(Minghui.org) I am a young practitioner currently living outside of China. I started practicing Dafa in China in 2011 and moved overseas in 2015. I would like to share some of my cultivation experiences while coordinating the young practitioners group.
I moved to my current city in 2019 and met many practitioners who are involved in different projects, including young practitioners. These practitioners range in age from teenagers to those in their 30s. Some are still in school, some have just started working, some have everyday jobs, and others are working full-time in media projects.
Initially, there was no special role for “coordination of young Dafa disciples” in this city. But as more capable young practitioners came along, the coordinator of the Dafa association asked me if I would be willing to join the coordination team. This team is mainly responsible for coordinating truth-clarification activities for clubs in various colleges, hosting regular Fa-study sessions and sharing for young practitioners, organizing social activities for them, and introducing suitable young practitioners to other projects.
I was initially reluctant to take on this extra responsibility as I felt that my cultivation state was a mess. So how could I coordinate others? I knew that I still had the attachment of sentimentality and thought that if I encountered more practitioners my own age, especially those of the opposite sex, it would increase my human sentimentality, which wouldn’t be good for my cultivation.
I didn’t see this as an opportunity to elevate myself until one day I remembered reading an experience sharing by a practitioner in China who was in charge of printing materials for the material production site. She said that, before she got involved in the project, she saw Master transform a lotus flower seat for her and told her to sit on it. She enlightened that Master wanted her to be in charge of this project and take on the responsibility.
I realized that it was not a coincidence that I was asked to coordinate, and there could be a deeper reason behind it. I should cherish this opportunity and do well in the project.
Human Sentimentality
For me, the biggest challenge as a coordinator is balancing righteous thoughts and human sentimentality. Because the young practitioner group is a special team, we have to use some everyday people’s ways to organize social activities so that the young practitioners (especially those who had given up cultivation before due to some tribulations) know that we care about them.
At the same time, we mustn’t be attached to human sentimentality and friendships. I often thought that I didn’t do well and was using sentimentality to build relationships with other practitioners. When I shared about this with a veteran practitioner who has been doing coordination work for many years, she said that it’s mainly about how well we balance things.
I also recalled what Master said:
“Dafa disciples can keep emotion in check by using reason; it’s not possible to be completely free of its influence, however. You can merely use reason to deal with it. Only the part of you that has completed cultivation will break free of it.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)
“But a Dafa disciple’s ability to handle it using reason will depend on how rational he is. That is what we mean by having “righteous thoughts.” And when we talk about whether someone’s cultivation is solid, it’s about the same thing. If you can handle everything rationally like I’ve described, then that is truly remarkable.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)
I enlightened that when we cultivate in everyday society, we shouldn't cut ourselves off from the human world, but we need to be careful how to handle things when facing all kinds of worldly temptations, emotions, and attachments.
I also need to be careful not to discriminate against any practitioners by gauging how close I am to them.
Attachment to Lust and Saving Face
Another challenge in my coordination work is that I often have to contact young practitioners of the opposite sex. Knowing how to cherish this sacred opportunity and not develop sentimentality or lust is another big test for me. I feel that it can be easy to develop “qing” (sentimentality) if we often have contact with the opposite sex or spend too much time with them.
Other than ensuring I study the Fa, do the exercises, and send forth righteous thoughts every day, I don’t listen to or watch ordinary people’s songs, movies, videos, or books. I must also pay special attention to eliminating the substance of lust and any notions that remained in my mind from seeing movies or reading books in the past. I have to be alert when each thought appears and differentiate any that are not from my true self, so that I can slowly remove my human notions. This is how I understand what Master meant when he said, “...Cultivate your xinxing without a moment’s pause...” (“Real Cultivation,” Hong Yin).
Sometimes I hesitated to contact practitioners of the opposite sex. But I realized that this was also an attachment to reputation. If I had a need to contact someone due to project-related matters, I should still contact them. I shouldn’t trouble practitioners with my personal matters or spend much time chatting with them about things not related to cultivation.
Resentment and Jealousy
Sometimes when I introduced a young practitioner to another truth-clarification project, the person wasn’t really suited for the job and there were conflicts. I was caught between the project coordinator and the young practitioner, which made me feel resentful.
When coordinating truth-clarification activities at some of the local university clubs, I would harbor resentment for those practitioners who were studying in those universities because I felt they should take on the work themselves. I didn’t stop to consider if they were busy with their studies or were involved in other projects.
