What’s Behind “Being Affected” Is Emotion

(Minghui.org) Sometimes I tended to be affected when I encountered things in cultivation. This means that I haven’t cultivated well in that area. Recently, I kept wondering what is driving this and what is the root cause of my mind being affected. At this time, the word “emotion” appeared in my mind. I knew Master saw that I had the wish to cultivate, and gave me a hint. It is emotion that drives me to not cultivate according to the requirements of the Fa.

We are soaked in emotion in the Three Realms, like a sponge being put into water. As cultivators, we have to constantly get rid of emotion, that is, constantly squeeze out the water in the sponge, and replace the emotion with compassion.

Only by studying the Fa well and being strengthened by the power of the Fa, can a cultivator be unaffected by emotion and can compassion be revealed. I also realized that when we encounter things, the first thought is very critical.

Master said,

“Some people express that they think they’re quite pure, when in fact that’s not the case; they have all kinds of extraneous, distracted thoughts and many things that were formed postnatally. Even what you consider to be a very simple thought might—from its starting point to its cause, or the things that accompany it—be impure. If a cultivator can maintain strong righteous thoughts consistently for the long haul in cultivation, and keep that state of mind that he had when he first obtained the Fa, that pure state of mind, then that is truly remarkable and divine beings will call you remarkable when they see it.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2013 Greater New York Fa Conference”)

I looked for the reason why I was being affected, according to Master Li’s (Dafa’s founder) teachings. I felt that we are affected by things connected to our own vital interests, and such vital interests are not only what we encounter here, but there also seems to be manifestations of selfishness in different dimensions. At those moments when I was moved, I sometimes wasn’t placing much emphasis on real interests here; thus the thoughts that reflected into this space field were mutated thoughts of my own at different levels. These unrighteous thoughts align with mutated beings in other dimensions that have not been rectified, and manifest on this surface dimension as being driven by demonic nature.

The Three Realms is a cultivation environment from which a cultivator can return to his true home. It is not only a space of illusion but also one of “emotion.” Dafa disciples come to the human world to assist Master to rectify the Fa and save sentient beings. Master has created everything and told us that Dafa can break through the illusion. Master also teaches us how to get rid of the bondage of emotion, so we can constantly remove it and cultivate compassion. As we continue to study the Fa and eliminate attachments in the process of cultivation, the factors being bound by emotion are getting smaller and smaller, and the chance of being affected is also getting smaller and smaller.

Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)