Strengthening Righteous Thoughts; Leaving Human Mentality Behind
(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings to esteemed Teacher and fellow practitioners!
Teacher taught in Lecture Four of Zhuan Falun, "Accordingly, in your future cultivation practice you will run into
all kinds of tribulations. How can you practice cultivation without these
hardships? If everyone is good to one another without conflicts of interests
or interference from the human mind, how can your xinxing make progress by
your only sitting there? That is impossible. One must truly temper and upgrade
oneself through actual practice." Breaking through all tribulations depends on our comprehension of the Fa
and our righteous thoughts. I realized that "righteous thoughts" means
divine thoughts. When encountering a tribulation or test, will one use an
everyday person's thinking and methods to resolve the problems, or use divine
thoughts to melt away all difficulties? Those considerations are also a key
issue on whether or not a practitioner can genuinely leave behind an everyday
person's attitudes. I would like to share some of my personal experiences. Please kindly point
out and correct any wrong assumptions. Righteous Thoughts Derive from the Fa Teacher taught in "Drive Out Interference," "Now you can see why I've often told you to read the book more,
right?! The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa
can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts." (Essential
for Further Advancement II) Not long after I had begun cultivating, I realized for the first time that I
should strengthen my righteous thoughts through studying the Fa. I had previously suffered from faucitis. Whenever I lacked sleep, the
symptoms tended to show up again. I would usually study the Fa during a bus
commute because my workplace was far from my home. One time after only a few
minutes of studying, sleepiness overcame me and I had a faint pain in my throat.
As usual, the faucitis broke out again because I did not have a good rest.
However, I sent out one thought, "Let it be. Just keep studying." Then
I opened my eyes wide and kept studying the Fa. Unexpectedly, the more I
studied, the more alert I became. The sleepiness disappeared and so did the
symptoms of faucitis. I felt completely covered in energy. I deeply appreciate
Teacher enlightening me to the relationship between studying the Fa and
righteous thoughts. When I study the Fa, it is not always so easy to get rid of interference,
because sometimes the interference varies. For a period of time I couldn't focus
as I studied; after studying I could never remember what I had learned. That
state continued for a long time and caused my righteous thoughts to weaken.
Whenever I practiced the exercises, I got sleepy. I also had difficulties with
truth-clarification. At that time, there was a notice about changing
words in Zhuan Falun. To find the characters that need to be corrected
required thorough reading, word by word. Just like that, with Teacher's merciful
care,I eventually overcame the interference I experienced when reading. Every day I can guarantee over two hours of studying the Fa, most of it
during my commute to work. Before I began cultivating, I needed to spend over
two hours daily commuting, because my company had relocated. Since then,
although my company has moved twice more, the commute time has remained almost
unchanged. Teacher simply used that way to guarantee His disciple's study time.
Once, I tried to hand out truth-clarification materials on the bus, or copies of
the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party to the
other passengers. Since then, whenever I did that, I had butterflies in my
stomach - I was thinking about how to hand out materials and clarify the truth.
