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We Should Not Behave Senselessly During Cultivation

February 02, 2009 |   By a practitioner in China

(Clearwisdom.net) Teacher said in "Shifting of the Sand,"

"Fa-rectification is in its final stage, and the disruptive factors in the cosmos are dragging those who have failed to be diligent out from among the ranks of practitioners, such as those who 1) lack rationality; 2) act and talk senselessly; and 3) have not removed their attachments, which have increasingly expanded, leading these practitioners to have a strong tendency to look outward and seek outwardly, losing their sense of reason."

One group of practitioners that Teacher mentioned specifically is those who act and talk senselessly.

Four years after I began cultivating the evil started persecuting Dafa. At that time, many practitioners said that I was over-cautious and behaved senselessly. I thought about it seriously, and agreed that I was over-cautious. But why did they say that I acted senselessly? Recently, I realized that I liked to practice divination in my mind before doing things. Wasn't that acting senselessly?

I like to do fortunetelling, both for others and for myself. When practitioners said that I sometimes acted senselessly, they were probably referring to this. Also, I tend to worry. Isn't worrying wishing for something bad to happen? I worry about other practitioners being arrested, about getting into trouble, about whether I was followed and monitored by the evildoers, and whether I will be persecuted if I do certain things.

Because I had this attachment for a long time, sometimes I could see the same attachment in other practitioners. Here are some examples.

One time during our group sharing, when practitioner A was talking about his gaps in cultivation, practitioner B started falling asleep. When other practitioners prodded him, practitioner B said, "Practitioner A, maybe you should not talk about your bad attachments. See, I have never taken a nap before, but somehow I became sleepy today. I guess that's Teacher's hint for me to not listen so my cultivation will not be interfered with." Just then, a sound came out of a nearby dresser. Practitioner B then said, "You see, I am right. That sound from the dresser means that Teacher was giving us a hint... During my cultivation, if the furniture made some noises, it indicated to me that something bad was about to happen. I have tested this several times and I was always right."

Later I met practitioner B again. When we sent forth righteous thoughts together, the toes on practitioner B's left foot moved a lot and cracked too. After we finished sending righteous thoughts, I asked her what was going on. She said it had been happening for quite a while. I said, "Your master consciousness must become stronger. You should control your body and not let your toes move." Practitioner B said that maybe it was eliminating karma. Dirty things could be released and she felt more comfortable afterwards. Teacher said,

"Being the soul of all matter, human beings are most precious. How can you be controlled by these things? How sad that you would disown your own body!" ("The Cosmic Language," Lecture Three, Zhuan Falun, 2000 translation).

Her toes moved like a fish's tail moves when it is struggling on land. It seemed that a fish might have possessed her toe. The movement happened whenever she sent forth righteous thoughts or did the sitting exercise. Later, I had to leave town for personal reasons. Six months later, I read on the Clearwisdom.net website that she had been arrested at her home. I haven't heard about her since.

Another case occurred when practitioner Y and I went to another practitioner's home. When we started Fa study, I suddenly shivered. Practitioner Y said it was a good thing, and that I was raising up a level. I felt something was wrong and wondered which attachment I needed to eliminate. Later, I learned that practitioner Y often shivered during group Fa study. In less than a year, he was reported to the police and arrested while he was distributing Dafa materials.

I am not picking on fellow practitioners, nor am I acknowledging that practitioners should be arrested and persecuted by the evil when they have problems. I am just giving some examples of practitioners being senseless so that we can learn from them. These things remind me that cultivation is serious. Just reading Dafa books is not equal to cultivating. Only when we improve our xinxing by truly following the Fa's requirements are we truly cultivating. Otherwise, not only have we lost precious opportunities for cultivation, we have also allowed non-practitioners to misunderstand us and perhaps develop a negative view about Dafa cultivation.

The following are some examples of practitioners behaving senselessly.

The first manifestation is making conclusions about fellow cultivators. The second is making assumptions about oneself. The third type is saying, and thus strengthening, negative things to non-practitioners. For example, saying that a child has caught a cold upon seeing him coughing; saying a person's teeth will decay when seeing him eat a lot of candy; saying someone will have a stomach ache when seeing him drink cold water; saying that an old man is reaching the end upon seeing him have difficulty in walking. The fourth example is liking to make predictions and repeatedly talking about the predictions because of the unrecognized motivation of wanting to show off. A few months ago, weren't some practitioners irrational about whether the Olympic Games would happen in China? Wasn't the arrest of more than 10,000 practitioners the result of the evil taking advantage of this gap to persecute practitioners?

Therefore, before we say something or think about something, we need to be careful. We need to cultivate our minds, cultivate our speech, and have righteous thoughts. Only then can we reach the level that Teacher talks about,

"Cherish Zhen, Shan, Ren,
And in Falun Dafa shall you succeed;
Cultivate your xinxing without

a moment's pause,
To taste the wonder,

so immeasurable, at Consummation."

("Real Cultivation," from Hong Yin, Translation Version A).

The above is my understanding. Please point out my gaps.