(Minghui.org) Looking back at my cultivation, I improved rapidly in the beginning with almost no obstacles and developed a mindset, or a kind of ego, which prevented me from assimilating to Fa-rectification cultivation. This gave the old forces excuses to make trouble for me.
By working on our minds, we can truly remove attachments, and cultivate ourselves out of humanness, and toward divinity. However, the old forces implanting ego in me, made me unaware of my attachments. These attachments formed a concept so they could hide in my dimensional field, and affect my willpower at critical moments.
We need to live, work, and engage with people in society, and converse with them according to their thinking to help Master Li (Falun Dafa’s founder) save them, so we may sometimes behave like ordinary people unknowingly. If we cannot control ourselves, we may gradually depart from the Fa and find ourselves living like ordinary people. Then, we will have a harder time removing these attachments to be able to return to our original true selves.
I recently began feeling very tired. I found that the more we consume in everyday society, that type of matter can block our divine side and gradually make us feel drowsy and fatigued. We should recognize these substances clearly and eliminate the rotten things through continuous Fa-study. We must maintain the Fa’s standards and prevent ourselves from getting lost among ordinary people.
Distinguishing Between a Cultivator and an Ordinary Person
One time, before Fa-study, a fellow practitioner who knew my father asked if he was given the pension payment for the month he died, and explained how the payment system works. I told her that he got it one day before he passed away. “Then you’re lucky!” she replied.
“I didn’t think about the payments after he died,” I responded. “I was more concerned that I did not do well [in clarifying the truth to him about Dafa].”
I recalled our conversation at a later date and became alert to her comment, “Then you’re lucky!” which sounded like what everyday people would say. I realized that Dafa cultivation takes place among ordinary people for a reason. Master asks us to cultivate, remove our attachments, and improve our character while living in everyday society, which is very difficult to do.
Master said:
“My truly cultivating disciples, what I have taught you is the Fa for cultivation of Buddha and Dao. Nonetheless, you pour out your grievances to me over the loss of your worldly interests, rather than feeling upset for being unable to let go of ordinary human attachments. Is this cultivation? Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person.” (“True Cultivation,” Essentials For Further Advancement)
Our thoughts can reflect the boundaries between cultivators and ordinary people. When we meet the standards of a cultivator, we are walking on the path arranged by Master. Otherwise, we may mistakenly follow the old forces’ arrangements, stumbling and falling if we can’t rectify ourselves in time.
To meet the Fa’s requirements, true cultivation is to constantly correct one’s words, deeds, and thoughts. When I saw the human thoughts in her remark, “Then you’re lucky!” I did not repeat them or acknowledge them. If we behave in accordance with Dafa at all times, we will not engage in those ordinary people’s conversations.
The next time that practitioner came to Fa study, I shared my thoughts with her. She agreed that her prior comment was an ordinary people’s attachment, and said, “Those thoughts became natural to me.”
We talked more about several things and she offered suggestions to me. I had a hard time deciding whether our talk was still constrained within the boundaries of ordinary people’s conversations. Thinking further, we realized our conversation that day revealed our human attachments because the things said were unimportant and we should not carry out such conversations at Fa study. Rather, we should look at things with a clear mind, so we can purify our thoughts in the Fa-study environment.
As long as we practitioners can mind our speech and be more considerate of what we say, we are uplifting ourselves.
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Category: Improving Oneself
