(Minghui.org) The Minghui website published three editorials related to Shen Yun within a period of less than six weeks.
The first notice, "Shen Yun Videos Are Strictly Prohibited from Being Taken Outside China," urged practitioners to adhere to Master's requirement that Shen Yun videos were only to be circulated and shown in mainland China and nowhere else.
The second notice, "Shen Yun Performing Arts to Stop Providing DVDs to China this Year," stated,
"...Considering that inside China many practitioners have casually circulated Shen Yun DVDs based on their own understandings and personal preferences; and
Considering that these people's behavior, acting on their own will, has interfered with the efforts and goals of Shen Yun Performing Arts; ..."
My heart sank as I read that notice as well as the follow-up "Notice to Stop Distributing All Mainland China-only Editions of Shen Yun DVDs." I feel it a tremendous loss that practitioners and supporters in China will no longer have Shen Yun DVDs to watch, due to the actions and behavior of some individuals. In the meantime, I also understand the grave consequences of not taking Minghui editorials seriously.
I realize that these editorials are for ALL of us to look within to identify our hidden attachments.
The attachment I found was "self."
The attachment to self manifests in a variety of ways. It could be us insisting that other practitioners adopt our opinions, possibly slowing the progress of Dafa projects. It could be us acting irrationally and not conforming to Dafa's requirements in conflicts, causing misunderstanding among ordinary people, and leading our families to have negative opinions of Dafa.
Attachment to self could also be us being complacent about our small achievements in Dafa projects and trying to show off. This prevents us from seeing the higher requirements in the practice and elevating in the Fa.
The attachment to self also makes us argumentative and arrogant, trying to convince others when clarifying the truth by focusing on being eloquent but not having righteous thoughts. Sometimes this attachment causes us to pay too much attention to our looks, our clothing, or our health issues.
The attachment to self becomes more prominent as Fa-rectification gets closer to the end. When we are too eager to validate ourselves, like the practitioners mentioned in the Minghui editorial notices, we are in fact undermining the Fa.
Master has reminded us about validating ourselves on several occasions. Our careless attitude toward cultivation has caused so many losses. It is time for us to take cultivation seriously and treasure everything that Master has given us. We cannot afford the consequences of practicing in any way we want and not assisting with the Fa-rectification.
Let us remember what Master tells us and follow his words.
“Question: When we don't have any [preconceived] notions or preset plans, the effect of validating the Fa is excellent, and when the opposite is true the effect is poor.
Teacher: Yes, with a lot of things you do, when you are free of human notions your own attachments won't get mixed in. If, beyond being responsible to the Fa, you have no human attachments, none of your own things, and none of your personal factors mixed in, then you are sure to do that thing well. Whereas once you've mixed in your own factors, then you can't do that thing well.
There's something you must pay attention to: you are validating the Fa, not validating yourselves. A Dafa disciple's responsibility is to validate the Fa. Validating the Fa is cultivation, and what you remove in the cultivation process is none other than the attachment to self; you can't, instead, go and exacerbate the problem of validating oneself, even if you do it unwittingly. When you're validating the Fa and cultivating, that is a process of removing self, and only when you do that are you really validating yourself. That's because ultimately you have to let go of all your human things, and only after you've let go of all your human attachments can you step out from the throngs of everyday people.
You are a cultivator, so you need to have mighty-virtue. And where does your mighty-virtue come from? Doesn't it come from letting go of self and being selfless in this grueling environment, and being completely responsible to the Fa as a Dafa disciple? Isn't that, itself, mighty-virtue? And what's more, you did it in a grueling environment. The more you put you first or mix in [factors of] self, the less mighty-virtue you have, and that's why it is less likely that you succeed at things or do them well. Dafa's things should be the most sacred, and that's why the less you have of your own notions and involve your own factors, the better you can handle them and the more likely you are to succeed."
– from "Teaching the Fa at the Meeting with Asia-Pacific Students"
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Category: Improving Oneself
