(Clearwisdom.net) When I was reading Hong Yin recently, the lines in “Who Dares Renounce Human Attachments?” kept echoing in my mind:

“It takes cultivating the mind,
severing desires,
casting off attachments...”

I realized that it must be Master giving me hints about Fa principles. The following are some of my realizations.

Studying the Fa well serves as the guarantee for saving sentient beings. It is also the prerequisite for personal cultivation. At the same time, if we cannot cast off human attachments, we won't realize, absorb, or remember as much when studying the Fa, which will render our Fa study less effective and result in inefficiencies in carrying out tasks to save sentient beings. Two years ago, I harbored strong attachments to fear when using paper bills to clarify the facts. I used to wait until everyone in my family fell asleep before I started writing truth-clarifying statements on the bills. I also hid the bills from my family. When using bills with truth-clarifying statements, I inserted only one of them among several other bills. When handing them out, I lowered my head to avoid eye contact. I would turn around and leave in a hurry. I would not go directly home until I was sure no one was following me.

After studying the Fa, I understood that saving sentient beings was my mission, the most righteous and the greatest thing. I should do it with dignity and honor. So I started writing statements on paper bills in front of my family. My husband was not a practitioner. He opposed me, but I clarified the truth to him. I told him about the magnificence of Falun Dafa, and about the Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. I then asked him not to get in the way of my saving people. He left me alone. Now, when I use paper bills with written facts, I stack several of them together, and often point the printed statements to the other party. I take this as an opportunity to further clarify the facts and ask people to quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its subordinate organizations. I use five such paper bills every day on average. One day I used 38 paper bills with facts printed on them. I spread the truth to everyone, including acquaintances, family and relatives, colleagues, students both in and out of class, people I run into in stores and farmers markets, and farmers in the fields. I do this regardless of when it is, whether it's a holiday or a gathering. I also use the telephone and email. I have also encouraged my daughter, father, elder sister, and some friends to help spread the facts about Falun Gong to more people.

I have a student who suffered broken bones twice in his right hand, which resulted in the withering of his hand. The student could not take it. He smashed bowls and slammed doors at home all the time. At first, as much as I would have liked to help him, I dared not talk about Falun Dafa with him. I talked to his mother instead. However, half a year passed, and his mother did not get a chance to chat with her teenage son. One evening, I took him aside out of the classroom. I told him my own story of how I got rid of a chronic illness which had tormented me for over 30 years after practicing Falun Dafa. I taught him how to visit the Minghui website, so he could find his way in life by looking for help from Master. He visited minghui.ca as soon as the evening self-study session was over. He told me that he learned the Falun Gong exercises that night. A hot stream ran through his right hand. It was the first time in three years that he had feeling in his withered hand. I told him to read Zhuan Falun. A week later, his aunt told me that he was able to chop vegetables with his right hand, while in the past he could not even pick up a sheet of paper with it. He was being courteous and had stopped yelling at everyone. She thanked me profusely. I told her, “You should thank our Master, and thank Falun Dafa.” She started reciting “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!” Not only was this legally handicapped student saved, so were his parents and other family and relatives. Through this episode, I realized that I should not have waited for six months before talking to the student. I have reached a new understanding of the urgency of assisting Master in saving sentient beings.

Some of my human attachments are buried rather deep. A few days ago, I noticed a colleague looked really nice wearing a one-piece dress, which cost over 1,000 yuan. I bought a similar one when it was on sale with a 40 0iscount. I thought I got a great deal. My husband was not impressed. He commented, “It's so ugly. You'd better return it for a refund.” I was not happy to hear that. Later when I was sitting in lotus position, my leg kept slipping down to the ground. I started searching within, and found my attachments to competition, jealousy, showing off, getting great deals on a discount, comfort and ease, self righteousness, and immunity to other people's dissenting views. These attachments all boil down to selfishness. No wonder, the lines in “Who Dares Renounce Human Attachments?” keep echoing in my mind. Without cultivating away these attachments, how can I convey the realm of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance? How can I help them break away from selfishness and the prevailing notion that “if a person is not after his self-interest, heaven and earth will kill him”?

To carry out the three things well, we should voluntarily cast off desire, including desire for food, clothes, and other things. Otherwise, the old forces will steal time away from us, or use fatigue, sleep, and illness to interfere with our sending forth righteous thoughts and studying the Fa. In 2008, I chopped a dozen pounds of flat chillies to make preserved chilli paste. I missed sending righteous thoughts at midnight for several days in a row, and I was not able to fall asleep several nights in a row as my palms were so hot. It was a grave lesson for me. If I am attached to fame, interest, and emotions, soon I will turn into an everyday person in one aspect after another, without detecting it until the price is high.

It is not uncommon in China for elderly people to help take care of their grandchildren. But if elderly practitioners are tied up in this, it takes precious time away from clarifying the truth. Middle-aged practitioners need to guard against attachments to college education, searching for a job, and marriage of their children. If we do not have clear Fa principles in mind, what we do will not help our children. Instead, it will end up hurting our children, ourselves, and those we need to spend time saving. Young people, in particular, if tied up by qing, could easily give up cultivation. When I was young, I was obsessed in love and other emotions for 20 years. It took me 14 years of cultivation to gradually cast off these attachments. After finishing copying out the entire book of Zhuan Falun, I got rid of my suspicion towards my husband. After finishing copying Zhuan Falun the second time, I got rid of my worry over which school my daughter would attend. All I needed to do was to remind her to hold Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in her heart and take the Fa as teacher. The first time I finished reciting Zhuan Falun, I came to a new understanding of my mother, who had been bedridden for 13 years. I knew she was paying back the karmic debt she owed. I also knew that she could stay alive this long was because she was waiting for me to read the Fa to her. I played the recordings of Master's “Fa Lectures given in Guangzhou” for her. For the first time in many years, she was able to control her bladder and bowel movements. She had not been able to speak for so long. Now she can say only one sentence, and she says it loud and clear, “Falun Dafa is good! Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good!”

These are my personal experiences of casting off my attachments and how it is related to carrying out the three things. Without removing human attachments, I can't do the three things well, which in turn would result in even more human attachments. If I focus on doing the three things, it helps with removing my human attachments and better cultivating myself. Let us follow the path Master has pointed out for us, strive diligently forward, and follow Master's guidance to return to our homes.