(Clearwisdom.net)
Greetings, Master. Greetings, fellow cultivators.
The topic of my sharing is "Remove Human Attachments Solidly." These are my personal understandings, so if you see anything inappropriate, please correct it.
I. Step out of the state of not being able to take criticism
One year ago, our entire family moved to New York State. Soon after, the Divine Land Marching Band was established and I became a member of it. At the time, I didn’t understand the meaning of establishing such a band. I just thought that since it was something that Master asked us to do, we should just go and do it well. But at the time, I was very unfamiliar with my instrument, and I didn’t dare to play it in front of everyone, especially when Master was around. I would often hide alone in a corner to practice. But one day, a flute player told me that Master pointed out her shortcomings. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known how to improve.
This struck me. I came to realize that there was a deeply-concealed attachment that was obstructing me from more rapidly discovering my shortcomings and improving: the attachment to saving face, and to avoiding criticism from others. I care about others’ views of me. In the past, on Dafa projects, because I covered up my shortcomings, the only thing I heard was praise from my fellow cultivators. Later on, Master said in "Teaching the Fa in the City of Los Angeles,"
"When Dafa disciples make mistakes, they do not like to be criticized. No one can criticize them, and when someone does, it sets them off. When they are right, they don't like others bringing up things they could improve on; when they are wrong, they don't want to be criticized. They get upset as soon as others criticize."
I found that when others said things, it set me off. Before people had even gotten a chance to say anything to me, I had already hidden myself, that way they could not say anything.
It’s just like what Master said in "Teaching the Fa in Canada, 2006,":
"So you just want to walk a smooth path, don't you? You want to ascend to the heavens with your big load of baggage? Isn't that in essence what you want to do? You have to let go of all bad, human thoughts and every type of attachment you have. Isn't not wanting to hear criticism an attachment? You want to hear only pleasant things, but how could that be? [Arrangements are made] exactly to have others say unpleasant things and see if you are moved."
After that, even if I tried to hide, I would still hear the kinds of words I didn’t want to hear. On the surface, I could take in a few suggestions, but I wouldn’t take it once it hit on my deeper attachments, and it manifested as me defending myself. Master said in "Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York":
"If someone counters your opinion and you get riled up and don't like it, if when other people raise an opinion opposite yours based on some problem you have or disagree with your opinion and you don't like it, and you stand up to oppose it and argue on your own behalf, and when this leads to your going off topic and not listening to others, [in all such cases] you are--even if you are defending and explaining yourself with the best of intentions--still just validating yourself. (Applause) That is because you didn't put Dafa first, and at that time the thing that you couldn't let go of most was self."
As soon as I realized this, the tests started coming. One day, a fellow cultivator working on a project with me said some very stern words to me. I starting thinking of defending myself, but then I thought of Master’s Fa-lecture, and the thought of defending myself disappeared, and I didn’t even have the thought of having to submit myself to the other practitioner. This was completely different from the superficial humility I showed in these situations in the past. In this instance, I instantly calmed my heart down and looked inside, and truly discovered my own shortcomings. It was truly the situation of stepping back from a conflict and having the seas and skies becomes boundless. Returning to the subject of playing the flute, one day the band had a random examination of the members’ performance. I switched my hand positions for some reason, and during one part of the song, I played some wrong notes. Other practitioners turned around, looked at me, and laughed. After hearing them, I thought, "Boy, it seems like something is missing in my heart." Indeed, what was gone was that feeling of discomfort when I lost face. I felt very peaceful that day, and it was very relaxing to not have that attachment. At the same time, I realized that we have to be determined in practicing our instruments, so as to live up to this opportunity to establish the mighty virtue that Master has bestowed upon us.
From reading Master’s lectures, I realized that the notes, sounds, and songs that I play carry all sorts of my personal elements. During this process, only by making cultivation the first priority and by eliminating attachments can we make the sounds we produce more and more pure, and make them able to even better achieve the effect of saving sentient beings.
II. Eliminate the attachment to showing off and to jealousy, and use a pure state of mind to validate Dafa
I remember that not long after the Western regions of the U.S. and Canada established their marching bands, we had an opportunity to perform together. Upon looking at those two marching bands, I heard a practitioner next to me joke: "The color of their clothes and their hats are different from ours. With one glance, you can see who is wearing proper marching band attire, and who looks like a local band." After we finished our parade, another practitioner commented that some practitioners from both bands couldn’t play their notes right, and when they played they would always squeal. When we were resting, I passed these comments along as a joke, but when I saw a normally-amicable practitioner looking very sternly at me, I immediately stopped talking.
