(Minghui.org) The attachments to showing off, fame, and gain had always been difficult hurdles in my cultivation in the past, and the “arrogance” behind them was the hardest obstacle of them all. Under Master’s compassionate guidance, and after going through a heart-wrenching process to eliminate them, I can finally see these things clearly. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be free from their control and able to truly be myself.
After studying Master’s recent articles, I can see even more clearly that, as Dafa practitioners, we must let go of attachments to self-importance and self-aggrandizement, of thinking we are more capable than others and being arrogant. I have begun to pay more attention to eliminating such attachments and become more determined to assimilate to the Fa. I would like to share some of my recent cultivation experiences in this regard.
I was deeply touched and inspired by an article on Minghui.org, “What a UK Practitioner Saw During a Shen Yun Performance.” It happened to coincide with the time when I was beginning to realize from the Fa that it was Master and Dafa that were saving people and the time when I was trying to get rid of my attachment to self-importance and arrogance. The scenes described in the article helped me understand even more deeply that it is indeed Dafa that is saving sentient beings, and everything is done by Master.
Shen Yun performers are very talented and have achieved a very high professional level in their respective fields, and they work very hard to do well in each of their specific roles. On the surface, it seems as if people were saved after watching their superb performances, while, in fact, the impact was generated by Dafa and it was Master who actually saved those audience members. The abilities of practitioners performing in Shen Yun have been given to them by Master, who has also arranged everything in the process of saving sentient beings. On the other hand, if Shen Yun members fail to do well, it would undermine the impact on saving people.
Before I came to this understanding, although I knew that it was Master who was saving people, and we were only doing things on the superficial level, deep in my heart, I still felt that “I must have also done something pretty good myself. I’m quite capable.” There was always a feeling of reluctance to let go of my egotistical arrogance.
When I truly understood that everything was indeed done by Master and that all our achievements on the surface level were in fact the manifestation of the power of Dafa, suddenly I felt that I’d enlightened to something so fundamental and profound. I felt so ashamed of my early perception of myself, which was filled with ego and arrogance, and equally ashamed of my poor understanding of the Fa principles.
I started to seriously look inward to rectify myself. Suddenly, things that Master said in Zhuan Falun came to my mind:
“When you teach a person the exercises, he may say, “Oh, I have Falun now.” You think it was you who installed it, but that’s not the case. The reason I am telling you this is so you will not develop this attachment. It is all done by my fashen.” (Zhuan Falun)
I remember the first time I read these words in the book, I thought: “Surely, the Falun must have been installed by Master. It’s impossible for students to have that ability.” I couldn’t understand how some practitioners could even think it was they who installed the Falun. I thought I was very clear about the issue and understood what Master was saying. So each time I read this paragraph, I rushed through it quickly without taking its essence to heart.
I now realize that the reason I thought “this paragraph has nothing to do with me” was because what Master said was directly targeting an attachment I had, and the bad elements behind it gave me the illusion “this paragraph has nothing to do with me”. As a result, I went along with this illusion and failed to understand the Fa based on the Fa principles. For a long time, I couldn’t see the problems I had.
In the past, when something I did had good results, I would think it was thanks to my own ability, while in fact everything was done by Master in essence. I took credit because of my attachment to egotistical arrogance, and the happiness I felt about myself further enhanced such arrogance.
I now realize that we may come across such issues in everything we do in our daily cultivation. For example, in China if we spent a banknote with a truth-clarification message on it, and the person who saw the message decided to quit the CCP organizations, we might feel that we had saved that person ourselves. Similarly, in big projects overseas, when participating practitioners saw the project having a positive impact, they might think that it was they who made it possible.
In fact, everything is done by Master, and our successes are the manifestation of the mighty power of Dafa. If we look at these things with the mindset of ordinary people, or if we have an air of egotistical arrogance, we might think that we have achieved all this thanks to our own ability, and, as a result, we would develop all kinds of human attachments, such as being over-pleased with ourselves, showing off, going after fame and gain, and thinking we are really exceptional and capable.
I now understand that I should always be clear-headed about the real reasons behind everything I come across, big or small, and guard against anything that may give rise to “arrogance.” Like many other human attachments, “arrogance” stemmed from the selfish nature of the old universe and the impurity of beings who deviated from the Fa as the old universe moved towards its destruction. Such deviated beings could not see the truth and they regard what Dafa has bestowed upon them as their own abilities; they even dare to take advantage of the power of Dafa to validate themselves. “Arrogance” is one such manifestation in human society.
If I allow myself to be led astray by such “arrogance,” I will not be able to place myself righteously as a disciple in my relationship with Master and Dafa, and I could even be dragged down by the old forces. I realize that the process eliminating my attachments such as “ego” and “arrogance” is to let go of selfishness and to become a new being who lives for the benefit of others. It is also a process of assimilating to the characteristics of the universe and reaching the requirements of the new universe. I feel deeply that such a process is also Master’s immense compassion and kindness for Dafa disciples!
Since I have gained a clear understanding of the Fa, I can quickly detect my ego and “arrogance” as soon as they emerge. I feel that, as long as I hold firm righteous thoughts, be in full control of myself, and follow the Fa principles, it is no longer that difficult to let go of such attachments.
Nowadays, I no longer insist on my own ideas as I did in the past, nor do I regard what I have or achieved as the result of my own ability. I have stopped trying to validate myself and no longer view hardship or suffering as injustice. I have learned to let go of myself and understand the value of being humble and grateful. Master has done so much for me, and I have done hardly anything in return. I now understand that everything I do is for myself and the countless sentient beings behind me, and everything I achieve comes from Master and Dafa. I’m determined from the bottom of my heart to continue to strive to assimilate to and to validate Dafa.
