Brief Discussion on Not Being Led by Our Attachments

In handling everything that we encounter during our day-to-day cultivation practice, every practitioner runs the risk of becoming disturbed by our human attachments. It is because you have those attachments and don't realise it. Of course, some could realise it immediately if we study the Fa [Falun Dafa teachings and universal principle] steadily. Master said in the main text of Falun Gong, Zhuan Falun,

"When you always maintain a heart of benevolence and compassion, you will have time or room to buffer the confrontation and think, should a problem arise suddenly."

Since so many people are soaked inside with feelings of fame, self-interest and emotions, there are all kinds of attachments that result. Thus, we need to maximally correct ourselves through cultivation, and not be disturbed by these things. It is easy to say, but hard to do.

Su Dongpo was an artist in the Song Dynasty. He often discussed topics relating to Buddha and Tao with his friend the Buddhist monk Foyin. One day, Su Dongpo wrote a poem. One of the sentences in the poem was, "Wind from eight directions is not able to disturb." On the surface, the poem sounded like praise for the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni. In fact, he was referring to himself. He felt very good after he wrote it. He sent his young servant across the river to deliver the poem to his friend, Foyin. The young servant crossed the river and gave the letter to Foyin. Foyin saw Su Dongpo's true meaning and the attachment it contained after he read it. He grabbed a pen and added a note, "Nonsense!" The young servant came back to Su Dongpo and handed him the letter that had Foyin's note. Su was angry and immediately crossed the river to debate the matter with Foyin. When he came to the temple, the temple gate was locked. Foyin had left. There was a note on the door, "'Wind from eight directions is not able to disturb' (you); 'nonsense' brought (you) over the river." Su Dongpo understood his problem immediately.

Using this story as a mirror, we can see that cultivators often have similar things too. This reveals whether we have cultivated firmly, and whether our xinxing [heart/mind nature] cultivation is firm or not. Master said in Zhuan Falun, "An Arhat should be free of attachments, with a heart that cannot be affected." In fact, on the other hand, displaying human attachments is not a bad thing. The key is that we cannot leave it alone, or be unable to recognise it. If we never take it seriously, then it will occur again. During our cultivation, we should always grab the attachment and get rid of it. We should not make the mistake again after we enlightened to it the first time. From this aspect, it is not bad when our attachment is shown. The key is how we cultivate, how to upgrade our level, how to constantly improve ourselves and purify ourselves while we do well in validating Dafa and saving people.

That is to say, besides correcting ourselves and improving ourselves through cultivation during the Fa-rectification period, we must do well in the three things that Master told us. Only so can we genuinely and rapidly improve. Ignoring any one of these is not Fa-rectification cultivation. Then, in our studying the Fa, sending forth righteous thoughts, and clarifying the truth, there is also the issue of being disturbed by ordinary people's attachments. (The attachments here refer to those of our own or other people, and those of cultivators and every day people.) For example, the reason that we don't settle our mind during Fa study or meditation is because we have those attachments and have gone along with them. When we clarify the truth, we are not able to explain it clearly, do not have wisdom, or have fear. When others don't like to listen to us or say bad things, we are anxious and angry. As a matter of fact, we have already been disturbed and moved by ordinary people's attachments and yet do not realise it. When we are sleepy during sending forth righteous thoughts, or think about all kinds of things and cannot settle our minds down, or think about the interests among ordinary people or other things, it is because we are affected by the attachments and have not realised it. In the truth clarification material production sites, there are practitioners who are not able to coordinate with each other and argue with each other. As long as we do not treat other people kindly and do not do things that are genuinely from our heart, it would be because of human attachments taking control. These instances show that, if we don't improve our xinxing, we cannot do anything well that a Fa-rectification period Dafa disciple should do.

We should correct ourselves through cultivation, and assimilate to Falun Dafa's principles. Only when we stay with Falun Dafa on everything, can we easily recognise our human attachments that we had not recognised before, and that we have not gotten rid of before. Then we will be able to do what we are supposed to do, truly take our own path, and improve faster on the path of assimilating to Falun Dafa and Fa-rectification cultivation.