(Minghui.org) I stumbled upon the Minghui article, “The Sea of Suffering and Lust Seen in Another Dimension” by chance. One of the paragraphs shook my heart and brought to mind my experience of removing lust over the years:
“Every Dafa disciple who can ride over the sea must be pure. Anyone who has even a tiny bit of hidden lust or sentimental desire would be ruined by the sea and buried there along with their boats, never to reincarnate. The millions and billions of years of waiting, along with Master's merciful salvation, would be in vain.”
Master said:
“In the past, if someone who had taken up the robe violated the ordinances on such things, it would spell the end of his cultivation. And if some immortal was guiding a disciple’s cultivation in the mountains and the disciple made this mistake, it would mean he was ruined forever. It is something that serious.” (“Fa Teaching Given in Manhattan”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. X)
Master's words were like a heavy hammer that struck my soul deeply. I have read this phrase many times over the years.
Attachment of Lust Got My Attention
What drew my attention to my attachment to lust was an incident that happened more than a decade ago when an activity to promote Dafa met some obstacles. My husband said that I was not in the right state and said some bad words, which hurt me. I picked up a water bottle, threw it at him and kicked him hard. He maintained his xinxing and did not retort at all.
That night in a dream, I saw snakes all over a pavilion. I was scared and woke up from my dream. I saw my husband next to me convulsing; his teeth were clenched and he was sweating profusely. I quickly pulled him up and got him to hold one palm erect. I also sent forth righteous thoughts. I asked him to repeat verses of the Fa with me. I picked up Master’s portrait and asked Master to save him.
I confessed to Master, “Master, I did wrong in the daytime. I shouldn’t have gotten angry. I shouldn’t throw things at your disciple.” Under Master’s protection, my husband quickly regained consciousness.
From that day on, I vowed that I would change myself. This incident left me with a profound lesson: anger and rage will strengthen lust. A Dafa practitioner’s bad behavior could put fellow practitioners in danger. I kept this incident in my heart.
Cultivating My Mind on a Daily Basis
Later I read a fellow practitioner’s sharing article about getting rid of lust. Whenever a lustful thought came up, he would recite Master’s Fa:
“Desires, lust, and things of these sorts are all human attachments, and all of them should be given up.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
He would recite the above phrase many times until his mind settled like still water. His sharing helped me.
We live on an island. During the summer months, residents and tourists wear revealing clothes. I handed out information on the beach to tell the public about Falun Dafa and the persecution. With my cultivation state at the time, I could not turn a blind eye to those exposed people, so I repeatedly recited Master’s Fa in my mind.
When I got home at night, I wrote “Falun Dafa is good” on a piece of paper repeatedly, reciting Master’s words in silence. I kept reciting until my mind and heart were clear.
A fellow practitioner reminded me many times that my attachment to sentimentality was very strong. So whenever I was affected by emotion, I would recite in my heart what Master said:
“If this qing is not relinquished, you will be unable to cultivate. If you break free from this qing, nobody can affect you. An everyday person’s mind will be unable to sway you. What comes and replaces it is benevolence, which is a nobler thing.” (Lecture Four, Zhuan Falun)
I spent a year focusing on removing my attachment to sentimentality and lust. To avoid being taken advantage of by the demon of lust while my main consciousness was sleeping, I would stare at the demon of lust with my eyes open before bedtime, reciting the rectification verse and thinking to have the demon die. The body of a Dafa disciple is not something the demon of lust can interfere with.
Later on, I dreamed about a large pond containing many big, pink fish, all of which were dead. I took a proactive approach to removing sentimentality. The corresponding layer of erotic substances really did die.
For so many years, I repeatedly recited these passages of Fa, and my righteous thoughts were strengthened. It manifested in some small things.
Once, I went to my brother-in-law’s house. We would hug and kiss as is the Western greeting. Although I have been in the country for many years, I am still not used to it. That day, I memorized and recited the Fa on the journey there. When I arrived at my brother-in-law’s house, he got up quickly and held out his hands to greet me. Without much thinking, I sent a thought from the bottom of my heart, “Please sit down, don’t move!” He sat back down at once, looking so dazed that he didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t expect my unintentional thought to have such a practical effect.
