We Should Not Be Attached to Time in Our Cultivation

(Clearwisdom.net) Master said in the new article "The Closer to the End, the More Diligent You Should Be:"

"A person has many tests to overcome in the course of cultivation, one reason being, from the time of birth on, a person ceaselessly forms notions of every sort as he comes to an understanding of human society, and attachments result."

After studying the new article, I realized that many of our practitioners seem to have been affected by today's people's warped notions of not being willing to suffer tribulations and wanting to live a comfortable life. We seem to have an attachment to hoping that the cultivation period will end soon. As a result, extra pressure, interference and difficulties come up in our cultivation. Fellow practitioners have talked about these lessons many times in their experience sharing papers. I would also like to share my understanding of why I think that being attached to time is a notion of today's people.

In ancient times, the practice of cultivation was very popular. No matter which school or sector of cultivation you chose, you had to cultivate in hardship for several decades, your entire lifetime or even several lifetimes before you could succeed in cultivation. In the past, if anybody was seen to be counting the number of days and years and waiting for the end of his cultivation, people would have thought him very ridiculous because this sort of attitude made no sense in cultivation. The result of one's cultivation depends on the realm of the cultivator and whether he or she has reached the standard required. It is not measured by time.

Since the persecution began in China on July 20, 1999, I have periodically heard practitioners say, "When will the persecution end?" Other's experiences have shown that being attached to time can have a fatal impact on a cultivator's improvement and whether he or she can ultimately reach consummation.

For example, in the early period of the persecution, some practitioners thought that the persecution would end in three months, two years, or in the coming spring or autumn. So, they did very well during that expected period of persecution. They did not compromise with the evil and they could even relinquish all the fame and self interest in the human world. However, when the expected end time came and the persecution did not end, they faced very serious tests of their confidence in cultivation.

Not only did they start to become re-attached to loss and gain in the human world, but whether or not they could continue their cultivation became a fatally urgent issue. In fact, this is due to our attachment to the notion of "time." As the notion grew stronger the attachment became greater. In the end, the evil elements of the old forces take advantage of their weakness, interfering with the mind or strengthening the attachments.

In ancient times, people who truly wished to cultivate, would only think about how he or she should cultivate better and make improvement every day. He or she did not dare to slack off and would never waste his or her time. The cultivator dared not suppose that he or she had cultivated well enough and therefore could just wait for the end of his or her cultivation. They had no attachment to time and they were not attached to reaching the end of cultivation. Rushing around and being unwilling to suffer is a characteristic of today's people.

In our cultivation in Falun Dafa, we can achieve in just a few years more than what cultivators of the past could even imagine. Then how can we be concerned about the length of time? Besides, a cultivator's achievement is not to be known by even the cultivator himself. The only way we can cultivate further, validate Dafa in our cultivation and save more sentient beings is if there is more time. Therefore, if it is still not the end, we should be grateful for and take full advantage of the great opportunity granted by the additional time.

Some practitioners have not been able to, for a long period, let go of the attachment to time or other ordinary people's notions. Even the thought of giving up cultivation forms in their minds, with the illusion that if they give up cultivation they will be able to live more comfortably. Of course this thought does not come from the true self, for who can live comfortably when he still carries karma? After you have experienced the happiness of cultivation, which surpasses the happiness of ordinary people, it would be very hard to find true happiness upon returning to the ordinary people's world filled with desires, attachments and tribulations. In the ordinary people's world, no matter how much money you earn or what sort of fame you gain, you still cannot escape the various conflicts among ordinary people. When one hundred years have passed, you will leave with nothing but karma. Cultivators suffer the same conflicts and pain as ordinary people, in return for gong and eternal happiness. Who would you say suffers in vain?

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2005/10/9/112067.html

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