My Enlightenment to the Importance of Diligent Cultivation Through a Long-term Toothache

I obtained the Fa before July 20th, 1999, but what constantly confused me was that no matter how I cultivated myself, I could hardly feel any progress, and my xinxing level wasn’t improved much either. I seemed to be enveloped by something very thick, and couldn’t assimilate to the universal principles “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” As for the sayings such as “once in a thousand years” or “the only chance throughout the ages", they didn’t seem to have any impact on me. I felt that it was natural for me to obtain the Fa, and I had never had any resounding feelings deep in the bottom of my heart, as mentioned by other practitioners. As a result, I had never treasured Dafa and the opportunity to practise cultivation.

Due to slacking off for a long period of time, a symptom of being ill thus came up in my body: a toothache lasting for 10 months. Through studying the Fa, I realised that it was the persecution inflicted by the evil. In Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference, Master said: "The period of time for their personal cultivation has already passed, and right now their main task is to save sentient beings.” In the past, I had tried twice to eliminate the evil with righteous thoughts, and had tried twice to let go off the attachment to pain. Thus, I told evil: “I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple. You are not allowed to persecute me even if I might have omissions. Master Li doesn’t acknowledge the arrangements made by the old forces, and neither do I. If you made me suffer from a toothache, I’ll use the “ability of teleportation” given by Master Li to return the ache to you. By doing so, I was able to eat some soft stuff such as cake. At first, my tooth was so painful that I almost burst into tears. However, I suddenly thought that being a Dafa practitioner, shouldn’t I endure this little pain? It was painful, but I let go off the attachment to pain to see what would happen. After a hard struggle, with sending forth righteous thoughts, I was finally able to eat some food, even hard things, without feeling the pain. However, after my righteous thoughts faded, I felt the pain again. Because the pain was more and more serious all over half of my head, I could hardly endure it. Afterward, through studying the Fa, I remembered what Master Li mentioned in Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference: “…(Whether) you yourselves haven't studied the Fa enough? If you really have done something wrong and then a problem comes up as a result, and you go and send righteous thoughts, then it doesn't seem right, and the old forces will make trouble. They'll think that not only have you done poorly, but on top of that you want to eliminate them. It'd seem that way, wouldn't it? So you should still try your best to see if you've done things well or not. If you haven't done things well, go do them well." Then what was the cause of the problem?

After studying the Fa and exchanging experiences with other practitioners several times, I started to calm myself down and look for my own mistakes for the first time. I finally found that I didn’t studied the Fa well, and didn’t pay attention to the cultivation of speech. Since the evil took advantage of my attachment to sentimentality, I indulged in the attachment to zealotry, and the mentality of showing off. I often talked arbitrarily without caring for the principles of the Fa. Master Li mentioned in Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference: “We often have some students who talk irresponsibly”, We thus often made lots of karma due to talking irresponsibly. Though we regret it very much, we make the same mistakes repeatedly afterward, and cannot not control ourselves. Among other things, when faced with a xinxing test, we often could not behave like a Dafa disciple due to our attachments to competitiveness, zealotry and the mentality of showing off. And this kind of situation occurred repeatedly, so we are always obsessed with regrets and worries. Why did we make the mistakes knowingly? Because we could not walk our path well at the critical moment, we were worried about this situation very much.

Once, a practitioner inspired me when I happened to hear him saying, “It’s been a long time since you had the toothache. You’d better look inward right away to see what you haven’t done well.” As a result, I continued to probe into the root of my attachments. Through studying the Fa intensively, I suddenly found that the fundamental cause for my slacking off and suffering was that I didn’t respect our Teacher and the Fa. For a long, I hadn’t cultivated myself according to Master’s teachings such as, “Cultivate yourselves according to the Fa, and give top priority to the Fa.”?Hong Yin -Obtain the Fa - Unofficial translation) Rather, I regarded the acquired human notion and attachments as my own characters and was deeply attached to them. For instance, I was reluctant to listen to unpleasant words, and attached to refinement. In addition, I often haggled over minor things, and made fun of others arbitrarily. Suddenly, I was shocked to find that I didn’t do things well though it had been a long time since I started to cultivate the Fa. Not only did I fail to live up to our Master’s expectations, but I also disappointed the sentient beings who were desperately waiting for me to save them in my universe in other dimensions. In Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Vancouver Canada 2003, Master Li said: “The whole cultivation process of a Dafa disciple is a process of removing human attachments. No matter what it is you've experienced, as soon as you realize the problem just correct it immediately; if you fall, just get up and continue to do what a Dafa disciple should do.” …“as long as you're steadfast in studying the Fa and study it well , you correct yourself, and you conduct yourself well again, then you're still a Dafa disciple.” … “For cultivators, though, when it comes to raising the requirement on your xinxing and letting go of your attachments, there's absolutely no wiggle room, and the standard can absolutely not be lowered, because we need to be responsible to the future, and to the cosmos and the sentient beings of the future.” …“When it comes to elevating your xinxing, there can be absolutely no compromise. …., it's absolutely strict.” …“So before the Fa-rectification is over you should seize the time that's left and solidly do well in every single thing that a Dafa disciple should do. That's how you should proceed on this path toward the future and toward what's the most magnificent; you can't miss any single opportunity, or go awry with any step.”… “Those who haven't done well: hurry up and get diligent.” …“But no matter what, you're Dafa disciples, so just keep righteous thoughts in your minds and try your best to do well what you should do.”

Suddenly, Master’s teachings vividly emerged in front of my eyes, and they revitalised my confidence in cultivation: I will definitely bear in mind Master’s reminders -- studying the Fa more diligently, giving up attachments more thoroughly, doing the three things Master Li mentioned more seriously, so as to excel in the course of cultivation, and closely follow Master Li so as to keep abreast of the progress of Fa-validation. I want to make up for what I lost in the past, and become a true Dafa practitioner without being causing Master Li any worry.

The above are some of my recent understandings for your reference. I hope that those who have had a similar experience are able to fully recognise the evil, eradicate the roots of attachments, and eliminate the impurites, in order to catch up with the progress of Dafa in the limited time left. Since my xinxing level is not so high, your kind assistance and correction will be highly appreciated.

Translated form Chinese at http://www.yuanming.net/articles/200308/23533.html