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Step Out of the Invisible Prison
(Clearwisdom.net) Rescuing an "illegally imprisoned"
practitioner is stepping out from a visible prison. I would like to talk about
stepping out of an invisible prison. I personally understand that the invisible
prison is also a mechanism arranged by the old forces for some practitioners and
that we should destroy it. A senior practitioner had practiced Falun Dafa for just one year before the
persecution began in 1999. Since he had mostly cultivated Dafa on his own, even
though no one went to talk to him to give up cultivation, he voluntarily stopped
cultivation. Later his children, who were also Dafa practitioners, persuaded him
to resume cultivation. He is still taking injections to treat his illness even
though he is studying the Fa and practicing the exercises. He does
not want to step out to clarify the truth. He just occasionally
mentions that Dafa is good when seeing his old coworkers. When he meets
tribulations, he seldom realizes that they are evil interference. He believes
that few people in history have ever been able to reach Consummation and that
Teacher knows which level each practitioner can reach and has arranged it just
so. He thinks he can probably only cultivate to such a level, and just lets it
be. I think this is actually a form of invisible prison: a prison for the mind. I
truly hope practitioners in similar situations can step out of such invisible
prisons. I also hope fellow practitioners will help such practitioners so we can
improve as a whole and progress together diligently. Another example of the invisible prison is what happened to me. I have been
trying to be a good person following Dafa principles and focusing on cultivating
myself. I don't fight with others for my own benefit. I accept whatever prizes
are awarded by my company and don't fight for anything not offered to me. I
thought I had been doing quite well. However, one day, a coworker told me,
"You have the best deal. You don't have to work hard to get good pay. For
the year-end bonus, the company has regulated about how much you get and we have
no objections about that. However, we have been working hard, and the company
just forgets about us. We would feel better even if we got a smaller bonus than
you." Another coworker said, "Now everyone only cares about himself.
Who cares about others?" I pondered for a long time after I heard this. I have been cultivating for a
long time. I seemed to work hard on cultivating myself. However, I forgot that
Teacher wanted us to enter the new cosmos and that the new cosmos will be built
upon selflessness. In all these years, I have only thought of myself, and cared
about myself. I don't have any contact with others except the few that I have
to. I confine myself to a small circle of few people. Before I cultivated Dafa,
I had persisted in a strong notion that was part of the Party culture--to stand
aloof from things that do not affect me personally and not to comment on
anything even if it is wrong. Over time, I have formed the habit of not paying
much attention to anything. I thought I had no attachment to desires or
pursuits. But actually I have been confining myself in the invisible prison of
the selfish mechanism of the old cosmos. Since I began cultivation, I haven't
made friends, and I don't contact other practitioners. Other than taking care of
my own family, I don't even want to go visit my parents. The senior practitioner
I have just mentioned was just like this. When others invited him to study the
Fa together, he said, "I don't want to be interfered with by others. I want
to study by myself." I have been living a life of cultivating alone and
have always longed for serene cultivation deep in the mountains or woods. Such
an attitude has a big impact on my clarifying the truth as I am not enthusiastic
about saving sentient beings. I don't have compassion or sympathy towards
sentient beings. Whenever I tried to clarify the truth, I easily gave up and
left people alone when they didn't want to listen or refused to withdraw from
the Communist Party and its related organizations. This was because I hadn't
completely gotten rid of the poisonous Party culture from my mind and was
confined in the invisible prison of selfishness from the old cosmos. I share my understanding here so that other practitioners in similar
situations can take this as a lesson and waste no time in eliminating the
poisons of the Party culture, eradicating the mechanism of the old cosmos, and
catching up in the Fa-rectification process. Posting date: 10/26/2006 |