(Minghui.org) Master said:
“Every Dafa disciple aspires to become a true cultivator, someone who is steadfast and solid in his cultivation as he travels the path to divinity.” (“2018 Fa Teaching Given in Washington, D.C.”)
How can we break through the old forces' arrangements in the old cosmos and righteously walk on the path of Fa-rectification? How can we cultivate every thought well and meet Master's requirements?
Indulging in Ordinary Things
One of my relatives, who is also a practitioner, came to visit me recently. When practitioners meet, they study the Fa, do the exercises, or things related to the three things. But every practitioner has his or her notions and attachments.
When practitioners share experiences, they should restrain their attachments. However, when we are at home, our attachments and notions take over and we act like everyday people. People like to talk about their children, and so did my relative practitioner. When I pointed this out, she used the excuse of “cultivating while conforming to the state of everyday people.”
Sharing among practitioners is an opportunity to dissolve our attachments. However, sharing with attachments goes the opposite direction. I could see that some practitioners dropped in their levels when they had everyday people's thoughts or talked excitedly about ordinary things. Sometimes I could not bear to watch them and tried to stop them but was not always successful.
Cultivating Our Thoughts
Dafa principles require us to cultivate our every thought, and Master told us about the importance of a cultivator's mind, let alone our behavior. The old forces arranged for us to have attachments to our spouses, children, and other family members to impede our righteous actions and drag us down.
One day, a practitioner shared with me that he lagged far behind, was desperate, and felt black substances enveloping him. He tried many ways to come back to Dafa but failed. He was unable to make a breakthrough. I told him that he was wrong, that he had fallen into the old forces' trap when he thought about his situation with human logic. If he would look at himself from the Fa's perspective, his hardship meant nothing.
The next day, while I was meditating, the demon that controlled that practitioner approached me and told me not to meddle in his affairs since this practitioner had made his own choice. I saw at my level that part of him in several dimensions was already dead since he had done some unpardonable things. I saw that he had a close relationship with a magnificent being in the past. I knew I had to help that practitioner return to Dafa. As I write this article, I do feel that he will be saved. Master said, “Dafa is boundless. The Buddha Fa is boundless. It all depends on the cultivation of your mind.” (“Teaching the Fa and Answering Questions in Changchun” from Zhuan Falun Fajie)
Once I had a tribulation. I felt that strong karma permeated my gong and the dimensions that I'd achieved. I couldn't stand up and I couldn't think clearly. The test came on so sudden and strong that it did not give me any time to prepare. How our body has transformed is tested during tribulations. My solid cultivation in the past was the foundation for remaining undefeated.
I calmed down and did not have any negative thoughts. I turned on the exercise music and began to do the first exercise. When I was doing the third exercise, Master's teaching came to my mind:
“My roots are planted in this universe, and so someone would have to be able to harm me in order to harm you, which means that they would have to have the power to harm this universe.” (Zhuan Falun)
Right away, I saw that the black substance could not reach a deeper level of the universe. Master's extraordinary power dissolved the demons immediately. Master cleansed me again.
Transforming Thoughts
We sometimes unconsciously accept the old forces' arrangements. For example, I should sleep when I feel sleepy, I should rest when I am tired, I should pull out my bad teeth, etc.
For some time in the past, I felt sleepy around 11:00 p.m. every night. I was unable to concentrate on Fa study and the exercises. I knew this was interference so I moved to my office since there was no bed there. I said to the old forces in my heart, “Let's see what you can do.”
Around dawn one day when I was making Dafa informational materials, I felt that Master pulled a bad substance out of the back of my head. Since then I no longer feel sleepy, no matter how little I sleep.
I rarely sleep at home now. I always stay at my office. Normal habits of life barely have any effect on me.
Another time, one of my teeth hurt and I felt that I would lose it. But I suddenly enlightened that the old forces were using the old cosmos's principles of “birth, aging, sickness and death” to restrict me. While I clenched my teeth, I began to recite “Falun Dafa is good” and “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” Shortly afterward, my tooth stopped aching. Now it is completely fine.
Guarding Virtue
As the Fa-rectification is coming to an end, the evil entities are greatly reduced in number and weak. But the standard for cultivation remains the same. We should always guard our thoughts to keep our minds pure. Except when doing Dafa-related work, we should avoid meddling in ordinary people's affairs. I have truly experienced and enlightened that guarding our virtue is more important than accumulating virtue.
Master told us about Shakyamuni's cultivation path, that he constantly elevated during his 49 years of cultivation and ultimately reached the level of Tathagata. However, some of our veteran practitioners have been cultivating at the same level for many years and do not know how to elevate.
Master said, “Cultivation is not something done for Dafa’s sake, and nor is saving lives.” (“Congratulatory Letter to the Fa Conference of Europe”)
It is time for us to think deeper about this issue at this time. We should think, “What kind of cultivation state should we have while fulfilling our mission?”
Master said,
“The reason I ask you to study the Fa more, eliminate more of your attachments, and let go of various human notions, is to allow you to not just take a portion away with you, but to reach Consummation.” (“Melt Into the Fa” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
Category: Improving Oneself
