Purity

Greetings Master, Greetings fellow Practitioners:

I would like to share my experiences regarding the special circumstances of the January 2006 New York NTD-TV New Year's Gala.

At the same time I would like to thank the founder of Falun Gong and my Teacher, Mr. Li Hongzhi for this immeasurable precious gift, which let me understand more clearly my mission during this time period!

When I first read "Teaching the Fa in San Francisco, 2005", one part of this lecture really made me think.

"Then how many paths are there in the cosmos that can enable a life to ascend, to return to a higher realm? There are countless ways. However many sentient beings there are, that's how many paths there are. There are that many. Then just how many paths are there? They, too, are countless. You know that Buddha Shakyamuni validated and enlightened to his cultivation discipline, which is summarised by the words "precept, concentration, wisdom"; that's the path Shakyamuni validated and enlightened to. There are so many Buddhas in the cosmic body, they are simply immeasurable, incalculable, yet in the cosmos there is no second Buddha whose validation and enlightenment consisted of "precept, concentration, wisdom." In other words, every god has his own path, and each god's system has for its sentient beings its own realm's unique standards and its own criteria based on its Law for a life's rise or fall. Then wouldn't you say there are many approaches to cultivation? The number is enormous."

I thought to myself: If that’s the case, then I also leave behind my own path of cultivating within the Fa (law or principles in Falun Gong). At the time of Fa-Rectification, then I as a Falun Dafa practitioner should also validate principles through my own understanding – but unfortunately I couldn’t come up with anything I had specifically enlightened to…I think this thought certainly had something human to it, because I can’t see my whole state in the other dimensions – but after all, here, too, we are still within the three realms…Nevertheless this thought motivated me to be more diligent in my cultivation so as to clearly consolidate my own cultivation path. After a while, however, I forgot about this and stopped thinking about it – just as if it were a short flash of thought.

A few weeks later I came to New York with the "Coming for You" European choir to contribute to the NTD-TV New Year's Gala. I experienced the whole trip as a journey with constantly rising requirements for us cultivators. At the same time I cold feel an intense feeling growing and I increasingly felt like a true human being, a true cultivator.

A Falun Gong practitioner from Austria and I planned a sightseeing tour and some shopping for the beginning of our trip, so I could tell the people at home about New York and bring back some souvenirs. While doing this, something strange happened: I felt very weak, tired, and on top of that I felt like standing next to myself. Even the fellow practitioner mentioned to me, that I usually act determined and straightforward but here I was suddenly missing the capability to make a decision or make up my mind about something.

The skyscrapers also made me think. I continuously thought about how unnaturally cold the dreadful wind was blowing through the sharp edges of these buildings. Although, from a human perspective, those buildings also fascinated me. I quickly recognised that doing sightseeing wasn’t the purpose of the trip at all. I immediately felt like a different person. My fatigue disappeared and I was motivated and happy, that I was done with sightseeing.

The first day of the choir training was very hard for me. There were just a few chairs in the hall where we practised. Most of us had to sit on the floor- including me. This situation has always been a test for my endurance. It made my body tired, especially my legs. It also made it difficult to sit in the lotus position to send forth righteous thoughts (SFRT). On top of that a fellow practitioner suggested to the conductor team to SFRT more often. The decision was made to SFRT every hour. From my human perspective at that time I thought how he could have suggested that…However very quickly, thanks to Master, my understanding changed. Now I thought, at this unique and historical predestined opportunity, how could we not SFRTs every hour and assimilate as much as possible to the standard of Falun Dafa. Now I could treat myself as a practitioner.

From that point on I entered a new realm. While SFRT I frequently saw scenes in other dimension. I saw a very anxious thing, which I can describe only as resembling a horse from behind, without a tail and without a head, just very slippery. In a kind of rhythm it crashed into one side of its small stable. I felt the incredible force it had. An extreme uneasiness has been what I myself felt for the last couple of days. Judging from its movements, I thought it must be the demon of lust in me. So I fought it with knifes and other things. I noticed this didn’t make a difference at all. It just kept going on with its rampage. Then I thought I shouldn’t let this affect me and just calmly keep SFRT.

