attachments, and I was entangled in conflicts with others and felt angry. Suddenly, I heard Master saying very sternly in the exercise music, “Slowly put down”! I was shocked. I was unconsciously practicing evil. I had bad thoughts. It turned out that Master was watching me. I feel ashamed that I cannot take cultivation seriously.
When I was anxious about my financial crisis, Master told me through a fellow practitioner’s sharing: Practice well, Master will not let you live in difficulties. I was so moved that I cried. With Master by my side, I feel hopeful and happy. The compassionate Master led me through the confusion in my heart. I know that all the arrangements for cultivation are the best for me.
You Can Cultivate in Any Environment
After leaving the group cultivation environment, I didn’t know how to validate the Fa better. Coincidently, the Dafa Association had broadcasted the 2007 “Teachings at the Conference in Australia” and Master pointed out the direction to me. It turns out that I can cultivate myself at any time and in any place in my daily life. In the project, no matter how big or small the work is, there is no distinction between high and low. Active participation is clarification the truth to sentient beings. I realized that I could distribute Epoch Times newspapers. Although the weather was hot and it was hard, the work of distributing newspapers seems to be insignificant, but it was of great importance. It is really giving sentient beings hope of salvation. Every time I finished distributing newspapers, I felt good and was very pleased that I had done what a Dafa disciple should do.
I expressed my wish to do the three things well, and Master fulfilled my wish. I found that my new home was very close to the practice site, the truth-clarification site, and the Dafa Association Center. At the same time, I had time to participate in the promotion of “Gan Jing World”. I used to be afraid of rejection because I cared about my reputation, but when I remember the mission of Dafa disciples made me full of sacredness and enthusiasm for clarification of truth activities. I am not just clarifying the truth, I am helping Master to save people. Every person who passes by is brought by Master to us in various conditions. I felt that I cannot live up to such an arrangement if Master is not by my side. I stand and work for more than ten hours a day without realizing it, but I don’t feel tired at all. I found that as long as I do Dafa project, I am full of energy and never feel tired. This is the power given to me by Dafa.
Master said in “Fa Teaching on World Falun Dafa Day”, “Has it occurred to you that everything in your daily life is part of cultivation? Your every word and action, and everything you do—all of it is part of your cultivation. Do you realize that?”
In the past, I paid too much attention to work and validating the Fa outside, and neglected to take care of my family. My children also alienated from me. After leaving the work environment where most Dafa disciples were there, I began to consciously contact more ordinary people, meet up with friends, spend time with my family, and make up for the omissions in my daily life in cultivation and truth-clarification. During this period, I discovered a lot of obsessions I had never cared about: When I casually complained to my husband that you treat cats better than me, I realized that I was so jealous that I would even care about a cat, and that I cared too much about others. and position in the heart. When I was on the phone, I heard my brother complain that I didn’t care about my parents. I argued excitedly, complaining that my parents’ quarrels every day would made me very stress. At that time, I discovered that I had hidden resentment towards my parents and jealousy of my brother. My resentment and jealousy were full of evil, which naturally affected my relationship with my daughter.
When conflicts occurred, I used to complain and feel wronged, accusing my family of being selfish and not loving me enough. After practicing, I learned to look inward and discovered my greed and demand for love. I longed for and envied the so-called “good and happy” family, and forced myself to have an arrangement that was not in my destiny. In practice, I found that when I let go of the “I” and the concept without “I”, and I realized and understood the suffering of others, I was freed from the feelings of being hurt, angry and sad. It turns out that this is the mystery of ” righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism”.
Look Inward is Cultivation
I have become more and more deeply aware of what Master said in “Essentials for Further Advancement” (To the Shandong Falun Dafa AssistanceCenter): ” When there is a problem, look inward to find the cause—this is the fundamental difference between a Dafa disciple and a non-practitioner.”
