(Minghui.org) We all know the importance of looking within as Falun Dafa practitioners. But how do we look within? What do we look for? I’d like to share some of my experiences.
In 2009, I had intensified conflict with my father. On my way out one day after an argument, Master’s fashen (law body) gently said that a cultivator should not behave that way (I can see and hear things from other dimensions). I replied to Master’s fashen, “I know I should not be this way, but I just can’t control myself.” Master’s fashen didn’t comment on it.
I looked within to find out what kind of attachments caused this conflict, but I could not find any. Until one day my father was going to beat me amid a dispute, did I become alarmed: “How can I do so poorly in my cultivation?”
I sighed: “Oh, what am I doing that is not in line with Dafa?” Immediately, I saw a heap of white cotton-like material in front of me. My father turned around as if nothing had happened. I was relieved: “I finally passed a test after so long.”
After a while, the conflict resurfaced. I thought: “Oh no! Not again!” “What am I doing again that is not in line with Dafa?” Again, I saw the heap of white cotton-like material. The conflict was resolved again. I wondered what I did wrong while looking within for attachments. Whenever I looked within for attachments, I could not solve the problem; but when I asked what I did that was not in line with Dafa, the problem was resolved.
After a few rounds, I thought I always looked for attachments and many sharing articles discussed doing it that way as well. But that didn’t help to solve the conflict. Did I do it wrong? I thought it over for a long time. I realized that the old cosmos is entering the period of degeneration and destruction because it has deviated from Dafa. If any life is conforming to Dafa, then it will not degenerate.
When I looked inward for the incorrect state that appeared in my cultivation and asked the question “What am I doing that is not in line with Dafa?” This is also in accordance with Dafa. By looking within like this, Dafa can directly rectify my incorrect state.
I shared my experience of looking within with fellow practitioners during Fa study. Someone commented that my way of looking within was quite simple. Someone tried to ask herself the same question and she found out that it helped resolve the resentment she had toward another fellow practitioner! She was pleasantly surprised since she had tried to eliminate her resentment for a long time.
I was impressed by the power of looking within. Then I thought again, for cultivators, karma, resentment, thought karma, attachments and notions, external interference, are all included within the scope of not being in line with Dafa. When one looks within and asks the question, it encompasses everything and leaves out nothing.
Since then I began looking within that way. Not only that, but I also thought it is Dafa that directly rectified my incorrect state, so I should treat Dafa with due respect. Whenever I looked within, I would sit in a meditation state with my hands conjoined.
At one time, I saw some small creatures in my field, including some manifestations of the lust demon. I received a thought from Dafa that I should decide what to do with them. I thought to myself, “What criteria should I use to decide whether to eliminate them or not?”
I thought about it and said to the creatures: “You have to assimilate to Dafa in order to stay in my dimensional field. Otherwise, you will be eliminated.” Then they all disappeared.
I later wondered, “since I am a Dafa disciple, how could those low-level creatures still get into my field?” I got the answer when I came across Master’s Fa teaching “When a cultivator's mind departs from the Fa, the evil will find its way in.” (“Fa Teaching Given at the Conference in Florida, U.S.A.,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume II)
I make a habit of looking within before I go to work daily. I can even feel my dimensional field become brighter and more transparent. I feel so light afterward.
One day in 2011, I saw many hands holding something down. I knew the old forces were trying to interfere with me on something. I wanted to see what it was and eliminate it ahead of time, but I was not able to see it. I received a message: “Dafa will handle everything.” I realized that if that was the case I just needed to continue looking within.
Three days later, a technician at work told me: “You mixed the wrong ingredients. It is useless now. We lost thousands of yuan.”
I replied: “It could not be! I brought the ingredients for you to verify before I mixed them. How could this even happen? If I truly made the mistake, you can deduct the money off my salary.”
I felt awful, not because of the money, but because I failed to validate Dafa well. Right then, Master’s fashen said to me: “It was not your fault.” Tears ran down my face.
A fellow practitioner who also worked for the same company stated that it was interference and that I should search within to eliminate the disturbance. I began the process while working. Two hours later, I saw the wall in the other dimension had disappeared. I knew the factor in the other dimension was resolved. After lunch, the technician told me not to worry since the material could be used for another project. I felt relieved.
In 2014, I began looking within after work, but I dozed off two days in a row. I realized that it was interference. The third day before I sat down, I said to the being that made me doze off: “My looking within is to let Dafa rectify my incorrect state in my cultivation. It’s disrespect to Dafa for you to make me doze off. You will be punished for doing that.” Then I became clear-headed and I saw a prisoner transport cart moving outside, with a higher life in it. I wanted to see it clearly, but it was covered by a cloth.
One day when I was browsing the Minghui website, my stomach suddenly hurt badly. I was planning to send forth righteous thoughts and then decided to look within. After a while, the pain subsided. A fellow practitioner asked me if I found anything that caused the pain, I said no. She was puzzled.
I said: “For the lives in the old cosmos, did they know that they were off track? No, but they just need to correct their attitude towards the Fa-rectification and not interfere with the process, and they will be saved. By the same token, when I look within to search for the incorrect state in my cultivation, Dafa will correct this incorrect state of mine. Because I am a practitioner, there are some attachments that I need to know and some that I don’t. As long as my incorrect state is corrected, what is the point of being obsessed with finding something?”
I think when Master told us to look within it has boundless connotations, and it is not only limited to looking for attachments. For example, when studying the Fa, one’s mind wanders and becomes confused; when sending forth righteous thoughts, one dozes off; when one meditates, one falls asleep, etc. What kind of attachments contributed to these states? I think it was caused by outside interference.
Regarding sickness karma, some are able to identify the attachment and negate the persecution. For some, no matter how much one looks for the attachments, one is still not able to negate the persecution. Factors that cause sickness karma are more complicated – some might be caused by attachments, some by karma, and others may be a result of old creditors coming to collect the debt.
From my personal experience, when we look for things not in line with the Fa, it is looking within without omission, and sometimes the problem can be solved without even knowing what caused it. But one has to do it with all due seriousness. If one is absent-minded or does it halfheartedly, the situation may not be rectified.
This is my understanding at my level, please point out anything inappropriate.
Editor’s note: This article only represents the author’s current understanding meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare with one another in study, in cultivation.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)