(Minghui.org) Master's latest lecture helped me find the reason why I have failed to be as diligent in my cultivation as when I first obtained the Fa, and why I cannot catch up with the process of Fa-rectification.
First of all, I thank Master for his huge compassion and enlightenment.
Master said:
"But you touched on an issue, which is, that people don’t directly communicate with each other even when they see each other, and instead they send text messages. I can tell you that that’s what aliens do. Human beings are supposed to interact with one another. For thousands of years of human societies, with traditional, god-given culture in place, human beings never went without interacting." (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
Before I started practicing Falun Gong I was very interested in computers. For the more than 10 years since I obtained the Fa, I have clarified the truth over the Internet, including through sending emails about Falun Gong and publishing online postings. When I participate in the media, I also promote information about our media online. What's more, I always have my computer and smartphone placed in front of me, and I always contact fellow practitioners through the Internet or via smartphone. I have not contacted fellow practitioners of my own initiative, unless there has been a special reason.
A few years after I started practicing Falun Gong, I became very negative about participating in group Fa study, in sharing, or in activities. I did not want to participate, and my excuse was that I could also clarify the truth at home by going online. I thought that reading Minghui also counted as sharing with fellow practitioners.
Then, after reading “Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa - Fa Teaching Given at the 2011 Washington DC Metro Area Fa Conference,” I started to join the group Fa study. I got rid of some attachments to rejecting fellow practitioners when sharing with them after attending group Fa study for a while, but not much changed. I still felt uncomfortable being with so many people.
I recently had to change a part in my computer, and I had to sell the old part online before I could buy the new one. During this process, I was controlled by my attachment several times and I did not join group Fa study. My cultivation state declined dramatically. Still, the more I became attached to the computer part, the more I wanted to buy a part of better quality. It seemed that I could never break away from this desire.
I understood that there must be a fundamental reason for my attachment, but I was not clear what it was. I only knew that I should not continue like that. I worked to reject my attachment very passively, and it was not until I heard Master's latest lecture that I understood that the technology I use contains alien factors. Since I enjoy and pursue using these types of technology, alien factors are able to control me.
My problem was that I had been very cold to my family, relatives and friends since I was young, and I had not been interested in worldly matters. Although I improved my xinxing after I obtained the Fa, I did not improve much in terms of being cold to others. I still believed that I cultivated very well and that I didn’t have sentimentality toward my family.
From Master’s latest lecture, I understand this aloofness hides very horrible factors.
Master said:
“As you may know, there are no emotions over on the planets of alien beings. But how scary to think of Earth becoming like that! ” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
Some Japanese cartoons and scenes from science fiction movies then appeared in my mind. All the characters were like robots. They had no expressions and appeared to be very cold. I also saw aliens working on cloning. The environment in which that work was undertaken was very dark and decadent. I understood that those cold and dark factors had been instilled in my mind and had controlled me.
Master pointed it out more clearly for me:
“They don’t have emotions, so what holds their societies together? Technology. Whoever’s technology is superior has a higher status there. And whoever’s technology is even higher gets to be the leader. They live for technology. Initially they were just a lowly life form, existing for no real purpose. As they gradually came to use technology to maintain their existence, technology came to be their top priority. That’s how they are.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”)
While participating in projects that involve online truth-clarification, I did not look at fellow practitioners’ xinxing; instead, I looked at their skills. When fellow practitioners’ skills were not good enough, I looked down upon them or I thought that they were inappropriate for that project. I did not think about the different roles practitioners play in each project and about the cultivation factors that exist in different environments. I did not hold Master’s arrangement as the priority.
Since I like computers, I always use a smartphone, electronic device, or a laptop, even when studying the Fa. I also persuaded other practitioners to use these “convenient” tools. But I now feel that these things do not belong to the righteous culture that has been passed down to human beings by the divine.
My children also enjoy using a smartphone. When I asked them not to indulge themselves in their phones, my words seemed to have little effect. My own factors caused this. As parents we should not impact our young practitioners’ cultivation because we have shortcomings in cultivation.
Master recently published the new Lunyu and the “Fa Teaching at the 2015 West Coast Fa Conference”. After reading these, I understood more clearly that I have been too immersed in science and the technology of aliens. I thus made up my mind to eliminate these substances, and I believe eliminating the aliens’ factors and leaving traditional and authentic human culture to future generations is also the responsibility of the Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples.
Our online truth-clarification projects are of course necessary, so it is fine to make use of the technology. But we should not get addicted to it, and we should not worship the technology. It is like how Shen Yun uses computers to produce the dynamic backdrop on the stage, and how fellow practitioners in China use computers and printers to produce truth-clarification materials—we should only use these types of technology to save sentient beings, and we should remain clear on what our goals are.
I hope that fellow practitioners who have similar attachments to computers and technology, especially little and young practitioners who are easily addicted to smartphones, can all elevate and eliminate these attachments.
Category: Improving Oneself
