(Clearwisdom.net)

Teacher said:

"What's a fundamental attachment, then? Human beings acquire many notions in this world and are, as a consequence, driven by these notions to pursue what they yearn for.

"After cultivating for a period of time, are your thoughts still the same? Are you continuing on the path because of those human attachments? If so, you cannot be counted as my disciple. It means that you haven't gotten rid of your fundamental attachments and that you are unable to understand the Fa from the Fa." (From "Towards Consummation" )

Teacher said long ago that we should get rid of our fundamental attachments, but I was poorly enlightened and didn't understand the Fa well. I'd covered up my fundamental attachment and felt pretty good about myself. I thought that I didn't have any fundamental attachments. Even worse, I walked a deviated path for a while, giving some a bad impression of Dafa and leaving a "black mark" on my path of cultivation.

Thanks to Teacher's benevolent arrangements and help from my fellow practitioners, I came back to Dafa in June 2002. I realized that cultivation is serious, and that understanding the Fa from the perspective of the Fa is very important. This is the fundamental guarantee that practitioners will be able to do the three things well.

I read about how other practitioners removed their fundamental attachments and studied the Fa over and over. I started to look within myself and consider my initial reasons for taking up cultivation. I knew I had a strong attachment in ordinary people's society. Although I was only 28 years old when I obtained the Fa in 1996, I always thought that life was about suffering. I wanted to cultivate Buddhahood and attain the Dao, because I thought that if I did, my suffering would end. I came to Dafa with this attachment. I'd finally discovered my fundamental attachment, which was that I was self-centered.

When I decided to get rid of it, I felt the foundation of the old cosmos disintegrating. The law in the old cosmos meant living for oneself, but the law in the new cosmos means living for the sentient beings in the cosmos. We must therefore solve the problem at the root and get rid of every selfish element. If we remove all human notions, we can assimilate to Dafa completely. When we do the three things, we must base ourselves on the Fa and understand the Fa from the Fa. Only in this way can we break through the constraints of human notions and achieve the state: "The gods are in the human world, to validate the Fa." (unofficial translation of "What to Fear" from Hong Yin II)

In ordinary people's society, people always say that I'm a compassionate person. I, too, believe myself to be compassionate. For a while, however, when I would write the Chinese character for "compassion," I always left out a stroke. This made me wonder, "Had I achieved pure compassion after all these years of practice?" I found that my compassion wasn't pure. Sometimes my kindness to others was conditional. My purpose for showing compassion was so others would say that I was good, and I sometimes tended to gauge others using my notions.

Teacher said:

"I often say that if all a person wants is the well-being of others and if this is without the slightest personal motivation or personal understanding, what he says will move the listener to tears." ("Clearheadedness" from Essentials for Further Advancement)

Genuine and pure compassion is the true nature cultivated from Dafa. When I realized this, the impure elements behind my compassion disappeared.

During the personal cultivation phase, I always looked within when I met with conflicts. Even when someone else truly caused the problem, I would look inward to see why I had met with the conflict. When we entered into the Fa-rectification period, however, when the evil seemed to run rampant, I would sometimes forget to look within. Often it occurred to me that I should send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate the evil, but I didn't look at myself. When the conflict really touched my heart, I would criticize the other person. How similar this is to the ways of the old forces! I only wanted to change others while I myself remained unchanged. This is because of the deficiency and deviation of the old cosmos, which fails to conform to the Fa's standards. When I was gradually enlightened to the necessity of looking within, I sighed with emotion. How mighty is the Fa!

I read about how other practitioners memorize and recite the Fa, and I felt envy and shame. I've wanted to memorize the Fa for a long time, but each time I gave up after reciting several paragraphs. I decided to start all over again. We are fortunate enough to be Dafa practitioners in the Fa-Rectification period, and we should cherish Teacher's merciful, arduous salvation. Let's treasure an opportunity as rare and precious as this. It's difficult to memorize the Fa, but it's still good to do it.

2005-12-09