(Minghui.org) Interference by selfish thoughts and other attachments troubled me for a long time. Sometimes I even felt hopeless when it came to cultivation. Looking inward again and again, I found myself circling around egoism, and despite my efforts, nothing had changed. Looking for direction to break through my cultivation state, I studied the Fa and achieved a small breakthrough.
Selfishness originated from and is the foundation of the old universe. In the old universe, no one can escape selfishness.
Master said,
“The real message is sent out by the master soul, but what he sends out isn’t language. What he sends out is a type of cosmic information, and it conveys certain meanings. After our brain receives that command it processes it into today’s language, into this form of expression, and we express it through gestures, or the expressions in our eyes, and with all our body language. That’s what the brain does. The true commands and the true thinking are issued by the master soul. People often think that it’s directly due to what the brain does on its own,” (Zhuan Falun)
“I also want to tell you that your nature in the past was actually based on egotism and selfishness. From now on, whatever you do, you should consider others first, so as to attain the righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism.” (“Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature” from Essentials for Further Advancement)
I realized that the evil forces are most afraid of the compassionate thoughts of a Falun Dafa practitioner who understands the Fa, has unconditionally become one with Dafa, and who has reached the state of selflessness and altruism.
A Falun Dafa practitioner existing in the old universe invalidates and challenges the selfishness in the old universe. So, the evil fears elimination.
How can one be steadfast in cultivation practice? One must completely let go of egoism and selfishness, break through the arrangement based on the core of selfishness that has been there for thousands of years, and have a pure heart.
Covering up is to cheat oneself and to protect the selfishness core in oneself. Covering-up will cover the true nature of our master soul so that our words would cheat others and our actions come about from a show-off mentality and the intent to mislead others.
Practitioners who are still covering-up their selfishness, there are some manifestations.
They don't really cultivate and only compare themselves to ordinary people or compare themselves to how they acted in the past.
Besides, if there is something ordinary people can tolerate, he or she will tolerate it too. If ordinary people won't tolerate, he or she refuses to be tolerant. His tolerance is based on a standard attributed to ordinary people and is based on selfishness.
Such practitioners can tolerate very little, and find offensive any language attack or any act that touches their selfishness core. They point out what other practitioners shall improve upon, but will not accept criticism from another practitioner.
They will express how great they are, how high they had cultivated to, or how much they had contributed. But they end up falling very low.
I also understand that a selfish practitioner cannot follow Master in Fa-rectification. Through cultivation practice, our master soul, as well as the assistant soul can reach consummation.
After we uproot selfishness, the true nature of selflessness and altruism will emerge. When people are all considerate of others and treat everyone well, human lives will no longer be beholden to the rules of the old universe.