This prevented me from focusing on studying the Fa, and thus the passengers'
reactions were usually negative. After several attempts, I realized when we
study the Fa, we needed to concentrate only on studying the Fa! Our attention
should never be diverted by anything else. I had also harbored a thought, "Will it affect my eyesight to read the
book on a bus?" I immediately dismissed this with my righteous thought,
"As the most holy thing in the world, studying the Fa can never be
interfered with by anything." Therefore, however violently the bus shakes,
and however dim the light is, I have stuck with studying the Fa these several
years. A recent physical checkup was one of praise; the doctor said, "It is
really unusual to see such good eyes like yours." I actually used to have
slightly weak eyesight. It is usual for me to finish reading through Zhuan Falun once every
six days or so; meanwhile, I am memorizing the Fa. I have recited Hong
Yin and Hong Yin (Volume II) from memory more than ten
times, and Essentials for Further Advancement once; currently I am
memorizing Essentials for Further Advancement (Volume II). I recite the
Fa when I am transferring buses. When I recite, I often experience a new
understanding with each sentence and each character in the Fa, and often
experience a really marvelous feeling - that all the cells in my body are
melting into the Fa. Do the Three Things Well with Righteous Thoughts Doing well the three things Teachers has requested is a measuring
stick for me, to gauge my progress in cultivation practice. If I fail to focus
when I study the Fa, I cannot control my thoughts when I try to send forth
righteous thoughts and feel sleepy when I practice. I have thus met with huge
interference in various respects when I clarify the truth. My solution is to
insist on a large amount of studying the Fa and meanwhile looking inward, and
letting go of attachments. Not long ago, I had many tests to pass, which were due to
attachments I failed to eliminate. Just as Teacher taught in "The Closer to the End, the
More Diligent You Should Be," "Of course, most disciples who are in this state are that way because,
at the beginning, they didn't realize that they had subtle attachments or were
being interfered with by their own notions, and so the evil has exploited this
gap and magnified those factors." I felt sleepy when I studied the Fa, when I practiced, and when I sent forth
righteous thoughts. The sleepiness had progressed to such a debilitating point
that when I practiced the standing exercises, I even fell asleep and almost fell
down. Things were worse when I practiced the sitting meditation; right after I
finished the hand signs, I became unconscious.
About an hour later, I woke up from leg pain. When I sent forth righteous
thoughts, I had already gotten sleepy before I could finish reciting the
formulas. I was profoundly regretful each morning for my slacking condition,
holding Teacher's photo. I couldn't find a solution for a long time. I had not forgotten that I am a practitioner; looking deeply inward I
eventually found my attachment. I had been aware of it for a long time but was
reluctant to let it go. I couldn't clarify the truth well even though I knew it
needed to be done properly. I also knew that all Dafa disciples must do well, in
a noble and dignified way, but I always did things like handing out or faxing
truth-clarification materials and posting the Nine Commentaries behind my
wife's back, for fear she would get angry when she knew. From one perspective,
this was an attachment of fear. Looking more deeply, it was entirely an
attachment to self and personal benefit. When I couldn't entirely let go of this attachment, just then two more things
happened that seemed coincidental. One afternoon my wife was not at home and I
began to prepare the envelopes for mailing the Nine Commentaries. I used
a small plastic container for water to seal the envelopes. When I was half done,
I suddenly noticed that all the water had leaked onto the table. I had used this
container only days before - no one had since touched it. So, wasn't it an
obvious hint from Teacher that I had loopholes? When I used our washing machine
to do a load of laundry that evening and was almost finished, I found the water
had leaked everywhere onto the ground from a broken drainpipe. So wasn't it
another obvious hint, "A small loophole it will turn into a big one"?
I silently expressed my appreciation to Teacher, giving Him my sincere thanks
for His repeated hints to me. I made up my mind to completely leave that
depressing state of mind behind. Then, when I told my wife later on that I would
go to hand out truth-clarification materials the following evening, she only
said a few things, reminding me to pay attention to safety. My initial experience and apprehension about sending forth righteous thoughts
came from my truth-clarification efforts by making phone calls. One Saturday
afternoon I had some extra time I could use to clarify the truth over the
telephone. I sat in the crossed-legged position and sent forth righteous
thoughts before doing anything. Because my mental state was pretty good that
day, I was able to concentrate immediately. After I recited the Fa-rectification
formulas silently, my body felt like it was being placed in a vast field and the
field that was covered became bigger and bigger. I then experienced a complete
feeling of having melted into all-encompassing energy. When I then made phone
calls, almost every call was answered, and people kept listening to my
truth-clarifying from beginning to end. One of the calls was to a Public
Security Bureau. A lady answered and amazingly said, "I have been waiting
here for so long!" She asked a lot of questions, and I answered
satisfactorily. I told myself that this is a true example of "The Buddha Fa
is Boundless!" From then on, besides sending forth righteous thoughts before making phone
calls, I insisted on sending forth righteous thoughts during the process of the
calls. Whenever I can send forth righteous thoughts properly, I can see good
results in truth-clarification. This state has lasted for a long time.
