(Minghui.org) Jealousy is an attachment that a practitioner must relinquish while on his or her cultivation path.
Master said,
“The issue of jealousy is very serious as it directly involves the matter of whether you can complete cultivation practice. If jealousy is not abolished, everything that you have cultivated will become fragile. There is this rule: If in the course of cultivation practice jealousy is not given up, one will not attain Right Fruit—absolutely not.” (Zhuan Falun)
Jealousy
Wechat is a very popular social media application among the Chinese. I installed it on my phone about two years ago, but it caused lots of interference. So I rarely used it except for when I made phone calls.
After talking on the phone I glimpsed at Wechat. There were many new postings, and some were from a group in my old community. It started with a few pictures posted by a childhood friend. Many people followed them and praised her for the pictures.
“So what,” I thought. “People like you are busy with such nonsense. I am a practitioner and the cultivation practice I am doing is much better than what you are doing.”
Then I realized that my thoughts were not right, and I wondered why I would have such thoughts. Was this jealousy? I began to look within. Although I have an older brother and an older sister, my mother trusts me the most. Also, people like me, at school and at home. Seeing my childhood friend becoming so popular, I felt uncomfortable. This was indeed jealousy.
I have come to understand that jealousy is very serious for a practitioner. Master has talked about it in Zhuan Falun. This attachment causes negative reactions among the people around me. I need to let go of jealousy.
Attachment of Lust
One day I had a dream in which an elderly respected person was criticizing me. He said that, when I was talking with a young man, I held the young man's hand. In the dream, I felt very bad and kept blaming myself: I have practiced Falun Dafa for more than 20 years, why am I still bothered by lust?
I was in tears when I woke up. What I did in the dream may not be considered wrong in contemporary society. But it is definitely unacceptable in traditional Chinese culture, where a man and a woman keep a distance during social interactions.
As someone who has practiced Falun Dafa for so many years, I may not have problems regarding lust with what I say and do, but what about my thoughts? At the final stage of cultivation practice, the requirement is very high. Although I may think I am doing fairly well, if I am really perfect, there would not be such interference or test.
Thinking of my daily life, I realized that I liked watching television. Recently there was a TV series about a love story and I watched it often. Also, I sometimes watched programs about TV and movie stars and their marriages. Isn't that lust? In fact, it is also related to the attachment to comfort. This is not allowed for a practitioner.
From this, I also learned to differentiate my main consciousness from interfering thoughts. I need to be clear that, whenever some attachment surfaces, it is time to oppose it and get rid of it. I also need to send forth righteous thoughts regarding it.
Master said,
“Dafa disciples absolutely cannot fall short of the standard. When you are about to pass a test, when you’ve almost gotten through it, but there’s one attachment that you haven’t removed, then it will prevent you from meeting the standard and passing the test. If you cultivate well, you will be able to pass it, right? But you simply cannot pass it and so you remain there. That thing may not be something big, though—that attachment is not big, it’s quite small. But because you just cannot perceive it, you are unable to pass the test and you keep staying at the same spot. This is not to say that you have cultivated poorly. You just haven’t thought the matter over seriously and haven’t come to realize that that thing is not in line with cultivation!” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2014 San Francisco Fa Conference)
I will keep Master's words in my mind, remain strict with myself, and walk the remaining path well.
Category: Improving Oneself
