Cultivating Proactively

(Minghui.org) Cultivation is almost like going to school. If a student clearly understands why he needs to study, then he will work hard. When we chose to cultivate, we knew that we wanted to follow the Fa principles in Zhuan Falun, to do the exercises to change our physical bodies, and to carry out our mission to save people and eradicate the evil.

Cultivating proactively means taking the initiative to study the Fa, using the limited time wisely, and doing the exercises without wanting to be lazy and letting our thoughts wander.

There are many ways to save people, and we can choose to do each one either proactively or passively. When we go out, some practitioners go straight to work and talk to every single person they meet. They don't waste time gossiping. They send righteous thoughts in their spare time. Their positive energy makes me want to save more people. Some, on the other hand, dress up in nice clothes and only talk to those they feel comfortable with. If people listen, they talk a little more. It doesn't matter to them if people actually quit the CCP or not.

Some practitioners are truly committed to saving people more effectively. They post their truth clarification fliers carefully and neatly in places where people can easily spot them. That is in great contrast to those who leave their fliers in obscure corners.

Some practitioners remember what Teacher says about the importance of sending righteous thoughts. When it is time, they make the effort to put aside their work and focus on eliminating the evil. Being able to prioritize sending righteous thoughts allows them to be more effective in the Dafa work they do because there is less interference.

When we can do the three things proactively, we naturally act according to the Fa and the righteous gods will aide us and our righteous thoughts will guide us to to do what is right.

For me at one point, everything had to be done quickly, regardless of the quality of the end result. Other practitioners brought this issue to my attention. I tried to change, unwillingly, and then I would forget about it and be my old self again.

In the past few days I felt the need to eliminate my attachments in the little time that we had left. I made sure that I thought and behaved like a practitioner at every moment. As a result, I saw my attachments of being competitive, showing off, and of being self-righteous and sloppy behind my urge to do things quickly.

I took the initiative to eliminate the attachments and calm myself down. I stopped raising my voice, being pushy, and cutting people off in the middle of conversations.

I used to feel that I behaved rudely because I had to load and unload heavy Dafa materials, unlike the practitioner who just made phone calls. Later I realized that I wasn't well mannered, even when I wasn't doing Dafa work. Now I know that having a good bearing comes from cultivating well.

A practitioner couldn't stop play mahjong, a board game that usually involves money. When we talked to her about it, she said that she understood the Fa principle behind it, but she just didn't feel like doing it.

Recently she awakened and swore to Teacher that she would never play again. She studied the Fa with us every day and things changed. Teacher says, “The Fa can break all attachments,” (“Drive Out Interference” in Essentials for Further Advancement II)

Teacher also says:

“Older people do cultivation in their own circumstances. She might not have any hardships now, but while she sits there she’ll be made to recall things that made her angry some eight or ten years ago. It’s certain she’ll be made to recall those things, which is intended to see whether her mind will remain unmoved or whether she’ll still get angry over them.” (Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore)

I used to think that this was irrelevant to my cultivation. Recently I realized that I held grudges against those who didn't treat me well or didn't care about me. I wanted to dig deeper and eradicate that attachment at its root. Attachments grow on us like weeds. When we cultivate proactively, we are able to uproot them. When we cultivate passively, we are just pulling out a few stems.