Interference in Fa Study
By a practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) During one experience-sharing session, a
practitioner mentioned wanting to study the Fa (1) well and to improve based on
the Fa. However, this practitioner felt that he/she could not enlighten to
anything or have new understandings. This practitioner had been like this for a
long time and it was especially obvious when he/she was studying Zhuan Falun
(2). This practitioner was very disturbed at not being able to figure out why
he/she could not learn anything. In this article I would like to discuss some
factors which cause this interference in studying the Fa, for everyone's
reference. Please correct me if there are any improper points. When I had just started practicing Falun Dafa, I subconsciously studied the
Fa like a theory. I was taught in school to emphasize things such as,
"central thoughts," "points in each paragraph,"
"concise and accurate" and "famous quotes and warnings,"
etc. While I was studying the Fa, I was judging the Fa based on these restricted
thoughts. For example, I often thought, "This paragraph is really
significant and that paragraph is plain," "This paragraph is very
logical," "How good this title is," "This paragraph is
related to the topic and that one is not," "This sentence is so good
that it can become a famous quote, and that one is just giving an example,"
or "This sentence is grammatically correct and that one is not." Sometimes I took knowledge that I had previously learned from textbooks as
the absolute truth. For example, textbooks talk about molecules and atoms in a
certain way, which prevented me from understanding the Fa when Teacher talked
about this concept. The textbook defines, "light year" as a unit of
length, however, in the "Practicing Evil Cultivation" section in Zhuan
Falun, it talks about "light years" as a unit of time. This is an
example of how in the learning process, using everyday people's knowledge
restricts the mind. It severely affects Fa study if we use those standards to
measure the Fa. Initially when I studied the Fa, I often looked for further meaning. I read
the words literally and tried to figure out the deeper meaning of a phrase, a
term, or a word, and I was never able to understand anything. Sometimes I was
enlightened to a little something from a sentence or a paragraph and I thought
that I had seen the real meaning and I would become attached to it. I was afraid
that I would forget it and I tried hard to remember it. The next time I read the
same sentence, I immediately thought of what I had enlightened to last time and
still wanted to think about it when I read. Hence after studying the same
section many times, I still couldn't get any new understandings. The pursuit and
attachment to further meanings severely interfered with my learning the Fa. Sometimes I studied the Fa with attachments. I liked to read parts that fit
my attachments and I would just glance through the parts that pointed out my
attachments. Sometimes, in order to cover up my attachments, I tended to look
for a basis to defend my attachment while I studied the Fa. For example, I
didn't want to admit that I like to snack frequently. When I read "If one
does not have any attachment, it is fine to eat just about anything to fill the
stomach" in Zhuan Falun, I memorized it. The next time practitioners
would talk about the subject, I would reply with that sentence to whomever
mentioned my attachment. Sometimes I had differing opinions with another
practitioner. When I studied the Fa and saw a sentence that I thought might be
able to persuade this practitioner, I would memorize this sentence so I could be
ready to "give him/her a lesson" next time. Sometimes I saw a
practitioner's attachment and told it to this practitioner and he/she would not
accept it. I couldn't let go of it. Next time when I studied the Fa and read a
sentence related to the issue, I subconsciously thought, "This is exactly
talking about him/her!" Studying the Fa with all these strong attachments
also severely interferes with study. Sometimes I used human notions to study the Fa. For example, I would think,
"How come this topic is taught in this chapter and not that chapter?"
or, "How come the topics in this chapter are organized in this way and not
that way?" When I read the topics on "Bigu," "Stealing Qi,"
"Collecting Qi," or "Zhuyou Ke," I felt that those topics
had nothing to do with me since I didn't do any of them. My human notions
considered these topics to be not important or not as important as topics like
"Upgrading Xinxing" (3). I considered the paragraphs which talked
about cultivating Xinxing to be the most important and those that talk about
supernormal abilities or gave examples were not important, and I would quickly
flip through them. When I read the topic regarding "unknowingly practicing
an evil cultivation way," I thought that this was a problem for those who
practice regular qigong. Since I practiced Falun Dafa, this topic has little to
do with me. When I read a paragraph that I could understand or feel, I
considered it meaningful; and if the paragraph made me feel nothing or was just
giving an example, I considered it meaningless. I also considered paragraphs
that I could accept as making sense and I would not try to understand a
paragraph that had a different point of view from mine. A lot of the time we use
human notions to look at the Fa subconsciously. These notions exists deep inside
our thoughts and are not easily detectable. However, they do affect our Fa-study
to a great extent. When I studied the Fa, I did not position myself as being inside the
practice. Teacher says in Zhuan Falun that what he is teaching,
"...are all principles for cultivation practice at high levels."
However I often divided the Fa into two parts when I studied it; one part was
relevant to my practice and the other not. For example, the paragraph which
pointed out my shortcomings looked to me like it was talking about a
practitioner in charge of our group. In one lecture Teacher talked about the old
forces wanting to change others and not themselves, and I thought Teacher was
talking about the old forces. In another lecture Teacher mentioned that the
Communist Party would not admit its faults to people and likes to say it was
"always correct," I thought Teacher was talking about the Communist
Party, and that he was absolutely right! When Teacher mentioned that some
practitioners couldn't stand being corrected, I thought Teacher was talking
about the person in charge of our group, the coordinator, and the practitioners
who worked in the area of computer technology. Now that I think of it in a more
clearheaded way, when I thought of others being wrong in a conflict, when I
argued with practitioners, when I insisted on my point of view or my proposal
and would not give up, and when I refused to listen to other people's criticism
and suggestions, wasn't I protecting that self? Was I looking inside myself
based on the Fa? Was I truly cultivating myself and taking the Fa as Teacher? Or
did I have the thoughts of being "always correct" hidden deep inside
of me? Every word in the Fa is for guiding us practitioners to improve ourselves,
and nothing is irrelevant to the practice. The things Teacher mentioned that
need to be eliminated in our practice and all kinds of shortcomings that exist
in all of us; some are visible in our behavior, some in our thoughts, and some
in our understandings. However, some are not easily visible and are hidden deep
inside of us. If we can't treat ourselves as genuine practitioners, we can't
position ourselves inside the practice. If we feel a certain sentence or
paragraph irrelevant to ourselves, then our human notions are interfering with
our Fa-study and our improvement based on the Fa. There is a lot of interference, many obstacles and factors that hinder our
studying the Fa. For example; fatigue, sleepiness, daydreaming, and random
thoughts can easily be detected. We can try to eliminate them and clear them out
with our righteous thoughts and a strong main consciousness. After some time we
will be able to eliminate those kinds of interference. However, the interference
which comes from our human notions is not easily detectable. Only when we can
truly calm down and study the Fa, can the Fa break through all obstacles,
attachments, and human notions. Notes
Chinese version available at
http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/8/7/81246.html
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