Whenever I was in a good state of reciting the Fa, Master would encourage me. Sometimes, I would dream of taking a helicopter ride with Master. I would see myself wearing golden armor and a purple and gold crown, stepping on a golden star and fighting a vicious black bear. I would kick it away without fear.
But there are trials and temptations when cultivating in this human world. I often need to browse the internet for my media work. Once, I watched a New Tang Dynasty entertainment program. There was an interview with a handsome Korean actor. He got my attention.
I looked him up online but soon realized that the attachment of lust was driving me to do this and quickly stopped. That same night, I dreamed that I chased a yellow python with a sword in my hand. I woke up suddenly from the dream and was shocked. I had looked at the actor for just a few moments, but what seemed like trivial lusty behavior in this dimension was manifested in another dimension in a big way. I shuddered in my heart.
Whenever I want to watch movies and TV shows, I remind myself of Master’s words:
“Dafa disciples are Gods who have descended to the human world with the responsibility to assist Master in saving sentient beings, shouldering the responsibility of saving sentient beings in the lower realms.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference”)
Master has already placed Dafa disciples in the position of Gods. I should not confuse myself with ordinary people. Sometimes the temptation of lust was overwhelming and my head was full of images of a particular movie star. I would stare at the star’s picture and think to myself, “You’re good-looking. That’s a blessing from your past life. I’m happy for you, but you don’t practice Dafa, and that blessing will be fleeting. Under this skin, you are nothing more than flesh and blood. Your beauty is nothing more than that.”
Once the positive thoughts come out, the lustful thoughts are suppressed quickly. After cultivating this way for some time, I felt those movie stars were very distant, and I was indifferent to them when I saw their pictures. One day, I remembered what Master said:
“After you quit drinking alcohol, however, you should not drink it again.” (Lecture Seven, Zhuan Falun)
I understood that once we give up an attachment, we can’t do it again. This precept required by Master is for the safety of all living beings. We are responsible for the righteous elements of the universe. Since I understood the meaning of the “precepts,” I lost all interest in movies and television. It had been hard for me to get rid of the attachment until this point.
I know it was compassionate Master who helped me remove that layer of substances. Sometimes, I would log on to the Shen Yun website and watch the artists talk about their dance training experiences and their stories of hardship. Their cultivation experiences often inspired me.
The Power of the Fa Eradicated the Remaining Layer of Lust
In my heart, I have always believed that as a practitioner, when I open Dafa books, I am confronted with layers of Buddhas, Taos, and Gods created by Dafa. I should face them with a pure heart, in tribute to Master’s infinite compassion. Even though I cannot see clearly with my celestial eye, this is how I think.
I was conscious of removing lust, but lustful thoughts were still reflected in my mind from time to time. I was distraught. During Fa study this February, I suddenly saw the light when reading the following paragraph:
“I have told you before that behind each word lie Buddhas, Daos, and Gods, tier after tier. Nor can you grasp what it meant when Master said that everything has been compressed into the book of Fa, for at this time you cannot, with your human thoughts, fathom that sentence. Everything can be gained there ...” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference”, Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)
I read Dafa books, and Buddhas, Taos, and Gods are behind the words. Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance, which I often recite, created the cosmos. I meditate, and my body will form a small universe in the future, carrying thousands of things given by Master. This body will also produce a Cultivated Infant, cherubs, and many living beings. Wow, how sacred this body is!
At that time, a shock swished through me from head to toe. I realized from the bottom of my heart that I was no longer an ordinary person. This body does not belong to me personally but to all beings in my heavenly kingdom. Compassionate Master has evolved all this for his disciples and for the safety of all beings.
The power of the Fa eradicated the remaining layer of lust. The speed of disintegration was shocking to me. And since then, I have been willingly doing the one-hour standing meditation exercise almost every day, without slacking.
Conclusion
Lust leads to the attachments of jealousy, competitiveness, and resentment. At the same time, jealousy also strengthens lust, greed, and resentment. These attachments are like a group, sometimes coming out together and sometimes coming alone.
It is very confusing. You may think you have gotten rid of them, but the lustful thoughts can arise again from the channels of jealousy, resentment, greed, and anger. So the key way to eradicate the lustful mind is to cultivate your mind on a daily basis, grasping every subtle thought. If you persist for a while, you’ll find that cultivating the mind to remove an attachment is as fantastic as killing two birds with one stone or even four birds with one stone.
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Category: Improving Oneself
