(Minghui.org) Around seven o’clock one morning, a condo downstairs caught fire. My wife and I escaped from our fifth floor unit to the seventh floor through a corridor full of intense, pungent black smoke. Fortunately, my neighbor opened the door in time to let us in.
After a while, the fire fighters arrived to put out the fire. The ceiling of the fourth floor was burned. We are on the fifth floor, and our home turned black due to the thick smoke. The air conditioner also burned out. It wasn’t safe to live there; thus, the residential committee arranged for us to temporarily stay in a hotel.
It was scary to think about this afterward. I know the old forces were trying to take my life. Master, the founder of Falun Dafa, saved me in the end. I wondered why I, a Dafa practitioner, encountered such a threatening incident?
The fire occurred exactly three months after I moved into this building. Reflecting on my poor cultivation state, and how Master compassionately saved us, I felt extremely regretful and ashamed.
I Became Too Attached to Home Decoration
After I got married last year, we bought a secondhand condo in an old subdivision and hired a remodeling team to renovate it. I was very happy when our house looked as if it was brand new after the renovation. Before we moved in this year, I was busy with online shopping for furniture and decorations. It wasted my time for cultivation and aggravated my attachments. My mother often came to my home for dinner and and was complimentary, saying that the kitchen was big and comfortable. This made me even more happy; my affection for the house kept growing.
As a cultivator, any human attachment is a hindrance on the path of cultivation and should be removed.
I Developed an Attachment to Lust
My wife is not a practitioner. Although she is not against Dafa and sometimes studies the Fa as well, she doesn’t fully understand the requirements of a Dafa cultivator.
My wife often watches TV or TikTok, and I would be dragged into watching it as well. Later, I became addicted to a set of variety shows and watched them regularly, which led to my lust. In the meantime, it wasted a lot of my time, and I couldn’t find time to practice the exercises before I went to bed at midnight. I couldn’t get up early in the morning to do the exercises, either. I also didn’t pay attention to Fa study. This vicious circle dragged me away from the Fa.
My wife is eager to get pregnant. Although I was not so eager, my lust became greater and greater to accommodate my wife’s desire. I didn’t realize that my behavior had become seriously inconsistent with Dafa.
In fact, Master already laid the cultivation path for us, and everything is arranged. I am ashamed of my lust, although I tried to resist it at the beginning. The evil tried to kill me using the excuse of my lust, which the old forces go after the most.
Master said:
“Whether you can let go of ordinary human attachments is a fatal test on your way to becoming a truly extraordinary being. Every disciple who truly cultivates must pass it, for it is the dividing line between a cultivator and an everyday person.” (“True Cultivation”, Essentials for Further Advancement)
During the year-plus since I married, I conformed to ordinary people’s standards, developed lust, and no longer followed the standards for a cultivator. I failed to realize the seriousness of cultivation.
I Realized I Must Eliminate Sentimentality After the Fire
During the three months after we moved into our new house, I was attached to living an ordinary family life. I was busy with shopping and cooking and wasted time learning a cooking method online. Gradually, I grew more sentimental toward my family and my wife. My wife studies the Fa and practices the exercises on and off. This made me feel that she has good inborn quality, and I therefore grew more attached to her.
Dafa practitioners are busy saving people. However, I am enjoying my family life. I came to realize that my attachment to sentimentality caused the big fire.
I used to help my mother learn to validate the Fa and follow the right path. Thus, everything was smooth for me, such as buying a house, remodeling, and marriage. I knew I was blessed by Master. However, I did not remain diligent in my Dafa cultivation after I got married. I no longer actively tried to save people, and I developed a lot of lust. Then the evil burned everything in the fire and almost took my life. Thus, I realized the seriousness of Dafa cultivation, and that it can be a matter of life or death if we don’t walk the right path.
After surviving the fire, I realize I must be more diligent and redouble my efforts to save people to live up to Master’s compassion, fulfill my vow, and follow Master to our original home.
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Category: Improving Oneself
