(Clearwisdom.net) One day, not so long ago, an older fellow practitioner said to me that he had a very good DVD with stories about Shakyamuni. The stories told were about how Shakyamuni used supernormal abilities when being persecuted. The fellow practitioner recommended the disc to me, saying he was motivated after watching it. I then realized that some fellow practitioners were indeed attached to stories about Maitreya Buddha, other gods, and reincarnations. Here I'd like to share my thoughts and I hope we will all improve together.

Teacher said,

“... the religious practices, the many faiths, and the variety of cultivation methods of the past were merely establishing in the human realm a culture that would include cultivation and a knowledge of divine beings. If those persons and those enlightened beings had not come to establish this culture, people today wouldn’t understand what’s meant by “cultivation” or that divine beings reside in the heavens and what they are like. There are Buddhas, Daoist divinities, Gods known to man such as Jesus and Jehovah, and of course, many more deities of all types. They created the knowledge of divine beings that human culture has, and have allowed people throughout history to have a wealth of knowledge about the features of divine beings and how they go about things, as well as what cultivation is, its different forms, and what it takes to do cultivation. Since such things were established in human culture, it is that much easier for me to impart the Fa today. I don’t need to teach you any further what divine beings are, what cultivation is, and what’s involved in reaching divine realms. There is thus no need for me to explain so many of the most superficial things, which otherwise I would have to. In other words, people now understand, and know, for this part of human culture has been established ” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference)

Personally, I think it's fine to take a look at those stories on divinely bestowed culture if they have already been edited and published on our Dafa websites. It definitely helps the Chinese practitioners who have been affected by the Chinese Communist Party culture of atheism, and those who just yet don’t have a deep understanding of the Fa yet. In this way, they could learn some basic facts and understand the progress of cultivation from the past up to today.

However, as Dafa practitioners, we absolutely should not be attached to those cultivation ways or their stories. More importantly, since they are not part of Dafa we should not use the stories as guidance for our cultivation. These stories were simply passed down through the ages in order to lay a cultural foundation for Dafa practitioners today. The requirements of Dafa are much higher and more difficult than any kind of cultivation approached in the past. It is wrong if we try to get hints from those stories, since then we'd be trying to cultivate in those disciplines of long ago and we would be breaking the Dafa principle of “no second discipline.”

Also, we should study the Fa more diligently, and really learn how to truly study the Fa. We should follow the Fa principles to guide our every thought and action. Specifically, when there are issues or conflicts, we should be able to rationally use the Fa to uncover our shortcomings and mistakes. If we assimilate to the Fa principles, we will know how to act in all situations. In other words, the most essential thing for us to do is solidly cultivate in Dafa.

We should be alarmed if we know what Dafa books say, but in our everyday lives, during conflicts or problems, we still automatically behave with notions of fame, material gain, or the human emotions of ordinary people's society. If, as practitioners, we are still doing that, then it is not solid cultivation at all. If we are still at that level of cultivation, that means we have been stuck in the ordinary person's level for far too long. This is a very dangerous situation, which means we have not reached the high level Fa and Teacher's requirements. When we are able to truly use the Fa to guide ourselves, the deeper meanings of the Fa continue to be shown to us in our Fa-study, and this is solid cultivation. In this way, our Fa-study and cultivation could never be separated.

Some practitioners talk about getting “motivated.” In fact, on the Minghui/Clearwisdom website, each day there are many cultivation articles on how fellow practitioners have been validating the Fa with righteous thoughts and righteous actions. When I read them, I am deeply moved and cannot hold back my tears. There are also many powerful video interviews of Dafa practitioners validating the Fa. But again, they are just personal sharings.

The only way to truly guide our cultivation is to frequently study Zhuan Falun and Teacher's other articles that explain and address localized issues in our cultivation. If we spend too much time on sharing or checking with others when we run into problems, wouldn't that mean we don't really know how to cultivate ourselves and we have become too used to pursuing the answers by looking outwards? Only when we study and enlighten to the principles within the Fa will we truly break through our attachments. Only this is solid Dafa cultivation.

Remember, we are cultivating the fundamental Fa of the cosmos. All the traditional cultures were formed to lay a foundation for this Fa. Since we are cultivating in Dafa, this is our first and final foundation. We shouldn't be so curious or try to find shortcuts or role models. These are human attachments and notions that have been formed. This is very different from what Teacher said

“...let each and every thing be measured against the Fa.” (Solid Cultivation from Hong Yin)

Our sharings must always be based on the Fa.

Some fellow practitioners have said Teacher also talked about Shakyamuni in the Fa lectures, and from that superficial understanding, they thought it was fine to watch those kinds of DVDs. I think this shows they don't have a deeper understanding on some Fa principles. Teacher talked about many things in the Fa, for example, the names of gods, religions, science, and etc. Hopefully some practitioners didn’t think Teacher was lecturing to us about “science” to make us all learn science.

Of course, we need to know the meaning of those words to understand what Teacher was talking about. My understanding is that Teacher was simply using those words from the divinely bestowed previous culture to explain the all-encompassing Fa of the cosmos so that in these modern times, we would know some surface meanings of the Fa. But if we try to dig into those words or the stories, then we'd be too attached and could even go off course by practicing in other paths.

I don't think we need to read too many stories of that kind. A few well-known ones would be enough, like the edited stories on our Dafa sites about Shakyamuni, Jesus, and Maitreya Buddha. Why have we failed to enlighten to this issue? It’s because there is a huge gap between our cultivation level and Teacher's requirements. All our ordinary people's notions, actions, and attachments can be cleansed during solid cultivation in Dafa. In other words, it is the most effective way for us to truly understand the Fa and use the Fa to guide our thoughts, words, and actions. In this way, we can improve ourselves and save more people quickly. This is the fastest way to improve in our cultivation. We must solidly cultivate and walk with diligence every step of the way back home.