Even though I was just passing on others’ words, this still reflected my attachment to showing off. I felt that our East Coast band was different from the others. Later on, Master said that as soon as we started marching, we squealed a lot too. Upon hearing this, I felt very ashamed. Master has given us instruments, along with such a good environment to practice. But, we’ve taken Master’s compassion as reasons to validate ourselves, as we felt that we were different from the rest. Actually, if it wasn’t for Master’s support, we wouldn’t even be able to think about performing in public.
Regardless of which regional celestial marching band it is, and regardless of what we are doing to validate the Fa and in which locale we are doing those things, Dafa disciples are one entity, and we are working together to display the wonderfulness of Dafa to the world’s people. It’s just like with the dancing. At the beginning, some dancers hoped that others wouldn’t be able to dance as well as them, and hoped that they could stand on the most eye-catching parts of the stage. But later, they discovered that without coordination and cooperation as one entity, one person alone on a stage is nothing. Every single person needs to perform well and to display the wonderfulness of Dafa. Only then can we reach our desired effect.
I still find that when I see people from the same section of other marching bands as me, there is a hidden feeling of pride within me. This is despite the fact that I am a novice flute player, and really am not qualified to be proud of myself. It’s mainly because I’m part of the East Coast band. Then what is the root of pride? Once in a project, I saw a practitioner with more experience in the technical aspects of the project complaining about how poor the work of a practitioner who had just joined the project was, and how he had to make up for that practitioner's mistakes while working on his own things. I saw an air of pride and frustration in his words. At this point, I saw a shadow of myself. I am sometimes impatient when helping new people in projects, and look down on their work. But when others catch on to things really quickly, I have a deeply-hidden feeling of being upset. Master said in the revised edition of Falun Gong,
"Jealous types look down upon others and don’t allow others to surpass them. When they see someone more capable than they, their minds lose all perspective, they find it unbearable, and they deny the fact."
My personal enlightenment is that the root of pride is jealousy, which, in the end, is selfishness.
I remember that in the Western U.S. Fa Conference in 2004, a practitioner raised the issue of practitioners with high skill levels being jealous of one another. Master said,
"If you haven't cultivated yourself well and have those kinds of attachments, you need to get rid of them. Don't be conceited no matter what special skills you have. Do you know that the only one who can fully explain the whole cosmos and all of mankind is me, Li Hongzhi? No other being can possibly do that. (Applause) But I have never put on airs before you. So Dafa disciples, you must not get bigheaded if you've acquired some little human skills. They're nothing to get bigheaded about. The fact is, you've learned what you've learned because you had that wish and accordingly arrangements were made for you back in the past since it would be needed in validating the Fa, that's all."
My understanding is that Master has given us some skills in accordance with our wishes and the special characteristics of our beings, and gave us predestined opportunities to validate the Fa, save sentient beings, and establish mighty virtue. We should only take these skills with gratitude and use them to save sentient beings, as opposed to using them as tools to glorify ourselves. Only when we eliminate our attachments and coordinate well will the things we do carry greater amounts of energy.
I remember that one time, a practitioner with extensive technical experience made a program about our cultural performances. Another practitioner did not know this practitioner, and said that although the video was done both exquisitely and beautifully, he could see that practitioner’s attachment to showing off his technical skills, and that the person had neglected the aspect of how to show the inner meaning of the cultural performances. His words struck me deeply, as I have had similar experiences. One time, a practitioner made a program that wasn’t that mature on a technical level, but her state of mind was very pure. In guiding us, Master once said-and these aren’t his exact words - that everyday people have very mature skills, but they are going down the wrong path, and that although many of our practitioners’ skills are still immature and need improvement, we are walking down the correct path. The things that everyday people create are often full of karma, while what Dafa disciples do carries energy and plays a positive role for everyday people. And later on, this practitioner improved her skills quite quickly.
My understanding is that the old cosmos has selfishness permeating it from top to bottom, whereas the new cosmos is selfless and altruistic. Many things everyday people do are out of selfishness. They only focus on refining their skills and not on refining their conduct, leading them towards corruption and decay. They don’t have the heart of goodness or the heart to honor Gods, and so their work can’t reach the exquisite and grand quality of the works of the Tang Dynasty. Yet when practitioners eliminate their attachments to selfishness and try to display the beauty of Dafa, they can truly achieve the effect of saving sentient beings. If in the process of our media and music groups moving towards being professional, we neglect the elements of cultivation and become attached to the fame that high skill levels can bring us, how will our work be different from that of everyday people? It’s just like how Master said it in "Teaching the Fa at the Meetings with Asia-Pacific Students":
"The more you put you first or mix in [factors of] self, the less mighty-virtue you have, and that's why it is less likely that you succeed at things or do them well. Dafa's things should be the most sacred, and that's why the less you have of your own notions and involve your own factors, the better you can handle them and the more likely you are to succeed."