What Prevents Us From Truly Cultivating?

(Minghui.org) I recently rewatched the movie Once We Were Divine. One scene showed a dimension where the true thoughts of one of the main characters (Lord Haiyue) were constrained by the “heart-locking chain.” I saw a similar place during a dream I had a year ago.

In the dream, I was walking along a very narrow path. On both sides of the path were scenes similar to the movie, where the true thoughts of many practitioners were locked up. The entire space was dark, and there was a devil in front of each practitioner, baring its teeth and claws, and saying things to interfere with the practitioner’s true thoughts. The practitioners had confused expressions on their faces.

I recognized many of these practitioners. I knew that one of them cultivated halfheartedly, and was busy pursuing fame and wealth. There was a little ghost prancing about right in front of her, and the practitioner looked delirious—her head and body shook uncontrollably. I tried to wake her up, but couldn’t. I felt sad and helpless.

I shared these scenes with the practitioners I’d seen in the dream. Some became more diligent and intensified their Fa study. But some didn’t take it seriously and continued to slack off in their cultivation. I won’t give up on them and will keep trying my best to remind them about the importance of truly cultivating ourselves.

When I watched the movie, I felt terribly sad when Lord Haiyue eventually went down a demonic path and was destroyed. I’m sure that when we don’t do well in our cultivation, Master must be sad too. I enlightened that, since I saw the scenes in my dream, Master must want me to wake up the practitioners in this dimension.

After experiencing this, I’d really like to encourage practitioners to examine their cultivation state. Time is running out, and we shouldn’t waste a minute. We should take removing attachments seriously, no matter how trivial they may seem.

For example, I’ve enjoyed snacks since childhood. Last year, Master gave me several hints to get rid of this attachment, which helped me improve a lot. I used to eat snacks every day, but now I only eat them once or twice a month—up until a few days ago, when I bought three bags of snacks. That night, I dreamed of three cicadas in my house. When I woke up, I realized it was Master encouraging me to eliminate my attachment to snacks, because “cicadas” and “strong cravings” are homophones in Chinese.

Some practitioners tell me: “Aren’t you being too extreme, trying to get rid of every attachment? Some attachments don’t need to be completely eliminated. After all, we live among everyday people, and still need to conform to everyday people’s way of living.”

But I now understand that being aware of every little thing in cultivation is the key to improving my level. I can’t be complacent and let an attachment hang around without dealing with it. “Living among everyday people” can’t be used as an excuse to hold onto attachments.

Master told us,

“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,” Collected Fa Teachings, Vol. XIII)

It seems that some practitioners don’t pay much attention to the “little things.” They think they can get rid of them if they want to and don’t care about them. This gradual ignoring of attachments causes practitioners to become less diligent in making progress—a bit like boiling a frog in lukewarm water.

For example, some practitioners are obsessed with buying discounted food or items on sale; some are addicted to online shopping and spend a lot of time and energy selecting products; some are addicted to buying health supplements with the excuse that it’s not medicine so doesn’t violate Dafa’s teachings, and so on. With so much time spent on shopping and living a good life, these practitioners do the three things as if they are tasks. Yet they still feel they are cultivating well and that they are quite diligent.

Many local practitioners are still using WeChat. Some are afraid of what their families will say, some are afraid of losing their jobs, and some are afraid they won’t be able to contact their clients. If we prioritize Dafa over our own interests, I think we will know what to do.

There is very little time left. Everything in cultivation, big or small, must be taken seriously. We must remain vigilant and not fall short in our cultivation, otherwise it will be too late for regrets.