(Minghui.org) I am a young Falun Dafa practitioner, and have been cultivating with my mother since I was young. I have benefited greatly from Dafa. The principles of “Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance” have always nourished my heart, guided my actions, and corrected my deficiencies. From Dafa, I understand the meaning of life, and realized that I should always think of others needs first and play a positive role in society.
Being grounded in Dafa’s principles made me very happy, and my heart was always at ease. However, as I grew older and had more contact with society, I inevitably came to know many tools for addiction, such as television (TV), mobile phones, and the Internet, which have been very harmful for me. Since they came into my life, they have brought me a great deal of negativity, making me addicted to the virtual world, and not able to examine myself and the world around me with righteous thoughts.
The virtual world of the Internet has so many things to attract us - novels, films, television dramas, pop songs, celebrity gossip, online shopping, video games, various video platforms, and so on. No matter what one likes, something will be on the Internet for you to make you addicted to it.
Playing on my cell phone ate up large chunks of my precious time, making me unable to focus on my studies and exams. I did not even have enough time to sleep or communicate normally with my relatives and friends. The worst part was that it seriously interfered with my righteous belief in Master, Dafa, and cultivation.
Even though I still had the Fa in my heart, it became difficult for me to be kind and tolerant when it came to others. Instead, I was unknowingly influenced by the bad stuff that entered into my mind, and my fighting spirit grew to the point that a little bit of friction with others would make me feel indignant. I had many bad attachments, notions, and concepts, such as seeking fame and fortune, becoming easily irritated, advocating revenge, jealousy, selfishness, and paying too much attention to my looks and that of others.
When this state first appeared, I didn’t realize how harmful it was. Master had given me hints several times, letting me dream about toilets and cesspits, and letting me see the horrifying things behind the Internet, such as ghosts, snakes, skeletons, and so on. Fellow practitioners’ also described scenes like these in their sharing articles. I tried to put down the phone several times, but the long-standing human notions had formed a thick shell around me. Whenever there was a slight improvement in myself, I would be quickly dragged back. I fixated on my cell phone, and could not be without the phone at all.
These past two to three years, I have studied at home while my parents were at work. This gave me ample time to play on the phone. This desire grew stronger and stronger. I often woke up at 9 a.m. and played on my cell phone until dinner. After dinner, I would use studying as an excuse to continue playing on the phone and computer, and I would not go to bed until midnight. Sometimes I felt extremely tired, but my fingers would still swipe back and forth on the screen as if I couldn’t control them. I wasted my life every day, and was living a life of emptiness, depression, and self-abandonment. In the past, I had cultivated diligently and lived a beautiful and meaningful life, so I was able to feel the difference and understand the harm and poison that playing on the phone has done to my mind and body.
Master said,
“I’d like to give you my take on what people normally refer to as “addiction.” In the medical sciences it’s believed that addiction occurs when the part of the nervous system associated with addictive behaviors is stimulated and develops to a sufficient degree. But that’s not it. What’s happening, then? Over time, that addictive substance accumulates, and forms inside of your body an identical version of you that comes to control you. Because it is composed of strong attachment, and has your appearance, it has an equally strong desire to control you; it was formed out of strong desires, after all.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)
“Spending unnecessary time on the computer or playing video games has the same effect; it’s the same idea. If you want to quit, that thing won’t want you to since it would die. And so it will do all in its power to make you engage in those things. And if you try not to, it will interfere with your work or studies by causing your mind to crave them. If you refuse, it might even make you do those things in your dreams.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Fa Conference” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XV)
I deeply felt the control of that fake “me” over the real me. Whenever I played on my phone, it was the fake “me” and those attachments and human notions that were getting fed and nourished. It was not the real me. The real me was suffering in the darkness of ignorance, surrounded by those corrupt creatures, and feeling hopeless about my cultivation and life being ruined by the virtual world. The real me was shouting loudly, “Master, save me!”
