(Minghui.org) I began to practice Falun Dafa before the year of 1999. I had studied two chapters of Zhuan Falun every day until 2008.
But when I was studying the Fa, my mind was not calm and I could not study with my heart. Sometimes, while I was reading, I did not know what I had read. As a result, I could not look inwards when encountering problems. I always looked outwards and looked for problems in others. When others pointed out my shortcomings, I did not fight back on the surface, but I was not convinced in my heart.
After 2008, inspired by a fellow practitioner, I changed my way of studying the Fa. I started to recite it. In that way my mind was able to calm down, as when I did not focus, I could not recite the Fa. When I could study the Fa with my heart, the effect was good. When I encountered problems, I could look within which helped me to discover my attachments, for example, looking down on others, etc.
When conflicts occurred before, I would fight back. Yet reciting the Fa helped me to remember Master's teachings of the Fa, and I did not fight back. Master said in Zhuan Falun:
“As practitioners, you will suddenly come across conflicts. What should you do? You should always maintain a heart of compassion and kindness. Then, when you run into a problem, you will be able to do well because it gives you room to buffer the confrontation.” (Zhuan Falun)
My mind was calm once I thought of Master's Fa teachings. The test was easy to pass.
Recognizing My Attachments
I recited the Fa one paragraph after another. When I was done with one paragraph, I started with the next one. I then connected these two paragraphs. Why did this method work for me? It helped me to calm down and study the Fa with my heart. If I could not concentrate on studying, I could not remember what the next line was. I then had to calm my mind in order to memorize it. The Fa helped me to get rid of a lot of my thought karma and many of my attachments.
Before I recited the Fa I read it first, and then I started to memorize it. It seemed when I memorized one sentence, it was as though I had not read it before. How could I forget it so fast? I later realized that reciting the Fa deepened my understandings.
During the years that I have been reciting the Fa, I often detected those attachments that I did not notice before. For example, my granddaughter attended the entrance exam for the national university this year. When studying, I suddenly had a thought which I did not have before, that she would visit her other grandma more often if she goes to college, and would not have much time for me anymore. This thought had come up before, but I had not realized there was anything wrong with it. When reciting the paragraph about jealousy, I realized right away that this was jealousy. It was very dangerous!
Master said:
"The issue of jealousy is very serious as it directly involves the matter of whether you can complete cultivation practice. If jealousy is not abolished, everything that you have cultivated will become fragile. There is this rule: If in the course of cultivation practice jealousy is not given up, one will not attain Right Fruit—absolutely not." (Zhuan Falun)
Also, when fellow practitioners mentioned that police officers came to their homes to harass them, I was always stuck in a competitive mentality, and suggested to them how they could fight against the police using methods that was not of a practitioner. I did not realize that I did not adequately understand the Fa principles. As practitioners we should treat everyone with compassion, and try to help them understand the goodness of Falun Dafa.
After reciting the Fa, I could solve those issues fundamentally. Once an attachment arose, I realized right away that as a practitioner, I should not act and follow my attachments. Within a short period of time, I was able to calm down, and handle everything well. When I encountered problems, the related Fa teaching appeared in my mind and guided me to resolve the issue.
This is the result of my reciting the Fa which has helped me a lot to improve. Many practitioners are reciting the Fa now. If you have not started yet, you might want to give it a try. In order to better assist Master with the Fa rectification, doing the three things well and helping people to understand Falun Dafa, let us study the Fa more and study it well!
Category: Improving Oneself
