(Minghui.org) The phenomenon of the predestined relationships between humans has puzzled me for years and has to do with how people behave based on human notions.
Some practitioners distribute fliers to clarify the truth and then hurry home to cook for a grandchild. Some practitioners often call their husbands dumb or stupid. Some even claim, “I can be compassionate to anyone but my old man (husband).”
These examples were gleaned from conversations between practitioners. They are used to each other, so they can be blunt and direct. The purpose of such conversations is to point out the attachments of another practitioner and to help the other party improve. But careless words somehow create more separation and conflict among practitioners.
We study Master’s Fa every day and cultivate our xinxing. Why are we still so attached to some people and some things? It is true that I was sometimes impolite or rude to my wife, who is also a practitioner. Why couldn’t I totally snap out of this?
I knew I should look inward, and sent forth righteous thoughts to clean and suppress the bad substances. But when I did, I couldn’t get rid of these substances completely.
Stages of Life
I went back to my hometown for the Chinese New Year. An old neighbor lady came to see my mother, and they gossiped about some of the young people in our village who were married. The lady said that her granddaughter was very picky and couldn’t find a suitable man. Another couple’s two sons both were divorced, and so on.
I was not really listening, but something suddenly sparked in my brain, and a series of pictures ran through my mind.
What came to mind were the stages of life and how life cycles on and on. A child was born, grew into an adult, got married, and had his own child.
Qing Affecting Life Cycle
That made me realize that we have lived through numerous cycles of birth and death—until this life, when Master came and we obtained the Fa of the universe. We started to cultivate, which can uplift us from human to divine.
However, we were born and raised in the human world. We were taught with human notions and our friends and relatives still interact with us in human ways. So the result is, even though we know we should improve our xinxing and be kind and considerate to everyone, we are still more attentive to our own children and grandchildren and are inconsiderate of our spouses. We regard our family and relatives as our personal property. And we tend to impose our own thoughts upon them.
I sense that the things that make it difficult for a practitioner to advance in cultivation are “sticky.” These are the various manifestations of “qing” that disturb the peace, serenity, and compassion in our hearts.
Karmic Relationships
From a cultivating practitioner’s viewpoint, the birth-to-death cycle of life can be seen in a different way. When we were born and our parents held us, we met two lives that had important karmic relationships with us. We also met many other lives who had karmic relationships with us—our relatives.
When we married, we met a person with a more important karmic relationship. When our children were born, they were also lives that had a karmic relationship with us.
In the human world, the relationship can be that of a son, daughter, grandchild, brother, sister, cousin, and so on. We live in a society of friends and relatives designed by divine beings from higher planes. Establishing families is a way to maintain a society in the human realm, and fame, gain, “qing,” and karmic retribution are all complex.
If one of them started to cultivate, we called him/her a fellow practitioner. If not, they are a human being that we want to save. No matter what, there is a karmic relationship.
Elevating to a Higher Truth
Through studying the Fa, we have learned that most of today’s people are lives from higher realms. However, being in the human world for so long and given the way human beings live their lives today, relationships become hurdles a practitioner must overcome to advance.
If we can see the truth through the complex surface, we will be able to sever the attachments to fame, gain, and qing. Then, family members, fellow practitioners, and other things not agreeable to our way of life will not be able to disturb us.
Master has total control of the Fa-rectification process. Every practitioner has his or her own cultivation path. We should certainly not be indifferent to our family, fellow practitioners, or ordinary people. But excessive care is an attachment.
We used to be divine beings of higher realms, so why should we be beholden to human qing?
When I came to this realization, I immediately felt apart from being a human and my heart was no longer rocked by the complexity of people’s relationships and matters. My heart was strong and fulfilled. It elevated through understanding a higher truth.
Only when our true self understands can we truly elevate. As for ridding oneself of human notions, it is a must-do for every cultivating practitioner.
Category: Improving Oneself
