Being Self-righteous Obstructs Us from Assimilating to Dafa

By a Dafa practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) It is unavoidable to suffer from the pollution of degenerate things while cultivating in the human world. The old forces at the higher levels of the universe stick to their degenerate notions and refuse to assimilate to Dafa. They have become obstacles to the Fa-rectification of the universe. A prominent reflection of these corrupt notions of the old forces in the ordinary human world is that people only willingly accept what they are able to understand. As for things that are beyond their comprehension and their notions, they reject them instinctively without rationally analyzing whether they might be the truth.

Recently, through continuously sending forth righteous thoughts and cleaning up my own thoughts while looking deep within myself, I have come to realize that I haven't been very clear about this attachment for a long period of time since I started cultivation. I often think that I have a better understanding of the Fa than others and tend to defend my own opinions tenaciously. While sharing experiences with other fellow practitioners, I often unconsciously tell others what they should do and impose my own understandings on them, or require them to agree with me. As for different understandings of fellow practitioners, although I do not say anything openly, I do not think much of them in my heart. Unconsciously, I have nourished the attachments of competition, jealousy and showing off. Although sometimes I am aware of these problems, the mentality of "swelling with pride" will quickly hide them again. I am often attached to finding out what problems other fellow practitioners may have. Even when I kindly point out something to others, I give them the impression that I'm lecturing them.

Sometimes when I fail to pass a test well or when I'm not doing well, although I feel regretful and low in spirit, I still don't want to look within myself and see if there are any problems, or find my own problems. It seems that I still subconsciously encourage myself by thinking that "I'm extraordinary." It is best to take a matter as it stands and try to figure out how to do it better based on this assumption. More often than not I look for faults in others and argue how rational my views are. I am still attached to my own understandings and defend them tenaciously.

I realize that the attachment of thinking of oneself as better than others is very similar to the old forces' insisting on their own degenerate notions and their unwillingness to assimilate to the Fa. Now I understand that in order to deny all the arrangements of the old forces, we must dig out the roots of our own corrupt notions and attachments and eliminate them with the mighty righteous thoughts given to us by Master. In order to do this well, the most important thing is to keep studying the Fa with a calm mind. Studying the Fa with one's own stubborn notions is not a small matter, because it is also an issue of not respecting the Fa and Master.
Chinese version available at http://minghui.cc/mh/articles/2002/3/8/26137.html

 Yearly Archive   Printer Version