(Minghui.org) I went grocery shopping with a practitioner, and she kept comparing prices, saying the items sold at this supermarket were cheaper than other places. I didn’t agree with her and thought, “I don’t want to compare the prices here and there.”

The practitioner came to my house and saw my front-loading washing machine. She said she had one too, but rarely used it because it wasted water. I didn’t concur with her and said, “It doesn’t waste water. And why are you so reluctant to use water?”

After she left, I pondered why she was reluctant to “part with” certain material things. Although I didn’t have the same issue as her in this respect, I probably had similar issues in other areas of my life; otherwise, her attachment wouldn’t have been displayed in front of me. Thus, I began to pay attention to happenings around me.

I was sitting in my car one day, waiting for two practitioners to finish grocery shopping. I heard a “bang,” and saw a woman opening her car door so that it hit my car. I was going to check the damage to my car, wondering if I will admonish her or ask for compensation if there was any damage. A regular person would have done so, but I let it go. I ended up staying in the car and watched her drive away. I didn’t dwell on the incident.

A few days later, I inadvertently noticed a black scratch mark on my car, near the front. I knew I didn’t do it, judging from the scratch mark. I then recalled the woman at the grocery store who hit my car, and I couldn’t let go of the damage she caused. I soon recognized my attachment to material things and my “unwillingness to part with” them.

I knew I had to let go of it, but I could not, and continued to feel uneasy. Only the Fa can help me to let it go. Perhaps I owed her from a past life, and it was time to pay her back. Thus, I felt more at ease.

But the same attachment showed up moments later, and I felt uneasy again. Based on my understanding of the Fa principles, my attachment wouldn’t have been exposed if the woman didn’t hit my car, so how could I get rid of it then? I should thank her instead! I was able to let go of the thought once I figured things out. My heart was at peace, and I stopped thinking about the scratch. I was in a different realm.

I recalled Master’s (the founder of Falun Dafa) words:

“But it’s cultivation—whatever happened to being “free of gaps” (wu-lou)? There are no little things.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)

Things might look trivial, but they are not small issues, because that is where the attachments are hidden, and they are difficult to detect. Master has made it clear―cultivation is solemn, and every attachment, big and small, needs to be removed.

We should take heed of this matter, as some attachments were habitually formed and difficult to discover. But if we pay attention to our surroundings, we might find clues that are related to our cultivation.