(Clearwisdom.net) With the help of a catalyst, molecules can carry out chemical reactions with relatively little energy. In cultivation, like any catalyst, indulgence can help a weak attachment to truly affect your behaviors and lead you to make wrong decisions.
Take my personal experience for example. When the evil illegally imprisoned me, I held hunger strikes for dozens of days. Then came a holiday, and at the detention center additional dishes were added to the dining menus. Without noticing it, an ever so slight gluttonous thought surfaced. In fact, it was this very thought of gluttony that made me abandon my hunger strike and resulted in my imprisonment later at the forced labor camp. After I was released, I learned that as a result of the righteous thoughts of mine and other practitioners, the evil forces were about to release me but for my gluttonous thought. The loss was hard to make up.
In other aspects of my life, including sexual desire with my spouse and surfing the Internet, my attachments are not particularly strong, but why do they oftentimes affect my behavior? Digging deeper, I discovered that it is not the attachment itself, but the indulgence underneath and the attachment together that are playing a role. Indulgence is somewhat different than other kinds of attachments in that it is like some kind of factor buried within other attachments. It does not necessarily amplify the attachments, but it takes people off guard, just like a rock-solid castle that does not have soldiers guarding it. A small number of enemies would be able to conquer it.
I am sharing my shallow understanding in the hope that my lessons will serve as reference for other practitioners to recognize that indulgence can sequester itself within other attachments. It is hidden. When sending forth righteous thoughts to purify ourselves, please do not forget to eliminate it.
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