I Realized the Harm of Complacency

(Minghui.org) I started practicing Falun Dafa in 1998 and am now 64 years old. During my years of cultivation, I’ve encountered many tribulations and passed many tests. Under Master’s compassionate guidance, I have been able to walk my path up to today. I would like to share some of what I’ve enlightened to about the harm of complacency.

I've been living with my son’s family in Guangdong Province for almost eight years and cultivating by myself. Without a group environment for Fa study and exercise practice, I wasn’t able to exchange cultivation experiences. In terms of clarifying the truth and saving people, I wasn’t doing as well as I did in my hometown, because I speak a different dialect and have difficulty communicating with people.

Even though I’ve experienced some obstacles to saving sentient beings, as a Dafa cultivator, clarifying the truth and saving sentient beings is my duty, and there is nothing that can stop me from doing it. I took any opportunity to clarify the truth when I was grocery shopping. Sometimes, I had to repeat what I said a few times so the person could understand what I was saying. But as long as I had strong righteous thoughts and the patience to save people, most of them were able to do the “three withdrawals” (quit the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] three organizations) under Master’s guidance. They learned to recite, “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”

Last summer, the weather was very unpredictable for two months. There were thunderstorms for a long period of time, and it was very hot. In terms of cultivation and saving sentient beings, I let up and didn’t go out to talk to people about Dafa every day. I did so for a few days, then I took a few days off. I developed the attachment to comfort and became lazy.

My son gave me a smart phone, and I learned how to shop online and watch videos on it. I also slacked off in my cultivation. I couldn’t focus when I studied the Fa. I lacked energy and was dispirited. I didn’t seem like a cultivator at all. I knew if I continued to behave like this, it would ruin me. I got rid of the live shopping account on WeChat on my phone and used it only as a phone. However, not long after that, my family contacted me through video chat, and my phone received notices from the live shopping on WeChat channels. I started shopping online again because it was cheap.

As soon as I studied the Fa, I knew what I was doing was wrong, and I had to change and get rid of that bad habit. But after a short while, I couldn’t control myself and picked up the phone again. Then, when I studied the Fa, I again knew I was wrong, and that I couldn’t go on like that. Yet I kept making the same mistake. A family member said I was addicted to the phone. I finally realized: Is this proper behavior for a Dafa cultivator?

Being attached to a smart phone is actually letting oneself be controlled by a demon. It’s similar to how opium poisons people, taking advantage of people’s attachment to comfort, making them lose direction and control of themselves and making them lack diligence. Being attached to a smart phone can void all of one’s past cultivation efforts and completely ruin you. I have to study the Fa more. I also need to send forth righteous thoughts more to eliminate all the evil factors in my dimensional field and all the outside interference. Then I can get myself out of this difficult situation.

Master said, “The Fa can break all attachments...” (“Drive Out Interference” in The Essentials of Diligent Progress II) Master warned us clearly with sincere and heartfelt words that we need to be diligent, but I didn’t enlighten to it. I felt unworthy of Master’s compassionate salvation.

I looked deeply within and saw that I had let go of many attachments over the past 20-plus years. For example, I take sentiment towards my family, my son, and my grandchildren much more lightly. I no longer resent my husband for cheating on me. My relationship with my mother-in-law is better. My impulse to be a neat freak has lessened. My entire family supports me in my cultivation. I don’t need to spend much time babysitting my grandchildren and only take care of them occasionally. This great environment was for me to cultivate—how wonderful is that? However, I developed the attachment of complacency. I got carried away by the comforts of life. How dangerous it is.

After July 20, 1999, I stepped forward when the CCP’s persecution was severe. But now, when my cultivation environment with my son’s family is so advantageous, I failed to live up to Master’s compassionate salvation and the title of “Dafa disciple.”

I realized that, as a cultivator, one must not have an attachment to comfort. My current poor state is actually caused by my attachment to comfort. Comfort is poison; it harms the body and leads to a poor spirit. Attachment to comfort is laziness, and prolonged comfort can ruin a person’s life. A cultivator with an attachment to comfort will fall and be eliminated.

I know I must get rid of the attachment to comfort, seize the time to do the three things that a practitioner should do, keep up with the pace of Fa-rectification, improve myself, and save more people! In this final limited time, I will strive vigorously and not fail to live up to the expectations of compassionate Master!

Due to the limitations of my cultivation level and literacy, I sincerely ask fellow practitioners to correct me if anything is not in line with the Fa.