Discussing Selfishness
By a Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) Master taught us in Zhuan Falun, "The space of the universe is benevolent to begin with and embodies the
characteristic of Zhen-Shan-Ren. At birth, one is assimilated to the
characteristic of the universe. Yet as the number of lives increases, a
collective form of social relations develops in which some people may
develop selfishness and gradually their level will be lowered. If they
cannot stay at this level, they must drop down further. At that level,
however, they may again become not so good and not be able to stay there,
either. They will continue to descend further until, in the end, they reach
this level of human beings." Looking at this from my own cultivation standpoint, I now have a better
understanding of selfishness. Everything that is not magnificent originates from selfishness. Because of
selfishness, we have descended from the wonderful realms where we were born. And
because of selfishness, we have become attached to fame, profit, and emotions.
From that, we further develop various kinds of attachments. We have been
drenched in human society and were unable to return to our original
magnificence. My understanding is that the elements that cause beings to fall also resemble
a pyramid in form. The lower the level, the more abundant and complex these
elements are, and the worse they become. Everything originates from selfishness.
In the Three Realms, this then turns into fame, profit, and emotions. As we move
further down, selfishness then manifests itself in various kinds of complex
attachments. Our cultivation today is completely different from the types of cultivations
in the old cosmos. It is my understanding that the true meaning of our
cultivation is the cleansing of the fundamentals of life. The beings in the old
cosmos deviated from the standards of their realms due to selfishness. Because
of their selfishness, they are unable to detect and are unwilling to change
their degenerate notions. They think that they are truly pure and magnificent,
and this also includes us. So in past cultivation systems, they emphasized
relinquishing various attachments, even fame, profit and emotions, but were
unable to let go of the most fundamental attachment - selfishness. Therefore,
none of them were able to go beyond the Three Realms; none of them met with the
requirements of the Fa of the cosmos at their respective realms. Thus numerous
Gods were unable to return after they had fallen down because they had
degenerated and deviated from the standards, no matter how high their realms
were. This is why the beings of the old cosmos dare to impose their own
arrangements on Master during the Fa-rectification period. Our cultivation is divided into two parts. Before July 20, 1999, we were
cultivating to reach Consummation. That was our personal cultivation, from
letting go of various attachments to relinquishing fame, profit and emotions.
Whereas after July 20, 1999, Master told us it is, "your elevation to your own
original and highest position." (From "Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Fa
Conference") This is cultivation in the Fa-rectification period. I understand
that in the process of eliminating the evil and saving sentient beings, we are
also fundamentally relinquishing selfishness to reach a state of selflessness.
These are the different standards of the Fa at different realms of the cosmos.
Although we have gone through many hardships in the past to finally gain this
understanding today, this is our Master's immense compassion in saving the
beings of the cosmos, and the fundamental assurance of our own and of the
sentient beings' entrance into the new cosmos. This is also the fundamental
assurance of the eternal existence of life and the cosmos. I understand that cultivating ourselves according to Dafa is for us to return
to what our revered Master wishes, an even purer state than the beginning of the
old cosmos. Once we eliminate selfishness, we can let go of any other
attachment. We will be able to reach the standard that Master wants us to
achieve, which is also the standard of Fa-rectification, if we can truly
relinquish selfishness. Above is my personal understanding. Please point out anything that is not
appropriate.
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.cc/mh/articles/2003/11/11/60389.html
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