Searching Within and Getting Rid of Attachments

 

(Minghui.org) I obtained the Fa in 2007 and have experienced various tribulations over the past several years of my cultivation. But I have made it through to today under the compassionate care and guidance of our Master. I am grateful to our great Master for His benevolent salvation. I am also thankful to fellow practitioners for their help.

Getting rid of attachments to personal gain

Because many businesses often have promotional discount sales during the holidays, I often took my child to these stores. Upon returning home one time, I noticed that I had forgotten to turn off the water tap. I realized that it was because I had the attachment to petty gain. How could I have such a desire for products of the degraded, old universe, especially when they were special offers, such as discounts, rebates, and free gifts? These are all part of inappropriate and competitive marketing strategies that are designed to lure people and take advantage of their attachment to petty gains. These tactics have undermined the normal standards of commerce in the human world. They turn people into enemies who fighting over sales items to save a little bit of money. As a practitioner, I must not succumb to these marketing strategies and the attachment to personal gain. I must eliminate this attachment, be responsible to the Fa, and walk the most righteous path.

One time, my home was almost robbed, but luckily my neighbor saw the thief and frightened him away. This was the result of bad beings attempting to take advantage of my loopholes and persecute me. Yet Master had resolved the issue for me. I know that Master is looking after me at every moment. But what were my loopholes that were being targeted by the old forces? I found my attachments to lust, greed, haste, petty gain, emotional attachment to family, and laziness. That night I had a dream in which I noticed that my right hand was dark and dirty. I realized that I still had the attachment to personal gain.

Everything in this modern world exists for practitioners to assist Master in Fa-rectification and is not for people's enjoyment. We should choose wisely what we want in life. I had long wanted to buy a motorized vehicle, which would make it more convenient for me when I went out to do truth clarification work. However, my home was not in a good neighborhood and there were many criminals in the area. Several motorized vehicles had already been stolen. I had lost two of them myself. Thus, I gave up the idea of buying another one for fear of it falling victim to theft again. I knew that I did not have full confidence in Master and the Fa. At the critical moment of saving sentient beings, practitioners should utilize everything in order to save more people. After realizing this, I went out to buy one right away and a righteous thought came to my mind, “No one can touch the tools used by practitioners to save sentient beings.”

Getting rid of attachments to greed

I used to see things that I desired all the time. Sometimes, I even dreamed about getting a better house, new furniture, and new appliances. My righteous thoughts gradually became weaker and weaker as my human thoughts became more dominant. I knew that my thoughts were not correct, but I just could not snap out of it. I was always looking for something new and was unwilling to give anything up. I knew that all my materialistic desires were merely dirt in the eyes of divine beings. How could I treasure dirt and hold it dear to my heart? How could I allow this dirty stuff to hold me back in my cultivation? Of course, I should no longer want it and get rid of the attachment to any material items in this human world. After having a clear understanding of the Fa, my attachment to greed became much weaker and I no longer had such strong desires.

Getting rid of attachments to lust

I often encountered tests in my dreams involving the attachment to lust. During a period of time, I slacked off in this regard and could not pass the tests. Since my home was almost burgled, I had been determined to get rid of the attachment and not to let it hold me back in my cultivation. I kept reading Master's teachings on the topic of lust, until I realized that lust was dirty matter that was completely against the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. I kept reciting the Fa and tried to use this righteous Fa to disintegrate each and every wrong thought relating to lust. Once a wrong thought emerged, I repelled it and would recite “Cultivators' Avoidances” from Essentials for Further Advancement. It wasn’t long before I could pass this test in my dreams and was able to remember at that time that I was a cultivator being tested. I knew that I could not slack off and had to keep it up until the attachment was eliminated completely.

Getting rid of attachments to emotion

Emotional attachment to my family was also difficult for me to get rid of. I have gone through a lot of tests at different levels in this regard, but it still keeps coming up in my cultivation. Sometimes, I have dreams in which I argue with my mother, and I knew that I had not let go of emotion towards my mother and younger brother. They do things that are harmful to themselves and others. I have tried to reason with them, but it has not helped. On the contrary, it has made me resent them. I hate the fact that they are not responsible for their families and I have little compassion for them. Through studying the Fa, I realized they were creating karma for themselves by committing bad deeds and will suffer hardship for their actions. They are most pitiable. My complaints about them have since disappeared. Instead, I feel I should treat them well and hold them in high regard, as they both have accepted the righteousness and greatness of Dafa. They are merely buried too deeply in this material world and cannot realize it themselves. Their futures will be up to them and their predestined relationship with the Fa.

Getting rid of the attachment to holding a grudge and resentment

My mother-in-law is against me practicing Falun Dafa because the government prohibits it. She often argues with me and has a lot of resistance toward me. I kept upholding my xinxing and corrected myself in my cultivation according to the Fa. No matter how she treated me, I treated her kindly. I tried to get rid of my resentment towards her and be nice to her without expecting anything in return. Gradually, our relationship became better and better. My husband knew that I was sincere in treating his mother well and thus he did not automatically take her side in everything she said, which led to less conflict in our family and a better cultivation environment for me.

However, my mother-in-law recently started to complain that I was criticizing her, making her upset and ill. I then started to look inward and noticed that I had wanted to prove myself and assert that I was correct. I said to myself, “My family members are ordinary people. No matter how I make my point, they are still human notions. Human notions are wrong anyway. So why do I continue to argue?” I came to enlighten that a practitioner should behave according to higher standards and should not get attached to human notions. We should let go of human notions and human thinking.

Master said:

“Don't argue when people argue with you
Cultivation is looking within for the cause
Wanting to explain just feeds the attachment
Breadth of mind, unattached, brings true insight”

(“Don't Argue” from Hong Yin III)

I now have a deeper understanding of this poem. One day, my xinxing was not up to the standard and I said bad things about my mother-in-law to some friends. That night, I had a dream, where I was stabbed in the back by a bad person. I realized that I should not say bad things about others. Practitioners have no enemies. I should thank my mother-in-law for the opportunity she has given me to upgrade my xinxing and let go of my human attachments. I hope that she can truly see the wonderfulness of Dafa and have a bright future.