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On Cultivating During the Busy Harvest Season

Nov. 5, 2009 |   By a Dafa Disciple in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Being busy with and annual fall harvest is a natural thing for most people in China's countryside. However, I find myself asking myself as a Dafa disciple, "If you are busy harvesting crops, can what you gain in harvesting surpass what you lose in terms of cultivating?" At this critical period of Fa-rectification and saving sentient beings, not being diligent in doing the {{three things} is far from Master's requirements. Master has said in "Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference":

There are standards for Dafa disciples, and the Fa has standards. It's not like everyone can just goof around together and pass muster.

One day, I went to help a practitioner harvest the crops along with some other practitioners. There were 13 people altogether. Except for the two people hired by him, eight of the people among the remaining 11 were Dafa disciples.

During the hectic day, I saw that the attachments of the practitioners were really strong. On those days, we made harvesting crops the most important thing. Although we were busy with harvesting for only a few days, we had already put Fa study and saving people as secondary and delayed efforts to save people and missed precious time for Fa study.

At the same time, we indulged practitioners who were not diligent. They seemed to take it for granted that fellow practitioners should help them to harvest their crops. In my opinion, they were taking advantage of the kindness of fellow practitioners and indulged themselves in their attachments. As long as they said,"I have too much land and too many crops. I cannot handle it," they would be able to get the help from many fellow practitioners. To avoid embarrassment, most of the practitioners reluctantly put aside Fa study and saving people and went to help with harvesting crops instead.

Fellow practitioners, think about this: What is our purpose of being here? To study the Fa and save people or to live as everyday people? Last year, some of us ran into problems when helping practitioners with harvesting crops. This year, because we could not ensure Fa study due to being busy with harvesting crops, some developed sickness karma and had to call practitioners to send forth righteous thoughts. However, we did not take a further look at the root cause of the problem and the purpose of our behavior. Do we have a pure heart?

I was also among practitioners who were busy with harvesting crops. I did not understand the Fa from the Fa and blindly followed others and was busy for several days working in the field. Each day after the busy work, I would not be able to catch up with Fa study and did not save a single person. I did not do the exercises well at night because I was too exhausted from the work, which lasted the whole day.

When the interference was too strong, I was dizzy and my eyes were blurred and sticky. I was not able to study the Fa at all. At that time, I started to think whether we should be so muddle-headed that we were busy with harvesting crops and delayed Fa study and saving people. It is really miraculous that right after I was enlightened to this, my eyes immediately became clear.

Master taught us in "Solid Cultivation" in Hong Yin:

Study the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus on how you study and cultivate,
Let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa.
Only then, with that,
is it actually cultivation. (Official Translation)

It is cultivation if we do things according to the Fa. Is it cultivation if we do things according to the rationale of everyday people? Some practitioners do have lots of land, but they can harvest with the help of their families, relatives, and friends. They can help each other and during the process, they can also harmonize the environment in the family.

Some practitioners failed to validate Dafa by their behavior in their families and even their families and relatives were not willing to help. They considered that it was easier to get help from fellow practitioners. Shouldn't this kind of practitioner think deeply, try to be enlightened on this issue, and dig out his attachments? At this critical point, our priority should be harmonizing with each other to save people.

Of course, we should definitely help the families of practitioners who are being persecuted. Our purpose is to help their family members to know the truth and position themselves well.

I hope that practitioners can seriously consider this issue. This essay is what I have enlightened to on my current level.