Eliminating the Notions I Formed in My Career as a Teacher

Being a teacher for many years, I was saddled with notions that interfered with my validating the Fa.

In my teaching career, I teach and the students listen. I always try my best to answer the students' questions. Sometimes, when I was wrong, I tried to find an excuse to make the wrongness look right to save face. Gradually I formed the attitude, "I'm right. You should follow me." This attitude became a habit within time. Consciously or subconsciously, this became a deep-rooted notion that governed my behaviour. No matter what, my first thought was interfered with by this misconception. When with others, I love to be the centre of attention and tell others how to do things. If others did not go along with me, I would talk in an insufferably arrogant manner. Sometimes, even if I kept silent, I could not attain a peaceful mind. When I was put in place by others, I could not remain calm and sometimes was faced with violent struggles in my mind.

Some practitioners kindly pointed out my attachment and I knew that they spoke the truth, but I did not pay enough attention to it. Neither did I look within. I only restrained myself from talking too much. I did not realize how serious my problem was until one day I quarrelled with my roommate over some small issues.

When I faced students, I always had a feeling of superiority and usually used my way of thinking to measure others, and demanded others to comply with my wishes. In particular, after I started to cultivate in Dafa, I always thought that my ideas came from Dafa. I formed the notion that my understanding must be right and others must be wrong. So, others must follow me. Teacher said "I would say that you cannot understand another circumstance from the perspective of this environment." (Zhuan Falun)

Billions of people in this world came from different universes and brought with them different characteristics that were fostered in their universe. How can they be the same? I understood that I cannot measure others with my criteria. I can enlighten to some things in the boundless Buddha Fa. How can I use my own criteria to measure the different levels of different sentient beings in different strata?

I continued to search within and realized that my heart was not compassionate enough, so how could I possibly be tolerant of others. This is selfishness. As practitioners we have to eliminate selfishness, and completely free ourselves of various concepts that we formed in the old universe. We have to become particles of Dafa that becomes particles of the new universe.

Teacher told us repeatedly, "In genuine cultivation practice one must cultivate one's own heart and inner self. One should search inside oneself rather than outside." (Zhuan Falun) During this last phase of the Fa-rectification, I came to realize that looking within is a magic weapon that Teacher has given us. We can pass different tests and accomplish achievements if only we study the Fa well and look within.

My fellow practitioners, let's take cultivation seriously. We are walking on the final path home. We cannot let any attachment slow down our cultivation pace or let it interfere with our mission that is to save sentient beings.