(Clearwisdom.net) After reading a fellow practitioner's experience sharing article "Only When We Relinquish the Attachment to Human Emotions Will Compassion Grow in Our Hearts," I recalled,
"Question: Compassion arises after emotion is removed. So how is mighty virtue cultivated?
Teacher: You walk this path of Fa-rectification well, you manage in cultivation to overcome your limitations, you let go of your attachments, and you save living beings with righteous thoughts and handle everything you face with righteous thoughts. That is mighty virtue." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2003 Atlanta Fa Conference")
I realized that emotion is also an obstacle that Dafa practitioners in the Fa rectification period should constantly break through.
In the article, this practitioner wrote "On the issue of whether or not to divorce, other practitioners have different opinions, I was back and forth for a few times. I thought and thought, struggled hard and finally chose divorce." There were similar incidents around me. Some practitioners' spouses requested a divorce due to extra-marital affairs or not being able to withstand the persecution pressure. Under this kind of scenarios, whether or not we should divorce, and whether or not we should divorce voluntarily or go through the court -- I think fundamental issues of this kind or similar problems are the same.
The cultivation of Dafa "focuses right on a person's attachment"
"It doesn't matter how high your official rank is, and it doesn't matter how rich you are: the key is whether you can let go of that attachment. Our discipline focuses directly on your mind. When something is at stake, or when you're having problems with somebody, whether you can take those things lightly, that's the key." "When a person gets rid of the attachment it turns out that physical item doesn't have any effect, and that what really interferes with a person is the attachment." (Zhuan Falun)
The cultivation of Dafa truly exposes that attachment, gets rid of that attachment, focuses right on a person's attachment, and is the fastest and shortest method. The marital and monetary issues exposed our attachments that we were not aware of and the human notions that still existed. We should let them go. If we do not have any attachment to marriage or money, then it would not be wrong when we choose not to divorce or when we ask for more salary.
A few years ago I also raised a banner in Tiananmen Square. I did not have any joy of success when I smoothly returned home. What I had was a deep feeling of contemplation because when I was holding the banner, I found I still had human attachments. I saw the gap between fellow practitioners and me. Although we were doing the same thing on the surface, our xinxing levels were far apart from each other. Thus I realized that cultivation of Dafa focuses right on a person's attachment. Resolving a problem is not the key. The key is to relinquish the attachment.
We should place Dafa first, and a Dafa disciple in Fa-rectification should view a problem from the Fa-rectification perspective and not from a personal cultivation perspective.
The greatness of a Dafa disciple is because of the connection with Fa-rectification. Being able to follow Master to validate Dafa is the most precious honor for a Dafa practitioner. Anything a Dafa disciple does today is not for proving oneself but for validating Dafa.
The life of a Dafa disciple is made by Dafa. Each day in human society is time extended to enable Dafa disciples to validate Dafa. Everything of a Dafa disciple is given by Master. Similarly, whatever we may have are also arranged for and given by Master (to let us do better in validating the Fa). They are not our personal belongings, and how should we hand in the money that Master has granted us to the work units and labor camps to finance them to persecute Dafa?
Some practitioners thought they would not wait to be dismissed, so they took the initiative to withdraw from school or resign from work so as not to bring any trouble to their work units. The work units praised them for being good people because of this. Whether something is good or bad should not be decided by the work units, since "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" is the only principle to judge whether a person is good or bad. If we did relinquish the attachments to work and life or death, although the motivation was not to bring any trouble to the work units, then why don't we just clarify the truth to the work units, and let them join us to resist the persecution? Although there are difficulties and risks, Master told us, "When it's impossible to do, you can do it." [Zhuan Falun] We can resolve the issue in a positive way through clarifying the truth, and this itself would be the righteous path and mighty virtue left for future people by Dafa disciples during Fa-rectification. This would truly be being benevolent.
It is not incorrect to agree to divorce a spouse voluntarily from the personal cultivation angle. The spouse would be satisfied but many everyday people who do not know the facts would think it was the Dafa practitioner who initiated the divorce. They would believe in the lie that Dafa practitioners do not want families. Therefore, when a spouse insists on divorcing, we should calmly tell him or her that we cherish this marriage, and if the court rules to divorce, then that would the matter of the court. I would not divorce voluntarily. From the Fa-rectification perspective, this would be in accordance with Dafa, to my understanding.
Similarly, from the angle of cultivation during Fa-rectification, clarifying the truth is not to validate one's communication skill and wisdom, but to save sentient beings. Thus we should not talk at too high a level. We are not trying to prove that we are not afraid of anything. We are validating Dafa. Thus we should not ignore anything that could bring damage to Dafa. What a Dafa disciple is doing today is not to prove oneself but to validate Dafa. We should distinguish the difference between cultivation during Fa-rectification and personal cultivation. Then it would not be difficult to distinguish what was arranged by the evil and what was the path planned by Master. If we put Dafa first in doing everything and look at problems from the Fa-rectification perspective, then it would not be difficult for a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple to know what to do.
February 14, 2004
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