Walking a Righteous Path: Handling Dafa Work and Study (Berlin Fa-conference 2003)

Greetings honorable Master and fellow practitioners:

My name is Wang Jing and I come from Germany.

Today I would like to take the opportunity to share with you how I handled the relationship between school work and cultivation. Through reading Master’s new Jingwens, I came to realize that nothing in the period of Fa-rectification is small issue. Personal cultivation is not an individual’s issue, rather it is the prerequisite to our walking our path well and saving sentient beings. It is also the path that we leave for the future to see.

After I started cultivation, I stopped my school work due to some personal reasons. I wanted to find a job or change to another specialty. It is just at this moment the persecution started. At that time I was doing translation work for Dafa books. I gradually came to realize the importance of translation work. And also since I didn’t have any financial difficulty, I decided to do the translation full-time for that period of time.

I was somewhat lacking in Fa-study then and didn’t have good understanding of the Fa principle of conforming to ordinary people’s state to the maximum extent. What was on my mind was only that many people were waiting for the translated books and there were so many books waiting to be translated. I wouldn’t have as much time if I were to attend school. What is fortunate for me was that translating Dafa books is also a process of studying the Fa. As time went by I came to realize one thing: cultivation is serious, and it is not up to me to decide what is good and what is not. Sometimes I felt confused myself and wondered whether it was indeed best to completely follow what is taught in the book. For example, attending school does take time. How could it be that it won’t impact Dafa work? However, as I gradually gave up my human notions through Fa-study, I decided that no matter how I think things should be, as long as Fa says I should do the ordinary people’s work well, then I need to attend school or go to work. From my subsequent experience of going to school, I found out that attending school will not have negative impact upon Dafa work at all. Conversely, doing Dafa work will not have any negative impact upon ordinary people’s work either.

Once in the middle of a semester, I took over the job of coordinating the translation work of a German Dafa website. The workload was pretty heavy and there were a lot of specific issues to handle. At that time, my understanding was only that there shouldn’t be any conflict between school work and cultivation. So I didn’t reduce the load of school work. I was already taking more courses than other students and I now only became even more busy. I had to spend three hours on my way to and from the university so I took this time to do my school study. Sometimes I just felt asleep on the bus. However, I never neglected Fa study.

At that time the most difficult course was the Italian language. I started from zero while most others have some basis in Italian already. Also since they are westerners, learning another western language is much easier for them than for me. The professor taught the course at a fast pace and it was pretty difficult for me to follow. However, I didn’t think of giving up and was trying to use any available time I could find for study.

When it was the time for the examination, it was also the most difficult time for the Dafa website’s translation work. Since most practitioners doing the translation work are students it was examination time for them too. Thus we had much fewer translators. So I tried to do more. By the time for the examination for the Italian course, I had had very little sleep for a few days. On the day of the exam, I was on the train to the university. I felt very sleepy. I tried to revise the course work that I had done and for most part it was the first time that I had revised it. However, I still maintained a peaceful mind. I thought since things had come to this step it was no use to worry about the consequence. I already gave my best before and now I just needed to make the last effort. So I randomly selected the materials to revise and had only covered 30% when time was up.

When I finally sat down at the exam and looked at the exam paper, it is impossible to describe my feeling. Most of what I had revised on the train were printed on the exam paper and whatever I didn’t get a chance to revise was almost not there. What’s more is that the content that I revised on the train while feeling very sleepy appeared clearly in my head. In the end, only one-third of students passed the exam and I was one of them. The professor commented on my paper with the words “Great progress” followed by several exclamation marks

When I first saw the exam paper, the first thought I had was to feel lucky and the second was feeling guilty. When I looked back later, actually there shouldn’t be anything to feel lucky about.- I indeed gave my best. However, it might be that the capacity of my heart wasn’t big enough and thus I couldn’t do some work well and couldn’t have enough time to revise the course. However, in my mind I always positioned the school work as a very important thing to do and even when things became pretty difficult, I didn’t slack off on school work using Dafa work as an excuse. What I felt guilty about is that I am still very lacking in my cultivation and cannot meet the criteria of a Dafa practitioner all the times and have to receive help from the Master.

In that semester I received very good grades in all courses except an okay one in Italian language. Also due to my taking many courses, fellow Chinese students were very impressed afterwards and all said that I am talented and diligent. This brings special advantage to my clarifying the truth at the university. During that same semester I didn’t do less Dafa work compared to other times.

I came to realize that my perceived negative impact that school work could have upon Dafa work was due to my limited wisdom. I was doing things using my human side, and emphasizing my knowledge and human capability. I didn’t have full faith in the power of Fa. Actually the power of Fa and Master is boundless. If our heart is righteous Master can do anything for us and the key is the righteousness of our heart. When I decided not to reduce the load of course work, I had faith in Fa being harmonious. There should be no conflict between school work and Dafa work. When I didn’t do something well, it is not that the related principle is not right. Rather, it is my own problem.

I also had a lot of enlightenment from writing the paper last semester. I had to read an abstruse novel by Goethe and write a 15-page paper based upon it. Just as usual I had lots of Dafa work to do. I could only spend a little time on the paper-writing everyday. Sometimes I didn’t even have any time. However, I found it was very easy to understand Goethe’s novel. Before cultivation I felt Goethe’s articles are very dry and abstruse and I had headache in reading it. Though I had little reading time, I was still able to understand the content that would take several times as long before cultivation.

In the two weeks before the due date for the paper, I still hadn’t finalized the theme for my paper. I became anxious from time to time. However, I had my experience in validating Master’s teaching again and again. I only need to do what I am supposed to do and everything will be there. So I still followed my original plan of taking some time to write the paper and to read the reference books and used the rest of the time for Fa study and doing Dafa work. After my mind calmed down, the thoughts on how to write the paper came to me one by one. I had a feeling. Those thoughts didn’t come from me. They are there already. When my mind is righteous, I will be allowed to see them. I didn’t finalize my paper and print it out until the morning of the due day. Though time was very tight, my mind was calm and peaceful. The professor gave me good grade on that paper.

This good grade is different from the good grade that I received before cultivation. Before cultivation I more or less had the attachment of seeking after a good grade and I obtained things with seeking. This good grade came from giving up myself and my notions. What I obtained was far more than a good grade, rather I obtained an opportunity to rectify myself and validate the power of Fa. It is this grand, benevolent and tolerant power that makes all these possible.

Now I have more in-depth understanding of how to walk a righteous path as emphasized by Master Li. My understanding is we have to be righteous in every aspect of our lives. This not only has to do with our cultivation, but also has to do with the Fa-rectification path that we leave for future people to see. The people in the future will cultivate in an environment where one has to work or study. How to position these in relation to others is then part of the cultivation that future people have to deal with. If we don’t do it well, then the path that we leave for the future people won’t be a righteous one. Thus walking our path righteously is also our showing benevolence to sentient beings, and is also the historic responsibility that falls on our shoulders in this Fa-rectification period of time.

Thank you.