Compassionate Master Did Not Give Up on Me
Seeing that my cultivation state had not been well, my mother talked with me for a long time, hoping that I could overcome my addiction to the phone. I casually said yes but knew in my heart that I did not have the willpower to do it. My mother then talked about a banner that was placed somewhere in the city that slandered Master and Dafa, and asked me to send forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the evil factors behind it in other dimensions. She asked me whether I wanted to send forth righteous thoughts right then or the next day.
I suddenly felt some righteous thoughts, and thought to myself, “I have been blessed by Dafa since I was a child, and Master has always watched over and protected me in my cultivation and life. When Master and Dafa are being slandered, if I’m not willing to immediately send forth righteous thoughts to eradicate the old force factors, it would be a shame as a cultivator.” So I said to my mother, “Yes, I’ll send righteous thoughts now!”
Perhaps it was because this thought positioned me in the right place, Master took away my attachment of playing on the cell phone that had troubled me for many years! When I held my palm erect to send forth righteous thoughts, I suddenly felt a surge of energy rushing to my heart, which gave me the courage and confidence to “definitely defeat this demon.” I begged Master in my heart to help me get rid of these bad things. I felt as if something was being separated from me. I kept sending forth righteous thoughts, while asking Master to help me. My palms were trembling and my face was covered with tears.
I am not normally sensitive in cultivation, and I rarely have supernatural feelings. But this time I really felt the whole process of those bad things being removed from my dimensional field. I changed from a person with many negative thoughts and strong attachment to playing on the phone, to a person with a pure mind, not wanting to touch the phone. The entire process lasted less than 10 minutes.
Only Master and Dafa have such profound power and compassion that can purify a person from the depths of his/her heart, in an instant. The transformation in me was precisely a manifestation of Master’s boundless mercy.
Life Changed to Simple and Pure
My life is now simple and pure. I go to bed early, get up early, and take work and study seriously. When I need to use my phone at work, I can just take it out, use it for what I need to, and then put it away. I have uninstalled all the entertainment apps from my phone. When I’m not working, I pick up a Dafa book and read it respectfully. I can feel the manifestation of the principles of the Fa, and I can feel the long-lost joy in life. My cultivation and life finally returned to the right track.
Although I occasionally think of things that I was obsessed with, and sometimes have strong temptations in my dreams, I realized that there is no need to be afraid or worry. This is the manifestation of that fake “me” struggling near its death. Every time it jumps out, it gives me another opportunity to send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it; and every time I deny it in my mind, it is eliminating my karma, as well as weakening its leftover poisons. Every time I let go, Master helps me remove a little bit of these bad substances until it is completely eliminated.
During a Fa conference, a practitioner asked Master about practitioners who were addicted to playing on their cell phones.
Master warned us,
“From antiquity till today humans have not had this state. This is aliens’ technology, and demons are utilizing it to get you hooked, get you to abandon everything you have, and have you devote yourself to it. It’s wasting your life, yet you are loath to put it down!” (“Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIV)
People may gain short-term happiness when they use cell phones. However, that happiness does not come from the real self. It is all nourished by the Internet, which can make us become addicted to it, like using drugs. As a result, it becomes very difficult for us to quit. When we get more and more addicted, it is like being possessed, and even our words and actions are often controlled by them. We will then gradually become indifferent, selfish, and irritable, getting further and further away from traditional moral values. At this point, it becomes very difficult to get rid of the addiction. Whether for practitioners or ordinary people, it damages our minds and bodies.
If used the right way, mobile phones and the Internet are tools that can improve our work efficiency and facilitate communication, but it has become synonymous with depravity and indulgence, leading the whole world on a downward spiral. It really should not be this way.
To those people who are reading this article, if you don’t want to be controlled by the Internet and cell phones, but are having trouble breaking free of them, please sincerely recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.” You will be able to do it just like I did, by getting help from the divine to pull the bad substances out of you. You will then find life fulfilling, and turn into a truly rational and intelligent self.
I sincerely hope that everyone will be able to see through the confusion, find the divine, and return to the traditional path!
Words cannot express my gratitude to Master. Thank you, Master, for everything you have done for a disciple like me.
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