(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began persecuting the practice on July 20, 1999.
When I first obtained the Fa, I knew this was exactly what I was looking for, and I was determined to cultivate to the end. I’ve never given up or lost heart whenever I stumbled in cultivation. I really cherish this once-in-an-eternity opportunity.
I would like to tell you about my experiences over the past two years regarding letting go of attachments to fellow practitioners and genuinely cultivating.
A veteran practitioner was the first person in our small town to obtain the Fa. Thanks to her efforts, quite a few local people began cultivating, including me. I am very grateful to her.
However, in recent years, I became very concerned about her cultivation state. In particular, she converted the book of Zhuan Falun from a PDF into a text file so she could listen on her cell phone via the synthesized speech function, and she even shared this file with fellow practitioners. We know from Master’s teachings and fellow practitioners’ articles on the Minghui website that this is wrong and is an act of disrupting the Fa. I and several other local practitioners tried to discuss this with her, but she refused to listen. She said she was correct and that she was granting “salvation” to the synthesized voice.
I was so worried about her that I couldn’t calm down when I read the Fa, did the exercises or sent righteous thoughts. I knew something was wrong on my part and I tried to get rid of these thoughts, but they still kept surfacing.
Later Master’s Fa enlightened me:
Master said,
“There is a principle in our universe: Nobody will intervene if you want something yourself. As long as it is what you want, nobody will intervene. My fashen will stop you and give you hints. If it finds out that you are always like that, it will no longer take care of you. How can one be forced to cultivate? You cannot be made or forced to cultivate. It is up to you to truly make progress. No one can do anything about it if you do not wish to improve yourself. You have been taught the principles and the Fa. Who can you blame if you still don’t want to improve yourself? With regard to what you want, both Falun and my fashen will not intervene—this is for sure.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)
I came to understand that I cannot force this practitioner to change or force her to cultivate. It’s up to her to form her own understandings. Gradually, I calmed down and let go of my attachment to her. I just told her not to listen to that synthesized voice and only listen to Master’s original Fa recording. In the meantime, I sent righteous thoughts to disintegrate whatever was controlling her, hoping she could understand, and change.
Nothing is accidental in cultivation. Encountering this issue meant there must be something within me that I needed to cultivate away. As I reflected repeatedly on the process, I discovered quite a few attachments, including impatience, self-righteousness, a tendency to look outward at others, attachment to self, a habit of blaming others, and a desire to change others.
Harboring so many negative human attachments prevented my kindness and compassion from manifesting; hence, my words lacked the power of the Fa and failed to achieve a positive outcome. Instead, I hurt the other practitioner’s feelings, making her believe that I thought her cultivation was lacking.
I sincerely apologized to her after I discovered my behavior was not in line with the Fa. I wanted to eliminate my attachments and let the purity and kindness of my innate, true self emerge. I asked a fellow practitioner to copy all of Master’s commentaries on practitioners’ articles, along with the articles themselves, so she could read them, and reflect on her own situation. I trusted that once she understands, she will know what to do. Then I was able to calm down and my heart became peaceful.
Please point out anything I’ve said that is not based on the Fa.
Category: Cultivation Insights
