(Clearwisdom.net) When studying the Fa, especially when I do it with a calm mind, I can maintain a peaceful cultivation state with sufficient righteous thoughts. I can also look inward, find my shortcomings and vow to be better in the future. However, once I am back to "reality," I am stuck with my usual mentality. Sometimes I cannot handle things well and repeat the same mistakes.
For example, I know I should look inward when I come across problems. However, when I do, my first reaction is still to think about others' problems. My first comment is about others' shortcomings and I want to tell others what they should do. Sometimes I even completely forget about looking inward and only do so when I am alone after leaving the scene of the conflict. Amidst direct conflicts, I know I need to look inward, but I do so very relunctantly. I usually correct myself after the tribulation or difficulty is over. I can rarely pass the test at the time of the tribulation. For this, I feel great pain. I am frustrated that I don't measure up. Why can't I control myself? Why can't I handle myself well?
With more Fa study, I have gradually understood that such a state is the reflection of insufficient righteous thoughts. And this is a result of my cultivation state. When I study the Fa, I often do so by memorizing the Fa. I can focus on the Fa and reach a good state that Dafa disciples should have. However, once I finish Fa study, I slack off and don't even realize that I have.
There are two scenarios. One is that I don't safeguard my mind and slide to ordinary mentalities as a force of habit. Human notions are so deeply rooted in us. Since we started cultivation, Master has changed us microscopically. Along with our cultivation, bad substances are gradually removed for us. However, the habitual mentalities still play a role.
Master said in "Fa Teaching Given at the Epoch Times Meeting,"
"It really is hard to clean out those notions and bad things that you have formed while leading your daily life, and you need to change those habitual things that have formed. You have already formed a way of thinking such as that, and so you have to look into your manner of thinking and correct things there if you want to avoid more problems."
Master has told us to change our human thinking, but I haven't paid enough attention to this issue. I have not worked on removing such human mentalities. Therefore, they emerge at certain times. Once the human thoughts emerge, I don't even realize that they are not mine. For example, when I stay up at night, I worry about getting up early the next morning to do the exercises. Then I really cannot get up in the morning. When I don't feel comfortable, I know that I'm not sick. However, somehow I am still affected by the superficial feeling and wonder about it, rather than deny the symptoms knowing that "cultivation depends on one’s own efforts, while the transformation of gong is done by one’s master." (Zhuan Falun). Even when I do poorly, I often think very highly of myself. To handle myself well, I should change my mentality. First, I should treat myself as a Dafa disciple all the time, evaluate everything based on the principles of Dafa, strengthen my primordial spirit, and maintain a cultivator's righteous thoughts. I may feel tired sometimes, but this is the fastest way to cultivate.
Another scenario is that I have loosened my self-requirements as the environment has lightened up. Many practitioners are more relaxed with their cultivation and are not as diligent any more. Why? I think this is a loophole in our cultivation.
The tough environment a few years ago was a factor that compelled us to stay diligent. For example, when we were taken from our homes and sent to black dungeons by the evil Communist regime, did we dare relax our minds? We kept ourselves concentrated on the Fa and maintained righteous thoughts all the time. Otherwise, we would not have been able to get out. Did we dare to think of problems with ordinary mentalities? Did we muddle through sending righteous thoughts and allow our minds to drift away? We could do well in such an evil environment. However, such an environment might have covered up our attachment to comfort. Even though the attachment was there, we didn't dare feed such an attachment due to the pressure of the environment.
When the pressure reduces, the attachment surfaces. We have to identify this cultivation loophole. We are not cultivating out of the fear of persecution; we should not even pursue comfort in cultivation. Cultivators should not change their cultivation will and requirements based on the environment.
No matter how the environment is, the Fa's requirement for us is unchanged. Whether we can pull through in a relaxed environment is a serious test all of us Dafa disciples in Mainland China face. We are Fa-rectification Dafa Disciples. We shoulder the significant responsibility of saving sentient beings. Every single thought and everything we do are very important. They affect whether many sentient beings will obtain salvation. Therefore, maintaining cultivators' righteous thoughts is what Dafa disciples should do.
Since I became clear on the above, I have become more and more diligent. At the final moments when time is so precious, we must hold ourselves strictly to cultivation requirements, cultivate solidly, do the three things well, and seize the day to save people, more people.
