(Minghui.org) I recently changed the faucet at home, as the old one was broken. When I first used it, I subconsciously pressed it to turn on the water, because that was how the old faucet worked. Now, I have to lift it. I felt uncomfortable. Given my being a Falun Gong (also called Falun Dafa) practitioner, I realized that an attachment had been formed from my long-term pressing the faucet to turn on the water.
A Deeper Understand of Attachments
I was surprised after discovering this as a habit that had subconsciously formed an attachment. This reminded me of something that happened a long time ago.
About 10 some years ago, I met a girl who was obsessed with a popular television (TV) series. I asked to test her by not watching the series for 20 minutes when it aired.
When the TV series began, I asked her to turn around and sit with her back facing the TV. Then, I muted the TV. She was fine for the first five minutes. Then she began to feel anxious and uneasy, and fidgeted around. I encouraged her to hold on. Five minutes later, she gave up. She told me that she was about to go crazy. She turned around, unmuted the TV and started to watch the program.
From observing her, she seemed to me to be more like a drug addict who had not taken drugs for a few days. When she finally saw them, she took them greedily.
Now, thinking about this story, I felt that the attachment was a living being who could control people. When we constantly repeat a kind of behavior or reinforce a kind of thinking, a life will grow from it without us realizing it.
I then recall having watched some practitioners of having the attachment of watching the New Tang Dynasty (NTD) TV programs and thought their behavior was not in line with the Fa. Whenever these practitioners talked about NTD TV programs, I reinforced my views about them. Subconsciously, these views were established solidly with my constantly strengthening them. I thought that my views were on the Fa.
Later, I was irritated when I saw them watching the NTD programs. Sometimes, I even wished for the TV to break and believed these practitioners were doing things self-destructively. Then I realized that my reaction was wrong.
I started looking within. I found my attachments: I looked down at these practitioners; I was attached to their improvement. However, I still felt these attachments were not the root cause for my irritation. When Master saw that I could not figure it out, He gave me a hint by imprinting his teaching in my mind: “The truth is simply that an energy cluster will form wherever the mind focuses for a sustained amount of time.” (The Fourth Talk, Zhuan Falun)
I realized that my opinion about these practitioners became a material and tangible life. It was this life making me feel irritated, not myself. I immediately sent forth the thought to disintegrate this attachment.
Of course, as a cultivator, they should not be obsessed with NTD TV. However, since I often thought about it and strengthened the idea, the attachment was formed and became a being.
Master said:
“But I would say that those really aren’t what is important, and in fact, they might become an attachment if they occupy the mind too much. If it weighs heavily in your thinking it would seem to be an attachment” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
Our Cultivation State
Writing so far, I have a deeper understanding of Master's words, “The Many Levels of the Way” (First Talk, Zhuan Falun). As a cultivator, we will enlighten to different Fa principles when our cultivation reaches different levels. But no matter how well we consider our enlightened principles to be, we cannot cling to it, nor can we use them to guide others.
When we cling to what we have enlightened to, strengthen it, and consider them as the absolute truth, a substance that is deviating from the Fa would form, and become an obstacle to our improvement. Only when we are not attached to it, could we constantly elevate in the Fa.
Why did the attachment form? It was because I was attached to showing off, changing others, and searching outward. But I found another reason that I had never understood or recognized before, which was that I did not comprehend what the format and state of Dafa cultivation is, which led me to the attachment.
Master said:
“This is what the Dafa disciples are facing today, and it is a form of cultivation brought about by interference from the old forces and company. So during your cultivation process, as long as the side of you that has been fully cultivated goes over and is partitioned off, everything that you haven't fully cultivated will still manifest.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VII)
“Since today I'm going into greater depth about the format and state of cultivation and spelling things out, when you cooperate with each other [from now on] you shouldn't have the attachment of putting up your guard against others anymore. (Applause) Whether it be your blaming each other, using human attachments to push each other away, or all kinds of states--I can tell you, all of those are new attachments that appeared due to your not understanding the format of [Dafa] cultivation. Isn't that the case? Yes, it is! So, don't develop a new attachment as a result of not understanding the state of cultivation. That attachment would itself be a giant impediment to progress in your cultivation, so you need to get rid of it, too.” (Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference at the U.S. Capital, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VII)
I enlighten that it is normal for practitioners to have shortcomings. They are the reflection of their cultivation state, not an indication of them not cultivating well. However, I became attached to the state of other practitioners instead of cultivating myself. When I held on to my attachment, it was me that deviated from the Fa, not these practitioners. My attachment was generated due to my lack of understanding the format of cultivation Master gave us. Even though I pointed out these practitioners' shortcomings nicely, they would not accept my opinion.
Becoming One with Dafa
Sometimes, I did look inward first, then shared my findings with other practitioners, with no pursuit to change them. When they disagreed, I felt bad. I told myself that I could not force them to cultivate, but forgot to look inward and find my problem why they had not listened to me.
Although my intention was to help them and I did it calmly, my selfishness was hidden behind my goodwill. My thought of helping others was based on my point of views, my standard and my wishes, in other words, my selfishness. That was not even close to what Dafa requires of us – helping people solely for their benefits without any other goal. Why did people not listen when we clarified the truth of Dafa? This was the main reason.
Some time ago, one of my family members, who is also a practitioner, praised me for being a good person. I was happy that I had cultivated well and was recognized. However, after giving it more thought, I realized that something was off – I was just a good ordinary person after so many years of cultivation, which showed that I did not cultivate at all.
No wonder that I did not discover any internal improvement lately. I just did things according to the standard of Dafa superficially, such as looking inward during a conflict. I actually wanted to resolve the conflict and looked for a way out, rather than unconditionally looked within. I tried to use the Fa to solve my problem.
Master said:
“Any person who can align with Dafa is truly a good person, and will be rewarded and blessed with health and happiness. And any cultivator who is able to become one with Dafa is an enlightened one—divine.” (On Dafa, Zhuan Falun)
I did not understand what “align with” meant, nor “become one with.” Now, I understood that when we do things according to the standard of Dafa, but with attachments, we still have not “become one with” Dafa. When we do things according to the standard of Dafa from our heart without any attachment, we are “becoming one with” Dafa. Then we become part of the Fa at that level, and can rectify the abnormal things around us.
How could the Shen Yun dancers show the audience the truth and the beauty of Dafa without a single word? It was because of their pure and kind hearts, and their true will of validating the Fa. So the Fa was able to present the truth to the audience through their performance.
In China, after we filed lawsuits against the former dictator Jiang Zemin, almost everyone around us knew that we were Falun Gong practitioners. Our daily actions and words are telling people about cultivators and the truth of Dafa. If we regard our environment as stages of performances always following the Fa requirements in our hearts, and always assimilating to the Fa, like the Shen Yun dancers, we are becoming one with Dafa, and what we show will be imbued with the mighty power of Dafa.
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Category: Improving Oneself
