Recognise Our Shortcomings and Strive Forward Diligently

In "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Chicago Conference," Teacher¹ seriously and compassionately pointed out Falun Gong practitioners' shortcomings, especially those in China. Articles published on Clearwisdom have also mentioned the shortcomings correlating to practitioners and truth clarification material sites. I would like to write about these long existing shortcomings in myself and other local practitioners, so we can look inward and eliminate them. Please sincerely point out anything improper.

A major factor of why we still harbour these negative attachments is due to insufficient Fa² study and not having a solid understanding of the Fa. Practitioners, including myself, do not put enough emphasis on the importance of studying the Fa. We easily neglect Fa study when we are busy in clarifying the truth or in our everyday work, leaving some with only a small amount of time to study on a daily basis. Some have not been able to completely study "Essentials for Further Advancement" and other lectures more than once. For those of us who make time to study the Fa, many times we cannot calm our minds and focus on what we are reading, but let our mind wander or think about other "important" matters we have to get done. We also let ourselves get disturbed by mixed thoughts, feel tired and sleepy, or interfered with by family members--all of which seriously interferes with our Fa study. Some practitioners cannot effectively eliminate this interference, thus causing them to not be able to improve and keep up with the requirements of Fa-rectification. Some practitioners have mentioned that although they frequently read Zhuan Falun³, they cannot enlighten and understand it, so they just read the book. Some practitioners are still not very clear about what Fa-rectification and being a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple means.

Another major factor is that we do not adequately cultivate our xinxing (mind-nature). No matter if it is new practitioners who attained the Fa after the persecution of Falun Gong began on July 20, 1999 or veteran practitioners, some neglect to cultivate themselves when they are busy with Fa-rectification work or everyday people's things. Instead they separate self-cultivation from studying and validating the Fa. When validating the Fa, if differences of opinions cause difficulties or conflicts and there is inappropriate coordination, the evil uses that loophole to control people to interfere with them and disrupt their activities. When this occurs, often practitioners are not able to understand it from the Fa or compare themselves to the requirements of the Fa, while looking inward to find where they fall short.

Cultivation is to solidly cultivate our hearts. When the heart cannot let go of jealousy, the show off mentality, complacency, desire for fame and profit, pursuit and selfishness, the evil from other dimensions will use this to interfere with our cultivation and even destroy us. When the interference becomes too serious, practitioners will experience severe persecution that causes a negative effect in clarifying the truth in our local area. Those who have gone to extremes are usually those who have very strong attachments and are not able to recognise them.

Some practitioners do not read or take Zhuan Falun as the main text to guide them in their cultivation, but instead search for external help and only read Teacher's lectures they feel have higher content and are more important. It is even more serious for those who have violated the principles of Dafa, spreading among practitioners materials that do not belong to Dafa. Some practitioners pursue supernormal capabilities and are attached to petty skills. If they hear that someone's celestial eye is opened or one possess some supernormal capabilities, they immediately say "their inborn quality is really good and they cultivate well," instead of using the person's xinxing as the standard to judge. Some practitioners still look at this persecution from an ordinary person's perspective and confront it as though they are doing a job, instead of steadfastly doing what practitioners should do and righteously eliminating the persecution. For practitioners who emphasise sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate interference and the persecution, they do not search within themselves for the reasons why they are interfered with or persecuted.

Some take doing the exercises casually and are able to only do them a few times a month. It is not that they do not have time to exercise, but that they put more emphasis and energy on everyday people's matters and put Fa study and exercise second.

Some do not take sending forth righteous thoughts seriously. Some practitioners cannot send righteous thoughts at the four set times every day, or if they do, they are still not able to keep a clear and calm mind and hold the single palm or lotus hand position upright. There are some practitioners who do not even know how to send forth righteous thoughts.

Some practitioners do not see the importance of clarifying the truth. They still remain at the level of self -cultivation and do not have enough understanding of what it means to cultivate during Fa-rectification. This then impedes them from clarifying the truth effectively to save sentient beings. They do not acknowledge the mission and responsibility of Fa-rectification Dafa disciples and do not recognise clearly that this is the only opportunity for Fa-rectification cultivation and Fa-rectification of the universe.

Notes:

1. Teacher - Referring to the founder of Falun Gong, Mr Li Hongzhi
2. Fa - Universal principle, Falun Dafa teachings
3. Zhuan Falun - Turning the Law Wheel - a book containing the principle teachings of Falun Gong.