(Clearwisdom.net) When we started to practice Falun Dafa, our first step is to be good people. We must get rid of bad thoughts, behaviors and attachments. At this stage, practitioners often know where they are lacking and therefore can get rid of their attachments quickly. Many practitioners felt that they were elevating very fast when they first started cultivation.

After we reach the stage of being a truly good person in society, many of us feel stuck. Our cultivation seems to be on hold. In fact, the Fa (1) requires us to start by being a good person and cultivating our own Xinxing (2), becoming even better people. Then, we should rise above just being good people to meet the requirements for consummation set by the gods. In other words, to be good is the starting point, not the end. Otherwise, we did not really understand Dafa (3) and cultivation.

I have noticed that many practitioners have not moved on from their understanding of being good in the context of everyday people and have not elevated. When conflicts happen, they tend to use the human mentalities to judge right or wrong without seeing their own attachments even when the same problems happen again and again.

The second stage of our cultivation, as I understand it, is to rise above just being good. What is being good in everyday people's context? It is to use the principles in the human world to do things, but those principles have deviated from those prescribed by gods. Cultivators should rise above them in order to meet the requirements to go beyond the level of being an everyday person. However, we still have to conduct ourselves in a righteous way in the human world, in line with the requirements of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance at the human level.

Some of the practitioners have not studied the Fa thoroughly and therefore confused the state of being good with true cultivation. Some are unwilling to part with their pursuit of fame and self-interest and other attachments, even though they have gotten to know Dafa.

We all know that in order to go back to our true selves, we have to get rid of attachments. What are attachments? Seen from another dimension, attachments are substances. It is the same as notions and karma. As soon as a human being has a thought, it will produce a substance that will become stronger and stronger as the thought becomes more intense. It can also be strengthened and will produce a living substance. In turn it will have its own thought and reflect its thoughts onto human brains to control human's behavior. If people do as it wants them to, humans will incur and accumulate a lot of karma.

To get rid of attachments, we should first understand what attachments we have. To understand what attachments one has, one has to look at his notions. One can only see his notions in conflicts. This is why it is said that our conflicts and tribulations were left for cultivation. All the conflicts and tribulations point to loopholes in our cultivation. The old forces are conducting themselves according to the principles of the old cosmos. Generally speaking, if a cultivator does not have an attachment in a certain aspect, the old forces cannot impose the conflicts and tribulations on him.

In today's human environment, moral standards are declining. We use the environment to cultivate. When we have a conflict with people in this context, I don't think we should blame others. We should first of all look at our own notions, get rid of our attachments and improve our moral character. It's only when we have a pure heart in doing things that we can say that it is cultivators doing the greatest thing in this world.

Notes:

(1) Fa - Law and principles; the teachings of Falun Dafa.

(2) Xinxing - heart or mind nature, moral character

(3) Dafa -- The Great Law; The Great Way