I shared similar interests with another practitioner and we became very close. But over time, I began to feel that I did more for her than she did for me. My resentment caused a gap between us because I felt that I was giving too much and didn’t appreciate her help. Sometimes I thought about how much I cared for other young practitioners and helped them with their studies, life, and work, but no one did the same for me. I felt this was unfair and developed jealousy.
I gradually realized that attachments such as resentment, jealousy, a competitive mentality, and feeling that things are unfair are all tied together and related to each other. Ultimately, this is the selfishness of the beings in the old universe. If I want to get rid of these attachments, I have to get rid of all attachments, because if one attachment remains, it will stir up all the others.
We also shouldn’t feel that others have cultivated better than we have or blindly admire them. Every practitioner has difficulties as they face tests and karma while cultivating and saving people. If we put too much pressure on or hope in a particular practitioner, that person might not be able to handle it. We will bring tribulation to the practitioner if we admire them or depend on them.
Attachments to Reputation and Gain and Showing Off
As time passed, I gradually got to know the local practitioners better. When more of them started to praise me and said that I was doing well in coordination and was good at socializing, I had to pay attention to the attachment to fame and not take credit for myself.
I am an introverted person and not naturally sociable and never hope to become an expert in social interactions. But because I’m naturally warm-hearted and affectionate, I was willing to help others. Some practitioners said that I have the ability to make others open their hearts to me. I know that this is an ability Master has given me.
A few weeks before I wrote this sharing, I had a conflict with one of the other coordinators of the young practitioners group. I was busy with a media project and other things at that time and did not have a lot of time to organize social activities for the group. I complained in my heart that we’d established the group to organize truth clarification events to save people and not for the sake of having our own social events.
In addition, another coordinator said that I’d taken on too many projects, which affected how well I did my coordination work. It was like what Master described in “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” (Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI), “A blind bear picking corn.” I explained that the projects I was doing were more important than organizing a group of people to go out and have fun. I even opted out of the coordinator chat group at one point.
Other practitioners later shared with me that, while going out to truth-clarify the truth is important, it is equally important for young practitioners to form one body. After participating in the social activities, I saw how valuable they were. Some of the people who had lost their parents to the persecution had found a new home in our group, and some had found practitioners of the same age to study with. New practitioners and their family members now understood us better, and some who had worked in the media for a long time could get a break here. Practitioners who’d just left China got to meet other practitioners and have opportunities to collaborate on projects, and those young practitioners who had been cultivating alone or could not overcome their tribulations took this chance to step forward into the group again.
A young practitioner whose father was persecuted to death shared one night after one of these social events, “You are my second home.” I enlightened that it might be due to a previous predestined relationship that some practitioners are enthusiastic about doing some things, and we should encourage practitioners to do them as we try to perfect and cooperate well, instead of negating it. Here, I would like to thank the young practitioner coordinator team members for spending time and effort to organize activities and help everyone to form one body.
In recent years when interacting with young practitioners, I realized it is like Master said, “...there will constantly be new people coming, with some being very capable persons.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume IX)
There are many young practitioners who have only been practicing for one or two years and have already begun truth-clarification projects and coordination work, and their cultivation state sometimes made me feel ashamed, since I’ve been cultivating for more than ten years. I also enlightened that the Fa rectification is now transitioning to the human world and I sense how urgent things are.
Before doing coordination work, I rarely thought about how difficult it is for all coordinators, whether in a big or small group or project. I used to take their contributions for granted. As a young practitioner, I didn’t know how difficult it was for veteran practitioners when the persecution first started and they had to work every day while taking care of their families and still doing the three things well and establishing a media company.
Master previously mentioned the importance of coordination,
“... since you are a coordinator, you should gather the local practitioners and bring them together on Master’s behalf so that they can improve in cultivation, and you should help Master by leading them well. That is your responsibility as a coordinator in your area.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2015 New York Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)
Master also said,
“When I was born, many Gods came down with me. From then on, this happened every year and Gods have been coming down. By the time I started to teach the Fa, those Gods came down like snowflakes—it was just that many. I calculated their ages now, and from when I started to spread the Fa till now, they would be young people around twenty-five years old, many of whom really have not been saved. They were all Gods, coming down to Earth, and they scattered to all areas of the world.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIV)
This shows how important it is to coordinate the young practitioners. I should do better in the future, encourage more young practitioners to cultivate diligently, and help them get involved in projects so they can contribute more to saving sentient beings.
Above are some of my recent experiences. If there is anything not in line with the Fa, please kindly point it out.
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