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One Must Be Single-Minded in One Practice

October 11, 2010 |   By a practitioner in Liaoning Province

(Clearwisdom.net) Human cultivation into Buddhahood is a serious and sacred matter. Throughout history, religious practices have taught that a person must practice only one cultivation way and "no second cultivation way." Recently, however, some Falun Gong practitioners are watching lectures given by other religious leaders on the Internet. They think their teachings make sense and are recommending them to other practitioners. I think their actions are not based on the Fa principles and are harmful. It may even cause them to be unable to cultivate.

Today, I went to a practitioner's house and saw two practitioners watching a religious figure talk about his teachings on the Internet. I said to them, "Dafa practitioners should practice only one cultivation way. How can you learn teachings from another religion?" One of them responded, "I think what he says makes sense. He also teaches people to be good." I replied, "All righteous religions teach people to be good. However, Dafa practitioners should only read Teacher's lectures." He said, "What am I going to do with my idle time? We should not be so stubborn in our practice. There is nothing wrong with listening and watching other religious teachings. I'm not following their teachings to cultivate myself anyway." I said, "It is impossible to not listen or not read things present in this human world. It is fine as long as we are not moved by ordinary people's things. However, the teachings of other religions are also ways of cultivation. As soon as you listen to them, they will be mixed into your cultivation and interfere with you." He did not agree with me, so I left.

After I went home, I read Zhuan Falun. Teacher said,

"We teach that a person must practice only one cultivation way. No matter how you practice cultivation, you should not mess up your cultivation by adding other things."

"We have said that religious books, particularly the Buddhist ones, all teach people how to cultivate their xinxing. We are also of the Buddha School, so there should not be any problem. But there is one point to be made: Many things in the scriptures were mistranslated in the translation process. In addition, many interpretations of the scriptures were also made from perspectives at different levels, and the definitions were casually made. That is plundering the Dharma. Those people who casually interpreted the scriptures were too far away from the realm of Buddhas; they did not understand the scriptures' actual content. Therefore, they would also have different understandings of the issues." (Zhuan Falun, 2000)

Although the practitioner said he was not following other religious teachings, he was interested and kept watching their lectures. Then it was the same as cultivating in another school of practice.

Teacher also said,

"The same is true for books such as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Alchemy, Xingming Guizhi, or Tao Zang. Though they do not carry those bad messages, they also contain messages from different levels. They themselves are also ways of cultivation practice. Once you read them, they will give you something and interfere with you. If you find one of their sentences good, well, something will come to you and be added to your gong. Though it is not something bad, how will you practice cultivation when something else is suddenly given to you? Won't it cause problems as well? If you add an extra part to the electronic unit inside a television set, what do you think will happen to this television set? It will be out of order instantly. This is the principle." (Zhuan Falun, 2000)

Teacher is very clear in regards to "no second cultivation way." Although the practitioner only wanted to listen to other religious leaders' teachings and did not want to cultivate in their practice, as long as he thought their teachings made sense, then wouldn't their teachings be mixed in? Once it was mixed in, then it would become a form of interference.

Fa-Rectification is at the final stage, and time is very pressing. It is very important that we are diligent and not allow interference. I would like to remind practitioners to be clearheaded, treat this issue seriously, and stop listening to the teachings of other schools of practice. We should study the Fa diligently, do the three things well, and fulfill our mission as Dafa disciples.

Above is my understanding regarding the issue of "no second cultivation way." Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.