Eliminating the Attachment to Time (Part 1)

(Clearwisdom.net)

Many Dafa practitioners have the attachment to time. Some fellow practitioners have already eliminated it in the course of Fa-rectification cultivation. Some practitioners still have it, but the attachment has diminished. However, many practitioners were deeply entangled in this attachment, to the point that it became a reason to turn to the opposite side. How should we view this problem?

We are assisting Teacher in the Fa-rectification. We are assisting Teacher in saving sentient beings and at the same time cleansing ourselves. After maturing through Dafa cultivation, we will be returning to the new cosmos that was created by Dafa. Being attached to time could be a problem. Teacher has talked about this in many lectures. In "Touring North America to Teach the Fa", Teacher says:

"Instead of truly using this period of time well, you're hoping that it will end soon. Think about it, if we ended it today, how many people in China would die? A lot of people correspond to numerous beings in even larger cosmic bodies, so if this ended immediately, how many beings would be weeded out? If due to our inability to clear out the evil thoughts in their heads that are hostile to the Great Fa of the cosmos, and yet many of them represent gigantic cosmic bodies, then how many beings in the universes that correspond to them would die as a result of these people being weeded out? Do you realize how many beings would be weeded out? Have you thought about this? You are Dafa disciples; history has bestowed upon you magnificent responsibilities. We should make good use of this time. Since this hasn't ended it's a chance to save sentient beings. There's only a short while left; once the Fa-rectification of the human world begins, the positioning of people will be set. Although we don't acknowledge the arrangements of the old forces, during this period of time you have tempered yourselves and have established Dafa disciples' mighty virtue. When Dafa is persecuted, the first thing Dafa disciples should think of is saving sentient beings and how to validate Dafa. Isn't that magnificent? We don't acknowledge this arrangement by the evil one bit, but after all, the persecution has taken place, and after all, the evil has persecuted so many sentient beings. Shouldn't our first thought be how to make good use of time to save them? To treat it as an ordinary human persecution against other human beings, to think with an ordinary human mind, "When will they restore our name? When will it end?"--think about it, are these the thoughts a Dafa disciple should have?

"Don't worry that it will take a long time. I can tell you that Christianity rose after three hundred years of persecution. Is a Dafa disciple, with his important mission, not as good as an ordinary cultivator? What's crucial is how we understand things. Let me ask you, if it would take another ten years to save all sentient beings, would you still do it? (The students reply together, "Yes!") (Applause) That's how a Dafa disciple should be. (Applause) Of course, there won't be another ten years. It's not allowed to take that long, and they don't have that much time left in their lives.

"But what's crucial is how Dafa disciples look at things."

Through studying Teacher's words, I came to understand this: Doing Fa-rectification work with an attachment to the duration of the Fa-rectification creates a loophole which is not in line with the great mission that is bestowed upon Falun Dafa practitioners. Fundamentally speaking, it is selfish; therefore, it should be eliminated. If we don't eliminate this extremely bad attachment our xinxing standard would be as low as that of an ordinary cultivator.

In the course of assimilating to Dafa, Dafa practitioners should ultimately reach the realm of "Cultivating until no attachments are left, With bitterness gone and sweetness coming, true happiness arrives." (From "Hong Yin") Then, those who are attached to time, please ask yourself if you have reached the realm of "Cultivating until no Attachments are left?" Obviously not. To a cultivator who has reached the standard of Consummation, he should not have attachments to anything in the human world. Isn't being attached to time an attachment? Since it is an attachment, we should eliminate it.

When coming into contact with people who used to practice Falun Dafa, I felt the big difference in the mindset reflected by the attachment to time. Genuine practitioners also had this kind of attachment; however, they eliminated it through the course of studying and cultivating in Dafa. At least they have taken it lightly. Nevertheless, the attachments displayed by many people who used to practice Falun Dafa have been especially prominent, which has even become their excuse for giving up cultivation or turning to the opposite side. Then, this is not a simple issue of being attached to time and we should dig deeper to analyze this situation. I would like to discuss people who appeared to be very steadfast while being detained in prison or in a labor camp, yet have exposed the problems existing behind their attachment to time.

Some former practitioners failed to eliminate their mentality of pursuit. Some sought to heal their illnesses, some did not give up pursuing fame, gain or affection in the human world. Some even wanted to get this kind of satisfaction from Dafa, and so on. Since the persecution began, these people saw many Falun Dafa practitioners step forward to validate Dafa. They followed in their footsteps and also stepped forward. Nevertheless, their basic mindset was different from that of Dafa practitioners who truly understand the Fa from the Fa. Based on their assumptions, these people usually set a timeframe for the day when the grand manifestation of the truth would unfold or when the case against Falun Dafa would be redressed. Within this designated timeframe, they could be "steadfast," could endure hardship or even irrationally look for hardship, thinking that cultivation was all about enduring hardship to eliminate karma. They failed to realize that the great mission of the Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples was to assist Teacher in the Fa-rectification, to save sentient beings, to rectify one's self and to establish mighty virtue. These people's attachment to time was only a superficial manifestation, what was deep down inside was the mentality of wanting to get something.

