(Minghui.org) Master mentioned many times in his teachings,
“No matter what you are doing, be it clarifying the facts or doing projects that validate Dafa, you must first put cultivating yourself well as top priority; only then can the things that you do be more sacred, for then you are a Dafa disciple, and are doing things as a Dafa disciple to validate the Fa.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2007 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VIII)
Master clearly stated,
“...When disciples have ample righteous thoughtsMaster has the power to turn back the tide”(“The Master-Disciple Bond,” HongYin II)
With xinxing taken care of all problems will be resolved. The following are my experiences in letting go of thought-karma.
I was a calculating selfish person before I practiced cultivation. I paid attention to play mind games and accumulated a lot of thought-karma. I thus came down with all kinds of diseases, including insomnia, cholecystitis, heart disease, etc. It has been 28 years since I began cultivating. Through a lot of Fa-study and looking inward, I gradually improved and got rid of these diseases. In retrospect, my most unforgettable experience was letting go of thought-karma.
My thought-karma was closely related to insomnia. For many years, whenever the thought-karma returned, I suffered from insomnia, which seriously affected my work and life. Even in the early days of obtaining the Fa, when I was involved in assistant center work, and when I had conflicts with fellow practitioners, it would be reflected. I remember that in June 1996, the person in charge of the assistant center and I had a conflict. There was a big difference between each other’s views. I talked about this while he talked about that, so that the work was difficult to carry out and time was wasted. At that time, I felt that it affected my work and practice, so I proposed to quit my job as an assistant.
I thought I could cultivate peacefully from then on. To my surprise, that assistant brought a great tribulation to me. Because when I quit the job as an assistant, it happened to be just a few days after the “Guangming Daily” published an article attacking Dafa. He said that I was too scared to continue working as an assistant after seeing this article, and so on. At that time, after I heard those words spoken by another practitioner, I immediately felt that something was not right. I asked the upper-level assistant center to resume my work as an assistant, but it was rejected. I had no choice but to give up. However, my thought-karma attacked me. I thought, “My resignation is taking the lead in doing bad things and damaging the Fa,” “Master must be angry,” “You’re finished. Master won’t care about you any more. Your cultivation would be in vain,” and so on.
At that time, because I didn’t study the Fa well and my enlightenment quality was poor, I had been led by my thought-karma and felt inferior, regretful, and anxious for a long time. Sometimes when I read Master’s teachings that mentioned Master taking care of his disciples, I could not help feeling scared and worried. I felt hurt inside and even had some extreme thoughts. However, when I thought about Master’s Fa, I didn’t take that step. Nevertheless, I had insomnia. I later had to take sedatives to fall asleep, otherwise my work the next day would be seriously affected.
Later, on July 20, 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began to persecute Dafa. Because I participated in group exercises, insisted on practicing, and did not compromise, I was taken by the CCP to a forced labor camp and held there for more than a year. From then on, I felt that I was like other practitioners validating the Fa. Thus, I was no longer following the thought-karma. I focused on studying the Fa, doing the exercises, and clarifying the truth. I was in a very good state for more than ten years.
However, by the beginning of 2020, during the epidemic period, I was unable to go to work and validate the Fa, and spent a lot of time studying the Fa at home.
Master said,
“Cultivation is up to you, gong is up to the master.” (The First Talk, Zhuan Falun)
When I read the line for no reason, the fear that Master would not take care of me suddenly came up again. My insomnia was back. For many days, no matter how I sent out righteous thoughts and rejected that thought, nothing worked. Later, one day in July 2020, the CCP started the so-called “zero-out” campaign. The evil people arrested me, ransacked my home, and demanded that I write the three statements. Although I didn’t write them, I did cooperate to some degree. This greatly increased the pressure in my heart. I became more disturbed and confused. It became more and more difficult for me to fall asleep at night.
Because I was afraid of affecting my work state, I resumed taking sleeping pills. At the same time, I didn’t relax, but more diligently studied and recited the related Fa:
“...Main Consciousness must be strong,...” (“Explaining the Fa for Falun Dafa Assistants in Changchun,” Explaining the Content of Falun Dafa)
in “Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II) and Zhuan Falun. Gradually, my mind became clear and I had a profound understanding on Master following teaching:
“A notion, once formed, will control you for the duration of your life, influencing your thinking and even the full gamut of emotions, such as your happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy. It is formed postnatally.” (“Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II)
I clearly realized that the various thoughts that made me anxious and insomnia were all acquired notions, which I treated as my innate self. That selfish “self” who feared that Master may not care about me was also an acquired notion.
