(Clearwisdom.net) After cultivating for many years, I just realized that I have not truly changed my original notions. I am still in the state of cultivating at the superficial level and pursuing surface appearances. "What appears on the surface to be good is phony. If a person can't make a fundamental change in himself, he can't reach the standard." ("Teaching the Fa at the Conference in Singapore") Now I understand that the miracles that happened to practitioners are manifestations of the Fa at the levels of their xinxing. There was a story on the Minghui website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom) about a practitioner buying some rotten plums in order to save sentient beings. The plums became good because of his good intention. The practitioner was only thinking about saving people, and had completely let go of self-interest. He didn't think about himself at all. Perhaps many other practitioners have had similar experiences.
When I looked at these incidents, I found that I had an attachment to miracles and supernormal abilities. It is in fact an attachment to comfort. When I read such stories, I always wished for some abilities, but didn't realize it. I only copied other practitioners on the surface and did not cultivate according to the Fa to get rid of human notions.
In the past I ran into a similar situation, but I had thought to myself: "I am only buying your stuff because I want to save you. If you still don't want to hear me out, so be it." As a result, I missed an opportunity to save the person. In other words, I was still at the level of buying things in exchange for the person listening to me. This little bit of difference is the true difference between selfishness and unselfishness, heaven versus earth.
Actually I also had an experience in which one thought made a difference. One day I took a taxi to work just before dawn. The driver drove me around and around. I wanted to tell him about the truth of Falun Gong, but the driver was trying to cover up what he was doing by talking about this and that. When we were almost at my destination, I became anxious and thought: "I cannot let him miss the opportunity to withdraw from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) just because he took few more turns and thus could charge me a few more dollars." I said a few sentences about withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliated organizations. Just as I stepped one foot out of the car, the driver returned the extra money he had charged and even charged a few dollars less than he should have. I wasn't expecting that at all. At the time, I didn't think much about it. After I read the practitioner's story, I understood what righteous thoughts and pure compassion are. Even the smallest selfishness can become a barrier to saving people. We are Dafa practitioners who are helping Teacher to rectify the Fa. Our saving people is the most sacred thing. We must reach the requirement of "In providing salvation to humankind, the Buddha School does not attach any condition or seek returns, and it will help unconditionally." (Zhuan Falun)
In the past, when I helped others to withdraw from the CCP, I would be happy if the person did withdraw, and would feel regret if they didn't. But I never looked within. The Fa requires us to look within regardless of whether we are right or wrong. Everything has something for us to enlighten to and results from a practitioner's thinking. In the past, when I really didn't look within and didn't find anything, I had let down all sentient beings and Teacher.
