(Minghui.org) I once worked at a practitioner-run company and observed the following phenomenon there: many practitioners love to drink tea. Some would even opt to drink nothing if tea was not available.
Some practitioners collect tea sets. Although it's a courtesy to offer tea to guests with nice tea sets in a business environment, it's unnecessary to use a complete tea set to make tea for oneself at home.
The key isn't whether to drink tea or not: it's that drinking tea can become an addiction. When we feel that a certain kind of tea tastes very good, we have already “brewed” ourselves an attachment to tea.
We are cultivating ourselves in the ordinary world, but we can't indulge our attachments to anything here.
Master wrote in “In Dao” from Hong Yin,
“Eating but tasting not –A mouth freed from attachment.”
Since all our attachments will be obstacles as we return to our original, true selves, we must treat this matter seriously.
When I recently visited my hometown, fellow practitioners came to see me and brought me some tea. I used the tea to treat my guests.
Some restaurant food was really good on my business trips. But it dawned on me that there is no difference between good and bad food. A practitioner shouldn't be attached to any food; we have our joys as cultivators.
My parents and I used to live in a small town. A family friend there is a very good cook, but my mom isn't. The friend joked with my mom, “You have to cook some good food for your son!”
My mom later told me, “The only way to do well what a Dafa practitioner should do, is to let go of all attachments. Those who have the attachment to good food are actually attached to being everyday people. The attachment won't allow them to do practitioners' things well.”
I now understand what my mom was saying.
Gods don't pay attention to any food or drink in the human world. As Dafa practitioners who are on the path to Consummation, shouldn't we do our best to reach this realm? Of course, it's accomplished naturally through eliminating attachments, not through forced behaviors.
The above is my limited understanding. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.