PureInsight | January 21, 2002
When I would share my experiences with other practitioners, I always seemed to mention the notion of "self". "I'm practicing cultivation, I'm doing Dafa work, I'm safeguarding Dafa, I'm validating Dafa", and so on. All expressions were attached to the word "I", which indicated that I hadn't broken away from self-centered notions. How can we give up our self-centered notions? Some practitioners said that when nothing is left in our hearts, nothing would remain in our minds either, not even concepts of Dafa and Dafa work. Only then, in the midst of tribulations, might we truly reach a level in which "self" no longer exists. I didn't agree with this understanding. However, I was still unclear about how we could truly give up the notion of "self."
Later during Fa-study, I was reminded of something. Fellow practitioners had mentioned several times that we should pay attention to security issues when accessing the Internet and passing Dafa information. They said that no matter how elaborate and tedious the procedure is, we should do everything well without any omission, even when it comes to formality. I never paid much attention to what they said because I thought there was too much sensitive information to delete. Moreover, I believed that even if I deleted all sensitive information, some sensitive programs like PGP programs might catch the attention of the police anyway. Once the evil starts its persecution, it doesn't need an excuse or any evidence, even if thorough security measures are taken. So I believed during that time the key point was that we should always establish firm righteous thoughts. Now I realize that I would not have lost anything if I had followed the fellow practitioners' suggestions. Maybe, it was a bit inconvenient, but the effect would have been much better if we had used both non-omission procedures and righteous thoughts. I also realized that I didn't want to change what I believed. What I displayed was my attachment to the delusion of "self." I would be truly responsible to Dafa if I took other practitioners' suggestions. What was the "self" that I held so dear? It was what I believed I had cultivated and my "righteous" enlightenments. How selfish this enlightenment on the evil path was!
As Dafa disciples, it is crucial that we are steadfast in all of our righteous enlightenments obtained through our cultivation. It is very important to obtain our own things through cultivation. But at the same time, no matter when and where, we should put Dafa first as all righteous enlightenments come from Dafa. When we talk about determined mind, we need to make sure that it is only based on the Fa. Anything that is deviated from the Fa is extremely dangerous. If our mind is not righteous, we will enlighten along an evil path. During the whole process of our cultivation, "Cultivation depends on one's own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one's master" always manifests, which is Master's immense mercy and arduous salvation. Everything is from Master. Is there anything that is truly from our own cultivation? Master gives us all we have now and tells us that we obtained it through our own cultivation. Why is that? It is because we all want to practice cultivation, we all want to upgrade our level, we all have a determined faith in Master, and we indeed upgrade our xinxing levels through genuine cultivation. These things are what we can do. The gong transformation and enlightenment to the incredible immense principles of the universe are done by Master. In fact, if we can indeed break the frame of "self", give up everything, and become a true particle in the Fa, we can obtain everything that the Fa grants us. Then our thoughts will be the manifestation of the Fa on our level. The thoughts will assimilate to the Fa without any concept of "self" at all. Yet, all that the evil old forces do in persecuting Dafa comes right from this deviated notion of "self," which is also a systematic arrangement by the evil old forces to destroy the Fa-rectification. In order to break through the notion of "self" through our cultivation and indeed step out from humanness, we need to stand firmly in the Fa. We must gradually and determinedly eradicate everything that is old, deviated, and unrighteous, so that what we obtain is fresh, completely new, and righteous. After this sudden realization, I understood that only when we can think based on the Fa and make a breakthrough can we indeed reach a level without the notion of "self". Meanwhile, Master will help us understand the true manifestation of the principles of the universe on our level, which will be our true enlightenment.
Buddha's grace is infinite. As Dafa disciples, we will never understand what Master has given to all beings in the universe. "Taking care of all human affairs, Looking after heavenly suffering. Whom should the words be told? It's even colder in higher places." (From "Colder in Higher Places" in Hongyin, Teacher's Book of Poetry). Fellow practitioners, let's make progress diligently. We have come because of the vow that we made to the Lord of Buddhas. We will end all those that are deviated and unrighteous. We will live forever in Dafa. Let us break from the notion of "self" and melt into the Fa. In that way, we will indeed fulfill the sacred vow that we made millions of years ago.
Translated from:
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2002/1/2/11551.html
