Be Clear About the Concept of Cultivation Practice and Continuously Break Through to Higher Levels (Part III)

(Clearwisdom.Net)

(PART III)

(Part II: http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/1/5/17456.html)

4. Prevent Demonic Interference from One's Own Mind

Having previously enlightened to some Fa principles and having my own understanding of the process of Fa-rectification, I wrote a few articles for Minghui Net--two of which were published. I was delighted, and the attachments of showing off and complacency arose. Although I warned myself while writing the articles that no matter what I enlightened to, the wisdom was from Dafa and I shouldn't feel complacent and conceited, these attachments still manifested in very hidden and diverse ways. If we have any thoughts that are not righteous enough, these two attachments will take root deeply in our hearts and grow rapidly as if they had found fertile soil. Worst of all, once we develop such attachments, it is hard to be aware of their existence. Occasionally we may sense their presence; however, as soon as we start to restrain them, they slip away if we fail to eradicate them completely. Yet we don't realize this and still feel that we are cultivating pretty well. When these attachments are employed and enhanced by demons, and mixed with our thought karma, they can shake our belief in Dafa, or even make us have some evil thoughts towards Teacher and Dafa (Of course they are just fleeting thoughts.)

When this occurred to me, I suddenly realized how dangerous these attachments are. Without Teacher, without Dafa, what am I cultivating and practicing? What Fa principles can I understand without a foundation? Therefore, in front of Teacher's picture, I said, "If I betray Teacher and do not respect Dafa, I ask for destruction of my body and soul." With great effort, I began to eliminate these dirty attachments of showing off and complacency, while recognizing the demonic interference that was supporting and strengthening them. Determined to get rid of demonic interference, I studied the Fa with a calm mind, did Fa-rectification work carefully, maintained powerful righteous thoughts to restrain and eventually eliminate the attachments, and sent forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the demonic interference. After a painful period of time, I finally got rid of it.

Later on, when I reflected on this, I found that if I could not have dealt with this calmly and in time, I would have run the risk of developing demonic interference from my own mind. I also understood that the reason some who enlightened along an evil path betrayed Teacher and Dafa was that they suffered from demonic interference from their own minds. Even though their Celestial Eyes were not open and they could not see anything, they had the attachment of conceit, of being swollen with pride. Once they regarded themselves "higher than" Dafa, or enlightened to "higher principles of truth," they were done for and dropped down. This state, coupled with their everyday people's attachments, completely finished them. At this time, if they studied the Fa as though studying ordinary people's theories, that would be more dangerous because they would judge the principles of Dafa and analyze the connotation of Dafa using ordinary human mentalities. The results would be terrible. It would be extremely easy for them to be taken advantage of by demons, and they would drop down all the way to the bottom.

Then why does demonic interference arise? The key reason is that there are omissions in our cultivation practice, especially in small matters that we have not paid much attention to, and in some bad thoughts that we indulge in when we are not strict with ourselves. I better understand now that cultivation practice is very serious. We must keep our righteous faith in Dafa, not only in critical moments, but also when we are in relatively relaxed environments. We should judge every thought from the viewpoint of the Fa. If it is not in agreement with Dafa, we should get rid of it immediately, so that evil has no opportunity to take advantage of us. Let's study the following part of Teacher's Fa together:

"Someone has asked me: 'Teacher, why don't you eliminate this problem?' Think about it everyone: If we clear all obstacles in your path of cultivation practice, how will you practice cultivation? It is under the circumstance of demonic interference that you can demonstrate whether you can continue your cultivation, be really enlightened to the Tao, be unaffected by interference, and be sure-footed in this school of practice. The great waves shift the sand, and that is what cultivation practice is all about. What is left in the end will be genuine gold... It is very difficult to save a person, yet so very easy to ruin a person. Once your mind is not right, your will be ruined at once"(From Zhuan Falun).

Finally, my understanding is that at the present crucial moment, in the last stage of Fa-rectification, "the mind must be upright" and "the main consciousness must play a governing role." We should follow Teacher's words, "Take every step well, and don't tarnish what you have already attained. Let the part of you that has been fully cultivated glow with an even purer brilliance" (From Teacher's article "Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s)").
Chinese version available at http://minghui.ca/mh/articles/2001/12/10/21178.html

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