PureInsight | May 12, 2021
[PureInsight.org]
Hello, Master!
Hello fellow practitioners!
I am currently studying in the National Taiwan University of Arts, in my fourth year. I would like to share my experience since I went to college.
My father obtained the Fa before I was born, so I started cultivating since I was little. I studied at the Yusong Art Middle School. When I graduated, I came to Taipei and I was not used to it. My classmates around me had all kinds of material temptations, dragging down Dafa disciples.
1. Get rid of the harm of the internet.
I did not have a habit of playing games on the internet, but I began to be fascinated by the internet subconsciously after college. One day, my fellow practitioners reminded me that I spent too much time on social media. Therefore, I did some calculations and found myself spending four to five hours a day on my phone, especially social media. Since my schoolwork is very busy, I always want to relax by browsing on my phone every time, and I felt like that was very effective. Until one day, I thought about what Master said in Zhuan Falun, “Sometimes people take a cigarette break while they are at work or writing something and feel tired. After smoking they feel energized. But it wasn’t smoking that did it. Rather, that feeling of being energized came from having relaxed for a bit. The mind can create a false impression and give you the wrong idea; over time, it really can form into a notion or false impression that leads one to believe that smoking is a pick-me-up, when it’s really not.” I realized that my social media browsing habit has become like a cigarette addiction. At the same time, I also found that I am obsessed with the vanity of ordinary people, and I do not want to be the so-called “marginal person” among ordinary people. I do not want to be laughed at by my classmates, and I always feel that if I pay more attention to others, perhaps others will give me attention back someday. When I realized these obsessions, I deleted all the social media accounts on my phone, leaving only the contact function.
In addition to social media, all kinds of messages and advertisements on the internet are filled with all kinds of attachments of ordinary people. Master said in Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI) (Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa), “As soon as your thinking aligns with a particular type of being, it will be able to instantly exert an effect on you. Yet you won’t be aware of where your thoughts are originating from, and will still think that it is your own will. But in fact, it was precisely your attachments that resulted in those things having an effect on you, and that led to their strengthening your attachments.” I found that these bad substances on ordinary people’s internet are one of the main reasons why I cannot calm down after doing the three things. In the past, I used to browse the social media when commuting. Later, I replaced it by listening to the Minghui broadcast. So that besides doing the three things I was more assimilated to the Fa, and I became calmer when sending forth righteous thoughts and studying the Fa.
2. Breaking through the difficult barrier of doing the exercises
From a young age to before graduating from high school, there were adult fellow practitioners who urged me to do the exercises, but when I went to college, I lived with ordinary relatives, and I gradually relaxed. Under the long-term academic pressure and time constraints, although I know how to do the exercises, but in my heart, I actually feel that they are dispensable, and I do not pay much attention to the exercises. One day, my body suddenly developed a state of sickness and dizziness, headaches, and weakness in limbs for several days, and meditation was very difficult. After a few days or weeks, it will happen again. Whenever the signs of dizziness appear, I panic and think, “Is this going to affect my life again?” I realized that it was my long-term cultivation state that had a problem.
Master said in Lectures at the first Fa conference in North America, “You claim that you’re too busy and don’t have the time. Actually, you are afraid that you don’t get enough rest. Have you ever thought of the fact that practicing cultivation is the best form of rest? You can obtain the kind of rest that can’t be obtained through sleeping.” But I always think from the perspective of ordinary people: I am still young, and disease-free. Under this sickness karma I study Zhuan Falun, “And as you go on, even your head will seem to disappear, leaving only your mind—with just a little awareness left that you are practicing there. It will suffice to achieve this state, as this provides the optimal conditions for your body to be transformed. And that is why you need to enter into such stillness.” At this time, I began to think about the process of practicing from childhood to grandeur. I was always thinking wild in my mind, and I suddenly understood the meaning of the practice of “cultivation of mind and body” as Master said. As our levels improve, our concentration will become deeper and deeper. When I practiced the fifth set of exercises that day, Master immediately let me experience this “as beautiful as sitting in an eggshell” feeling, and the sickness karma state on my body disappeared completely during the exercise. In addition, the state of sickness happened just when I wanted to rush doing homework or projects. When people around me said, “You are under too much stress.” They mean I have too many things. I want everything to be perfect, and I hope that I can follow my own will. I just want to show how capable I am, and I do not really want to improve in cultivation.
In addition to the illness karma caused by myself, I also found that the old forces are using this key to shake my will to practice. When illness karma comes up, I feel scared and even begin to doubt the importance of cultivation. I must deny the interference of the old forces on me. Although the sickness karma may have arisen because of a problem with my own cultivation state, the old forces are taking advantage of the sickness karma. I realized that this karma is also a test of whether I believe in Master and in the Fa. I am constantly afraid, but maybe the disease karma will disappear until I am not afraid. Once when I was commuting to work, the sickness suddenly came back, I couldn’t see the road, it made me think whether I should go to class or not, then I told myself, “I am a cultivator. The old forces cannot interfere with me with this sick karma state. I just do what I should do. I am a Master’s disciple. I have no omissions and my righteous thoughts are sufficient. No one can move me.” Thinking of this, my righteous thoughts came up. Although the headache was splitting and the sight was spinning, I was not afraid anymore. After a short break at school, the state of sickness disappeared.
