My Thoughts on "So Do I"

Several Falun Gong practitioners gathered to share their experiences in cultivation. Practitioner A said, "I haven't been diligent lately. When I practise the sitting meditation, I often doze off." Practitioner B continued, "So do I. I even doze off when I send forth righteous thoughts for ten minutes." Practitioner C echoed, "So do I. Not only do I doze off when I do the exercises. I even sleep while studying the Falun Gong teachings. I thought it would be ok if I slept for a while. I will only do it for one or two days. It is not so bad."

Some practitioners not only slack off in their Fa study (study of the Falun Gong teachings) and exercises, they also slack off when they take part in activities to expose the persecution and hand out materials. They say they haven't done so well for the past several days, such as not bringing materials with them because they are on a business trip. Therefore, when practitioners are together and one will say he has slacked off in something, other practitioners will echo, "So have I. I haven't been diligent in distributing materials either." There will always be people who echo, "So do I." Doing this made those practitioners who echo the others feel relieved, and forgive themselves. They think that there are other people who are like them. It's not just them who is experiencing this interference.

There are always people doing this. They live through this kind of self-forgiveness and comfort-seeking, day after day and year after year. If one wants to cultivate well, he must be diligent on the path to godhood. He must break through the notion of "So do I."

The Fa-rectification process is advancing rapidly. The universe is expanding non-stop. Like the cycles of sunrise and sunset and the four seasons, time flies and does not wait for us. Recently, Master has said in the article, "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be,"

"Actually, if you think about it, the cultivators of the past didn't dare to slack off for even a second, and that was when it took an entire lifetime to complete the journey. So how can Dafa disciples--who are to achieve the Attainment Status of a being who is saved by Dafa and who have the most convenient cultivation way--not be even more diligent when they are given this most glorious honour of Fa-validating cultivation in a brief cultivation period that passes in the blink of an eye?"

As cultivators who are walking on the path to godhood and as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, we need to complete the most sacred duties in one very short lifetime, duties that would normally take past cultivators several lifetimes to complete. The time we are given is very precious. The time given to our cultivation itself is "precious beyond measure." In addition, many people stopped cultivation after the persecution began. Some obtained the Fa very late. Excluding the time delay caused by the evil persecution, most practitioners only have seven or eight years to cultivate. Some have an even shorter time - five to six years remaining to cultivate. If we are to complete our path to godhood in seven to eight, or five to six years time - you do the calculation - isn't time precious? If we think we can waste our time by saying, "So do I" and "So do I," we really do not have much time to waste.

There is a saying, "Time and the tides wait for no man," and, "Lost time cannot be found." For the past several thousand years, even ordinary people know about the preciousness of time. They know that "Today's tasks are to be completed today." We are cultivators and we are extraordinary beings. We are beings walking on the path to godhood. We are to finish this glorious and sacred duty in our limited lifetime, in which we might only take ten to twenty years. We should know the preciousness of time. We should, from the beginning, know that time is "precious beyond measure." The words, "So do I" with respect to being diligent does not mean that not being diligent is right. We need to be diligent while walking our path to godhood, until we reach consummation.