(Minghui.org) A fellow practitioner often told me things that happened before he began to practice Falun Dafa. Another practitioner sometimes described conflicts he experienced before he stepped on the cultivation path. I was not interested in their past and said angrily, “Please stop talking about things before we began to practice.” I thought they had poor xinxing and were not diligent in their cultivation.
At that time, my understanding of the Fa was shallow and I did not know what cultivation was all about. I believed that once someone begins to practice Falun Dafa, he or she would turn over a new leaf. Besides, the connections to the life before cultivation were of no more value.
As we are very fortunate to be Dafa practitioners, why do we still mention things from our past? If it is something related to the Fa-rectification, I definitely will pay attention to it. Otherwise, I do not have time for it.
After several years, however, I realized that it was not accidental that I heard the remarks about experiences before cultivation. Through memorizing and reciting the Fa, I came to understand that, no matter how diligent we are, or how well we do with our truth-clarification, there could always be something that we wish to forget. This may be related to karma we had back then, or some bad memories that had not been eliminated.
Persecutory Memories
Some practitioners were detained for practicing Falun Dafa, and these memories could remain in ones mind. This is because the old forces had forced those bad substances into our brain. They then became a memory that could not be forgotten.
A local practitioner was taken to a detention center. We could not obtain any information about him for two years, and I often blame myself for that. Then, I was also detained given loopholes in my cultivation. This happened because I could not rid myself of bad memories. Therefore, I would like to remind practitioners released from detention and those around them to discard any thought related to the detention center, good or bad.
Some practitioners may look down upon others and they later encounter a similar situation. Once we develop an attachment, the old forces will latch on to it and not let us forget. We must eliminate that attachment and improve.
When someone tells us something that makes us uncomfortable, we have to look within. We cannot have negative feelings towards others because their words do not fit our expectation.
I used to think that practitioners look within and thus the conflicts between us should be minimal. Now, I know it is wishful thinking. In fact, the conflicts provide opportunities for us to make progress and improve.
Category: Improving Oneself
