My Wake-Up Call

(Minghui.org) After I finished sending forth righteous thoughts at 6:30 a.m. on March 5, I began to recite the Fa. Since I felt cold, I got into bed and fell asleep. I dreamed that a young girl told me that a stranger had asked about my address. Her words alerted me, and I felt something bad was about to happen. I quickly tried to call the police, but the call did not go through.

The person who asked about my address ran to an open field and spoke to someone there. That person turned around and began waving his hand. Several dozen people suddenly emerged from the ground. Every one of them looked vicious and waved a big stick. They shouted my name as they rushed toward my home.

I was shocked and quickly dialed the emergency number, but it wouldn’t go through. I woke up with my heart racing.

The scene in my dream shocked me. Even though it was a dream, it was very vivid. I realized I was allowed to see scenes in other dimensions—I knew these people were coming to collect karmic debts I owed. What shocked me was that I had so many karmic debts!

I had been weak and sickly since childhood. After I began to practice Falun Dafa, my health issues were resolved. I hadn’t encountered any major tribulations. Instead of appreciating Master for everything he did for me, I took for granted that my karma was almost paid off.

The big sticks the people held symbolized wake-up calls. I understood that my cultivation path had been fairly smooth for the past two decades. It wasn’t because I had eliminated karma; rather, Master endured a great amount of karma for me. Master also resolved dangerous situations when I talked to people about Falun Dafa.

Benevolent Master saved me from going to Hell. He also cleansed me and endured most of the karma that I had incurred, lifetime after lifetime. If it wasn’t for Master, there would be no way for me to pay back this huge karma, let alone save sentient beings. I only came this far because of Master’s protection.

Nothing practitioners encounter is accidental. I asked myself: Why did I have this dream? What attachment was it pointing out?

Confronting My Attachments

I felt that it meant that my cultivation state was seriously off. The loophole was so big that it required several dozen big sticks to wake me up! How urgent it must be! I knew I needed to look inward seriously.

Only after I examined my cultivation path did I find my attachment to leisure and comfort. It made me slack off in my cultivation, and I pursued comfort and enjoyment like a regular person. As a result, I gradually lost my will to cultivate diligently. I was shocked by how quickly I had slid down!

The worst part was that I didn’t detect it—I felt I was diligent. With the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong, followed by the U.S. election last year, I wasted large amounts of time following the news and social media. I couldn’t calm down when I did the exercises, read the Fa, or sent righteous thoughts. I was so attached to the outcome that I felt it was unfair. My heart went up and down with the changes in the situation. While I read the Fa, I kept thinking about the latest developments.

Master said,

“Dafa disciples should not allow themselves to get ungrounded by any of this. Stick to the fundamentals, and you will be able to see the upheaval that’s taking place in the proper light.” (“Stay Rational,” Team Yellow Translation)

I didn’t follow what Master said and was too attached to the changes in the human world. My heart wasn’t on the Fa, and I gradually lost the righteous thoughts of a cultivator. As a result, many of my attachments kept popping up, such as my competitive mentality, resentment, feeling unfairly treated, and looking outward when running into conflicts. As a result, I kept failing cultivation tests.

Especially this year, I started paying attention to my appearance. I used the excuse that if I didn’t dress as nicely as other people, it would impact the effectiveness of my truth-clarification efforts. When I went grocery shopping, I also shopped for new clothes. I ended up wasting a lot of time. My attachment to nice clothes began to flare up again.

Since my husband had poor health, I kept buying all kinds of special foods for him and my fridge overflowed. When I was young, I didn’t care about food, but my constant grocery shopping stimulated my desire for certain foods. One day, I realized that all the kinds of food I had stuffed into the fridge corresponded to all the desires and attachments I had in other dimensions.

Due to the pandemic, none of our children came to visit us during the Chinese New Year. Thus, this year should have been the most relaxed New Year for me in the last decade. I should have used this precious time to do the three things. But because I couldn’t let go of sentimentality, I was afraid that my husband would feel lonely watching TV by himself. So, even though I refused to watch CCTV (China Central TV), I watched TV with him every night. I even munched on snacks.

For several nights, I couldn’t hear the alarm to send righteous thoughts at midnight. Perhaps I turned it off subconsciously after it went off. Later, I couldn’t get up and do the morning exercises.

I usually never went back to bed after I finished sending forth righteous thoughts at 6 a.m. I always sat in the lotus position to recite the Fa. Gradually, I began reciting while laying down. Then, I ended up falling asleep.

Getting Back on the Cultivation Path

After I had the dream, I finally realized what was happening. Because I slacked off in my cultivation, my legs started aching. I also couldn’t stay calm when I did the exercises or sent righteous thoughts. In the past, I could send righteous thoughts for 40 minutes. Now, I could do it for only twenty minutes at a time. The worst part was that I couldn’t take the Fa to heart when I read the teachings. As soon as I began to read, I became drowsy. My head felt heavy—I even thought I was eliminating karma. I did not realize that I was being affected by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elements in the TV dramas!

In order to return to our original, true selves, we need to assimilate to the Fa and snap out of humanness. We should eliminate every human notion and attachment. We all know how difficult it is to eliminate attachments, but I was inviting and harboring them.

All these years, I always had a strong sense of mission and treated saving sentient beings as my top priority. Now when I ran into people I was reluctant to talk to them. I lacked compassion—I was afraid of hardship and facing danger. I felt it was too difficult to awaken people’s consciences. When I went out to talk to people, I just went through the motions. Even in my dream when the situation was dangerous, instead of calling out for Master, I dialed the emergency number. I didn’t behave like a practitioner.

I’d never behaved this way before. Even though I was doing the three things, since I wasn’t on the Fa, it was as though I was an ordinary person doing things as opposed to a practitioner saving people. I no longer felt what I did was sacred.

My attachment to comfort wore down my will to remain diligent. It made me gradually drift away from Dafa. Wasn’t this dangerous?

Master has endured so many tribulations for us. But as soon as we lower our standards and become like ordinary people, the old forces won’t let us slide—they’ll immediately come to settle accounts with us. Because I hadn’t been diligent in my cultivation for a long time, I put myself in a dangerous situation. Danger surrounded me, and the old forces were about to attack. I was so attached to humanness that I didn’t even realize it!

If Master hadn’t given me this wake-up call, I really can’t imagine how big the tribulation that was waiting for me would have been.

That dream made me truly realize the seriousness of cultivation.

Master said,

“Any Dafa disciples who have not been diligent, or who are prone to acting in extreme ways, should immediately straighten themselves out, and sincerely study the Fa and work on themselves, for you are at great risk.” (“Stay Rational,” Team Yellow Translation)

When I read this, I felt Master was talking about me. The attachment to leisure is a weapon the old forces use to destroy us. In ancient times, cultivators didn’t dare slack off for even a moment. Yet at this critical historic moment, my attachment to comfort almost caused me to stop cultivating.

This lesson was profound! The two years I slacked off was too long. I will strive forward vigorously, not let down Master’s benevolent salvation, and live up to the hope of sentient beings. From now on, I will cultivate diligently.

I’m filled with remorse as I write this—I hope I won’t forget this lesson! I also want to remind practitioners who are in a similar situation: Don’t let the attachment to leisure destroy your cultivation.

Let’s treasure Master’s benevolent compassion and this precious opportunity to cultivate.