(Minghui.org) In cultivation, our worldly desires and pursuits are usually easy to identify, such as the attachment to supernormal abilities, the celestial eye, fame, money, and physical health. Recently I discovered an attachment that is common in practitioners but difficult to detect – the attachment to seeking improvement by pursuing new or privileged information.

Often, wanting to improve ourselves is not considered an attachment, because that’s what a diligent practitioner does. But some practitioners like to talk to those who are considered to be diligent or have a deeper understanding of the Fa. Other practitioners prefer to join Fa study groups of these diligent practitioners and avoid other groups if they think they won’t gain any benefit from them.

There are also some practitioners who seek improvement by trying to find out what Master taught others in private lectures. They may feel they can learn something new that wasn’t mentioned in the Dafa books. They think that they can benefit from this and want to share these benefits with others. When they share such “new information” with other practitioners, some like to hear it, feeling that they would benefit from this information too.

Recently there was a sharing article reminding practitioners in Canada not to casually spread what Master said in the Mountain, and another sharing article about the circulation of Master’s unpublished early lectures among practitioners in Changchun City, Jilin Province.

When looking at this from the Fa principles, I believe this kind of wanting to improve through novel information is a manifestation of looking outward, mixed with curiosity and a show-off mentality. To solidly improve ourselves, we must look inward and work on our own minds – there is no short cut or workaround to this.

Master said:

“For example, if a bottle filled with dirty things is sealed tightly and thrown into water, it will sink all the way to the bottom. You pour out some of its dirty contents. The more you empty the bottle, the higher it will float in the water. If it is emptied entirely, it will float completely to the top. In the course of our cultivation, only when the various bad things that exist on the human body are removed can you move up. This characteristic of the universe exactly plays this role. If you do not cultivate your xinxing or raise your moral standard, or if your bad thoughts and bad substances have not been removed, it will not let you ascend. How can you say they aren’t the same thing? Let me tell a joke. If someone among everyday people with all kinds of human emotions and desires is allowed to ascend and become a Buddha—think about it—could this be possible?” (Lecture One, Zhuan Falun)

I recently read this while studying the Fa,

“If the surface meanings of the words are translated accurately, when I add the inner meanings behind them it will naturally be the Fa and will work.” (Teachings at the Conference in the Western U.S.)

Master has made it clear that the meaning behind the Fa is revealed by him, when we have reached a level where we are worthy of understanding the Fa at that level. For those who knew what Master said in his smaller lectures, they still only know things on the surface, and cannot understand the true meaning. So it can’t really help them improve.

We are cultivating amidst delusion. We must rely on our own enlightenment from solid Fa study and cultivation if we are to improve.

This is my personal understanding to share with other practitioners.