(Minghui.org) I am a 77-year-old practitioner who started cultivating 25 years ago. During the past few months, I visited several elderly practitioners in their 80s. I found that some of them had different degrees of the false appearance of sickness karma, and showed various symptoms. Some think they are old, or that their old illness has come back. Some acknowledge that they have not been diligent in cultivation, which allows the old forces to take advantage of their loopholes. Some complained about family problems, their children or spouses, and some had grievances against fellow practitioners. There are also really good practitioners who follow the Fa principles and look inward for their deeply hidden attachments that have been exploited by the old forces, which caused the false appearance of sickness karma.
Most of these practitioners obtained the Fa before July 20, 1999. Some of them have been very diligent and have persistently been doing the three things, but they just can’t let go of certain attachments. From their states, I thought of myself. I am a veteran practitioner who has also entered old age, and I have a deep understanding of the state of elderly practitioners.
In the past few years, I have been suffering from lingering leg pain. I also knew that it’s caused by my own attachments, and I have found some, such as resentment, a struggling mentality, attachment to comfort, loving listening to good words, and so on. But finding them is not the same as removing them, and some attachments have not been removed at the root. The year before last I felt flustered and had pounding heartbeats not only going up and down the stairs, but even walking on the level road. Although I tried to do the three things, I knew the problem was serious. It’s not just finding the xinxing problem, the most critical is whether one can eliminate the attachments after finding them.
Master said,
“Don’t argue left and right, and don’t emphasize who’s right and who’s wrong. Some people are always stressing that they’re right, but even if you are right, even if you’re not wrong, so what? Have you improved on the basis of the Fa? The very act of using human thinking to stress who’s right and who’s wrong is in itself wrong. That’s because you are then using the logic of ordinary people to evaluate yourself, and using that logic to make demands on others. As gods see it, for a cultivator to be right or wrong in the human world is not important in the least, whereas eliminating the attachments that come from human thinking is important, and it is precisely your managing to eliminate those attachments rooted in your human thinking as you cultivate that counts as important.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
I read and memorized the above teaching again and again. I felt this teaching really told me my shortcoming. I realized that it’s not just to find the attachment, if I can’t eliminate the attachment and improve my xinxing, there will be more tribulations.
Master said,
“Each of your attachments could cause your cultivation to fail. Each of your attachments could result in physical issues, and lead your once-firm faith in Dafa to waver.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
Once I had a dream in which I was walking on a mountain road, and when I reached the halfway point of the mountain and looked up, there was still a long way to go to the top. I knew in my mind that I would be fine when I reached the top, but when could I reach the top? In just a blink of an eye, I was already on the top of the mountain.
At this time, Master’s poem came to my mind, “Just one step further and you’ve entered Heaven ...” (“Dragon Springs,” Hong Yin III)
I was still reciting this poem when I woke up, and I realized that Master was using this poem to encourage me to make diligent progress quickly. After getting rid of all these attachments, going to heaven is just a step away. I have had the same dream twice before, the same setting, the same mountain, the same road, but every time I didn’t get to the top of the mountain, I woke up when I was almost there. I realized that I had too many attachments, and hadn’t cultivated well. How could I get to the top of the mountain with so many attachments?
Master has said,
“Whoever of you can “cultivate with the heart you once had” will definitely achieve Consummation.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference”)
The Fa-rectification is reaching the end. I sincerely hope that we elderly practitioners will quickly get more diligent. Don’t admit that we are old. Don’t let our past grudges and grievances stand in the way of our cultivation. Don’t be obsessed with TV and mobile phones. Let’s focus on improving our xinxing, seriously look inward for human concepts and thoughts, let go of our ego, solidly cultivate, and immediately rectify our concepts to be in line with the Fa.
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Category: Improving Oneself
