(Minghui.org) Greetings Master! Greetings fellow practitioners!
My parents say that I’ve listened to Master’s Fa since the day I was born. I have accompanied them in doing the exercises. When they heard that young practitioners could apply to perform in Shen Yun, my parents arranged for me to learn music. I started learning piano at age six. But after I came to the U.S., I heard that male pianists were not accepted, so I began learning the trumpet. Perhaps I didn’t have much talent for the trumpet, as I couldn’t play the high notes at first. After I practiced for years, I still couldn’t play them. Every year when I submitted my audition video, I checked every day to see if the video view count increased, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this year I would receive an admission notice.
My parents heard that the Northern Academy of the Arts is located near Fei Tian Academy. Many young practitioners enroll in the school to study and practice music. While having a cultivation environment, they can also apply to be admitted to Fei Tian Academy. So in my last year of high school, our entire family moved to the area. After we arrived we heard the double bass might be easier, and some students had been admitted after studying it for just one year. I decided to learn the double bass from scratch. However, by the 12th grade I still hadn’t been admitted. My parents and I discussed the situation and we decided I would first attend Fei Tian College Middletown for one year, and take a lighter course load that first year. I would focus on practicing the double bass, and I would definitely be admitted.
As the summer after my first year of college gradually passed, I still hadn’t been admitted, but some of my classmates were admitted. I began to contemplate my future. I thought perhaps I should just give up. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to join Shen Yun. Even if I’m not invited to join Shen Yun, there are other ways to help Master save sentient beings.
Rethinking My Cultivation Path
I also realized that I couldn’t continue studying half of the time and practice the double bass the rest of the time, as that meant I wasn’t able to devote 100% to either effort. I finally mustered the courage to tell my mother, “I don’t want to practice the instrument any longer. Maybe my path isn’t to go to Fei Tian Academy. Since I’m already at Fei Tian College Middletown, I should just focus on studying. This is also a Dafa project. Perhaps in the future there will be cultivation environments in society with opportunities to clarify the truth.”
She didn’t agree, however, “You’ve practiced for so many years. Are you really going to just give up? It’s because you haven’t practiced well enough. Did you practice eight hours a day like the others? Don’t go to school next year and just stay home to practice your instrument eight hours a day. See if you can make it then, if not in one year, then try for several years.”
Although I was saddened by what she said, I did not loudly argue with her like I used to. Perhaps it was because I found my own path. I gently told her, “I maintain my decision that I no longer want to practice the double bass. I want to focus on studying well in college. Maybe this is my path. I will try to cultivate diligently, do the three things well, and study.”
As my college years gradually passed, seeing that I was studying well and truly contributing my share in various Dafa projects, my mom stopped bringing up joining Fei Tian Academy. Instead she asked about my recent studies and work, and asked whether I planned to pursue a master’s degree or a PhD. She said these were all great paths too. As long as I didn’t become lax and stop cultivating, and continued to hold myself to a Dafa disciple’s standards in whatever I did, wouldn’t that be great?
I remember when I first came to Fei Tian College Middletown, I felt this was not a school I chose, but one that was forced on me by my parents. Nothing seemed satisfactory. The campus was small with limited resources. The majors I could choose from back then were also limited to just a few options, and for me there were only two options - either data science which involves a lot of programming, or biomedical science. I didn’t really want to study programming, because I had never before done coding. It was hard to imagine a career just staring at a screen full of symbols and numbers all day. However, since I had already taken many data science courses in my freshman year, switching majors in my sophomore year would waste another year. I thus decided to grit my teeth and push through.
I discovered that all the professors here were truly good people. Each professor had a strong professional background and sincerely did their utmost to ensure every student adsorbed the knowledge. I could seek out professors at any time to discuss coursework, or even just for a casual talk. Moreover, the professors were all cultivators, so I could learn about their understandings of cultivation and share with them. They sometimes even joked around and mingled with the students. My classmates were also practitioners and were kind-hearted - I didn’t see the scheming and conflicts that are present in society. I became increasingly aware of what a rare and precious environment this was for learning and cultivation.
When I looked on social media I saw my former everyday friends and their current lives - drinking, partying, clubbing, and even having hangovers, hugging the toilet, and vomiting.
