Enlightenment from a Dream

I had a dream last night. In the dream, I walked together with three or four fellow Falun Gong practitioners. After passing a marketplace, we arrived at a fork in the road. I was separated from the fellow practitioners because they were so many people there. I could not help but choose a direction to proceed. After a while, I noticed that I was the only person on the road. I thought, “I have to find my fellow practitioners.” Therefore, I turned around and started to look for them. When I was about to reach the fork, a man walked out of the crowd beside the road (I could not see his facial appearance.) He held a pole in his hand, and at the tip of the pole was a round disk with some words written on it. It seems that he was waiting for somebody. While I walked towards him, he also turned to me. As we approached each other, I saw a word “Plum” on the round disk. I was pleased because I thought I had found the right person. I asked, “Which road should I take?” He didn’t say a word, but pointed his finger in the direction that I came from. I couldn’t understand what he meant. Since I intended to find my fellow practitioners, I didn’t pay additional attention to him. I returned to the fork in the road, and stood there, looking around for the practitioners. Right at this moment, I was awakened by an alarm clock, it was time to get up to do my daily exercises. I persist in doing the exercises every morning in a park nearby.)

I didn’t think too much about it at that time until later correlated the dream to my recent state of cultivation. Recently, I also grasped the time to take part in activities to introduce Falun Gong to people and inform them about the persecution taking place in China. I was mainly involved in distributing Falun Gong related leaflets and talking about the situation to my classmates, friends and relatives either face-to-face or by phone. It didn’t take long before the leaflets were completely distributed. Most of my classmates have gone back to China and the telephone allowance for this month was used up. It appeared that there was nothing I could do within a short time. In addition, there was a thought in my mind: “The three local practitioners did not seem to participate in handing out the leaflets. I should have involved them in the activities.” I was shocked to realise that the scenes in the dream had reflected my actual situation. When I arrived at the fork of the road, I became reluctant to travel alone. When somebody guided me to resume my journey, I rejected to let go my attachment. Not to advance is to go back. Master’s words

“Moving forward can achieve a lot of things;
moving backward will lose everything, and you will continue to be lost in a maze.”
(Hong-Yin II - A Collection of Poems II)

How risky it is!

Furthermore, although the fellow practitioners didn’t distribute leaflets like me, they were involved in other projects. It was just like the “fork in the road”. In fact, Master has told us already,

“Despite the difference in the path of cultivation,
all is within Dafa.”
(Hong-Yin II).

The most terrifying thing is that when I returned to the fork in the road I just stood there, looking around for my fellow practitioners. What did I wait for? My fellow practitioners, the next delivery of leaflets, or the arrival of next month,,,? My status is truly reflected by

“How many attachments I found in calm retrospection!”
(Hong-Yin II)

Thanks for Master’s merciful reminder. As a Falun Dafa practitioner , I will surely and resolutely believe in Master and Dafa. I will dedicate myself to doing the three things well so that I can walk well on the journey of the future. At last, I would like to conclude this article with Master’s poem, "Plum", and propose a mutual encouragement with my fellow practitioners.

Plum

Hundreds of millions of lotus blossom in the corrupted world.
They thrive even in the cold wind.
The tears of deities and Buddhas are like snow and rain falling from the sky.
Longing for the return of the plum.
Never get confused by the attachments of the ordinary world.
Strengthen the righteous thoughts.
From ancient times to the present,
The only purpose is to rectify the Fa.

The above is my personal understanding. Fellow practitioners' comments will be highly appreciated.