Doing and Cultivating

By Yi Hang

(Clearwisdom.net) Sometimes I find that I have some attachments when doing Dafa work, yet I feel I can't just put the work aside. At times it is rather hard for me to balance this relationship. When I want to do something during cultivation, I find that I have attachments; however, when I don't do anything, I feel motivated by a righteous element of being responsible for Dafa. So it seems that it is not quite right either way.

When a practitioner is doing something, both the positive and negative side of it will likely appear. We can't ignore the negative side just because there is a positive side, nor can we deny the positive side because of the negative side. Things are double-sided.

Therefore I thought, to even out the relationship doesn't simply mean doing or not doing something. It means how to cultivate and how to do it with a pure heart, which also means that we should be "preserving the good part and removing the bad part" (Zhuan Falun) during the process of doing the work. We should eliminate the negative side and use only the positive side. Therefore, what we should give up is not the work itself, but the attachment; it's not wrong to do it, but it's only right if we do it with a pure heart.

On the other hand, cultivation directly cultivates one's heart. The attachments shown when doing Dafa work won't disappear by simply not doing the work. More often than not, we still have those attachments even if we don't do any work; it is just that they do not show on the surface. Therefore, not doing anything on the surface doesn't mean we have removed the attachments. Real elimination of attachments lies in the true purity of the heart, and when our hearts are pure, even if we don't "carefully guard them," there will not be any such impure attachments (because they do not exist anymore). On the contrary, to pretend that one does not have an attachment by not doing anything is in fact showing that the attachment is still there, and only by truly eliminating the attachment and not caring about it showing on the surface, can it be true cultivation.

All in all, I feel that when we find ourselves with attachments in doing Dafa work, what we should resolve is not whether or not we should do the work, but rather, how to do it with a pure heart, which means incorporating Dafa work with cultivation and cultivating solidly during the work.

Above is a little understanding of mine. Please point out anything inappropriate.

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