(Minghui.org) During the magnificent European Fahui in London in September 2019, I had a seemingly small incident, which I tried to treat as a cultivator should—to look within—and it opened up a multitude of important things.
Master said during the “Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting:”
“So, put another way, one’s own factors can in fact change one’s surroundings. “Cultivate yourself” and “search within” are words that I have said in a very straightforward and clear manner. (Laughing) But, there aren’t that many people who give these words due weight. What I was describing holds true for Dafa disciples when they do things.”
This is the story:
All participants at the Fahui were issued a headset for simultaneous translations. Over 1,000 practitioners attended. I think only one person lost his during the lunch break. That was me.
I was in charge of collecting and handing out the pre-ordered lunches to everyone from my country, and at that time the headset was still next to me. But a bit later, when I was eating my lunch in a nearby park, I noticed its absence. Retracing my steps back to where the lunches were handed out, the headset was nowhere to be found.
After informing the conference staff and giving them my contact details in case it was not found, I went back to the conference hall for the second part of the conference, with a new headset, and started to look within.
The first thing I realized was that towards the end of the first half of the conference, my concentration was lacking and I was thinking about all sorts of mundane things instead of fully listening to the speakers. To point it out to me, I lost my radio. The connection was obvious. I was determined to listen carefully and cherish the rest of the Fahui. I also asked myself whether there were other times when I don’t listen well and drift. Do I always listen to what Master tells me to do or not do? Not always. No excuses anymore, then!
I later contacted the local coordinator to let him know I was willing to pay for the lost headset. He informed me that the cost would be around USD$300. This was a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting such a large sum for a mere headset. So I looked within and asked myself whether there was something for me to see. Indeed there was.
I realized that I too often treat money casually. I’m not poor, but that’s no excuse for irresponsible spending or for a casual attitude. There is a difference between having no attachment to money, which is good, and letting oneself be somewhat reckless, excusing it with the fact that one has enough anyway. It’s like someone with a lot of De doing bad things and not worrying about it since he has enough of it. So I was determined to treat this issue more carefully and responsibly.
When I offered the local coordinator the money, he refused, saying he didn’t want to waste Dafa’s resources while there was still a chance to recover the headset. He wrote to all the European coordinators, asking them to see if any of their practitioners had picked up the missing headset and forgotten to return it.
When it seemed from the replies that no one had found it, I again offered to pay for it. He still refused, saying that the venue might find it within a couple of days, and that even if it was my own money, it was also Dafa’s resources.
Since the issue was not yet resolved, I thought that there was still something more for me to realize. So I looked within again. I realized that all through this ordeal I had been looking at things from the perspective of personal cultivation, not Fa-rectification, whereas the UK coordinator had. He wasn’t just being kind to me, he was upholding Dafa and not acknowledging the old-force arrangements.
Right after that realization came to me, the UK coordinator reached out to me to let me know the venue had found the headset. I realized that I had now passed all that I should have with this planned ordeal. It was only three things, not the 81 the monk had to overcome to get the scriptures in the novel Journey to the West, yet I had to overcome and enlighten to all that I should before the matter could be laid to rest.
This last realization made me look further into the difference in approach between Master and the old forces, and where I had placed myself so far. My limited understanding was that the old forces put the personal cultivation of Dafa disciples as paramount, and any mistake or omission should—according to them—be punished in a way that can damage the saving of sentient beings and the prospects of completing cultivation.
But how does that comply with Master’s teaching?
“You will be made to stumble, whereby you will become enlightened to the Tao. This is how one goes through cultivation practice.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun, March 2000 translation)
This is even more so when the old forces often induce the problem in the first place, and then turn around and point fingers.
To my limited understanding, Master doesn’t see it that way. We coexist with Master’s Fa-rectification, and not just doing personal cultivation. Also, this Fa has the ability to harmonize and rectify things. I understand that in Dafa, there is a path where as long as a Dafa disciple is diligent and willing to cultivate, his stumbles (and following enlightenments) can coexist with no damage to the saving of sentient beings. This may be unprecedented, but so is Fa-rectification.
Through my years of cultivation, I have witnessed quite a few times that:
“When disciples have ample righteous thoughts, Master has the power to turn back the tide” (“The Master-Disciple Bond,” Hong Yin Vol. II, translation version A)
Yet I realized that I had too often believed that I “deserved” losses to Dafa projects since I wasn’t good enough, i.e., since I had made mistakes.
Of course, looking at this from the perspective of Fa-rectification only works if the practitioner is willing to actually cultivate and sacrifice.
In “Non-Omission” in Essentials for Further Advancement Master teaches us:
“If a person can indeed calmly abandon everything with his heart being unaffected, he is actually at that level already. Yet cultivation practice is to improve yourself: You are already able to abandon the attachment, so why not also abandon the fear of attachment, itself? Isn’t abandonment without omission a higher sacrifice?”
But there is a condition attached:
“Yet if a cultivator or an everyday person who cannot even make fundamental sacrifices also discusses this principle, he is actually undermining the Fa by making excuses for the attachments he cannot let go of.” (“Non-Omission” in Essentials for Further Advancement)
I realized that since in the above case I was willing to cultivate and was willing to sacrifice, once I had realized I shouldn’t let Dafa’s resources be wasted, the Fa could be behind me and the actual loss was averted.
Now I’m in the process of assimilating to this understanding to become a being who...
“...walks his path of Fa-rectification openly and nobly” (“Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions”)
Thank you, Master, for the opportunities, and thank you, fellow practitioners, for helping me with your righteous actions.
Category: Improving Oneself