I thought: What if my parents hadn’t worked so hard to keep me here? If I had stubbornly gone down another path back then - wouldn’t I have ended up like those ordinary friends, going out drinking and clubbing with them every day, completely leaving cultivation behind and sinking deep into the mire? I would fail to complete my mission, fail to save the beings in my world, and fail to fulfill the vow I signed. How much regret would I have? I’m truly grateful for Master’s arrangement and my parents’ efforts that allowed me to stay here and have such a harmonious and wonderful environment for cultivation and learning. I’m able to study the Fa and discuss cultivation experiences with my peers every day, and we do the exercises together.
My Attachment to Computer Games
As soon as I came into contact with computers in elementary school, I started playing video games. Back then, computers monitors were bulky. I became completely absorbed in gaming. Whenever my parents weren’t home, I played games or I went to friends’ homes to play. Later with mobile phones and tablets, gaming became even more convenient. I played while commuting or eating meals. It gradually affected my life. While the teacher lectured in class, my mind was thinking about how to pass this level or how to defeat that boss. On weekends when I did the exercises at scenic spots, I couldn’t become tranquil – instead my head was immersed in games. I was scolded countless times by my mother for gaming. She sometimes even cried. Looking back now, I’m truly ashamed – why didn’t I realize earlier how harmful gaming was?
In reality, I did not study the Fa seriously or take it to heart. I decided to start from the beginning and systematically read all of Master’s teachings given in different regions.
Master said:
“Video games are really harmful to people, and not just Dafa disciples’ kids. They really draw people in, and have had a negative effect on everyday people as well. They make you do poorly in your work, sleep poorly, rest poorly, and make you devoid of human affection or warmth of feeling, make you neglect your family, make students neglect their studies, and entice you and draw you in. They are contributing to humankind’s destruction. In order to promote video games, those business people constantly come up with new kinds and hype them up on a large scale. What are people to do after they’ve created such an enormous amount of karma? They are corrupting humankind.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)
Practitioners need to eliminate all kinds of attachments and human notions. If I can’t even quit something as trivial as video games, how can I talk about saving people? Moreover, while I was wasting my life playing games, some practitioners were getting up at 3 a.m. to study the Fa and do the exercises. Some practitioners clarified the truth, or worked on Dafa projects for hours. Time is so pressing, yet I still had time to play games?!
I deleted all the games from my computer and phone, then I gave the laptop I specifically bought for gaming to my dad for truth-clarification projects. I started focusing on cultivation. I was busy with studies, and work. I spent my free time with friends or I played the piano. I truly forgot about games. When I saw others playing games it didn’t trigger my urge to play.
After studying data science for a few years, I gradually gained some experience and started working on media projects. I achieved some results, seeing that I could truly help with Dafa projects using what I learned in school and self-study, and that my projects were being utilized, which gave me a great sense of honor and accomplishment.
I started to feel like I had grown up and was capable – it made me a bit arrogant. I felt that since I was working a job at a Dafa project every day, I was contributing to truth clarification. Hence, I paid less attention to Fa study and doing the exercises. I eventually only did the exercises once a week and no longer studied the Fa every day.
As a Dafa disciple, being inattentive to cultivation is very serious.
Master said:
“You can’t let up with your individual cultivation. No matter what you are doing, be it clarifying the facts or doing projects that validate Dafa, you must first put cultivating yourself well as top priority; only then can the things that you do be more sacred, for then you are a Dafa disciple, and are doing things as a Dafa disciple to validate the Fa. Ordinary people can also do the things that Dafa disciples do, but they cannot have the mighty virtue of Dafa disciples. They can only receive blessings and virtue, and accumulate future blessings.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume VIII)
If we do not cultivate ourselves according to the standards for practitioners, then no matter how many truth-clarification projects we are involved in, we are merely ordinary people doing good deeds. We are not Dafa disciples assisting the Master in rectifying the Fa, and no elevation of our mighty virtue will occur. We are simply ordinary people accumulating future blessings. How regretful that would be!
We have our own paradises to return to, and the beings in our worlds are waiting for us to return. If we only remain in the human world as blessed ordinary people, it would be such a pity. After waiting for so many years, we finally have the opportunity in the Fa-rectification period to cultivate well as Dafa disciples and establish mighty virtue.
Before descending, each of us Dafa disciples made a vow. I hope everyone can cherish this environment and our current circumstances in these final pressing moments. Let us truly study the Fa with diligence, do the three things well, assist Master in rectifying the Fa, complete the vows we made, and return home with Master!
These are merely my shallow understandings at my current cultivation level. Please compassionately point out anything inappropriate.
Thank you, Master! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
(Presented at the 2024 Fei Tian College-Middletown Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference)
Copyright © 2024 Minghui.org. All rights reserved.
