(Clearwisdom.net)

Teacher said:

"Because of practicing cultivation among everyday people, a lot of our practitioners cannot release many of their attachments. Many attachments have already become second nature, and these people themselves cannot detect them. This mentality of showing off can manifest in any situation; it can also surface when doing a good deed. In order to gain fame, personal profit, and a little benefit, some people often brag about themselves and show off: 'I'm very capable and a winner.'" (Zhuan Falun)

Teacher also said:

"The mind of showing off plus the attachment of zealotry will be most easily exploited by the demonic heart." ("Definitive Conclusion Expounding on the Fa" from Essentials for Further Advancement)

I usually pay more attention to my mindset, however, it is still difficult to eliminate my attachments, and they resurface.

Once, I went out to clarify the truth to others face to face. My only thoughts were about saving sentient beings, and I did not think about myself at all. After delivering the informational materials, I met two ladies selling vegetables. When I explained the facts to them, they were deeply moved and wanted to give me some vegetables for free. I did not want anything for free and tried to give them money, but they refused to take any.

After I left, I felt quite happy, but soon realized that I should not have this feeling. I immediately looked inward, understood that this was not a truthful feeling, and eliminated it. I asked myself, "Why do I have the mentality of showing off and zealotry? Our great Teacher has pulled me out of hell and endured so much karma for me. Teacher provided everything for me. All I did was eliminate my human thoughts, and develop compassion. I think that I have assimilated to that level of the Fa and the mighty power of the Fa shown to me. It was actually a demonstration of the power and mighty virtue of Dafa, and not me."

I realized that I am nothing without Teacher's mercy and Dafa's salvation, just like a single drop in the ocean. When I understood the principles of the Fa, my human notions immediately disintegrated.

Teacher said,

"And human notions change,
The degenerate things purged,"
("Born Anew" from Hong Yin, Translation Version A)

Every step of my cultivation is under Teacher's benevolent care and protection. In the beginning I could not find myself. Once I became aware of "self," I started to become attached to "self," until eventually I let go of "self." I spent a long time in a loop of self attachments, and sometimes I even acquired the attachments of others. I was very worried and did not know how to eliminate these attachments. Teacher arranges every opportunity for us to raise our xinxing level and allows us to be enlightened while eliminating our attachments. As long as we look inward, we will be able to raise our xinxing level.

When some practitioners in our region were arrested, local coordinators held more frequent experience sharing sessions. Once, I looked for some coordinators (who were in different Fa study groups) to discuss how to rescue the practitioners who were arrested. I met with many practitioners that morning, each with different thoughts. Some were unwilling to join the discussions, some complained to coordinators, and so on. When I was about to go home, I met two coordinators. They told me that I should not let so many practitioners know about this. We only needed around ten practitioners. Again, they also had different opinions on this matter. Because of this I could not continue to share this.

Later, a certain practitioner found out that I did not tell him about this meeting. He was very angry and told another practitioner that he would throw away my equipment that I use for producing truth-clarifying materials. Other practitioners shared with him and held a Fa study with him until he calmed down.

At the same time, practitioners from the countryside were afraid to come over to get the truth-clarification materials. The next day, one practitioner and I brought the truth-clarifying materials to them. We had a sharing session, and I met someone that worked with my husband. He told me some things about my husband that I did not know. After I heard him out, I thought, "I am a genuine practitioner and will not be affected by ordinary human notions." Later when I got home I ran into another practitioner. She told someone had gossiped about me in her home. Once again I thought, "I will not be part of this, and will not be affected by it." I simply smiled.

That night, I attended a Fa study and was going to share my experiences with them. Just as I started to talk, they said that they already knew what I was going to say. One of them said to me, "You should look inward." After I got home, I started to look inward, searching for what I had done wrong. I have had so many problems and people have misunderstood me, but I was not affected by those things. Why should I search inward? Suddenly I realized: I was trying to validate myself. My heart was most impure! I must eliminate it.

Teacher said:

"If you are validating the Fa, no matter what another person says about you, you won't be affected inside. 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." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 International Fa Conference in New York")

One coordinator told me that when he took on this project, he did not avoid Practitioner A, but did not tell Practitioner B. I thought this was not right but it was difficult for me to point it out to him. The next day he told me that he had had a dream, and in his dream he was completely bald. I did not say anything at the time. Afterwards, I felt that I was very selfish to keep what I thought from him, so I said, "When you told me about the project you are doing, I think that Teacher meant for us to work together. Whether Practitioner B is involved or not is arranged by our Teacher as well. We should not have the attachment of judging people. If Practitioner B did not pay attention to cultivating speech, then we should point kindly point it out. Then we can form an invincible team."

Later the practitioner saw me and said, "Because of you, I improved; I feel like I have risen to another level." Then I realized that this incident did not happen without a reason--I, too, should look inward.

Teacher said:

"I have told everyone in my Fa lectures that when a conflict arises between two people and it's seen by a third person, even the third person should think to himself, 'Oh, a confrontation is happening between them, so why is it that I was there to see it? Is it because I have certain attachments? Is it because I have that kind of problem as well?' " ("Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia")

Therefore, I should look inward.

Teacher said:

"Within this field, there is a mirror in one's forehead. A non-practitioner's mirror faces toward him, but a practitioner's mirror turns over. When a person's supernormal ability of clairvoyance is about to emerge, it will rotate back and forth. It is known that a movie film shows twenty-four frames per second in order to make pictures with continuous motion. If less than twenty-four frames are shown per second, the images will skip and jump. The mirror's rotating speed is faster than twenty-four frames per second, and it reflects what it receives and turns over to let you see. Upon turning over again, the images will then be erased. It reflects and turns, and then it erases the images. The rotation continues incessantly. Thus, what you see is in motion. It lets you see what is reflected within your own dimensional field, and it corresponds to what is in the large universe." (Zhuan Falun)

Teacher's lecture enlightened me. When I see other practitioners' attachments, I see that I also have these attachments as if they were reflected from a mirror in my dimension to show myself; Teacher lets me see.

During the course of cultivation, I always looked inward from different angles, but I did not search my own nature. It is very dangerous to add human notions into cultivation. Human notions are the roots of attachments. Teacher said,

"Divine Being: These problems have already become very serious. It would be good if they could manage to search within themselves for the things that they have been able to find in others." ("A Dialogue with Time" from Essentials for Further Advancement)