Hours went by, the choir trained hard and we constantly cultivated ourselves. My legs were getting more and more tired and hurt a lot. I felt my mental state improving every hour. It was like taking off a big jacket of karma.

While once again SFRT I had another insight regarding this being. I suddenly realised, I shouldn’t try to quickly solve this problem on the outside. I should rather detect the principle behind it. When I have attachments, then in the other dimension I’m connected to the substances that compose this attachment. At that moment I am identical to their structure of particles and therefore they can attach to me. They feed off my bad thoughts and I have their characteristics in me. Then I saw this scene very clearly: That being wasn’t the demon of lust. This being was the manifestation of my human instinct of self preservation, a human prehistoric instinct, a part of my human flesh body, which, at that time, was controlled by the demon of lust.

I came to this conclusion, because I wasn’t able to eliminate this being before and it didn’t seem to care that I fought it. I realised that my own supernormal abilities can’t do any damage to myself, therefore it survived the knives and bombs. In other words: Gong is an intelligent substance. If this being is a part of me, a part of my own cosmos, then it’s impossible to eliminate a part of it (this instinct). It just works when, as a cultivator, one cuts it off from everything controlling it from the outside and then keeps this being under control with a strong main consciousness. Everything became clear to me. If a person, enveloped in lust and all the other desires of this world, lets this drive just control himself, then, in another dimension, it looks like this dull being, in its incredibly anxious fashion, crashes against the wall of its stable. With my insight to treat this as a cultivator from now on, immediately the situation was easy to handle. In this scene I took a pair of scissors and just cut off the demon of lust from this human instinct, the instinct of self preservation. The demon of lust flew away and the being immediately became quiet and rested on the floor, acting very calm and tamed. Given this incidence, I made an enormous step in improving my inner peace, and coming closer to the desired purity.

That day was instrumental in opening a deeper understanding and solemn heart towards this historical task with the choir. How could I not hold this situation in high regards, try my best to walk this magnificent path? I feel more and more the deepest gratitude towards Master and the enormous trust he has put in his disciples.

I felt that Master raises me from one level to the next with the fastest speed, gives me the chance to understand everything extremely fast, and points out my deficiencies, so I can discard my thick karma jacket of the most microscopic levels during this life and can play my part in the splendid performances.

The following evening I diligently read “Teaching the Fa at the Meeting on Writing Music” in 2003 with members of the New York orchestra before rehearsal . There, I found the matter that was the key to my mission as a talented musician but also a Falun Dafa practitioner.

“Because any person in this world, however great his abilities, however great his natural gifts, if you were to ask him to walk a path that is pure and clean, he couldn't. Merely having superb technique or mastery of a skill doesn't do it. Dafa disciples have become very pure in the purifying process of cultivating themselves and validating the Fa, and their realms of mind, or the ways they look at things, are different [from ordinary people]. And that is why you are able to do it, why you are able to truly steer the "modern" people onto a path that's truly for humans, so you can make such a difference and lay such a foundation for mankind.”

All the thoughts I held fast to for years became nothing in comparison to this realisation. It is the “Purity” that differentiates the secular world from us practitioners. “Purity” is the most valuable attribute that helps me fulfil my duty. I often thought to myself, “Can I really achieve what will be left for hundreds of generations and what will be an exemplar for humans for an endless time. That is the key! Besides the tremendous improvement in my technical abilities and composition methods I have to bring my lifestyle into conformity with that of a Falun Dafa practitioner. If I cannot achieve this, everything will come to nothing.

It was as if I understood “Purity” as the fundamental principle and that this was meant to be one of my own principles that would bring me along on my path to godhood. I could see at different levels and through different situations that “Purity” is the key.

