All Attachments and Notions Originate from Selfishness (Part I) By a Dafa practitioner from Mainland China
(Clearwisdom.net) I have come to the understanding that all our
xinxing manifestations during the Fa-rectification that do not meet the
standards of Dafa are elements of the old forces, and that all of our
attachments and notions originate from selfishness. When we proactively
assimilate ourselves to the Fa and purify every single thought we have, we are
negating the arrangements of the old forces to meet the selfless standard of the
new universe. I have gained some deeper understanding on many issues in recent
cultivation. Please kindly point out anything improper.
1. On the issue of fundamental attachments
"Divine Being: You allow them a period of time to understand the Fa, so
some people come with various intentions. After studying the Fa, most of them
are able to change their initial purpose for learning the Fa.
Master: Some of them have not changed yet."
...
"Divine Being: Some of them have come looking for the aspect of the Fa that
they consider good, but they are unable to let go of the aspect that prevents
them from having a complete understanding of the Fa.
Master: There are also such people among veteran disciples. And the most
outstanding evidence of that is that they always compare themselves with
humans and with their own past, but fail to examine themselves with the
requirements of the Fa at different levels."
("A Dialogue with Time "Some people think that Dafa is in keeping with their own understanding of
science; some people think that it agrees with their own code of conduct; some
people think that it speaks to their own dissatisfaction with politics; some
people think that Dafa can salvage humankind's degenerate morals; some people
think that Dafa can cure their illnesses; some people think that Dafa and
Master are righteous, and so on and so forth."
("Towards Consummation", Essentials for Further Advancement II)
My personal understanding is that although fundamental attachments vary from
one person to another, they all protect what they think is good and what they do
not want touched, but which are completely degenerate. Human beings all have
their corresponding cosmic systems, and when the whole universe became deviated
from the Fa, they also came down to the human world for various purposes that
had already deviated from the universal Fa before obtaining the Fa.
"Before the Fa-rectification, the old forces crammed the lowest-level
section of each of those tens of millions of remote cosmic systems into the
Three Realms of the central cosmic system where we are. Seemingly, this was to
prevent them from being left out of the Fa-rectification, and was to show that
they took part in Fa-rectification, when in reality they were using Fa-rectification
to reach their selfish goals."
("The Effect of Righteous Thoughts", Essentials for Further Advancement
II)
"Actually, the old forces are nothing more than an enormous tribulation
that was set up in the cosmos for my Fa-rectification. Way back when, no being
thought I could overcome it. So with that understanding, a lot of the cosmos's
high-level beings took the stance of watching from the sidelines, while the
beings who've taken part have been using the opportunity of the Fa-rectification
to do what they want, with absolutely no second thoughts about it. But as for
the matter at hand, many of the cosmos's Kings and Lords know that it is
critical to the survival of the firmament; if this Fa-rectification doesn't
succeed everything will be gone. Yet they don't want fundamental changes. So
it's exactly under the effect of this complicated state of mind that the
beings of different levels have demonstrated the true realms deep inside
themselves and their behavior."
(Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)
Our environments in everyday people's society vary from one another, and
therefore our attachments also vary (my understanding is that this fact is also
a specific selfish arrangement of the old forces). Some people, through Fa-study,
could see the Fa principles and endeavor to fundamentally let go of all
selfishness and assimilate to the Fa, whereas some others could not completely
relinquish the self and wholeheartedly assimilate to the Fa. Isn't this the same
as the old forces who insist on what they want and are therefore unable to
comprehend the Fa righteously?
I thought of my own experience when I could not let go of life and death in
the face of the evil persecution. I gave in to the evil when I did not have
strong righteous thoughts, and fundamentally it was because I was afraid of
being harmed and I wanted to protect myself. In fact, the more I wanted to
protect myself, the more I was losing myself.
"Now that you've arrested me, I haven't thought at all about going back."
(Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference)
"When you compare them it's clear at a glance how well they cultivate."
("Huge Exposure" Essentials for Further Advancement)
Later, I discovered that this selfish way of thinking was deeply disguised
and manifested itself all the time. So whenever such thoughts occurred I would
check for the root cause, and would eliminate it if it was based on
self-interest.
2. On making up for the losses by redoubling efforts
Because I had gone astray during the Fa-rectification, when I came back I was
anxious to do more to make up for the damage, to the extent that I even thought
unwittingly that the best way to make up for the damage was to experience the
evil test again and to get out of it with the help of righteous thoughts. With
such strong attachments and degenerate notions, I came across many difficulties
in what I was trying to do, and soon the local police came for me again.
