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Truly Cultivating One's Mind
By Liaoran
(Clearwisdom.net) Reflecting upon my own cultivation path, my deepest
understanding is that one must truly cultivate one's mind. I remember clearly, at the beginning of my Dafa cultivation, that even though
I had a new comprehension whenever I read Zhuan Falun, the sentence that
touched me the deepest was always the same: "Even in this class, there are
people who think quite highly of themselves right now and speak with a different
attitude." During the last several years, Teacher's words have seemed to
appear constantly in my mind to alert me. Now I realize this kind of thought is
the beginning of evil enlightenment, and it is also the first step for demonic
interference from one's own mind. Fortunately, I was able to overcome numerous roadblocks. I have experienced
different degrees of evil enlightenment; it is Teacher's compassion that has
helped me back onto the righteous path each time. What experiences should cultivators share when they get together? When cultivators get together, they often talk about enlightenment, "His
enlightenment is very good," "My enlightenment is not so good,"
or "You really can enlighten to things." What are they really
enlightened to? How do we judge a cultivator's enlightenment quality? Is it
one's eloquence? Is it that someone can say something novel? Is it who is more
creative and quick in association? In my opinion, it is none of these. Teacher says in Zhuan Falun, "The enlightenment that we actually
refer to is a matter of whether in the course of cultivation practice one can
enlighten to and accept the Fa taught by the master or the Tao
taught by the Taoist master, whether one can treat oneself as a practitioner
upon encountering tribulations, and whether one can adhere to the Fa while
practicing cultivation." What is enlightenment? This is what we need to enlighten to. Some elder
fellow practitioners, who have a poor educational background and no theory, just
have faith and believe in Teacher. The evil people became discouraged when they
were unable to "transform" them and thus said they had "poor
enlightenment quality." I remember a fellow practitioner once said that
there are two kinds of practitioners that the evil cannot transform. One is the
practitioner who is clear on the Fa principles and has strong righteous
thoughts. The other is the uneducated practitioner, who will not listen to
anyone but Teacher. What I want to say here is that the uneducated practitioners
have good enlightenment quality. Cultivation is a process of removing one's attachments. When you let go of
attachments, your xinxing will improve. We gain new understandings
of Fa principles without pursuit. Enlightenment is not simply understanding some
higher Fa principle or painstakingly pursuing enlightenment, as some
practitioners think. When a practitioner understands a new Fa principle, it is
because his xinxing has improved, his level has risen and Teacher's law body
gave him a hint of the Fa principle that he was supposed to know. Enlightenment
to the Fa at different levels is not obtained through pursuit. A cultivator
needs to have a clear understanding of this. Once you feel that you are above
everyone else and have thoughts such as, "Look how good my cultivation
is," or "look how good my enlightenment is," then you are in
grave danger. Finally, I would like to talk about my own experience after I stumbled. As a cultivator during the Fa-rectification, I once was bewildered and could
not comprehend Teacher's Fa. I encountered some fellow practitioners who even
doubted Teacher's Fa. As an individual, I believe in Teacher but I sometimes do
not understand some Fa principles. When I read an article by Teacher, I often
think, "I cannot understand this sentence, and I need to read it carefully
to have a good understanding of it." When I study the Fa with doubts and
attachments, I am not able to understand it. The more I want to understand, the
less I can comprehend. Meanwhile, I generate more questions. This is the reason
that some practitioners have left the Fa. I have a strong belief in Teacher, and
I believe that Teacher is always right. Based on that thought, I often
interpreted for and consoled the puzzled minds of fellow practitioners. I,
however, could not solve the fundamental problem. Slowly, when my belief in Teacher became stronger, those
"questions" could no longer interfere with my studying the Fa. Anyway,
since Teacher is always right, I do not need to think further. I can lay down my
questions and not bother with them anymore. I only need to follow the Fa to do
things and follow Teacher's requests to do things. I put down my mind of trying
to understand and put down my mindset of needing to understand everything. After
I let go of the "questions" and even forgot about the
"questions," finally all my questions were unknowingly answered
through Fa study. Even now as I talk about my understanding, some practitioners, who still
cannot lay down their "questions," do not agree with me. We will not
understand if we do not let go of our attachments. If we do not let go of the
mindset of wanting to understand everything and leaving no stone unturned
searching for answers, not only will we never understand, but also we may feel
we are clever and find more and more questions. To a cultivator, this is very dangerous. Actually, what Teacher says is the
truth of the cosmos. If a Dafa cultivator can let go of himself and firmly
believe in Teacher, the Fa will be able to help us understand everything and see
through all illusions. The above is my personal understanding. I want to share with fellow
practitioners and to progress together.
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