Teacher teaches us in Zhuan Falun:

"In religious cultivation in the past, Buddhists taught Emptiness--not thinking about anything, and entering the Gate of Emptiness. And Daoists taught Nothingness--having nothing, wanting nothing, and seeking nothing. Cultivators used to talk about, "Putting the mind on practicing, not putting the mind on getting gong." So you cultivate in a state of nonaction and just focus on cultivating your character, then you'll be making breakthroughs in your level, and you'll definitely have whatever you should. If you can't let go of something, isn't that an attachment? Here we're teaching such high-level Laws right at the outset, so of course the demands on your character are high. And that's why you can't come to learn the Law wanting to get something."

I realized that learning the Law while wanting to get something should not exist in any period of our cultivation and we should clearheadedly eliminate it. People with the mentality of pursuit tend to become attached to time and therefore are more easily taken advantage by the evil. In order to eliminate the attachment to time, first they have to let go of their mentality of pursuit.

While in prison or labor camp, instead of validating Dafa and striving diligently to do the three things well, some people validated themselves. For example, one person saw a fellow practitioner was greatly praised by other practitioners for openly and dignifiedly walking out of a labor camp after holding a hunger strike for more than two months, so he also tried to learn from the practitioner. However, he did not learn to do what the practitioner had done while holding a hunger strike: maintaining righteous thoughts and righteous actions by persisting in studying and reciting the Fa-teaching, clarifying the truth and sending righteous thoughts. Instead, he only learned to hold a hunger strike on the surface and tried to upstage the practitioner by holding a hunger strike longer than the practitioner who walked out of a labor camp with righteous thoughts and righteous actions, in an attempt to prove that he was better than others. Yet, after holding a hunger strike for more than three months, he ended up being "transformed" by the evil. This kind of behavior of validating one's self but not Dafa created an obvious omission which was taken advantage by the evil.

A cultivator is not supposed to harbor hatred. The fact that you harbor hatred indicates that you have very strong ordinary people's mentality. Hatred is considered a bad thought among ordinary people, even less so should Dafa practitioners harbor hatred. When being persecuted, some practitioner's hatred emerged and they hated the perpetrators. Yet, they did not realize that most of people who participated in the persecution were beings that were savable. They didn't recognize that they should use great compassion and righteous thoughts to stop these people from committing even more serious sins and from receiving stronger retribution. For example, there was a person who used to practice Falun Gong. When he was "steadfast," he was so based on his standpoint of "anger". Because of this loophole, although he walked out of a labor camp openly and with dignity, he was sent to a brainwashing class. The evil threatened him, "The term you served in a labor camp was a fixed one. When you come here you are serving an indefinite term." He was forced to compromise. He said, "Even if I stopped practicing Falun Gong, I would still hate you." This kind of hatred enhanced his attachment to time; he was hoping that the day would come soon when the evil would be punished and he would be liberated, rather than thinking about saving sentient beings and validating Dafa.

After taking the wrong path, some of them lost their rationality; some even turned their hatred toward Dafa, Teacher and Falun Dafa practitioners and became accomplices of the evil by doing something that they absolutely should not have done, such as helping the evil abuse innocent people. Therefore, they caused great damage to their own lives and to others' lives. In order to eliminate the attachment to time, these people first need to let go of their hatred. They should think about saving sentient beings and validating Dafa, then, the attachment to time can be easily eliminated.

All in all, for those people who were once "steadfast" while being detained in prison or labor camp, behind their attachment to time, they usually had a bigger attachment or even many attachments in hiding; these also created loopholes which were taken advantage by the old forces. They failed to use righteous thoughts and righteous actions to stop the evil from committing evil deeds, therefore the evil enhanced their attachments, making them feel that they had to wait indefinitely to achieve Consummation. No longer being rational, they thought they were on the right path although they had taken the wrong path. In fact, people who were like that had not been cultivating genuinely for a long time and their minds and actions had long been deviated from Dafa. If they had done what Teacher taught us to do, they would not have encountered such severe persecution. This is also a fact which has been validated by genuine Falun Dafa disciples who have been able to maintain righteous thoughts and righteous actions while being detained in prison or labor camps and have therefore scared the evil.

Teacher says in "Touring North America to Teach the Fa":

"There are two circumstances in which they can't touch a Dafa disciple. One is that he is rock-solid. They don't dare touch him, because they know at that time that if this disciple has taken a righteous path and conducted himself well and someone still dares to persecute him, it doesn't matter that they're the old forces or what the old principles are--I absolutely won't spare them. There are countless righteous Gods by my side, too! And I also have countless Law Bodies who do Fa-rectification. My only concern is that Dafa disciples themselves won't be firm inside; when there's some kind of attachment, some kind of fear, or what not, then the old forces see it and take advantage of the omissions and persecute them. And if a person's righteous thoughts aren't sufficient while he's being persecuted, he will be persecuted even worse."

We do not acknowledge any form of persecution imposed upon Falun Gong practitioners by the evil; we completely reject it. However, when persecution occurs, you should not be afraid, less should you handle it with ordinary human's mentality and make the evil persecute you even worse. You should understand that any kind of action that abandons Fa-rectification cultivation is acknowledging the evil's persecution. Don't the dark minions and old forces behind the evil take advantage of your omissions and your not being worthy of becoming a Falun Dafa practitioner to persecute you more severely? Your giving up and turning to the opposite side--the side of you that turns to the evil, doesn't it satisfy their desire to destroy you? Do you know what your irrational choice means to yourself and the sentient beings that are closely linked to you? This is self-destruction. (To be continued.)

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/7/2/78503.html

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