(Minghui.org) I read several articles by fellow practitioners regarding changing our notions, and they were very inspiring. Master taught us in Lunyu:
“In order to explore this domain, humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking. Otherwise, the truth of the universe will forever remain a mystery to humankind, and everyday people will forever crawl within the boundary delimited by their own ignorance.” (Zhuan Falun)
I realized that one lives inside one's notions, and if we want to reach beyond humanness, we will need to change our human notions and thought patterns.
A fellow practitioner said, “When tribulations surfaced, I would do the opposite, in other words, reverse my thinking pattern.” I think this makes sense, since the principles in the human world are the opposite of the divine realm.
Reversing Our Thinking Patterns
My wife suffered with motion sickness before she obtained Dafa. She was afraid of getting in a car. Even if she took medication to prevent motion sickness, she would still get very sick, and it would take her several days to recover. After she began cultivation she thought, “How can a cultivator be afraid of motion sickness? The more you want me to get sick, the more I will get in cars.” And sure enough, her motion sickness disappeared.
A fellow practitioner described in her article that she had developed “diabetes” and was suffering with many symptoms. She did the opposite of what others did. She went to the market and purchased sweets and fruit to eat. Several days later, her symptoms disappeared.
I used to have hemorrhoids and I could not handle eating any spicy food. After I began cultivation, I completely negated the causal relationship between spicy food and hemorrhoids, and now I no longer avoid spicy food. This works for other attachments as well. Some people prefer certain foods, and in order to get rid of the attachment, they would avoid their favorite food, and after a while the attachment was eliminated.
When changing our notions, we should not force it, or go to extremes. One has to understand it on the basis of the Fa, eliminate the factors behind the notion, and then wisely break through it.
While meditating, I would often experience pain and feel discomfort. I would move around a bit to relieve the pain. This was totally useless and prevented me from entering tranquility. Then I read Master's “Lecture at the First Conference in North America”
“When you want to reach ding, the thoughts don’t become tranquil; the more you want them to be tranquil, the more restless they get. Are those thoughts you? Would you acknowledge them as you? They’re karma and notions that you’ve acquired throughout your life. That’s why you should regard them as a third party: “You keep on thinking, and I’ll watch you do that.” This time, you jump out of them. If you can truly distinguish them, this equates to your having made a clean break from them and your having found yourself. This is also practicing cultivation and doing so can remove them quickly. If you can truly discern them, they will be scared since it’s time for them to be eliminated.”
I realized that pain and discomfort are part of the process of eliminating karma, and it was not me, so why should I be afraid of it? I stopped moving around when the pain surfaced. Eventually I no longer felt any pain.
When we feel discomfort, experience pain or show “symptoms,” we usually look for the source of that discomfort on the human level. This is particularly common for those who have some medical knowledge, and it is easier to “box” themselves in the pathology of the symptom. Even though they might not acknowledge that it is illness, their actions show they are looking for the source of the “illness” on a human level. They would passively endure, move around, or massage the area, as they are still stuck in the human thought pattern.
“Illness” is an old notion, and so is karma. They are alive, and when manipulated by the old forces, they will persecute us through our human attachments. We need to be aware and see through them, and then eliminate them. We cannot let down our guard even a little bit.
.....”humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking.” (Zhuan Falun)
It is very important and a crucial change from humanness to divinity, and only when we change our human notions can we rise above the human level. Only when we completely eliminate the old forces, can we change the situation. One can then see “After passing the shady willow trees, there will be bright flowers and another village ahead!” (Zhuan Falun)
Category: Improving Oneself