Master said,
“The self that is you is the innate self, and it does not change. But a human being tends to easily form notions when perceiving things, and those notions are not you.” (“Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II)
That innate self is exactly what Master wants to save! Once I understood this, my heart was suddenly brightened up, as relaxed as I had never been.
In retrospect, because I did not study the Fa thoroughly and could not distinguish between the “innate self” and the “fake self,” I had been suffering and confused for a long period of time. This was a profound lesson learned!
After this painful experience, I closely watched the thoughts forming postnatally. I didn’t grasp it well at the beginning. That is to say, after thinking about the problem with an acquired notion for a while, only to realize what it was, I immediately negated it after being vigilant. I jumped out of the logical thinking of the acquired notion. In this way, after about two months, I gradually was able to recognize this “worry” and other notions when they came up. I could suppress them and not follow them.
With this continuous sublimation, my thoughts were no longer chaotic. I could gradually fall asleep without taking medicine. Later, this thought-karma was completely defeated.
My sublimated self felt peaceful like never before. My meditation was sometimes as wonderful as sitting in an eggshell. I really feel Master’s saying:
“Secular and sacred, one creek apartForward or back: two different realms...”(“One Thought,” HongYin III)
I sincerely thank Master!
Of course, my personal victory over thought-karma was not done once and for all, because all kinds of thought-karma and notions do not come out all at once. They came back gradually, so eliminating them was a gradual process, a process guided by Master’s Fa. The clearer I am on the principles of the Fa, the faster the victory over them.
Not only the thought-karma, but also all acquired notions should be cultivated like this. Master said,
“It is very hard to vanquish thinking and notions acquired after birth, for that is what cultivation is all about.” (“Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II)
With the constant discovery of various acquired notions, and constant resistance and resolution of them, the obsessions in the heart would be extinguished at any time. Because Master said,
“Your ways of thinking, your understanding, and your appreciation towards me and Dafa are the product of ordinary human thinking. But what I’m teaching you is in fact moving beyond ordinary humans to a rational, true understanding of Dafa!” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
As I firmly grasped the teaching,
“...thinking and notions acquired after birth,...” (“Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II)
to cultivate myself and continue to improve in the Fa, I also experienced feelings that I had never felt before.
Feeling 1: Sending Righteous Thoughts
I felt that the energy was much stronger. Because of the emphasis on removing the acquired notions and letting true nature thoughts constantly come back, when meditating or sending righteous thoughts, I feel more and more peaceful and powerful than ever before. As Master said,
“...regardless of whether they can manifest in the surface dimension or not, when a person’s True Thoughts come forth they are very powerful.” (“Dafa Disciples’ Righteous Thoughts are Powerful,” Essentials for Further Advancement II)
Whether it was saving people or work, I felt better than before. It was like opening the way for me to focus on Fa-rectification and saving people.
Feeling 2: It is Easier to Save People and Clarify the Truth.
I usually distributed truth-clarification materials on the way to and from work by using specific electronic tools. It basically involved sending the truth clarifying materials to sentient beings all over the country every day. The content was mixed text and multimedia, based on the current situation. For example, if the epidemic situation had worsened, I added content about the epidemic, otherwise I included other truth-clarification content. Even when the local epidemic situation was tense and the community was closed to prevent people from going out, I still sent out the truth messages. Although the number was not large, about a dozen copies a day, I sent them every day. Because my condition was getting better, the number of content I sent was increasing as well. Moreover, I rarely had any interference. This made me feel the power of Dafa!
I sometimes also clarified the truth to my colleagues and persuaded them to quit the CCP and its youth organizations. My colleagues knew that I practiced Falun Gong and never took anything from the company’s warehouse. My accountable, diligent, and helpful work ethic was frequently praised by my manager and coworkers. Some coworkers secretly told me that CCP members were not comparable to Falun Dafa practitioners, and that society would be much better if everyone behaved like us. This manifests in Falun Dafa being a high-ethics practice, which is beneficial to any society. The evil CCP’s suppression of such a group of good people is unpopular.
The improvement in the Fa made me truly feel what Master said,
“If every one of you can understand the Fa from the depths of your mind, that will truly be the manifestation of the Fa whose power knows no boundary—the reappearance of the mighty Buddha Fa in the human world!” (“Cautionary Advice,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
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Category: Improving Oneself
