(Clearwisdom.net) Being a young person, I often have an irresponsible state of mind. Every time I would see an elderly practitioner being persecuted in the form of serious illness and pass away, I would not look inside. I even subconsciously felt in my mind, that I was lucky—I am still young, I still have many years ahead of me and this will certainly not happen to me. I took the risk of relaxing a bit and not being very diligent in cultivation, and didn't think that I would encounter any serious consequences. I thought, being so young I won't face the danger of my life being taken away at a predestined time, so I will definitely follow Master to the end. Therefore, I had a peace of mind despite my slacking off.
When I think more about this, I have the attachment of relying on external factors to keep me safe and also a strong attachment to time. I used to regard elderly practitioners' worrying about old age and not having enough time left as an attachment to time. For us young practitioners, many of us think that we have many years ahead of us, so we do not take this issue as seriously as elderly practitioners, and we tend to slack off from time to time. Isn't this an attachment to time, as well?
We used to be kids who practiced with our parents. Now we have grown up through these years of persecution, yet some of us still depend on our parents and think they will take care of everything, so we do not need to do much. However, cultivation requirements for everyone are the same, regardless of age. We should no longer behave like children. We should learn to be responsible for every decision we make, big or small. For example, some cannot achieve a tranquil mind during Fa-study and quickly become distracted by other things. Some feel sleepy and take a nap, which often results in important things being delayed. Some promise to Master again and again that they will never make the same mistake, yet shortly afterward, commit the same wrongdoing. Everyday people have the saying that, “A promise is a debt, and a promise is as good as a thousand bars of gold.” We are practitioners and should hold ourselves to an even higher standard than that! Without strong willpower, we will ruin ourselves, and slacking off or indulgence will also result in a loss for cultivation, Fa-rectification and sentient beings. We may not know how big the loss is, but we cannot use this as an excuse for denying the consequences of our behaviors.
An everyday person's decisions affect his life and he must accept the consequences. We have become young adults and more importantly, we are cultivators who have come here to assist Master in the Fa-rectification and save sentient beings. Before each decision, we must think about the impacts and results, and be responsible for all of them.
