(Minghui.org) Some members of my family started practicing Falun Dafa in 1997. Influenced by the family’s cultivation environment, I also started practicing Falun Dafa. Over two decades of cultivation, I have had moments of diligence and times of slacking off. I am grateful for Master’s compassion that has guided me to this day.
I’d like to share my cultivation experiences and personal insights with young practitioners. I want to be more diligent during the final phase of Fa-rectification.
Impossible to Be Diligent Without Putting Down the Cell Phone
Since childhood, I’d had issues similar to ADHD—lack of concentration and a weak main consciousness. As I grew up, I didn’t pay attention to cultivating these issues. I didn’t truly understand the preciousness of the opportunity to cultivate and the extraordinary significance of being a Dafa practitioner. Although I studied the Fa, I didn’t cultivate solidly and acted like an ordinary person in some aspects.
After graduating from college and entering the workforce, my cell phone became a constant companion. The wide range of information on my phone severely polluted my mind.
Master said,
“No matter what it is, be it on television or on a computer, it enters once you look at it. As more of these bad things are loaded up in your brain and body, they end up dominating your actions. Your speech, your mode of thinking, your perspective on things—all of it will be affected.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Vol. XI)
Various computer games, movies, and short videos are filled with elements of materialism, desires, competition, promoting laziness and indulgence while evoking one to yearn for a better life. Due to my lack of diligence in cultivation and a weak main consciousness, I found it difficult to control myself. Not using my phone would make me feel bored and uncomfortable, like being addicted to drugs. I wasted a significant amount of time every day on the phone.
Persistent issues such as irritability, attachment to fame and gain, lust, and competitiveness were hard to eliminate. Even during Fa study, doing the exercises, and sending righteous thoughts, I couldn’t calm my mind completely.
I lost count of how many times I made the decision to put down my phone, but I couldn’t resist picking it up again, watching inappropriate material, and repeatedly installing and uninstalling different games. My cultivation in that aspect remained stagnant. I struggled to keep up with Fa study and was too lazy to do the exercises in the morning. My sleep schedule became chaotic, and I felt mentally and physically exhausted.
With Master’s compassionate guidance and my mother’s persuasion, I attempted to put down my phone and started studying the Fa and doing the exercises in the mornings on a regular basis. I gradually realized the importance of looking within, and my understanding of the Fa deepened. I strengthened my main consciousness to truly control myself to completely negate the old forces’ persecution and eliminate the negative factors they imposed on me.
One day, I realized the old forces’ persecution strategy against young Dafa disciples was very much like “boiling a frog.” The old forces would strengthen our various attachments through cell phones or other forms of entertainment, nurturing comfort-seeking tendencies, fear of boredom, pursuit of pleasure, and reluctance to endure hardship. All these emotions divert us from cultivation and hinder our diligence in cultivation and saving sentient beings.
Being attached to playing on cell phones is truly “poison” for cultivators and a tool that the old forces use to destroy Dafa practitioners. I hope young practitioners can clearly recognize the danger of that attachment.
Let Go of Personal Gain
I started to work in real estate in early 2021, an area that I had never been involved in before. Due to our family’s long-standing financial difficulties and my reaching the age when marriage and buying a house needed to be considered, I had the desire to sell more properties and earn more commission. Especially upon hearing news of a colleague who secured a large deal, earning tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands in commission. I appeared unaffected on the surface, but thoughts of how to secure large deals and earn more money churned in my mind. I felt a dense, hard substance pressing against my chest, making it difficult for me to breathe.
I recited Master’s poem:
“Live with no pursuit,Die not caring about staying;Clear out all wild thoughts,Cultivating to a Buddha is not hard.”(“Nonexistence”, Hong Yin)
When attachments surfaced, reciting the related teachings or poems from Master was always effective. I could vaguely sense that the impure substances had been cleared away by Master layer by layer.
The most memorable incident related to the attachment to personal gain was a recent signing. A woman visited the sales office with her daughter and son-in-law to tour the properties. The sales office required that before finalizing a deal, the buyer’s name and mobile number or those of immediate family members must be submitted for validation. The woman told me that she was buying the property for her son. Unaware of the true situation, I directly submitted the woman’s mobile number.
After signing, I learned that it was the son-in-law who was actually purchasing the property, and the woman’s son-in-law and daughter were not yet officially registered as being married. The son-in-law and the daughter had no formal family relationship, so the sale became void. The company leader informed me that if I wanted to secure the sale, I would need to forge a fake marriage certificate for the clients to deceive the authorities. The leader even provided me with the necessary documentation and contacts to apply for the fake certificate. He urged me to handle the matter within the next few days.
After some consideration and struggles with my conscience, I remembered that I am a Falun Dafa practitioner, who cultivates Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Even if it meant personal loss for me, I must adhere to these principles. I couldn’t compromise my integrity, and I couldn’t falsify records even if it meant losing the sale.
Two days later, when the leader inquired about the fake certificate, I told him that I couldn’t proceed with it. I explained that it contradicted my belief and that it might impact the company’s interests. I expressed my willingness to accept any decision the company would make regarding the matter.
The leader responded, “You don’t need to handle the certificate anymore. Just send the materials to the team leader to handle.” I agreed. However, upon reflecting on it later, I realized that my response didn’t fully meet the requirements of Dafa’s principles. Compassionate Master immediately arranged a second chance for me to pass this test.
After the lunch break, the team leader told me to immediately send the certificate materials to her. I told her with a resolute tone, “Please tell the leader that I give up that sale because I don’t want to be involved in obtaining a fake certificate.” I firmly expressed my attitude. However, when the company held its end-of-month summary meeting, the sale was still credited to me. When I truly dared to let go of the attachment to personal gain, I didn’t actually lose anything. But, I did improve my xinxing.
Persecuted for Violating Celibacy
During my internship before graduation from college, I was influenced by colleagues to watch pornographic movies several times. Seeing many of my classmates have girlfriends during their internship, I developed a desire to look for a girlfriend. Subconsciously, I had planted the seeds of sexual desire. A few years later, I changed my job and had a girlfriend. Due to my negligence in truly cultivating and rectifying my attachment to lust, I made mistakes in relationships between a man and a woman.
After some time, I had signs of illness karma in my left leg, similar to sciatica. The throbbing pain persisted and significantly affected my work, walking, and sleep.
Master said,
“What do the old forces and the old cosmos see as the gravest thing? Lust, [in the form of] sexual activity outside of marriage. That’s what they see as the most serious of things.” (Teachings at the Conference in Los Angeles)
I looked inward and sent righteous thoughts to thoroughly negate the old forces’ persecution. I acknowledged that although I had not done well, I was continually rectifying myself within Dafa. The old forces and evil beings are not qualified to test or persecute me, a Dafa practitioner. Regarding the attachment to sexual desire, I found within myself a clinging to desires, a pursuit of sensual pleasure, and an attachment to the desire for a better life.
Compassionate Master did not give up on me even though I carried these attachments and bad thoughts. Throughout my cultivation, Master has been enlightening me, helping me eliminate my karma, and guiding me onto the righteous path. Words cannot express my gratitude to Master, I can only do the three things well, and solidly cultivate myself in the final phase of Fa-rectification.
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Category: Improving Oneself
