PureInsight | September 27, 2012
[PureInsight.org] When talking with a practitioner recently, I found that she was very attached to the US presidential election. She could not even calm down when talking about it. So I wrote the following email to her. When writing the email, I came to understand that, as practitioners, we all have various attachments that can easily impede our cultivation if we do not eliminate them in time. That conversation occurred because I also need to reflect on this issue too. Hopefully by sharing such understandings, we can all walk the cultivation path better.
Here is the email I sent:
I am not sure if I should send this email or not. But realizing that I may regret it in the future for not writing, I am writing it anyway.
We have all practiced Falun Dafa for many years, and we all know how precious it is. Before practicing Dafa, I tried out various philosophies, theories, and Qigong etc., both in China and in the US. I even registered for an I-Ching class back in Beijing University. But none of them gave me a path forward. It was not until I began to practice Dafa that I found a way that can solve all my problems—and other people’s problems too.
For over 10 years now I have been involved in a number of projects that clarify the truth to ordinary people. This has required me to dig further into society—Western and Eastern culture, both the past and the present. Right now, I also volunteer to teach traditional Chinese culture at the Ming Hui School in my area. There are many things (traditional culture, Buddhism, Christianity, etc.) that are helpful for human society, and they can be useful for us to clarify the truth to people so that they can come to understand the Fa. But none of them will solve the fundamental problems of human society. Without Dafa, no matter how much we relied on Chinese traditional culture, various religions, philosophies, or US presidents in the past or in the future, human society would continue to deteriorate and come to an end. After all, to prepare for the Fa-rectification, sentient beings at various levels have made efforts for at least 200 million years—with the last earth and this earth. Therefore, theories and ideas in the contemporary world cannot last long regardless of how good they appear to be.
In the past 15 years of my cultivation, there were a number of times when I was stuck and found no way to get out. I had no choice but to calm down and really ask myself: what is the purpose of living in this world and exactly what do I need on this earth? When asking this I realized that I only need Dafa and Master, nothing else. I will be just fine and I will be happy as long as I have Dafa in my heart, even if I have no money and nobody cares about me. Miraculously, things always changed after those moments. When looking back, those tribulations now look insignificant. This happened several times in the past 15 years. Every time, I had to give up all I have—in my mind and soul—except for Dafa, in order to move forward.
I also saw many examples where practitioners were dragged down because of attachments to money, fame, lust, or sentimentality, etc. I wanted to help, but it rarely worked. Later I realized that cultivation is indeed serous. We had to come a long way in history before we could have an opportunity to practice Dafa today. The karma we accumulated in the past was so immense that, without Master, we could easily be destroyed at any moment. That is why there are many tests in our cultivation path that require us to make a choice: do we choose Dafa or something else (money, lust, sentimentality, or fame)? When we make the wrong choice, even subconsciously, the old forces will continue to drag us down, further and further away from cultivation. Some practitioners have stopped practicing, for this or that reason, and some have even passed away. Some are continuously struggling and having a hard life—if they stop cultivating, all their karma from before will come back to them and it is beyond what they can withstand.
Probably, you can also think about and relate to these issues. During the Taiwan election in the past, many practitioners were attached to certain candidates, and there were such lessons. We do not need more lessons like this.
Right now, I am involved in several Dafa projects on a daily basis. I can hardly handle all of them. But I have to continue because, just like any other Dafa disciple, Master gave us various skills and wisdom for a reason. We cannot let down the sentient beings that wait for us to save them. They are probably our children, spouses, or parents from past lives. We should focus our attention on this, instead of being distracted by various matters in everyday society. As long as the sun rises in the morning, as long as we have a chance to validate Dafa and save sentient beings in the human world, we have to do it, with all our effort.
Sorry for taking some of your time. You can discard this email if you do not like it. Otherwise, I hope you can calm down and really think about these things. For example, what is the most important thing for you to focus on in the next few hours, days, weeks, etc.?
