(Clearwisdom.net) After reading the article "Opinions on Reading Ordinary People's Magazines," I have a lot of sympathy for this fellow practitioner. Sometime last year, I often felt dizzy, especially when I sent forth righteous thoughts or studied the Fa. I sent forth righteous thoughts to eliminate this interference. This feeling became smaller and smaller, finally, shrinking into a small clot. However, I was unable to completely eliminate it. At last, I couldn't do anything but give up. The next day, I suddenly realized that if I spent a long time reading the newspaper or watching the news on the Internet at the workplace, this feeling became stronger, but when I stayed at home on the weekends, it was weaker. Therefore, I enlightened that because I was attached to reading the newspaper and surfing the Internet, I was contaminated by bad things, such as pornography, violence and politics. It was these bad elements that caused me to be dizzy. After realizing this, I stopped reading the news for a week, immediately feeling better and in a very good state whenever I sent forth righteous thoughts. However, because I was not strict with myself, fluctuating back and forth with this attachment, my dizziness always returned.
During this incident, I also enlightened that not only should we avoid reading ordinary people's newspapers, magazines or watching these TV programs, we should also keep our hearts unaffected by all the elements of ordinary human society. Regarding people's everyday topics, entertainment and activities, we need to take the initiative to avoid them even though we were interested in them before. Otherwise, we will be negatively affected because of our pursuit of them. As for things that we hear of that cannot be avoided in society, we should also measure them with righteous thoughts. If we feel that we are affected, we should look within and find the cause, to eliminate the state of being affected by ordinary people's things.
At the same time, I also enlightened that in society, we should try our best not to detect or pursue what people are thinking. For example, I was an astute person before and could easily detect what was on others' minds. However, doing this opens one up to being affected by those thoughts. Master said, "A Tathagata Buddha knows the thoughts of even cattle and horses, but he would never use their ways of thinking to think about things." ("Teaching the Fa at the 2004 Western U.S. Fa Conference", February 28, 2004) Actually, when we detect or become aware of people's thinking, we are already caught up in their ways; therefore, already contaminating ourselves since we failed to be: "Present, but the heart elsewhere." ("Abiding in the Dao," Hong Yin)
Once when I was on a bus, I was listening to a lady next to me who was talking on her cell phone. She mentioned how she and her friends had stayed out till midnight and how much wine they had drunk. Unconsciously, I had put my mind into their dialogue and was deeply caught up in it.
It cannot severely affect us if we are passively listening. However, if we are affected because of our own pursuits, it is actually an attachment and it will bring us unnecessary interference. Therefore, as cultivators, we must be alert and not be contaminated because of our own pursuits. We should rid ourselves of the heart for curiosity and excitement, so that we are able to do well in the three things with a clear mind. If possible, we may continuously recite the Fa-rectification formulas and send forth righteous thoughts in our hearts every day. We must take the initiative to reject contamination from ordinary human society.
I have just enlightened to the above and haven't quite lived up to it yet. Writing this article is also a reminder for me.
