My Understanding of Notions

I want to share my understanding of notions. One day, as I practiced the fifth exercise my mind was very quiet and peaceful. I felt that I could even sense my true self, who exists in a very deep dimension. She is so microscopic and pure. All of a sudden, a notion crossed my mind. I felt it was black. Its particles were coarser than mine, and far away from me. Master’s Fa then appeared in my mind, “Zhu yuanshen [main spirit] does not change because of the conceptions it has developed. Zhu yuanshen’s nature will not be altered because of the conceptions it has created itself. Because of various human conceptions and karma, one’s original nature can be buried, covered up, or completely surrounded so that it cannot be exposed. But, it will not change because karma is not matter as fine as it. Karma is produced among the ordinary people and is matter of the ordinary people. It cannot become as microscopic as that. However, when a person reproduces a human life, it is extremely microscopic matter. Therefore, it cannot be mixed into it, except for that the human original nature has been buried.” (“The Buddha’s Nature,” Zhuan Falun, Vol. II)

Before cultivation, I felt that I always suffered tremendous tribulations and that other people were the cause of them. Now, I realize it’s not due to other people. Notions are the real cause of tribulations. I also now find those tribulations trivial, not even worth mentioning. The following helps me a lot in removing notions. “…thinking about eliminating the bad thoughts in their minds, karma, and bad notions or external interference. As you're like this, think that they die, and then they will be eliminated.” (“Teaching the Fa at the 2001 Canada Falun Dafa Cultivation Experience Sharing Conference”) When I sent out righteous thoughts, I felt some black substances were eliminated from my mind. I felt myself become lighter and purer. I discovered that many of my attachments come from notions. For example, fear comes out of my habit of imagining things and this habit is a result of all the bad experiences that I previously had. Since realizing this, I started to eliminate fear as soon as it came out. In this way, fear was eliminated little by little. Because it is alive in another dimension, I thought about letting it die, thereby eliminating it.

I also realized that when I sought answers from outside myself and let notions control me, conflicts continuously increased, whether at home, at work, or with other practitioners. These conflicts lasted until I genuinely let go of the sense of self and sought within for the source of problems. Then, in a blink of an eye, all these conflicts disappeared. During this period, a real battle was going on between my true nature and notions. My faith in Master and Dafa has been constantly challenged by my powerful scientific notions. When my notions became less, it became more natural to search inside myself, and my scientific notions also became weaker.

No matter how well we try to cover up our own attachments, particularly when we cannot open our hearts to each other, other practitioners will sooner or later be able to see them. When others point out our attachments, if we cannot put down our sense of self and seek answers from within, conflicts will continue. This happens because our notions are controlling us.

When I heard a veteran practitioner say that she still had arthritis and was taking medication for it, I was very surprised. Several practitioners used various opportunities to clarify this issue to her. But she could not overcome notions about her discomfort. Some practitioners can neither cultivate single-mindedly nor break through their concepts. This is their great loss.

The following is an account of my son’s notions. When my elder son was about 8 or 9, he was strongly influenced by his father and held a very negative opinion of Dafa and me. No matter how I tried to explain it, my husband still couldn’t understand what Falun Gong really was. However, my younger son, who was about 4 years old at that time, could understand me very well. Almost every night he asked me to read him Master’s Fa. Later, he told me he wanted to learn Falun Gong because he heard me telling his father about how good Falun Gong was. When my husband wasn’t present, I played the cassettes of Master’s nine-day seminar while driving. My older son always complained, and said that he did not want to to listen to it. This happened before we started to send forth righteous thoughts. After I first began sending forth righteous thoughts, I found that everything became easier. One day, the lecture tape played the section about notions. I told my two sons that after birth one’s main spirit predominates until reaching the age of three years old. At that time the person is still naïve and pure. Notions usually form after a person is six years old. Then I talked to my elder son, “Because your father often says something bad about Falun Gong and me, you believe I’m bad, even strange. This is because you have been influenced by your father and have developed notions because of it. But it’s not you. I know deep in your heart, you still love your mother.” I also told him that I had no ulterior motive in explaining this idea to him, and I just used him as an example to illustrate the point that I was trying to make. To my surprise, my words touched him deeply. I found the expression on his face was continuously changing, from sorrow to confusion and so on. So when we reached home, I put my hand on his shoulder and told him, “Don’t be unhappy. I understand you, and everything that’s happened to you.” The expression on his face remained unchanged, so I repeated my words. Afterwards, he changed substantially. It seemed that all his bad notions about Falun Gong and me completely disappeared from that point on. He broke through those notions that bound him and started to practice Falun Gong. The wall in his heart that separated us disappeared as well.

Master said in the article “The Buddha’s Nature” (Zhuan Falun, Vol. II), “Once a conception is formed, it will control one’s lifetime and dictate the person’s mind, even the person’s happiness, anger, sadness, and joyfulness. Its formation is acquired. If such a thing lasts for a long time, it will be dissolved into the human mind and become integrated into one’s own real brain to form one’s character.”

If you have other opinions on this matter, please discuss it with me. I hope everyone practices diligently until they reach Consummation.

Translated on January 10, 2002 from http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2001/12/31/13124.html