(Minghui.org) During a cultivation experience sharing with fellow practitioners, a practitioner said that her fundamental attachment is the attachment to seeking comfort. She has a comfort zone for herself, where she is young, healthy, has no worries about food and clothing, and she is able to work, live, and cultivate regularly according to her own thinking, making her feel very comfortable. If someone intrudes upon this “zone,” for example if someone disturbs her, she won’t be able to take it and will become impatient. She could become angry and even shout loudly, letting all sorts of demon nature control her. The fundamental reason was that her attachment to seeking comfort had been triggered.
When I heard this, I was shocked. In the past I had never really looked within with regard to the attachment to seeking comfort. Furthermore, the examples the practitioner mentioned felt very similar to my situation and it was reflected in many aspects. Take for example, I have set a long term target and time period to memorize the Fa, but I often find excuses to memorize less or skip it entirely by replacing it with studying Master’s lectures from different regions. Attachments had caused me to feel that studying Master’s lectures from different regions is more relaxing and easy, so I can suffer less hardship.
Although I can persist in meditating for an hour, I often bring my legs down at the slightest pain. During group Fa study, I usually sit in the half lotus position or not sit in the lotus position at all. When fellow practitioners remind me, I will sit in the full lotus position for a while and then take my legs down at the slightest pain. I haven’t been able to hold myself to strict standards.
I wake up in the morning to do the exercises, but sometimes I oversleep and am not able to complete the full set of exercises. I then become unwilling to make up for them. When I encounter something difficult, I might feel as though it is hard to move forward so I will either be unwilling to face it, or drag the matter out for a longer period of time. I am unwilling to face conflict, too … basically, I just want to be comfortable. The human mindset feels that being comfortable is really good.
My wife (a fellow practitioner) saw that my attachment to comfort was too strong so she reminded me and shared with me, saying that people who cannot take hardship have more black matter; the things that obstruct cultivators from cultivating diligently are all karma. When you really suffer hardship, the karma is going to die so of course it will resist. Accepting hardship is a very good thing. The beings from other dimensions want to cultivate and raise their levels but they are not able to suffer hardship because they don’t have a human body. Therefore, they are not able to improve their cultivation level. As such, we should cherish our opportunity to be able to endure hardship and cultivate!
She is right. Ordinary people feel that being comfortable is a good thing. When they feel really comfortable, they might exclaim happily that they are “so comfortable they could die.” For a cultivator, however, if we really lead a comfortable life without illness and hardship, we will not be able to cleanse ourselves and return to our true selves. We can only stay in the mundane world forever as a sentient being or not even be able to be a human being. If we were to see things from a higher level, this being, who was once divine, would never be able to return. Doesn’t that mean that this divine being is dead? That’s really “so comfortable I could die!”
The more I thought about it, the more shocked I became. This was such a serious attachment, but I had never taken it to heart. I cannot seek comfort as I have to fulfill my vows and return home with Master! After changing my notions, I discovered that I am no longer afraid of hardship. When I meet with matters that require me to suffer hardship, I no longer display annoyance or a helpless attitude like I did in the past. Now, when I wake up in the morning feeling sleepy, I no longer follow the sleepiness to become drowsy. I stand up immediately, clear my mind, and practice the exercises with a positive attitude. When my body aches while meditating, I no longer let my legs come down. When my wife disturbs me, I do not lose my temper or feel annoyed. I also do not find it hard to memorize the Fa anymore.
When I truly face “hardship” directly and overcome it step by step, I feel happy from the bottom of my heart. I am determined to get rid of this fundamental attachment of seeking comfort and will make good use of the remaining time to cultivate diligently and fulfill my vows. The above are my understandings from my limited cultivation level. Kindly correct me if there is room for improvement.
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Category: Improving Oneself
