Western Practitioner: Further Eliminating Attachments to Selfishness

(Clearwisdom.net) I recently realized on a deeper level that all attachments stem from selfishness, thus I try to watch for manifestations of selfishness within myself on a daily basis. Instead of working on each attachment individually, I have shifted my focus recently towards seeing whether I am acting out of selfishness or selflessness.

For example, in the past when I discovered an attachment in myself, I thought I had to share it with other practitioners. Yet, Master said, “You don’t need to explain because you don’t need to show your cultivation to others.” ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Canada") From this I realized that focusing on one's own attachments, while at a certain level cannot be said to be wrong, from a higher level it is a kind of selfishness, a focus on one's self.

While clarifying the truth to people in the past, I often talked about how wonderful Falun Dafa is from the perspective of how many benefits I've received from it (health, peace of mind, etc). I have realized that this contains a kind of hidden selfishness, still a focus on the self. Now when I talk about Falun Dafa, I give examples of other practitioners--how healthy and energetic they've become since they began their practice. I try to forget about myself and just look with as much compassion as I can at the other being. Instead of talking so much, I try to listen more, and during our interaction, while the other person is talking, I just extend to them the compassion and benevolent energy of Dafa. Of course I also clarify the truth during the course of the conversation.

For a long time I didn't go to visit my parents-in-law, because I thought that devoting all my spare time to Dafa projects and Fa study was more important. A small conflict occurred and my husband told me that his mother was not happy with my not coming over. I looked inside and saw that this was a manifestation of my selfishness. I was putting “my projects” ahead of other people. Even though when I went there, afterwards I felt “soaked in qing,” I nonetheless decided that I should go, not for myself, but for others.

I have also noticed that when I further let go of selfishness, there is less desire to talk. Usually the need to talk arises out of selfishness. As Master says, “The moment you open your mouth it is all about what you want to do, what you like to do” (Guangzhou audio lecture). In the past I often told my husband, a fellow practitioner, about what I was going to do, what I was currently working on, or what I was going through in cultivation. I find that lately I do this less, because there is less need to talk about myself. Practitioners need not talk about their accomplishments. Master talks about our accomplishments to encourage us to continue on our path of saving sentient beings, yet we ourselves need not think nor talk about them.

Another thing I've noticed is that in the past, when I saw attachments in fellow practitioners, I had an urge to point them out to them, quote the Fa, or share my understandings. It is not wrong to point out attachments out of compassion. Yet, lately I have realized that I had an attachment hidden behind this. It was an attachment of wanting to correct everything that was unrighteous. I now have a different understanding. In “Abiding in the Dao” from Hong Yin Master said,

“Present, but the heart elsewhere—
Perfectly reconciled with the world.”

“Reconciled with the world” means being reconciled, content, not fighting, not trying to “right all the wrongs,” and accepting. It is fine to point out attachments, but one should not become too attached to doing so and realize that everyone is advancing at his or her own pace.

What I am sharing about here is not an outer silence, when practitioners stay quiet because they fear exposing their attachments or don't bother to look within, or out of an attachment to saving face or qing, or trying to maintain a so-called “peaceful environment.” What I am talking about is a quiet mind that stems from further letting go of selfishness.

Please point out anything that is not based on the Fa.

Heshi.