(Minghui.org) Recently I had some cultivation experiences and wrote about them to share with my fellow practitioners.
I Changed My Human Notions and Learned to Control My Laziness
I am a young practitioner, and I was very lazy and had a strong attachment to having a comfortable life. Recently my workload greatly increased. Two workers had to do the work of four people. I had to work from morning until evening seven days a week. That was a big challenge for me, since I used to have a very comfortable life. I had a tough time dealing with my work, much less studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts. With regard to clarifying the truth, there was no time to do that at all. The less I studied the Fa, the stronger my human notions became and the more my attachments appeared. I knew I was being severely interfered with, but I could not change it.
I started to think about my problem. I found that the things that were blocking me from improving and cultivating diligently were my desire for seeking a comfortable life and my laziness. These had been with me for so long that I didn’t even want to think about getting rid of them.
If I could overcome these notions and could stay up later, I could then have more time to study the Fa. If I could endure more, and keep on handing out truth-clarification materials no matter how late I get out of work, I could then save more sentient beings. If I could get up earlier, I would be able to join the morning exercises.
I realized that the things that truly prevented me from cultivating diligently were not my busy workload, but my seeking comfort and my laziness. If I could break through it, my cultivation state should be greatly improved. I saw that these attachments had become severe obstacles for my cultivation and I had to get rid of them.
After I decided to remove them, I came to understand that they are not me, but rather attachments and the demon nature of my previous life. I used to think that they were me, but I decided to resolve the issue and get rid of them, so that they could not interfere with me. Meanwhile I searched deeply and found that I had a fear of suffering. I worried about that. I thought I still had human notions and still thought that suffering was bad; therefore, I sought to have a comfortable life.
Then I thought about Master’s Fa I used to be able to recite:
“But in reality, what human society takes to be truths are, from the perspective of the cosmos, inversions of truth; when humans go through hardship and suffer it is so that they may pay off karma and thereby have happiness in the future. A cultivator thus needs to cultivate by correct and upright truths. Going through hardship and suffering is an outstanding opportunity to remove karma, be cleansed of sin, purify the body, elevate your plane of thought, and rise in level—it’s an extraordinarily good thing. This is a correct and upright Fa-truth.” (“The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be” in The Essentials Of Diligent Progress VOL. III)
I truly changed my notions according to the Fa principle. My daily work was still tiring but I had a better attitude toward my work. I used to complain about my work whenever I got tired, but now I keep a positive outlook.
One morning I rode my bike to work. Recently, the busy workload had exhausted me. I felt that I was so tired.
When I felt particularly tired, one fellow practitioner’s statement suddenly crossed my mind: “I also want to be Master’s good disciple!” Yes, I had the same wish as this practitioner, which was for me to be Master’s diligent and qualified disciple.
When that thought crossed my mind, I felt that a righteous thought had risen inside me. I could not help but call out with all my strength to the old forces and others who persecuted me: “I am a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple! I am Master Li Hongzhi’s disciple!” I felt my tears coming but I controlled myself.
I remembered Master’s words:
“This is what I'd think: 'You're cold, and you try to make me cold--are you trying to make me freeze? I'll be even colder than you, I'll make you cold.' (Audience laughs. Applause) Or, 'You're trying to make me hot. I'll turn it around and make you hot--so hot that you can't stand it.'” (“Explaining the Fa During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference”)
In my mind I talked to the old forces and said: “Transfer all of my tired feelings to the old forces that persecuted me! You should be the ones that are tired.” When that thought came out, instantly I no longer felt tired. In fact that whole day I did not feel tired.
After I raised myself up, my environment improved. My boss restored my regular rest day each week. Meanwhile I had less work in the evening, and I also received 500 more yuan in salary.
I Kept Lifting Myself Up and Walked Out of the Human State
Looking back at the course of my recent cultivation, I found that my ability to endure suffering had improved and that I was more open minded. The principles I used to understand also kept changing. I used to view suffering as a bad thing, in line with human notions. Now I could change that notion and considered that the state of suffering is happiness.
As Master said: “A benevolent person always has a heart of compassion. With no discontentment or hatred, he takes hardship as joy.” (“Realms” in Essentials For Further Advancement)
Now suffering, happiness, fatigue, being sleepy, cold, hot, thirst, hungry, pain, being comfortable or uncomfortable were just human stuff. If one wants to truly walk out of that state, one should get rid of this bondage and not be controlled by them. Don’t feel them and don’t pay attention to them, then you can truly trascend them.
Master said:
“As you know, during your cultivation, not only will all elements that constitute your humanness try to stop you from breaking away from being a human, but also everything that constitutes the human environment won’t let you leave. You have to break through everything and overcome all kinds of ordeals. The biggest manifestation is the suffering they create for you.”“Don’t you feel sleepy as soon as you read the book, or become drowsy once you study the Fa? Let me tell you that those are gods at a level in this human dimension. If you can’t break through them, you remain a human. They aren’t intentionally doing anything to you—they treat everyone like that. That’s why people feel tired and sleepy. If you want to break away from being a human, you have to break through everything before you can make it. If you go along with them they’ll think you are just a human.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Assistants’ Fa Conference in Changchun” 1998)
Of course, recognizing this and being able to deal with it is the course of cultivation. Truly walking out of the human state is not easy. One practitioner said: “Cultivation was about cultivating one’s willpower.” I thought that was right. When our righteous thoughts keep growing and become stronger so that we are no longer affected by these feeling, then we can become supernormal beings.
Time seems to be flying by. Some of my fellow practitioners sleep less every day in order to save more people. They may only sleep two to three hours a day. Before, I did not think I could do as they did. Now it is already the last period of cultivation. If a practitioner falls short in any regard, that is not OK.
With regard to suffering, I used to cultivate badly and now I need to make up for that lost time. I set a goal for myself: Whether or not I am busy in the daytime, I sleep four hours per day. At midnight I need to wake up to send forth righteous thoughts for at least half an hour. Then I study the Fa. If I become sleepy, then I go to sleep. I then get up at 3:50 AM to do the exercises.
Once I made such a decision, there was still one question, which was whether to believe in Master and the Fa completely or not. The daytime work tired me out and when I was ready to get up to send forth righteous thoughts, the human notion appeared: You’d better go to sleep; if you do not rest well, will you have energy to do your work? I did what it told me, and no matter how long I slept, I still had no energy the next morning and felt tired. If I can overcome the human notion and get up to send righteous thoughts and study the Fa, the next day I do not feel tired. Sometimes I may feel tired but I am able to manage it.
Master said:
“Back at that time, I wanted the transformation of the surface body to be in sync with the part that has been well-cultivated; I wanted to have the body be disassociated with the human state during cultivation; and I wanted to have the cultivating disciples use their own righteous thoughts to maintain a state that is just like that of human beings.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles” 2006)
It is already the last stage of the Fa-rectification period. It is Master’s requirement and hope for us that every disciple meet the standard. We need to not only maintain strong righteous thoughts, but also to achieve a supernormal state.
Recently I have felt that there is less and less time, and that I really need to cultivate diligently and catch up on the path toward being divine.
What I have said here may contain some inappropriate opinions so please point out any errors.
