PureInsight | December 2, 2018
[PureInsight.org] In my current state of cultivation, I understand that smartphones have had many negative effects on practitioners’ righteous thoughts and righteous actions. The phone not only distracts us, but also wastes a lot of time, which makes it hard for me to finish things that I want to do. Because of spending too much time on the phone or chatting on WeChat, I feel that it has had a bad impact on me. Regarding the Internet in this society, Master has said in Fa Teaching at the 2016 New York Fa Conference, “This society is already a mess, and on the Internet all bad things are stirred in, just like demons, circulating. Whatever goes in is stirred in there or mixed in there, disrupting society, the human mind, and morality, and changing people's living state—the good and the bad are all jumbled together.” Nowadays there are so many deviated, depraved things everywhere; all serving as interference for cultivators, and also obstructing us from saving everyday people. On many fronts, this obstruction is spiraling into new depths of depravity. Let’s leave everyday people out and just talk about cultivators. As cultivators, we must have self-discipline and clear this interference from both the inside and outside. We need to take advantage of everything in the right way; otherwise it can easily become an attachment.
There are so many garish things on the Internet, and people can become easily lost while looking on the internet. The internet can quickly become an obstruction for cultivation, from TV to computer, from computer to phone – all of which keeps you from striving forward diligently. Once you are addicted to it, it can be more severe than drugs. So, as true cultivators, we must be vigilant and we must always have a strong main consciousness, stronger righteous thoughts, and not be disturbed by chaos. We need to study the Fa well and take every chance to cultivate our xinxing well at every moment in order to advance in our cultivation.
It is not that I cannot live without a smart phone. In normal situations, except from calling my family or answering calls, I can totally stay away from my phone. I don’t need to take a phone to work because there are telephones in my work place and we are not allowed to take or make personal calls during office hours. Therefore, I am not interfered with much by my phone. Recently, however I have been looking at my family’s phone quite often, there is WeChat on that phone and the phone is connected to the Internet. I noticed that it actually harms my eyes, obstructs my studying the Fa and sending forth righteous thoughts, I also noticed some unhealthy thoughts in my mind after using the phone. I feel ashamed about that! In my opinion, I was lured by the phone because of the following reasons:
1. I went down the wrong path due to attachments. When I have the desire to search for some people, some events or some scenes, I may dive into the Internet suddenly with this very direct attraction. This may also include games and online chatting. I was once polluted by an article online, then I had two dreams of a big painting with a lady. The lady was sitting there, letting people look at her. Then the painting somehow changed, and it was hit by a rock. In my understanding, it means the painting appeared because of my playing on the phone, then it was cleared by righteous thoughts.
2. Trying to look up some words. Looking up a word, searching for an unfamiliar character, or checking the weather forecast, these would seem a very reasonable reason to go onto the internet, but 90% of the time after searching, I will continue to play something else on the phone. By that time, my hands seem to be out of control.
3. Online shopping makes people attached to it. Currently, the internet is filled with Demon-Nature. The internet is like an invisible net full of desires, causing all kinds of attachments.
4. There are all kinds of customized plans from many companies. This has a close connection with people’s daily lives. For example, as soon as children start to go to kindergarten then primary school, parents and teachers have to be WeChat friends. Children’s homework is assigned through WeChat nowadays…. In addition, water bills, electricity bills, fines, finance, grocery shopping and insurance can all be taken care of on a smart phone. If this trend continues, people will not be able to live without their phones in this society.
As cultivators, we cannot act like everyday people. We need to get out of this dirty quagmire. Whatever looks good, attracts us or takes our fancy should not affect our cultivation. We have to be self-disciplined and try our best not to watch or listen to those things in society. Remember that we are Dafa practitioners and we need to continue to assimilate to Dafa at all times.
Translated from http://www.zhengjian.org/node/243501