Actually many practitioners who were arrested again not long after they had been
released all shared the same mentality. Later, through sharing with fellow
practitioners and through in-depth Fa-study I realized that the root cause of
this way of thinking lay in the degenerate notions of the old forces, and I
still thought of myself first and my standpoint was not from the Fa. This was no
different than the old forces, who only emphasized practitioners' personal
cultivation.
"It won't do if a Fa this immense doesn't go through such a huge test."
("Teaching the Fa at the Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America"
Guiding the Voyage) Therefore, there is a notion that one can only acquire
the greatest mighty virtue by going through the evil persecution. Alluding to
this, Master said,
"Their warped notions have made them think that the persecution of Gods in
history was rightful. Incidents such as Jesus being nailed to the cross have
become the precedent for high-level beings who come down to save people. How
could this be acceptable? This itself is degenerate!" ("Teaching the Fa at the
Great Lakes Fa Conference in North America", Guiding the Voyage)
We have come to validate the Fa, not to be persecuted by the evil.
"Everything is inconsequential compared to Dafa disciples validating the Fa,
it's the hugest thing, and you've done it!" (Teaching the Fa at the 2003
Midwest-U.S. Fa Conference)
Master has long told us that if all this did not happen he could provide a
benevolent solution to all lives, and all [lives] would meet the standards [of
the new cosmos]. In other words, if there weren't any of the old forces'
arrangements, Dafa disciples still could reach Consummation in their
cultivation. All that has been arranged by the old forces are destructive, and
some disciples were arrested, beaten, or even killed. If these disciples were
still validating the Fa and saving sentient beings, wouldn't they be playing a
big role? Shouldn't we think from the perspective of Master and the Fa-rectification?
We must be very clear what we want to make up for. It is definitely not for what
we did not do well in personal cultivation or how to pass the tests arranged by
the old forces. We must truly and clearly recognize our responsibilities as Fa-rectification
Dafa disciples and deny the arrangements of the old forces. Only then will we be
able to make up for the damage we caused in the Fa-rectification.
Master treats every practitioner with immense compassion and mercy, giving no
thought to the mistakes sentient beings made in the past. How pitiful we are if
we only pay attention to our own loss and gain in our cultivation. When I
thought of this, nothing was left in my mind but one sentence: I want to be with
the Fa.
3. Anxiety
Recently I had an argument with a fellow practitioner while sharing
understandings of the Fa. He said that because practitioners still had attachments that they were not even aware of and because the third category of
practitioners (from "Touring North America to Teach the Fa") still had karma,
the evil persecution might still happen. I felt rather uncomfortable upon
hearing this, and argued with him for a long time, saying that as long as
practitioners had strong righteous thoughts we would be able to deny these and
the persecution should never have happened. When I calmed down I found the
hidden reason for my argument. After I read what I felt Master said about the
third category of practitioners, I have always had some misgivings that I
belonged to the third category and I might meet bigger tribulations and I would
still need to suffer more hardship. At the beginning I was not aware of this
anxiety.
"Also, a lot of our students are concerned about many things, all kinds of
stuff. In fact, once you think about those things your realm has dropped. Don't
think about anything, and don't worry about anything. Master is compassionate,
and he'll definitely arrange for you what's the best." (Teaching the Fa at the
Conference in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003)
We are already cultivating in Dafa, and the Fa-rectification has progressed
to this stage, then why is it that we are still concerned about these things?
Fundamentally, we are still concerned with self-interest. Why can't we use the
time we spend worrying about these things on studying the Fa more, and on how we
can play a better role in saving sentient beings? "...your renewed being is
formed precisely amidst the Fa-rectification" ("Dafa is Indestructible"
Essentials for Further Advancement II) I think that no matter what our
historical background is, as long as we are truly assimilating to the Fa, we are
true lives, and as long as we have strong righteous thoughts we shall be able to
deny the arrangements of the old forces.
"In religious cultivation practice of the past, the Buddha School required
emptiness. One should not think about anything and enter the door of
emptiness. The Tao School taught nothingness, as there is nothing. One should
not want anything, and neither should one pursue anything. A practitioner
believes he should only focus on practicing, without paying attention to
obtaining gong."(Zhuan Falun)
Actually, we should not be concerned about whatever we can do. We should just
do the three things we need to do as Dafa disciples, and we should let go of our
self as much as possible so that we can become completely selfless, and totally
dedicated to the salvation of sentient beings.
(To be continued) Posting date: 11/20/2003 |