PureInsight | September 15, 2012
[PureInsight.org] I have had some enlightenment about letting go of sexual desire.
1. Understand Fa principles clearly, sexual desire is a human attachment, which needs to be cultivated away.
In Zhuan Falun, “Lecture Four,” Master taught us: “Many forms of gong, many supernormal abilities, many abilities, fashen, the Immortal Infant, Cultivated Infants, and a lot of beings all grow up from this tian.” In the lecture, “Teaching the Fa at the 2002 Fa Conference in Philadelphia, U.S.A.,” Master said: “How was the cosmos created? It was created just by a Great Fa Enlightened Being's one thought.” And in the recent lecture, “20th Anniversary Fa Teaching,” Master said: “As we know, didn’t Shakyamuni say that a Buddha could create a world at just the thought of it, with innumerable sentient beings within it? That is the case because they have power that great within their domain, possessing the energy of all the particles from the most minuscule to the largest within the level that they are at, with a density that great, and things are done with [particles spanning from] small to large acting as one. They have all of the abilities needed to create anything in their worlds, with living beings counted among what they can create at the mere thought of it.”
From Master’s lectures I enlightened that a great enlightened being used unlimited Fa power to create beings. It manifests the boundless wisdom and the ultimate life form. But in the human world it requires a man and a woman to have sexual intercourse in order to produce their descendants. The desire in sexual activity manifests as a human attachment as well as the incompetent behavior of low-level beings. As for “lust,” it can’t be generalized simply as low. It is a manifestation of decay. Beings at higher levels don’t need the low-level stuff, which must be cultivated away and discarded.
From a different perspective, sexual desire is nothing different from the attachment of fame, personal gain, or the attachment of showing off. It can drive a person crazy, just like money or fame. When one goes after it strongly, it becomes an addiction. One creates a lot of karma while chasing it through one’s whole life. So sexual desire is nothing special, when you look down at it, you will be able to pass this test.
2. Studying the Fa more and doing the exercises well help to let go of the attachment of lust.
In the lecture “Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Master answered a practitioner's question:
"Disciple: I would like to ask our revered Master, as we cover ordinary news and get polluted by it daily, is it necessary for us to try to expel that pollution each day using our thoughts? Will that minimize the pollution?
Master: No, you don’t need to do that. Whatever you lay your eyes upon is polluting. You just need to increase your Fa-study and it will be fine. And along with that, you should do the exercises with a normal length of time every day, and when studying the Fa, you need to make sure your mind is focused. Any problem can be resolved if you truly make good on your cultivation."
After studying this paragraph, not only I had a better understanding of how to study the Fa well and the importance of more Fa-study, but also I realized that doing the exercises was equally important. At one time I emphasized studying the Fa only without doing the exercises well. As a result I had more human attachments and got fatigued easily, even though I slept more every day. Later, I made every effort to do the five sets of exercises daily. Sexual desire faded away, let alone the attachment of lust. Not just that, I slept less, only five hours. But I felt energized. My human attachments were reduced as well. Therefore, I would like to share on the benefit of doing the exercises. As far as I knew, some fellow practitioners didn't do the five exercises daily; others did finish the five exercises, but they didn't keep a clear mind, especially when they did the fifth exercise, they would fall asleep. As a result, they had more human attachments and occasionally their sexual desire emerged.
Therefore, in order to discard all kinds of human attachments and achieve a better state of doing the three things, fellow practitioners must pay attention to the five sets of exercises and finish them all at least once every day.
3. Eliminate bad thoughts quickly. Don't enlarge human attachments.
In the lecture, “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference,” Master said: "You know, when a person fails to keep up in cultivation, human thinking will surface, and everyone will see this reflected in his actions. And all of the human ideas, as well as the variety of sources from which those ideas stem, that are bound up in that human thinking will serve to interfere with the person. Whichever kind of life form your thinking aligns with, that life form will immediately have an effect on you. Then at other times, when Dafa disciples do not cooperate well, or get angry and lose their temper, I can see that certain degenerate beings, some of which are rather large, are present, adding to it; and also at work are those layers upon layers of bad beings at various lower levels that [the practitioners’ thoughts] have aligned with. Haven’t I taught that people have both a good and bad side? Then think about it, when a person’s thought comes forth, the factors that are at work are incredibly complex."
From this paragraph, I enlightened that if one didn't cultivate away one’s human attachments, not only would those human attachments emerge, but also the attachments would be enlarged. Therefore, I developed a habit that when I encountered an issue, no matter whose fault it was, I always inspected how my thoughts went—whether it was gladness, anger, grievance, etc., I nailed it there and cleaned it up by sending righteous thoughts. After that I didn't have other troubles. As time went by, the habit had been developed. From then on I seldom had troubles.
I saw some practitioners didn't clean up sexual desire in time when it emerged in their mind. They suffered from it and even committed wrong doings. In fact they neglected daily solid cultivation. If one could pay attention and clean up bad thoughts every day, he wouldn't have too many ridges and furrows on the cultivation path.
This is my sharing about discarding sexual desire and other human attachments. Please point out if anything is not in line with the Fa.
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/node/111465
