Improve by Giving Up

(Minghui.org) It is my understanding that the process of improving in cultivation is a process of giving up. The title of the first section in Zhuan Falun is “Genuinely Guiding People Toward High Levels.” To me, this means “improving.” Master taught us how to improve, which is a process of giving things up.

Master pointed out explicitly in the first section of Zhuan Falun,

“To tell you the truth, the entire cultivation process for a practitioner is one of constantly giving up human attachments.”

Master also gave examples, such as Sakyamuni requesting that his disciples give up everything including their bodies, and he talked about emptiness and nothingness in Buddhism and Taoism.

All of these teachings and examples show us how to improve. My understanding is that in order to improve, one must give up everything. In everyday society, people pursue fame, money, and sentimentality. These things are very appealing and attractive, yet we must give up all of them.

I used to think that it was easy to give these things up. However, I later found that I had not given up sentimentality, especially the attachment to my son. Master told us in the Fa that every person has his own fate, and no one can control others' fates. But I just could not get rid of my attachment.

This attachment caused me to become depressed, and gave me a lot of unendurable pain. In the end I became very ill, and I suffered a lot physically. All types of human notions bothered me. I asked myself, “Do I want to live? Is there anything in the human world worth staying here for?” The only reason I did not kill myself was that I could not leave such a great Master and Fa. It was a big attachment.

Benevolent Master saw that I still wanted to cultivate, and helped me. One week later I recovered, physically and mentally,. Master extended my life, but time is limited, and cultivation is serious. I must try my best to give up my attachments. Every practitioner has a different history, inborn quality, and karma. Some practitioners can easily give things up, some can only give up a portion of their attachments, and others don't even understand this principle.

I hope that every fellow practitioner can improve in cultivation. The reason I wrote this article was to remind everyone to thoroughly look inward, and ask yourself—how have I done in “giving up?” Master wants all of us to improve, but whether an individual can improve or not depends on him or herself.

My level is limited. Please correct me if there is anything wrong in my understanding.