(Clearwisdom.net) Several days ago, I studied "Minghui Weekly" together with my three-year-old son. I read it aloud to him.
My son asked me suddenly, "Mom, what color is your heart?" "It's red of course," I answered without a second thought. But my son said, "No, Mom, it's yellow. It is the heart of a Buddha." This shocked me. I did not expect that such a young boy could regard himself as a cultivator that is assimilated to the new universe. I have been cultivating for over ten years and my thoughts did not lead me that way.
This made me realize something: my acquired notions influence my every word and every action without my noticing. When conflict occurs, I judge it according to right or wrong instead of considering how my heart is moved. When I met a stubborn person while clarifying the truth, my first thought was that I had given my best effort and he was just a person that couldn't be saved instead of reflecting on my own faults and feeling sorry for him. When a fellow practitioner was arrested, my first thought was about his/her shortcomings instead of immediately sending forth righteous thoughts. When I saw conflicts between fellow practitioners, my first thought was not to look within and find faults in myself, but hesitating about whether I should point out his/her problem.
I have been practicing Dafa for many years and some of my attachments and acquired notions have been removed. But when I think back now, I find that during my individual cultivation period, most of my thoughts were actually dominated by acquired notions. These thoughts are just barriers that prevent me from keeping righteous thoughts all the time while handling things. All these notions were built on the foundations of egoism and selfishness in the old universe.
Apart from just cultivating ourselves well, Dafa practitioners also shoulder the sacred mission of saving sentient beings. However, if we want to truly do these things well, we must fundamentally change our human notions and remove them so that we can truly take charge of ourselves. The only way to do this is to study the Fa well because only the principles to which we enlighten from the Fa are our rock solid righteous thoughts. And only by studying the Fa well can we save sentient beings in a better way while cultivating ourselves well.
The above is only my limited personal sharing. Please kindly point out anything inappropriate.
October 3, 2008.