Cultivation Is Very Serious

Greetings, fellow practitioners. Recently, a number of practitioners in our region were taken advantage of by the old forces and were illegally arrested. I was very sad, but not because of human sentiments. After cultivating for so many years, and coming to the final stage of Fa-rectification, I hoped that fellow practitioners would no longer be taken advantage of by the old forces. As fellow practitioners we should accept others' suggestions and provide suggestions in good faith. Here I would like to talk about the seriousness of cultivation, in order to share with fellow practitioners my understanding.

We have the greatest Master of the cosmos and we all study the same Fa. Each of us should stop and ask ourselves: how much have we believed in Master's words and how much have we done? How much have we truly understood? Is our state of mind towards Master and Dafa still the same as in the beginning with a strong perceptual understanding? Or are we becoming more and more rational and truly cultivating our xinxing? Are more and more Fa principles being revealed to us? Is everything becoming clearer and clearer?

The closer our opportunity to cultivate comes to the end, the more serious our cultivation should become. Some practitioners are still working hard on their careers, are buying houses for investment, are comparing salaries, are envious of others' wealth, and are thinking about politics, love, their children's future, nutrition, living comfortably, etc. These endless things that we worry about are all human attachments. It's not that we can't think about these things. However, isn't this why it's so difficult to cultivate in everyday society? We have to conform to everyday society on the surface while inwardly truly breaking away from the attachments of the human world.

If we spend too much effort on these everyday people's matters, then they become obstacles in our cultivation and cause trouble. They provide a breeding ground for human notions and amplify our attachments while we are not aware of it. Perhaps there are people who have been reading Dafa books for a long time, years, even decades, while still pursuing everyday people's things. Then, they have chosen to be an everyday person. It doesn't matter if you are reading Dafa books every day, if you don't want to give up human attachments, you have chosen to be an everyday person. If you choose to be an everyday person, then you will suffer the consequences of being an everyday person: birth, aging, sickness and death. Everyday people are here to pay back karma and reincarnate after death. If you came here with a mission but did not fulfill your vow, the consequences are very serious. Why do the old forces dare to persecute practitioners? It's because they are taking advantage of these loopholes and vulnerabilities.

There are standards for practitioners and Master said it's okay to give up our human attachments slowly. But eventually we have to completely let go of these attachments. We need to think about what attachments we had before cultivation and how many we have let go of. How much have we given up? Have we honestly thought about it? We can't deceive anyone. That would be like trying to steal a bell while covering one's ears. Everything is clear to heaven and earth. If we don't want to give up human attachments, then we are just everyday people. To truly become cultivators, we have to break through our attachments and give up those human attachments and desires that are blocking us. Whatever notions in your mind that try to make you benefit are all demons.

Some practitioners have heavy human attachments, such as to fame, profit and emotion. They also have strong attachments to comfort. In fact, they are stuck and are still everyday people but they do not realize it.

Master said:

“Our path is narrow. If you go off course ever so slightly, there will be problems. I don’t want to see you experiencing problems, nor do I want anyone to be sliding downward in their cultivation. Even less do I want to see you slack off in your cultivation because circumstances are changing for the better. All of this was brought about by you, and there are still many things that lie ahead—and that will be the case all the way until the day you reach Consummation. You have already passed through the hardest part. What is left won’t be so trying. You just need to do even better with it. The more hopeless things may seem, it’s possible hope will appear right before your eyes. Especially during those times when you are feeling so bored, perhaps you are in fact establishing your mighty virtue. I hope that you can really manage to cooperate well, have strong enough righteous thoughts, look within when you run into things, and be enthusiastic like you were when you first took up cultivation. Don’t be like ordinary people, whose fleeting enthusiasm fades after a few minutes and then disappears altogether.” (“What is a Dafa Disciple”)

“A human being wants to ascend to a realm that high, and become an Arhat, a Bodhisattva, a Buddha, a Dao, or a God; if a human being with a body full of karma is to become a God, wouldn’t you say it’s a serious matter? Shouldn’t you view these matters strictly with a high standard and hold yourself to righteous thinking?” (“Teaching the Fa in New York City”, Lectures in the United States)

Let us study the Fa well, wake up, and cultivate ourselves according to the Fa.