My Understandings of the True Self vs. the False Self

(Minghui.org) My understanding is that genuinely cultivating in Falun Dafa is vital in terms of acquiring the abilities to distinguish the two different aspects of self; my true self who follows the teachings of Master Li (Dafa’s founder) unconditionally, and a false self formed by the accumulation of various human thoughts and notions over the years of living in ordinary human society. 

Master told us, 

“This means that an ordinary person who inhabits this world cannot find himself. And notions control a person for not just one lifetime, but continually onward.” (“Buddha Nature,” Zhuan Falun Volume II)

Lost in their false self, people who don’t cultivate are unable to find their true self. Falun Dafa practitioners cultivate among everyday people, so we inevitably go through a process of being incapable of finding our true self at the beginning to gradually becoming cognizant and to finally returning to our original true self. This process itself is one of personal cultivation.

Our True Self Is in a High Realm

What is meant by “the state of our true self ”? From reading Dafa teachings I learned that our true self originates from a high realm and that he is free from human emotions, desires, and thoughts. He is not disturbed by everyday people’s interests or conflicts. Even an arhat (a person who has successfully cultivated to a divine state) of the lowest level can remain cheerful, and is unmoved by the gossip of others. The true self of a Dafa practitioner who resides in high realms should be even more untouched by human affairs.

Our true self is one powerful body, so what separates Dafa disciples and hinders our cultivation and improvement is precisely the false self brought about by various human thoughts and hearts formed among ordinary people, as well as the karma accumulated at different levels. When our true self takes the lead, Dafa cultivators acting together as one whole body is harmonious and powerful. On the contrary, when our human heart and thoughts take over, the false self has the upper hand. We end up with karma, physical discomfort or mental disturbance.

Failing to look inward in time to suppress or eliminate the interference of the false self can cause further accumulation of karma and generate gaps and barriers in cultivation overall. In terms of personal cultivation, the accumulation of karma makes it inevitable that there will be harder trials or tribulations.

Using My True Self to Suppress the False Self

Based on my understanding of the two different selves, I have developed a habit in my cultivation, which is, when a test comes, or when I am in a conflict, I first check to see if my heart is disturbed. I know that my true self is not driven by ordinary people’s matters, therefore any disturbance by a conflict must be derived from human thoughts and hearts acquired in this human world. So, if my heart is moved, I immediately identify the attachment, suppress it, and send forth righteous thoughts to eliminate it.

No conflicts are accidental. I often use my true self to dominate my false self in this way. I discover that all the conflicts around me are here to help me recognize my false self and help me transform karma. Therefore, gradually I have gone from being angry at the beginning, to not being moved, and eventually becoming sublimated and thanking those who had conflicts with me from the bottom of my heart. 

Any conflicts, big or small are to help us recognize our false self and transform karma. If there were no conflicts, one would be deprived of the opportunity to improve xinxing and transform karma. 

I discovered that looking inward should not happen just occasionally. When a bad thought emerges, I immediately purge it; when I am attached to something, I eliminate it; when I am complimented, I clear my heart of joy; when I hear bad words, I dismiss the heart of dissatisfaction or complaint. If I do a good job, I steer clear of the desire to show off. 

With the help of looking inward, my cultivation state has slowly evolved from pursuing self-fulfillment while doing the three things well, to a state of inaction and letting nature take its course. However, I later realized that this state still had elements of “for myself.”

It was not until a new conflict occurred that I found that the state of taking no action was still selfish. The future beings are altruistic – my life exists for others. Cultivating for others is a great test and even more challenging than eliminating my own attachments! I discerned that I should discard “Me” to a greater extent. Regardless of what cultivation fruition ultimately awaits, my goal is clear: cultivating into a life that is free of egoism, purely for others.

Genuine Cultivation vs. Accomplishing Tasks

Master expects his genuine disciples to do the three things on a daily basis: studying the Fa, sending righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth, as well as practicing the exercises. After doing these things for dozens of years and having lost the initial sense of urgency and enthusiasm, many practitioners, myself included, have fallen into the mode of doing the three things for the sake of accomplishing busywork. 

After sharing with some diligent Dafa practitioners, we reached a consensus that we would remind one another not to fulfill our responsibilities simply because we needed to. We should avoid doing the three things for the purpose of “doing things.” 

Studying the Fa, sending righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth are all equally important, but doing the three things doesn’t necessarily mean we are cultivating ourselves, improving our xinxing or assimilating to Dafa. Ordinary people also do good deeds, but no matter how many good deeds they undertake, they are still human beings, because their thoughts remain at the human level, and they have not sublimated their xinxing. 

The establishment of Dafa disciples’ mighty virtue does not happen without the elevation of our xinxing and realm. 

Genuine Cultivators Leave No Loopholes for the Old Forces 

The human mind and thoughts are products of the corrupted old universe, and are mingled with the mechanisms of the old forces. The old forces have made meticulous arrangements for Dafa disciples’ human hearts and thoughts. Behind every layer of human heart are layers of traps set up by the old forces to destroy Dafa disciples. The demonstration of this in China is that Dafa disciples are persecuted, pressured to renounce Dafa, and prohibited from clarifying the truth to help save people.

When the old forces seize our loopholes, the righteous gods are unable to help even though they want to. When our righteous thoughts play the leading role, Master’s law bodies and various righteous gods can help strengthen our power. When our whole body’s righteous thoughts are strong, behind us is the most upright and mightiest power in the universe, manifesting in the human dimension as greater breakthroughs in saving people. Contrastingly, when Dafa practitioners are overpowered by human thoughts and notions, we will be interfered with or suppressed by the old forces. 

The path arranged by Master is for us to genuinely cultivate in Dafa and assimilate to Dafa. The wisdom we gain from genuine cultivation is not our own wisdom, but the power of the Fa corresponding to the level of our xinxing: our wisdom is bestowed upon us by Master. Under the guidance of this wisdom, we walk the path arranged by Master. 

Walking the Right Path when Promoting Shen Yun 

It seems that Dafa disciples are helping Shen Yun to save people, but in actuality, it is Shen Yun that helps Dafa disciples to save people, and at the same time provides us with opportunities to improve, establish our mighty virtue, and fulfill our vows. 

In promoting Shen Yun, our goal is not how many tickets we sell, but to improve our cultivation and fulfill our vows. In Edinburgh one year, I witnessed that the greatest difference among our local practitioners was that we were no longer obsessed with our own contributions and how many tickets each of us sold, but engaged more on how everyone cooperated well in the process, and whether each step was done on par with Dafa expectations. 

During the process, we were grateful to see fellow practitioners’ improvement in cultivation, and the tacit understanding of cooperation. Our group is small but our efforts to save people are very strong and effective, because our cultivation state during the process conformed to the Fa, and thus received Master’s blessings and strengthening.

Our success in promoting Shen Yun and finding the most ideal theaters are only permissible when we walk the path arranged by Master. It’s up to us whether we want to walk this path. It is correlated with our strength and cooperation, as well as if each of our local Dafa practitioners is cultivating genuinely, and how much we are dedicated to Shen Yun.

I hope that fellow practitioners can all seize this precious opportunity to step out and cooperate well. Helping Shen Yun is really helping ourselves! We will fulfill our vows to assist Master in saving sentient beings, and live up to Master’s compassionate expectations. 

The above is only my own limited level of understanding. Please help point out anything inappropriate. 

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 in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)