3. The test of doing morning exercises
I realized the importance of practicing exercises after the illness and karma, so I started to do morning exercises. In the first week, I could not get up - the alarm clock rang and I just did not hear it. I cannot get up until the last day of that week. Maybe it is because my heart is not firm enough. No matter what I will not be lazy tomorrow, I will get up and do the exercises. The next day I successfully got up and went to the local practice site. I realized there is no chance to get rid of my lazy attachment. There are only two choices, and if there is no middle ground, you must strictly demand yourself. For example, when I have so many alarms, I subconsciously hope that I can spend more time in bed. It is not feasible to have a mentality of ease and luck. At the beginning of the morning exercise, I always wanted to sleep. When I encountered a sleepy state in the past, I always faced it with a passive attitude and felt helpless.
I realized that I have a concept that I much have enough sleep to get good energy, so whenever I stay up late and do the exercises the next day I feel sleepy, I think it is normal, and I often count as a few sleeps when I wake up consciously. I was young, but I gradually discovered that whether I went to bed early the night before, I would still get sleepy the next day when I meditated. I realized that sleepiness has nothing to do with sleep time. Therefore, I started to try to open my eyes to stay awake while practicing meditation exercises. During the breakthrough process, I found that I had a sense of ease. Every time I practiced the fifth set of exercises, I thought what if I encountered sleepiness again, I felt very tired. Occasionally when I open my eyes or I am violently sleepy and shaking, and I will feels uncomfortable, I will think of Master saying in Teachings at the Conference of Changchun Assistants, “You fall asleep while studying the Fa, you fall asleep while reading the book, you also fall asleep while doing the exercises. You haven’t even broken through the beginning stage yet. It’s about willpower! As you know, during your cultivation, not only will all elements that constitute your humanness try to stop you from breaking away from being a human, but also everything that constitutes the human environment won’t let you leave. You have to break through everything and overcome all kinds of ordeals. The biggest manifestation is the suffering they create for you. Suffering comes in different forms, and sleepiness is one of them.” I understand that I must face this level directly to overcome it, and the mentality has to be changed from passive to active. Only by facing it, can I get rid of the ease of mind and break through the sleepy state.
4 .Understanding better the fundamental attachment
A while ago, I felt that my cultivation state was stuck. I studied the Fa and practiced every day, but I felt anxious because I did not feel like I gained any new knowledge. Therefore, I looked inward. The first thing I saw was the attachment to time. I understood that this anxiety was because I do not usually tell the truth. I am afraid that I will be eliminated because I did not do enough of the three things. This mentality kept me from being able to do long term projects, when I feel like I do very little in a project I would soon change to another project. In the Essentials for further advancement II and in Eliminate Your Last Attachment(s), Master said, “It is in fact time to let go of your last attachments. As cultivators, you already know that you should, and in your actions you have, let go of all worldly attachments (including the attachment to the human body) and have made it through the process of letting go of life and death. Then is being attached to reaching Consummation an attachment? Isn’t it also an attachment born of human desire? Would a Buddha be attached to reaching Consummation? As a matter of fact, those cultivators who are truly approaching Consummation don’t have this attachment.” I found I have an attachment for time. I realized, when telling the truth, I need to raise my xinxing, rather than clinging to the appearance of things or how much I do.
A mainland Chinese came to my department one day, and I think he came to hear the truth. However, few people in the department knew him and I was afraid “Because I’m not familiar with him, it would be strange of me to talk to him directly about the truth.” This has been on my mind for a while, I know this is the selfishness that is making me act this way, and I am selfish to the point where I want to save face rather than to save someone. But in The Essentials of Diligent Progress III and in Pass the Deadly Test, Master said, “Fear can cause one to make mistakes, and fear can cause one to lose a predestined opportunity. Fear is a death trap on a human being’s journey toward divinity.” Where did these fear and selfish attachments come from? While I was looking inward, I found, it is from the old forces. At the time, I did not fully realize what the old forces were, so I passively endured the bad situation at that time. Since then, I have accumulated these attachments, and if I am not looking at the problem based in the Fa, then it continues to increase the difficulty, making me unwilling to look inward. I realized that my basic point of saving people is actually from the perspective of “emotion”. Looking back on the past experience of clarifying the truth, I often divide in my heart whether this person is the person I want to talk to, whether it is good or not, and whether I want to clarify the truth to that person, but actually driven by preferences. I realized that there is still a lot to correct in my mentality of clarifying the truth. I often look at other problems too with “emotion” without realizing it. To break through that state, every thought must be corrected from the Fa, so that I can realize my fundamental attachment and negate the old forces arrangements.
In the end, I would like to encourage everyone with a passage that Master said in Essentials for Further Advancement II and in Drive Out Interference, “The Fa can break all attachments, the Fa can destroy all evil, the Fa can shatter all lies, and the Fa can strengthen righteous thoughts.”
If there are any shortcoming in the above, please kindly correct me.
Thank you Master!
Thank you, fellow practitioners!
Chinese version: https://www.zhengjian.org/node/263805
