(Minghui.org) Last week at a Fa-study when I overheard a fellow practitioner criticizing other practitioners, my heart was affected. After coming home, I reflected upon it and asked myself why my heart was moved? I wondered why I could not follow the principle of “take no notice of what one sees or hears?”
In the past, I had a sensory response to “taking no notice of what one sees or hears.” I thought of how I could show no response to what I saw and heard but I couldn’t imagine that one day I could reach that realm of thought.
Today, when my mind again reflected on this sentence, I was being reminded that I should have a deeper understanding of it. At first, I felt it was pretty difficult. How could I act as if nothing had happened when it was happening right in front of me? In listening to language and music, how can I act as if I hear nothing? However, whenever I truly let go my own attachments and look at it from the perspective of cultivation, I found the situation is different: If my heart is moved when I see some scenery, what attachments do I still have? Why do I have this attachment? Isn’t my reaction caused by an attachment I still have?
When I see someone passing by who is dressed well and looks beautiful, my thoughts and heart are moved. When I see pedestrians walking against the red lights, my thoughts and heart are moved. When I see two people quarreling and using ugly words, my thoughts and heart are moved. When I see the world’s people refusing to listen to the truth about Falun Gong, and reply with vicious words, I think that it is too difficult to save them. Whatever I see, I have my own way of thinking. Sometimes, my thoughts go even further. With this kind of attachment, how can I remain calm and “not see” anything.
Now let us look at the “listening” part of the sentence. When I hear pleasant music, my thoughts and heart are moved. When I hear girls using bad language, my thoughts and heart are moved. When I hear people talking about the impending collapse of the Chinese economy, I think about what I should do about my job. When hearing that fellow practitioners are doing things that are not from the Fa perspective, I think: after cultivating for so many years, how can they still act like that? Whatever I hear, I think about it. Sometimes the thoughts even consume my mind. With this kind of attachment, how can I act as if I “didn’t hear” anything. It seems that every exterior message moves my heart, or even gives way to foolish fancies. This is not the state of a cultivator.
First of all, in order to achieve “taking no notice of what one sees or hears”, I have to get rid of my human heart that is easily moved. Only when we have gotten rid of this attachment, when we see and hear again, will our heart not be moved. When this scenery and sound passes by, without leaving any trace, naturally we will achieve “taking no notice of what one sees or hears.”
My wife, who is a fellow practitioner, reminded me that Master said:
“Actually, when we see the form that something exists in, or maybe of a person, or an object, it’s in the brain that the image really forms. What this means, then, is that we look through the human eyes, and what we see is transmitted through the optic nerves to the pineal gland, which is in the rear of the brain, and then the image appears in that area. So when we see things, it’s in our brain’s pineal gland area that the image really appears. And this is something modern medicine now understands. ” (Zhuan Falun)
When we do not have human thoughts, the image will remain only at the eyes. When the visual nerves do not pass it on, one truly does not see it. It is not that you see it and are not moved in your heart.
When I studied Zhuan Falun again, I realized that if we have attachments in our heart, no matter what we see or hear, we will have a multitude of thoughts, and it will be impossible to achieve “taking no notice of what one sees or hears.” If our hearts are not righteous, self-demonization might occur and that might eventually ruin us.
Finally let us study together Master’s article “Abiding in the Dao” in “Hong Yin”:
Present, but the heart elsewhere—
Perfectly reconciled with the world.
Looking, but caring not to see—
Free of delusion and doubt.
Listening, but caring not to hear—
A mind so hard to disturb.
Eating, but caring not to taste—
The palate’s attachments severed.
Doing, but without pursuit—
So constant, abiding in the Dao.
Calm, but without strain of thought—
The truly wondrous can be seen
Category: Improving Oneself
