Letting Go of the Attachment to My Cell Phone

(Minghui.org) I used to work in a clothing factory. After I got married, my health deteriorated given the long work hours. I came down with many ailments, until one day I had to quit my job, as I no longer could work. No medical treatment helped.

I was introduced to Falun Dafa in 1998. After practicing for only a short while I had recovered from all my ailments, and I was able to see hope. I felt light and didn’t feel tired from walking or working at home or on our farm. My neighbor said to me: “You’re completely different when compared to the past - full of joy, and energetic. What have you done to get better?” I told her: “It’s because I practice Falun Dafa. I recovered from all my illnesses.”

If we do not cultivate diligently, don’t always regard ourselves as practitioners, and relax our main consciousness, then what we think and do will be the same as ordinary people. I knew that spending too much time on my cell phone, obsessed with WeChat, and surfing online was wrong, but I couldn’t resist the temptations and eventually became addicted to my cell phone. 

I couldn’t focus when reading the Fa. After finishing reading one lecture, I would think that I had finished the task of Fa study, and could resume playing on my cell phone. It seemed that I couldn’t find a way to stop myself. My main consciousness was not strong, and I didn’t even regard myself as a cultivator. It wasn’t until I experienced health problems that I realized something was wrong with my cultivation.

I was cooking at home in October 2021, when I suddenly felt severe pain in my chest. I managed to call my daughter, who urged me to go to the hospital. Soon after I hung up the phone, she came home and wanted to take me to the hospital. I told her that I would be fine, and not to worry. But she insisted on taking me. I thought that I should not add extra trouble to others, and should understand my child’s feelings. So I went to the hospital with her. I kept sending righteous thoughts on the way, begged Master to help me, and hoped that the results of any examinations would be good. The electrocardiogram results came out normal, but as we went there at night, it wasn’t possible to do other tests. The doctor said that I should stay overnight and have a thorough examination the next day. But, I went home instead. The next morning I begged Master: “Master, I don’t want to do the examinations. I’m not sick. I’m your disciple. Master decides everything of mine.” In the end, I didn’t go back to the hospital.

Because I had been attached to playing on my cell phone, I couldn’t focus while studying the Fa. I would play on the phone whenever I had time and didn’t regard myself as a cultivator. Over time, the old forces took advantage of my loopholes.

Master said:

“I’d like to give you my take on what people normally refer to as “addiction.” In the medical sciences it’s believed that addiction occurs when the part of the nervous system associated with addictive behaviors is stimulated and develops to a sufficient degree. But that’s not it. What’s happening, then? Over time, that addictive substance accumulates and forms inside of your body an identical version of you that comes to control you. Because it is composed of strong attachment and has your appearance, it has an equally strong desire to control you; it was formed out of strong desires, after all.” (“Fa Teaching at the 2019 New York Conference”)

It was my addiction to playing on my cell phone that resulted in this illusion of sickness. I targeted this addiction, eliminated it, and found my true self.

I stopped carrying the cell phone with me. Instead I took Zhuan Falun, the main book of Falun Dafa when I went to another practitioner’s home to study the Fa, and send forth righteous thoughts. All the abnormal states disappeared within four days, and I fully recovered.

I realized that it’s Master’s arrangement to expose our attachments and human notions. We need to take the opportunity to eliminate them, rather than letting the old forces find excuses to persecute us. Whenever we find our attachments, we should take them seriously, and get rid of them. On the path of cultivation, we must be strict with ourselves, evaluate every thought, always take the guidance of the Fa, and assimilate to the Fa at all times. Only then can we truly be diligent in cultivation.