As human attachments are peeled off layer by layer, I find that my egotistical “arrogance” still appears from time to time. One day, I thought, “I have solved my problems by enlightening to the Fa principles, and yet some fellow practitioners I know who have similar attachments are still holding onto them. Why can’t they make breakthroughs like me?”
Suddenly, I realized that my thoughts were wrong: “Aren’t I validating myself by thinking this way? I’ve made progress in understanding the Fa principles and breakthroughs in my cultivation, but this was due to the power of Dafa and Master’s compassionate salvation. There is nothing great about me! Even if my sharing with fellow practitioners can help them a bit, it is all thanks to Master’s arrangement to encourage us to improve together. The wrong thought I had is not truly mine, and I don’t want you.”
But because I was a little sleepy at the time, and my head was not that clear, my right thoughts were not strong enough to keep those bad thoughts away. After a while, they came to me again, saying, “How I could help other practitioners improve their understanding?” I also “saw” myself preaching my “high opinions” to them. I was shocked and wondered where such egotistical arrogance had come from. “I don’t want you, I won’t listen to you, and I completely deny what you are doing.”
When I woke up and my mind was very clear, I firmly denied those bad thoughts and interference once again. I said in my heart, “Master, those bad things are not me, I am not thinking that way. I don’t want them in my mind. Please help and strengthen me.” I kept sending forth righteous thoughts to eliminate them and to completely negate all interference and harm from the old forces.
From this incident, I realized that, although those evil thoughts made me feel like I was thinking that way, I was able to see through them by refusing to accept them as my own thoughts. The evil elements try to take advantage of every single loophole we have to enlarge our egoism and arrogance yet to be eliminated to confuse us and to drag us down. We must be fully alert and not be confused by their traps. Sadly, some people who have failed to let go of such human attachments for a long time have gone astray, and some have even gone against Dafa.
Those who follow and worship the ones who have gone astray along the evil path usually share similar attachments, and they tend to enjoy the superficial self-satisfaction, allowing the evil to take them further and further away from Master and Dafa.
Having rectified myself based on the Fa principles, I can now see the evil elements behind the bad thoughts very clearly. They are just like clowns. and I don’t want to have anything to do with them. They deserve to be eliminated. However, if we are trapped amongst them, we may feel very happy about ourselves, thinking we are great and really enjoy such feelings. Only when we truly divest ourselves of them and look at the situation from a higher perspective can we see how stupid and ugly these things are, and only then can we see clearly just how ridiculous and terrifying it is to be driven and controlled by such evil things.
Of course, I must also look inward closely and see why I had those bad thoughts in my mind earlier. Apart from the “arrogance” that has not been completely eliminated, I can also see that, because I have improved a bit faster than some fellow practitioners on certain issues, I developed other attachments, such as elation, jealousy, revenge, complacency, and selfishness.
I realized that it was because my bad thoughts were taken advantage of by the evil elements of the old forces, and they put their evil thoughts into my mind. Fortunately, I became clear-headed with the guidance of the Fa and was able to get out of their trap. The old forces and the evil elements are watching Dafa disciples very closely and are trying every possible means to destroy us. Therefore, the demonic interference from our own minds is the most dangerous problem that can destroy people, and the old forces will certainly use such interference to destroy us.
I further realize that the egotistical “arrogance” is indeed a very big loophole, which gives rise to all kinds of selfish attachments and bad thoughts. Naturally, the evil old forces will use this loophole to interfere with and harm us, and those feelings and scenes projected into our minds by the evil are exactly what our egotistical “arrogance” pursues. So, it is extremely dangerous if we cannot cultivate ourselves and exercise self-control. It is very important that we take the issue of egotistical “arrogance” very seriously.
People have all kinds of human attachments, such as to showing off, the pursuit of fame and gain, and the desire to prove themselves. In addition, there are influences from fallacies of the Chinese Communist Party culture, such as the Party is “always great, glorious, and correct” and that one must “impose on others” to “realize self-worth.” There is also the selfish nature of the old universe and things that have become corrupted along with it. It is therefore not surprising that every Dafa disciple has some egotistical “arrogance” to a certain extent.
The Fa-rectification of the universe is to eliminate things that have become degenerated, impure, and irredeemable. Master wants to save our innate and pure true self, which shares the characteristics of the universe. Choosing to follow the corrupt bad things means choosing to be eliminated with them, whereas choosing to assimilate to the characteristics of the universe means to choose to be saved by Master’s salvation. Egotistical “arrogance” is a huge obstacle that prevents people from being saved by Master, and also an evil element that drags our lives into an extremely dangerous situation. This is something that Dafa disciples must be wary of.
My own experience in getting rid of the egotistical “arrogance” is that we must first of all have a clear understanding of the Fa principles to be able to detect such things and be clear about which one is our true self and which one is not. We should study the Fa more often, strengthen our main consciousness, and keep our true self in control. At the same time, we should pay attention to cultivating our every thought. By doing so, we will be able to detect bad things in time and eliminate them with righteous thoughts. We must never ignore such bad thoughts or, worse still, feel good about them or even pursue those superficial self-pleasing feelings. It will be very dangerous if we allow such things to continue. We must resolutely abandon such bad thoughts, keep up with more Fa study, and strengthen our true self in the process of weakening and eliminating these bad thoughts and attachments.
When we have such bad thoughts or have taken a detour as a result, we may feel a bit depressed or even lose confidence in cultivation in some cases. It’s of utter importance that we do not get stuck in such emotions. We should pick ourselves up quickly and rectify our wrong thoughts in line with the Fa, because Master wants to save us all and expects us to succeed in cultivation. As long as the Fa-rectification hasn’t come to an end, there is still a chance to rectify ourselves. Having firm righteous thoughts about ourselves is also a manifestation of our faith in Master and Dafa.
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