By a Practitioner in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province

(Clearwisdom.net) A cultivator should not kill or raise plants and animals. Most of us know about this Fa principle. Yet, I simply could not let go of my attachment. I had a deep love for growing flowers. I live in an apartment building, and there were pots and pots of different flower plants inside and outside my front door and the windows of the patio and living room. They had healthy bright colors. I watered them every day, and my water bill was the highest in my neighborhood. Fellow practitioners suggested that I give them away. Nevertheless, I could not let them go.

One summer, one of the plants was infected with spider mites, and it spread widely. This bug does great damage to plants. Their leaves turn yellow, and the plant dies very quickly. I rushed to buy a pesticide to spray my plants. I moved the pots to an area with good ventilation, and I was able to save a few pots. I enlightened that I should no longer grow plants. However, it had become an attachment. I simply stopped adding new plants. However, I still was reluctant to give them away.

Now it really started to interfere with me. The first thing I did after getting up was check my flowers. The first thing I did after coming home from work was also checking on these flowers. When I practiced the exercises, sent forth righteous thoughts, I constantly opened my eyes to take a peek at them, thinking about which plant I should water more. I was always happy when I looked at them. When one of my family members came home from a business trip in the south, he complimented me and said, "Why, they are just like what I saw in the south! It's just so beautiful when they are so bright and green."

Recently when I practiced the exercises I saw all kinds of different faces. Some were good-looking and some were bad-looking, and some were red and some were green, just like monsters. I could not understand why I saw these low-level beings.

When Master taught the Fa in Houston, he talked about how beings that practitioners raise might learn too many things and thus commit bad deeds. He also talked about how worrying about these beings can become an attachment and distract a practitioner.

I finally understood and decided to give my plants away.

The reason I am putting this in writing is to advise practitioners who have a love for growing plants and raising animals to hurry up and let go of your attachment. Don't let it interfere with your cultivation practice or affect you doing the right thing.