(Minghui.org) I began practicing Falun Gong in 1996. In the past decade of my cultivation, I have been confronted by many harsh xinxing tests. I passed some of them well, some of them not so well. I found that whenever I faced a formidable test, I could solve all problems--be it pain, depression, worries, misgivings, hardships, misfortune or woes--when I could look inside as required by Master. Looking inside is truly the key to cultivation. Recently, through Fa study, I suddenly realized why looking inside is so effective.
Master said,
“I’m going to tell you, in reality, matter and mind are one and the same. The scientists in the field of human-body science are now thinking that the thoughts the human brain produces are matter. So they exist materially. But aren’t they also in people’s minds? Aren’t they one and the same? ” (Zhuan Falun)
“As you know, I’ve said in Zhuan Falun that the Fa’s principles contained in there are really extensive. You can see that countless, layers upon layers, of Buddhas, Daos, and Gods are behind each word—they can’t be counted.” (“Teaching the Fa in San Francisco” from Falun Buddha Fa Lectures in the United States)
My personal understanding is that when I begin to look inside, my thoughts will be detected by the divine beings in other dimensions and they will lend their help to me. Then, all tribulations will be resolved and reshaped into unexpected beneficial ends.
Many of my personal experiences have proved this to be true: Looking inside is the key to cultivation.
One day several years ago, when I went home after work, I found that the water pipe of my kitchen and toilet was blocked and the floor was flooded. Not knowing what was actually wrong, I worked to fix the water pipe myself. However, after a whole night of work, I still could not solve the problem. The next day I had to ask a plumber for help. It took him a lot of effort to unplug the water pipe, and I thought it was resolved then. However, not long after the plumber left, the water pipe got blocked again. I felt it was quite strange but had no idea what was wrong.
Puzzled, I turned to look inside myself. Through the whole night, I found many human attachments but failed to trace the root of them. On the third day, when I studied the Fa and read Master's comment on a practitioner's article “Expose the Evil Happening Locally to the Local People (With Master's Comments),” I realized my problem. Due to my grave attachment of fear, I never exposed to the public how the vile Chinese Communist Party (CCP) mistreated me because of my practicing Falun Gong, and authorities never stopped harassing me. When I came to understand that exposing the perpetrators is also for saving people, I decided to write articles to expose them. Not long after I began to write, I found that the water pipe got unblocked. Obviously, my looking inside facilitated the change.
One day, I successfully persuaded a client to do business with the owner of a factory. According to standard terms, I should be paid a certain amount of money as a reward. However, when I brought up the issue with the factory owner, he simply pushed me aside with some irrelevant excuse. I was annoyed and almost broke away from doing business with him. However, soon I realized that I had failed to set my mind right and began to look inside. I found my deeply hidden attachment of seeking personal gain, as well as the propensity to fighting and showing off. I thought: “If the money does belong to me, no one will lay a finger on it, since my money is a resource of Dafa. Anyone who steals the resources of Dafa will be held accountable. If the money is not mine, I will not insist on getting it. Let Master decide.”
After I straightened out the issue, the factory owner transferred the money to me the next day.
One day, I was hit by a car while crossing a road, and my hands and feet were seriously injured. The first thought I had was: “I am a Dafa practitioner. I will be fine.” The driver came to me and asked if I needed to go to the hospital. I said no and limped away. When I collected myself, I calmed down and looked inside. I found a list of loopholes in my xinxing, such as the desire to show off, lust, seeking comfort and tendency to run the red light on the street. I made it home after a lot of suffering. After resting for a little while, I began to study the Fa, do the Falun Gong exercises and send forth righteous thoughts. When I slept at night, I felt acute pains in my body. I turned over and over but could not fall asleep. I then asked Master for help. A little while later, I fell asleep.
In the following several days, I persevered in studying the Fa, doing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts at home. On the fifth day after the accident, I felt my condition was getting better, although not yet completely recovered. I then decided to go back to work, convinced that I would recover soon. To my surprise, however, one month later my condition was no better than it had been five days after the accident. Over that month, I had spent plenty of time studying the Fa, doing the exercises and sending forth righteous thoughts, as well as looking inside time and again. However, my condition did not improve as expected.
One day, I was reminded of the example that Master gave:
“Yet in their minds they’re still thinking, 'As long as I do the exercises, Master is sure to clear out my ailments.' You see, in their minds they’re still thinking, 'As long as I do the exercises, Master will surely clear out my ailments.' That bit of thought is still there, buried deep in their minds. They still want me to resolve their health problems, which is to say, they’re still attached to their ailments.” (“Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Switzerland”)
I measured myself against this example and discovered that I was quite similar to the person mentioned in it. In the past month, although I had kept doing the Falun Gong exercises, I always did them with the thought, “Doing the exercises will make me recover as soon as possible and adjust my health to the best status.” This amounted to a pursuit of ordinary people, behind the disguise of cultivation, and as such, this thought contributed to my failure to recover. After I realized this, I began to expel this thought when I practiced the exercises. Not long after, I recovered completely.
I thank Master for His compassionate salvation and from the bottom of my heart assert this: Looking inside is the key to making progress in cultivation.
