(Minghui.org) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners!
I have been cultivating Falun Dafa for 10 years.
In 2017, I received the invitation to participate in Minghui in Spanish, which I still consider an honor. In these almost four years, I can distinguish that there is a before and after in my cultivation as a result of my participation in Minghui.
My task in the project is to proofread and correct the translations before they are uploaded to the website. I also do translation work when necessary.
While fulfilling these tasks, my understanding about “my” cultivation has been questioned, challenged, and enlightened by Master’s Fa, by the diligence of my fellow practitioners, and by the content of the experiences that I had to translate or proofread.
In this paper, I’d like to share the process of reaching true cultivation while participating in Minghui, as I understand it at my own level.
The Traps of Routine and Comfort Even in the Midst of a Demanding Work and Cultivation Environment
During these four years on the project, I have experienced different states. I have gone from the initial excitement of participating and understanding the work instructions, adding my will and skills to coordinate well, feeling the urgency of the responsibility of the work while I participate at the same time in demanding projects like Shen Yun, and I also experienced the weight of time that, little by little, creates a false illusion in the daily routine.
The years before the confinement caused by the CCP virus pandemic, my participation in Minghui was intermittent, although it should have been daily as I expressed it initially. In our region there are few practitioners and we are almost always the same ones who participate in each project. On the surface, this seemed to be the “reason” for my inconsistent participation in Minghui. When I looked within after my coordinator pointed it out, I learned to balance my time better, gave up other projects where I was not a key member, and decided to dedicate more time to Spanish Minghui.
Apparently, I was walking my path of cultivation, looking within, making rational decisions, evaluating my behavior in line with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. But, my attitude did not change deeply. I finished my duties, but I did not feel that I was assimilating to the Fa when I studied, I could not concentrate when sending forth righteous thoughts, and days would easily pass without me doing the exercises.
Master said,
“Nowadays people have become very crafty. People today know how to hide their attachments. And then they hide the hiding of their attachments. When I look at this kind of person I know it’s really hard to save him. When I give him a hint about it, he himself doesn’t even realize this concealment of the thing he uses to hide his hiding. What’s more, when I point out his real problem—when my Law Bodies point out his real problem—he tries to deceive my Law Bodies, as if he were dealing with ordinary humans. He fakes it and says, “Oh, I was wrong.” Then he again finds another cover to hide what he’s hidden—he uses another cover.”(Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
Looking More Deeply into My Heart
This situation of doing things as a routine, even while believing that my main consciousness was awake and strong, was exacerbated during this CCP virus pandemic. I had the opportunity to be online posting articles clarifying the truth about Dafa, about the CCP virus, and how the specter of communism rules our world, as I was working at home during that time.
Without realizing it, I started to make Dafa activities a routine, believing that this was cultivation.
The turning point was when I realized that, despite my obligations to Minghui, and while I was trying to balance this with other activities such as living with family, work, and participating in face-to-face activities, I felt I was stagnating.
Master said,
“How’s someone like that to be saved?! Now, you still have your Master teaching you and guiding his disciples here. But in those temples where no one is looking after them, how could they cultivate? Humans have come to this stage. What would you say can be done?”(Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
Master words resonated deeply in my mind and heart.
Definitely, I did not have 610 Office agents at my doorstep, nor had the government of my country initiated a persecution, but the old forces and my own attachments to routine, which showed my attachment to comfort and laziness, was nothing but a reflection of deeper and rotten attachments, such as jealousy, lust, anger, and feeling hopeless.
On the outside, I could appear diligent and active to my fellow practitioners, stable, strong. And I looked like a practitioner who “steps forward.”
Master said,
“That’s why I don’t discuss those things with you. You should only work hard on your heart and mind—true improvement depends completely on your heart and mind. If your heart and mind don’t ascend, everything else is for nothing.” (Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
Turning Pitfalls and Downfalls into Opportunities
Even with this inner struggle, I did not stop working on the project. I began to send forth righteous thoughts more firmly and to study the Fa with greater concentration and, if possible, out loud. I also did not stop attending the local group in person Fa study and the weekly study as well as the group Fa study and sharing meetings that we have on our Minghui team.
Master’s article “Stay Rational” showed me that, despite the external illusion and my real or apparent lack of diligence, I had to continue to do my best cultivating myself.
On a deeper layer, I understood that “My cultivation” is a phrase that expresses an ego in disguise. Indeed, I already knew that, in working for Dafa, “doing” things is not “cultivating.” I knew that our circumstances in the West are different from those in mainland China and that I should take advantage of that, but at the same time a relaxed environment can bring about other problems and tests. My main consciousness should be alert, awake, and vigilant.
Blaming myself and regretting what I don’t do well is a standard of the old cosmos, a standard of the old forces. This is not the time just for personal cultivation, this is the time to cultivate myself by saving sentient beings and assisting Master through my responsibility to Minghui, which offers hope to people and strengthens practitioners who read our website.
I must do it with a purer heart to really achieve pure wisdom and be more diligent by returning to my true self following the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
Master said,
“It’s alright to express it. That isn’t wrong, but you need to correct your behavior afterward. If after you express it today, you walk out the door and become your old self again, then what good would it do if you came back to express your regret again? When you tell Teacher that you regret something, you should have the resolve to correct it.” (Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants)
Minghui Is a Pure Land
Reviewing a translation, I read how a practitioner from China sent righteous thoughts for 20 years to eliminate substances that interfered with the salvation of sentient beings, keeping them from believing that Falun Dafa is good and quitting the Communist Party. Her sister-in-law was always reluctant to quit. Without pursuit and without sentimentality, she stood with firm faith. And, soon after her sister-in-law agreed to quit the CCP, she understood that indeed our constant, and daily, righteous actions and thoughts do have an effect in this and other dimensions. Even if we don’t see immediate effects.
From this experience, I understood that I had to be firm and not go along with the old forces that use a heart of guilt and perfectionism, which seeks immediate results in my performance in projects and in my cultivation.
Master said,
“The practice isn’t hard so long as you are sincere about spiritual growth, are willing to go through whatever it takes, and can come to look upon the material things of this world with detachment and indifference. The practice only seems hard to people because they still hold on to worldly things. ”(The Ninth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Cultivating and being diligent implies being solid but not aggressive. This is a Party notion, and I had to eliminate it from my behavior and thinking.
Then, clarity came to me when I understood that the best environment for cultivation and clarification that Master has designed for me does not consist of a specific place nor is it a matter of comfort. It is that any activity I do involves validating the Fa with my performance, behavior, ability to coordinate or collaborate, and so on.
Sincere cultivation means understanding that it is a process of learning how to use, in the most diligent and skillful way, the magical tool of knowing how to look within and how to let go of attachments as soon as possible.
Master said,
“In this final phase you should do even better with it, and make it more powerful. You cannot let up. The more circumstances ease up, the less you can let up. The more comfortable things get, the easier it is for you to ease up in your thinking and relax. That won’t do. It is imperative that you do well with it.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Fa Conference Marking the Tenth Anniversary of the Minghui Website’s Founding,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
Being part of the Minghui team is a great responsibility, and every time I read, translate or review an article, it is a way to clarify the truth and validate Dafa; I can also discover where I am falling short, take a leap forward in my cultivation, and therefore be able to better fulfill my responsibilities on this project.
This is my present understanding. If anything I have said does not agree with the Fa, please let me know.
Thank you, Master. Thank you, fellow practitioners.
(Presented during the 2021 Minghui Website Fa Conference)
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