(Clearwisdom.net) At the beginning of “Lunyu”, Master talks about an essential cultivation point, that “humankind must fundamentally change its conventional thinking”. This issue is very important and very serious in our cultivation. However, what we usually see in our daily validating the Fa or cultivation is that we respond to things “naturally”, that is, according to a habit or some ordinary notions. Oftentimes cultivators have become accustomed to such “natural” reactions and responses of their own. Moreover, they thus follow such habits and notions as some standards, and then they may become an obstacle for a cultivator to improve in cultivation and save sentient beings.
It seems that two habits take over when we are not diligent in cultivation and/or when we are making some decisions on what to do and what not to do. One habit is when we see some sentences in Master's Fa, or when the coordinator says so and so, we simply treat them the same as we think it should be, and then we go about doing things superficially without any deeper thinking. This is different from solidly cultivating oneself. For example, Master said, “You must study the Fa...” (“Fa-Lecture at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.” 2001); then I would start to read the books and think that “studying the Fa” equates to “reading the books”. Moreover, when we read the books, we read them with ordinary people's concepts and manner. The result is that, although we've read the books, we still don't know how to cultivate and don't seize every opportunity to cultivate.
Another example of this habit is that, when the coordinator asks us to do something, we then just do it because it is “Dafa things” and “Master asks us to listen to the coordinator”. However, the implication seems to be, in terms of the effect and result of things we are asked to do, that this is the coordinator's responsibility, and it has nothing to do with my cultivation and responsibility. As a matter of fact, all of these thoughts only look at how we do things on the surface. If we abandon the nature of Fa-study, and only look at things on the surface, then do we truly wish to understand the Fa? Then will we improve in cultivation this way?
Another dominant habit is being resistant to everything, thinking that only our own unique insights and experiences are the most important. But actually where do those “unique insights”, “experiences”, or “actual situations” come from? What's the standard to define them? Can we guarantee they are the decisions of our true selves or the choice of our cultivated side? For example, when we distributed the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party in China, or promoted Shen Yun in mainstream society in overseas countries, set off fireworks to celebrate the death of Jiang Zemin, or each time the Fa had a new requirement for us, there were practitioners who were resistant to change for a long time. When they missed these opportunities, they didn't think about what they should cultivate when their minds were irritated or when they felt numb about the changes. They didn't look within to see what notions and human thinking prevented them from completely understanding things from the Fa, from being open to a different format of cultivation, or even to thinking about the requirement to save sentient beings. Nor did they think about how their resistance may have caused great damage to saving sentient beings and fulfilling their prehistoric vows, let alone considering what Master needed.
Here I only listed several simple examples, and I want to discuss how these two habits continue to play a role in blocking practitioners from improving. My depiction might not be very accurate or proper.
Master told us in “Buddha Nature” (Zhuan Falun, Volume II),
“A notion, once formed, will control you for the duration of your life, influencing your thinking and even the full gamut of emotions, such as your happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy. It is formed postnatally. If this thing persists for some time, it will become part of a person’s thinking, melding into the brain of that person’s true self, at which point it will shape his temperament.
The notions that are developed will obstruct and control a person for the remainder of his life. A human notion is usually selfish—or worse—and thus generates thought karma which, in turn, controls the person. A human being is to be governed by his master soul (zhu yuan-shen). When your master soul becomes lax and is replaced by notions, you have unconditionally surrendered, and your life is now under their control.
The self that is you is the innate self, and it does not change. But a human being tends to easily form notions when perceiving things, and that notion is not you. If you can manage not to form any notions, when you look at something you will have the perception of your own kind, innate nature—the view of the true you—and look at the matter charitably.”
From my perspective, we often hear practitioners use terms, such as “strong righteous thoughts”, “look at things with righteous thoughts”, “study the Fa”, “study the Fa well”, “send forth righteous thoughts”, “Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple”, “help Master rectify the Fa”, etc. When we say such terms, do we truly realize the solemnness and magnificence of the Fa? Have we constantly been improving our understanding of the Fa principles that Master has taught us? Did we learn the Fa and constantly get rid of our human thinking and notions? Perhaps as we study the Fa more and more, we really need to think about some basic questions. At certain levels, how we look at things and how we understand cultivation is the foundation of our cultivation. If we can look at cultivation with a correct attitude and righteous thoughts and reconcile the relationship between ourselves and the Fa and the relationship between Master and us, then at least we won't go astray or become lost in cultivation. In the end, whether we can fulfill our missions and carry out our vows depends on how each and everyone of us cultivates ourselves in the Fa on every issue and on whether we have cultivated ourselves or not.
