Surface Form and the Heart (II) Written by a Falun Dafa practitioner in China
(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher has emphasized many times that we should pay
attention to the cultivation of heart and mind.
"However high your character is, that's how high your gong is.."
(Zhuan Falun)
However, a lot of times I still tend to overestimate formality and
superficial manifestations, and ignore the heart. Teacher has given me hints
again and again about this in my cultivation practice.
I knew a leukemia patient who fully recovered soon after practicing
cultivation in Falun Dafa. A subsequent medical check-up found that everything
was normal, so I wondered if the patient had been misdiagnosed. As a result of
studying the Fa, I understood that Falun Dafa was supernormal. However, this
practitioner later passed away. I wondered, "Why did he die? Doesn't Dafa
cultivate the body? Why wasn't his life extended? He seemed to be very
diligent." I only looked at his behavior, but did not look at his heart. When I
contacted his wife, I learned that, after his illness was cured, he thought that
Dafa was very wonderful, and that he had "insurance." He became fearless,
thinking that Dafa was protecting him. He even slackened in his cultivation
practice, practiced less, and studied the Fa less. The symptoms of leukemia soon
returned. Then he developed a strong attachment of fear and thought constantly
about life and death. To demonstrate how diligent he was, he often participated
in group and Hongfa activities. In fact, his behavior was misleading. In his
heart, he doubted Dafa and had a strong attachment of pursuit.
His behavior was actually a pretense, inconsistent with "Zhen-Shan-Ren." When
he was hospitalized, he became even more doubtful about Dafa. He was no
different from an everyday person, and he soon passed away. His wife, after
studying the Fa, understood what had happened. She realized that if he had
indeed let go thoughts of life and death, he would not have died. This incident
helped me realize that we should look at cultivation of the heart instead of
looking at appearances and outward manifestations. Teacher has said that,
"the whole process of cultivation is a process of constantly getting rid
of human attachments."(Zhuan Falun)
In cultivation practice, I often tend to forget this, even though Teacher has
given me hints again and again.
In another instance, I saw a very diligent practitioner whose hair turned
white. I thought, "Doesn't Dafa cultivate the body? How could his hair turn
white?" Then I found his mother's hair turned from white to black through
cultivation practice. Then I learned of another diligent practitioner who had
chronic diarrhea. I thought, "Doesn't Dafa keep one fit and free of illness? Why
does he still have diarrhea?" Later I found that although he had diarrhea, he
had gained weight. Then I recalled what Teacher had said,
"I don't emphasize any specific approach; I use various means to expose
your deeply-concealed attachments and get rid of them."
(Essentials for further advancement, Digging Out the Roots)
From this sentence I understood that all of these manifestations are for us
to get rid of our attachments. We should not pay attention to the surface
appearance itself. Since we are cultivating among everyday people, Teacher will
use many different manifestations in human society to help us realize our
attachments and get rid of them. I often tend to use my flesh eyes to look at
outward appearances. One time I see someone's hair turn white; another time, I
see someone else's hair turn black. Then I see my fellow practitioner with
chronic diarrhea, while later he gains weight. I often end up confusing myself.
Indeed, the more one looks at outward appearances, the more confused and
puzzled one will be. On the contrary, if one pays attention to one's own heart
from the standpoint of the Fa, one will become more and more clear-minded and
rational, and cultivation will be much simpler and faster.
During personal cultivation practice, when we don't study the Fa well and
become confused, Teacher will often give us hints, so we can identify our
shortcomings, and be reminded to cultivate from the standpoint of the Fa. In Fa-rectification
period cultivation practice, however, we should become more and more mature in
cultivation practice and should learn how to walk our own paths well by
ourselves.
During Fa-rectification period cultivation practice, one of the means that
the old forces has used to persecute us is to confuse us using all kinds of
appearances. For example, they let us see things like "a practitioner's hair
turn white" and "a practitioner with chronic diarrhea," and try to keep us from
seeing " a practitioner's white hair turn black" and "a practitioner gaining
weight." If we focus on the superficial and on surface manifestations, these
appearances will confuse and mislead us. We will fall into a trap and be unable
to get out. We might even develop new attachments, have doubts, and
disappointments, lose confidence, and stop being diligent. In addition, Dafa has
clearly told us that one's cultivation status depends on one's xinxing
and on nothing else. If we look at the surface manifestations, it is because we
didn't study the Fa well and do not know how to cultivate.
Different levels have different surface manifestations versus true nature,
form versus heart, falsity versus truth. In human society, our flesh eyes keep
us from looking at the truth, and what we see is an illusion, leaving us lost in
the maze. When a cultivator reaches a high level and looks back, the human world
turns out to be so unreal and illusory. Only the realm that he has ascended to
appears to be real and wonderful. Yet he may once again focus on the surface
manifestations in this dimension and get lost in the maze there, thinking that
only things in this new dimension are real.
Teacher has expounded upon the structure of the universe -- there are heavens
beyond heavens. We Dafa practitioners are luckier than cultivators in the past.
We have been taught these heavenly secrets, and therefore we need to view things
differently: We should not be content with our understanding at this level; we
should keep studying the Fa, move forward diligently and ascend to higher levels
constantly. We should not get lost in the maze of surface manifestations we see
at any level. Compared to higher levels, the truth that we see at our level is
no longer real. Higher levels have truths that are more real. No matter how high
our levels are, we cannot escape from this grand universe; no matter how high
our levels are, it is still possible to be lost in the maze of that level.
These comments are just for your reference. Please kindly point out anything
that is incorrect. Please see Part I at http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2003/5/28/36235.html. Posting date: 5/29/2003 |