PureInsight | December 21, 2009
[PureInsight.org] Several days ago, I read an article from a fellow practitioner that read: “Looking inward. How to look? What to look for? I don't know how.” Whether it was written by a new or a veteran practitioner, it touched me greatly. I thus think I should share my own experiences with everyone on how I have looked inward in my cultivation. I hope it will spur more discussion on the topic so we can improve together.
1. Why Look Inward? What to Look For?
First of all, one must make sure one is cultivating. If one does, then one must look inward to find one's attachments to self-interest. Teacher says in Lecture One of Zhuan Falun: “To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.” This tells practitioners to look inward to find our attachments and get rid of them. Studying the Fa is actually to guide us to find our attachments and get rid of them according to the requirements of Dafa. The goal of cultivation is to reach consummation. We will not reach consummation without getting rid of our attachments. Only when we look within will we find the attachments hidden deep within us. Teacher also said: “I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism. So from now on, whatever you do or whatever you say, you must consider others—or even future generations—along with Dafa’s eternal stability.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature,” Essentials for Further Advancement)
Looking inward is the only path for Dafa practitioners. Teacher also said in the “Fa Teaching at the 2009 Washington DC International Fa Conference:” “For a cultivator, looking within is a magical tool.” Matter and mind are one thing. Looking inward is a process of eliminating corrupted material (selfishness), and during the process we cultivate our Buddha nature to assimilate to Dafa and reach consummation.
2. How to Look Inward
Teacher said: “Why do I tell you to study, read, and memorize Zhuan Falun? To guide your cultivation!” (“What is Cultivation Practice?” Essentials for Further Advancement)
The most important thing is for us to study the Fa and follow Dafa's requirements to see whether we have attachments to jealousy, showing-off, competition, liking or disliking, fear, being meddlesome, curiosity, etc., in our thoughts. Look within to see if our motives originate from fame, gain, or emotion; all these result from selfishness. Find these attachments and get rid of them and become a cultivator that lives up to the standard of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance.
I have cultivated Dafa for over a decade and I still feel I do not cultivate well. I have too many attachments and too much self-interest. Let us cultivate together diligently. I would like to quote, “Reaching Consummation, Completing Gong” from Hong Yin (Translation Version B) and wish everyone reaches consummation soon:
“Cultivate away fame, material interest, and emotion,
Reach Consummation, ascending the firmament,
With compassion, looking at the world,
Only then, awakening from confusion.”
I have quoted many of Teacher's articles in this sharing. I hope fellow practitioners will read through the original articles and do not just take the quotes out of their larger context.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2009/8/26/61292.html