In one instance it was the “Purity” in relationship to composing. In another instance it showed the role “Purity” plaid in holding righteous thoughts. For me, the sentence, “…and think about eliminating bad thoughts, thought karma, and bad notions or external interferences. One just thinks that they are dying, and they will be eliminated,” relates to the desire to achieve purity. This should become the permanent state of a Falun Dafa practitioner. I think that one is unable to send righteous thoughts without purifying one's body.

Purity contains: complete emptiness, being calm like a still pond, Ding – absolute concentration, being free of all attachments, bad notions and external beings and interferences.

During the first day of our performance, I had an experience regarding “purity”. I never experienced anything like this before. Already the entire day, I prepared myself for the sacred moment of the performance. I again saw a scene, wherein there was a celestial body with three single stars – something like a triangle. The first star of this triangle was somehow swollen or gleaming with a light-reddish in colour. This symbolised for me the redemption of the predestined relationship of this first performance. We now have reached this time and I will act as righteous as possible. According to my current understanding, I will fulfil my mission. I was able to keep a state of extreme concentration and during the entire afternoon was able to focus on the choir as the only priority.

Shortly before our performance a situation occurred which was extremely shattering for me. Master helped me to recognise a deeply rooted attachment of mine. The conductor team informed us that part of the choir would represent the choir at the end of the Gala. This statement made my heart rate increase from about 50 beats per minute to 120. It pumped very hard and felt very painful. Because at this very moment I saw the mirror, which Master had put in front of my eyes. How could such a minor matter throw me off? I thought it had to be the attachment of greed, because I am a professional musician and therefore I can represent the choir better than other singers can. I tried to calm down by thinking: If they need me then it is my destiny and I should not pursue it and follow the natural course. This calmed me down a little but not entirely. While I was still hoping that they would call my name, I already felt thoroughly ashamed. The ten singers were then chosen. They only chose women because there were already enough men on the stage and therefore they only needed women from the choir. Besides, they were not supposed to sing anyway but only be present on the stage with everyone else during the grand finale.

Only then did my pulse begin to return to normal and I recognised how strong this attachment was within me. I sincerely asked Master for forgiveness and asked him if he could help me to get rid of this attachment. I tried to return to the golden state of purity while I stopped accusing myself of my attachments. I finally tried to get rid of it and it worked with Master’s help.

With this additional cleansing from Master, I felt unbelievably light and pure. I then stood in line with the group while we were waiting for our performance. While we had to wait about 20 minutes in front of the stage elevator, I assumed the Jieyin-Position. I never before in my live felt this calmness, just this “purity." A gift and at the same time a foundation stone for new standards.

Then it was time for the performance. I have been in many performances and yet never experienced such a degree of concentration. It appeared as though I could tell the audience about Falun Dafa and the truth about the persecution with my eyes and my voice. I was full of energy and had permanent Goosebumps – a truly elevated moment. A fellow practitioner described it as: “We shook the world of the ten heavenly directions.” I agreed and thought that this was a very accurate statement.

I recognised that exactly this “purity” makes all this possible and for practitioners, this should always be the basis for all activities. After we learnt that Master was in the audience that day, I became even more aware why everything had been so intensive.

The next day, number two star followed in a scene. The second star was swollen and gleaming. According to my feeling, this performance was not as powerful. Yet it was felt by others that it was even better than the evening before.

Nevertheless, I was not satisfied and wanted to concentrate again on my so-called “shiny state of purity”, especially since I thought that Master was just showing me the standard and now had to protect it in every situation. In addition, the thought, that Master is with us every moment, gave me strength. The third performance for me felt similar to the first one. I again could feel this sacredness, this supernatural power of the choir.

I thank Master for the numerous chances he gave me. For the many opportunities to recognise things, for the chance to stand up again and for the possibility to truly cultivate myself in Falun Dafa towards Godhood. I no longer want to disappoint you but to continue on my path without slacking off until the very end.

Revered Master, I will always be eternally grateful for this time. Greetings to you!