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My Harmful Addiction to Entertainment

Oct. 10, 2020 |   By a Falun Dafa practitioner in Hebei Province, China

(Minghui.org) The article “Do Not Be Destroyed by Addiction to Entertainment” published on the Minghui website on July 31, 2020, really touched me, as my cultivation state in recent years was the same as the one described in that article.

I stopped working for eight years because of my ailments. After I started to practice Falun Dafa in October 1996, Master purified my body and I became illness-free. I no longer take any medications and have been healthy ever since. More importantly, I now understand the purpose of my life and how I should behave. I am determined to cultivate until consummation.

I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my cultivation. I was persecuted in those dark days but managed to survive. Recently, I wanted to relax and became addicted to online novels and everyday people’s news. When I had spare time and sat down, my mind would urge me to look at the weather forecast, so I’d pick up my cellphone. After I finished checking the weather, I went on to look at the recommended news and clicked on a piece that I was interested in and started to read it. Then an interesting video popped up and I clicked on it. The trailer for a novel attracted me so I stayed on the phone to watch it. It seemed like I didn’t spend a lot of time on it, but my clock said several hours had passed. I regretted it very much as soon as I put down my cellphone. I was stupid and made such a foolish mistake. I hit my head several times to warn myself not to do it again.

I was upset and felt unworthy of the title of “Dafa disciple.” But I still wanted to be a Dafa disciple, so I sent forth righteous thoughts to clear myself. Most of the time my mind was not clear. I was not focused when I studied the Fa teachings and was not able to get up early to do the exercises. Sometimes I didn’t hear the alarm. I realized I had a big problem. So I constantly sent righteous thoughts and studied the Fa more.

It normally took me two or three days to make a breakthrough. I then cultivated diligently for a while before I made the same mistake and read online novels again. I once did something quite ridiculous. I read an online novel from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning. I read for eight straight hours. I sat on my bed, didn’t move, and wasn’t sleepy. It was crazy. I felt sleepy and tired when I studied the Fa for a long time, but I didn’t feel tired or sleepy when I read the online novel. I didn’t stop even if my sight became blurry. When the alarm went off at midnight to send righteous thoughts, I continued reading, thinking I would stop soon. When the alarm went off at 3 a.m., time for me to get up, I was not willing to put down my cellphone. I didn’t hear the alarm at 6 a.m. When my cellphone ran out of battery, I connected it to the charger and continued reading.

In 2009 when I was working in another city, I once spent a whole night reading an online novel. I regretted what I did so much. I sent forth righteous thoughts and studied the Fa to reinforce my righteous thoughts. I made up my mind not to repeat that mistake. I bit my middle finger and wrote an exclamation point with blood on a piece of paper and then put it next to my computer to warn myself not to read online novels ever again. It stayed there for several years. Master saw that I indeed regretted it and helped clear away much of my thought karma, demons, and rotten ghosts.

Master said:

“It no longer wants to be in charge of the body. It is always in a daze and cannot become conscious. At this point, the person’s Assistant Consciousness or foreign messages will interfere with him. There are so many levels in each dimension. All sorts of messages will disturb him. Besides, one’s Main Spirit might have committed some wrongdoing in previous lives, and the creditors may want to harm him. All kinds of things can transpire.” (Lecture Six, Zhuan Falun)

I realized that I had to get rid of my addiction to the Internet. I looked within and found that I was attached to likes and dislikes, that I had lust and desire, and that I didn’t have a strong main consciousness. I recognized the harmfulness of the demon of the Internet. I wasted a lot of time, which meant I had wasted my life and wasted the time that Master had extended for me through his own suffering.

Master said:

“Those things are alien technologies, and they are being used by demons to seduce people, making them give up all that they had going for them, and leading them to become obsessed with those things. You’re wasting your life with them, yet still unwilling to give them up! That isn’t befitting even an ordinary person, much less a cultivator.” (Fa Teaching Given at the 2016 New York Fa Conference)

“People may say that it doesn’t matter what they see with their eyes, and that they can just stop looking at something if they no longer want to see it. But that’s not true. When your vision makes contact with something, that thing has entered. That’s because any thing can replicate itself in other dimensions, so the longer you look at something, the more it enters. No matter what it is, be it on television or on a computer, it enters once you look at it. As more of these bad things are loaded up in your brain and body, they end up dominating your actions. Your speech, your mode of thinking, your perspective on things—all of it will be affected.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2010 New York Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XI )

Sometimes I had to surf the Internet to search for information and had to use my cellphone. After I finished searching, I was not able to put my cellphone down and started to read other things. There was a power impelling me and controlling me to read useless stuff. When I realized that a lot of time had been wasted, I again had a lot of regret. Why couldn’t I control myself? I should use my smartphone only for its basic functions such as making and receiving calls and receiving and sending text messages, but nothing else.

Television, computers, and cellphones are big caves of demons. The demons are all crowded together inside and staring outward. As soon as I opened it, the demons would jump into my dimensional field and control my body so that I didn’t feel sleepy or tired even after reading online novels for eight hours. I didn’t need to go to the toilet, either. The old forces manipulated those demons to seduce me and let me enjoy “happiness” online and made me love it. As soon as I sat down, I saw my cellphone on my nightstand. I then had the urge to pick it up. I tried a trick: I put my cellphone cover on the nightstand and put my cellphone under the pillow. One thought popped up: “You were looking outwardly!” I was surprised. Indeed, I was looking outwardly. So I looked inside.

Those demons are hidden, cunning, seductive—and evil. They let people die from entertainment. People would be attracted as soon as they laid their eyes on TV, cellphones, computers, and other electronic devices. If they let their guard down, they would get stuck in it, couldn’t escape, and were eventually destroyed. It would be a heart-wrenching process if they tried to quit using them. There might be a relapse.

Master said:

“"When I come to this ordinary human society, it’s just like checking into a hotel for a few days. Then I leave in a hurry." Some people are just obsessed with this place and have forgotten their own homes.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)

To my fellow cultivators: the chance to cultivate in a righteous Fa is extremely precious, maybe once in a lifetime. Time is very limited. Those who cultivate diligently can return to their original home. Those who cannot cultivate diligently will stay here forever. Master is trying to let us elevate while the old forces are trying to stop us from completing our cultivation. If we cannot succeed in cultivation, we will destroy ourselves as well as the countless sentient beings and the whole world.

Master said:

“This instant is precious beyond measure. Completing the last leg of this journey well is what's most magnificent.” (“Teaching the Fa in the City of Chicago,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. VII)

“However long something takes in human dimension time, it is still but the blink of an eye to the gods.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2009 Greater New York International Fa Conference,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. IX)

When I was clear on the Fa principles and had ample righteous thoughts, I still had to put them into practice. Sometimes I knew how I should do things, but I didn’t follow through. I had to be strict with myself and discipline myself.

While I was writing this article, I had a lot of interference. I still wanted to read on my cellphone and even look at the weather forecast. But I was determined that I must finish this article first to expose the evil. Although I didn’t do well and have sent in this article a bit late, I would definitely hand this in to Master. I must forge ahead!