Gradually, I realized how to send forth righteous thoughts correctly, and how to
concentrate in sending forth formidable righteous thoughts. When I send forth
righteous thoughts, I don't control the time. I often spend longer than 15
minutes, and sometimes it is quite long. After sending forth righteous thoughts,
I can experience a feeling similar to, "The heavens clear, the cosmic body
transparent." Currently I send forth righteous thoughts about eight times
daily. Each time prior to truth-clarifying or handing out truth-clarification
materials, I concentrate to send forth my powerful righteous thoughts. The
miracles that manifest from Dafa are encouragements for my continuing diligence. Now when I look back, my process of understanding when sending forth
righteous thoughts makes me realize profoundly the mercy Teacher shows to
cultivating disciples, and the strict, gradual instructions for cultivating
disciples. To Resolve the Difficulties in Everyday Life and Work with Righteous Thoughts Dafa disciples are cultivating in the environment of everyday people and
cannot rid themselves of such a living and working environment. Our everyday
life and working environment manifest in our cultivation state, and they
determine whether or not we can fundamentally abandon concerns of everyday
people. Some examples of trivial matters are given below. Before I began cultivating, I used to sleep around eight hours every day, but
since then my hours of sleep have gradually shortened; currently I sleep around
five hours per day. Occasionally three to four hours is sufficient, and my
energy is good for the whole day. Initially, though, to guarantee sending
righteous thoughts at midnight and at 6:00 a.m, on Sunday mornings I needed to
struggle with the demon of sleep and was really suffering. However, arduous
practice helped me break through the barrier faster. Please think about it: Does
a divine being fear the lack of sleep? I have worked in software development for a long time. Each time I did
software designing prior to cultivating, I needed to precisely think and plan,
often exhausting myself from such a tiring devotion to my work. I kept thinking
of job-related problems even when walking, eating and sleeping. Since beginning
cultivation, I gradually gave up this "traditional" method. Consider
this: Will a divine being do things with such excessive and tiring thinking?
Now, whatever I want to do, I can continuously be inspired in the process and
can hugely improve my work efficiency and quality. That way I can devote more
time to study the Fa and reading the Minghui website, and have freed myself from
exhaustion. I have never met with the test of eating meat, but I have an attachment to
eating properly and nutritiously. Several times when I saw a whole table of
delicious food, I thought, "This time I should have a good meal!"
However, as soon as I was half-full, I began to suffer from a stomachache. After
several of those experiences, most of my attachment to food has been eliminated.
Now my purpose for eating is just getting full. Think about it: Will a divine
being harbor the desire for eating delicious food? My teeth are not so good--my gums always bleed, and the gaps between my teeth
are easily jammed with food particles when eating. I previously had my teeth
cleaned every six months and could not do without toothpicks and dental floss.
After beginning cultivation, this problem did not improve. My wife reminded me
once to have my teeth cleaned. I agreed because I remember Teacher had said to
clean one's teeth can be taken as wanting to be neat and clean; so I decided to
have my teeth cleaned that weekend. However, having raised that idea, my gums
inflamed badly the following day, making a cleaning completely impossible. From
then on, I never got attached to having my teeth cleaned anymore. Finally, I'd like to share with everyone Teacher's article, "In Fa-Rectification
Your Thoughts Have to be Righteous, Not Human": "What I am doing is leading you toward godhood in cultivation, leading
your understanding, little by little, out of humanness and beyond that of man,
and the goal is to lead you to Consummation and the ascension of your
being." Thank you, Teacher! Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Chinese version available at
http://minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/1/17/146962.html
Yearly Archive
Printer Version
feedback@clearwisdom.net