Be Careful Not to Go Astray in Cultivation

(Minghui.org) I have been reciting the section “How the Mind Can Lead Astray” in the sixth talk in Zhuan Falun recently and I gained some new understanding about this issue.

A Better Understanding of the Problem

I used to think that only practitioners with celestial vision would face the issue of going astray, if they were interfered with by what they heard or saw in other dimensions or if they became attached to the supernatural capabilities they developed through cultivation. 

I thought that when the problem became severe, the manifestation was that such practitioners would lose their rationality and begin to talk nonsense or act in abnormal ways. Such was my limited understanding of “how the mind can lead one astray,” and I thus always thought that this problem had nothing to do with me. 

But as I was reciting the Fa, I realized that the problem doesn’t only occur to practitioners with celestial vision and it’s more common than I thought before.

Master taught us,

“Another group that’s vulnerable are those whose consciousnesses are interfered with by foreign messages, energies, or images, and who put their trust in them.”

“You might think, for example, that you’re the only one whose eye has opened well at your practice site, which makes you think you’re special and that you have learned my Falun Dafa really well or even better than others—meaning you are ahead of them. But even just thinking that way isn’t right.”

“Even in this class now there are those who think highly of themselves and have an air about them when they speak.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

I understood that when our consciousnesses are interfered with, or when our thoughts aren’t righteous, or when we think we are better than others and put on airs, we are already in danger of going astray in our cultivation. 

No matter whether one has celestial vision or not, everyone is equally vulnerable to the interference caused by foreign messages and may develop wicked thoughts as a result. For most practitioners, the main manifestation of the problem might be to think highly of oneself and feel that one is better than others.

I regret that I came to this new understanding so late. 

Identifying the Problem in Myself

When I re-examined the cultivation path I walked through all these years, I realized that when I achieved some success in certain things and was praised by fellow practitioners, I did feel I was so special and capable and that I was indispensable to the projects. In fact, I had already gone astray very far with strong complacency and self-satisfaction. 

I also understood the reason I always dreamed of myself falling off from a high place when I did something great to validate the Fa. Sometimes I even dreamed of myself jumping off from the peak of the mountain on my own, falling all the way to the bottom. 

Now I realized that it’s because I developed the attachment to myself and I enjoyed the feeling that “I’m someone special,” without spending any effort to control my thoughts or reject it. Perhaps in the other dimension, the real manifestation was that I fell down in levels when my mind went astray. It’s just that I was still cultivating and compassionate Master gave me opportunities to realize my problem and fix it. If my cultivation did end at that moment, maybe I would have been ruined by my own attachment. 

I also understood why sometimes I would lose all of my righteous thoughts or fail to pass certain tests. I now think it’s because my attachment to self stood between me and the Fa and my human side was controlled by my notions or evil beings, instead of my true self.

I’d like to make a suggestion to fellow practitioners: if you have difficulty making breakthroughs in your cultivation, or have difficulty concentrating on Fa study and absorbing the Fa, maybe you can check if you have the problem of interference from the mind. If you do find that attachment, maybe you will make a leap forward in your cultivation.

Pull Ourselves Out of It

It was also difficult for me to understand why certain practitioners would do things so irrationally to undermine the Fa. I simply couldn’t comprehend their actions with a normal person’s reasoning.

Master’s Fa gave me a hint. Master said, 

“The problem I’ve been describing is really hard to pull out of, due to all of the attachments that tend to come up.” (The Sixth Talk, Zhuan Falun)

When I recited the sentence, I had a deep feeling about the word “hard to pull out of.” Maybe when a being developed the problem, they were surrounded by evil beings in other dimensions and completely locked out from their righteous thoughts and rationality. They were completely controlled by their human thinking or the evil. And it’s easy to manipulate them to do anything or even dare them to challenge the Fa. It’s truly hard for them to pull themselves out of this situation.

I think that when people became totally controlled by the evil, they went through a prior stage of developing demonic interference from their own mind. They thought that they’ve cultivated to a high level, that they are special and they could enlighten to things others can’t. Gradually, they may also develop disrespect to Master and Dafa and begin to talk about things with strong resentment against the Fa. It’s truly sad to see how a cultivator completely lost his rationality to the demonic interference from their own mind.

When these practitioners felt they are the best, perhaps it’s the evil that’s projecting such thoughts on him, pulling him down further and further until he couldn’t escape. If at this time, other practitioners came to show their admiration for him and praise him, it would harm him even more and give the evil opportunities to force more degenerated substances onto him. 

If we are truly responsible for fellow practitioners, we can’t admire, praise or glorify anyone. If we do that, the evil may use our human thinking as an excuse to destroy that practitioner.

We have to be clear that as beings from the old universe, without salvation from Master, none of us can escape the fate of total extermination. Master saved us and renewed our lives with unimaginable suffering.

No matter how high or special we think we are, everything is given by Master and anything we’ve achieved is enabled by the Fa. It’s only natural that we do things well. If we can’t fulfill our vows and fail the task, it usually means there is something wrong in our cultivation.

Cultivation doesn’t have a shortcut or back door. Only when we keep a humble heart about Master, fellow practitioners, and sentient beings and truly cultivate ourselves, can we be saved by Master and delivered to the new universe. 

If we have thorough understanding of the principles, we wouldn’t easily admire other practitioners or develop the interference from our own mind. 

I’d like to remind all practitioners to pay attention to this issue. It’s indeed a serious matter that could cause us to fall all the way to the bottom. No matter whether we have celestial vision, we should all pay attention to this issue and eliminate this attachment as soon as we see it in ourselves. If we don’t work on it in our daily cultivation, the problem would only grow more seriously and we are giving way to the evil. When it reaches a certain point, it may be hard for us to ever return to cultivation again.

Master has given every being in the old universe the opportunity to enter the new universe. It’s an unprecedented opportunity and there will not be a second time. If we don’t cherish Master’s compassion, but follow the evil’s arrangement to undermine the Fa, the deep sorrow would simply be unbearable when everything is revealed. But before that, we still have opportunities to mend our problems and make up for the loss we caused.

Editor's note: This article only represents the author’s understanding in their current cultivation state meant for sharing among practitioners so that we can “Compare in studying, compare in cultivating.” (“Solid Cultivation,” Hong Yin)