I would like to share and exchange my understanding of attending group Fa-study with fellow practitioners. Please compassionately correct me if something is not on the Fa.
I recently joined group Fa-study. I noticed the format for Fa-study - each practitioner takes turn reading two paragraphs; then we send forth righteous thoughts on the hour; and after we finish reading, we close the book immediately as though we had accomplished our task. Sometimes, two or three practitioners form a small group and talk privately amongst themselves. We rarely share on the Fa. Instead, most of the practitioners just focus on reading or how well they can read the Fa. It seems as though they are just reading instead of studying the Fa. Some practitioners even mention that practitioners who read the Fa well can read out the inner meaning of the Fa. Master said in the "Lecture in Sydney",
"I have put what I have want to give to human beings and the things that will enable them to practice cultivation all in the volume of the Fa." "For more wonderful things, as long as you move up in cultivation and as long as you continually study it in depth, practice cultivation in depth, and read it in depth, you will then be able to experience it, see it, and know it."
Master told us in "Digging out the Roots" in Essentials for Further Advancement that,
"This Fa is inconceivably enormous, and you will never completely know or understand its laws and principles."
Therefore, isn't it true that all of us are reading and studying Master's Fa no matter if we are fluent or well spoken? How can one say that fellow practitioners who don't read fluently or are not well spoken cannot read out the inner meaning of the Fa? For practitioners who can "read out the inner meaning of the Fa," who knows the inner meaning of which level of the Fa they are reading? Or how it is manifested? Because of this, some practitioners will practice reading the Fa at home and some even wonder why they are not able to read well at group study, but can read well at home. Isn't this an attachment? This also causes practitioners to develop unnecessary attachments. For example, the practitioners who are considered "good readers" develop the mentality of showing off, while other practitioners may then develop the mentality of jealousy and competition.
Regarding Fa study, Master said in "Learning the Fa" in Essentials for Further Advancement,
"The only way to gain a good understanding of Dafa is to study it without any intention. Each time you finish reading Zhuan Falun, you have made progress as long as you have gained some understanding. Even if you understand one point after reading it, you have truly made progress." "Actually, in cultivation practice you ascend by improving yourself gradually and unknowingly. Keep in mind: One should gain things naturally without pursuing them."
Therefore, in group study, we should study the Fa wholeheartedly instead of paying too much attention on how to read it well. Taking turns reading out loud is so that every practitioner is on the same page. We need to put our hearts into Fa-study no matter who reads and how well the Fa was read. All of us are reading the Fa together. If any practitioner reads the words wrong, misses a word, or adds a word, we should correct them in time since we can't change the Fa. When everybody can study the Fa with a pure heart, we will no longer make those kinds of mistakes. Thus, only when we study the Fa with our hearts can we study the Fa well. Once we understand this, we will naturally be able to read the Fa well. The inner meaning of the Fa at different levels can't be read out loud, it can only be enlightened by practitioners who are truly cultivating. Master has said in "Broad and Immense" in Essentials for Further Advancement ,
"Its broad and immense, profound inner meaning can only manifest itself to, and be experienced and understood by, practitioners who are at different levels of true cultivation. Only then can one truly see what the Fa is."
I would like to suggest to coordinators that they guide practitioners to study the Fa more
and improve on the Fa better. After Fa-study, every one can share their understanding on the Fa and their improvement so that we can improve and elevate as a whole body. This way, our group study environment can become a true cultivation environment in which everybody can:
"Study the Fa and gain the Fa,
Focus on how you study and cultivate,
Let each and every thing
be measured against the Fa,
Only then, with that,
is it actually cultivation."
("Solid Cultivation", Essentials for Further Advancement)
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