In January of this year, nine of us Dafa disciples started working together to validate the Fa. The nine of us are of different ages, different cultivation times and states, and different ways of thinking. There is nothing accidental in cultivation. Master arranged for us, a group of people with deep predestined relationship, to come together to do things and at the same time settle various grievances. Complex historical causes and conditions collide with each person’s different obsessions in current life practice, and various conflicts arise in the team. In fact, no matter whether you are cultivating on or off, you are all in a state of delusion, and you are strict about the standards of cultivation you want to achieve. Through studying the Fa, I realized that the root cause of the impure environment lies in the failure to unconditionally “look inward.”
When conflicts point directly at people’s hearts, my bad intentions and selfishness are often exposed. I am especially picky about people who are not kind to me, and look down on their self-righteousness, domineering, hypocrisy, indifference, selfishness and greed. When I looked inward unconditionally, I suddenly discovered that all the hearts I disliked were actually mirrors, reflecting all my attachments, without exception. That feeling was shocking. I had never noticed it before because I was protecting my own selfishness and sense of superiority and was unwilling to face up to my own obsessions.
I developed prejudices against some phenomena, but I began to let go when I deeply understood that the complex relationships were the continuation and conclusion of the karmic relationships in history. My prejudices were only based on the measurement of personal gains and losses. Practitioners must not use human principles to judge right and wrong, but must use extraordinary standards to demand themselves. I realized that only by keeping kindness, being grateful to everyone and everything I encounter, having no resentment or hatred, and taking suffering as joy, can I repay my karmic debt.
At work, I overemphasized the results, efficiency, and standardization of work, and ignored the complex causes and factors of people. When I suspected that the direction of work was deviating and there was a big gap between my expectations, I blamed and complained, proposed many plans, and tried to change the status quo. When studying the Fa, Master immediately enlightened me not to force it and to maintain morality. I chose to let it go. After letting it go, I had a lot of time to reflect.
Master said in “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference” “That is not to say, however, that a certain task has to be carried out according to your own ideas and only if it succeeds will you build up mighty virtue. Rather, it is in the act of your cooperating and the thoughts that follow, and in how you go about things in the process of collaborating, that count as the cultivation process.” “Nothing that you encounter is by chance, and quite possibly each and every thing was arranged as it is in history. So, don’t underestimate what you do or work on.”
I realized that if this thing was not accomplished, it would not be easy. If every Dafa disciple involved could not let go of himself, it would be a waste of precious time to save people at the end. The more complex the environment, the more conducive it is for improvement. Only by silently cooperating and being harmonious will God recognize it, because being angry and negative is not cultivation. Either don’t do it, or do it well, which is the attitude that a cultivator should have.
Anger Stems from Jealousy
Once when I was listening to a recording of a lecture, Master’s word “qi” penetrated everything into my mind. I suddenly woke up and realized that I was feeling angry at that moment. Digging deeper, I found that I was often driven by “angry” emotions: angry when I felt unfair, angry when I couldn’t stand it, angry when I was misunderstood, angry when I was under pressure, angry when I was ignored, and angry when I was criticized. Why do I have so many things to angry about?
I repeatedly recited the “Realms” of “Essentials for Further Advancement”: “A wicked person is born of jealousy. Out of selfishness and anger he complains about unfairness towards himself. A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy. An enlightened person has no attachments at all. He quietly observes the people of the world deluded by illusions.”
Many conflicts are caused by inner imbalance and “anger”. All this anger is caused by the jealousy caused by the concern for “selfish” emotions and loss of interests, the self-perception of unfairness, and the psychological imbalance. Selfishness and jealousy are both manifestations of evil demonic nature, which are acquired and polluted thoughts that keep people away from goodness. In particular, jealousy is often hidden to the point that one cannot detect it, but it is a heart that practitioners must find and get rid of. I am determined to really pay attention to it and get rid of it.
Master said, “What’s more, Master has told you that cultivation is about cultivating yourself; you have to cultivate inward, to look inside yourself. If you can all manage to do this, there will be no problem that can’t be resolved, and this is the greatest way to work together and is a magic tool given by the Fa. So how come you don’t do it?” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference), cultivating within oneself is a magic tool for cultivators. I will keep this in mind and cultivate myself at all times and in all places.
The above is my personal understanding. If there are any parts that are not in line with the Fa, please kindly point them out to me.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!