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Using Rationality as the Basis to Eliminate the Interference of Qing

December 12, 2010 |   By Yiran, a Falun Dafa practitioner from China

(Clearwisdom.net) After practicing Falun Dafa for so many years, we all know that qing is a huge obstacle and even a test of life and death on the divine path of cultivation. So how do we handle the interference of qing so we have a better outcome?

According to Master's teachings, nothing that we come across is by chance. If there is something unrelated to cultivation, then practitioners will absolutely not experience it. So, when we encounter puzzling and disturbing sentimental feelings, it is a kind of matter composed of qing that we are carrying on our bodies. It is an issue of gaps in our cultivation.

A few years ago a female practitioner from another region and I had a relationship based on qing. For a while she called me after work practically every day and spoke with me on the phone for a long time. I realized that this was dangerous, yet I feared hurting her self-respect. I thought that this was merely her problem and did not cultivate myself and look inward. Instead I said to her, "Isn't this a waste money?" I advised her to call me less. She commented that she didn't care about money. When she did call me, I intentionally only answered her questions and didn't bring up anything to discuss with her. She could sense that I wasn't happy and said that she would no longer disturb me. Her feelings were hurt and she didn't call again. Although I felt sorry about the way I had treated her, I did not have the courage to face the interference of qing and cultivate myself at the same time. I just thought that this qing would gradually fade from her memory and that everything would be O.K.

Five years later I heard that she had stopped practicing and I could hardly believe it. She also said some disrespectful things towards Master. I was shocked. In detention, this practitioner had suffered extensively, yet she was not "transformed." How could she leave the Fa in this relaxed environment? I have inquired about her everywhere, but I have still not found her. I frequently feel painfully guilty for my involvement in this. Inwardly I ask Master to help me find and bring back this practitioner. I want to overcome this difficult pass with her.

A principle of practicing Falun Dafa is that practitioners must unconditionally look inward. Practitioners must first look inward to find attachments that have led to this kind of situation before they are able to remove qing. Love and hate are both qing. So isn't it because we are attached to other people or want to be attached to other people that they have sentiment towards us? Isn't it our evil intentions that have led others to be resentful towards or dissatisfied with us? Aren't they mutually complementary? And don't they come from attachments? This is how it actually is.

Before removing qing, we must first clarify something: Whose qing are we removing? Are we removing our qing or the other person's? A lot of practitioners are unaware that they have a long- standing misunderstanding on this issue: They consider removing qing to be removing the other person's qing. So they mistakenly think that if they push the other person away, they will achieve the goal of not being interfered with and removing this qing. Actually I think that in order to get rid of qing, it is not a matter of removing the other person's qing but rather a matter of removing one's own qing. It is precisely one's own elements of qing that are interfering with the other person, causing that person to have all kinds of manifestations of qing towards us. At the same time that we are being interfered with, we also suffer the weariness and pain of qing.

I realized that when dealing with the interference of qing, we should first adjust our mentality and have an upright attitude. We should be calm and rational. This way we can benevolently resolve this matter.

Later I came across another situation. An ordinary friend always asked me to have tea with her. After a period of time, I felt that this was a waste of time and didn't want to. No matter how I explained this to her, she always said to me, like giving an order, "Come right away, I will count to three!" A few practitioners urged me, "Get rid of her. Don't accept her phone calls." After the lesson that I learned with the practitioner mentioned above, I didn't handle it this way. Instead I truly looked within: "Is it because I want other people's approval that I have attracted her to come and idly chat with me? Is it that I am so attached to feeling too embarrassed to say no that she gives me orders even to the point of counting one, two, three?" To resolve the issue of qing between myself and her, I first sent righteous thoughts to clear out all the matter composed of qing in my dimensional fields. I used strong righteous thoughts to help her understand what I was trying to say: "Dafa practitioners' time is to be used for saving people. Do not seek me out. I am busy and you should be busy with your own stuff."

A month passed. My friend did not contact me at all. I saw her afterwards and was surprised when she sincerely and apologetically said, "You can't imagine how busy our factory has been recently. I have been waiting to have time to ask you to have tea with me." I responded with a laugh, but in my mind I said to her, "A person must do his proper duty. How can you always drink tea?" Half a year passed but she only contacted me twice and only because she needed me to help her with work. Our relationship remained harmonious. Just think a little, if I had not considered her and just protected myself, if I had used harsh methods to handle her, wouldn't she have had a bad attitude toward Dafa? And wouldn't she have been harmed?

So I think that when practitioners face the interference of qing, they should not treat it as a burden to be cast off. They shouldn't get angry or look steely. Love shouldn't be turned into hate. They shouldn't develop some kind of estranged relationship with the other person and even more so should they not sever contact with him or her and be completely isolated from others. That is like studying the Fa but not understanding its meaning. That is a manifestation of the narrow-mindedness of an ordinary person. We should first remove our attachment to qing. Then we should compassionately reconcile relationships with others that perhaps were arranged long ago. And perhaps historically we owed debts to others and are now settling the score. We need to stress that when we send righteous thoughts, we are cleaning out the elements behind the two parties that are causing the conflict. Our countenance should be compassionate and we should have good intentions when sharing with the other party.

After getting rid of the entanglement of qing, it will no longer be one party ridiculing and the other party weeping; both parties will feel more relaxed. Who is willing to carry that kind of burden? Master's requirements for practitioners' xinxing is high. We can no longer use the old Daoist or Buddhist methods on the small paths of cultivation to protect Falun Dafa, where the abbot is willing to risk his life in order to protect the temple. Even more so can we not safeguard the interests of the individual person. That kind of "evil" has no place in Dafa. The opposite of this is Shan (Compassion, or Benevolence). However, Shan is an enlightened person's basic nature. We know from the Fa that when qing is removed, it will be replaced by Shan. If you only take care of your own comfort, that is a selfish way of doing things and does not take the other person into consideration. How is it possible to develop benevolence then? And at the very least, you have not achieved being "compassionate towards others and treating everyone well." That is even further removed from benevolence. The great Buddha is always happy and kindly disposed towards everyone. How is it possible for him to value and express emotion and not be happy and kindly disposed towards others? Relationships will become more natural and harmonious after letting go of the attachment to qing. Others will witness the beauty of Dafa and experience the goodness and sincerity of practitioners.

It is even easier if practitioners are able to eliminate the interference of qing together. All practitioners are Master's disciples. Practitioners have been waiting for thousands of years to return together and their journey will not be in vain if they can completely open wide the vast breadth of their minds, if they can share with good intentions, if they can remove obstacles with other practitioners, if both parties can improve together, if each practitioner can encourage and assist other practitioners to ascend from lower levels, and if, based on the Fa, they can improve together.

When practitioners remove the attachment to qing, not only is it good for them but it is even better for others. Our starting point should always be to think of others first. The other party will be able to sense your kind heart and compassion, when you sincerely treat others well, when the thoughts that you emit are pure and compassionate, and when your desire is that you are not entangled in the exhausting emotion of qing with the other person and wish him or her to feel relaxed. Everyone has a side that is inclined towards goodness, and he will naturally and unconsciously let go of his feelings towards you.

In conclusion, a practitioner's ability to let go of qing is a reflection of their mentality, how demanding they are of themselves, and how they cultivate xinxing.

Master said:

"The other day I said that the Buddha-light illuminates everywhere and rectifies all abnormalities. " (Lecture 6, Zhuan Falun)

In all of our thoughts we must always place the other person first. This is correct behavior for and a particular characteristic of a Falun Dafa practitioner.