PureInsight | December 23, 2002
Recently, distracting thoughts often disturbed me while I was sending forth righteous thoughts. Earlier experiences, whether Fa spreading events or details of my daily life, eventually dominated my thoughts. Why was my attachment to those things so strong that it interfered with sending forth righteous thoughts? I usually did not think of my daily activities so much. The thoughts must be external interference. I should eradicate them completely. However, the same state occurred the next time when I sent forth righteous thoughts. This state kept occurring again and again for a long time. I was not aware that my state in the course of daily life was not correct until one day I suddenly recalled what Master taught us in Hong Yin, "In the Dao," "See as if see not, neither confused nor tempted. Hear as if hear not, mind not disturbed." I was tempted by everyday people's affairs. My heart was moved.
In daily life, if I really achieved "see as if see not," "hear as if hear not," and regarded external things as fleeting smoke and passing clouds, and if I were really in an unintentional state, those memories would have no way to appear in my mind while I was sending forth righteous thoughts. On the other hand, if I accepted everyday things by seeing or hearing them and my heart moved, then these things would interfere with sending forth righteous thoughts. This is the essential reason that distracting thoughts appear. It is also a manifestation of insufficient ding.
The difficulty of cultivation among everyday people is that the heart must not be moved while doing everyday people's activities. Once our hearts are moved, we will be lost in the earthly world, drifting with the tide and confusing ourselves with everyday people. When we hold Fa spreading or Fa-rectification activities, we should calm our hearts and cleanse our minds. If a little bit of everyday people's thoughts adulterates our minds, we will easily go astray and our hearts will be impure. Therefore, during Fa-rectification we should stay unaffected, enabling us to handle all situations.
In Lecture Nine of Zhuan Falun, "A Clear and Clean Mind," Master repeatedly emphasized that we must keep a clear and clean mind. The clearer and cleaner our minds are on the human side, the more effectively we will be functioning on the godly side. I think this is also an important requirement for our cultivation practice. An aspect of cultivation practice is to cultivate the heart and enhance our ability to experience ding. Once our xinxing improves and our ability of ding increases, our levels will be elevated and our gong potency will be increased. Hence, to improve the quality of sending forth righteous thoughts, we must purify our hearts in daily life.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/11/9/19186.html
