Sentimentality is an Aspect of Lust

By a Falun Dafa practitioner from Hebei Province

(Clearwisdom.net) The topic of lust is something female practitioners don't feel very comfortable talking about. In the following, I'll discuss the process I used to eliminate the attachment of lust, so that fellow practitioners can use it as a reference.

As cultivators, we cannot follow the principles of everyday people. We want to cultivate beyond everyday people, therefore there should be a higher standard for us. We should not simply think that by restraining our actions we have met the standard. In other dimensions, the flash of our every thought is a slow process, which is clearly displayed before the eyes of higher beings. Isn't human thought a substance? Thus we should purify every single thought.

In relationships between men and women I have never dared to step out of the normal boundaries. However, if a man had the qualities I appreciated in my heart, I felt attracted unconsciously. I liked to chat with him, or even treat him as a friend. When I saw a man like this, I intentionally paid attention to my appearance and showed myself off. According to the standards of people today, my behavior was not too bad, but from a practitioners' perspective it stemmed from lustful thoughts. Since we are required to act according to the standards of Dafa, there are serious consequences. If we fail to take seriously the problem of incorrect relationships between men and women, aren't we just going along with the tide and adding fuel to the fire of the declining social morality? From this I came to understand that I should let go of the sentimental desire for relationships between men and women. This realization helped, but this attachment still sometimes appears. However, I can immediately realize it and actively control my desire.

I realize that desire is the attachment that needs to be eliminated, but this is hard to do. It is slowly worn away. Years ago I did not think I had desire. I only gradually understood that the lust attachment is derived from sentimentality. Fellow practitioners that do not have a harmonious marriage cannot experience the love between partners that they want. In their hearts they yearn for emotion, and when they meet a person they like, who pays a little attention to them, they feel incomparably warm and happy. While writing about this, I suddenly realized that the desire for warmth and happiness is a human notion. It is our attachments that desire it. It is sentimentality. It is the basis for lust. After fellow practitioners pointed out various manifestations of lust, I slowly came to understand that I did not previously recognize all the related components, and I thought I had been treating it in a reasonable and natural manner.I have written about my experiences in eliminating this attachment after being encouraged by fellow practitioners. In the past when mentioning the issue of lust, many fellow practitioners thought that it meant simply not having inappropriate sex or indulging in overly lustful thoughts, thus they instinctively disregarded it. But we all have aspects of this attachment in that we all have sentimentality. Subconsciously, we are all soaked in emotion, while sentimentality can lead to lust and is an aspect of lust. It is not a coincidence when we encounter others' sharing on the attachment of lust, for it is very likely a hint that there is an attachment that we should let go of in cultivation.

The closer to the end, the higher and stricter are the requirements for Falun Dafa practitioners. Therefore we must purify every thought and action we have to meet the standard of the Fa at our own levels. Whatever problems we encounter, we should regard them as good things. Problems indicate the need to improve. For those people who don't seem to have problems in this area, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't have these attachments - perhaps they have not yet been exposed. If they arise, then the bad substances have returned to the surface, and it's time to eliminate them.

These are my personal understandings. Please point out anything improper.

October 5, 2006

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/10/7/139475.html

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