(Minghui.org) A local practitioner suggested yesterday that I move out of the basement I was renting. She said she’d heard that Master had told a small group that it was not suitable for practitioners to live in basements.
I told her that I didn't think it mattered where a practitioner lives, as Master had never mentioned it in the Fa. She was very sure about it and tried to convince me. “Think about it,” she said. “It's no coincidence that you heard this.”
It wasn't just a coincidence. I’d heard the very same thing from another practitioner.
I used to share this basement with another practitioner until she moved out about a year and a half ago, shortly after a trip to the United States. She told me that a relative in the States said that a practitioner should not live in a basement. This relative had helped to promote Shen Yun in the past and claimed that this instruction was from “higher up.”
Before she moved out, she asked me to move with her. I had been at my place for three years and was pretty happy with it. Although I didn't feel the need to move, I contemplated the idea. I thought maybe I could decide after an upcoming trip to a Fa conference in the U.S.
My roommate became “ill” soon after she moved into an apartment and lost contact with local practitioners. I felt that something was not right, but couldn't pinpoint the problem until Master arranged for another practitioner to stay with me for a while.
This practitioner had promoted Shen Yun for years. When I mentioned what my roommate had told me, she pointed out that spreading rumors like these was not right. I really appreciated her being straightforward with me.
I recalled that my roommate had become very attached to some of the things that her relative in the States had told her, such as Shen Yun dancers never eating broccoli.
She blindly accepted these things and advised me to do the same. I had never taken issue with her, thinking that maybe these were Master's instructions. They weren't a big deal anyway, so I thought it probably wouldn't hurt to try them.
I later realized how serious this was and decided to stop heeding these rumors. I would only use Master's published Fa teachings to live by. What I failed to do was to look inward for the root cause of why I was affected by such hearsay, so I continued to hear such things from time to time.
When the local practitioner suggested that I move, I suddenly became alert. Why was I hearing this again? Was there something that I needed to cultivate? I needed to look inside to find out why this kept happening to me.
When I dug deep, the problem became clear—I had never removed the attachment at its root. Whenever others talked about things like this, I was curious and greatly interested. I felt pleased that I knew more than others.
Master said in “The Mentality of Showing Off,”
“One may claim, 'I’ve heard something from Teacher Li.' People will surround this person and listen to what he says. He will pass on the hearsay embellished with his own understanding. What is the purpose? It is to show himself off. There are some people who also spread the hearsay among one another with a great deal of interest, as though they are well informed, and as though so many of our students do not understand or know as much as they do.” (Lecture Six in Zhuan Falun)
Though I decided to not believe in such hearsay, I was still drawn to it and sometimes even casually passed these things on. This is, in fact, my curiosity and the mentality of showing off.
Before I wrote this article, I told my mother, who is also a practitioner, about this. She said, “Did you know that, after you told me Shen Yun performers didn't eat broccoli, I never bought it again? You have misguided me with the hearsay.”
I felt ashamed. As a veteran practitioner, I don't remember many things Master has taught in the Fa, yet I remember all of the rumors and hearsay that I have heard. I took them to heart and told others about them. Doesn't this pretty much amount to an evil practice and interfering with others?
I thought about other practitioners who are willing to listen to and spread such rumors, so I wrote this article, hoping that it will serve as a warning.
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