My Understanding and Interpretation of "Showing Off"
By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Malaysia
(Clearwisdom.net) Greetings, Master! Greetings, fellow practitioners! I wish to thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my experiences and
express my personal views on cultivation practice with you. As an individual, my
own understanding is limited and I sincerely hope you will correct me if I am
wrong in my interpretation. Every practitioner has followed his or her path along the journey of
cultivation. I have felt miserable about the beginning of my cultivation journey
experienced thus far. I would like to share my understanding and interpretation
of the attachment of showing off. As a practitioner and a cultivator, we often read Zhuan Falun
regarding the issue of "showing off," "Showing off itself is a very strong attachment and a very bad
attachment that a practitioner must relinquish."("The Issue of
Pursuit" from Zhuan Falun) I have read this numerous times, but without enlightening or thinking deeply
that my own showing off was a serious matter. One night after Fa
study, we discussed the distribution of newspapers and materials to analyze the
situation before distribution and minimize costs. I mentioned that "I
always consider this matter (of saving costs)." There was complete silence
in the group. It was quite late then, so I left. When I was in the car, I
wondered why there was complete silence when I told the rest of the group my
understanding of saving costs. What was wrong? I started to think deeply and analyzed the situation once
again--what if another person was talking like me and I was the one listening?
What would my reaction be? I immediately realized that I was wrong in the way I
had constructed my sentence. I made it seem as though I was the only one
concerned about saving costs and that the others were all being wasteful. The realization pained my heart. At that moment, a downpour started, and I
felt like I was facing a deep sea, looking at the strong waves moving up and
down. These were my understandings: I recalled the past. Whenever we had experience sharing during Fa study,
exercises, truth clarification, or understandings of the universe's law, the
"message" I was sending was: I never meant it like that. I was only trying to build a cultivation
environment where fellow practitioners could discuss their experiences during Fa
study and cultivation. Why was their understanding of what I said not the same
as my intent? It is because my way of thinking was still mixed with ordinary
people's. Although I understand the Fa, my understanding is limited and I have
also adopted some of the communist culture. It is reflected in my showing myself
off. I regretted this very much after I realized it. Unintentionally, I have
hurt my fellow practitioners. Master said that showing off is a very bad attachment. I suddenly realized
why it is very bad: We need to bear in mind that because our paths and our attachments are
different, our attachments will happen based on individual understandings on
different levels while we cultivate and clarify the truth. It will be reflected
in different ways on the surface. But when this showing off attachment emerges,
it seems like we are pressuring others to follow our thinking, and it will
distract other's concentration. This is my understanding of showing off at my
limited level. It continued to rain but I felt more calm and peaceful after I understood
this issue, and I thought of Master's advice that when we fall, we must stand up
as soon as possible, and not stay down. I am telling myself I must start all
over again. It is good that I am realizing this now and I must not have regrets
before the end of Fa-rectification. We still have a chance to correct ourselves
as long as Master is looking after us. I promised I must be serious in
cultivation practice. Showing off will happen every now and then in our daily lives. Sometimes,
unintentionally, it happens, and this can hurt others. Showing off ourselves can
hide other people's contributions. This will affect our cultivation and our
daily lives. For example, when we can guide and convince our friends in the
proper way and assist them to solve their problems, we feel great. That is a way
of showing off. I was working in a restaurant and my duty was to take orders from customers.
I used to recommend some good dishes to them. After a period of time, I started
to feel confident and I thought I was very capable. That was a way of showing
off without even realizing it. As such, I felt proud and I ignored others, and
this created misunderstandings among my colleagues. When I think of the past and the present, I fully understand why
misunderstandings occur. Once we have this show off mentality, we lose our
compassion. How much we have contributed in the past--and our wisdom--are all
from the Fa. Why do we show off? It is to prove to others that we are capable or we want
appreciation from others in order to satisfy ourselves. It also reflects our
desire for popularity. As a practitioner, how can I seek popularity? I was
wrong. Finally, I cooled down and analyzed this attachment, and I managed to
overcome it. From then on, I eliminated this bad thought and prevented it from
happening again. This bad thought of showing off has been slowly eliminated. We must concentrate on studying the Fa, as this is the best solution to
eliminate attachments, identify bad substances, and maintain correct thinking.
When I started to eliminate this attachment, it stopped, yet at the same time I
found a lot of excuses to protect myself. This is the case for my understanding
and my way of cultivation, yet different people have different ways of
understanding. After understanding the Fa I will stop this evil thinking. Today,
I talked about this issue, yet it does not mean that my attachment has been
fully eliminated. I am still on my journey of cultivation, which has not yet
ended. If I am not careful, or if I relax, this attachment will come back again
and it may interrupt my cultivation. I have overcome my problems by continuing to study the Fa no matter how busy
or tired I may be. I have cleared my bad thoughts on my cultivation journey. No
matter what difficulty I may encounter, I will continue to be with Master and
improve my practice. I believe and follow the three things that
Master asks us to do in order to overcome all problems. Thank you!
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/11/13/142322.html
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