Let Go of Pursuit and Progress with a Pure Mind

In the following article, I will share some of the understandings that I have enlightened to during my cultivation.

Master emphasised in "Towards Consummation" (Essentials for Further Advancement II),

"During the course of cultivation, however, through reading the books, studying the Fa, and diligently making progress, you should clearly recognise what your thoughts were when you first came to Dafa. After cultivating for a period of time, are your thoughts still the same? Are you continuing on the path because of those human attachments? If so, you cannot be counted as my disciple. It means that you haven't gotten rid of your fundamental attachments and that you are unable to understand the Fa from the Fa."

My understanding is that, if one still cultivates for the purpose of just assimilating himself to Dafa and still learns Dafa for the sole purpose of returning to his original, true self, he is using Dafa, no matter how noble or correct he thinks his purpose is, and no matter whether he is conscious of it or not; he will then gain nothing. Master mentioned in Zhuan Falun:

"If you come to learn the practice and this Dafa with various pursuits, you will not learn anything."

During my cultivation, I found that if I had pursuit in mind while trying to get rid of an attachment and cultivate myself, it would be difficult for me to progress forward on the issue. In other words, my cultivation would stagnate if I was pursuing something while trying to discard an attachment; the attachment would remain for a long time and I would be unable to progress in my cultivation diligently.

To get rid of an attachment with pursuit is often expressed as trying to remove the attachment for the purpose of resolving a specific problem. Sometimes I was not aware that I was doing that, but when I calmed my mind, I was able to find that it was there. The following are some examples of the different expressions of the pursuits I had.

1. Trying to remove the attachment to fear for the purpose of not being arrested. Master said in "What to be afraid of" (Hong Yin II), "If you are afraid, it will capture you." [unofficial translation] I often had a thought, "Let me discard the mentality of fear and I will not be arrested again this time".

2. I had an attachment to trying to remove lust so that Master would not leave me behind. When lecturing on the question of "Recently there has been an instance(s) around us of a man and a woman having an affair....," Master mentioned, "... the moment I truly give up on you is the moment you go down to hell!" ("Teaching and Explaining the Fa at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference")

3. When I had difficulties in finding a job because of the evil interference and when I had difficulty in maintaining my everyday life, I often thought when or after I was sending forth righteous thoughts, "As long as the evil is eliminated, I will be able to find a job."

4. When I was persecuted by the evil and when I was illegally kidnapped and detained by the evil, I often thought as I was trying to remove attachments and impure mentalities, "I have discarded the attachment, so I should be released soon."

After I found the problem, I paid attention to letting go of the pursuit when I was removing attachments in cultivation; I progressed much faster. The feeling of being blocked and being unable to progress forward quickly disappeared. Master mentioned in the section "The Issue of Eating Meat" in Zhuan Falun,

"As a practitioner, why don't you take it as an attachment to be abandoned, and see if you can quit."

I came to understand that it is the same in our process of removing attachments and cultivating our mind; when we find out our impure mentalities or attachments, we should discard them; they are the barriers on our path of returning to our original, true selves; they are attachments and we must remove them. When we find our problems we should not have a mentality of pursuit; we should elevate ourselves with a pure mind. If we have an extra thought we would have an extra attachment.