My company employs many pretty and elegant women, and I feel happy when I interact and work with them. However, when I carefully thought about the issue, I realized that my feeling was a manifestation of the attachment of lust. This is true even though my outward behaviour is appropriate when interacting with the attractive women.
A recent incident made me realize that I cannot wait any longer to get rid of my attachment of lust. The most beautiful woman in my company works with me in the same office. I once learned that she had turned away the advances of a very rich man repeatedly, she has a spiritual practice, and she likes reading classical literature. After hearing about this, my admiration of her suddenly became much greater in my heart. Before I knew about her personal life, she was just a beautiful woman; then, she became a woman who is both beautiful and unique. I started to feel a bit elated when interacting with her, although I also reminded myself that I should not have any lust in my heart.
One evening, in order to memorize "Lunyu", I read aloud for quite a long time. After sending forth righteous thoughts, I fell asleep. Suddenly, I clearly felt the demon of lust fiercely throwing itself at me. At that moment, every cell in my body generated very strong energy to push the demon away. Neither the demon nor I yielded. I immediately started to recite the verses used for sending forth righteous thoughts, but there was no effect. I then cried out for Teacher, but nothing happened at first. I kept pushing the demon away as hard as I could. Not long after, I woke up and was very shocked. The first thought I had was that it was my human mentality that had invited the demon.
These days, I have been thinking about this and the following is my understanding.
The demon was able to attack me because I have loopholes. The demon of lust dared to be so bold because I have not completely eliminated my attachment of lust. In my dimensional field, the environment is suitable for its survival. If I do not have any lust, the demon of lust cannot approach me at all. Even if it dares to interfere with me, it will be eliminated by the power within the pure field.
The attachment to lust must be eliminated completely without any delay. Cultivation is like rowing a boat against the current: if you do not make progress, you will regress. Although my attachment to lust is mostly gone, I still have some left. When I am not strict with myself, the remnants of lust grow and severely interfere with me. If the situation becomes serious, all my previous efforts in cultivation could end up in vain.
The most effective way to eliminate the attachment of lust is to study the Fa well. Now it is the Dharma-ending period, and the human society is very chaotic, which presents lots of temptations to cultivators. When we find ourselves in all kinds of tribulations and tests, Dafa can guide us to walk on a righteous path, and Dafa is the light that illuminates the right direction so that we do not lose our way. When I read the Fa aloud, all the cells in my body are immersed in the Fa. My state of mind improves, and my ability to defend myself against interference is strengthened. Therefore, when the demon of lust attempted to invade my dimensional field, all the cells in my body were able to send out energy to prevent the demon from entering.
Genuine cultivation takes place only after we put our understanding into solid action. As long as we study the Fa well, our attachments to this human world will not seem important. However, why can't many fellow practitioners let go of their attachments? The fundamental reason is that we fail to put our understanding into action, although we have been enlightened to it. Human society is an environment where hardship and pleasure coexist. We hold onto many of our attachments to satisfy cravings for fame, self interest and emotion. Since we were predestined to encounter Dafa after thousands of years of waiting, we should be diligent and let go of all our attachments.
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