What We See is Not Always True

(Minghui.org) I’m a Falun Dafa practitioner who started practicing cultivation in 1997, but my true cultivation journey began last year. Although my husband opposes my practice, my daughter practices Dafa with me, and we have always encouraged each other. If one of us makes a mistake, the other will point it out. In this regard, my daughter has cultivated better than I have. When my daughter pointed out my attachments, I tended to respond defensively like an ordinary mother would. Our family environment has not changed much over all these years.

Yet Master is compassionate and did not give up on me. Under his arrangement, we finally found a Fa study group this year. After a period of group study, and with the help of other practitioners, I accessed the Minghui website and read selected cultivation experience sharing articles and articles from Fa conferences. I finally realized how poorly I had cultivated over these years. I’m determined to remove my ordinary attachments, including the attachment of showing off, a competitive mindset, jealousy, fear, a desire for comfort, complaining, and not allowing others to criticize me. I will eliminate one attachment at a time and diligently cultivate myself.

Something happened recently that deeply shocked me. It was the first time I had encountered a miraculous manifestation of Dafa in my life, which was a hint from Master. I hadn’t experienced anything like this before because my cultivation state was not solid.

One of my attachments was that I liked to look at beautiful clothes. Even if I didn’t buy them, I often found a reason to go and look, and this attachment was quite strong. In order to help me remove this attachment, Master made me witness a frightening scene: I opened a package of new clothes I bought and found they were covered with ants. I sprayed the clothes with pesticide, sealed them in a plastic bag, and sprayed more pesticide around my home.

I calmed down and realized that nothing is a coincidence. I sat down to look within for my attachments, and sent forth righteous thoughts: “If this is caused by low-level beings or evil substances, I must completely eliminate them. If Master is guiding me to remove this attachment of liking to look at beautiful clothes, I will tell him, ‘I am wrong, and I will definitely get rid of this attachment.’”

A day later, I opened the bag again and planned to wash the clothes. But there was nothing in the bag except clothes, not even a single dead ant.

I realized that my attachment is composed of bad matter. So isn’t each of our attachments very dirty, bad matter? Then isn’t it just like being in the garbage dump, holding onto garbage? Isn’t everything we see before our eyes a false appearance? It depends on how our minds react. Through studying the Fa, I realized that everything in this world is illusory, so why should we cling to it if it is false? When we let go of everything, wouldn’t we have completed cultivation?! Only by letting go of human notions can we move toward the divine.

The above are some of my personal insights. If there are any parts that are not in line with the Fa, please kindly point them out.