By a Dafa practitioner

(Clearwisdom.net) I am discovering many of my attachments these days, some of which are the attachments of comfort, laziness, passivity, and irresponsibility. I didn't do many of the tasks required by the Fa. One of the important tasks I skipped was sending forth righteous thoughts in the early morning that Dafa practitioners worldwide were supposed to do. Finally I decided to change my behavior pattern and get up every morning to send forth righteous thoughts.

I set the alarms on both my cellular phone and digital watch to remind me when it was time to wake up and send forth righteous thoughts. The next morning both alarms went off, but I was feeling so sleepy that I turned them off and went back to sleep. Afterwards I reprimanded myself and regretted that I had missed another opportunity to send forth righteous thoughts with Dafa practitioners around the world. But it was the same story the following day. On the evening of the third day, I placed both my cellular phone and watch far from the bed so that I would have to get out of the bed to turn them off. I decided that once I got off the bed, it would be impossible for me to skip sending forth righteous thoughts. However, things did not go as I had planned. The next morning, I did get off the bed and turn off the alarms, but I was again overcome with sleepiness and ended up right back in bed. That was when I realized the severity of my problem. As a last resort, I decided to stay up all night and go to sleep after I had sent forth righteous thoughts. For several days I felt physically exhausted, and continued to miss sending forth righteous thoughts. I felt extremely drowsy 1/2 to 1 hour before the set time, and went to bed. In other words, I stayed up all night and ended up falling asleep shortly before it was time to send forth righteous thoughts.

Reviewing my passive behavior during those days, I decided that I mustn't be manipulated by my attachments any more. I tried to calm down and look inward. I saw that I had been thinking within a boundary delimited by my attachment of protecting myself, which had bred and nourished additional attachments. Then I remembered that I was a Dafa practitioner. As a Dafa practitioner, I must not compromise my standards. Because I had lowered my standard to that of an everyday person, I was subject to the physical condition of an everyday person and fell asleep. If I attained the standard that the Fa required of me, I would be able to overcome the feeling of sleepiness.

I still think we need a minimal amount of rest and sleep so that we don't create any loopholes that can be exploited by the evil because we are physically exhausted. On the other hand, it is not only sleep that gives a Dafa practitioner his strength. As a cultivator, one naturally maintains the basic physical condition of a cultivator by persisting in studying the Fa, practicing the Falun Gong exercises, and sending forth righteous thoughts. More importantly, we must remember that we came to assimilate to Dafa and to offer sentient beings salvation, not to lead a comfortable life in the human realm. Teacher said, "It's just like checking into a hotel for a few days. Then I leave in a hurry." (A Clear and Clean Mind, Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun) We should not be obsessed with the human realm. Dafa practitioners carry momentous missions and responsibilities on their shoulders. How can we be interfered with, or be subject to, the superficial phenomena and illusions of everyday people's society?

Each opportunity to send forth righteous thoughts will not come again, and I have missed so many of them. All I thought about was myself. Never had I thought of countless sentient beings waiting for salvation, or of those remaining degenerated rotten demons that needed eliminating. For so many days, I had tried to wake myself up in the morning. None of them worked because the everyday people's solutions cannot solve my real problem in cultivation. Indeed. Teacher said, "At lower levels, everyday people use mind-intent to direct their sensory organs and four limbs." (Mind-Intent, Chapter Two, Falun Gong) A god's pure and righteous mind-intent influences many layers of dimensions in the universe. Come to think of it, why did I feel sleepy only before the hour to send forth righteous thoughts, and not sleepy when it came to my other activities during the day? Obviously, it was interference directed at me. It was because I was so obsessed with everyday people's matters that I was subject to the interference. When I had seen the truth about my attachments, I resolved to snip the interference at its root. As a Dafa practitioner, I would do what the Fa requires of me and accomplish my historic mission. No one shall interfere with me.

As soon as I had an enlightened understanding of this issue, I could eliminate the interference. As soon as my thoughts were righteous, the situation improved immediately. The very day I resolved to eliminate the interference I woke up effortlessly and joined the global collective effort of sending forth righteous thoughts in the morning. Although I stayed up at night and thus felt a bit sleepy right before the set hour, I could manage to stay awake and finish sending forth righteous thoughts. An hour before the set hour on the first day, I spent the first 30 minutes doing the sitting meditation and the remaining 30 minutes doing the standing exercises. While doing the standing exercises, tears kept flowing down my face. I decided that it was my human side and knowing side having the same reaction. I had been lost in the maze of the human realm for too long. In addition to skipping forth righteous thoughts for a long time, I had rarely practiced the Falun Gong exercises. Was this the behavior of a Dafa disciple in the Fa-rectification period? Teacher treats all sentient beings compassionately, but that was not an excuse for me to abuse and depend on Teacher's compassion. Dafa is a serious matter. I must discipline myself seriously according to the standard of Dafa, and not think of making myself comfortable.

Right up until I wrote this article, I have been sending forth righteous thoughts every morning with fellow practitioners worldwide. I stay up until I finish sending forth righteous thoughts. While I am awake, I study the Fa, listen to Teacher's Fa lectures, practice the Falun Gong exercises, or write articles. I feel I lead a rich and meaningful life. When I am truly dissolved in the Fa (or when I truly concentrate on studying the Fa), I do not feel sleepy because of staying up at night. I have thus overcome the everyday people's convention and the boundaries of my thinking.

It's only when we understand the Fa rationally, move up a notch in cultivation, evaluate things from a righteous base, and resolve to overcome existing behavior patterns and models of thinking, that we can do what we must do as Dafa disciples in the Fa-rectification period.