(Minghui.org) I’m writing this article to share with practitioners and to warn myself to remember the lesson I learned. I hope other Falun Dafa adherents won’t be like me. I treated my cultivation too lightly and caused tribulations for myself, which interfered with the cultivation path Master Li Hongzhi arranged for me.
I’m the type of person who likes to learn about things. After I began to practice Falun Dafa, my mind gradually changed, and I no longer liked modern things. I began to learn about traditional Chinese culture. I felt that, since it had been passed down for many generations, it was valuable and people back then were good. So I began to study it and did not think about the principle of no second cultivation way. In other words, at first, I didn’t think what I was doing was a big deal. This attachment gradually grew.
Several years ago, traditional Chinese culture became a hot topic and many classes were available. A friend introduced me to a company that offered such classes. It was said that the head of the company used to be a Dafa practitioner.
However, I found that this company was no better than any other. Management was a mess, finances weren't on the up and up, and the classes were often held in students’ homes. Some parents had a strong interest in gaining benefits and were involved in the business, and the company liked to hire attractive young men and women.
In the end, the company didn’t accomplish anything and ended up being monitored by the Political and Legal Affairs Committee. They were frequently inspected and eventually closed down.
I should have learned a lesson from what happened, but I didn’t. Recently, I lost income due to the pandemic, so I decided to teach classes. As I thought about what to teach, I again took a path destined for failure.
I prepared a set of Confucius lessons and went to rent a classroom. While we were discussing the rent, the owner rented out half of the venue to another teacher of traditional culture. My instinct told me that I was doing something wrong, but I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was.
That night I had a very clear dream. I was taken to what looked like the spacious lobby of a restaurant. There were words on the door as well as a speaker that constantly blasted “Namo Amitabha.” When I heard the words, I knew I didn’t want to listen to them, but I didn’t clearly say that to anyone.
Someone in a suit then gave me a list that I found disgusting. I said, “Isn’t this a bathhouse?” In reality, I have neither been to such a place nor even considered going to one. As I walked with the person in the suit, I saw men and women of all ages who seemed to be guests. They all wore normal clothes from the waist up and some looked very respectable. However, the crotch of their pants was missing. They were acting like this was normal and didn’t seem to mind at all.
I was led to a long dining table, but there were no plates or bowls. All the food had been dumped on the table in a big mess. Many people were sitting at the table, and they were all looking at me. I took a seat and saw a woman on my left who was somewhat pretty but not young. As soon as I sat down, she smiled at me and insisted on sitting on my lap. In the end, I was not able to control myself and gave in to the temptation of lust.
I was angry with myself when I woke up and immediately realized that the dream was a manifestation of my longstanding issues with lust and not being careful about no second cultivation way. The old forces took advantage of me because I rarely looked inside to examine my behavior. Weren't those “people” in the dream there to hurt me? But I didn’t have the slightest intention of refusing to go along with them. This revealed such a big loophole in my cultivation!
In the past couple of days, I have sent righteous thoughts often and tried to dig deep and reflect on my shortcomings. I immediately stopped preparing to give classes. I also enlightened that Master Li has arrangements for each of us, and we cannot just follow our attachments and disrupt our cultivation path. We should just do well in our normal jobs.
As far as the future, I am certain that human society will return to traditional culture and values. However, it may not be how we envision it and may not follow the historical cultures that existed in the past.
I hope my experience can help awaken other practitioners who are really into learning about traditional culture.
I don't think it’s suitable for someone who is not an educator to start teaching such subjects. Even educators should be careful. Whether in China or not, all the different institutions in society have bad things in them. We must be able to discern them.
For those who are knowledgeable and would like to teach traditional culture, they must have a clear mind and be responsible for others as well as themselves.
These thoughts are my current understanding. If anything is inappropriate, please kindly point it out.
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Category: Improving Oneself
