(Clearwisdom.net) Recently, after reading the article "Understandings on Writing Fa- Rectification Cultivation Articles," I had some deep feelings as well as some understandings through my cultivation that I would like to share and exchange with fellow practitioners. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
1. Have a Righteous Mentality and a Clear Understanding of the Purpose of Writing Fa-Rectification Cultivation Articles
Some fellow practitioners are very attached to whether their articles will be published. If their articles do not get frequently published, they will feel that they did not get treated fairly and will even lose confidence. The purpose of writing articles is to help other practitioners with our own experience in cultivation and our further understandings of Fa principles, because one practitioner's good understanding on a particular issue can help others on the same issue, and in this way we can improve as a whole body. Writing articles should not be used as a way of showing off. If an article is not published, there might be more than one reason, such as that we might be overly attached to whether the article would be published, or what we wrote has already been clearly and thoroughly discussed by other practitioners, or our understandings might have deviated from the Fa. Nevertheless, I think whether an article gets published or not, it is a summary of our cultivation in that period, and it helps us to clarify the direction to which we should work toward in future cultivation, and it also helps us to have an even clearer understanding of the Fa principles we have enlightened to. Furthermore, once written, the article would exist in other dimensions as well, and it can work to eliminate and suppress the old evil forces.
2. Only by Studying the Fa Well With a Calm Mind Can We Write Good Fa- Rectification Period Cultivation Articles
For a while, I also wanted to write some articles from the perspective of my profession. However, I did not know how to connect my professional knowledge into validating Dafa and clarifying the truth. My thoughts became stuck soon after I began writing. I didn't try to continue with the writing; instead, I calmed down and studied the Fa. Master said in "Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.," "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?"
It was indeed as Master had said, during the process of studying the Fa, I suddenly realized that I should write the article from a certain viewpoint. In fact, this was Dafa inspiring my wisdom at that level. So I went on writing and would turn to studying the Fa whenever my mind became stuck again. Eventually I finished the article with the guidance of the Fa. I re-read it and felt that the theme and the structure of the article were ingeniously conceived, and the article was articulate and harmonious. I could not have possibly written the article with my skills of an ordinary person. Actually, this was the supernatural display of the boundless wisdom endowed by Dafa after I studied the Fa well with a calm mind.
3. Only With a Pure Mind Can We Put Into Words Righteous Understandings of Fa Principles
For a while, as my articles got published one after another, I gradually developed an attachment of contentment and writing articles for the sake of writing itself, and my mind also grew impure. Immediately the articles I wrote had many problems. I tried to find the cause from the articles on the surface, but later I suddenly realized that by doing so I was entrapping myself within these specific superficial problems. I should look for problems in my xinxing (mind/heart nature, moral character). I saw within myself the attachment of contentment, the mentality of writing articles for the sake of writing and being published, arrogance, showing-off mentality, pursuit of fame, etc. How can I express righteous understanding of Fa principles with so many everyday people's mentalities? Moreover, driven by so many attachments, my way of thinking also imperceptibly fell to the level of an ordinary person, and I used human logic and way of thinking to write Fa-rectification cultivation articles. At such a time, I could not calm down when studying the Fa, driven by a strong pursuit of fame and attachment to writing articles.
I thought to myself, "Why is it that although young practitioners' articles have problems such as grammatical errors and not so well formed expressions, they still give people an especially pure and righteous feeling and people enjoy reading them?" It is because young practitioners don't have any acquired notions and their minds are pure when writing articles.
4. We Should Pay Attention to Both the Content and Form of Fa-Rectification Cultivation Articles
Some practitioners, while emphasizing the content of an article, overlook the form. I think these two are not mutually exclusive and we should not ignore either of them, especially articles written for non-practitioners. This is similar to us practitioners in that while we strive to achieve a noble mind from cultivation and solid moral cultivation, we should also pay attention to our appearance, words and actions. In fact, the boundless meaning and wisdom of Dafa and the ability Dafa has endowed us render us perfectly able to handle both well.
If the articles we write make non-practitioners feel they are subjective, one-sided or hard to understand, then they might not want to read them anymore, which may cause them to lose an opportunity to be saved, since non-practitioners do things according to their own interests and tastes. Therefore, we need to go along with their attachments, because the purpose of our writing well-composed articles is to help and save non-practitioners.
5. A Suggestion on Writing Persecution Reports
As for factual articles such as recounts of persecution incidents, I think they should be as accurate and thorough as possible, and we should not exaggerate. Sometimes, non-practitioners who know the details of an incident complained that a certain detail deviated from the truth and they would therefore reject the article, even taking the extreme to deny the legitimacy of the whole report. This might have to do with fellow practitioners' incomplete knowledge of some details and their inferring what is missing when putting the article together. The many difficulties our practitioners have to go through under the high-pressure persecution may not be important to a reader, and they only look at the result. Therefore, when we don't do something well, we'd likely be achieving an effect that is opposite of clarifying the truth. As Master has told us in the Fa, "In your efforts to save sentient beings you've labored so hard to allow people to have a new understanding of us. So when you don't do well, it's quite possible you are unwittingly undermining the efforts you've made and some of the things you plan to do." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Boston")
Above are some of my understandings during the process of writing articles, please kindly point out anything inappropriate.